The Imperative of Joy
Christians have God astheir Protector, Provider and Saviour through Jesus Christ. We ought to be joyful....
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Tried and Tested: The Deacon's Examination
So churches need to try and test the character and maturity of their deacon nominees prior to their appointment by the elders, a process that requires time and familiarity. That’s the deacon’s examination....
Examined By the Assembly: The Deacon's Nomination
Biblical deacons, then, are to be examined by the assembly. That’s at the heart of the deacon’s nomination for office....
Appreciating the Problem: The Deacon's Definition
Deacons, again, are to guard the unity of the church and the ministry of the elders from the demands of practical problems. Appreciating such problems requires the careful definition of each deacon’s role....
The Fifth Qualification: The Deacon's Purity
There is only one qualification Paul mentions to Timothy that is not found in Acts 6, and it is that qualification we now turn to examine: the deacon’s purity....
The Fourth Qualification: The Deacon's Faith
This combination of a practical, nuts-and-bolts focus and a separation from doctrinal and pastoral oversight ministry might tempt a church to overlook the piety and conviction of a candidate. That would be a grave mistake....
The Third Qualification: The Deacon's Wisdom
The very fact that this responsibility requires dedicated attention should tell us that it may not come easily, and that not just anyone will be able to fulfill it. It’s no surprise, then, that the third qualification emphasized by the apostles in Acts 6 is wisdom......
The Second Qualification: The Deacon's Maturity
Having seen last week that the first qualification of a potential deacon is a solid reputation, we now turn to look at the second qualification found in Acts chapter 6: being “full of the Spirit.” Of all the qualifications, this one is perhaps most at risk of being misunderstood in the present day. What does “filled with the Spirit” mean?...
The First Qualification: The Deacon's Reputation
Now that we’ve looked at the intent, mission, and objective of the New Testament deacon, it’s time to look at what kind of Christians fill this office. What are the qualifications of those called to be deacons?...
Freeing Elders For Word and Prayer: The Deacon's Objective
We see in Acts 6 that even in the earliest church the temptation to be distracted from this ministry is strong. The apostles put it in blunt terms: “it is not right that we should give up the preaching of the Word of God to serve tables.”...
Caring For Practical Needs: The Deacon's Mission
The mission of the office of deacon is to care for practical needs in the local church....
The Deacon's Intent: Fostering Church Unity
Deacons exist, first and foremost, with the intent of fostering unity in the church. Only with that primary purpose in mind can we then turn to look at others....
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 10
David talks in First Chronicles 29 about uprightness of heart, but why does he do that? Why does the heart matter when looking at good deeds like a Temple offering? ...
To Believe and To Suffer in Seedtime and Harvest
The Christian life might not be romantic or nostalgic but its real. Our organic connection to Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection is better than all of the hoped for clean eating and living that hopeless shoppers pursue. ...
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 9
Human beings have an innate longing for meaning and significance. As we continue to pray after David's example in First Chronicles 29 we wrestle with the need for us to confess our mortality and shortness of days to God, and live in light of them....
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 8
Even our willingness and ability to do things for God are gifts from his hand. In this article we look at and pray in light of this truth as David presents it in his prayer, found in First Chronicles 29....
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 7
God provides all that we have. As we continue to pray through First Chronicles 29 in celebration of a year in our own building, we look at how David acknowledged God's provision of all things as an example for our own prayers....
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 5
As we remember God's provision in the life of our own church one year ago, when we took possession of a building of our own for the first time, we look at the example of David's model prayer in First Chronicles 29. In this article we consider how David opened his prayer--with blessing and praise....
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 6
Gratitude is a crucial attitude of the Christian life. As we continue to mark our first anniversary in a building of our own, we seek to imitate David's example of thanksgiving in prayer found in First Chronicles 29....
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 4
As we continue to celebrate our first year owning our own church building, we are meditating on and praying through First Chronicles 29. How does the Christian look at a text like First Chronicles 29, or indeed any Old Testament story or promise or command? The answer is the classic Sunday School answer: “Jesus!”...
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 3
As we at Calvary Grace continue to mark our first anniversary as "homeowners" in a building of our own, we consider the miracle of Israel's offering for the Temple in First Chronicles 29:1-9, and mark its meaning....
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 1
Sometimes God provides spectacularly in the life of an individual or a church. On Calvary Grace's first anniversary as "homeowners" in a building of its own, we pause to consider the example of King David's Israel after God ordains a staggering offering by his people for his Temple, seeking wisdom on how to pray after God pours out blessings....
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 2
We can’t understand the amazing prayer offered in First Chronicles 29 unless we first understand the man who offered it. In this article, we’re going to look at King David, a "man on a mission." We’ll review what brought him to that moment, in order to help us grasp why he prayed the way he did....
