Photos from Uganda Trip
1 CommentsWasn’t it great on Sunday to hear Isaac Hydsoki share about the Uganda mission trip and to hear how God used the team? Here are some more photos of the trip I received from photographer Jenny James:
Also, check out another brief slideshow that was posted here on the site a couple weeks back.
February 15 2010 at 4:00 am
Jude: Called to Contend, Part 1
3 CommentsYesterday C.J. Mahaney preached the first of two messages from the book of Jude. He especially focused on unpacking v.1b:
“To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ”
Options for reviewing and applying the message:
• Listen online or download an mp3.
• A summary outline in PDF format
• Use the questions below for further reflection and application to your life.
1. Has “AMAZING GRACE” diminished to “amazing grace”? Do you need to remember that God summoned and called you? Do you need to reflect on where you would be if God had not called you? By way of remembrance, take some time to share your testimony with your family, friends or care group.
2. Do you think “hard thoughts” about God the Father—that He is angry wrathful and distant? How can you begin to replace those wrong thoughts with thoughts that in all things God is good, gracious and loving toward you?
3. Are you uncertain about the disposition of the Father’s heart of love toward you? How can reflecting on God’s call and on Calvary help you to see God’s personal and particular love for YOU?
4. What do you fear or worry about? Your finances, your job, your health, your family, the future, etc? How can the truth that you are “kept for Jesus Christ” fill you with faith and hope, regardless of your circumstances or the uncertainty of the future?
February 1 2010 at 8:23 am
Undone by a Glorious God
4 CommentsWhat a great service we had Sunday! We officially welcomed into our church 176 new members who have joined in the last eight months. And Jon Smith preached a powerful message on the holiness and glory of God as described in Isaiah’s vision of the Lord seated on his throne. His text was Isaiah 6:1-7.
Options for reviewing and applying the message:
• Listen online or download an mp3.
• Download a summary outline in PDF format.
• Use the following questions for further reflection and application to your life.
1. Listening to Jon’s message, did you realize you had big thoughts of yourself and small thoughts of God? How can you cultivate big thoughts of God and little thoughts of yourself?
2. Jon taught us that each day we are eager to find something that is going to satisfy and delight us. Is God your supreme delight and satisfaction, or has something or someone else replaced Him? How can you return to your first love?
3. When you take time to reflect on God’s holiness, how do you respond? Is God’s holiness both awesome and attractive to you? Does His holiness call forth worship?
4. Why can sinful men and women encounter a holy God without being consumed or destroyed in an instant?
5. What can you do to cultivate a fresh passion for your infinitely beautiful and holy God?
January 25 2010 at 11:00 pm
‘Love the World’ Follow-up
3 CommentsHow do we move ahead in our call to “love the world” (as I talked about in Sunday’s message)? Here are a few steps we can take as a church family:
• We can teach and equip our members to share the gospel and do good works.
• We can make loving the world a normal part of our discussion in care group.
• We can highlight opportunities and examples of people loving the world in our community.
• We can mobilize and deploy members for works of service.
• We can partner with Sovereign Grace to plant churches and spread the gospel around the world.
Here are a few steps we can take as individual disciples of Jesus Christ:
• Be like Jesus, and be a friend of sinners—make a priority of friendships with unbelievers.
• Share the gospel faithfully.
• Love justice and mercy in your vocation and in your life as a private citizen.
• Care about the poor, and be generous and ready to share.
Loving the world can’t just be a program or one-time gift. It has to be a way of life that flows from a changed heart.
One of the practical ways Covenant Life members can love the world is by committing to serve on a ministry team. Here’s a list of teams that seek to communicate the love of Christ to our community:
• Celestial Manna: Pick up and deliver food to the needy.
• Crisis Pregnancy Centers: Volunteer at either the Shady Grove or Rockville Pregnancy Center as a counselor, ultrasonographer, PT receptionist, or baby boutique helper.
• ESL (English as a Second Language): Teach, assist a teacher, or serve food to internationals for the course starting in April.
• Expecting Mother’s Outreach: Visit and encourage pregnant ladies who are on bedrest at Shady Grove Hospital.
• Men’s Shelter: Prepare bag lunches or serve food at a shelter in Rockville.
• Prison Ministry (for men): Be part of a team that shares the gospel at the Clarksburg jail.
• Prison Ministry (for women): Be part of a team that reaches out to incarcerated women.
• Soup Kitchen: Cook and serve food at The Lord’s Table soup kitchen.
• Wounded Warriors: Prepare and serve food to wounded service men and women and their families at the naval hospital in Bethesda.
• The Au Pair Place (for ladies): Represent Christ’s love by building friendships with au pairs.E-mail LINK for more information on any of these teams.
January 25 2010 at 4:00 am
We Are Here, Part 3
1 CommentsYesterday I preached the third and final message in our “We Are Here” series: “We Are Here To Love the World.” Defining “the world” as “people everywhere who haven’t trusted in Jesus Christ,” we looked at loving the world by proclaiming the gospel, and by our good deeds.
Options for reviewing and applying the message:
• Listen online or download an mp3.
• Download a summary outline in PDF format.
• Use the following questions for further reflection and application to your life.
1. Josh taught us that our “neighbor” includes everyone regardless of race, socio-economic status, politics, sexual ethics, etc. In your heart, who are you tempted to exclude from being your neighbor?
2. What holds you back from telling others the good news of the gospel? How can you grow in making gospel proclamation a priority?
3. What are some practical ways you can grow in loving the world by caring for and being generous toward the poor and needy?
4. Who has God placed in your life—in your family or neighborhood, at school, at work—who need both love and a Savior? What simple steps can you take this week to pray for them, show care, build a friendship and share the gospel?
January 18 2010 at 3:59 am
We Are Here, Part 2
0 CommentsYesterday was part two of a series on our primary purpose and calling as believers. My focus was on what it means to love the church.
At one point I cited some of the “one another” commands in Scripture—examples of the kind of multifaceted love we’re to have for brothers and sisters in the church. I said we’d make them available online so that you didn’t have to write them all down. Here they are:
• Be devoted to one another (Romans 12:5)
• Honor one another (Romans 12:10)
• Rejoice with one another (Romans 12:15)
• Serve one another (Galatians 5:13)
• Carry one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2)
• Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32)
• Encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
• Offer hospitality to one another (1 Peter 4:9)
• Confess our sins to one another (James 5:16)
• Pray for one another (James 5:16)
Options for reviewing and applying the message:
• Listen online or download an mp3.
• Download a summary outline in PDF format.
• Use the following questions for further reflection and application to your life.
1. How is loving your neighbor an expression of loving God?
2. On what is your love for the local church based? Is your loved based on certain friends, a particular leader, or specific activities and ministries? Or is your love because of the love God has shown in the gospel?
3. Have you allowed any offense to divide you from a fellow believer? What can you do to reconcile and pursue unity?
4. Are there any ways that your heart has grown cold toward the church? What would it look like to repent and cultivate a renewed affection for the church?
5. What is the next practical step (i.e., becoming a member, committing to attend and invest in care group, serving, etc.) you can take to express the priority of loving the local church?