What is Walking?

(This is the 3rd part in a series on King of Grace's mission statement:

       Wholeheartedly loving God and one another
        by Worshiping, Witnessing and Walking in
        the good news of Jesus Christ for all of life.)

Walking is an image the bible uses to portray am ongoing action of relating to someone or something. In Genesis 5 & 6 the patriarchs are described as "walking with God." Later, in the New Testament, we are exhorted to "walk by the Spirit" (Galatians 5:16, Romans 8:4 ESV), and "as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him," (Colossians 2:6 et al.) Furthermore, the bible teaches us that our walk is not an individualized walk, but a walk with Jesus Christ together with the people of God. "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7 ESV)

So for us, walking is a convenient word that portrays the call of God to walk with him as a corporate people - as his church. Our walking with God together involves connecting with the church family & building relationally around the good news of Christ, growing together in Christ likeness, caring for one another according to our different needs and with our various gifts, and serving together in our church and in our community and beyond.

Please come and visit us and check out what we mean by walking with God together.

What is Witnessing?

(This is the 2nd part in a series on King of Grace's mission statement.)

Our mission is as a church to be:

Wholeheartedly loving God and one another
by Worshiping, Witnessing and Walking in
the good news of Jesus Christ for all of life.

I want to talk a little about "witnessing". Witnessing is the simple act of "telling it as it is", that is, telling it as you have seen it and experienced it. As Christians we are to simply and humble witness to the joyful reality of Jesus Christ as our all sufficient Savior from sin and all its repercussions as well as our all worthy Lord over all our lives and all of creation.

We believe that witnessing to Jesus Christ in our lives is a natural overflow to our experience. We all witness to something. Usually that something is what is most important to us. A proud father witnesses to his son's achievments. A enthusiastic fan witnesses to the exploits of her sports heroes. Similarly, for the Christian, we testify to the blessings of the good news of Jesus Christ.

This involves demonstrating to others the lifestyle of following Christ as well as explaining & declaring the truth behind it. Demonstration and declaration are two key elements to being effective witnesses to anything. We are instructed this way in scripture: Romans 1:16 (ESV) says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes..." and in Matthew 5:16 (ESV) Jesus says, "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." And Jesus also says in John 13:34-35 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

And so, at King of Grace Church we seek to witness to the reality of Jesus Christ in how we live, how we love and what we say. We seek to do this in every arena of life in which we live that we might shine his light and see many others come to know, enjoy and worship the King and Savior who will one day soon come back to complete his reign over all of creation.

In pursuing this call to witness we affirm the following points:

• We affirm that a right approach to witnessing springs from a gospel-motivated grace-empowered joy-filled engagement with the our families, our friends, our community and our culture.


• We pursue a multi-faceted, relationally based, church-wide ministry of outreach.


• We pursue a church-wide culture of mission with the equippers equipping, the ministers ministering.


• We believe in a deep and broad community and cultural engagement.


• We pursue a love for and involvement with our communities, not isolation from nor abandonment of the culture.


• We exist to be a church-planting church.

That is what we mean by witnessing. We invite you to come and witness with us to the wonderful news and experience of Jesus Christ, Savior and Lord.

God Bless, Paul

Worth-Ship

(This is the 1st part in a series on King of Grace's mission statement.)

Our mission is as a church to be:

Wholeheartedly loving God and one another
by Worshiping, Witnessing and Walking in
the good news of Jesus Christ for all of life.

Let's talk about worship. Worship is a contraction from the old english word worth-ship. That is, worship is assigning worth to someone or something. Worship is something we all do in one way or another. We all, as beings created in the image of God, assign worth to everything. Ultimately, the question is, "What is most worthy?" and therefore "what do we desire most?"

We believe that above all other things and all creatures the Creator is supremely worthy and satisfying. Romans 11:36 (ESV) says, "For from him and through him and to him are all things." and in John 17:24 (ESV) Jesus says, "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me.." David prays, "Your steadfast love is better than life!" Psalm 63:3 (ESV) and Jesus says in John 17:3 (ESV) "And this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."

