As A Child
I’ve been meditating a bit on this passage. It seems to have hit me for the first time, the beauty of it.
Matthew 18:1-6. The disciples come to Jesus with an interesting question, which I am sure all of us have asked at one time in our walk: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Translated: “Where is our place in your Kingdom? Where is our glory and who among us will receive the most glory? Who of us has the most to offer you, Jesus?”
They greatly misunderstood things, as do we. Jesus patiently replied: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” You see, it is not about what you have to offer Jesus, it is about what he has offered you. It is not about what talents or status or fame you bring to the table, it is about his fame and his glory and him being the giver of every good and perfect gift. (This also reminds me of 1 Corinthians 1.) What we have is not our own. EVERY good thing we can claim has come from him (James 1).
A child is completely dependent on his or her parent. A child is cared for, provided for, disciplined by his or her parent. It would be foolish for a young boy to claim ownership of the house in which he lives as though he worked to purchase this home. The boy has done nothing. His earthly father has worked to provide a home for him.
In the most ultimate sense of all, our own salvation could not be attained by our efforts. They were and are futile. No one seeks for God. There is no fear of God before our eyes (Romans 3). Jesus fixed our salvation. He made us righteous. He took our place. His command to us in light of all of this:
Turn (repent) and humble yourself before God. You have nothing to offer me. I offered you everything. I gave my life for you. You live because of me. Humble yourself. BECOME LIKE A CHILD. This is the kingdom of heaven. Beautifully simple.
Working backward with you,
Cam
Called Out – 1 Timothy 6
We are finally back to 1 Timothy. 
We will be in 1 Timothy 6 for two weeks, then we will go to 1 John.
I am very excited to be back in 1 Timothy as we hear from Paul. This text this week will be challenging. It will call all of us out to simpler lives. It will call all of us out to true contentment in Christ.
February 28 service:
Come, O Spirit – Bifrost Arts
Sermon – 1 Timothy 6:1-10
All We Need – Charlie Hall
All My Tears – Emmylou Harris (Ex Nihilo version)
Everything – Tim Hughes
In Christ Alone – Stuart Townend & Keith Getty (Matt Papa version)
Sending Song – You Are God – Charlie Hall
See you this Sunday!
Marriage Resources
I mentioned this past weekend in my sermon to men that there were some resources that I would recommend for marriage. So I wanted to put them up on the blog for you to refer to and read and listen and hopefully they will be of some help to you.
Books:
Momentary Marriage – John Piper
God, Marriage & Family – Andreas Kostenberger
Sacred Marriage – Gary Thomas
Sermons:
Marriage Series – John Piper
Sanctification in Marriage – Matt Chandler
Proverbs: Marriage – Mark Driscoll
Men and Masculinity – Mark Driscoll
I would highly recommend reading these books on marriage. They will be extremely helpful. If your budget doesn’t allow to buy the books, then listen to the sermons. I hope these are helpful resources.
Loving Others
GUEST BLOGGER: COREY SMILEY, LOCAL MISSIONS COORDINATOR
We have been saved, we have been shown compassion. God has worked and He has moved greatly. He has done a work no one else can do. Jesus Christ died on our behalf to allow us to have a relationship with God. How does this affect the way we live?
For a long time serving for me was a hindrance to my day. I saw it as taking up my time, I thought I could be doing better things such as spending time with my friends, going to bible studies, listening to sermon after sermon after sermon. I saw these things as more important than loving the less privileged, the less fortunate, the broken, the abused, the hurting, and most importantly the spiritually dead. I thought that I need to get to a certain point spiritually, then I could love others. Recently though God has been showing me my sinfulness in thinking this way. He has been revealing to me that my love for others, even the ones who are totally different than me, is a fruit that I should be showing if I am truly elect. In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul writes to us (22 )But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
If I am one of the elect, then these fruits should all be evident in my life.
In your life are you seeing this fruit?
If you are seeing this fruit, who is it around? Is it around only your Christian friends, or are you showing these to non-Christians, or people that are different from you?
If you cannot see this fruit, then you may need to examine yourself.
What I am trying to get across in this blog post is that true Christians are not only the ones who read and listen to Matt Chandler, Mark Driscoll, or first, second, and third john, those three being John Calvin, John Macarthur, and John Piper.
If we have been saved from an eternity in hell.
How should that affect the way we live?
How should it affect how we care for others?
Let me get the point across; just doing good things is not sufficient. If you are helping someone’s physical needs and not telling them of their greatest need, which is Jesus, then you do not love them.
Calvinists, get off your iPod, get away from your commentaries for a time.
Go love people, go serve them, go preach the Gospel. There will always be time for study.
Here are two possible reasons (among others) why you would not tell someone about Jesus.
1) You don’t believe eternity is real, and that people will really go to hell.
