All of Grace Baptist Church

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐩𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡’𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐃𝐚𝐲! ⁣
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Come join us at the park at 11:30 AM as we will hold our Sunday Service at the park. This will be followed by lunch and activities at the park. ⁣
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We will be meeting at North Atwater Park, and we will be not meeting at the church building this Sunday. ⁣
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Come join us and bring a friend!

Pastor Kreighton Chan preached last Sunday on "Sinners Who Call On Jesus Are Saved".

See below an excerpt from Pastor Chan's gospel sermon.

“The word is near you, in your mouth and in
your heart"; (that is, the word of faith that we
proclaim);

because, if you confess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved.

For with the heart one believes and is
justified, and with the mouth one confesses
and is saved” (Romans 10:8-10).

“For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the
Lord will be saved’” (Romans 10:13).

Now what about you?

Have you seen that something is wrong with you, your life?
 because something really is wrong
 because you don’t know God you don’t have him in your life
o You were created in his image
o You were created to know him

You don’t know God because of your ingrained sin nature

 not just the sins that you do

That is the absolute truth from God, from the Bible
 and that truth will ring true to everyone who doesn’t harden their heart against it
 because you don’t want to be free from the power of sin
o because you want to stay in your life of sin

You can stay the way you are
 seeking your own method of righteousness
o and failing miserably
 being disobedient and rebellious to God’s grace
o in his offering you Christ and the gospel

Or you can admit that you have a sinful heart
 turn from your life of sin
 turn to Jesus and trust him by simple faith
o by calling out to him to save you

o from the power of sin that controls your life
 and if you truly do that
o Jesus will also save you from God’s eternal judgment
o Give you peace with God
o Joy and eternal life
o So you live together with him
o and all the true Christians across the history of time"

Join us for .
This weeks hymn selection is "My Faith Looks Up to Thee” by Ray Palmer.

Here is an excerpt by Robert Cottrill providing a background of this wonderful hymn. "We sometimes say, “Things are looking up,” meaning our situation seems to be improving. But that’s merely a note of human optimism. Looking up in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ is a far different matter. It means that whatever the circumstances we’re trusting Christ to meet our need, for time and for eternity.

In fact, the words of this hymn were written when Ray Palmer was twenty-two years old, struggling with discouragement, poor health, and a lack of funds. Things weren’t looking up for him at all. But he did the looking–to the Lord. He wrote the lines of verse as what he called his “Self-Consecration,” simply putting down how he felt, “with a deep consciousness of my own needs, without the slightest thought of writing for another eye. Mr. Palmer says he wrote “with very tender emotion, and ended the last line with tears. In later years, Dr. Palmer was pastor of a church in Newark, New Jersey. A young man who had been attending the church for some time arrived early one Sunday morning. To pass the time until the service began, he took up a hymn book in the pew, and opened it. His eye fell on the opening stanza of our hymn:

My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary, Saviour divine!
Now hear me while I pray, take all my guilt away,
O let me from this day be wholly Thine!

That caused the reader to stop and think about his spiritual condition. “Look to Me, and be saved,” says the Lord (Isa. 45:22), and he did. The Spirit of God spoke to his sin-burdened heart through the words, and he did indeed look to Christ, and was born into the family of God. Afterward, he called on the pastor, at his home, to tell him what had happened. It was only then he discovered, to his even greater joy, that he was actually talking to the author of the hymn that had led to his conversion!”

Here is the link to "My Faith Looks Up to Thee - Congregational singing at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwidLt7Pw20

Pastor Kreighton Chan preached last Sunday on "Loving Darkness and Hating the Light".

See below the selected Bible verses used in the sermon from last Sunday.

“Through the tender mercy of our God;
whereby the dayspring [Jesus] from on high
hath visited us, to give light to them that sit
in darkness and in the shadow of death, to
guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke
1:78-79).

“For from within, out of the heart of man,
come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft,
murder, adultery, coveting [greatly desire
what belongs to another], wickedness,
deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride,
foolishness. All these evil things come from
within, and they defile a person [reveal the
evil depravity of the heart]” (Mark 7:21-23).

