Friday, March 1, 2013

Grace

Watch this video and then respond to the questions in the "Grace Questions" Discussion

Storified by David Stone· Fri, Mar 01 2013 15:25:51

Skit Guys - Gracetheskitguys

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Mercy Ships in Africa

[View the story "The Mercy Ships in Africa" on Storify]

The Mercy Ships in Africa

Storified by David Stone· Thu, Feb 21 2013 20:31:20

Africa Mercy restores sight to thousands - CBS NewsFeb 14, 2013 ... 60 Minutes on CBS News: Africa Mercy restores sight to thousands - Curing the blind and restoring faces, dedicated vol...

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Test post from Storify

[View the story "LIGHTen Your Load" on Storify]

LIGHTen Your Load

Finding inspiration in the everyday events and actions of God's people...

Storified by Eric Folks· Sun, Feb 03 2013 09:38:37

One Troubled Teen Seeks Educational Opportunity

Church News and Events2 days ago ... Official Church News and Events for the LDS Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

January 30th, 2013: One LISD teacher, who wishes to remain anonymous, had a breakthrough with a middle school student who had previously had behavior difficulties in class. Today, she was told by another teacher that this same student was upset at the prospect of NOT coming to her class! What a breakthrough!

Upcoming Event for Central Texas Youth, Seeking to Make a Difference in the World!

TEDxYouth@Austin - TED | TEDx | Event DetailAbout this event. On March 30, 2013, a group of youth and adult speakers and performers will come together to share their “ideas worth ...

A Lampasas ISD Teacher Changes the Course of One Young Man's Life

January 29th, 2013: (This story related to Eric Folks by his son, Calum Folks) A local young man who we'll call "G" had a reputation as a fighter and a scrapper all through 3rd grade, but according to "G," after one year with LISD teacher, Traci Bender, this young man found a way to become more peaceful...what Calum described as a "peaceful giant."

DNOW is Just Around the Corner!

What a great way to foster community and strengthen the body of Christ.

Lampasas Dnow 2013 "The Conquest"D-Now is just around the corner and it's time to get the word out. Last year we had about 180 students attend the event. This year our go...

Test post from Storify

[View the story "LIGHTen Your Load" on Storify]

LIGHTen Your Load

Finding inspiration in the everyday events and actions of God's people...

Storified by Eric Folks· Sun, Feb 03 2013 09:38:37

One Troubled Teen Seeks Educational Opportunity

Church News and Events2 days ago ... Official Church News and Events for the LDS Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

Upcoming Event for Central Texas Youth, Seeking to Make a Difference in the World!

TEDxYouth@Austin - TED | TEDx | Event DetailAbout this event. On March 30, 2013, a group of youth and adult speakers and performers will come together to share their “ideas worth ...

A Lampasas ISD Teacher Changes the Course of One Young Man's Life

DNOW is Just Around the Corner!

What a great way to foster community and strengthen the body of Christ.

Lampasas Dnow 2013 "The Conquest"D-Now is just around the corner and it's time to get the word out. Last year we had about 180 students attend the event. This year our go...

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Picture of Brotherly Love

David Stone
Pastor to Youth and Children

Grace Fellowship Church
512-564-0901
dstone@gracefolks.org

Untitled

[View the story "Picture of Brotherly Love" on Storify]

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Sunday Sermon Follow-up

Last Sunday I made some references to why God did not intervene in the shooting tragedies at the Aurora, Colorado movie theater and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Because any such explanations always ring hollow, I feel I must follow up on my inadequate statements in Sunday's sermon. I woke up Monday morning feeling as I always do when I address that subject-- that I have failed in my attempt to respond to a question that burns in each of us-- "Where is God when tragedy strikes?"

As I said Sunday, free will must be a part of the answer. God has given us a free will, I believe principally so we can use that free will to choose Him as He has chosen us. Love cannot be compelled. If we are to love God, then we must do so by free choice. If not, then we are mere robots and there is no real love at all. So important is that free will to the heart of God that He seldom intervenes to restrict it.

And yet, the above explanation rings hollow, especially when you personalize the tragedy and see it from the viewpoint of one of the victim's loved ones. In addition, this explanation is also inadequate when you consider the fact that sometimes, God does intervene. This fact begs another question-- "Why does God sometimes intervene to prevent tragedy, but most times not?"

In the end, I must join Jim Denison's expression of his own frustration with the subject. In addressing the loss of 232 people in a night club fire in Brazil over the weekend, Denison said this--

"While the free-will approach obviously has merit, doesn't it feel inadequate this morning? If one of our sons had died in the blaze, I wouldn't derive much comfort from a theology that claims God couldn't do anything to prevent the tragedy. King Darius misused his freedom by sending Daniel to the lions' den, but God intervened miraculously by protecting the prophet (Daniel 6). Herod misused his freedom in imprisoning Peter, but God intervened miraculously by sending his angel to free the apostle (Acts 12:1-10). If them, why not the students in Brazil?

