Today’s Fight Club Handout

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FightClub.Gal5.walkinginthespirit.pdf (148 KB)

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Last Night’s SNF Teaching Handout on Worship

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worship copy.pdf (49 KB)

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Permission To Not Know

I received this message yesterday from a friend, Dave McCarty. 

“The best gift I ever give myself, is permission to not know. Not know what’s best for me, and those I love.  Not know what I should do in the next hour, day, month, year, or how I should do, or when I should do.  Priceless.  Ultimate bliss.  The weight of the world lifted off of the shoulders of LittleOrphanDavie, and onto the broad shoulders of his Daddy in Heaven, who has promised to lead Davie into the future.  Ahhh!”

As a recovering control addict, those are words that I need to hear. Thanks, Dave. 

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Trusting God in the Dark and Difficult

This is a quote from Tim Keller’s book, Counterfeit Gods, that provides encouragement for those of us who are being so well loved by our Father that he is tearing our idols away from us (and usually without anesthetic).

Sometimes God seems to be killing us when he’s actually saving us… The Bible is filled with stories of figures such as [Abraham and] Joseph, Moses and David in which God seemed to have abandoned them, but later it is revealed he was dealing with the destructive idols in their lives and that could only come to pass through their experience of difficulty… We can’t know all the reasons that our Father is allowing bad things to happen to us, but like Jesus did, we can trust him in those difficult times. As we look at him and rejoince in what he did for us, we will have the joy and hope necessary—and the freedom from counterfeit gods—to follow the call of God when times seem at their darkest and most difficult.

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Post-Game Message Review: “Discipleship 101: Living in Light of the Gospel”

Key Ideas from last night’s SNF teaching on Discipleship…

1. Chrisitan discipleship is not primarily about performance and practices (what to do as a Christian), but about identity (discovering who I am as a forgiven and adopted child of the King).

2. “Being precedes doing.”

3. Four key elements of Christian Disipleship:

- The priority of theology

- The significance of relationship

- The necessity of friends

- The centrality of grace

4. When Jesus says “follow me,” he leads us to the cross.

5. Being a disciple (follower, learer) of Jesus ultimately is about learning what it means to live in light of the gospel/cross/grace.

 

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A New Angle on Discipleship- by Jerry Bridges

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Glorifying God by Taking Risks

Andree Seu is one of my favorite writers. She is real and raw, and writes from a distinctively grace-aware perspective. Her latest entry in WORLD Magazine is entitled “Taking Risks for the Gospel: It’s Better to Make a Fool of Yourself Than to Play It Safe.” Sounds like a church planter slogan to me. : )  Anyway, in that article she says something that I need to hear.

“God is glorified in the difference between our natural ability and His miraculous power. Risk-taking is nothing fancy, just an everyday pressing into the little things that we have no confidence of doing without the help of God.”   

Where is God’s miraculous power in my life?  Maybe I see so little because I usually play it safe, in the bounds of what I believe I can do. What is something that I cannot do?  Now, let me go attempt that. 

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Today’s Fight Club Handout & Notes

Today at Fight Club we discussed Galatians 5:1-6.  Below I’ve pasted a copy of the handout, including Johnny Long’s notes on “The Downward Pull of Christian Legalism.”

5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

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Creekstone’s Launch Team Covenant, Ministry Team Sign Up & Audio Message

This fall Creekstone is gathering folks who want to be part of our “Launch Team,” which is the group within a new church who owns the vision for the ministry and is committed to serving on various ministry teams in order to see the ministry plan implemented.

In light of the gospel and by God’s grace, as part of the Launch Team:

1. I will attend weekly Sunday gatherings.
2. I will serve faithfully on a ministry team that lines up with my personal gifts and passions for ministry.
3. I will expect commitment, but not perfection, from others on my ministry team.
4. I will pursue reconciliation with any with whom I experience conflict by freely repenting/confessing my faults and quickly forgiving others.
5. I will approach McKay if I ever find myself in disagreement with Creekstone’s philosophy of ministry (the why and how we do what we do).
6. I will invite and bring new people to Creekstone gatherings, and will welcome new folks who attend Creekstone gatherings.
7. I will avoid gossip (talking negatively, or confessing someone else’s sins) about individuals at all costs.
8. I will be teachable.
9. I will encourage others on the team, showing appreciation for their role and ministry.
10. I will hunger and thirst for a deeper understanding of and experience with the truth of the gospel.

If you are interested in being part of Creekstone’s Launch Team, just go to our website (www.creekstonechurch.com), click the Ministry Team link, download an application, and send it back to me via email (mckaycaston@mac.com).  You may also sign up for our Ministry Teams at the same link, or here:

• The Music & Worship Team
• The Tech (A/V) Team
• The Greeter / Welcome Team
• The Set Up & Clean Up Team
• The Children & Nursery Team

Thanks for considering partnering with us to glorify God by helping people come alive to the wonder of the gospel.

