Grace Harbor Community Church

Each week presents itself with a to-do list. Whether you write it down or it simply exists in your mind, it is the all-important list. If stuff on that list can’t get done, in our minds, it is not a successful week. When that happens we believe we have reason to stress out or get angry or to simply be unhappy.We make the same kind of evaluations when it comes to the hour or the day based upon what we feel is important for those times. That is also true for our lives.

We are always expending ourselves for whatever it is that we believe is most important, and we should do that for the things that we believe are truly important. The challenge is that with the pull of advertisements, friends, stuff, family, or the prospect of enjoyment, it is sometimes hard to know what is really important. It’s hard to know how these things are supposed to come together to serve a greater more important purpose.

Death tends to bring focus and clarity. The reality of the brevity of life is a helpful aid to understanding what is really important. I don’t think that the many problems and apparent crises that we regularly face quite look the same when faced with the near prospect of death. The goals we set for ourselves in the workplace are seen with a new perspective. You’ve probably heard it said that the businessman on his deathbed never wishes that he spent more time in his office. You may have personally experienced the burden to say what you’ve always wanted to say but had to due to fear, because it was pretty clear that you didn’t have much time left with the person.

Well, in this new series in the book of 2 Timothy we get to hear from the apostle Paul as he faces the reality of an impending death by execution, and through the help of the Holy Spirit, we want to think more clearly about what’s really important in this life. Come join us.

What’s Really Important?

Feb 5	The Gospel	2 Timothy 1:1-10
Feb 12	Loyalty	2 Timothy 1:11-18
Feb 19	Endurance	2 Timothy 2:1-13
Feb 26	Derek Bass	Psalm 13
March 4	Joel Sedam	Psalm 14
March 11	Faithfulness	2 Timothy 2:14-26
March 18	Understanding	2 Timothy 3:1-9
March 25	Travis Rymer	Psalm 15
April 1	Revelation	2 Timothy 3:10-17
April 8	Perseverance	2 Timothy 4:1-8
April 15	Derek Bass	Hosea
April 22	Salvation	2 Timothy 4:9-22

As we wrap up this series on spiritual depression, here is a helpful excerpt from one of the books that was helpful in the preparation for this series.

“One final cause of depression in the Christian is the sovereignty of God. Hard though it may e to accept, the ultimate cause may be, “It pleased God.” This, however, is not some sheer arbitrary, sadistic, and pointless infliction of suffering. Not at all. God has wise and loving motives and purposes in all His dealings with His children. The Westminster Confession of Faith says that God will sometimes allow His children to descend into the depths of the depression “to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled; and to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon Himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends” (WCF 5.5).
A well-known example of this is Job, where God allowed Satan to afflict His beloved servant. A lesser-known example is Hezekiah. “God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart” (2 Chron. 32:31). This does not mean that God actually left Hezekiah. God will never leave nor forsake His people. This is not an objective leaving, but a subjective leaving. God withdrew Himself from Hezekiah’s spiritual feelings so that he lost his sense of God’s presence, protection, and favor. So Hezekiah felt like God had left him. But God had a wise and loving purpose in this. It was to test Hezekiah and to reveal to him what was in his heart when God’s felt presence was withdrawn.”

- an excerpt from Christians Get Depressed Too by David Murray (pp 66-7).

Tim Challies, the pastor of Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto, recently wrote an article in which he said that facebook is making us miserable. Not because it’s stealing all of our time, but because “Facebook is all about making life seem joyful – we “like” one another’s happy status updates, not the sad ones; we post photos of our parties, not our funerals; we use it to celebrate births and marriages and new relationships, not to mourn deaths or remember break-ups. Facebook is meant to be a happy place for happy people. But it doesn’t seem to work out so well. We all think everyone else is happy, but we don’t feel the joy.”

That doesn’t stop us from doing the same thing though. We put up our best photos, and project the best image we can of our life. And while it’s easy to do that behind a computer screen we try to do the same thing in person, even when it comes to Christianity. I was recently given a book that I think illustrates the contemporary view of Christianity. It was by a popular author on living a good Christian life. This book was for adults, but it had a lot of pictures in it. The pictures were of young, physically fit attractive people, with perfect teeth, apparently having fun. It’s pretty clear what kind of life the good Christian lives. And so in churches throughout this country, every Sunday people put on their Sunday best. They put on their smile, they’re always “doing good” when asked how they are doing, and of course they are “happy” to be in church. Perhaps this is why so many of the modern worship songs are happy upbeat songs about our experience with God.

Carl Trueman, a professor of theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, made this observation and wrote an article called, “What Can Miserable Christians Sing?”. He says, “A diet of unremittingly jolly choruses and hymns inevitably creates an unrealistic horizon of expectation which sees the normative Christian life as one long triumphalist street party – a theologically incorrect and a pastorally disastrous scenario in a world of broken individuals. Has an unconscious belief that Christianity is – or at least should be – all about health, wealth, and happiness silently corrupted the content of our worship?” He notes that the Bible’s own hymnbook, the Psalter, has a high proportion of songs that “is taken up with “lamentation, with feeling sad, unhappy, tormented, and broken.”