Here's the bottom line: I don't know. I understand why God must give us freedom so we can love him and each other (Matthew22:37, 39), and why he must therefore allow us to misuse this gift. I understand that the consequences of such choices are not his fault. But I don't understand why he sometimes intervenes and sometimes doesn't. . . . Here's what I do know: God redeems all he allows, in ways we can see and in ways we will not understand until we are in heaven (1 Corinthians13:12). I know that he sustains all who seek him in the darkest nights and hardest days (Isaiah 43:1-3). And I know that God is grieving the death of every student in the Brazilian tragedy. President Dilma Rousseff cried in front of reporters as she said, "This is a tragedy for all of us." Our Father agrees."

In the end, this puzzling question calls for a huge amount of trust in God's sovereignty. We must acknowledge that God is infinite, and therefore I cannot possibly understand all His ways with my finite mind. I have learned that God is worthy to be trusted, that He never acts unjustly, even when it seems so in my limited understanding, and His love is unbounding, even when the way He expresses it appears to have failed. God doesn't need me to defend His ways, but it is okay to ask questions-- especially when we are seeking to know Him more fully. When tragedy strikes, God is there, grieving the loss and ready to offer love and healing. We must be ready to join Him in that ministry.

Blessings,

Paul

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Untitled

Community-- God's Antidote to an Isolated Society

Never in my lifetime have we been more connected, yet more socially isolated than we are today. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, texting, e-mail, have all made it easier to stay in touch, albeit in what seems a very artificial manner. The voice call has faded into the background, in favor of the previously-mentioned tools of communication, largely because they make it easier to control the direction and duration of our communications. To talk to someone on the phone in real time, it seems, is to make oneself vulnerable to certain pitfalls, like confronting a subject we would rather not discuss, or just the mere slip of the tongue, where we say something we did not intend. Or maybe we are just trying to avoid the person who dominates the conversation.

So strong is this trend, that the land-line telephone is fading from existence, joining the fax machine as an outmoded method of communication. According to marketingcharts.com, a Pew report from March of last year indicates that only 14% of all teens said they talk to friends on a landline phone on a daily basis, down from 30% in 2009. This has led many, even elder folks, to abandon the landline phone altogether, in favor of the more mobile, cellular alternative.

So why is this detrimental to the cause of Christ? Because in God's family, our tasks require community, and community only takes place when we get together. That being said, our staff has come up with an innovative way of at least staying in touch with each other through a web experience called The Table, when circumstances won't allow us to physically be in the same place. You will be hearing more about this in the weeks to come. Please understand, we are not suggesting that this, or any other electronic means can fully substitute for getting together. But it does provide a way to interact with each other in our calendar-driven, socially-limited culture.

This Sunday, I will be teaching on how these challenges affect our worship. We will look at a mostly-overlooked statement of Jesus in Matthew 15 where He describes how we can worship God in vain. In light of what community means to our worship, it is a startling revelation. I hope you will join us as we explore it.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Knowing God through Community

Knowing God through Community
Our teaching staff devoted the entire year of 2012 to "Knowing God." The teaching was in many ways an attempt to correct some common, and very accepted, misunderstandings about the nature and character of God that have evolved over the centuries, many of which were propagated by religion.
I suppose there is a sense in which all our teaching should result in our "knowing God" better. But now we are focussing on community, which I think can best be described as one of the more positive results of knowing God better. What could best describe our motivation to relate effectively to other Christians? The answer-- when we know God better, we understand more clearly that He is greatly pleased and honored when His children love each other enough to cooperate with each other in doing what He has called us to do.
Grace Fellowship was founded on the principle of identifying our purposes for existence. Early on, we discovered that there are five great purposes that must define us, both as individual Christ-followers and as a church. They are worship, fellowship, discipleship, evangelism, and ministry. What we will learn in the next three Sundays is that effectiveness in fulfilling these purposes is impossible without cooperating together in community to accomplish them. In fact, God never intended for us to be effective while functioning alone.
But how do we effectively function together when we live in a culture that has conditioned us toward independence, self-sufficiency, and distrust of others? I hope you will join me these next three Sundays leading up to Disciple Now 2013, as we seek to respond to this challenge.
Paul Kenley
Engaging the Community Through the Table
With the technology available today, we have the opprtunity to stay connected even with our busy schedules. Grace Fellowship Church is using a web service called the Table to stay connected to each other.
On the table you can post prayer request, list service ideas, comunicate with others in our church, listen to sermons, find upcoming events, and more. If you wish you can even check facebook and twitter. The Table is a fanitasrtic tool to allow us to utitilize technology in a way that brings glory to God and brings us closer together. There is even an app for your smart phone that makes communication with others on the table simple and quick.
The members involved in the Daniel Fast have been part of an ongoing discussion thread praying, sharing recipies and offering encouragement.
Technology overwhelming? Let us help. Contact Dave with any questions you might have. dstone@gracefolks.org.
For more information click here to sign up.
Click to play video