Bulletin - April 17, 2011

Click here to see the April 17, 2011 bulletin for BCC

Devote Yourselves to These Things

In the 2^nd chapter of Acts we read that the early church “devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

The early church devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. That is, they devoted themselves to the Word of God. God’s Word that reveals our eternal hope - the hope of salvation – of being made right with God and sanctified by His Spirit. They devoted themselves to God’s revelation that brings us hope in the promise of Christ’s second coming, when all things will be made right. They devoted themselves to the Word of God, which tells us to hope in the resurrection – that one day we will no longer bear the curse of death and decay because Jesus defeated sin at the cross and rose victorious over the grave. We rejoice in this hope because we devote ourselves to the Word of God.

The early church devoted themselves to the fellowship. That is, they devoted themselves to the church; to what Christ began as he challenged Peter to love Him by feeding His sheep. We are to devote ourselves to the church, as the writer of the book of Hebrews says we ought to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25). We are to devote ourselves to the church because Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

The early church also devoted themselves to the breaking of bread and prayer (Acts 2:42). This breaking of bread likely referred to both communion and their Christian fellowship as they ate a meal together. Devote yourselves to communion: to focusing on the gospel (what Christ has done), uniting, as the body of Christ, to our bread of life, and remembering that He is risen and coming again. And devote yourselves to Christian fellowship in a meal: to eating together, making new friends, and sharing and encouraging each other in the main thing we have in common … each of us joined together as a body, with Christ as our head.

And as the early church was devoted to prayer, so we ought to pray that God’s name be hallowed in the church; pray that He be glorified in our own hearts; that He be seen as holy and wonderful in our families, our community, our nation, and world. Pray for these, as we pray:

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

- Pastor Brian

Win a cool shirt, just for praying

Here’s the dealio: I have a brand-spankin-new Oregon Ducks Tostitos BCS National Championship tee shirt (size: L) that I am just itchin’ to give away, both to have some fun and to give some kind of a reward to those of you diligent or lonely enough to check your email on Friday nights and Saturdays.  Next Tuesday morning, this shirt will be worth some money, or it will be $3.50 at Goodwill.

But like many good things and Social Security, you have to work for it: we’ll award this shirt to the person with the best conclusion to the sentence: “My best time of prayer is when…”    You don’t have to be flowery or eloquent in your answer.  In fact, just like with actual prayer, we’re looking for sincere, real, and concise.  And forget about my joke last Sunday: if your best time of prayer is when you’re doing the dishes, don’t be embarrassed to admit it.  We all have different prayer habits.

You must be present on Sunday morning, when we’ll award the shirt, to win.  Answers will be judged by an expert panel of judges that I will whip up moments before the service begins.  All my relatives are eligible to win.  New rule for this contest only: enter as many times as you like, since your best prayer times may occur during different circumstances.  But don’t start entering lame answers or you will be disqualified, and possibly even asked to attend a different church. 

The runner-up will win a lightly-worn non-BCS Ducks shirt (size: L) that I picked up at Buffalo Exchange in Eugene yesterday. 

To answer, just hit “reply” and give me your answer.  The judges won’t know which answer belongs to which entrant. 

Don’t forget that on Sunday we’ll host an Open House at the Skypark building after the slightly-shortened service at the St. Mary’s gym.  Wear your ear muffs, cause it may be chilly.  Also, you’re invited to come early to church, at 9 am, and pray with us.

Go Ducks.  Please win, or at least don’t please don’t get humiliated in the biggest game of the year.

-Pastor Dale

Come, See the One who Knows Everything You Ever Did

As Jesus was led by the Spirit to meet with a Samaritan woman by the well, so he mercifully comes to us. She did not yet know him. She did not know the gift of God standing before her. If she had, she would have recognized her thirst - her dissatisfaction, her attempts to quench her life’s thirst with multiple husbands. If she knew Jesus, she would have asked Him for a drink, and He would have given her living water.

This is what Jesus points out to her, saying, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

As those who do know Jesus, we come to eat and drink, with Him in mind. We come to communion recognizing our thirst and our need of a Savior; and He meets us here, and satisfies us with Himself. Though we take just a sip from the cup, Jesus gives us His Spirit that wells up within us, forever. I invite you to think on Christ as true refreshment. Think on Christ as real satisfaction. Think on Christ as the one who has given you living water.

When refreshed with Jesus, we should have a similar reaction to that of the woman at the well. She responds by going to her own people and saying, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did.” Is it good news that someone knows everything about you; all that you ever did? It is if it’s Jesus, because Jesus did not come to condemn you, He came to save those who were already condemned. As Jesus came to meet with the woman at the well, so He comes to meet with you, now. Do you know the gift of God? If you do, then ask Him for a drink. He knows everything about you. He came to sacrifice Himself – taking the condemnation of your sin upon Himself, so that you might have everlasting life. Jesus is with us now. Let’s meet with Him in prayer and thank Him that He knows everything about us, and loves us still.

Jesus, we hold this piece of bread in our hands, knowing that it points us to your body given for us. We confess that even a little knowledge of our lives is enough to condemn us; yet You know us perfectly, and gave Yourself in our place. We eat now with thankful hearts, remembering and receiving what You have given us.