Resources for Gathering One2One
We’ll wrap up this newsletter series by introducing three new e-book Ministry Guides you can download to help you with this ministry, along with providing (all in one place) the links to the Study Outlines introduced over the past month...
Gathering One-2-One For Bible Reading
To get you started reading the Bible one-to-one, what follows is a simple method of Bible study called the COMA method. COMA studies a Bible passage in four steps: Context, Observation, Meaning, and Application....
Gathering One-2-One For Prayer
ACTS stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. When gathering one-to-one for prayer, you simply take turns, each praying a prayer of adoration, then each praying a prayer of confession, and so on....
Gathering One2One For Sermon Application - Be An Expositional Listener!
Sermon listening is a central part of the Christian life, and so why not learn more about it? Christopher Ash has written a very short but very useful booklet called Listen Up! A practical guide to listening to sermons, filled with useful tips and challenging questions that will help you “take care…how you hear” (Luke 8:18). After getting started with Gathering One2One, we strongly urge you to find and use this book....
How Do I Get Started Gathering One-2-One?
Here’s some steps to follow, both before the first meeting, and at that first meeting together....
Who Should I Find to Gather One-To-One With?
Try to build up one another, and build up the church, by building fellowship across the whole congregation one-to-one around God’s Word!...
Fruit Picking: Fighting for Patience
So how do you fight for patience? By trusting God according to his Word: all that he is for you, all that he’s done for you and all that he will do for you....
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June Series: Fruit Picking
We need to control the self, because the self produces desires in us that if not put to death will kill us and damage others....
Keep ReadingWords of Wisdom for a New Year #3
Pray for the mind of Christ, which is yours already that you may put into practice these three wisdom principles for godly decision-making....
Keep ReadingWords of Wisdom for a New Year #2
So at the beginning of the New Year, make devotional heart work a priority and tap into the life giving Spirit of Christ (John 7:38-39). ...
Keep ReadingWords of Wisdom for a New Year
We need wisdom to stand firm on sound doctrine in the face of an increasingly anti-Christian culture. We need wisdom for the trials of fighting sin and temptation. We need wisdom for physical or relational difficulties. And note this: we need wisdom to make decisions, but God is primarily concerned about forming character....
Keep ReadingParental Wisdom For a New Year
God is sovereign over a person’s salvation, but he uses means and the Scriptures are clear that parents have a big responsibility here. So parenting is a wonderful but weighty task, which causes as much anxiety as joy. Therefore, here are a few wisdom principles for raising the next generation....
Keep ReadingThoughts on Advent (1): Preparation
We are now in the Advent season. Advent means “coming”, and for Christians we primarily celebrate the first coming of Christ: the incarnation of the Son of God ...
Keep ReadingThoughts on Advent(2) : Believing & Pondering
In the gospel of Luke, along with a multitude of the heavenly host, an angel announces the birth of Christ to local shepherds. The same shepherds then go to Bethlehem to see the child, recounting the angelic visitation to Mary, Joseph and anyone else who would hear. There was no doubt much excitement and activity around the manger. ...
Keep ReadingThoughts on Advent(3) : Eager Anticipation
One thing she said really struck me: “In those days we had to wait for things a lot more than we do now and we put up with hardship along the way. There is something good about anticipation”. Whether it was waiting and saving to buy a house, waiting and saving oneself for marriage or waiting for the war (and rations!) to end there was a goodness about eagerly antic...
Keep ReadingThoughts on Advent (4): Why did Jesus appear?
Christmas Day celebrates the birth and appearing of Christ. We think of his incarnation, Immanuel (God with us), the Word made flesh, the Son of God made son of Mary. But why did baby Jesus appear? John tells us: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). ...
Keep ReadingThoughts on Advent (5): A New Year, Adoption and the Advance of the Kingdom
This kind of adopting love also fuels the advance of the kingdom. John says, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love” (John 15:9). Part of abiding in this love is to obey Jesus: “If you love me you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). And this means bearing fruit that abides, i.e. the fruit of conversions (John 15:16)....
Keep ReadingMeditations on Meekness - Part 5
So the main point I want to make is that meekness is missional. Paul lists seven virtues in chapter 3 and verses 1 and 2. Notice the last one, “to show perfect courtesy”. The Greek says, endeiknymenous prauteta ...
Keep ReadingMeditations on Meekness - Part 4
Meek people are teachable people. They welcome God's Word. That word, "receive" means "welcome". To receive is an intellectual exercise in that it means to understand and apprehend what is being taught in the Word....
Keep ReadingMeditations on Meekness - Part 3
In our meditations on meekness we would do well to seek to understand that phrase, "the meekness of wisdom". What does it mean?...