"The Pharisees, who were lovers of money,
heard all these things, and they ridiculed him
[Jesus]” (Luke 16:14).

“For those who are self-seeking and do not
obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,
there will be wrath and fury” (Romans 2:8).

“The world cannot hate you, but it hates me
because I testify about it that its works are
evil” (John 7:7).

“Because they [sinners] hated knowledge [of
their sin and so hated Jesus] and did not
choose the fear of the LORD [because they
would then need to turn from their sins]”
(Proverbs 1:29).

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that
are lost: in whom the god of this world [the
devil] hath blinded the minds of them which
believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God,
should shine unto them ... For God, who
commanded the light to shine out of
darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II
Corinthians 4:3-4,6).

“No one can come to me unless the Father
who sent me draws him. And I will raise him
up on the last day ... no one can come to
me unless it is granted him by the Father”
(John 6:44,65).

Join us for .
This weeks song selection is "Facing a Task Unfinished” original words by Frank Houghton with new words by Keith and Kristyn Getty.

Here is an excerpt by Getty Music Publishing providing a background of this wonderful hymn. "First penned by China Inland Mission worker, Frank Houghton, at a time when persecution in China was at its height, “Facing a Task Unfinished” has been a rally cry for missions in the Pacific Rim for many years. In 1929, the Lord laid a vision on the heart of CIM leaders to see 200 new workers plunge into the darkness and share the light of Christ, knowing that it could well cost them their lives.

As he reflected on Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:14 to bear the torch of the Gospel to all the nations, his heart was broken for the people of China, and he wrote:

Facing a task unfinished, that drives us to our knees.
A need that, undiminished, rebukes our slothful ease.
We, who rejoice to know Thee, renew before Thy throne,
the solemn pledge we owe Thee to go and make Thee known.

By 1932, the last of the 200 missionaries had set sail for China to spread the good news of the Gospel. Since that time, the church of China has grown from an estimated 100,000 who claim Christ as their Lord to millions, and the Lord continues to work in great ways because of the faithfulness of those that gave their lives proclaiming that Jesus died and rose.

We are delighted to introduce this missions hymn to a new generation with the prayer it will be an anthem for rising up to face the unfinished task and going to all the world to proclaim salvation in Jesus’ name."

Here is the link to "Facing A Task Unfinished (Lyric Video) - Keith & Kristyn Getty":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOpt_bulJxY

Join us for .
This weeks song selection is "My Worth Is Not in What I Own” written by Keith & Kristyn Getty.

One of the greatest struggles we each face is the search for significance. The way in which a man's heart deceives is to want to have a sense of identity grounded in the conception that all values, rights, and duties originate in individuals, a feeling everyone "owes them" something without having done anything to justify receiving such treatment, and having an unreasonably high sense of their own importance.

“My Worth Is Not in What I Own” [lyrics] is a song that speaks to the subject of worth by reminding us that true significance is found in our identity in Christ.

According to the writers, this song attempts to reclaim two glorious truths. The first is that we, as men and women created in the image and likeness of the Creator.

But there’s another truth the writers want to convey: given our pervasive rebellion—what R. C. Sproul calls “cosmic treason”—against the king, we are all unworthy of the value with which he crowns us. Yet God sent his Son so our worth might be found in something far grander than ourselves. In Christ, no longer do we look to our own accomplishments and achievements to find significance. We look instead to his perfect work on our behalf, and there our souls find the true sense of identity we so crave. The chorus of the song draws from the rich imagery of 1 Peter 1:4, which depicts Jesus as an inheritance and treasure far greater than anything this world has to offer.

Here is the link to "My Worth Is Not in What I Own (Live feat. Fernando Ortega) - Keith & Kristyn Getty":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV5x6M38ea8

Pastor Chan preached last Sunday on "Jesus' Love Pictures a Mother's Love".

See below to see some of the highlights from the sermon!

