Monday, June 27, 2005

6.26.05 Message Now Posted!

Yesterday, we looked at Matthew 13:10-17: "Why does Jesus speak in Parables?" The text threw us into the ineffable mystery and Scriptural tension between our human responsibility in responding to the Gospel and God's sovereignty in saving spiritually dead sinners.

If we are outside the door of the Kingdom, the doctrine of human responsibilty ought to move us to respond in faith to Jesus' invitations to Himself. Come in the door!

If we are already inside the door of the Kingdom, the doctrine of God's sovereignty ought to move us to gratitude, praise and worship for God's sovereign and free grace which saves. Realize how you got in the door!

Anyway, rich practical doctrine for all. An "eat your vegetables" text and message.

Those of you who are still thinking about and struggling with these issues (I am!) and want to study some more, may be interested in a study I wrote/taught a few years back entitled, "Evangelism & the Sovereignty of God." (I took the title from a J.I. Packer book of the same title which I quote throughout the study.) The six part study is available in PDF format, along with a growing list of other written resources on our website at. . . http://www.graceslo.org/grow/study-guides/default.asp

• If you want to listen to this week's message now, just. . . Click Here!

• If you want to "pull" the message from the website, go to. . . Connecting - Grace Church, San Luis Obispo.

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This coming week. . . Matthew 13:24-32, 36-43: The Wheat & the Weeds

1 comment:

Kevin Heldt said...

I really enjoyed the sermon yesterday -- I liked how the mystery was left intact while still focusing each group in on what should be their focus and application. I think that's so important because all too often we get caught up in focusing on "the other person's" message and that's where the problems come in. It's kind of like with the marriage stuff in Ephesians. It's probably best if husbands never read the section written to wives and vice versa!