God's glory is manifest throughout all creation in the mind-blowing diversity of life, in the majesty of mountains, thunderstorms, the ocean and space. His goodness is seen in the stability of creation and his care for the vastness of humanity in health, life and daily bread. God's glory is most profoundly displayed in his excellent Son, Jesus Christ and his perfect life, substitutionary death and universe shaking resurrection from the dead.

The greatest tragedy of fallen man is that we have exchanged that which is most precious and worthy for lesser things as Romans 1 describes.
"For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen." (Romans 1:21-25, ESV)

The good news is that Jesus Christ has come to rescue us from the insanity of living for lesser things to live for God in all things. Our redemption in Jesus Christ includes a restoration to true worship of God in all that we do. 1 Peter 2 says:
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."(1 Peter 2:9-10, ESV)

So, at King of Grace Church we pursue worship in all of life. We worship corporately on Sundays in singing, sharing and the preaching of God's word, and we seek to worship throughout the week in all that we do. Worship is a way of life and not just a single act. The Westminster Shorter Chatechism puts it this way: "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

That is what we mean by worship - glorifying and enjoying God in all of life. He is most worthy and most enjoyable. We invite you to come and worthship with us at King of Grace.

Blogging Isn’t Christian Community

Hey everybody, my apologies to any who check out the blog regularly. It has been over a month since my last post. That leads into what I want to write about today. That is..

Blogging Isn’t Christian Community.

While Blogs have good purposes one is not Christian community. Take a look at Ephesians 4:1-16, study 1 Corinthians 12:12-26, meditate on Romans 12:3-13 and consider that the biblical picture of the people of God speaks of personal, regular, familiar and inextricably interrelated gospel-centered fellowship in the context of a local gathering of believers.

We are in danger in our fragmented, broken but techno-saavy culture of seeking technologically empowered alternatives to true community. Since we find it difficult to build regular, personal, informed relationships because of suburban sprawl, 10-hour workdays and just plain ignorance we run to things that seem to supply what is lacking but are missing key elements of true community. So we blog, we chat, we watch reality TV and we temporarily feel connected .... but not really.

Have you ever felt like that? I have and I confess that I have sought the cheap alternative to true biblical relationship through the internet. Nothing replaces the biblical alternative!

May I suggest that if we are doing this we take a break from the blog world and take the time instead to build relationships with other believers in our local church. Call someone up, invite them to coffee, invite them to pray with you, go for a walk together, write a note of encouragement, have them over for dinner, play charades together, study and apply the word together, help someone do home maintenance, babysit for a couple. Join a small group and attend it faithfully, even when it seems inconvenient. True biblical fellowship will often be inconvenient but it is worth it!

If you are not a member of a local church find one that submits to the scriptures and keeps the gospel and all its glorious implications front and center. Change jobs and move to another part of the country if you have to in order to find this but make this a priority.

Let's stop anesthetizing ourselves to our need for true Christian community with virtual community.

May God bless you as you pursue the promise of Hebrews 10:

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some [like sometimes in the blog/chat world], but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

Hebrews 10:24-25 [ESV]

An Idiot's Guide to Correction

Thought Eric Simmons blog on biblical correction would be helpful - it sure helps me approach this biblical practice wisely.

Check it out: An Idiot's Guide to Correction

Preach the Word!

We are in a series as a church entitled, "Walking with God Along Pathways of Grace" or, "Pathways of Grace" for short. We have been talking about the importance, blessing and function of the word of God in the life of a believer and the church.

This past Sunday I preached from 2 Tim 3 & 4 on the importance of the preached word. You can check out the message on our web site here.

