Three Rivers Grace Community Church

Last week in Sunday School we discussed the doctrine of regeneration, and the biblical truth that God must regenerate a person's heart before that person will respond to the Gospel in repentance and faith.
Recently, John Piper has been preaching a series of sermons on regeneration. I encourage you especially to listen to (or read) this one on evangelism. I'm Sending You to Open Thier Eyes.

On Mother's Day I preached a sermon on Proverbs 31, "The Woman Who Fears the Lord." A point that applies to all of us is the truth that the fear of the Lord will drive out every other fear in our lives. If we truly fear the Lord, we will not need to fear sickness or death. The fear of the Lord will kill our fear of man and our tendency to be people-pleasers. We will not need to fear bad news or financial hardship. We must fear God, and we will fear Him alone. Our other fears will fade away. You can find this sermon on the church's sermon page.

Here are some helpful questions to ask one another in your small groups, in accountability relationships, in your conversations before or after a worship service, etc. We should be intentional about cultivating true biblical fellowship in our congregation. These questions are from Donald Whitney.

• How is your [teaching, hospitality, outreach, deacon, or whatever] ministry going?
What do you enjoy most about it?
• Where have you seen the Lord at work lately?
• What's the Lord been teaching you recently?
• Have you had any evangelistic opportunities lately?
• Have you had any obvious answers to prayer recently?
• What you have been reading? How has it impressed you?
• Where in the Bible have you been reading lately? What impact has it had on you?
• How can I pray for you?
• What's the growth point in your life right now?
• What are you passionate about right now?

From Donald S. Whitney, Simplify Your Spiritual Life (Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 2003). Copyright © 2002, Donald S. Whitney. All rights reserved.

Last Thursday evening I went to the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland to hear Tim Keller. Dr. Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Church in New York City, and he has a new book out entitled The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. He gave an excellent presentation that encouraged believers and also challenged skeptics. His book would be a great gift to give to friends who are skeptical of Christianity.