For more on this theme, you may listen to Sunday’s message, entitled, It Takes a Team.  To listen or download, go to our sermon player here.

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Creekstone’s Launch Team Covenant, Ministry Team Sign Up & Audio Message

This fall Creekstone is gathering folks who want to be part of our “Launch Team,” which is the group within a new church who owns the vision for the ministry and is committed to serving on various ministry teams in order to see the ministry plan implemented.

In light of the gospel and by God’s grace, as part of the Launch Team:

1. I will attend weekly Sunday gatherings.
2. I will serve faithfully on a ministry team that lines up with my personal gifts and passions for ministry.
3. I will expect commitment, but not perfection, from others on my ministry team.
4. I will pursue reconciliation with any with whom I experience conflict by freely repenting/confessing my faults and quickly forgiving others.
5. I will approach McKay if I ever find myself in disagreement with Creekstone’s philosophy of ministry (the why and how we do what we do).
6. I will invite and bring new people to Creekstone gatherings, and will welcome new folks who attend Creekstone gatherings.
7. I will avoid gossip (talking negatively, or confessing someone else’s sins) about individuals at all costs.
8. I will be teachable.
9. I will encourage others on the team, showing appreciation for their role and ministry.
10. I will hunger and thirst for a deeper understanding of and experience with the truth of the gospel.

If you are interested in being part of Creekstone’s Launch Team, just go to our website (www.creekstonechurch.com), click the Ministry Team link, download an application, and send it back to me via email (mckaycaston@mac.com).  You may also sign up for our Ministry Teams at the same link, or here:

• The Music & Worship Team
• The Tech (A/V) Team
• The Greeter / Welcome Team
• The Set Up & Clean Up Team
• The Children & Nursery Team

Thanks for considering partnering with us to glorify God by helping people come alive to the wonder of the gospel.

For more on this theme, you may listen to Sunday’s message, entitled, It Takes a Team.  To listen or download, go to our sermon player here.

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Idolatry: Turning a Good Thing Into an Ultimate Thing

I began reading Keller’s Counterfeit Gods over the weekend. In a word, profound. Another word, convicting. And still another couple words, gloriously hopeful. The book is about idolatry. In the first chapter, Keller defines idolatry by alluding to comments on American culture penned by Alexis de Tocqueville, who in the 1830s said that there “is a strange melancholy that haunts the inhabitants… in the midst of abundance” because “the incomplete joys of this world will never satisfy [the human] heart.”

Keller asks, “What is the cause of this ’strange melancholy’ that permeates our society…? De Tocqueville says it comes from taking some ‘incomplete joy of this world’ and building your entire life on it. That is the definition of idolatry.”  Usually, idolatry takes place when I take a good thing (an incomplete joy) and make it an ultimate thing (like planting a church, or winning a game, or making an income, or whatever). It is that thing that, if I lost it or failed at it, would cast me into despair.

Of course, the gospel offers us that which can truly satisfy, which is to know the God of grace who pours out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given to us. The Spirit who enables me to cry out “Abba, Father,” and to be convinced that I am fully forgiven and completely accepted sons. Reconciliation without fear. That is what my heart longs for, and that is what we receive through faith in the promises that are bound to the cross of Jesus. Embracing the ultimate thing as the best thing.

It is the power of the gospel that breaks the power of idolatry and brings genuine peace, joy, hope and soul satisfaction. It enables me to possess something and lose it, to pursue something and fail at it, and to remain sane—even sanctified, possibly sorrowful, but not despairing—in the process.

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Post-Game Message Review: “It Takes a Team”

Last night’s message was from Ephesians 4:11-16, entitled, “It Takes a Team.” 

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (ESV)

The main idea of the message was that, in order for Creekstone to fulfill its mission to glorify God by helping people come alive to the wonder of the gospel, it will take a team.

Here are some of the key thoughts:

1. God has given various offices in the church, one being the teaching pastor (v. 11).

2. The teaching pastor’s primary role on the team is to function like a coach, equipping the members through teaching (v. 12a).

3. Every member has a role/position to play on the team (v. 12b). The traditional model of “hiring a pastor to do the ministry” is tragically unbilbical. Actually, ordinary Chrisitans (“saints”) are to be equipped by the teaching pastor so that they can fulfill their own various ministries in the context of the church.  Each role is significant and necessary in order to see the mission fulfilled.

The five Ministry Teams that we have right now are:

• Music & Worship
• Tech (Audio/Visual)
• Greeter / Welcome
• Set Up / Clean Up
• Children & Nursery

You may sign up for a team on our website (www.creekstonechurch.com)

4. We can know that the church is making progress as a team when “there is unity of purpose and mission (v. 13) based on the gospel (vv. 13b-14) that leads to relationships that are governed by grace (vv. 15-16).”This means that there will be plenty of opportuntiy to repent to each other, forgive each other and encourage each other as we pursue mission collectively and individually.

