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Grace EV Free Children with Hebrews 4:16 from Grace EV Free on Vimeo.

Saying What You Believe Is Clearer Than Saying “Calvinist” by: John Piper

We are Christians. Radical, full-blooded, Bible-saturated, Christ-exalting, God-centered, mission-advancing, soul-winning, church-loving, holiness-pursing, sovereignty-savoring, grace-besotted, broken-hearted, happy followers of the omnipotent, crucified Christ. At least that’s our imperfect commitment.

In other words, we are Calvinists. But that label is not nearly as useful as telling people what you actually believe! So forget the label, if it helps, and tell them clearly, without evasion or ambiguity, what you believe about salvation.

If they say, “Are you a Calvinist?” say, “You decide. Here is what I believe . . .”

I believe I am so spiritually corrupt and prideful and rebellious that I would never have come to faith in Jesus without God’s merciful, sovereign victory over the last vestiges of my rebellion. (1 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 3:1–4; Romans 8:7).

I believe that God chose me to be his child before the foundation of the world, on the basis of nothing in me, foreknown or otherwise. (Ephesians 1:4–6; Acts 13:48; Romans 8:29–30; 11:5–7)

I believe Christ died as a substitute for sinners to provide a bona fide offer of salvation to all people, and that he had an invincible design in his death to obtain his chosen bride, namely, the assembly of all believers, whose names were eternally written in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain. (John 3:16; John 10:15; Ephesians 5:25; Revelation 13:8)

When I was dead in my trespasses, and blind to the beauty of Christ, God made me alive, opened the eyes of my heart, granted me to believe, and united me to Jesus, with all the benefits of forgiveness and justification and eternal life. (Ephesians 2:4–5; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Philippians 2:29; Ephesians 2:8–9; Acts 16:14; Ephesians 1:7; Philippians 3:9)

I am eternally secure not mainly because of anything I did in the past, but decisively because God is faithful to complete the work he began—to sustain my faith, and to keep me from apostasy, and to hold me back from sin that leads to death. (1 Corinthians 1:8–9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24; Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter 1:5; Jude 1:25; John 10:28–29; 1 John 5:16)

Call it what you will, this is my life. I believe it because I see it in the Bible. And because I have experienced it. Everlasting praise to the greatness of the glory of the grace of God!

John Rinehart preaches on “Defending the Fatherless” on Orphan Sunday at Grace EV Free.

See more here http://projecthopespeaks.org/2010/11/11/orphan-sunday/

Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com
Email Brian Petersen for licenses regarding this image.
© 2010 Brian Petersen

I love being part of a team where I get to see people live out their adoption in Christ and defend the rights of the orphan and widow.

Project Hope at Grace EV Free celebrated its third Orphan Sunday by hosting Sunday services called, “Defending the Fatherless.” November 7 is internationally recognized as Orphan Sunday and the event was tailored for the church body with preaching, sung worship, testimonies, prayer, and exhibits with tables from local ministries to help Christians defend the fatherless. I’ve included the sermon video below with some photos of the fun event. Enjoy and God bless you!

You can download the sermon audio or listen online by visiting the Grace EV Free website here.
You can also check out the original post from Project Hope here.

Click on these photos to view them large. Photos by Brian Petersen and Erik Bergen.

Click on these photos to view them large. Photos by Brian Petersen and Erik Bergen.

From a Resonate worship service at Bethany Church

Long Beach – California – January 2004

Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com
Email Brian Petersen for licenses or to purchase this image.

See this on my flickr page
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bpbp/400787508/

Christians in prayer during a worship service. Dear friends from Grace EV Free.

Full size image at
www.brianapetersen.com
Email Brian Petersen for licenses to this image.

iPad: The Greatest Disappointment in Human History?

“I’m ready to declare that the iPad is the greatest disappointment in all of human history.” That is how well-known Christian bloggers like Tim Challes and Justin Taylor have described the new computer tablet from the folks at Apple. Harsh reviews have come out against the iPad in recent weeks as people have jokingly referred to it as a bigger iPod, saying “They just don’t get it.”

I humbly disagree. This is a great innovation in technology that can be used for the kingdom of God, and will be of great use to our community here at Biola University.

What exactly is it?
The iPad is a new tablet-style computer device from Apple that is less expensive and smaller than a laptop, but more useful and technologically advanced than an electronic reader, like the Amazon Kindle. The iPad will be able to handle most of the tasks that the average Biola student needs for a starting price of $499. That is remarkably less than a student would spend on a Mac computer for the same use.

