As I sat on a park bench this past week praying, a young mother walked by pushing her baby in a stroller weeping and pleading with someone on her cell phone. A man dressed in a business suit yelling obscenities and venting his frustration at someone on his cell phone just across the street jarringly interrupted this touching scene. My prayer quickly changed direction, “Lord give the church an audience with people such as these. They are everywhere. What can I say to them Lord?” They moved on still in conversation as swiftly as they appeared. What are we to do in such unprecedented times?

To the church at Philippi Paul wrote, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life…” (Phil. 2:14-16a). Several things in these verses deserve our attention.

Tony Sanelli is our Pastor-Teacher.

First, Paul encourages the church to pursue a harmonious existence within the body. The world is in disarray and people have forgotten how to disagree with respect and courteousness. Self-love and discontent is the order of the day. But Christian contentment (a theme Paul takes up later in this epistle) is a breath of fresh air in a selfish, whining and complaining world. We have so much to be thankful for even in our disagreements.

Our world is divided into ever-smaller tribes due to the concept of “personal preference” as a most important defining principle wrongly derived from “individual rights.” Like the many warring tribes struggling for power in Egypt, Iraq and now Libya, our society is collapsing into special interest groups each advocating for their interest. The church’s ability to unite people of diverse backgrounds, socio-economic status, color, race and language in a single loving and harmonious community is starkly different. This is just ONE simple area of the church’s life in Christ that is contrasted to the world. Think of how many other aspects of our life together can potentially stand out against the darkness.

Second, it is this sort of practical Christ-like, Spirit-produced behavior that proves or demonstrates that Christians are “children of God.” Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13:35). Elsewhere, Jesus also said that when we love our enemies then we are “sons of our Father in heaven” (Mt. 5:45). The grumbling people of the wilderness generation, by contrast, were repudiated as “no longer his children (Dt. 32:5). Love, said Francis Schaeffer, is the “final apologetic” and it is the believer’s “badge.” It is one thing to confess the faith and be listed on the roster of a local church; it is another to display love—the fruit of the Spirit.

Third, though this Christian community is contrasted to the world, it is “in the midst” of a “crooked and perverse” generation that this excellent life is lived out. The church cannot be so separate as to not be “in the midst.” This is a reflection of the old adage to live “in the world but not of it.” The church family and the individual believers that comprise it are to be distinguished by its behavior yet there can be no distinction without proximity. This may take place in the work place, neighborhood associations, schools and other normal intersections of life. The church is distinctive in its handling of things such as money, sexuality, opportunity, difficulties, family, power and influence and this distinctiveness is noticed in our interactions with the lost.

Fourth, the result of being “in but not of ” is that “you appear as lights in the world.” The word Paul uses means “luminaries” (Greek phosteres). The term is used in the Greek version of the Old Testament in Genesis 1:14-19 of the sun, moon, and stars. As F. F. Bruce notes, “these luminaries do not shine for their own sake; they shine to provide light for all the world.” You and I possess what the frustrated masses need – the light of the truth. God’s truth informs and shapes all of life. Hence, His light can be seen in all aspects of our behavior and speech. It is recognized as HIS light when we verbalize the fact that the source of our insight or reason for living the way we do is the Lord Jesus. If we leave people to supply their own explanation they might reason that we live the way we do because we are “religious” or “moral” or perhaps we are Mormons or practice yoga and are very “centered.” What gives glory to God is our verbalizing the reason for our behavior as rooted in the gospel and our relationship with Jesus Christ. This is “confessing” Him before men.

How are some believers doing this? How are some encouraging others to do this? What does this look like in my field? These are good and helpful questions. My own pastoral suggestion is to live in community with other believers in order to discuss these matters and pray together. This is one of the benefits of our small groups. The testimonies of God’s grace in other people who face similar circumstances can be tremendously encouraging and challenging. This can take shape along the lines of our existing community groups or I can imagine forming small groups based upon similar challenges for a limited duration of time.

For example, I have read of churches in city centers forming “vocation groups” in order to meet other Christians in their profession and talk about the challenges and opportunities they share and how they are building bridges for the gospel in their specific field. This might provide not only examples and insight but prayer partners that really “get” what you face. To this end I can imagine student groups, public servants, teachers, homemakers and others meeting for a handful of times. These are but a few suggestions.

We live in a time of unprecedented opportunity for the gospel. The world is listening and watching. Sit for just a few hours on a park bench or a BART station or a town center and you will see the pain, confusion and turmoil of those “wandering in the darkness” as Jesus spoke in John 8. This is a great time to appear as lights in the world. Let’s find ways to do this together and individually by the grace of God.

