Preparing for Worship: November 10, 2019

November 9, 2019

Text: Romans 3:19–20
Title: The Way to the Righteousness God Will Receive

How can one stand before the holiness of God, perfectly accepted? The answer to that question is given in our verses this Lord’s Day. Ignorant of the righteousness of God, sinful men attempt to establish their own. That kind of righteousness will forever be unacceptable to God. There is a righteousness, however, that is freely given by God. It is freely given, perfectly acceptable to God, and in complete accordance with God’s justice. How that righteousness is offered and received will be our focus this Sunday.

Songs we will sing this week include the following, provided in a Spotify playlist here:

Our Great God
Raised to Life
Jesus is Better
O Lord, My Rock and My Redeemer
When I Survey
Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners
He Who is Mighty
Lord of Lords
Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery

‍

Preparing for Worship: November 3, 2019

November 9, 2019

Text: 1 Timothy 6:3–10
Title: “The Distinctiveness of a Man of God”

When Paul refers to Timothy as a man of God, he does so in contrast to another kind of man. False teachers are a very real danger to the church, and Paul says we can recognize them by their character. This Lord’s Day, we will listen to what Paul tells us about false teachers, learn what characterizes a man of God in contrast, and be exhorted to pursue that distinctive pathway by which God will be glorified in His people.

Songs we will sing this week include the following, provided in a Spotify playlist here or a Youtube playlist here:

All Creatures of Our God and King
Man of Sorrows
Blessed Are All
We Sing as One
Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery
There is a Fountain
Here is Love
Ancient of Days
I Will Glory in My Redeemer

Revive Winter Camp 2020

November 1, 2019

WHEN: February 14-16, 2020

WHERE: Camp Tejas in Giddings, TX (https://www.mytejas.org/)

THEME: SHINE: living distinctively for Christ in a dark world

COST: $155 per student ($77.50 for each additional sibling) ; After 12/21/19 price increases to $175 ($87.50 for each additional sibling)

SPEAKER: Josh Petras- high school pastor from Grace Community Church in California

Registration is now open. Online registration link

There is a $25 registration fee due at the time of registration which will be applied towards your total cost of camp (after 12/20 the fee will be non-refundable).

At this time the only way to pay is by check or cash.

Once you have registered please print and turn in the Camp Tejas Waiver to Aaron or Tami.

All registrations and final payment must be made no later then 1/13/2020. After the 13th you will be placed on a waiting list.

If you have any questions please let us know!

studentministry@foundersbaptist.org

‍

Preparing for Worship: February 2, 2014

March 6, 2019

The sermon text this Sunday morning will be from Luke 18:9-14, which you can read here, and which concerns the well-known parable about the Pharisee and tax collector. The Pharisee is haughty and self-assured, hence, "[Jesus] told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous" (18:9). Jesus says that the tax collector on the other hand—even though it is assumed that he is unjust (he is a tax collector after all)—is "justified" (18:14). Why is he justified? Is it because he is shameful? He "stands far off," and does not even "lift his eyes to heaven," obviously because he is ashamed of his sin. But note that his justification is tied to repentance: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" is the focus of the paragraph. The apostle Paul says that justification is a gracious gift from God: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom 3:23-24). So what the tax collector exhibits in Luke 18 can only be from God. His justification and faith come not through good works, the arbitrary kind that the Pharisee is boasting about. Rather, his justification is the result of his repentance before God and faith in God. Paul asks in Romans 3:27-28, "What becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law." It is comforting to remember that God is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Indeed, he is all our boast. Songs we will sing this week include the following, provided in a playlist here: 1. Come, Thou Almighty King (The Church at Brook Hills) 2. Always (Kristian Stanfill) 3. Your Love, Oh Lord (Third Day) 4. Come to Me (The Village Church) 5. Sovereign Over Us (Aaron Keyes).

Preparing for Worship: January 26, 2014

March 6, 2019

The sermon for this week is from Luke 17:31-37, which you can read here. This is a particularly difficult text to interpret as it concerns when the Son of Man will be revealed and the coming of his kingdom to earth. We do not know with any precision when this great day will arrive. At the heart of Jesus' message, rather, is that people should prepare for his coming: Luke 17:33—Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. This idea is akin to what Paul did for the churches in Acts 14; indeed, it is what all believers should do in a wicked age—churches should "strengthen" their "souls." We must continue in the faith, Paul asserts, for "through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). So, we can begin by putting away our end-times graphs and charts. That's not how Jesus tells us to prepare. What he does say is that we should be faithful witnesses of him in our daily lives, and commit ourselves to ethical conduct befitting our repentance. God will ultimately bring vindication and judgment upon the wicked while giving redemption to those who are his offspring by faith. Songs we will sing this week include the following, provided in a playlist here.

Our Great God
Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery
Behold Our God
How Deep the Father's Love for Us
The Church's One Foundation

Preparing for Worship: January 19, 2014

March 6, 2019

We may think that the goal of worship is to gaze upon God and be changed. This is certainly true to some extent. When we repent and come to faith in Christ, we are indeed asking God to change us, to conform us into the image of his Son. It is interesting to note, however, that in revelation—the divine activity of redemption—God gazes upon us and changes us, rather than the other way around (J. Todd Billings, The Word of God for the People of God, 80). This is example we have in Isaiah 60, where the nations come to God after he returns to Zion, and he irradiates them with his glory. They become reflections of his majesty in a similar way to Moses when he came down from Mt. Sinai with a shining face (Exod 34:29-35). This change is also the core idea of Aaron's Blessing in Numbers 6:24-26: The Lord bless you and keep you The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you The Lord lift his countenance upon you, and give you peace. I wonder how much more God-saturated our worship time may be if our utmost plea is that God irradiate us with his goodness and for his glory. Then we would be changed from the inside out. Songs we will sing week include the following, provided in a playlist here: 1. A Mighty Fortress is Our God 2. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing 3. How Sweet and Aweful is the Place 4. Be Thou My Vision.

