…a blog put out by NewBranch Community Church.
While preparing to celebrate a season of giving thanks in a couple of days, we should also note that this Sunday, November 29th, is the first Sunday of Advent. We call it Christmas season, but for centuries it has been Advent on the church calendar. During Advent we celebrate that God kept His promise to send a Savior.
Today’s Gospel Jump-Start post is a special Thanksgiving edition. Several years back, I read Robert McKenzie’s book, The First Thanksgiving. Not only is his work a helpful historical account, it is also an excellent book on how to study history. As we prepare to enjoy what we call Thanksgiving this week, McKenzie’s concluding reflections are helpful. He wrote…
Every year, NewBranch participates in what is called The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (LMCO) for International Missions. If you’re not familiar with Great Commission Baptist (a.k.a. Southern Baptist) history, then you might be wondering, “What is a Lottie Moon?”. Well, Lottie Moon isn’t a “what”, it’s a “who”, and the LMCO is taken up each year in her honor. We will be doing so again this December, and in preparation for this offering, we wanted to give a brief biographical sketch of who this woman was and why we collect an offering for international missions each year.
Today’s Gospel Jump-Start post comes from John Owen. In his book, The Transforming Power of the Gospel, Jerry Bridges quotes Owen’s work, Communion with the Triune God. I found the quote to be a much-needed Gospel reminder and wanted to share it with you. It’s lengthy and not an easy read, but worth working through. Bridges quoting Owen wrote:
Since we are only two days past Reformation Day, let’s have one final Gospel-Jumpstart from Martin Luther. Here is one of Luther’s most famous statements of gospel encouragement to the people of his day…
Daniel was sent into Babylonian exile after King Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem (Daniel 1:1). Daniel was faithful to the Lord and also rose in the ranks of society as a wise man. In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, he had a dream that none of the wise men could interpret (Daniel 2:1, 10). Just before all the wise men were destroyed…
We often talk about God’s sovereignty when it comes to elections and politics. God is in control and He alone will determine the outcome of elections. But just because we know that God is sovereign over our elections doesn’t mean we don’t exercise our responsibility to vote. Why is that? It is because we understand that God is sovereign over both the “end” (the result of the election) as well as the “means” (how the results of the election happen). God has sovereignly placed us in a country where elections are determined by our votes, and so…
As we look at our world and in particular our nation, we see that our culture is severely broken. The brokenness of our world is evidenced by racism and riots, abortion and gun violence, hunger and poverty, and by wars and greed. This brokenness is observable on both sides of the political divide, and every politician provides a set of policies that they assert will eradicate the brokenness.
Beware of gospel fatigue! This is the warning from Martin Luther in our Gospel Jump-Start post this week. Listen to the counsel of Dr. Luther…
I was sitting at the bedside of a dear church member who was in palliative care during the 2016 Presidential election cycle. On one particular day, as I primarily sat there with him because of the intermittent nature of our conversation due to his sporadic sleep and winces of pain, I had a thought. Moments like this are sobering, as we witness the ugliness of death things are often put into perspective. My thought in this particular moment…