Numbers, that’s all they are. But, you add a few zeros behind them and they suddenly take on a different perspective:

2,600,000,000
10,000,000
15,000

The perspective is a much larger one but, still, they’re just numbers. Add some nouns behind them and they now come alive with a spirit of being:

2,600,000,000 image bearers of God…
10,000,000 little boys and girls…
15,000 Africans…

And while that spirit suddenly has flesh and blood, it’s a bit benign. However with the insertion of a context the words abruptly take on meaning with implications:

2,600,000,000 image bearers of God living on less than $2.00/day.
10,000,000 little boys and girls without mommies and daddies
15,000 Africans dying each day of preventable, treatable diseases.

Tom Kruggel is a pastor at Grace Bible Church.

Altogether we now perceive and feel life, albeit sobering. But it’s only in the visible, written word that we read here. This is merely ink on a piece of paper. We can’t taste the hunger, see the small faces, or smell the death. Nonetheless, through the wonder of words, even and only written words, we capture a vision in our minds and it captures a piece of our hearts. We emote. In this case, feelings of sympathy, shock and staggering unbelief are racing through our veins. They’re people, and there are a lot of them. They’re like us, but they’re not us. We identify, but only in part.

The sheer numbers and magnitude of the human plight are overwhelming, so much so that it’s numbing. On a mere cognitive level we become anesthetized, which leads to hopelessness. Hopelessness leads to passivity. And passivity leads to nothing. In just a few moments we’ll have to put this newsletter down, move on to our next thing and quickly forget the sparked emotion and unconscionable horror.

On the other hand, rather than only read, if we were to sleep next to the penniless, unkempt homeless in their shelter for a night, meander around dozens of chain-linked orphanage cribs and see the longing, damp eyes of dozens of love-starved children, or hold the feeble hand of a weak, suffering and emaciated HIV/AIDS victim, our sedated hearts would begin to bleed a crimson tide, and it’s a tide that never secedes. The odor becomes embedded into our senses, the sights are burned into our eyes, the sensation forever brushing up against our skin. These are scary exposures; they’re frightening encounters. Our world is inoculated with toxins. We’re now tainted, infected if you will, by our flesh pressing flesh. We’re not quite the same. In a sense, we’re marred for life.

The purest of all pure, the cleanest of all clean, and the brightest of all bright, dirtied Himself with the soiled of this place. The prostitutes, the lepers, the poor, the thieves, the sick, the lame, the crazy, the dead were lures for Jesus – the bright morning star (cf. Revelation 22:16). Reading, hearing and talking about them weren’t enough for the One we despised and refused to esteem (cf. Isaiah 53:3). Rather, by the outstretched touch of His love, the blind received sight, the lame walked, the lepers were cleansed, the deaf heard, the dead were raised up, and the poor had the gospel preached to them (cf. Matthew 11:5). And while He could have done all that from afar, without ever making a move from the heavenly places or traversing our mountains or crossing our seas, Jesus felt that He must, He simply “… must stay at y(our) house” (Luke 19:5b), even if you were the most vile known unto man. This is the kind of religion that Jesus embodies – a religion that breathes beauty into the hideous by stroking their faces, cleanliness into the filthy by touching their skin, and love into the unlovely by dining with them at their table. It’s a religion of proximity, a religion of duty, and a religion of action. It’s a religion that refuses to regard “The Ugly Duckling” as an ugly duckling simply because the splendor of the Swan is obscured. And this religion is a religion unearthed out of a gripping passion for and from the One who is our Prince of life (cf. Acts 3:15), a religion where guilt has no place and love has everyplace. He’s shown us what is good, “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8b) And “He has told you, O man, what the Lord require(s) of you…” (Micah 6:8a).

That’s why James can write that “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:27, emphasis added) It’s pure and it’s undefiled to visit and be with the needy, the fatherless, the homeless, the hungry, the poor, the widow, the lonely, and the destitute – those we keep at a distance and those we let make us feel so uncomfortable. Why… doing so is the religion of Jesus and, in fact, in so doing it helps keep us unstained by, what has the appearance of purity but only offers impurity, the world. Yes, our mere presence brings Jesus in the flesh, and with it comes our spirit and our gospel, bringing Jesus in the divine, Jesus the everlasting, Jesus the hope of all hope.

