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Good morning GBC Family,
 
Fall Trivia, did you know squirrels dig fake holes to trick other squirrels about the location of their nuts? There you go— you can enjoy Fall more now.
 

Midweek Meditation: Destroying the Comfort Zones of the Soul Pt. 3- Self- Sufficiency

You may not identify yourself as a legalist or a libertine (though I think their essences live in us more than we believe), but this next one addresses us all to some extent. Grace threatens the self-reliant. Grace cannot allow us to operate as though sufficiency is inside us and all we need to do is find the right mechanism to draw it out. Grace is only effective for those humble enough to acknowledge the limits of their finiteness and the depths of their need.
                  Grace threatens us with the reality that we are too finite to make anything of our lives as a result of what is inside ourselves. Paul reminds the Corinthians that our insufficiency to accomplish precisely that which Christ has called us to is fertile ground to flourish grace (2 Cor. 12:9-10). Rest in the humbling hope today that anything good which comes from your life is not because you did it. If it was, you’d need to keep doing it— and you can’t. You need not drum up greater goodness inside you. That’s drawing water from an empty well. Grace calls you to rest in the goodness of depending on Christ, not the exhausting belief that Christ depends upon you.
                  Grace threatens a view of sanctification that is self-strengthened and self-sustained. Biblical sanctification affirms that Christ alone is sufficient, not that Christ has made us sufficient (Gal. 2:20). When Christ saved you from the bondage of sin, he didn’t say “now you take it from here!” Grace threatens the thinking that we need more of Jesus to be saved and more of ourselves to be sanctified. How exhausting and discouraging our lives become when we believe that “He who began a good work in you…” left you complete until the day of Christ (Phil. 1:6). Yield to the belief that you are not enough, and you will find yourself trusting more, and futilely trying less.
Ministry Prayer Requests
  • Pray for discernment for your pastors and leadership.
  • Pray for God to keep disunifying and untruthful sources at bay.
  • Pray for a spirit of restoration to gospel motivations and mission.
Ministry Reminders
  • Always be checking your bulletins.
  • Ladies have an event upcoming- Oct. 29th, 6:30 at the church. You need to sign up by the 18th.
  • Remember we are still giving to our Missions Christmas offering.
  • Church family fun- skating night at Jarisa’s Fun Zone on Nov. 5 from 6-8 pm.
    • Cost is $5 per person or $20 per family and includes regular skates. You may choose inline skates for an additional $5 per person.
    • A snack bar will be open for you to purchase refreshments. 
 
Love and prayers,
Pastor Kyle