"Jesus had great compassion and love for these wicked scribes and Pharisees,
 he desired as a hen that would gather her chicks under her wings
 and he wept over them
o because he knew that in their pride they had refused him
o and so, they would receive the judgment from God
o that he wanted to protect them from

Jesus loved these proud, self-sufficient religious rulers who had rejected him and he loved them unconditionally
 not based on any goodness within them
o because they had none

And Jesus loves all of us in the same way
 we may not be as sinful and hypocritical as these Pharisees
 but we are also sinful in our own ways
o who don’t want God or Jesus in our lives
o to instruct and lead us

Jesus has love and compassion for you who are like a sheep without a shepherd
 without God in your life
 without any true direction or purpose
 without any inner peace and true joy
 you are like a wandering sheep
o and Jesus wants to bring you into the fold of God

The apostle Paul was just like these scribes and Pharisees,
 in fact, he confessed that he was the Pharisee of the Pharisees
 and he was just as proud and wicked as those that Jesus denounced

But by the grace of God
 Paul began to see himself as that proud Pharisee who went to the temple to pray
o who didn’t even pray to God but to himself
o but while standing arrogantly and bragging over how great he was
o and how much he despised the publican how knelt beside him

 Paul came to see his hypocrisy and sin
o and in his heart he was humbled like that publican who said, “God be merciful to me a sinner”

 He turned from his proud Pharisaical life
o and turned to the Lord Jesus and was saved from his sin
o and found joy in knowing the one true and living God"

Pastor Chan preached last Sunday on "Evil's Done Against Self and God".

See below to see some of the highlights from the sermon!

"And God compares our need for Him as our need for water to have and to sustain life
 and God does not only compare himself to water
 but to a fountain of living waters
o than never runs dry
 this is picture of God
o is not only one giving us physical life
o but eternal life as well

Oh, backslidden Christian return to Christ your living waters
 that you might have
o fresh, quenching sweet fellowship with him again
 and also enjoy fellowship with God
o another fountain of living waters for you

May God give you thirst for Christ to be satisfied with him alone
 and turn from your sinful affair with the world with its sin and lusts
o that only deceive, discourage, depress, and despair
 and may you enjoy the abundant life again that Christ came to give you
o may you have joy unspeakable and full of glory
o as you are satisfied with Christ as your all and in all."

Psalm 107

This remarkable psalm praises God’s deliverance in four wonderful pictures. Derek Kidner titled this psalm “God to the Rescue.” The four pictures show that everyone’s story is different, and yet everyone’s story is the same.

Join us for .
This weeks song selection is "We Give Thanks (Psalm 107)” written by Sovereign Grace Music.

Here is the link to "We Give Thanks (Psalm 107)": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GDnc5RkSkI

Pastor Chan preached last Sunday
on "God's Purpose In Sending Christ".

See below to see one of the highlights from the
sermon!

"We live in the time between Jesus’ two comings
 now is the period of gospel grace
 where salvation is offered to the world,
o to anyone who is convinced of their need for forgiveness of sins
o and desires to have life with God

But the time of gospel grace ends when Jesus’ Second Coming when returns to the world to judge the world
 and the main reason for his judgment upon the world as we shall see
o is not because of the world’s sin
 but because people have rejected him
o and the salvation he offers

In a court of law, one is either condemned or justified
 there is no in-between verdict to the charge of sin that is against us

And in God’s court when Jesus says, “not condemned”
 he is in effecting saying “justified”
o or that God has “declared us righteous”
 we are declared righteous by God
o innocent of sin
o through a simple look
o through simple faith in Jesus

God has given us all the opportunity through faith in Jesus
 to have a safety net placed underneath us
o so that even though we deserve to fall down into hell
o in judgment for our sins
 we will not fall if we place our faith in Jesus
o because he will save us from falling down
into condemnation and eternal judgment."

Join us for .
This weeks song selection is “My Soul Will Wait (Psalm 62)” written by Keaton Bunting and Bob Kauflin.

Here is an excerpt from the Publisher, "Waiting can be draining and discouraging. But Psalm 62 tells us we can wait for the Lord with confidence, joy, and expectation. As we pour out our hearts to the Lord, even in our darkest seasons, we know he will ever be our perfect Savior and strong defender."

Here is the link to "My Soul Will Wait (Psalm 62) • Official Video": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4brmgdJvBc

Pastor Chan preached last Sunday
on "God's Greatest Gift".

See below to see one of the highlights from the
sermon!