Students will be able to download their school books online in a minute, email their friends, write their papers, browse photos, and have access to 140,000 applications to help their life and ministry every day. The software is constantly upgraded, stable, and without viruses. For the price of $10, students can purchase a word processor or presenter software so they can create and playback powerpoint-style slideshows in a snap. Students will be able to Skype with their missionary friends in Africa over a campus WiFi signal, and check up on that cute guy or girl in their class with a free Facebook application. Yes Biola, this will also help your dating life.

The iPad features a 9.7-inch diagonal screen and is less than an inch thick. That makes the device smaller than a magazine while it weighs only a pound and a half. A full 10 hours of use on the same battery charge will allow students to type papers, watch videos, surf the web, send emails, and read books. A 16GB to 64GB amount of hard drive space will allow plenty of space for music, photos, and those videos of your favorite chapel speakers in action.

What it is not
It is not a laptop. You are not going to be able to edit that video in Final Cut or work on your Pro Tools session for your band’s worship album. It doesn’t use Flash, so you won’t be able to access some websites. There is no physical keyboard as the iPad relies on multi-touch technology similar to an iPhone to type on the screen. For that reason, typing a theology paper for your Thoennes’ class probably won’t work as well. You wouldn’t want to smudge your fingers against a 10-inch glass screen while trying to write about the Immutability of God. Apple does offer a solution though and a full size keyboard attachment will be available for an additional purchase. This forthcoming keyboard dock is already being proclaimed as the “iPad’s best accessory.”

Don’t worship your iPad
Before closing, I would like a make a brief comment about new technology and idolatry. The new iPad can be an idol, but so can the $1 mirror in your dorm room. If you find yourself rejoicing and finding your worth increased by a new piece of plastic, aluminum, and glass, I would exhort you to repent and find your ultimate trust and satisfaction in the completed work of Jesus Christ.

I am hoping to read and enjoy the ESV Study Bible on my iPad in full color. You won’t be able to do that on a Kindle.

- Brian Petersen serves at Grace Evangelical Free Church in La Mirada, and is a current Talbot student. You can reach him at brianapetersen@gmail.com.

The above content was edited and published by the Biola Chimes here.

Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com

After each scene during a 2003 Good Friday service a dancer would appear to extinguish one of the remaining candles on stage. Eventually all of the lights were dimmed and the audience left the church in a quiet and dark mood to replicate the feeling of the the first Good Friday when Jesus died for the sins of the world. Three days later Jesus physically rose from the dead in what we now celebrate as Easter.

All mankind has sinned against God and Jesus paid the sin debt for everyone on the cross. It is promised in God’s word that all who trust in Jesus through faith by declaring him as Lord of their life will live forever. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3.16

From a Good Friday service at Bethany Church in Long Beach, CA. This image was taken in the dark from the sound booth about 80 feet away on an old school digital camera that stored its media on floppy discs.

See all the images from this Good Friday and Easter Service
flickr.com/photos/bpbp/358771736
flickr.com/photos/bpbp/447911870
flickr.com/photos/bpbp/2281098872
flickr.com/photos/bpbp/2280308549

I came across this text while preparing for a prayer time with some friends. Not only is the message incredible, but I like the resulting image as the light shines from above on the textured paper.

The Crying Need of the Hour

So the truth is reaffirmed: God has given us prayer because Jesus has given us a mission. We are on this earth to press back the forces of darkness, and we are given access to headquarters by prayer to advance this cause. When we try to turn it into a civilian intercom to increase our conveniences, it stops working, and our faith begins to falter. We have so domesticated prayer that for many of us it is no longer what it was designed to be-a wartime walkie-talkie for the accomplishment of Christ’s mission.

We simply must seek for ourselves and for our people a wartime mentality. Otherwise the biblical teaching about the urgency of prayer and the vigilance of prayer and the watching in prayer and the perseverance of prayer and the danger of abandoning prayer will make no sense and find no resonance in our hearts. Until we feel the desperation of a bombing raid or the thrill of a new strategic offensive for the gospel, we will not pray in the spirit of Jesus.

The crying need of the hour is to put the churches on a wartime footing. Mission leaders are crying out, "Where is the church’s concept of militancy, of a mighty army willing to suffer, moving ahead with exultant determination to take the world by storm? Where is the risk-taking, the launching out on God alone?" The answer is that it has been swallowed up in a peacetime mentality.

