If you have prayer requests for your brothers and sisters in Christ to lift before the Lord during January, Click on Prayer Requests for January 2011 above, then type the prayer request in the comment box below.
TweetWe want to begin the year by encouraging your own personal growth in following Jesus Christ. To help you in that growth, we want to give you some suggestions regarding resources that we believe can help. We hope that God will use these resources to draw you deeper into a relationship with him over the course of the next twelve months.
Obviously the most important, and only truly essential resource for the Christian is a Bible. You need your own Bible and you need to be reading it daily. We like the ESV (it’s the version our staff uses), but the important thing is for you to find a Bible that you can understand. After you have the Bible, the second step is to make a commitment to read it daily. We want to encourage you to make it your goal this year to read through the entire Bible over the course of the next year. That sounds like a daunting task, but it is eaily doable with only a few chapters a day. The best way to read through the Bible is to have a reading plan to help organize and guide your daily readings. We have copies of some great reading plans, and if you’d like one please let us know! Several copies of a great reading plan will be available at the front of our church over the next few weeks.
In addition to reading through the Bible, we also want to point you in some good directions for some other great reading over the course of the next year. The goal shouldn’t be to read tons of books, but to read good books. Thats why we have selected a list of books that we think are some of the best.
First, here is a list of twelve books that we just generally think are fantastic for growing in faith and discipleship. Many of these books are short, and as far as we know are all available either on cd or through audio download on i-tunes.
1. The Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney
2. Humility by C.J. Mahaney
3. What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert
4. Desiring God by John Piper
5. God is the Gospel by John Piper
6. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
7. The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
8. Dug Down Deep, by Joshua Harris
9. It is Well by Mark Dever and Michael Lawrence
10. Knowing God by J.I. Packer
11. The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller
12. 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible by Robert Plummer
We think that each of these books would be worth your time and effort and would be more than rewarding! If you’re looking for some great books about individual topics, however, these next books suggested by category might be a great place to start.
The Ministry of the Church: Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever
Church Membership: Membership Matters by Chuck Lawless
Evangelism: The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever
Missions: Let the Nations be Glad by John Piper
Devotional: Taste and See by John Piper or Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Biography: George Muller: Delighted in God by Roger Steer
Theology: A Concise Theology by J.I. Packer
Biblical Theology: The Glory of God by Christopher Morgan et. al.
Church History: A Short History of Christianity by Stephen Tomkins
Christian Growth: The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges
We hope these books help you as you go through the next year. They have been a blessing to us, and we believe God can and will use them in your own growth in grace as well. If you can’t read them all, we still encourage you to pick a few this year and dive in. It will be well worth the read.
In Christ,
Cade
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” . . . then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
“Hey! There are some people in a big, yellow boat down at the dock and they are trying to get us to do some strange things!” exclaimed our friends. “Like what?” we asked. “Well, they want to give us pills for intelligence and they are trying to give us a type of massage to take the bad-energy out of our bodies.” “Plus,” they continued, “they want to stamp our hands with the ‘sign of the beast’ and they said that if we didn’t get stamped — we couldn’t buy or sell anything here in town! So, we were afraid and came to you to find out the truth. What should we do?!” “Don’t let them do anything to you!” I said, “this is not of God. The Bible says that in the end time false prophets will appear to try to deceive us — these people are false prophets.” “But,” I continued, “Jesus said, ‘I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.’ Continue to study the Bible with us and you will come to know Jesus — you will come to know Truth.” May we all celebrate Truth this blessed season — Truth that will set us free — Truth that was born in a manger.
PLEASE PRAY:
1. Please continue to pray for my mother. She is still in the Rehabilitation Center and hopes to return home at the beginning of the new year. Pray for her as she continues to recuperate. Pray for my family as we prepare to care for her at home.
2. Continue to pray, also, for the half-way house that our team is helping to build. We are cooperating with some of our friends in this project so that they will have a decent place to stay when they come down the river. Pray for us as we do our part — and pray that our friends will be faithful to do their part. Please pray that God will use this house to bring many people to Him.
3. Please pray for the U people. Most of these semi-nomadic people live in isolation. There are two communities of U people that have become civilized in recent years. Pray that God will use other peoples who have come to know Him to reach this group. Pray that He will give us the opportunity to begin work with these people.
