The following is a letter that ASGF just received from New Life Pregnancy Center. Each month we contribute financially to help them accomplish their mission of promoting life for the unborn and the life in Christ for the mothers and fathers they come into contact with.

One other note- as Barb states at the end of her letter, they are always looking for help and the need for counselors is especially great at the Auburn location right now. If you are a woman and have the time and heart to serve in this ministry this would be a rich and valuable way to invest your time.

September 2007

 

Dear Sovereign Grace Family,

What a blessing you all are in supporting the New Life Pregnancy Center as your local mission. You have faithfully been giving $500 to us monthly since this past January.

God has called us to be faithful in serving Him at the Auburn & Rocklin Centers. Any changes of heart so that our young men and ladies will change their minds about having that abortion, or their lifestyle choices and most importantly faith in Jesus Christ is all God’s work! To Him be the glory.

What joy it has been to us to see the divine appointments He sends through the door. Even though this summer has been “slow”, He has sent in over 65 precious clients. It is a wonder that any come in at all with the availability of pregnancy tests, some also given out free; the availability of the morning-after-pill and the RU-486 (which can be ordered on-line now); government supported abortions and the media influencing people in their inappropriate lifestyles. So, as we know, He is sovereign! That is why we know that each call, each drop-in, each and every person we encounter are “divine appointments.”

Recently, one of our counselors met with a 19 year old who came in for a pregnancy test in our Auburn office. She initially said that Jesus is not God and that she believed in heaven and not hell. She had been raised as a Jehovah’s Witness. However, as she read the Scripture, God did a great work in her heart! As it softened, He drew her and she came to realize the truths in the Scripture. She repented; asked for God’s forgiveness and prayed to receive Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Usually we sow seed, maybe water seed that has been sown before—often by a loving parent, a faithful grandma, or a past Sunday School teacher—but we know that it is God Who brings it to fruition!

Outside of the office, our Teen Advisors (skimpy crew that they are) gave several presentations about sexual integrity and the abstinence message to many public school students this past semester.

We’ve been available to be a mentor for one student for her Senior Project at Placer HS; several students at William Jessup University have used us for their “projects.” One student from UC Berkeley along with 6 other students also took New Life PC on as their project. It gave us a chance to witness to a couple of the young men in her group who were not believers! We are anxious to see who God brings this new semester from the schools!

Sorry for the length of this letter, but did want to give a little long-over due update as to what God is doing here. Thank you for your prayers, encouragements and financial supports. This is His ministry and what a blessing it is to be a mission in the place where God has planted us.

Serving the Lord with you,

Barb Schauer, for the Board and other volunteer counselors

P.S. The door is always open for more laborers in the field!!

Paul Tripp is currently blogging through Psalm 27 right now seeking to apply the truths of this Psalm to the human heart and condition (you might remember he recently finished doing the same thing with Psalm 51).

The post is rather long but it is worth reading the whole thing. Here are the main points and some highlights.

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

So, when you recognize you are caught in the middle of something, you are recognizing something that is profoundly important. Let me detail how practically important this insight is.

1. It means you were meant to live for something bigger than you. You are not in contol. You’re story is not ultimate.

2. It means you were created to be dependent. The independent, this-is-my-life-and-this-is-what-I-will-do-with-it view of life is a delusion.

3. It means that the things you need most you cannot provide for yourself… I wait because His grace is still at work. I wait because He is not done and I am not yet complete.

4. It means the final chapter of your story has been written, but has not yet unfolded. There are more places God has written for me. There are more characters to appear in my story. There are circumstances that He has designed for me to encounter.

5. It means that the one you are waiting for is trustworthy… You are being asked to wait by One you can trust.

6. It means that in those moments when you are “caught” you can rest… You can rest, not because you know what is happening, but because you know the One who is in control of what is happening to you right now.

Justin Taylor posted the following today.  I thought it was a perspective on sleep that we may not consider too often.

Fred Sanders recently wrote about a Theology of Sleep. Here’s the conclusion:

At the very least, sleep is a good opportunity to entrust yourself, your entire self, to God’s care. You’re trusting something when you lay down your body and, with it, the control of your conscious mind. That moment when you consciously choose unconsciousness, and let yourself go, is a daily opportunity to relinquish control to a God who you have to trust.Sleep is good practice for death. It’s good preparation for life with that same God who you’re going to have to trust eventually. And it’s worth asking for sweet dreams, because he gives sleep to his beloved, and he gives to his beloved in their sleep.

See also C.J. Mahaney’s sermon, A Biblical Understanding of Sleep.

At ASGF our Equip classes serve to train and teach our body in specific and strategic areas. If you are able to squeeze time out of your schedule you will find these times immensely helpful. This semester we have two different offerings.

Equip Family Worship-

Overview- Family worship is a practice that has deep historical roots and great practical value. This class will focus in on how parents (and fathers in particular) can shepherd their families by instructing them and leading them in worshiping God. It will deal both with the foundational reasons for family worship as well as practical and simple ways to implement family worship in one’s home. One of the highlights will be opportunities for families to actually practice within the group setting. The whole family is encouraged to attend this class together.

Details- This class will meet on scheduled Saturday evenings from 6:30-8:30 throughout the fall semester. The first meeting will be Saturday, September 14th from 6:30-8:30 at the Winans’ home. Contact Josh or Brad with questions.