"If you really want to live, not this empty and
purposeless life that you are now living
 but life with God, eternal life now,
 you must have Christ

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life” (John 3:16).

This is God’s greatest gift,

The greatest message
is that the greatest Person
showed the greatest love
to the greatest sinners
in giving the greatest Gift
providing them the greatest opportunity
to receive the greatest salvation."

Join us for .
This weeks selection “O Church Arise” is a modern hymn from Keith Getty and Stuart Townend.

Here is an excerpt from the Publisher, "The words of the hymn are in the tradition of Martin Luther, with allusions to fighting a spiritual war led by our Captain, Jesus Christ, and one day standing victorious with Him in glory."

Here is the link to "O Church Arise - Keith and Kristyn Getty": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXNO-OGUGyU

Pastor Chan preached last Sunday on "The Serpent, The Son Of Man, And Eternal Life".

See below to see one of the highlights from the sermon!

"The people of Israel who were bitten by the fiery serpents and were dying from God’s judgment upon them lived if they looked at the brazen serpent on the pole
- they lived for another day
- but they still would die physically at some later
time

But if one were to look by faith to Christ today
- as one who is convinced that he is a guilty sinner deserving eternal judgment for his sin
- he would receive spiritual salvation from
eternal death

That’s why Jesus gave the imperative that he “must” be lifted up
- because he greatly desires to provide salvation to guilty sinners

Now I want to focus in on that word “must”
- as I’ve said it is an imperative,
- it is a command of Christ,
- that he the Son of Man “must” be lifted up

Just as Moses lifted up the brazen serpent which saved those Israelites who looked to it by faith
- so, Jesus is saying he must be lifted up so that
sinners may see a glimpse of him
- through the preaching of the gospel
- through the testimony of what Christ has
done for them who are true Christians
- so that those who hear of him also may be saved not from mere physical death
- but from eternal spiritual death"

Join us for .
This weeks selection “Christ Our Hope In Life And Death” is a modern worship song.

Here is an excerpt from Matt Papa, "For centuries, believers have learned the Christian faith beginning with that question. It’s the first article in the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563. Why start there? Because death is our common fate. Unless Jesus returns first, we will all die. To find comfort in life, we must know how we can face death. Hope comes only in trusting the one who died to take the curse of death and who crushed the power of death by his resurrection. “Christ has been raised from the dead” (1 Cor 15:20). That is the only statement that can transform how we live each day and how we prepare for our earthly life to end.

The hope of the resurrection spurs us to sing. That’s why a group of songwriters from Getty Music wrote the modern hymn “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death.” Like the Heidelberg Catechism that inspired it, this song is honest about death. There is no need to shrink back from mentioning death in our hymns, because we know the Living One who has conquered death forever. The Christian can sing hallelujah, because Christ assures us of our glorious future. Now and ever, we confess: “I am not my own, but belong—body and soul in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Here is the link to "Keith & Kristyn Getty, Michael W. Smith - Christ Our Hope in Life and Death":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPT5QEDf9bA

Join us for .
This weeks selection “I Am Not My Own” is a modern worship song.

It was written by Keith & Kristyn Getty, Skye Peterson.
Below is an excerpt from Skye Peterson about the song's inspiration.

"In search of sturdier ground for understanding who I am, I’ve been drawn to the centuries-old Heidelberg Catechism. Here’s how it begins:

Question: What is your only comfort in life and in death?

Answer: That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

In 1563, long before our iPhone-age manifestations of the ancient identity problem, the authors of this confession bravely gave us the antidote. Christianity provides a radically unexpected but truly freeing message: You belong to Christ. Therefore, he defines you."

Here is I Am Not My Own - Official Lyric
Video - Keith & Kristyn Getty, Skye Peterson:
https://youtu.be/yxCb6l3jkis

Join us for . This weeks selection “O Great God” is a modern hymn. It was written by Bob Kauflin of Sovereign Grace Ministries. It is a beautiful piano based song that reminds us how God took the initiative to redeem us from our sin.

Here is O Great God (feat. Matt Boswell) - Official Lyric Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOPbanJKWE8

Pastor Chan preached last Sunday on "The Son of Man Came Down from Heaven to Earth".