But our proclivity, and the adversary’s desire, is to keep the brokenhearted at bay. It’s neater and tidier to view them as “just a number” and let the “others” care for them. It’s much more comfortable to give money, as important as that is, and not allow them to deform the shape of our world. So we need countermeasures – aids aimed at helping us walk where Jesus walked (cf. I John 2:6). There’s a lot of superfluous noise in our lives, and it must be jammed if we’re to tune into the sound of the broken. Let us come face to face with Jesus and to do for the “least of these” (cf. Matthew 25:45) what Jesus did for the least of us, returning grace as if it reverberated back to Jesus Himself:

“If You were hungry, would we give You food? If You were thirsty, would we give You drink? If You were a stranger, would we let You in? What would be the song we’d sing to You when You’re in need? Would it be an empty alleluia to the King?
And if You were naked, would we give You clothes? If You were an orphan, would we give our home? And if You were in prison, would we visit You? What would be the song we’d sing to You when You’re in need? Would it be an empty alleluia to the king?
Turn down the music Turn down the noise Turn up Your voice, oh God, And let us hear the sound Of people broken Willing to love Give us Your heart, oh God, A new song rising up
Let it be our worship Let it be our true religion In this world but not unwavering Holding on to our confession”
~ Shane & Shane (“Turn Down the Music”)

Pure and undefiled religion, that’s what we yearn for. And so… our Orphan Care Ministry, an antidote to sensitize our senses, will now be called P U R E (Pure & Undefiled Religion Expressed). This is our call to action. Its mission is to bring “the least of these” to us, or at least take us to them. It’ll be our new song, a song with lyrics and a melody still to be composed. Join us and listen, listen and sing, “making melody with your heart(s) to the Lord ” (Ephesians 5:19c) for all the world to hear and all the heavens to praise.

~Tom Kruggel

Tom Kruggel is a pastor at Grace Bible Church.

I grew up reading the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sporting Green, while discarding the rest of the day’s news as unimportant. I followed my teams faithfully and read about every individual stat of every team with great attention to detail. My dad would often comment that he wished that I knew my schoolwork as well as I knew my sports. I was (am to a lesser degree) a fan (short for ‘fanatic”) of sports.

Scott Denny is the Administrative Pastor at Grace Bible Church

We wear our favorite player’s jersey. We hang his picture on our wall and we dream of being THAT guy who makes THE play on the last play of the game to win the game.

In our country, we have a “Hall of Fame” for every major team sport in America which recognizes the great achievement not of great teams but the achievement of an individual as superior to the other players in that same sport.

We are a nation, a people, who loves the greatness of the individual.

Ad agencies market their products to appeal to the sense of individual- ism… “Have it your way.” “Be all that you can be.” “You deserve a break today.”

The great Frank Sinatra sang, “I did it my way”.

So what’s all this have to do with God’s church? Nothing and yet everything.

Unlike our culture, we are called to a higher calling, a higher purpose. We are called to live life not in a world of isolation where our actions have no bearing on anyone else; where our actions give glory to individual effort and achievement. Rather we are called to live our lives with a view to love (John 13:34), serve (Galatians 5:13), comfort (1Thesalonians 4:18), exhort (Hebrews 3:13), edify (1Thesalonians 5:11), greet (John 16:16), admonish (Romans 15:14), forgive (Ephesians 4:32), be kind (Romans 12:10), compassionate (1Peter 3:8), hospitable (1Peter 4:9), speaking no evil of and to one another (James 4:11).

In many ways, Grace Bible Church is characterized by our Lord’s call to be involved intimately with one another. We are a people who visit the sick, care for the widow and orphan, pray for those in need, serve wherever there is a call to do so, demonstrate hospitality regularly, speak the truth in love to one another, minister to one another and on it goes.

As a people of God, we are characterized not only by what we do, but also for whom we do what we do and the manner in which we do what we do. We are a people called to do all things as ‘unto the Lord’ (Colossians 3:23) without ‘grumbling and complaining’ (Philippians 2:14) and ‘in love for one another’ (John 13:34). No doubt, the people of Grace regularly and joyfully serve the people of Grace out of love for their Savior and His people.

Sadly, though, we fracture God’s church and taint the witness of God’s church when our purpose shifts from the fame of Jesus to the praise of men. When we serve not for the sake and glory of the one who redeemed us and delivered us from bondage and adopted us into the family of God, we veer off course and find that serving God’s church is drudgery rather than delight.

When ministry and serving become drudgery, we grumble and complain about each other, about those in leadership, about the use of the facility, about the direction of certain ministries, about the colors of rooms, about the kind of coffee being served, about who is serving, where they serve and the manner in which they serve. Serving and ministry then turns into an ‘us’ verses ‘them’ mentality.
The Apostle Paul wrote, “Do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” (Philippians 2:14,15). The witness of our Lord Jesus is at stake brothers and sisters. The church of the living God is THE light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That light is dulled when we grumble and complain about God’s people, about God’s church.

When we grumble and complain we fail to live as family (Ephesians 2:19), as ones seeking the interest of others (Philippians 2:4), as ones who are the pillar and support of truth (1Timothy 3:15). When we grumble and complain we ultimately are more concerned about our individual stats than we are about the purpose for even being in the game. Beloved, our purpose is the glory, fame and reputation of Jesus, not individual glory nor the ease of ministry.