2) You are selfish and would rather not be put in an awkward situation.
GUYS, GO LOVE PEOPLE. GO LOVE PEOPLE.
I am so excited of the possibilities of how big of an influence we can have in Rock Hill, SC and the world.
Lets go out and love.
In closing, I ask that you read God’s word and meditate on it and examine your heart in light of these verses and how well you love others.
James 2.
February 21
This Sunday we are concluding our 2-week series called “Holy Marriage”
This week I will be speaking to the MEN. Lord willing, I hope God will challenge us deeply regarding our marriages. I have been confessing sin and repenting of my own short-comings as a husband. If you are not yet married, this will still be a very valuable time for you. Hopefully you will hear some things that you can use for when you are married.
If you are not a male, this will still be helpful for you. You will know how to pray for your husband or future husband.
As always, we are posting the order of service, so you can read the text and prepare your hearts to hear from God. Also you can listen to the songs that we will be singing together and have the words in your mind and can focus during worship.
February 21 service:
Song Of The Redeemed – Charlie Hall
Sermon – Ephesians 5:25-33
Come Thou Fount – Hymn
It Is Well – Hymn
You Reign – Hillsong United
Our Redemption – Remedy Worship
Sending Song - Mission’s Flame – Matt Redman
Local Missions
Doesn’t it feel good to serve others? This is one of the reasons we do it. Yes, absolutely, we do it because God tells us we should. However, we also serve others because it makes us feel good. This is ok.
The reason why it makes us feel good is because when we serve people, generally, they are thankful to us. They tell us thank-you and this makes us feel good.
Is this wrong?
I don’t think it is.
It is ok to seek your own happiness by serving others…but it cannot stop there.
Here is where it gets interesting. Meeting other people’s physical needs ONLY helps them here, while they are alive. So, ONLY meeting their physical needs is simply just not enough. All you can do is make them comfortable, while they will still go to hell, if they do not know Jesus. Therefore, we cannot just simply serve for the sake of serving.
Serving someone, must involve truth telling. We don’t want to only serve them here, but also tell them about There.
There is where true reality is. There is eternal. If we truly love others, when we do local missions, we will tell them OFTEN about There and Him.
Lord’s Supper
We will be observing the Lord’s Supper this coming Sunday.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11:28 “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup“.
When I was younger I used to think that after I examined myself and realized how sinful I was, that I shouldn’t take the Lord’s Supper because I was just too “bad”. I thought, “my sin is too great, and I am not worthy to take the Lord’s Supper today”. And so I would not take it.
I did not have any unconfessed sin, nor was I in the middle of some egregious sin. I just didn’t feel worthy to take the Lord’s Supper because I knew that I was a sinner.
This is what I have come to discover.
The reason I thought I should not take the Lord’s Supper (I am too sinful) IS THE EXACT REASON I SHOULD TAKE THE LORD’S SUPPER.
Taking the Lord’s Supper is a reminder of the Gospel….That there is nothing good in me except Christ and that I am totally dependent on His grace, mercy and love to come and die for me and declare me righteous in His eyes.
Therefore, I repent of sin, remember my sin, and take the Lord’s Supper, celebrating the Gospel that Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ has given me life and Christ will come again.
So, consider these things as we take the Lord’s Supper this Sunday. Know your sin. Confess and repent from sin, trust Jesus, and celebrate His work on the cross for us on our behalf.
February 14
February 14, Valentines Day.
This is probably one of the most perfect Sundays to begin a new series. HOLY. MARRIAGE. is the new two week series we will start this Sunday
For the next two weeks we will be talking about dating and marriage. This Sunday will be dating/marriage and women. Next Sunday will be dating/marriage and men.
I’m excited about this little “mini-series” because I believe the Lord can teach us all a lot. The church always needs to be encouraged on how they can glorify God in our dating and marriages.
After this series, we will return to 1 Timothy. After that, we will go to 1 John.
February 14 service:
Come, O Spirit – Bifrost Arts
Sermon – Ephesians 5:22-24 & 1 Peter 3:1-6
Lord’s Supper – Reflection Song – He Never Said a Mumblin’ Word – Bifrost Arts
Glory to God Forever – Steve Fee
Doxology – Mars Hill Church
All Creatures Of Our God And King – Mars Hill Church
Sending Song – Mission’s Flame – Matt Redman
Prayer
Romans 12:12 says, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
These are things that the Lord desires that we, as Christians, would have in our life. As a church, we have opportunity and privilege every month to get together and pray as a church. We do this the first Wednesday of every month at 620 Oakland Ave.
We will have our church-wide corporate prayer tomorrow night, February 3, at 6:30pm.
Won’t you join us and enjoy the great gift we have as a church to pray together?
See you tomorrow night!