Grace Community Fellowship - Pastors' Blog

1st - 8th Grade Reading List - Justin Taylor

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:45:32 -0700

There are hundreds of thousands of books written for children. The challenge is discerning what is best for them to read, given so many options. I’m a sucker for good reading lists, so I’m grateful for the folks at Calvary Classical School—a classical Christian school in Hampton, VA—who has given me permission to reproduce this list below. The classical school where our kids go provides a similar list, and it’s enormously helpful. For outside reading, the books divided into three levels. Books with a “+” denote that any title in that series would be acceptable. I’ve done my best to link to the paperback or cheapest version at Amazon. I hope this proves helpful for a lot of parents and teachers! -READING LIST-

Through Many Toils

Wed, 23 May 2012 16:49:18 -0700

John Newton (1725–1807) is perhaps best known for his hymn “Amazing Grace,” but what many do not know is that Newton was also a faithful churchman who served as a pastor in England from 1764 until a month before his death in 1807. His mother died when he was seven years old, and, upon his father’s remarriage, young John was sent to school. In 1795, Newton reflected on his relationship with his father: “I am persuaded he loved me, but he seemed not willing that I should know it. I was with him in a state of fear and bondage.”

At eleven, Newton became a seaman aboard his father’s ship. Then, in 1743, under compulsion, Newton became a midshipman with the Royal Navy, and, later, he was traded for goods and became the property of a slave trader’s wife who abused him and treated him like one of her slaves, who ate only the scraps from her table. After his rescue, Newton himself became a notorious African slave trader. He was a self-admitted sinful wretch who lived a life of debauchery and described himself by saying, “I was very wicked, and therefore very foolish; and, being my own enemy, I seemed determined that nobody should be my friend.” On March 10, 1748, the twenty-two-year-old Newton
was converted to Christ while making a trip between England and Sierra Leone.
Continue reading Through Many Toils.

Pray the Scriptures - by Scotty Smith

Sat, 19 May 2012 15:14:42 -0700

I am a recovering self-centered pragmatic pray-er — a believer who spent many of my first years in Christ thinking of God more as a sugar daddy than the
sovereign Father. Prayer, for me, had more in common with programming a heavenly computer than surrendering to a loving Master. I worked harder at claiming God’s promises for my ease than being claimed by God’s purposes for His kingdom. Instead of being still and knowing that God is God, my prayer life was that of an antsy man, trying to help God be God.

Alas, this was a manifestation of the man-centered gospel that distorted my view of God and, therefore, enfeebled my practice of prayer. Thankfully, continued growth in grace has led me to a better understanding of the gospel, which, in turn, has radically reoriented my prayer life. It’s not cliché; it’s wondrously true: the gospel changes everything... READ MORE

The Secret of Contentment

Tue, 15 May 2012 11:05:31 -0700

Contentment is one of the most difficult Christian virtues to attain. Almost
four hundred years ago, Jeremiah Burroughs referred to the “rare jewel” of
Christian contentment. It is safe to say that contentment is no more common in our day than it was in Burroughs’. Yet, it remains one of the most crucial
virtues. A contented Christian is the one who best knows God’s sovereignty and
rests in it. A contented Christian trusts God, is pure in heart, and is the one
most willing to be used of God — however God sees fit. We live in a world that breeds discontent. We are bombarded with the message that to be happy we need more things, less wrinkles, better vacations, and fewer troubles. But, ultimately, the problem is the sinful human heart. We are often discontented in our jobs, our marriages, our churches, our homes — in most areas of our lives. We can easily despair that we will never be able to attain contentment. But the Bible teaches us not only that we must be content (Heb. 13:5), it teaches us that we can be content...
Read the rest of William Barcley's Article HERE

the Great Power of Mothers

Mon, 14 May 2012 05:59:22 -0700

No New Doctrine!

Wed, 09 May 2012 14:33:55 -0700

It is no novelty, then, that I am preaching; no new doctrine. I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines, that are called by nickname CALVINISM, but which are surely and verily the revealed truth of God as it is in Christ Jesus. By this truth I make a pilgrimage into (the) past, and as I go, I see father after father, confessor after confessor, martyr after martyr, standing up to shake hands with me...Taking these things to be the standard of my faith, I see the land of the ancients peopled with my brethren; I behold multitudes who confess the same as I do, and acknowledge that this is the religion of God's own church." C.H. Spurgeon

A Calvinist

Tue, 08 May 2012 04:16:44 -0700

"The Calvinist is the man who has seen God, and who, having seen God in His glory, is filled on the one hand with a sense of his own unworthiness to stand in God's sight as a creature, and much more as a sinner, and on the other hand, with adoring wonder that nevertheless this God is a God who receives sinners."
B.B. Warfield

Powerful reminder in todays struggles

Tue, 08 May 2012 04:10:43 -0700

"God, The Determiner of history, prepares the man for the hour and the hour for the man. As the sole Builder of His church, the Lord Jesus Christ appoints the time when and the place where each man will find himself on the grander stage of history. With infinite genius and perfect design, Christ sovereignly chooses His men (John 15:16), calling them from their mothers' wombs (Jere.1:5; Luke 1:15; Gal.1:15-16) to fulfill the specific work they will do (Eph.2:10). Even the very success they will enjoy is determined by Christ, who alone causes the growth (1Cor.3:6-7)."
Steve Lawson "Foundations of Grace" pg.41

A Must Listen!

Sun, 06 May 2012 18:40:29 -0700

Here's the full Q&A session from the last post: