Team Leaders' Meeting

On Sunday, May 1st, we will be having another Team Leaders' meeting during our Sunday school hour. I anticipate having these meetings once a quarter. Though it may seem at times that we are on a roller coaster ride with Team Ministry within the church, we have made progress. As expressed in our covenant agreement, I believe that every Christian has been given a spiritual gift. In addition to that, God has equipped every person with certain talents and passions. Team ministry seeks to link those three things together to aid in the ministry of GMBC.

Wrapped around the "love" chapter of scripture (I Corinthians 13) are two chapters about spiritual gifts. Chapter 12 encourages us to recognize ourselves as being a part of the bigger whole and chapter 14 gives instruction for the church in using all the gifts. The ultimate end to using these gifts according to I Corinthians 14:26 "...Let all things be done for edification."

Team Ministry is really a ministry of Ephesians 4:12!
Ephesians 4:11-13 "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and
some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of
the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of
Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the
Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the
fullness of Christ."

Team Leaders, you are encouraged to engage the people of GMBC in using their gifts, talents and passions to fulfill the work of Ephesians 4:12. It is both an avenue of allowing people to use their gifts as well as a tool to reach out and help those that need help both in the church and in the greater community that we live in.

Revelation 22

In Ephesians 1:7-10 Paul writes,
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." (ESV)

The closing chapters of Revelation speak to this completion of all God's purposes in redemption, at which time God in Christ will finally and fully restore all that was lost by our sinfulness. Consider God's work of restoration, of re-creation as it is highlighted by a comparison of Genesis 1-3 and Revelation 20-22...

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Gen. 1:1
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth..." Rev. 21:1

"...the darkness he called Night." Gen. 1:5
"...and there will be no night there." Rev. 21:25

SAY-IT Activities

The school year is quickly winding down (only 8 weeks left) and that means that SAY-IT is winding down for the school year. We will be posting a list of the Summer activities here on the blog page. So far, we are planning on a day at the Doepker's, a trip to The Mystery Spot, and an evening on the Go-Karts! If there are other ideas, please let me know.

Sermons from the 'Cloud'

Check out the new page tab "sermon audio." Personally I can't say that I'm all that excited about my sermons being available to the world, but I don't think there will be too many flocking to our web page to hear my sermons. This is a cool way to make them available to our congregation though.

Thanks to Jonathan who solved the recording issues and Jimmy who figured out how to get things up and running on this site.

Question Concerning Comments

Donna had asked a question about making comments. I thought I would answer here where everyone is likely to see it.

Only designated 'authors' can create new blog posts. Anyone can add comments to existing posts.

Every new post shows up at the top of the 'home page.' and older posts follow below it. (We can set preferences for how many and how long the older posts remain on the 'home page.')

Every post gets a label(s) and all posts - current and past, are listed under two links on the side bar on the right: by label and by month.

Worship Team is Awesome!

Hello everyone. Just wanted to say hi in case Pastor pulls up this screen during our meeting. Hope to see you there. Well maybe I am seeing you right now. Later

Bonhoeffer on Reading Scripture

In a 1936 letter to his brother-in-law Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote,
"First of all I will confess quite simply - I believe that the Bible alone is the answer to all our questions, and that we need only to ask repeatedly and a little humbly, in order to receive this answer. One cannot simply read the Bible, like other books. One must be prepared really to enquire of it. Only thus will it reveal itself. Only if we expect from it the ultimate answer, shall we receive it. that is because in the Bible God speaks to us. And one cannot simply think about God in one's own strength, one has to enquire of him.
...If it is I who determine where God is to be found, then I shall always find a God who corresponds to me in some way, who is obliging, who is connected with my own nature. But if God determines where he is to be found, then it will be in a place which is not immediately pleasing to my nature and which is not at all congenial to me. This place is the Cross of Christ. And whoever would find him must go to the foot of the Cross..."

What is the Gospel?

G.O.S.P.E.L. from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.