During this coming Sunday gathering, we will give testimony to God’s grace — that sinners who deserve to fall before His eternal throne in judgment can instead fall in worship and gratitude before this “throne of grace”!

• You Are My King (Amazing Love) (Foote)
• Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners (Chapman/Pritchard)
• Worship of Giving – Holy, Holy, Holy
• Be Unto Your Name (DeShazo/Sadler)
• Higher Throne (Townend/Getty)
• Sermon – “Rome, As Promised” (Acts 27:1-28:15)
• Before the Cross (Payne)

by His grace, for His glory
Josh

* This tentative order of our upcoming gathered worship is posted as an opportunity to use it in your private or family worship prior to our meeting together in a few days.  The worship team of GTBC, service directors, and elders have found great benefit for their souls in having these available for their own private worship and reflection, so we wanted to make this resource available to all that might desire to use it in this way.  May we all be better “cross-boasters” as a result!

June 7, 2009: “The Good-bye Speech of a Gospel-Centered Man” from Acts 20:17-38

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Paul gathered the Ephesian elders together to say good-bye in an emotional speech that fully displayed his heart for the gospel. If you were to give a good-bye speech, would you be able to give a gospel-centered message that faithfully represented your life?

Without being moralistic, the Bible sets forth examples to be either avoided or emulated. Paul recounted to the elders that his example of service to the Lord was with humility, with passion, with perseverance, teaching the whole counsel of God and seeking all people, with a willingness to pay the ultimate price.

The greatest risk-takers for the gospel will experience the greatest joy in the gospel. Don’t go to glory filled with regret—live a life of radical service for the Lord. Most of us won’t give a good-bye speech at the end of our lives, but what may not be spoken verbally will be communicated clearly by how we have lived.

Will you leave a gospel legacy—or something less?

May 17, 2009: “The Gospel Advances on Great Promises and Simple Means” from Acts 18:1-17

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Ministering in Corinth in an environment of religious opposition, self-sufficiency, and widespread immorality, Paul is in need of a word of encouragement. God tells him to stop fearing and keep speaking, and gives him two great promises: the promise of God’s presence and the promise of election.

Paul did two simple things to advance the gospel: he shared his life and he spoke the word. Sharing our lives provides a bridge for speaking the word of the gospel. If all we do is speak the word, we are perceived simply as “sales reps” in the religious marketplace.

Far more natural than a “hit and run” approach to evangelism, making the commitment to building relationships with unbelievers demonstrates a genuine, heart-opening concern that will allow opportunities to communicate the gospel. We must leverage the opportunity of the ordinary—ordinary people doing ordinary things with deliberate gospel intentions.