When we live as individuals who put our needs, wants, and desires ahead of the very ones we are called to love, that purpose affects the very core of our witness. Christ said that all will know that we are His disciples, if we have love for one another. (John 13:34,35).

We fail in our love for each other, when we seek after what’s most comfortable for us rather than what’s most honoring to the Lord God, our Savior, Jesus Christ. We fail in our love for each other when we serve one another only when it’s comfortable for us to do so, rather than because it fulfills the law of Christ (Romans 13:10; cf Galatians 6:2). We fail in our love for each other when we simply seek after our own interests rather than also the interest of others (Philippians 2:4). We fail in our love for each other when we believe the worst of one another rather than the best (1 Corinthians 13:7).

“But you have not so learned Christ,” (Ephesians 4:20). Brothers and sisters, as a people of God we are called, “to walk worthy of the calling with which [we are] called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,” (Ephesians 4:1,2). This life as believers is to be characterized by our humility, patience and love for one another.

Brothers and sisters, may we never forget that our aim and purpose as a people of God is not individual glory and achievement. It is not individual comfort and ease within ministry. Rather, as the people of God, we proclaim the excellencies of the living God when we live out our faith together, loving one another, serving one another, in all meekness and humility as the church of the living God.

Scott Denny is our Administrative Pastor.

First it will be good to know what the Bible means when it uses the term “strive.” In the Old Testament, the main word used to describe this type of striving is “r`uwth” and is defined as feeding upon or grasping after. In the New Testament, the main word used meaning to strive for something is the Greek word, “agonizomai” which is where we get the word “agony” and has meanings of contending or working hard for something. So biblically, to strive after something basically means to really go after it pretty strongly. It’s not just a weak hope or desire that produces no activity in the person seeking it, but rather it is a strong desire that produces much effort by the person seeking it. The Bible both warns us about striving for wrong things or in wrong ways as well as encourages us to strive for right things or in right ways. As believers, it should be important to us to know what our Lord desires us to strive after and then put our efforts out strongly to that end.

Before we get to what Scripture says, think for a moment about the things that you find yourself striving after. What consumes your thoughts and energy? Where does your extra money go to? How do you plan to use your extra time? All things, and others, are reflective of the things that we are striving after and are effective ways to measure or reveal to us the desires of our hearts. Our old, sinful nature will push us to strive after selfish things. Some of those things are not even sinful things in and of themselves, but they can easily become idols and thus can consume us in various ways.

Consider also that as Christ is our example in all things, then we ought to seek to “strive” in the same ways that He did. By reading through the Gospels it is fairly easy to conclude that what Jesus sought after the most was to please and glorify the Father in all that He did! So that then becomes our goal as well. None of us will meet that goal here in this life due to our ongoing struggle with sin, but we must remember that the Lord is sanctifying us to this end. We should also be striving for this same goal, in all that we think, say and do. A daunting task, but one that we all ought to seek and help each other with.

So what does Scripture say? Well, Solomon has much to say about all forms of striving in Ecclesiastes. Basically he said that everything under the sun is vanity and striving after the wind (1:14). He then spoke of some specifics in the same way. Wisdom and foolishness. Hard work and enjoyment. Our words and even life itself. (2:11, 17, 26; 4:4, 6, 15-16; 6:7-9 and others). He basically addresses any and every pursuit that is not done to please God, nor for His glory. Sadly, these are things that can be true of us, often times in a number of ways. Some obvious, some subtle. Part of our striving then must be to be centered on, focused on, Christ. As we look to the New Testament, there are, on the positive side, some very clear things that we are to be striving after.
Romans 15:30-32…teaches us that we ought to “strive together” in prayer for other believers for a number of things.
1 Corinthians 14:12…tells us that we are to “strive to excel in building up the church.”
Philippians 1:27…commands us to “[strive] side by side” for the Gospel.
Colossians 1:29…shows us that Paul’s example in striving was to do so with all the energy that the Lord gave him.
Colossians 2:1…helps us to know that our striving is to be great and for others, even those whom we may not have even met.
1 Timothy 4:1-10…teaches us the importance of striving for truth and right doctrine.
Hebrews 4:1-16…reminds us to strive after obedience to Christ, via his mercy and grace.
Hebrews 12:14…commands us to “strive for peace with all men…”.

And again, looking back to Christ’s example, all of this striving is for the ultimate goal of pleasing the Father and honoring Him with our very lives. Notice all of the things that are absent from this list…things like financial security, the perfect job, travel/vacations, all kinds of material possessions, sports/athletics, all forms of entertainment…so many things that we tend to strive after! All of us struggle with this. No exceptions. Of course there is nothing wrong with having a good job, nor going on a vacation, nor owning things. The question we ought to ask, though, is are we content to strive after things that are potentially vain things? Remember, these do not need to be (and often times are not) sinful things…just vain, if done for selfish motives and not done to be pleasing and honoring to God.

