Song, Sermon, and Book of the Week
We had our regular Bible study this morning and enjoyed some time looking at Philippians 1, celebrating the diversity of Grace that God has given, and the reality of peace that we experience because of that grace. We had interesting discussions on the ramifications of the atonement and who God actually brought peace to through the blood of Christ.
Our song of the week is “All I Really Need” (click for a free download) by Mark and Stephen Altrogge. The song is part of the In A Little While album put out by Sovereign Grace Music. The focus of the song is that our real need is peace with God through Christ and He has provided that for us. We pondered a quote by K. Scott Oliphint and Rod Mays in the book Things that Cannot Be Shaken:
Our true need is not physical water or husbands or pleasure, or. . . . Our true need is for a permanent solution, one that does not ebb or flow with the times, one not subject to the whims and wishes of our fickle hearts. We need living water. We need permanent change. We need the Holy Spirit to unite us to Christ. In Him we have the True Bread and Living Water, so that we will never be hungry or thirsty again. All of our needs are met in Him, because in the end, our only real need is to be united to Christ by the Spirit.
Our sermon of the week is “
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” by Paul Washer. Washer discusses what it means for God to be holy and it establishes a high view of God that is foundational for us to understand some of the truths, and some of the hard truths, of the Gospel.
Our book of the week is God is the Gospel by John Piper, which can be downloaded for free from Desiring God ministries. In God is the Gospel, Piper grounds the magnificence of the Gospel in the fact that we get God. That God is the primary object of the Gospel. And that God is the one who initiates and accomplishes the Gospel power in our lives.
Our next meeting will be Saturday, January 16 at 10:00am. Feel free to join us for some breakfast foods and Bible study.
Tagged as Bible Study, Book of the Week, Sermon of the Week, Song of the Week + Categorized as Books, Music, Theology
just curious: did you guys start this Bible study on your own, or was this through church? Did/Do they give you the materials by which to study? Wish our church had small group instead of one of the other services, but from what i am told-that is not the Baptist way.
We started this on our own. We are planning to work on planting a church in the area and a few of us wanted to get together and study the Bible together while we wait for that to happen. I also had some former students who wanted to study the Bible so we decided just to meet on our own at our house and start a book study. We’re going through Philippians right now. If I had the money, I’d buy Matt Chandler’s group study of Philippians from http://www.gotothehub.com. But we’re just working verse by verse through the book. Today we spent about an hour on the implications of the first two verses.
I really like the small group idea, especially meeting in homes. There seems to be a much greater intimacy. We hope to diversify this group as well to see people of every age group come and fellowship together. Unfortunately, many Baptists are so tied to their buildings they miss out on great opportunities.
they met in homes in Bible times too, right!? and i guess that’s one more reason i am not Baptist.–praying about our future here!
Saw the note on your recent anniversary. Congratulations!
Thanks, TL, I appreciate that. For all 3 of you who may follow this blog, TL and I have been going back and forth on EnnisP’s blog (you may remember him from all the posts on tithing) concerning some difficult passages in the Bible. See the discussion in the comments section here: http://nowthinkaboutit.com/2010/01/slavery-rape-and-gays-in-the-ot/. I may spend some time here on this blog dealing with those passages.