Three quotes describe the vital relationship between a healthy congregation and the preacher of the word – check these out from Calvin and then about Spurgeon:

"Now the fact is that it [the church] cannot be built up, that is to say, it cannot be brought to soundness, or continue in a good state, except by means of the preaching of the Word. So then, if we earnestly desire that God should be honored and served, and that our Lord should have his royal seat among us peaceably, to reign in the midst of us, if we are his people and are under his protection, if we covet to be built up in him and to be joined to him, and to be steadfast in him to the end; to be short, if we desire our salvation, we must learn to be humble learners in receiving the doctrine of the gospel and in hearkening to the pastors that are sent to us."[1]

"A group of American clergy traveled to England in the nineteenth century to hear the great Charles Spurgeon preach and to tour his church’s facilities. After showing them through the massive sanctuary and remarkable buildings, Spurgeon asked whether they would like to see the "boiler room." The visitors politely declined, but the pastor insisted. He then led them to the church’s basement, where they found a hundred people on their faces in prayer. 'This,' Spurgeon said with a smile, 'is my boiler room.' "[2]

"When people asked the secret of his success, Spurgeon replied, 'My people pray for me.' " [3]

May God bless his under-shepherds as they preach his word to God’s people and may God’s people pray for the preachers that together we be built up for His glory and our good and the salvation of the lost around us!

God Bless, Paul


[1] John Calvin, (Sermons on Ephesians, Banner of Truth, 1973, p.374).
[2] Dr. Jim Denison, Pastor, Park Cities Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas, “Studies in 2 Corinthians: Taking Ministry Personally” at http://www.bgct.org/TexasBaptists/Document.Doc?&id=1134
[3] Charles Haddon Spurgeon: The Greatest Victorian Preacher, By William P. Farley

Dramatic Reading of Hebrews 9 & 10

Paul charged Timothy to devote himself to the public reading of scripture (1 Timothy 4:13). Reading the word out loud with appropriate passion and skill is a very powerful means for encountering the living God and His life changing truth!

Check out this outstanding example from Worship Matters: Ryan Ferguson Recites Hebrews 9 and 10

I hope this inspires you to practice this at home and with the church. May we see more and more of the public reading of scripture!

God Bless, Paul

Gospel Centered Everything

We just recently finished a 20 month series from 1 Corinthians . Wow, what a book! Paul does a masterful job of answering the Corinthians varied questions and crises all from a gospel centered perspective. David Garland says the following about this:

“The cross, its wisdom or its effect, is also pivotal in every issue except the one concerning headdress. It is central to his discussion of factions (1:18-31, 4:8-13) but also appears in his discussion of incest (5:7-8), lawsuits (6:7), sexual immorality (6:20), marriage (7:23), idol meat (8:11), the Lords supper (11:26), spiritual gifts (13:1-13), and the resurrection (15:3). [1]

In light of the all pervasive influence of Jesus as Savior and Lord, how are we experiencing the message of the gospel? How is it functioning in our lives? How is the truth of Jesus as Savior and Lord impacting us in the nitty gritty of life? 1 Corinthians clearly leaves us with the impression that there is no question or concern where the good news of Jesus as Savior and Lord does not speak.

Further resources:
How should the gospel function in the life of the local church? - Mike Bullmore
The Functional Centrality of the Gospel in the Life of the Local - Mike Bullmore

[1] David E. Garland, 1 Corinthians, BECNT, Baker Academic, MI, USA, 2003, p. 17

Love and the Christian

We are going through a series from 1 Corinthians 13. It is striking to hear Paul's loving rebuke of the Corinthians for their lack of love. They are indeed believers but seemed to have totally missed the command of John 13:34-15. I've been considering how we resemble them in falsely measuring our Christian maturity by many things but our love. May God radically change me (and us) to measure our success by grace empowered love - the one thing that does last! It is the difference between ultimate emptiness and the fullness of God (see 1 Cor. 13:2b and Eph. 3:19).

Check out these helpful resources:

Charity and Its Fruits
Jonathan Edwards
Love One Another for Love Is of God
John Piper
Love Thy Neighbour
CH Spurgeon
Gospel Charity
John Owen


The Church:
The Dearest Place on Earth
C.J. Mahaney et al
Nine Marks of a Healthy Church
Mark Dever
The Giver & The Gifts
CJ Mahaney, Dave Harvey & Jeff Purswell
The Non-Spectacular Gifts: Unimpressive or Unappreciated?
Jeff Purswell

Do You Know the Game Plan?