We are a "third soil century." In the parable of the soils, Jesus says that the seed is the Word. He sows his urgent Word of kingdom power. But instead of taking it up as our sword (or bearing fruit), we "are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful" (Mark 4:18-19).

This is why Paul says that all of life is war—-every moment. Before we can even engage in the mission of the church, we have to fight against the "the deceitfulness of riches" and "desires for other things." We must fight to cherish the kingdom above all "other things"-that is our first and most constant battle. That is the fight of faith. Then, when we have some experience in that basic battle, we join the fight to commend the kingdom to all the nations.

Let The Nations Be Glad! by John Piper
The Supremacy of God In Missions through Prayer: page 51
www.desiringgod.org/

=-=-=-=-=
Here is the text from the Prayer Time

Team Missions Prayer

:: Confession of Sin and Burdens / Repentance

Personal Prayer and Silence
Ask the Lord to search your heart for any areas of sin
Confess any sin (1 John 1.9, James 5:16)
Bring your burdens to the Lord in prayer (1 Pet 5:7)
Ask the Lord to give you an open heart
Ask for the Spirit to lead you and the group in prayer for the glory of God (John 14)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1.9 NIV

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7.14 NIV

:: Worship by Praising God

Group Worship with Singing and Prayer
God alone is worthy of our praise!
Begin in prayer with thanksgiving
Rejoice in the Lord!
Praise God for all the blessings He has provided for us
Thank God for our salvation and the new life we have through the blood of Jesus Christ

In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Rev. 5.12 NIV

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100.1-3 NIV

Prayer for the Team and Ministry

Group Prayer for the Ministry
Bring team needs before the Lord (Phil 4.6-7)
Pray for team unity in serving together with different gifts and roles, yet one body (1 Cor 1:10)
Pray that our team would be prepared for the ministry to the best of our abilities but continually rely on Christ’s strength while we are there.
Pray for divine appointments; pray that the Holy Spirit would direct us in ever move for the sake of the salvation of the souls of his people in the world
Ask for financial provision through the support process
Pray for the health and safety of our team
Pray for boldness of speech in proclaiming the gospel (Eph. 6.19-20)
Pray that we will utilize the power from the Holy Spirit to withstand trials and temptations

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4.6-7 NIV

Prayers for the field

Prayer for the growth and strength of Christian churches and missionaries
Pray that God would raise up nationals to evangelize their own people
Pray for the health of the missionaries being under severe strain and burden for the work
Ask the Lord to send ministers into the nations for the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Mat 9:37-38)

Helpful Bible Verses

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Eph. 3.14 – 21

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Heb. 4:16

Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened". Matthew 7:7-8

2 Thessalonians 3:1, “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you.” The word runs and triumphs by means of prayer.

Matt. 26.41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

Ephesians 6:19, “[Pray] for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.” Paul’s boldness in the gospel came from God by the prayers of simple Christian believers.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col. 1.9-14

Acts 1.14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Col. 4.12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

Romans 15:30, “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf.” The wrestling of Paul to be faithful in all his sufferings was sustained by a wrestling in prayer by the brothers in Rome.

Acts 2.42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Colossians 4:3, “Pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison.” Open doors for the spread of the gospel come in answer to prayer. Therefore, in the life of Paul it is plain that prayer is God’s way of gospel victory.

Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name. Daniel 9.17-19

This image and text is also viewable at my flickr page here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bpbp/485984140/

Cross of Jesus Christ : Good Friday and Easter church worship background

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.”
1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Download or view the full size image on my flickr page here.

The Birth of Jesus Christ
Luke 2 ESV
2:1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Come, Thou long expected Jesus,

Come, Thou long expected Jesus, Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us; Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation, Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear desire of every nation, Joy of every longing heart.

Joy to those who long to see the, Dayspring from on high appear;
Come, Thou promised rod of Jesse, Of Thy birth we long to hear.
O’er the hills, the angels singing, “News, glad tidings of a birth;
Go to them, your praises bringing, Christ the Lord has come to earth!”

Come to earth to taste our sadness, He whose glories knew no end;
By His life He brings us gladness, Our Redeemer, Shepherd, Friend.
Leaving riches without number, Born within a cattle stall,
This the everlasting wonder, Christ was born the Lord of all!

Born Thy people to deliver, Born a child, and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever, Now Thy gracious kingdom bring;
By Thine own eternal spirit, Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit, Raise us to Thy glorious throne.