5. The theological unbrella under which the team approach takes place is that the Christian’s relationship with God is one that is governed by the gospel, giving us a framework of grace from which to function as we live out our roles on the team.

If you were present and have any questions, comments, suggestions or reflections, your comments are welcome.

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Saturday Highlights

Today, I took the big two to their soccer game in Blue Ridge, GA. A beautiful 58 mile trip one way. The map below shows the route. Along the drive, we viewed amazing mountain panoramas, quaint apple orchards, and numerous horse farms—the sky was blue, the air was rather warm, but with a breeze that gave it a crisp feel in the shade. After we arrived home, we watched the Ole Miss vs. Tennessee game on our DVR and then the UGA vs. Auburn game live. Now, I’m shifting gears and getting ready for tomorrow’s Creekstone Sunday Night Fellowship at the Park and Rec/Community Center here in Dahlonega. Can’t wait!

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I am Barabbas: None of What is Deserved, Far More Than What is Expected

I am re-reading a wonderful biography of Charles Spurgeon by Arnold Dallimore. In it, he quotes from Spurgeon’s Autobiography:

“Too many people think lightly of sin, and therefore think lightly of the Savior. He who has stood before his God, convicted and condemned, with the rope about his neck, is the man to weep for joy when he is pardoned…”  Charles Spurgeon, c. 1890 from his Autobiography (Cited in Arnold Dallimore, Spurgeon: A New Biography, p. 14).

I’m thinking of this because tomorrow night I am teaching on Acts 3:1-10, where a lame man from birth is healed, and begins leaping and praising God for his remarkable, miraculous healing. It is far more than he expected to receive while begging at one of the Temple gates. He was asking for pennies, and received an unthinkable blessing of complete healing.

In the gospel, I get none of what I deserve, and far more than I could ever expect. I am the convicted and condemned sinner. But on the cross, Jesus allows the rope of my condemnation to be placed around his own neck. He is convicted and condemned in my place. I am released. Completely forgiven. Justified. I am Barabbas.

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Tim Keller shares about why he wrote his latest book, Counterfeit Gods

via counterfeitgods.com

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“Where the Wild Things Are”- Reflections

The film version of Where the Wild Things Are is not at all what I was expecting. It was far deeper… and far darker. Here are a few post-film reflections.

1. We are all “sons of dysfunction” and have beastly/sinful tendencies.

2. Our beast within that expresses itself in various personality and temperament quirks, which inevitably create interpersonal conflict.

3. Nevertheless, we long for a community where we can be real and accepted at the same time- personal funkiness and all.

4. In a word, we long to be… happy.

5. And we long for a “sovereign king” who can fulfill that dream of happieness in the context of genuine community.

6. We try to kill kings (whether literally or figuratively) who do not live up to our expectations.

7. The fact is that no mere beast can fulfill that dream. He must come from another world, express unexpected kindness, so that we can learn that it is love expressed toward the unlovely and beastly that is the power that fulfills the dream and changes people deeply.

8. Enter Jesus, who came to the land “where the wild things are”… reveal the cross, where the king, out of love, allowed himself to be killed… and gather the church, a community of loved beasts whose lives sing the tones of grace in worship of the one who has loved them with the ultimate love.

 

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20th Anniversary of First Date

Today marks the 20th anniversary of my first date with Kristy. It was Nov. 5, 1989—Ole Miss homecoming game weekend. 

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Wisdom on a Wall

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My Office This Morning

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This Week at Fight Club- Sola Fide

This morning at our weekly men’s Fight Club, we honed in on Romans 2:16, where Paul says, “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Jesus Christ, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

In light of that passage, we discussed the meaning of justification: “Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.”  We also discussed the problem with religion and the meaning of faith.  Some of the implicaitons that flowed from that discussion involved these issues:

1. Justification is the foundation of the Christian life. But what other things do we tend to make the foundation?  Which idols to we stand upon? How does justification address identity issues?

2. Justification is a means to an end. Then what is the “end,” or goal of justification?

3. Justification deals powerfully with performance guilt. Then where is the motivation for obedience?

4. Justification calls me to move from a focus on my works to a focus on the work of Jesus for me. How can I do that? What difference will it make?

5. Why is an attempt to be self-justified a wicked pursuit?

Curious about how we approached these questions? Then join us next Wednesday at 6:30 for Fight Club (guys only / meets at Danny’s Restaurant, just over Crown Mountain on the left heading toward GA 400).

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Monday Reflections

Last night Creekstone met for our weely Sunday Night Fellowship (dinner and Bible study) at the Lumpkin Co. Community Center. It is a fantastic location, and thankfully, folks showed up. As I’ve reflected on the evening together, I’ve had some thoughts:

Serving as the church planter for Creekstone, in this place and at this time, is a huge privilege. Having the opportunity to help people come alive to the wonder of the gospel through teaching and community is a dream come true.