Thoughts from the Word– We have spent the past four Sundays springing from 1 Corinthians 10 and probing the topics of idolatry, our struggle with sin and Christ-centered holiness. So many times we can find ourselves on the playing field of Christianity and not really having any clue what we are supposed to do. The result often is that the opposing team runs roughshod over us (picture a gruesome threesome of the fallen world, the devil and our own sinful nature– the chief player and enemy coming straight at us). It is so important for us to grasp what the scripture teaches us about our life in Christ. This past series has been an attempt to give us “the game plan”. It can be summed up as follows:

1. OUR GREATEST ENEMY IS THE SIN THAT DWELLS WITHIN US.

2. OUR GREATEST WEAPON AGAINST SIN AND TEMPTATION IS THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST.

3. WE MUST BELIEVE AND APPLY THE GOSPEL IN ORDER TO SLAY INDWELLING SIN.

Consider the following passage (one among many like it.)

2 Peter 1:3-11 (ESV)
³ His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, ⁴ by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. ⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. ⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. ¹¹ For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Peter calls his readers to progressive holiness in this passage. But note something very critical here. Verse 9 says that if someone is not walking in holiness the problem is they have forgotten they have been cleansed from their sins. They have forgotten the gospel. Additionally, it is the promise of the gospel, received, that gives us all the power we need for life and godliness – verse 1-4. Because of the sure promise in the gospel that we are already cleansed and already new creations in Christ we are totally free from the penalty and power of sin. And, because of the sure promise of the gospel we can effectively battle the presence of sin that dwells within (until we see Him face to face). Because God has already decisively and irrevocably acted for us in Christ (before we had any say!) we can now walk out the realities of our salvation in Him. Listen to how John Piper sums this truth up as taught in Romans 6-8.

What we have learned from Romans 6 and 7 is that when we trusted in Christ as our Savior and Lord (as our Treasure!), we were united to Christ (Romans 6:5; 7:4). In this union with Christ we died (Romans 6:8; Colossians 2:20; 3:3) and rose again (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12; Ephesians 2:6). Therefore a decisive and irrevocable new creation came into being (2 Corinthians 5:17), and a decisive and irrevocable liberation happened (Romans 6:14, 18). We passed from death to (eternal!) life. Our decisive judgment is behind us - at Golgotha (John 5:24). We have moved from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of God's Son (Colossians 1:13).

But we also learned that our liberation from sin is not yet final and perfect. Decisive and irrevocable, Yes! But final and perfect, No! Sin still dwells within us (Romans 7:17, 20). Evil is present in us (Romans 7:21). The "flesh" is a daily troubler of our souls (Romans 7:25). We are not yet perfect nor have we already obtained our crown and prize (Philippians 3:12). We are liars if we say we have no sin (1 John 1:8, 10).

How then does the apostle Paul teach us to live? Will he say: "You are decisively and irrevocably new, so you can coast through life with no fight to become new"? Or will he say: "You are not decisively and irrevocably new and must fight to get to that place in Christ"? No, neither of these. He will say: "By faith, embrace all that God is for your good in Christ and all you are for his glory in Christ. Believe that. And now, with that confidence, fight to take possession of the territory that Christ has conquered for you. Fight to become in practice what you are in Christ."

John Piper, Already: Decisively and Irrevocably Free, Not Yet: Finally and Perfectly Free, August 28, 2001

Because we have a Savior and Lord who has won us a decisive and irrevocable victory let us fight with great joy and faith to gain the territory that is rightly his. Let us believe and apply the gospel! Let us use all the means He gives us (faith, the word, prayer, church and trials) to walk in His glorious ways, becoming more and more like our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ – until we see Him face to face and receive our reward.

Got a clearer idea of what it is all about and what you are called to do? Ready to resist the opposing team and experience victory? I hope so. May the Lord bless you as you grapple with these life-transforming truths!

Check out these links:
Gospel-Driven Sanctification
Jerry Bridges


Already: Decisively and Irrevocably Free, Not Yet: Finally and Perfectly Free
John Piper


Christ and Him Crucified
C.J.Mahaney