Brothers and sisters…examine yourselves. See what things may be in your life that keep you striving after vanity and keep you from striving after the things listed above. Think about these things, don’t just read an article. Take stock in your life and see if you are striving with all the energy the Lord provides you, as Paul did. As you look at the teachings of Scripture, does your “striving” line up with what it should? If not, ask the Lord to strengthen you to seek more and more after things that He desires and less for what you desire. Then watch as His desires become yours!
Pray for us to strive together for His glory! In this together…by His grace!

Chris Kiiskinen is our Pastor of Student Ministries.

“For from him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be the glory for ever” (Rom. 11:36)

I was not born a Christian. No one is. Becoming a believer is the result of an act of God the Holy Spirit upon the heart and soul of a human being. It is described as being “born again” or “regeneration.” Paul refers to it as becoming a “new creation.” It is an invisible monergistic act that results in faith and repentance (monergism is the view that the Holy Spirit is the only agent who effects regeneration of Christians. This is in contrast with synergism, the view that there is cooperation between the divine and the human in the regeneration process).

When I became a believer I could not have written the paragraph you just read. I did not understand the sovereignty of God in salvation. I had never heard the term “Calvinism.” I did not know a single Reformed confession of the faith. I had never read the term “predestination.” None of this prevented our gracious God from calling me out of darkness and into His light. In other words, comprehending what God did in my conversion and how He did it was not essential to my justification and forgiveness.

But the beginning of the Christian walk is only just that–a beginning. We must build upon our foundation. Peter prays that every Christian will “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). Paul, even after teaching the believers at Ephesus for three years, would later write that he prayed for them that they “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge”, in order that they might “be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18-19).
I have since come to the conviction that the core of Reformed theology or the “doctrines of grace” are the marrow of the faith. I say “core” because Reformed theology is not monolithic (single stranded). There are various strands and diverse positions on what might be called secondary issues.

The basic principle of the Reformed explanation of the Christian faith is the sovereignty of God. Sovereignty means, “rule.” God’s
sovereignty is His supremacy, kingship and deity. This was not an invention of the Reformers. It was a rediscovery of the soul of the faith during the Protestant Reformation. They were standing on the shoulders of Augustine and others before them who had asserted these truths in one form or another.
This is the marrow of the faith. As Charles Hodge so aptly put it:

“God’s sovereignty is to all other doctrines what the granite formation is to the other strata of the earth. It underlies and sustains them, but it crops out only here and there. So this doctrine should underlie all our preaching, and should be definitely asserted only now and then.”

God is the Lord of life and Sovereign of the universe, whose will and perfect plan is the key and driving force of history. He is free and independent of any forces or will outside Himself. He will accomplish His gracious will. This sovereignty is exercised in the plan of salvation and every other sphere of life and existence in the cosmos.

To arrive at this confession was quite a personal journey. After my conversion, which took place outside the reach or influence of a local church, I returned to the Roman Catholic Church. That lasted but a few weeks. My conscience did not permit me to stay in the face of the many contradictions with Scripture. Soon Sheri and I were in fellowship with a Plymouth brethren congregation that was Arminian in its theology. We learned a lot there about the practical Lordship of Jesus and spiritual disciplines. Our next step involved a mixture of Charismatic Christian friends and membership in a large Evangelical church that was big on evangelism but shallow on doctrinal instruction. I began to feed myself via Christian radio ministries such as John MacArthur’s Grace to You and other sources.

In 1986 we joined a small handful of people in an effort to plant a new church in Solano County. It was during the embryonic stages of this work that I began to read through “Chosen by God” by R. C. Sproul as the preaching pastor of the church plant was working through the book of Ephesians. I remember the light coming on in my soul one day. I stopped wrestling against the notion that God had chosen me before I ever believed in Him. I realized He did this not because He foresaw anything IN ME that would move Him to choose me because unless He had acted upon me I would still be dead in my trespasses and sins. What could He foresee but His own grace working for me first! He was the primary cause. Why did the Lord of glory do this? – Because of His unfathomable love and mercy for me. But why did He choose me? As with Israel: “The LORD did not set His love on you or choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you…” (Deut. 7:7-8). In other words, “He loved you because He loved you.” That was it. I settled into the arms of sovereign grace (where I had always been of course, just not consciously).