Equip Bible Doctrine-

Overview- Theology is the meat of the Christian life. It is a focus on what we hold as most precious- God Himself- His person, His ways, and His revelation. Done rightly a study of doctrine will lead to deeper affections and greater intimacy with our great God. This is the goal of this year long study through the book Bible Doctrine by Wayne Grudem. The book covers topics of Scripture, God, man, Christ, redemption, the church, and the future. The book is well written, highly readable, and has a rich devotional flavor to it.

Details- The class will meet on Tuesday evenings from 7-8:30 at Tim and Nicole Pickard’s home. The first meeting will be on Tuesday, September 11th. Contact Tim Pickard with questions.

The text for Josh’s sermon this Sunday is Colossians 3:15-17. Take time to read and meditate on this passage in preparing your own heart and your family for corporate worship. Pray through this passage asking God to give you a heart soft and ready to be molded by His word.

Here are the songs for this Sunday. Maybe try to sing these songs on your own or as a family. If you can remember them great- if not you will probably be able to find most of them by searching for them on the internet.

Awake My Soul

Almighty God

Wonderful Merciful Savior

I Will Praise Him Still

Pass Me Not

My Jesus I Love Thee

I am fully behind The Case for Kids Parenting Seminar that we are about to hold. I believe in it and desire all of the parents in our church, and in our community for that matter, to attend.

The spring of this support and desire however is not simply a concern for some event I am organizing. I am enthusiastic about this seminar because I am a parent and am faced daily with the challenges of parenting. I need God’s grace daily, I need God’s instruction daily, I need the reminders that this seminar will bring. This is something I need and am excited to see others also benefit from through this seminar.

Here are six questions that I shared with my Grace Group. They are not intended to bring about a guilt trip of some sort but rather to convince you logically that this seminar has great potential to assist you in the all-important task of parenting.

1. Has a day ever passed (or hour for that matter) when you felt adequate and sufficient for the task of parenting?
2. How much time do you currently invest in growing and maturing in your parenting? How much time would be appropriate for a responsibility such as this?
3. Do you have more to learn when it comes to properly disciplining, instructing, and encouraging your children according to the biblical pattern?
4. Would you really take the time to thoroughly study and apply Scripture’s teaching on parenting on your own?
5. If you have gone through this material before, would you really take the time to thoroughly review it and evaluate your parenting on your own?
6. Do you have any need for interacting with and hearing from other parents in the body on these issues of parenting?

In case you had not heard the details of the conference here they are-

• Friday, September 21st and Saturday, September 22nd, 2007(The seminar will last from approximately 6:30-9:00 Friday and 9:00-2:00 Saturday)
• A two day video seminar covering crucial issues in parenting from ages 0-12 given by respected parenting authors and teachers Paul and Tedd Tripp.
• Dessert on Friday night and lunch on Saturday are included in the cost of the conference.
• The seminar will be held at the Canyon View Community Center (471 Maidu Dr., Auburn, CA).
• Child care will be available on Friday evening (there will be minimal child care on Saturday for those who can’t find any other childcare).
• The Cost will be $15 per couple for pre-registration and $20 at the door (cost will be waived for guests- e.g.- unbelievers)

Finally, here is an extended quote from the beginning of J.C. Ryle’s little booklet, The Duties of Parents.

Believe me, the subject is one that should come home to every conscience, and make every one ask himself the question, Am I in this matter doing what I can?” It is a subject that concerns almost all. There is hardly a household that it does not touch.

Parents, nurses, teachers, godfathers, godmothers, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, — all have an interest in it. Few can be found, I think, who might not influence some parent in the management of his family, or affect the training of some child by suggestion or advice. All of us, I suspect, can do something here, either directly or indirectly, and I wish to stir up all to bear this in remembrance.

It is a subject, too, on which all concerned are in great danger of coming short of their duty. This is pre-eminently a point in which men can see the faults of their neighbors more clearly than their own. They will often bring up their children in the very path which they have denounced to their friends as unsafe. They will see motes in other men’s families, and overlook beams in their own. They will be quick-sighted as eagles in detecting mistakes abroad, and yet blind as bats to fatal errors which are daily going on at home. They will be wise about their brother’s house, but foolish about their own flesh and blood. Here, if anywhere, we have need to suspect our own judgment. This, too, you will do well to bear in mind.

The following post is from Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds and contains a number of resources on a biblical view of work and labor.  I haven’t gotten a chance to read or listen to all of them but I think they will all prove thought-provoking and helpful.  If you just have time for one read the first link- a short post summarizing a biblical view of work.

Matt Harmon, Associate Professor of New Testament Studies at Grace Theological Seminary, sketches a brief biblical theology of work in light of Labor Day.

I’ve also been listening today to some sermons by Tullian Tchividjian on Gospel-Centered Relationships: Employee and Employer (Eph. 6:5-9).

Update: Here’s a sermon by Lance Lewis on the topic, entitled Nine to Five.

As Steve points out in the comments section, Tim Keller has three free sermons on work:

1. Work
2. Made for Stewardship
3. Work and Rest

Also check out the info and audio at Redeemer’s Center for Faith and Work.

John Piper wrote a chapter in Don’t Waste Your Life (available online for free) entitled “Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5.” It starts on p. 131.