By Grace Alone

“My Imprisonment is for Christ” Paul says “What is yours for?”

“So that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.”
(Philippians 1:13, ESV)

We looked at this wonderful passage in Philippians and talked about suffering for the Gospel. We also looked at God’s providence in the lives of Paul, Joseph and ourselves. Great message that needs to continue to be retold time and time again. May the Lord continue to use our suffering to advance His Gospel.

In Christ
Jeff

 

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 *

Discipleship is sometimes considered a “second tier” in the minds of some believers. It is considered for the “zealous” and “fanatical” rather than what it really is -  a true Christ follower! We addressed this issue Sunday with the passage from 1 John 2:6 and as I was looking for the right picture for this post I ran across this quote on Amazon and thought it was appropriate on this issue (I haven’t read the book - yet  ).

 ”When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” With these words, in The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer gave powerful voice to the millions of Christians who believe personal sacrifice is an essential component of faith.” (Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian, was an exemplar of sacrificial faith: he opposed the Nazis from the first and was eventually imprisoned in Buchenwald and hung by the Gestapo in 1945)**

This is the very thought that John tells us when he says ”whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1 John 2:6, ESV) To walk as Christ walked is to live, not by rules, but by an example. It is to follow Him, to be His disciple. This discipleship is personal, active and costly. Jesus said “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” (John 15:8, ESV) and in 1 John 2:5-6 discipleship is in view as we are told that true believers will imitate Christ.

*Photo courtesy of Themishmash
**Quote from Amazon Book Page

 

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In Flock we are studying What is a Healthy Church by Mark Dever and the 9 Marks Ministry. The lesson from chapter 12 was on Biblical Discipleship and Growth. It says that we should be working toward church growth as it is prescribed in the Bible. That means growing members, not just numbers. Some people today think that a person can be a “baby Christian” for a whole lifetime. Growth is treated as an optional extra for zealous disciples. But growth is a sign of life. If a tree is alive, it grows. If an animal is alive, it grows. Being alive means growing, and growing means increasing and advancing, at least until death intercedes. This is true discipleship and growth.

 

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  ”I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel” (Philippians 1:12, ESV)

 

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Trials and suffering to further the Gospel is Biblical as we see in the verse above. In fact, being tried as in fire and purified, so as to remove any impurity, runs through the entire Bible. (Job 23:10; Ps 66:10-12; Pro 17:3; Isa 1:25; 48:10; 1 Pet 1:7)

So we see, it is not a matter of the chains themselves (or any other trial), but what we do in the chains that counts. We can claim to have faith all day long but when the trial comes what really comes out of our mouths? Do we act on fear or faith? Are we trusting in Christ alone or do we trust in the things of this world to get us by? (2 Cor 4:7-10)

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10, ESV)

May the Lord advance His Gospel through our suffering and afflictions…

 Jeff

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*Photo Courtesy of www.freefoto.com

This was encouraging to see…

In Flock we are studying What is a Healthy Church by Mark Dever and the 9 Marks Ministry. The lesson from chapter 11 was on Biblical Church Discipline. It was a great class with some heavy feedback at the end (which is good) and if makes us think about what has been missing from most evangelical circles for a long time. Here is a great article from Bible.org on church discipline. You can also download this article in Word format here (Church Discipline Article from Bible.Org).

 

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This is a giftd response
Father, we cannot come to You by our own merit
We will come in the Name of Your Son
As He glorifies You and the Power of Your Spirit

We have come to something so mysterious
Too deep for minds to comprehend
Through the open door where angels sing
and host of heaven are antheming

And we’ll sing the glory of Your name
Celebrate the glories of Your grace
We will worship You, we will worship You
And we’ll make Your praise so glorious
Singing songs of everlating praise
We will worship You, we will worship You

Gifted Reponse (We Will Worship You) - Matt Redman

Today I was driving down the road and was engulfed in worship as I listened and responded to this song. Afterwards, I had to ask myself what is keeping me from this all day every day? I long to worship Him in this way, yet somedays I don’t. I don’t know if this is for you, but it was for me. I have to ask myself today - will I give the one who is worthy of all praise and glory the worship He deserves? Will I worship?

In Flock we are studying What is a Healthy Church by Mark Dever and the 9 Marks Ministry. This weeks lesson was on Biblical Understanding of Church Membership. What a refreshing book to read and hear what you have been preaching for years. I don’t know about other denominations but the Southern Baptist Convention needs to read this chapter. We talked about a need for Integrity in Church Membership and the need to quit playing a numbers game. This is good study and one I would highly recommend.

 

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The Post Office has announced another price increase coming this May and it has made me rethink ways to save postage for the myself and the Church. I remember reading a blog post from Dan Pritchett who is director of marketing for Logos Bible Software (which is the software I use). Check it out, it has worked for them and it could work for you. Click the link below to read the post in full.

http://blog.logos.com/archives/2007/05/beating_postage_increase.html

Click here for the Complete Article that appeared in Business Week 

In Flock we are studying What is a Healthy Church by Mark Dever and the 9 Marks Ministry. This weeks lesson was on Biblical Understanding of Evangelism. What a refreshing chapter to read and hear what we have already experienced in church life in general and evangelism particularly. If you have not read What is a Healthy Church? or its big brother 9 Marks of a Healthy Church I would highly recommend them to any church or ministry seeking to be throughly biblical in thier doctrine and practice.

All Flock Classes on “What is a Healthy Church”

Flock Video:
mms://broadcast.liferecovery.tv:81/allmedia/021008SV.wmv

Flock Audio Only:
mms://broadcast.liferecovery.tv:81/allmedia/021008SA.wma

Flock Notes:
http://media.prbc.us/pdf/021008S.pdf

MP3:
http://media.prbc.us/mp3/021008S.mp3