I soon learned that understanding the sovereignty of God in our salvation and all of life is not just a philosophical journey. This core doctrine has many practical effects. The most universal is theocentricity (God-centeredness). I began to see the fatherly lordship of God over every aspect of my life and indeed all life. God has bound Himself to love me in His gracious Covenant only because He wants to. Hence, all of my life is worship. I am called to serve Him with body and soul, in church and daily life and work, every moment of each day. All of life is coram Deo, that is, lived out before the face of God. As Paul says, “… I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice… which is your spiritual service of worship” (Rom. 12:1). Theocentricity also has a profound effect upon public worship. “It’s not all about me.”
Soon, a new motive for the Christian life settled into my conscience and heart. It was fueled by the gospel reality of God’s sovereign grace. The Lordship or authority of Jesus in my life was buoyed not by guilt and the weight of legal duty alone. Sure, it was my duty to walk a worthy walk but it was grace that brought me to this point, grace that would lift me up after failures, grace that would sustain me through trials and it will be future grace promised to me by God that will bring me safely home.

In all honesty, this God-centered way of viewing salvation and life is not always at the forefront of my mind, especially in the mundane duties of life. But, that’s why Paul and other biblical authors keep pressing it upon their Christian readers. We choose what to think about. Reflecting upon the gospel is a learned discipline.

I’ve written this brief article to help you see why the doctrine of God’s sovereignty “crops up here and there” in our ministry and is “definitely asserted now and then.” Charles Hodge was right; it is the granite foundation to all other doctrines. But more, it is the granite foundation to a life joyfully lived to the glory of God. As Samuel spoke to Israel, “Only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you” (1 Sam. 12:24). It really is the marrow of the faith.

Tony Sanelli is the preaching pastor of Grace Bible Church.

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

2 Timothy 2:1-2

This month’s newsletter article provides a good opportunity to update the flock on some of the efforts we have made within the ministry of discipleship, particularly in lives of our men.

As many of you are aware, the elders have placed a major focus on the discipleship and training of men within our congregation. From the very beginning years of our church, men who are part of our membership have been invited to join the Discipleship Training Program (DTP). It has been the elders’ strong conviction and desire to see these brothers’ lives impacted by a deeper understanding of the Gospel, which in turn impacts their homes, relationships and the church for the glory of Christ and furtherance of His kingdom.

To be involved, men in our congregation make a major commitment of time and attention to the growth of their spiritual lives though weekly lectures and discussion, study and prayer. We can certainly look back over the last 15 years of DTP and see God’s hand of blessing in many of these brothers’ lives and families. This includes four of our six current elders who did not receive formal training, such as seminary, but went through DTP, which played a major role in their training and development as future pastors of this flock. While this latter outcome is not the sole intent of DTP, we do thank God for using this ministry to equip and raise men up to serve within the church in various roles.

Today it seems more than ever the biblical role of men is under attack, not only from the secular culture, but sadly also within the Christian culture where there has been less and less importance placed upon what we might term “real biblical manhood.” The unfortunate result has been a long, slow drift into passivity on the part of men. This attitude has been detrimental to marriages, families, and relationships in and outside the household of faith and has not served well a surrounding culture that so desperately needs models of transformed lives in its midst.

Although DTP has experienced a number of changes over the last several years, it still stresses the importance of the biblical role of men in everyday life. Some of these changes have been the direct result of what the apostle Paul emphasized in 2 Timothy 2:1-2. An example of this has played out within our own eldership. Pastor Tony, after many years of faithfully teaching DTP, was able to step away in 2010 and leave those responsibilities to other elders, two of whom sat under the same teaching in prior years.

Additionally, adjustments have been made to the DTP curriculum so that men can now complete the program over the course of one year.

As in past years, DTP group meetings have taken place two evenings a month when the men gather for prayer, teaching and discussion on the following topics:

Unit 1 – The Spiritual Life – Taught by Tim Menez
Unit 2 – The Godly Man at Home, Work and Church – Taught by Scott Denny
Unit 3 – Missional Living – Taught by Vince Cuomo

Each of the above topics are covered over six to seven sessions with the men having memorized applicable Scripture verses and completing reading assignments along the way. Despite busy work schedules and responsibilities to their families, these brothers persevered and have been a great source of encouragement to the elders.

One other major change this cycle has been the addition of personal time with the men during off-meeting weeks. This year we divided the larger group into smaller groups of three to four men who met off-line with one of the three elders assigned to them. This was done in an effort to follow up on topic discussion, provide additional prayer time together, and to take conversations regarding Gospel application to a greater level. Again, we praise God for the growth and deepening of relationships in and among these men as a result.

