Faith Community Church

"The true followers of Christ must at once build and fight, and therefore be ready and prepared to endure all types of miseries."

"This is following Jesus at its simplest. He carried a cross, so His followers carry one. He walked to His self-death, so must those who would follow Him."

"Carrying a cross always led to death on a cross. No one carried a cross for fun. The first hearers of Jesus didn’t need an explanation of the cross; they knew it was an unrelenting instrument of torture, death, and humiliation. If someone took up his cross, he never came back. It was a one-way journey."

The messengers of Jesus will be hated to the end of time. They will be blamed for all the division which rend cities and homes. Jesus and his disciples will be condemned on all sides for undermining family life, and for leading the nation astray; they will be called crazy fanatics and disturbers of the peace. The disciples will be sorely tempted to desert their Lord. But the end is also near, and they must hold on and persevere until it comes. Only he will be blessed who remains loyal to Jesus and his word until the end.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

Lu 14:16 Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 "and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.' 18 "But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.' 19 "And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.' 20 "Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'

"I say to you my friend that “self-interest” literally abounds in the church and in our lives. This is one of the reasons for the strife."
Luke 14
Bible.org

“Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses.’

"Did Jesus have a conversation with His enemies who disagreed with Him? Did He try to find common ground with them, did He try to see where they could agree, or did He flatly condemn them?” And the answer is very clear. In every volatile confrontation that Jesus had with His enemies He never identified any common ground. He upheld the truth, and inevitably condemned those who were purveyors of error."
John MacArthur

See you tomorrow in the house of the Lord! Our service begins at 10:30.

Phil Wickham - House Of The Lord (Official Lyric Video) Official lyric video for "House Of The Lord" from Phil Wickham. Listen or Download now at the links below.Apple: https://smarturl.it/HouseOfTheLord/applemusi...

Happy Canada Day from our family to yours!

The wise person knows himself — and will find
nothing within to make him proud.

We ought not to withdraw entirely from all interaction with unconverted people. It would be cowardice and indolence to do so, even if it were possible. It would shut us out from many opportunities of doing good. But we ought to go into their society — moderately, watchfully, and prayerfully, and with a firm resolution to carry our Master and our Master's business with us.
J.C. Ryle

Nothing exposes the counterfeit like the genuine.
R.C. Sproul

"Some Pharisees were convinced that if they kept the law perfectly for one day, it would induce God to send the long-awaited Messiah."

How many instances of the tenderest affection, how many offers of conversion and grace, of protection and defense, from the calamities now approaching, have I laid before you: but ye rejected them all. The expressions comprehends all the kind endeavors to convince and instruct them in the Gospel covenant, and to make them partakers of those privileges, and that salvation, which they rejected with such blind and unbending obstinacy. Dean Stanhope.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/950164/13135213

I am persuaded that love and humility are the highest attainments in the school of Christ and the brightest evidences that He is indeed our Master.
- John Newton

Our series from Luke has been incredible!
This week we will dive into Luke 14.
Read ahead, pray ahead!

"Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil's reach as humility."
Jonathan Edwards

https://youtu.be/giYEScxGYic

Come Ye Sinners (Live) | The Worship Initiative ft. Davy Flowers & Robbie Seay Check out the live version of Come Ye Sinners from The Worship Initiative, Vol. 22.Stream the studio version, featuring Davy Flowers and Trenton Bell:https:/...

God compels none to accept Heaven’s most precious gift. Furthermore, He never coerces the obedience of His creatures. God leaves all free to choose whom they will serve.
God forces none to believe. Everyone can choose to rely upon the evidences He has given, or doubt and perish. It is the matter of life or death.

To disregard the everlasting salvation means the eternal ruin of your soul – How shall we ever get well if we ignore God’s plan to heal us? This plan of healing – of transformation and recreation – was initially announced by the Lord and later confirmed to us when we heard Him personally.
How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? Hebrews 2:3.

Will you not ask yourself – “How is it with my soul?”

"Let us never doubt Christ's infinite willingness to save all sinners who come to Him for salvation."
R.C. Sroul

"There are 3 types of people- the Godless, the Jesus followers and those who casually claim association."

https://www.buzzsprout.com/950164/13089124

"Repentance recognizes that the only way forward is through transformation. It is the realization that “I cannot remain as I am,” coupled with the hope that, because God is initiating it, profound change is actually possible. To repent is not to look downwards at my shortcomings, but forward with trustfulness; not backward with self-reproach, but upwards at God’s love. It is a disposition that lives in the promise that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” By its very nature, it is future-oriented. It focuses not on what we have failed to be, but on what, by the grace of Christ, we can become."
flourishyourfaith.org

lourishyourfaith.org

We cannot lay the blame on God the Father, nor on Jesus Christ the Redeemer, nor on the Holy Spirit the Comforter. The promises of the Gospel are wide, broad, and general. The readiness of Christ to save sinners, is unmistakably declared. If we are lost — then we shall have none to find fault with but ourselves. The words of Christ will be our condemnation, "You will not come unto Me — that you might have life." (John 5:40.)

Pastor Tim will be preaching from the final words in Luke 13 this Sunday.

Unmoved by warning and chastisement, impenetrable to long suffering love, ungrateful for mercies, the Jews repulsed all efforts for their amendment, and blindly pursued the course of ruin. It was always in their power to turn if they willed, but they wilfully resisted grace.

Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks' wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?...
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: "ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God bless our fathers!

Since no man is excluded from calling upon God the gate of salvation is open to all. There is nothing else to hinder us from entering, but our own unbelief.
- John Calvin

If I was to ask you tonight if you were saved, would you say 'Yes, I am saved'. When?

'Oh so and so preached, I got baptized and...'

Are you saved?
What are you saved from, hell?

Are you saved from bitterness? Are you saved from lust? Are you saved from cheating? Are you saved from lying? Are you saved from bad manners? Are you saved from rebellion against your parents?

Come on, what are you saved from?
- Leonard Ravenhil

Have you ever been BENT OUT OF SHAPE in church? Have your religious traditions and stubborn opinions hindered the work of the Holy Spirit?
https://www.buzzsprout.com/950164/13052076

Many Christians have what we might call a 'cultural holiness.' They adapt to the character and behavior pattern of Christians around them...But God has not called us to be like those around us. He has called us to be like Himself. Holiness is nothing less than conformity to the character of God.

Jerry Bridges

It is most certain that the way of many men cannot be everlasting. The way of the sinful is not so. I hope with regard to some that their way will last but for a very little time, for it is the way of evil. May they soon turn from it! “It is a long lane that has no turning.” May their road be so hedged up by God’s providence and grace that they may be compelled to take another road.
Spurgeon