Agape Newsletter - Special John Talley edition. (August 21, 2009)
Hello everybody, and welcome in to this week’s Agape newsletter. This Sunday John Talley will be preaching the word, and I am very excited. John, who has preaching in his blood (through God, as well as his grandfather and others) will be exciting, challenging, interesting and unorthodox (in delivery, not theology!) I think that hearing him will be a treat for you, and I hope you will all come and join us in worship!
Events for the rest of August:
* This Sunday night, August 23rd - 6:00pm - Leadership team fellowship and discussion at the parsonage.
* Tuesday, August 25th The Nest - Our ministry to the homeless of downtown Birmingham. Meet at Agape at 6:00 to help load the van, and then leave for downtown at 6:30 pm.
* Wednesday night, August 26th - We will have food pantry from 6 to 8 pm, and we certainly need your help to deliver food to people. Come as early as you can!
* Wednesday night, August 26, 7:00pm: Bible Study and youth worship. The adult Bible study will focus on a discussion of the baptism/filling of the Holy Spirit.
* Saturday morning, August 29th, 8:30am: CHURCH BEAUTIFICATION DAY! One week from this Saturday, we are going to have a day of focus on our church building. We will be working in the bathrooms to fix and beautify them, working on the grounds of the church, working on the ditch in front of the church, working on the sanctuary, and small group classes. NOW HEAR THIS: We need all of you!! We will have team sign ups available this Sunday, so you can see the areas that we are focused on, and you can join a team.
* Sunday night, August 30th, 7pm-?? SWIM PARTY! This is for everybody - youth, kids, adults. We’ll be swimming, and eating, and hanging out at the Woodhaven clubhouse in Pinson. Meet at Agape @ 7:00pm. More details next week!
Some good links to read:
(note on the links: Last week, I linked to a story that indicated 70 percent of homosexual men claimed to be Christian. I thought that particular statistic was very interesting,, but did not agree with some of the rest of the article…I just linked it for the statistic, and for the implications of that statistic)
***** Kevin DeYoung writes a fascinating article (the beginning of a series) on social justice and the poor, in essence, what the Bible teaches us to do about the poor. CLICK HERE
***** Chernobyl 25 years later (in pictures). Quite fascinating! CLICK HERE
***** SBC leader says that Southern Baptists are structured like 1950’s businesses, and will die unless change comes: CLICK HERE
***** Are you a bad tipper? Do you pray over your meals and then act rudely to the wait staff at restaurants? Do I? PLEASE DON’T! CLICK HERE
***** Albert Mohler writes about 2 unexpected witnesses on the issue of abortion. CLICK HERE
Finally, I close with a powerful challenge from John Piper (via Adrianwarnock.com): Fasting poses the question: do we miss him? How hungry are we for him to come? The almost universal absence of regular fasting for the Lord’s return is a witness to our satisfaction with the presence of the world and the absence of the Lord. This is not the way it should be. In Luke 18:7-8
Jesus says, “Shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?”
. . .This is what is missing in the comfortable Christian Church of the modern world. Where in the West do Christians cry to Christ day and night that he would come and bring about justice for his elect? Where is there that kind of longing and aching for the consummation of the kingdom? It is no surprise then, that the question of fasting for the coming of the Bridegroom is scarcely asked. If the cry itself is not there, why would one even think of expressing it with fasting? Piper, J. (1997). A hunger for God: Desiring God through fasting and prayer (page: 84).
See you Sunday!
Chase
Recent Comments