In closing, please remember to pray for the DTP ministry in the following ways:

• For the current group of men who are finishing this DTP cycle. That the Lord will strengthen each of them to persevere through this unit. That He would demonstrate His power in them through the practical application of the Gospel in everyday life. Also, please ask God to guide and direct these brothers in their current and future ministry opportunities at GBC.
• For the next group of brothers who may join DTP this Fall. Ask God to prepare these men’s hearts and to produce much fruit as a result of their participation.
• Please pray for the elders who will rotate responsibilities within DTP. We must never forget that our own hearts need exposure to the very same truth, and we will always need reminding of our dependence on Christ and the reality of His presence and power in our own lives.

May God be increasingly honored as we seek to bring Him Glory through this vital ministry of DTP.

On behalf of the elders, thank you for your faithful prayers.

Your brother in Christ,
Tim Menez

Tim is one of our non-vocational elders.

Seven words…. that’s all. Short, simple and straightforward, yet profound, poignant and penetrating. I think my little six year old Poppy could read them, but I’m not sure that even Einstein himself could fully decipher them. This declaration spoken from Jesus’ lifelong relative (and “friend of the bridegroom” ) thousands of years ago, and even preached from our own pulpit just months ago, has mystified me from the day I first breathed divine air. Even today, dozens of years later, I cannot read these words without them stopping me dead in my tracks. Their meaning, their applicability… what are they for me, for us?

This guy (John the Baptist) was seemingly impetuous. He had “fire-in-his-belly”, fueling “fire” from his mouth. John called it like he saw it, he didn’t mince words. He was considered an enigma, a freak, eating strange food and wearing odd clothing, yet multitudes flocked to him. Why some even said, “He has a demon!” (Matthew 11:18b) On the other hand, John was a servant, humble, self-effacing, honorable, and merely saw himself as a needle that pointed away and toward another. His courage, passion and conviction landed him in prison, leading to his head being dished up on a platter. Contrastingly, the guilty hands stained by his blood represented everything John did not.

Just before his gruesome death, and right at the climax of his truncated “career”, the tables turned for John. The throngs that were magnetized by him ricochet to another. It just so happened to be toward the one John called “… the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29b), the one John was all along straight up about. John was always adamant about making it crystal clear that it was never about him, that he was not the Christ – not even close. So it only seems natural in one sense that John would simply say (when Jesus showed up on the scene) that the time had come for the one he’d been talking about all this time to rise up and for him to step aside.

Part of me sort of just wants to stop there and say to myself, “Oh, I get it. Of course Jesus the Christ must increase and John the trumpeter must decrease”, and leave it at that. But ripples still pulsate in the glassy pools of my heart. Could it be that some greater relevance is accessible for me and for us too? Can John’s desire also be mine and ours even though we’re not the one “crying in the wilderness” (John 1:23)? “Please God, let it be so.”

We’re separated now by space and time but, as radical and stanch as John was, we still share much alike. Our spiritual heritage is identical, and our godly ancestral position equal (cf. Ephesians 2:1-3, Galatians 3:26). He doubted as we do, but is loved as we are (cf. Luke 7:20, John 3:16). His temptations were common, with his hope and belief the same as us (cf. I Corinthians 10:13, Romans 4:23-25). And the ultimate need to be rescued from his nature, like ours, remains unchanged today. His innate desire to be for himself what only Jesus could appease was (and is) identical for all mankind– to elevate and honor ourselves above our Creator. This is why and what John bellowed from the riverbanks. What he harkened unto the crowds he harkened unto himself, and then he symbolically cleansed with water those who recognized their need to be brought low that a Savior might be high.

Sound all too familiar? Probably, especially if you’ve been a follower of Jesus or attending Grace Bible Church for quite some time. This is the essence of what we call good, great news, and we Christians talk about it all the time. But I sometimes get discouraged after all these years because my desire to be prominent and renowned can still take precedence over lauding Jesus. It happens when I want to be first in a competition that others might see my prowess, or when I advance in my vocation to be held in superior status, or when I have more facebook friends than another that my popularity might be on display, or when I blog so that others might think I’m profound, or when I worship with exuberance that my passion might be distinguished, or when I raise three children and adopt three others that my sacrifice might be flattered, or even when I write this newsletter article that my contribution might be complimented. These inklings stream through my veins. I want to increase, even though I know all too well that what John said earlier is right, “A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven.” (John 3:27) Crazy thing is I sometimes don’t even know how to shift the honor due Him toward Him. Please don’t tell me I’m alone.

In a way, John’s fame was greater than Jesus’ before He “officially” stepped into the foreground. John had just about everyone’s ear – from the commoner to the highest ranking officials. Surely he faced the lure of self-promotion and aggrandizement square in the eyes. Yet he yielded all of who he was to Jesus. And John went even further, wholly surrendering that Jesus “must” increase and, conversely, he “must” decrease. It’s imperative, it’s the quintessence of being Christian, and it’s the consistent message he’d been saying from the beginning. John was never described as desiring anything but that Jesus be amplified and John abridged. He saw himself but as only a voice, just a voice. In fact, John considered himself to be so insignificant he wasn’t worthy to perform even the lowliest of all slave labor tasks – loosening the ties of the Master’s sandals (cf. Mark 1:7). “But how, John? How?”