Jesus, we confess that You alone quench the thirst of our souls. We hold a small cup of juice that points us to the necessity and significance of Your shed blood on the cross. It is necessary because our sin required death, and it is significant because Your death has brought us life and forgiveness. We drink now as a sign of the new covenant in Your blood.

New Active Duty Prayer List

Find a copy of our newly revised BCC Military Prayer List here.  If you attend BCC and have someone serving on active duty and would like to add them, send us a photo.  If you see a correction that should be made, let us know!  Remember to pray for these servants: pray that God would guard their hearts and minds and bodies, and that they might "bear the sword" for good (Romans 13:4).

Saved by Personal Realization, or Saved by God's Grace?

Are you saved by coming to a realization of God’s love for you, or are you saved by the love of God graciously given to you?

I ask this question, and make this distinction, because I hear people say our biggest problem is that we don’t embrace God’s unconditional love for us. As Christians, this may be true, but I get the impression that people also apply this to the lost, and their understanding of the gospel message. For, I also hear people apply God’s unconditional love to mankind simply because we are human and made in the image of God. The implication is that God loves everyone because they are human, and salvation comes when we simply realize His love for us.

What ever happened to the separation between man and God because of Adam’s sin? Didn’t Jesus die to reconcile us to the one who is justly angry with us because of Adam’s fall, and our resulting guilt? Did His death remove God’s wrath from all human beings? If so, then what is Hell, and why would the Bible describe anyone going there? If God’s wrath is no longer hanging over any human being, then aren’t all saved?

I sure hope you don’t see this as splitting theological hairs, because in reality it is a matter of grace, and understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ. For, if God’s love is hanging over every human being then our realization of this “truth” is the only thing keeping us from Him. The problem with this is that salvation then becomes a matter of personal enlightenment, and not God’s mercy from start to finish. God’s unmerited favor is not gained by independent enlightenment. We are all under the wrath of God, and the good news is that God alone gives us eyes to see His salvation. This is a gift of God. This is His unmerited favor. 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 describes that we were blinded by Satan and that our remedy is not realizing what already exists, but instead it is the power of God that creates our faith.

In the beginning, when God said, “Let there be light” there was no choice to be made; light simply came into existence. This is the connection Paul makes (in 2 Corinthians 4) to our salvation.

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

God's wrath is real, people are blind to the gospel, and if you know His love for you then you have been delivered from God's wrath by His grace in both providing reconciliation through Jesus, and in creating light in your previously dark heart, so that you might rightly see Jesus.

May God be praised for His glorious grace!

From Him and Through Him and To Him

A Summary of Pastor Dale's Sermon on Romans 11:11-36

In this section of Romans we think of the place of ethnic Israel in God’s redemptive plan. In it we read of their stumbling, and their being pictured as branches broken off an olive tree while the unnatural, Gentile branches are grafted in. A partial hardening has come upon Israel (v.25), and so we ask; why did God harden the Jews?

In Genesis 50:20 we hear Joseph say to his hardened brothers, “What you meant for evil, God meant for good.” And even the sinful, hard-hearted actions of those who crucified Jesus are said (in Acts 4:27-28) to be the predestined plan of God. So it is not new or unusual that God would harden some for His ultimately good purposes.

Jesus said, “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you [the Jews] and given to a people producing its fruits” (Mt 21:43), and in Matthew 8:11-12 He says, “I tell you, many will come from east and west … while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. So the purpose of this hardening has brought about God’s mercy being shown to you (Acts 13:46, 48; Rom 11:30-32), and yet there is no room for either boasting or anti-Semitism because God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. Faith is the only thing by which we are grafted in (Rom 3:20, 27-28). The severity of God not only sends us fleeing to Him for mercy, but it also keeps us from taking God’s kindness for granted.

These are hard truths, and yet Paul’s response to God’s sovereign plan ends in praise:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”

“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

In this we hear:

1. All things are from him and through him (Eph 1:11); so remember,

2. No one can give a gift to God so as to make him need anything from us (Acts 17:25); likewise

3. No one can give any counsel to God about how he should do things (Job 40:2-3); because (of course)

4. His ways and judgments are unsearchable and inscrutable to our finite minds (1 Cor 13:12); so that, finally, it only makes sense that

5. We should give all glory to God, and be content with an utterly dependent Christ-exalting happiness in God.

Concerning this, Charles Spurgeon said,

This should be the single desire of the Christian. All other wishes must be subservient and tributary to this one. The Christian may wish for prosperity in his business, but only so far as it may help him to promote this – “To him be glory forever.” He may desire to attain more gifts and more graces, but it should only be that “To him may be glory forever.” You are not acting as you ought to do when you are moved by any other motive than a single eye to your Lord’s glory. As a Christian, you are “of God and through God,” then live “to God.”

Let nothing ever set your heart beating so mightily as love to him. Let this ambition fire your soul; be this the foundation of every enterprise upon which you enter, and this your sustaining motive whenever your zeal would grow chill; make God your only object. Depend upon it, where self begins sorrow begins; but if God be my supreme delight and only object,

To me ‘tis equal whether love ordain

My life or death – appoint me ease or pain

This Sunday we also celebrated communion by watching a special Advent meditation given by Pastor John Piper. You can watch it here. I hope you are blessed as you remember the purpose for Christ’s birth, and God’s mercy shown to you, who have been grafted into this great salvation by faith.