November 9, 2004
Grace e-mail bulletin - 11/03/04
Grace Presbyterian Church
E-mail bulletin
November 3, 2004
Dear Members and Friends of Grace,
Greetings in the name of our Triune God:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! At the OKC Conference on Reformed Theology held
last week, we were reminded of the vital role the Holy Spirit plays in our
salvation. While we seem to be able to understand with some adequacy the
persons and work of the Father and the Son, we are often less sure what to
think about the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. He need not be a
mystery, however. He is the Spirit of Christ and he is doing Christ’s
work in us and in his church (Romans 8:9-11).
Consider the work of salvation as
involving all three persons of the Godhead: God the Father loved us and chose
us, Christ redeemed us by his obedient life, death, and resurrection, and the Holy
Spirit applies that redemption to us. The Spirit’s work is to make us
like Christ, transforming us into the same
image from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18). In other words, the Spirit works in
perfect harmony with the Father and the Son in bringing to realization God’s
purposes of redemption and glory for his people. As you grow in the knowledge
of Christ and in obedience to his word, this is the Spirit’s doing. As
you find comfort, joy, and hope in the promises of God, this is the Spirit’s
work. As you are convicted of the need to repent in some way, this is also the
work of the Holy Spirit.
For this reason, our aim is to be filled
with the Spirit (Eph. 4:18). Ask God to fill you with his Spirit, even without measure (John 3:34).
Please note the following information:
This evening (11/3):
-
We will
meet for our weekly prayer meeting at the Johnsons’ house at 7:00 p.m
(our home number is 321-6151). Even if you aren’t able to attend, please
let me know if there are any particular matters for prayer or thanksgiving that
we should know about before we pray.
This coming Lord’s
Day (11/7):
-
Since
Bill Doerfel will be away preaching in
-
I will
preach on Mark 12:13-17 during the morning service. The message will be “Render
unto Caesar”.
-
During
the evening service, I will begin a new sermon series on the 10 Commandments. Before
looking at each individual commandment, we will consider some of the biblical
teaching regarding the law of God and our relationship to it as Christians.
This Sunday evening’s sermon will be “The Goodness of the Law”.
Next Saturday (11/13):
-
The
Women’s Bible study and the Men’s prayer breakfast will meet.
- Eric Pyle writes: “With only $135/mo remaining to complete my
partnership team, my hope and prayer is to be at my assignment by the end of
the year.” Eric is nearing his goal of support, and Lord willing will be
able soon to start his labors with Wycliffe. You can view Eric’s latest
newsletter at: http://www.opcnorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/.
Pray for that God would provide the remainder of
support needed.
Opportunities for service:
-
Volunteers
are needed to help with a project for outreach into the community. I have
prepared and acquired all the materials necessary for door hangers that we can
distribute to area neighborhoods. These are clear plastic bags which will hold
the following three items: our church’s tri-fold information flyer, an
attractive bookmark with Grace’s information on it, and a note from me
introducing the church and extending an invitation to visit. I am looking for
volunteers both for putting the door hangers together and going out to
distribute them. I’ll announce later a specific date and time that we can
meet to distribute them. In the meantime, let me know if you would like to help
out with this project.
-
We also
need volunteers to help clean the church on a rotating basis. Please contact me
if you would be able to invest a little time in helping to make sure our church
building is clean and ready for Sunday worship each week.
In His service,
Pastor Scott
Pastor Scott Johnson
Grace Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Visit our website: www.opcNorman.org