In the natural realm, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction (Newton’s Third Law). When a force is exerted upon an object, a counterpart force is exerted in the opposing direction. In the supernatural realm, for every exaltation there is an opposite humiliation. When someone genuinely deflects adulation to another, a counterpart resignation is accepted by that someone. And for anyone to increase and the other to decrease, there simply must be a relative comparison to another, otherwise how would anyone be higher or lower if there wasn’t someone, something to measure against?

Nowhere is it recorded that John measured himself against another human being. On the contrary, it appears he couldn’t have cared less how he stacked up alongside another, and that would be everyone, except one – the One, Jesus. And in this case, John demanded that he himself only be brought lower that Jesus might be brought higher. The irony of it all is that the One John wanted to elevate had to become the lowest that we all might be united with the Highest. “… the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” was also “the Lamb that was slain” (Revelation 5:12). And “the Lamb that was slain” descended that He might ascend “far above all the heavens” (Ephesians 4:10), where He is now preparing a high place for us (cf. John 14:2-3).

We’ve come full circle, and so it is here I (we) must stop, and it is here where I (we) should always stop – at the cross, at the good, great news. All of life always boils down to this. With Jesus now in our foreground, we plainly cannot be focused on two objects at one and the same time. The object of myself, ourselves, or another simply must, and will, decrease as the object of Himself increases.

He must increase, but I (we) must decrease.

Tom is one of our vocational pastors. He teaches our Getting Acquainted with Grace Class and leads our Sunday morning prayer meetings.

First, there is a connection between their own sense of weaknesses and dependence on the attributes of God. There is a great deal of time spent reflecting on and praising God for his greatness and power. They especially concentrate on His sovereignty and control of all things (v.24). In other words, they do not simply ask for boldness (v.29), but they actually address their fear by meditating on the attribute of God most antithetical to their fear. This is an extremely important insight. What this means is that we are not just to ask God to take away our worry, but we must meditate on and entrust ourselves to His wisdom. We do not just ask God for more confidence, but we must meditate on and entrust ourselves to His love and grace. We do not just ask God for more self-control, but we must meditate on His holiness. We are to renew our hearts by praying His specific attributes as well as their connection to the gospel message.
Second, there is a connection between their ministry situation (“threats”v.29, cf. v.18) and the promises and statements in Scripture. From Psalm 2 they remember King David’s words that the rulers of the world will be hostile to the Messiah
(vv.25-26). They then recognize the parallel between what Herod and Pilate did and what the church was now facing at the hands of the religious and civil authorities (v.26). However, in v.28 they realize that “they [the rulers] did what your power and will had decided beforehand would happen.” This realization is an enormous source of power. The connection of their current situation with the Bible and with the Sovereignty of God shows them that the murder of Jesus Christ did not display human power but divine power. As they prayed, they came to realize that the same court that killed Christ has now released Peter and John, because everything is totally under God’s control. They need not shrink back — whether they are killed or protected. In either case, God is going to love and honor and use them, and they are going to triumph with Him. You can see boldness and spiritual power growing as they pray.

Third, therefore, we see that there is no request for protection. They do not ask that their lives, families, and wealth be protected. (This does not mean that those are inappropriate petitions. It does mean this was not the primary concern — facing opposition was not the real problem.) The church makes just two requests.

First, they ask for boldness (v.38) to articulate the gospel message.

Second, they ask for God to continue to authenticate their message (v.39).
(continued on page 4)

All they ask for is to continue their ministry. They ask not for miracles of vengeance on the rulers — but for the continued presence of His mercy, as people are healed and converted.

In summary we see the church’s prayer life here in Acts 4 as marked by:

1) It is corporate — they prayed “together” v.24.

2) It was more absorbed in praise and worship to God for who He is, than in personal requests and needs.

3) It was full of Scripture, using the promises and declarations of the Word of God to guide their prayer.

4) It was a process. They came to realizations and new unity as they prayed. God worked in them as they prayed.

5) It sought the presence and glory of God, not just a change in circumstances.

Accounts like this one of the earliest disciples has provoked me to consider the part that praise plays in my own prayer life. Am I delighting in who God is and what He has and is doing in my life through the gospel? Is my joy regularly being renewed and am I resting in all that it means to be an adopted son of the Sovereign King? Is my life bearing the kind of fruit that comes as a result of hope in Christ alone?

Vince Cuomo is the Pastor of Adult Education and Biblical Counseling.