Keep ReadingMeditations on Meekness - Part 2
Psalm 37 is perhaps the best place to look for a biblical definition of meekness. In fact the Beatitude in Matthew 5:5 is taken directly from that Psalm and verse 11. The wording is virtually parallel. Further on in verse 22 we read, "For those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land". In other words the blessed man inherits the land just as the meek man does. So, bless...
Keep ReadingMeditations on Meekness - Part 1
The beginning of true meekness is that we trust in the Lord not ourselves. That's the only way meekness can be produced. Apart from faith it is impossible. That's one of the reasons God presents us with difficult circumstances ...
Keep ReadingCultivating Thankfulness Part 3
In Ephesians 1 we see how the gospel fuels thanksgiving and how thanksgiving inspires a life of intercessory prayer....
Keep ReadingCultivating Thankfulness - Part 2
We can cultivate thankfulness in the way we express it in prayer. The Apostle Paul is a great example of a man of prayer and we can learn some lessons from him through studying the structure of his petitions....
Keep ReadingCultivating Thankfulness - Part 1
When I was a child, whenever we went to visit someone else's house, my parents always used to tell my sister and me, "Don't forget to say 'please' and 'thank you'". Of course that sometimes simply meant we were polite, not truly thankful. And we can be like that in the church, polite on the outside, seemingly grateful, but quite the opposite within. So for the three weeks ...
Keep ReadingSix Principles of Closet Communion: The Key for Christian Life and Growth
There is no doubt that the key to Christian life and growth is communion with God…on your own! You’ll hear many people say that they pray throughout the day with arrow prayers or they pray with other people. This is good, but this is not the foundation. Jesus constantly went to be with his Father in prayer (Matt. 26:36; Mark1:35; Luke 4:42, 5:16, 6:12). If he did this,...
Keep ReadingLessons From Our Vacation
Our need for rest is humbling. It demonstrates that we are not God. God never sleeps (Ps. 121:4) and Christ upholds the universe with the Word of his power (Heb. 1:3). God is not taxed and tired out by life. He is the source of life (Gen. 1; John 1:4). Knowing that we are dust (Ps. 103:14), created, not the Creator, is a biblical mandate for the need of rest, whether that...
Keep ReadingBiblical Manhood and Womanhood is Good
It seems that recent tweets I made about biblical manhood, womanhood and marriage have gained attention in the UK. Several national newspapers picked up these tweets and there was reaction from both Christians and non-Christians. Some people were very upset; others were very encouraged. ...
Keep ReadingForgiveness - Part 2
Last week we defined forgiveness. But practicing it is not that easy, especially if the other person is selfish, a habitual sinner, or even abusive....
Keep ReadingForgiveness - Part 1
Christ came, “to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God…” (Luke 1:76-78). The birth of Christ in Bethlehem was always about the death of Christ at Calvary. Therefore, forgiveness, which brings relational peace between God and man, is at the very heart of the gospel. However, forgiveness is on...
Keep ReadingReading Biographies: Ann Judson
For my last series in reading biographies I choose Ann Judson, the wife of Adoniram; the book, Ann Judson, Missionary Wife by Arabella Stuart....
Keep ReadingReading Biographies: George Müller
The Lord’s instructions are simple. You pray to me and ask. I will supply you with what you need to bring you through. You will praise me. The part we play is to ask for and receive help. The part God plays is to provide in response and receive our praise. The provider gets the praise the receivers get the reward of God’s help....
Keep ReadingReading Biographies: Hudson Taylor
That is a daily default position of apprehending the new covenant reality of being a new creation “in Christ”, and then to continually rely upon his work for us and trust his word to keep and guide us. I think this is the hardest thing for Christians to grasp. Satisfaction in Christ alone means that we can have joy in suffering knowing he is working for our good and hi...
Keep ReadingReading Biographies: William Carey
Hebrews Chapter 11 gives the example of heroes of the faith, which is meant to encourage us to “run with perseverance the race that is set before us” (Heb.12:1). It behooves us, therefore, to remember past leaders who still speak God’s word to us as we consider the course of their whole lives. In the pages of a biography we can consider their lives and doctrine and w...
Keep ReadingTension That Strengthens
“Lessening the tension in a crisis is not of itself a good thing." Why? Because we can be tempted to rush in and deal with the symptoms without discovering the cause. Lloyd Jones is speaking in the context of true conversion as opposed to simply moral and philosophical reform....
Keep ReadingCalvary Grace Gospel Work
On Christmas Eve there will be a service at our house in Canmore. It comes out of the community group that has been meeting here for the past couple of years. God has blessed this Gospel work and I believe it is significant that the people in this group have keenly endorsed an “official” service....
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