Scan the pages of the Bible and you will find men and women whose spiritual journey included what we call today depression. Moses, Hannah, Jeremiah, and Job come to mind fairly quickly. Martin Lloyd-Jones argues from biblical evidence that Timothy suffered from near-paralyzing anxiety. Pastor and author Steve Bloem writes, “The Psalms treat depression more realistically than many of today’s popular books on Christianity and psychology. David and other psalmists often found themselves deeply depressed for various reasons. They did not, however, apologize for what they were feeling, nor did they confess it as sin. It was a legitimate part of their relationship with God. They interacted with Him through the context of their depression.”

God’s Word has a lot to say about suffering. It’s not random or meaningless. Suffering is one of God’s chosen means for sanctifying His people and bringing Himself glory in this world. We understand that when it comes to the suffering of the body. Depression is a painful form of suffering in the heart and mind. Depression, then, can be applied to the various kinds of trials that the book of James says we will face knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:2-4).

For that reason, it’s important for us as a church to consider for the next few weeks what Scripture has to say about this area of life that Christians do and often experience. We don’t want to waste our depression or any form of suffering. As Christians, we want to know how to suffer well, and to do so together, because we want endurance so that one day we might be mature and complete, not lacking anything, including the joy of the Lord.

So please join us for the next four weeks as we begin our new series on “Spiritual Depression”

Spiritual Depression

Jan 8	When I Feel Forgotten	Psalm 77
Jan 15	When I Feel Forsaken	Job
Jan 22	When I Feel Like Giving Up	2 Cor. 1:3-11
Jan 29	When It All Feels Meaningless	Ecclesiastes

Due to a scheduling conflict with the hotel we will not be able to meet at the Courtyard Marriott at 10 am. Instead, we will meet at Olney St. Baptist Church at 5 pm that evening. Olney St. Baptist Church is located on the east side of Providence at 100 Olney St., 02906. Please join us as we continue in our new sermon series in the book of Judges.

The firing of Joe Paterno resulted in a massive riot on the campus of Penn St. University. Paterno was a living legend in the world of college football. Students and fans were shocked that the University would end a man’s career going into his 46th year of coaching a winning program. It wasn’t just because Paterno won football games, but also because this man gave back to the community. He was well thought of and well liked.
The shock of what happened at Penn St. this week has been felt far beyond the world of college sports. In response to the firings, Al Mohler, the President of The Southern Baptist SeminarySeminary, wrote an article in his blog saying, “When the facts became known, the firings of both Paterno and Spanier were inevitable and necessary. Both men had credible knowledge that young boys were being sexually abused, and neither did anything effective to stop it…The detonation of the Penn State scandal must shake the entire nation into a new moral awareness. Any failure to report and to stop the sexual abuse of children must be made inconceivable.”
What’s more shocking; the firing of a football legend and a college president, or the outrage of people over the firing of men who had credible knowledge of young boys who were being sexually abused, and did not do anything effective to stop it.

If we take a step back and think about that for a minute I think we will find something terribly unsettling about the human heart. Indeed, before we sit in judgment over anyone else, we ought to acknowledge that our own hearts have led us to overlook what is right and good, even reject what is right and good, in exchange for something that is neither – evil. All of us have sinned. God is good, righteous, loving, just and He is infinite and holy in each of those attributes, and yet, we have chosen to be against Him and all that He is by doing things that He is clearly against and rejecting things that He is clearly for. No matter how well our lives are thought of by others or ourselves, God is to be praised precisely because He will not overlook any such sin committed by us.

The Old Testament book of Judges is an incredibly relevant book for us today. Judges is the account of Israel’s history as they enter into the land that God had promised that He would give to them as Abraham’s descendants. But while it is historical, it is primarily concerned with what God was doing in these historical events. In particular, Judges is concerned with how God’s special relationship with His people is expressed in both judgment and salvation. One thing is for sure by the end, sin meets God’s judgment, making us utterly dependent upon His mercy.

Please join us on Sunday mornings as we look at what God’s Word has to say about our predicament and His solution in our new sermon series in the book of Judges.

“Here We Go Again…”

Nov 20	Another Option	Judges 3-5
Nov 27	The Word Will Set Us Free	Psalm 12
Dec 4	Another Try	Judges 6-8
Dec 11	Another Disappointment	Judges 9-12
Dec 18	Another Chance	Judges 13-16
Dec 25	Christmas	Luke 2:39-56
Jan 1	Only One Hope	Judges 17-21

We are excited to have Matt Schmucker come serve us on October 30. Matt is going to speak to us about a topic that Jesus spoke quite a bit about as well: hell. In fact, almost every reference of hell in the New Testament comes from Jesus. Recent book publications have given many a voice on the subject. The national media has since joined the discussion. We want to turn again to the source of this discussion. Please join us to hear from God’s word on what Jesus had to say about something which is of eternal significance of what Jesus had to say.

