Men's Worship

Last night, our church called the men of the church together for worship, the preaching of the Word, sacrament and prayer. More than half of our men attended. It was unbelievable as we were engaged by the Living God. There was no programmatic point but to join in worship of our Redeemer.

Honestly, there were moments were I was overwhelmed in worship as I just listened to the sound of the men's voices resonating off of the walls of the church. As we sang "And Can It Be" it was almost as if men were realizing once again the reason why they call themselves a disciple of Christ. Last night is a picture of what Paul meant when he said to Timothy, "I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer."

I didn't know what to expect. None of us did. But God showed up on our doorstep and engaged his people. Is it any wonder that all who were there were blown away by the Gospel once again. Thank God for His Son, the one who did what we could not and cannot do. Live the life of gratitude.

I can't wait for the next time that the brothers and fathers of the church come together again to worship the Living God.

Impact: The Final Journey

Pastor Dan's sermon from 8/24/2008
Scripture Reference: Acts 21-28
Click here to listen.

In this sermon I bring to a close our year long study of Acts. The reason why I chose to preach on the final section of Acts in one sermon is because I wanted to present the situation for what it was: a whirlwind! It is my hope that as you listen you will get a feel for the climax of the book as Paul is on a mission of grace. The whole scenario plays out like a movie. It is amazing to see how God's sovereign hand accomplished his purposes to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth through his humble servant Paul and the ministry of the Apostles.

I hope you are blessed by God's Word.

IMPACT: Part 2

Tomorrow I am preaching on Acts 21-28. I was thinking a congregational reading is probably out of the picture. But I would like to suggest that each person from the congregation should read the entire story contained in these chapters. Tomorrow, we will bring to a close our year long study of Acts. Why will we end the study with such a huge chunk of Scripture?

I believe these last few accounts need to be taken together. Sure, there are plenty of individual sermons in the text, but when we take the whole last part of Acts as a whole we can begin to see the picture that Luke is painting. This is certainly the last act and the climax of the historical account of the movement of the Gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). These chapters sound like the script to a great movie.

As I was reading the accounts I couldn't stop thinking about a recurring theme. Why was Paul on trial? What brought him into these crazy circumstances and adventure? Is Luke just telling us what happened to Paul or is there more to the inspiration of this text? The theme in these chapters is the message of the Gospel. Paul says that he is in chains because of the hope of Israel. He is in chains because of the Lord Jesus Christ--the resurrection and the life.

Luke's whole purpose is the story of the Gospel. He begins and ends with an impact--the mission of grace. Paul's mission is coming to an end in Rome as he ends his life preaching the Gospel of grace. Luke is telling us not only of the impact of Paul's ministry but more importanly the impact of the Gospel.

Are we still impacted by the Gospel? I don't mean for us to be driven to morality or more good deeds. I am asking if we are impacted by the historical events and purpose of Jesus' life, death and resurrection--that is the Gospel. When we are impacted by the Gospel we are driven to the cross. My hope and prayer is that tomorrow, as we invoke God to speak to us through his Word, that we would once again be impacted by the mission of grace.

Impact: Mission of Grace

Pastor Dan's sermon from 8/17/2008
Scripture Reference: Acts 20:13-38
Click here to listen.

Don't Grieve For Me

I have this friend that I have been close to for a long time. We have been through many things together. We have been through great times and rough times. We have even had some things that could potentially come between us. Yet we have always been able to remain close. Although we don't see each other much, when we do, it is as if we have spent every minute together for the time we were away. We just pick up where we left off. That is a rare thing to have in a friendship. So I treasure this friendship. When I spend time with this friend I am sad when the time is over.

This week, we will be back in Acts. We will pick up in Acts 20:13 as Paul says his final goodbyes to the Ephesian Elders. When I study a passage to preach I usually just read through the passage before I read anyone else's work on the subject or the passage. This helps me to steer away from imposing a meaning on the passage that may or may not be present. While reading this passage something hit me pretty hard...

As Paul finishes his farewell warnings and says his final goodbyes, the elders gather around him and we are told that they were deeply troubled. Luke tells us that the reason for their grief was that Paul told them they would never see his face again. I believe the Holy Spirit has laid this Scripture on my heart to expound upon for our congregation over the next few weeks. What causes men to grieve over the loss of another man? Why were these men so attached to Paul and so concerned for him, his ministry and his life? I believe Acts 20 will reveal the reasons why Paul had such and IMPACT on these men, on this region, and on this church.

