February 8, 2010
How good it was to gather yesterday to worship God together! There were more than a few moments on Saturday where we 
wondered if the roads would be bad and we’d have to cancel. God is good! Yesterday we studied the last section in Galatians 4. Paul points to the story of Sarah and Hagar to illustrate once and for all that there really are only two kinds of people in the world – those under law, who are slaves; and those under grace, who are free. You can listen to or download the message here. We hope these questions will help you apply God’s word to your life.
1) How does Paul use the story of Abraham’s two sons to illustrate the foolishness of seeking to go back to the law?
2) Why is it impossible to be saved by grace and still insist on obedience to the law? In other words, why are the Judaisers so wrong for Paul?
3) Why do you think, like Sarah, we come up with our own man-made, human, self-sufficient solutions to achieve God’s promises or speed them along?
4) What mechanisms do you use to short cut God’s promises with your own effort or power in: finances, marriage, parenting, relationships? Any other categories you can think of?
5) How do you think the Spirit of God wants to work in you to help you reject your own efforts and to trust and rest in His promises?
We are grateful for you and hope that you have a grace-filled week!
Eric
Leave a Comment » | 
Apply | 
Permalink
Posted by Eric Hughes
February 6, 2010
It is 5:00 p.m. and we are planning to meet tomorrow morning! It is unusual to have back to back snow weekends like this, but we are trusting God that the conditions will be decent enough in the morning for our meeting. We will look to make the final call by 7:00 a.m. and will plan to place any updates on the website and blog! But, please pray that the roads will be passable and we will be able to gather.
Jordan Smith will be leading us in worship and we are looking forward to hearing from our friends down in Guadalupe, MX. They have sent us a “thank you” video that we plan to watch together. We will also be welcoming into our church family our latest New Members Class. We are grateful to God for the folks He continues to add to our church.
Our sermon will be from Galatians 4:21-31, which includes the story about Abraham’s two wives (Sarah and Hagar) and his two sons (Isaac and Ishmael). As usual, this has more to do with us than it first appears! We are looking forward to studying this together tomorrow morning.
Finally, we will be sharing the Lord’s Supper after the sermon.
I am in faith that we are going to meet!
So, we’ll see you in the morning, Lord willing!
Eric
Leave a Comment » | Sunday Preview | Permalink
Posted by Eric Hughes
February 4, 2010
By now most of the snow has melted, but wasn’t all this snow a rare treat? I remember waking up Saturday morning to nothing but a blanket of white as far as the eye could see. It was fun to observe the reaction of my kids as we pulled up the screen on the window and they looked out upon the winter wonderland. One of them exclaimed, “It’s on everything!”
My mind quickly went to Isaiah 1:18 – “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
No matter what I looked at outside, it was transformed white, completely covered. The roof overhang, patio, grass (and mud spots), fire pile, shed, etc. Although those things were still in my backyard, they were completely covered and transformed.
How kind of the Lord to cover over our sins in such a comprehensive way. I couldn’t help but think that this snow was a picture of God’s forgiveness blanketing me, cleansing my sins and making me pure in His sight. When I looked outside that day, even though I knew what was in my backyard, I could not see them because they were covered by the snow. In a similar way, when God looks upon me, because of the finished work of Christ on my behalf, He does not see my sin, but the righteousness of Christ covers me completely. Praise God for that!
I pray that this thought encourages you, and that you live today by the power of the Spirit and by His grace working in and through you!
God Bless,
Chris
Leave a Comment » | Thoughts and Reflections | Permalink
Posted by Chris Mangold
February 2, 2010
I wanted to send a reminder to everyone that our Men’s Breakfast is rescheduled for this Saturday at 8:00 am. You can actually still sign up online here. We were looking forward to gathering last weekend when God had other plans that included the largest downfall of snow in 20 years!
As you know, this breakfast is a once a year opportunity we have as the men of this church to hear from the Lord together. Please do everything you can to attend this meeting! We are trusting the Lord that this will be significant time together.
Grace to you,
Eric
Leave a Comment » | News and Events | Permalink
Posted by Eric Hughes
January 30, 2010
Hey folks,
We are canceling our meeting tomorrow due to the increasing snowfall, combined with the possibility of an overnight freeze. As much as we’d love to press through and meet, our biggest concern would be everyone’s safety. A couple of thoughts:
1) Tomorrow is still the Lord’s Day! We would encourage you to take time in the morning to celebrate the Lord’s Day as a single, singles household, as a family or with anyone nearby. Here is a link to a post that Josh Harris provided for his church when they recently canceled due to snow. There are some really good ideas for how to have a mini-church service at home! Some simple elements might include singing some songs of worship (accompanied by a CD would work great!), reading from the Scripture, and prayer. Another idea is to listen to a sermon online. This could include one of the sermons from our current series that you’ve missed or any of the wonderful sermons from C.J. Mahaney, Josh Harris, Mike Bullmore, John Piper, or many others. Finally, we are currently in Galatians 4 and will continue next week where we left off, but tomorrow might be a good day to look back over the book and review what God has shown you.
2) Giving: Of course, any of our giving planned for tomorrow can be postponed till next Sunday! However, if you have online checking or would like to drop off your tithe or offering this week at the office, that would be great!
3) Picts: I was able to 4X4 in my truck over to the building and took some photos! Pretty snowy over there at the corner of Centerville and Elbow!
Have a great time today and tomorrow in the snow and be safe!
Grace to you,
Eric
1 Comment | Sunday Preview | Permalink
Posted by Eric Hughes
Welcome to at the corner, a place where the pastors of Sovereign Grace Church hope to serve you by discussing various topics.