Matt was born in Pennsylvania into a large Roman Catholic family (seven sons!). Matt was converted as a senior at the University of Maryland where he graduated with a double major in finance and marketing in 1985. He joined Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C. in 1991. He has served Capitol Hill Baptist Church since 1991—in administration and as an elder, aiding Mark Dever in the vital work of renewing a local church. Matt served 9Marks as the executive director from 1998 through 2010. In his current role as vice president, he focuses on church and pastor consulting, conference planning, book editing, and speaking. Matt lives on Capitol Hill with his wonderful wife, Eli, and their five children.

Follow the link below to read a review of this book by one of our members, Alissa Graham.

Here is an excerpt from the review:

Am I Really a Christian” by Mike McKinley is a book that encourages Christians and those that want to be Christians to humbly “go to the doctor’s appointment,” and take any measures necessary for spiritual heath.

While some could take this book as provocative, it asks an eternally important question in a simple, gospel driven, and straight forward way. Jesus himself says there are many who will get to the end and expect to walk through the pearly gates, only to hear, “I never even knew you,” from God himself. (Matthew 25). The purpose of the book is to explore such things deeply, before it is too late.

http://www.alissamgraham.com/2011/09/book-review-am-i-really-christian.html

We can all agree with the title of the old 1968 hit single, “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing.” That’s what we want. Only the real thing is worth something to us.

When it comes to collectible items, the replicas won’t do. The 1906 American Tobacco Company baseball card of Honus Wagner is the rarest baseball card ever produced. One of the more recent sales of this card sold for close to 3 million dollars. A replica is basically worth nothing. You can get one for less than a dollar. When it comes to the reporting of the news, accuracy is everything. We want to know what really happened and is happening in the world. One of the most famous wrong headline published in American History appeared on November 3 of 1948, “Dewey Defeats Truman.” Whoops. In 1912, going on limited information, many newspapers asserted that the Titanic had been saved. Can you imagine the devastation for many who wrongly had hope held out to them, only to be crushed as reality unfolded?

Well, how much more important is it that we get the truth when it comes to matters of eternity? How important is it that we have an accurate understanding of the good news of Christianity? What is it worth to us? Please join us for our new series in the book of Galatians.

Good News That Changes Everything

August 14	Galatians 1:1-10	The Trusted News
August 21	Galatians 1:11-24	The Trusted Source
August 28	Galatians 2:11-21	Accuracy is Everything
September 4	Galatians 3:1-9	The Good News
September 11	Galatians 3:10-26	Consistent News
September 18	Galatians 3:27-4:7	Changed By The News
September 25	Galatians 4:8-20	Avoiding Inconsistency
October 2	Galatians 4:21-31	Protecting the Good News
October 9	Galatians 5:1-15	Made Free
October 15	Galatians 5:16-26	Living Free
October 22	Galatians 6	Caring and Being Cared For

What is God’s name? Does He even have one? Without divine communication from which God reveals Himself we are left a pantheon of surmises, guesses, and speculations on who and what God is. We are left with abstractions of “Unmoved movers” and impersonal “Forms” and spirits. Yet, the Creator has not left us in the dark. As Francis Schaeffer once put it, “God is there and is not silent.” God has spoken. God has revealed Himself in word and in deeds.

The book of Exodus introduces us to the exalted Creator-God by His personal name, Yahweh. He does so by coming down to man and intervening in space and time. The question then becomes, what happens when God draws near? When the God who dwells in inapproachable light stoops down to make His abode with sinful humanity, dramatic lines are drawn and profound revelation shows us the way to Him.

In this six week series in the book of Exodus we will encounter Yahweh as He has revealed Himself to Moses and see what is required for us to dwell in peace with God. From te plains of the Nile Delta to the wilderness of Arabia we meet God and we hear the voice of the Son, Jesus.

The LORD Came Near

June 26th	The LORD Came Near: The LORD	Exodus 1-4:17
July 3rd	The LORD Came Near: Judgment	Exodus 4:18-10:29
July 10th	The LORD Came Near: Salvation	Exodus 11-15:22
July 17th	The LORD Came Near: Law	Exodus 16-24
July 24th	The LORD Came Near: Mediation	Exodus 25-31
July 31	The LORD Came Near: Mercy	Exodus 32-40:38

Coming off of Sunday’s sermon in Joel 2:18-32, this is a great quote from Richard Hays’ “The Moral Vision of the New Testament”.

“God is present in power in the church, changing lives and enabling an obedience that would otherwise be unattainable. The Holy Spirit is not a theological abstraction but the manifestation of God’s presence in the community, making everything new. Those who respond to the gospel have entered the sphere of the Spirit’s power, where they find themselves changed and empowered for obedience.”

The pouring out of God’s Spirit on all of His people truly creates a remarkable community. It is God’s grace to us that we get to be a part of and experience such a community.