What enables a man to have such an IMPACT upon people? I believe it is the mission of grace. A mission is a purpose...or as Paul calls it in Acts 20...it is a race that is to be run until completed. Paul labored for the Gospel and this is why these elders so grieved him--he was on a mission for grace--he made the ultimate IMPACT in their lives.

I hope you will join me over the next few weeks as we talk about the IMPACT Jesus Christ has on our lives and on those affected by this message of grace.

A Midnight Prayer

Father,

How great you are in heaven, we praise your Holy Name.
Will your kingdom come quickly? We pray that it would be so.
Even now we wonder what are daughter is doing. Is she healthy?
Does she feel loved? Father, we pray that your will would be done
In her life as you have already determined in heaven before all time.
We pray that you would sustain her daily with bread and with your power.
We pray that you would keep her safe from all that is evil. Protect her for us Father.
Father we pray for her deliverance from physical and spiritual harm. Surround her with
your loving arms and hold her firmly in your grip.
Guide us, direct us and sustain us until the day that we meet our little girl.
It is in your son's name, Jesus Christ, that we ask and pray all of these things.

Amen.

The Lord Cares For Her

Jesus tells his disciples that their Father knows even when a sparrow falls from a tree. How much more than does he care for his children? Little Siddhi has been placed in foster care which means she will receive 24 hour one on one care. She will be fed constantly and feel what it is like to be part of a family. Her foster home is very close to her orphanage and the doctor's office. The director of the orphanage has so much love and care for these little ones--she really is amazing. Pray that Siddhi would begin to gain weight. Also pray for her foster family.

Isn't our God sovereign? Isn't he in control of all the details no matter how big or small? Aren't you blessed to know that chance, fate or mistake has no bearing on our God's great plan for all of us? The Lord is teaching us to let go of our fear. I have a lot of fear to let go of.

The tragic loss of my 16 year brother Mark in 1993 wounded me in ways that I am just discovering. I have lived in fear since that horrible night--before than I was more or less fearless. Jesus tells us to Fear Not! Jesus tells us to not let our hearts be troubled. Our great God is the only one to be feared. I am learning to let go and let the Lord.

There is nothing I can do to speed up the harvest or teleport myself off of this rock (America) and over to another (India)--to quote a young farmboy. Rather, we take comfort in knowing that in God's perfect timing we will meet our little daughter, adopt her into our family and let her experience the love of a family and her heavenly Father--who is sovereignly watching over this little sparrow.

Real Men of Genius - PT. 5 - D-Day

Pastor Dan's sermon from 8/03/2008
Scripture Reference: Joshua 24
Click here to listen.

Our Adoption Journey--Freedom from Hunger and Thirst

This Sunday was such a blessing for my family to share with you our adoption journey. We have already been on the road for sometime now and so having the freedom to tell all of you what the Lord has been doing is very liberating. We want to share the journey with you. We need your support and your prayers in order to bring Siddhi home.

Let me bring you up to speed. Siddhi is a little girl who is in the orphanage that the REACH Teen Ministry assisted by sending them much needed baby formula of a special type that was not available in India. She is 8 lbs and 10 months old--tiny. But her name means something very special--freedom from hunger and thirst. My heart breaks and cries even as I write these words. In fact words cannot describe how much love we already have for our little girl in India.

We are praying that the adoption is able to speed up because of her health. She needs good care and needs to get healthy. We know we can offer her both. She also needs a father and a mother and family who love her. We are on a fast track to bring Siddhi home and we are trusting the Lord that she will be home in his time.

How can you help? We know that many of you will already be praying for us. Pray that the Lord would guide us clearly every step of the way and that we would trust in Him as our refuge in all of this. Pray for Siddhi's health and that she would be safe in His loving hands. God truly does have the whole world in his hands--even this little girl.

We also are in need of financial assistance to bring Siddhi home. Adoption is expensive. It will cost upwards of 25,000.00 to complete the adoption. Somehow the Lord has given us the funds to keep moving forward yes we have our biggest financial burdens ahead of us in a few short weeks. I know that the Lord will provide. If you are able to help in this area we would be humbled and blessed beyond words. I have included the information you can use to support us at the end of today's post.

Thank you so much for your support and your prayers on this journey. If you would like to receive upates just shoot me a line at dbetters@grpc.org and I will add you to our support list.

To support us financially you can send a check or deliver a check to GRPC:

Make the check payable to GRPC. Put "Adoption Fund" in the memo line. The Adoption Fund at GRPC helps families with the financial burden of adoption and opens up many possibilities for families who are led to adopt.

The address for GRPC is 2880 Summit Bridge Road, Bear, DE 19701. You can call the church office and speak with Scott Winchester for more details about how to support the adoption fund at (302)834-4772.