See below to see one of the highlights from the sermon!

"The “earthy things” were in fact spiritual things
• that refer to heavenly things but they take place
within the soul of man on the earth now
• so, Jesus referred to them as “earthly things”

The heavenly things can only be understood by those
receiving the new birth, who become born again
• and these are future things that will happen in
heaven

And as sinful, fallen children of Adam we cannot
understand nor believe in these earthly things that relate
to being born again unless Jesus gives us both the gift
of understanding and believe in them.

The first man, Adam of the earth, is a man of the dust
• which describes our low, sinful character
• which has no value in himself

While the second man, Jesus Christ is from heaven
• that reflects glory, honor, and of infinite value

And we can remain as we are, as we were born, in the
image of Adam, in sin
• or we can be made in the image of Jesus Christ,
from Heaven
• if we humbly see our need for forgiveness of sins
• Jesus will give us an understanding and faith in
Him
o so that we can take on the image of Christ,
o be translated from this fallen world
o and be transported to receive a heavenly
character and a heavenly home."

Join us for .
See below for the story behind "Because He Lives" by Glory Gaither.

In The Shadows

Gloria recalls. “Bill’s sister was going through a divorce, and we’d never had divorce in either of our families. It was very painful because she was in trouble and in a situation that was quite volatile and could have been dangerous. Bill got mononucleosis at that same time and became physically weak. There were circumstances in our life we couldn’t control. There we were so happy, yet we had this contradiction of things that we couldn’t fix. There was the paradox of writing about peace and joy and contentment in the face of this, asking, ‘How does all this work?’”

Gloria explains, “Our whole life and the external world were all in flux and in chaos: the Civil Rights movement was going on, Watts had just burned to the ground, and the whole country split apart over the Vietnam War. We’d just found out we were having our third baby and thought, ‘Who would bring another baby into this world?’ We were disturbed by the whole thing.

He Touched Us

“But a wonderful friend, Sid Guillen, came over one night,” Gloria continues. “‘This is an imposition of Satan – this is not just circumstantial,’ he said. ‘I’m going to lay hands on you and pray for you.’ He just had that simple faith, and something in the Spirit broke after that. Nothing we could see changed at that moment, but we did feel again that God was in control. And when our little son Benjy was born [July 19, 1970], we actually felt incredibly confident.

The Truth of Resurrection

Gloria wrote the verses just to make the song complete and provide perspective, although they weren’t necessarily connected to anything she was experiencing at the time. But when her father died suddenly, the song’s third verse came alive for her.

“It was as though I had never heard it before,” Gloria shares. “The truth of Resurrection poured in and I could hear my father saying, ‘To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.’ That’s how personal that song is.”

Here is Keith & Kristyn Getty Ft. Bill Gaither, Buddy Greene [Live at Sing! 2021]:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGYW2gqp658

Pastor Chan preached last Sunday
on "You Must Be Born Again" See
below, one of the highlights from the sermon!

"When the NT speaks of flesh it still speaks of a
person’s total being
• but it now has the sense of
o his total depraved sinful being
• with a spirit that is dead to God
o but alive to sin
• and a soul or mind and emotions
o that are completely against God
• sometimes this “flesh” is given other names such as
o “carnal”, “Adamic nature” or the “natural
man”...Just remaining as you are having been born in sinful
flesh is sufficient to warrant the condemnation of God.

to be “born again” to be born a second time
different from the first
o born from above, whose source is from God
in Heaven
o to be born through the Spirit of God using
the Word of God
o this is a new creation that God the Creator
produces
o a new spiritual and eternal nature
o that will be permanent which will never be
lost

And this new spiritual nature manifests itself in a few ways
• First is a life of faith
o where the Bible world becomes real to him/her
o so he/she will live in obedience to the Bible
• And prefers this life
o over what this fallen world values and lives after

• Have you these spiritual and holy desires that you
never used to have?
• Have you hopes of the promises of God, living a
life pleasing to God, having a burden for family
and friends that are lost that you never had
before?
• Have you fears of falling into sin, not being
faithful to Christ you never had before?
• Have you got into a new world where old things
have passed away, and all things have become
new?"