4. Pray for the members of our church planting team. Pray that different conflicts between team members will be resolved so that God can continue to use us. Pray that God will give us wisdom, strength, health and safety as we work together in what He has called us to do.
5. Pray also for the Y people. Historically, most families of Y people have practiced polygamy — with one man having several wives. Pray for our team as we continue to work with these people. Thank God that they have been learning the Biblical Narratives. Pray for them as they take God’s Word in oral form back to their villages in the heart language of their people.
6. Please pray for me as I am on furlough now in Indiana. Pray for the speaking engagements that I will be involved in . . . that God will use what is said for His glory. Pray for travel safety. Pray for me, also, as I help to care for my mother.
Thank you for praying,
Kathy
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Everyone knows by now that I absolutely love Christmas. I love everything about it. The lights, the gifts, the cold, the hymns, and I even like the plump, jolly old dude in the red suit. I have watched the same Christmas movies for years and still love to watch them. In fact, I watch the “Grinch that stole Christmas” all year long. Still, I know that for some people it is a sad time of year because they have lost a loved one, and so the Christmas season is not the same.
I’m not going to preach to you as one who doesn’t know what you’re going through. I lost my mother on December 9th 3 years ago. Her birthday was Sunday. I know what it’s like to long to see them. My little brother died a little over 5 years ago, and I miss him like crazy. I don’t say this in an effort to make you feel sorry for me. The last thing I want you to do is to feel sorry for me. I tell this testimony only in an effort to win a hearing with you. I know that some of you have lost husbands, wives, and children, and I would never say that I understand what you are going through, because I don’t. I do know what it feels like to lose someone, however, and I still believe that you can enjoy the Christmas season, even more than those who have not suffered loss.
That may sound crazy to you, but I am convinced that it’s true. I think that many of us spend Christmas in the dumps because we let our hearts forget what Christmas is all about. I’m not saying you’re guilty of this, but I have noticed this sin in my own life. Only after I have recognized this sin and repented of it was I able to change the way I go through the Christmas season.
The sin I’m referring to is thinking that Christmas is all about getting together with family, thinking it is about Christmas dinner, thinking it is about buying and opening gifts, thinking it is about anything other than the celebration of the birth of Him who put an end to death. Christmas is all about Jesus. It is not a time for sadness, especially for those who have loved ones who have died. If you’ve lost a loved one, then if anyone should be celebrating Christmas for what it really is, it is you. Jesus told Martha, who had just lost her brother, “Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me, though he is dead yet shall he live.” Then he asked her a staggering question, a question that your Christmas joy is tied up in. Jesus asks Martha (and he asks you), “Do you believe this Martha? Put your name in there. Do you believe this _________? If you can answer yes to that question, then why would Christmas not be exciting? How could it not be joyful?!
I miss my mother. I miss my brother. I miss my paw-paw. However, all of these dear family members are with Him who saved them by His grace. I can only imagine what it must have been like the day they first laid eyes on him. I just asked Cade that question today in my office. We were discussing our sermons for this week, and I was contemplating Jesus suffering under the holy, righteous, wrath of God the Father. Then my affections were stirred toward Christ in such a way I can’t explain. To think that we can’t even begin to understand what the Father and the Son went through to pay the penalty of our sins. Jesus went through pain and suffering unlike anything that we can imagine. As I was meditating on what I said to Cade, I was struck by the question, “can you imagine what it’s going to be like to finally see Him face to face.” To behold the holes in his hands and feet, to see the scars where the stripes were laid that set me free, to fall down like my sister Mary and kiss his feet, are things that I can’t wait to do. My point is this, your loved ones who believed the gospel and have died are there now with Him. They are happier there with Christ than they were, or ever would be, here on this earth. Do you believe this?
If you do believe, then you have more reason than anyone to celebrate the birth of Him who was crushed for our iniquities. Let the truth of Christmas penetrate deep into your heart. Instead of focusing on a Christmas tree adorned with lights, focus on the cross which was soaked with His blood. Instead of focusing on your loved ones that died, focus on Him who after dying and being placed in a tomb was raised up from the grave. Let His words to Mary flood your soul. “Though you are dead yet shall you live.” Do you believe this? For unto us is born a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
In Christ,
Toby Jenkins
If you have prayer requests for your brothers and sisters in Christ to lift before the Lord during December, Click on Prayer Requests for December 2010 above, then type the prayer request in the comment box below.
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