There are gospel-loving friends in other places whom I wish could be here to partner with us in person. Many of them are participating through prayer and giving, but as this ministry begins to pick up momentum, I really miss them.

Preaching and teaching is an art that is never perfected. At least it will not be perfected by me. Each time I teach I think, “This time I’m going to get it right.” Well, I have never gotten it right yet. So I might as well let go of the pressure to be perfect- or even really good. If I can just be regular ole, terribly imperfect me (who sometimes talks too fast and stutters on occasion) who is coming alive to the wonder of the gospel myself, that will be enough. God uses the foolish things…

I’m thankful to be teaching folks who are so receptive, teachable and encouraging.

I think that the music ministry is going to be the best thing we have going. Last night’s first-time, informal rehearsal blew me away. Not in my wildest dreams did I think we’d have this kind of talent and heart leading worship. Maybe in year ten, but not in week 2. God is at work… going before us… parting the waters.

I’m thankful for folks who are willing to pitch in and help out. It’s remarkable to see people serve so gladly.

I think God is at work in me. Not because I’m getting better, but because I am seeing just how inadequate I am. I’m coming to realize that people do not need me. They need Jesus. Almost as much as I need Jesus. So part (most?) of my job is to live like I really do need Jesus- not as a helper, but as a Savior. In order to do that, I’ve got to stop being religious, and start being real. Will you pray for me to that end?

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Sunday Night Fellowship

Just a reminder that Creekstone’s Sunday Night Fellowship will be meeting in the Park and Rec/Community Center tomorrow from 5:30-7:00pm (a map is here). Pizza is at 5:30 (if some folks can bring salads, drinks and desserts we’ll be set) followed by teaching.

By the way, our worship team will be rehearsing during our meal time—that should provide some anticipation for what is to come with music!

Childcare is available and dress is casual.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

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Sunday Night Fellowship

Just a reminder that Creekstone’s Sunday Night Fellowship will be meeting in the Park and Rec/Community Center tomorrow from 5:30-7:00pm (a map is here). Pizza is at 5:30 (if some folks can bring salads, drinks and desserts we’ll be set) followed by teaching.

By the way, our worship team will be rehearsing during our meal time—that should provide some anticipation for what is to come with music!

Childcare is available and dress is casual.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

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Grace Has To Be Drunk Straight

This day in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses upon the door of the Wittenburg Church, knowing that on the following day, All Saints Day, people would flood through the doors and read it’s challenge to reform the church. It was the shot heard round the world that brought on the Protestant Reformation, a movement that recovered the gospel from centuries of ecclesiastical legalism. In honor of Luther’s nail and hammer, I’d like to post one of my favorite reformation quotes:

“The Reformation was a time when men went blind, staggering drunk because they had discovered, in the dusty basement of late medievalism, a whole cellar full of fifteen-hundred-year-old, two-hundred-proof grace—of bottle after bottle of pure distillate of Scripture, one sip of which would convince anyone that God saves us single-handedly. The word of the gospel—after all those centuries of trying to lift yourself into heaven by worrying about the perfection of your bootstraps—suddenly turned out to be a flat announcement that the saved were home before they started…Grace has to be drunk straight: no water, no ice, and certainly no ginger ale; neither goodness, nor badness, nor the flowers that bloom in the spring of super spirituality could be allowed to enter into the case.” (Robert Capon)

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Big News from Creekstone

Here is some important news from Creekstone Church:

NEW MEETING LOCATION—  Since our Sunday Night Fellowship attendance has outgrown our home, Creekstone will begin meeting this Sunday evening (5:30-7:00pm) at the Lumpkin County Community Center (Park and Rec), 365 Riley Rd., Dahlonega, GA, 30533. A google map may be found here.

PIZZA DINNER & TEACHING | Food for the Body, and Food for the Soul— We will gather at 5:30pm for dinner, followed by a time of teaching on Creekstone’s CORE. Last week was “Pervasive Grace,” and this week is “Authentic Community.”  In honor of our students, Creekstone will provide pizza for dinner. If some of us are able to bring simple salads, desserts, chips and drinks, we’ll call it a feast.

INVITE FRIENDS— Please feel free to invite friends/guests. I mean, we’ve all got to eat, right? : )

PARKING AND CHILDCARE— There will be plenty of parking and seating.  Also, we will have spacious childcare rooms available, staffed with multiple, caring volunteers per room. There is one room for infants, and one for older kids (they will have the option of watching a video, playing games, drawing, doing crafts, etc.). Of course, children of any age are welcome to attend the teaching time after dinner.

As always, dress is casual.  Hope to see you then!

 

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