Join us for .
See below for the story behind "His Mercy Is More" by Josh Maloy.

These powerful words from the Apostle Paul are the springboard for this magnificent song. Co-writers Matt Boswell and Matt Papa use this gospel concept to highlight the grace and mercy of our God that overwhelms the massive heap of our sins. This is such good news for sinners like us. Let’s think about it for a moment.

The truth is our sins are overwhelming. The magnitude of their number is enormous. We are natural born sinners. There are so many terrible or shameful things we’ve done, thought, and said. There are so many good things that we neglected, failed to do, or refused to do. We identify with the confession of Ezra that “our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.” (Ezra 9:6) Likewise, we sing with solidarity the lyrics of David’s lament, “My iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me” (Psalm 38:4). We are sinners and there’s no doubt about it. Our rap sheet says it all as it piles into a heap rising high above our heads. This dark and dismal reality is enough to make our palms sweat.

And that’s where the gospel bursts forth with explosive mercy! The mercy of God is greater than your sin. The grace of God is stronger than your sin. The kindness of God overwhelms your sin. The compassion of God smothers your sin. The goodness of God is literally larger than your sin. Do you believe it yet? Is it sinking in? Do you feel the stronghold of shame beginning to erode under the force of God’s mercy? This is why we call it good news. There is no better news for sinners like us. Praise God.

Thousands of years ago, Paul penned the powerful words “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” Here recently, Matt Boswell and Matt Papa coined the phrase “Our sins they are many, His mercy is more.”

May God use this powerful anthem to help us grab hold of His tangible and abundant mercy tightly with both hands.

CLICK THE LINK TO WATCH THE VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NNLTBXim7Y&feature=youtu.be


🎶

Pastor Chan preached last Sunday
on "All Things Work Together For Good (Part 1)." See
below, one of the highlights from the sermon!

"We have seen that God’s great and precious promise is given to those true Christians who alone love God
• that speaks of their subjective attitude toward God
• and now the second clause speaks of God’s objective choice
o or the one whom God has called according to His purpose
o which also identifies every true Christians

And as I’ve said before loving God is not mere emotion but leads to action, in particular to obedience
• and as loving God and Christ will lead to obedience
• so also our calling of God
o will also manifest itself by obedience
o in serving God and
o becoming like our Savior"

Pastor Chan preached last Sunday on "You Must Be Born Into The Kingdom Of God." See below, one of the highlights from the sermon!

"I think the best explanation of born of water means to be born again by the Word of
God
• as the Spirit of God illuminates the heart and mind of the unbeliever
• to what God is speaking to them from His Word
• as the apostle Peter expressly said I Peter 1:23,

“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (I Peter 1:23).

Here Peter uses the very term translated “born again” [although not “anōthen”]
• along with the means by which it is accomplished
• is explicitly said to be “by” the “word of God”

Just as physical life is impossible without being born of a woman,
• so spiritual life is impossible without being born of the Spirit through the Word of God.

Let us also consider the analogy of creation itself as it applies to the New Birth

God created the earth by the Spirit and His Word
• How does He re-create us? The same way
• When the Word of God, energized and empowered by the Spirit of God, speaks to our sinful dark, formless, empty lives
o a new birth, a re-creation takes place
o When the Word and Spirit work in tandem to draw us to the Father by way of His Son, we are reborn
o And we see, the eyes of our understanding are enlightened
o and we enter this new life the kingdom of God."

Join us for . See below for the background behind making of the hymn "How Great Thou Art."

"In 1885, Carl Boberg, a Swedish editor and future politician, was walking home in the bayside town of Mönsterås, located on Sweden’s south-eastern coast. A thunderhead appeared on the horizon. Lightning flashed. Thunderclaps shook the air, sending Boberg running for shelter.

When the storm began to relent, he rushed home. He opened his windows to let in the fresh bay air, and the vision of tranquility that greeted him stirred something deep in his soul. The sky had cleared. Thrushes sang, and in the distance, the resonant knell of church bells sounded. With the juxtaposition between the roaring thunderstorm and such bucolic calm as background, Boberg sat down and wrote “O Store Gud”—the poem that, through a winding series of events would become “How Great Thou Art."