Homehttp://www.gracechurchnwa.org/home/en-US2012-02-13T09:04:42ZSquarespace Site Server v5.11.81 (http://www.squarespace.com/)Greeting Card Christianity vs. Gritty Following of Christhttp://www.gracechurchnwa.org/home/2012/2/10/greeting-card-christianity-vs-gritty-following-of-christ.htmlAdministrator2012-02-10T15:13:46ZHere in the wrap-up to his letter to his friends in Philippi Paul realizes he’s got a few more things to say.  Maybe he saved them for the end because he knew they were going to be tough for the Philippians to hear and do.  Maybe they were just the loose ends that we all have when we’re about to say goodbye for a long time to someone we love.  Regardless, Paul gives four challenging directives that he himself has found the power to attain.  These are four directives that we ought to follow--with God’s strength-in our own time, culture, and circumstances.

 I look forward to sharing what I’ve learned with you on Sunday!

Mike Malony

]]>Power, Position and Pressing Inhttp://www.gracechurchnwa.org/home/2012/2/4/power-position-and-pressing-in.htmlAdministrator2012-02-04T16:14:05ZPower, position and pressing in, three key ideas that we are going to explore this week as we continue in our study of Paul’s letter to the Church in Philippi. While this is a small part of a specific letter to a certain group of people, Paul again addresses some monumental issues; where is it that you have put your faith? In what are you basing your justification and what are you pressing into for your righteousness? Critical issues to be sure. And the answers are not crucial only for us as individuals, but as I think we will come to understand, for us as community of believers, the Church, as well.

Can’t wait ‘til Sunday,

J.Ray

]]>The necessity of humility for unityhttp://www.gracechurchnwa.org/home/2012/1/21/the-necessity-of-humility-for-unity.htmlAdministrator2012-01-21T16:13:10Z 

As Paul continues his letter, he encourages the Philippians to be unified.  He connects that call both to their experience of God and to the notion that they were called not only to believe in Jesus but to suffer for Him.  This week we consider what it looks like to live our lives together in humility as Jesus did.

 

 

]]>Philippians 1:12-30http://www.gracechurchnwa.org/home/2012/1/13/philippians-112-30.htmlAdministrator2012-01-13T14:45:11ZEver felt like everything you have planned has fallen apart? That the way you had envisioned things, life, was going to workout didn’t? If Paul is doing nothing else in this letter, he is showing us a way to live beyond our “circumstances”. This week we are going to make the assertion that faith is not simply a matter of what we believe, but also how it changes the way we understand, or “see” things. Come prepared this week with all your questions, disappointments, hurts and confusion, Paul has some answers.

Can’t wait “til Sunday
John Ray

 

]]>The way Christians "fight" is not the way the world does.http://www.gracechurchnwa.org/home/2011/12/2/the-way-christians-fight-is-not-the-way-the-world-does.htmlAdministrator2011-12-02T18:52:19ZThe logic, progression and passion of the book of Ephesians wraps up with a masterful exhortation by Paul to “Stand” and to “Pray”.  But how? It seems Paul knows that the faith, and in fact the very lives, of the fledgling church would soon be tested and he wanted to prepare them for what was to come. But the way they were to withstand the persecution had to be radically different than that of the world. Swords and slings would be useless. Neither could they run away and hide. Something else, something totally unheard of was necessary. This week we talk about what that looks like.

Can’t wait ‘til Sunday

J.Ray

 

]]>Thankfulness, mutual submission and fear of the Lord.http://www.gracechurchnwa.org/home/2011/11/25/thankfulness-mutual-submission-and-fear-of-the-lord.htmlAdministrator2011-11-25T14:04:19ZLast week we ended with Paul’s encouragement to speak to each other with psalms and hymns, to be joyful and in everything to give thanks. Quite a lead in for Thanksgiving day, huh? Unfortunately, Thanksgiving seems now more like warm up for Black Friday. What an appropriate name for a day so contrary in spirit to the day that precedes it. This week we are going to be looking at three basic relationships that define most of who we are. It starts with the relationship between husbands and wives, then talks about kids and their parents and wraps up with slaves and masters. The implications are loaded, but maybe not in the way you think.

Can’t wait ‘til Sunday,

J.Ray

 

]]>Wake Up!http://www.gracechurchnwa.org/home/2011/11/20/wake-up.htmlAdministrator2011-11-20T14:34:11ZWake Up everybody! Up to this point in our study and discussion of Ephesians could be summed up as the ways and purposes God creates and lives in His Church. Verse 17 is variously translated “Therefore” or “so” and from this point on the focus is on how we live appropriately in this Church that God creates and inhabits. Doing that starts with waking up to who we are, and what we have to put off and put on and then how we are going to live. So wake up everybody!

Can’t wait ‘til Sunday,

J.Ray

 

]]>A Worthy Lifehttp://www.gracechurchnwa.org/home/2011/11/12/a-worthy-life.htmlAdministrator2011-11-12T22:53:05ZWhat does a life that is worthy of God's children look like?  How do we live it?  This week we consider some important thoughts from Paul's letter to the Ephesians and are reminded of what we've been called to.

]]>Christ in our Hearts: Understanding the love that surpasses all understanding.http://www.gracechurchnwa.org/home/2011/11/3/christ-in-our-hearts-understanding-the-love-that-surpasses-a.htmlAdministrator2011-11-03T16:16:16ZOK folks, if we don’t get this right, we won’t get anything right. Christ in our hearts by faith. This little snippet of scripture, these six words that say so very much. But what does it really mean? And how do we experience it in our own lives in a way that transforms us? That is what we have on our plate this week, so get ready!

Can’t wait ‘til Sunday,

J.Ray

]]>Ephesians 2:11-22http://www.gracechurchnwa.org/home/2011/10/30/ephesians-211-22.htmlAdministrator2011-10-30T12:15:01ZWhat are you wearing to worship this Sunday? In a way, the last thing we ought to be wearing to Church are our nice clothes. Instead we ought to be wearing all the protective gear we can find. IN a very real way, Church is the least passive, least clean and sanitized place on earth. Wounded broken people are here, opposing armies are brought into the same room, tearing down and rebuilding is constantly going on. And the real work, the work that stands, is being done not with human tools or power rather, by divine forces.

Get ready for some construction.

Can’t wait ‘til Sunday,

J.Ray

 

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