Hillsong Worship"Who You Say I Am"
Ephesus, 2015
Photo by me or one of my kids, I can't remember!
Long before we talk about original sin or original rejection, we should speak of God’s original love.
Henri Nouwen
Note: Christian Formation at 9:00 AM (classes for all ages)
Sunday worship at 10:15 AM (childcare thru 2nd grade available)
In-person worship and live stream
Dear Grace Family,
Ignatius of Loyola has probably taught millions of people to pray over the past five centuries. I am blessed to be one of those people. The Lord gave Ignatius profound insights into how to help people connect deeply, honestly, and faithfully with God.
When people asked him to teach them how to pray, he would tell them something like this:
Before you begin to pray, you must first spend two to three years
meditating on God's love for you. Only then will you be ready to pray.
His advice rings true to this day. In the Christian life, we must always begin with the love of God.
The truth is, we are resistant to God's grace. Sinclair Ferguson used to say, "We often seek to dis-grace God's grace." Whether it's our sense of our unworthiness, Satan's lies, or the wounds we have received in life, we can become suspicious of the goodness of God.
This Sunday, we are beginning a new sermon series where we will read through the book of Ephesians together. It is a rich and wonderful letter from Paul to a church that he deeply loved.
One of the burdens Paul had for this congregation was that they would experience God's love for them. In other words, he didn't just want them to know about God's love in their heads. He wanted them to feel God's love for them. You can see this desire Paul had for them reflected in two of his prayers for the Ephesian church.
Those prayers of Paul capture much of my own heart for our congregation. I want us to not only know about God's love in our heads. I want us to feel it in our hearts. May the Lord grant us this prayer!
I hope to worship with you Sunday!
This Sunday: Ephesians 1:1-6 (NIV) “First, We Were Loved”Here is the Order of Worship.Warmly in Christ,John
P.S. Please note that the Sunday morning prayer group will be meeting this Sunday in the cry room at the back of the sanctuary!