Don’t forget, Grace Brethren Church is having brunch between the first and second services on Easter Sunday. From 10:15 am (after the first service lets out) to 11:00 am (when the second service begins) brunch will be provided in Room B and in the Children’s Center. Come and enjoy the spread. While you’re there you can visit with the Children’s Church Sunday School teachers and members of the Youth and Women’s Ministires to find out what they’re up to. The Sunday School teachers will be in their rooms and Youth and Women’s Ministies will have tables set up in Room B. So if you’re attending second serivce, don’t forget, brunch is from 10:15 am to 11:00 am.
Good Friday Serivce
Grace Brethren Church is having a Good Friday Serivce on April 6th, 2012. The service is called “Paradoxes of the Passion”. It is a reader’s theater adapted by Nancy Calkins and directed by David Calkins. It includes the talents of David and Nancy with Lynn Delamtier and Jeff White. Joyce and Charmaine Delamtier will provide prelude music. Please join us Friday, April 6th, 2012 at 7:00 pm.
628 Pie Sale, 2012
Due to technical problems we couldn’t show 628′s pie sale video during the service. Thankfully Jon Martin posted it on YouTube for your information and the internet world’s entertianment. Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clp88cSEkpI&feature=autoshare
Audio: Completing the Goal
We are not to be tossed by every wind of doctrine. ("Wind," Hisae Imai, 1900-1959, MoMA.)
The Victory of Jesus Christ
Ephesians 4:13-14
Matthew Raley (4-1-12)
In today’s sermon we will be discussing one of the key themes in Ephesians: inheritance . The Father has adopted us into his household, and we have the hope of an inheritance in Christ. This hope is the focus of attention in Chapter 4, where we see the body of Christ working toward a goal.
The grace-story, or doctrine of the gospel, is about Christ’s victory over sin and death. Christ gives this story to the Church through the apostles and prophets, distributes it through the evangelists, pastors, and teachers, and makes it the focus of “the unity of the faith.” The story delivers “the knowledge of the Son of God,” a knowledge that is practical not theoretical. This story both informs us about and prepares us for our inheritance.
Audio: The Captives’ Goal
The body of Christ is a construction operation. ("Chrysler Building Construction," Walker Evans, 1929, Met.)
The Victory of Jesus Christ Ephesians 4:11-13 Matthew Raley (3-25-12)
When Paul speaks of grace, he is not describing an idea, or a divine motivation, but a story. He calls it “the grace”. The whole history of what the Father has done to save human beings from sin is grace. This story is what forms the unity of believers in Christ. Believers all share the story, and their individual relationships with Christ bond them with each other.
If believers get the grace-story right, they construct solid unity. If they get the grace-story wrong, they threaten that unity. Another word that describes the grace-story is doctrine. In today’s message we will be asking the question, “How does God’s grace come to each one of us?”
Audio: The Captives’ Work, Part 2
Evangelists, pastors, and teachers are to keep Christ in focus. ("Jerry Thompson: Out of Focus," Walker Evans, 1974, Met.)
The Victory of Jesus Christ
Ephesians 4:11
Matthew Raley (3-18-12)
In our previous message we studied the two roles referred to in Ephesians 4: 11 that have not continued among Jesus’ captives, the apostles and prophets. In today’s sermon we will look at those that have continued: evangelists, pastors & teachers. These offices, like the others, are given to the Church for building people in Christ. One question we should keep in mind as we study is, “What basis does someone have for claiming that Christ has called him to an office?” Another is, “What kind of authority goes with this office?”
Audio: The Captive’s Work
Christ's first captives passed on his truth. ("Marble Hand Holding Scroll," 1st-2nd century Roman, Met.)
The Victory of Jesus Christ
Ephesians 4:11
Matthew Raley (3-11-12)
We are studying “the grace” in Ephesians, the Father’s comprehensive plan to save sinners and build a new kingdom for Jesus Christ. It is “the grace” that saves us by faith. When Christ descended to the grave and ascended to the throne of the heavenlies, he took captives with him. Christ gave those captives from the kingdom of darkness to his new kingdom.
In today’s message we will ask what those captives did. When we discover what they did, we can know better what we do as Christ’s captives. I am going to explain what the terms in v. 11 meant at the time Paul wrote them. He was not describing mystical “gifts” or super-charged talents, but practical offices and roles that Christ set up for his ecclesia, his ruling council.
Audio: The Spoils of Spiritual Battle
As captives of Christ, we find our gifts through our unity.
The Victory of Jesus Christ Ephesians 4:7-10 Matthew Raley (3-4-12)
A large theme of Ephesians is that Christ fills and rules all things because of his death and resurrection. His death and resurrection secure his right to rule. He fills all things by taking believers along with him. He does not herd them like cattle, but takes hold of them individually, just as he did with Paul. In today’s message we are going to talk more specifically about how Christ’s grace applies to each one of us.
Audio: Inside Psalm 68
"David," Lorenzo Monaco, 1408-10, Met
The Victory of Jesus Christ Psalm 68
February 26, 2012
King David sits with his harp in a silent part of his palace, gazing at his city, Jerusalem, and the bare heights of Mt. Zion where nothing has yet been built. He sees the tabernacle , into which he led the ark of the testimony years before. Cluttering the table before him are three scrolls covered with his own handwriting, his copies of books that the Israelites had all but lost until he recovered them.
One scroll is the book of Numbers. Today, David is fascinated by Moses’ call whenever the priests lifted up the ark. The second is the book of Deuteronomy, worn from continual study. He has been reading Moses’ final blessings again. The third scroll is the book of Judges, from which he was just studying the victory of Barak over Sisera, and Deborah’s song celebrating it. The Lord has promised King David that his son will reign eternally on David’s throne. David’s life mission is to teach Israel about his son, the Lord’s Messiah. He will teach about him with music. He will craft words from the scrolls into a new song about the Messiah.
Today, as we begin our latest series from the book of Ephesians, I will take you deep inside this psalm to learn why Paul quotes it in Ephesians to describe the victory of Jesus Christ.
Audio: How to Handle Conflict, Part 3
"Pellets Fired From Shotgun," Harold Edgerton, 1964, Met
Put Peace into Practice
Ephesians 4:3
Matthew Raley (2-19-12)
Suppose you see a man with a knife about to lunge at someone in a crowded marketplace. Would you be justified in firing a shotgun at the criminal? I think we’d all agree that no amount of good intentions would justify such a reckless response which risks so much collateral damage. But I notice that people feel justified in firing off verbal shotguns at others when they see something wrong. Insults, sweeping generalizations, and outright slander fly from their mouths, and they imagine that they are doing right.
As we conclude our study of Paul’s command to guard our unity, we’ll look more closely at self-control in our use of words.
