Five Years from Now

Dear Grace family, we shared the hard news with you in December that God is leading us to our next ministry, and we are all preparing for the challenging goodbye this month.  I want to express our deepest love for you all, as God has laid you on our hearts in this time we have had to know you, pray …

Prayers for our Children

Pray these passages for your children, grandchildren, and the children of Grace! Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Colossians 1:9-12 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be …

Help Us to Be Conquerors!

Dear Grace Family, We have been studying through the 7 churches in Revelation 2-3, learning from God’s commendations and corrections for each church.  Last night, Mark challenged us to examine ourselves as a church, and discuss how we stand before God, and what Jesus might say about us.  We do well to examine ourselves carefully, so that we look into …

Love the Lord Your God with Your Wallet

The command to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might is prefaced in Deuteronomy with an urgent call to listen, and is considered by Jesus to be the greatest commandment.  This permeates the most uncomfortable of areas, including our finances.  Do you, will you, love the Lord your …

Why We Won’t Have “Online Communion”

Dear Grace Family, This weekend marks the 4th Sunday that we are unable to gather together in-person to worship the Lord together and joyfully practice the “one another” commands that God has lovingly given us.  Though normal life and normal church as we know it have been overturned for now, we believe that Jesus is building His church, and the …

Why Do Christians Force Their Beliefs?

Perhaps you’ve wondered before why Christians feel the need to try to “convert” you to their religion.  Can’t Christians leave others alone?  Beliefs are personal business… why would someone try to push their beliefs on me? I think the best place to start is to ponder what their motivation may be.  It is very possible to be a Christian and …

This is NOT the Year

Happy New Year!  It’s 2020, and many of us have resolutions, goals, hopes, dreams.  That’s good!  We need regular prompts for change and fresh ambition, and if the turn of a new year does that, then press on!  We all ought to be regularly stirred by a holy discontent that wrings our souls with desire to grow, to forget those …

Because God is Holy, Holy, Holy

It’s Christmas time.  We remember the incarnation of Christ the King, the Light of the World, the Prince of Peace, laid in a manger.  We do well to remember that He came for the purpose of dying on the cross, in order to satisfy the Father’s wrath and redeem sinful humanity.  However, we must not forget why that is necessary:  …

How to Benefit from Taking Sermon Notes

When listening to God’s Word preached, I strongly encourage that you take notes!  However… if we were to collect everyone’s notes after service, I believe that everyone’s notes should look different.  Not just the handwriting… but the content!  If we understand that better, each of us could take better sermon notes for our own greater spiritual benefit! The booklets and …

Unfinished.

Imagine having an ambition to build a beautiful house, and a costly investment to get started on the foundation… only to later get cold feet and bail without seeing the project through.  What now? About 6 months ago, I posed some questions to stir a calculated decision for each one of us: 1. Is your spiritual growth worth it? 2. …