Friday & Saturday
Living Water Community Church Men’s Retreat
Men’s Retreat in Corbett, Oregon Friday and Saturday. It was at the Crestview Manor Conference Center in Corbett, OR. The grounds overlooked the Columbia River and the Columbia Gorge.
Bob Bevington, co-author with Jerry Bridges (The Pursuit of Holiness, The Practice of Godliness, The Discipline of Grace, Transforming Grace, and Respectable Sins) spoke. There were nearly 80 men from three churches in attendance.
Bob spoke on “The Bookends Metaphor” based on the book he and Jerry Bridges co-authored called "The Bookends of the Christian Life." It was a great conference! Didn’t get home until late Saturday.
Sunday
Taught Sojourners Adult Bible Class from John 3:22-30. Great class – John chose to use John the Baptist as a supporting witness to substantiate John’s comments in verses 16-22. Our theme was the foundation of the witness of John the Baptist concerning Jesus Christ as John fulfilled his role.
Sunday morning
I preached from Matthew 5:14-16. The Message was entitled, “How to Live So That God gets the Glory.” God called us to Himself to be believers in order to have a company, a people who would image forth His majestic character to the world. Everything that God does in this universe is motivated by God’s desire to have His glory reflected, revealed, or imaged to this world. The challenge was to align ourselves with God’ purpose for creating and redeeming us. I taught some 65 minutes from Matthew 5:14-16. We looked at some supporting Scriptures of I Peter 4:10; Ephesians 2:10, Titus 2:14, I Peter 2:12, and Isaiah 48:11. Time was so short had to cut several points.
Sunday Afternoon
My youngest daughter Stacy and her husband Abe came to church and then to our house for dinner. Irene prepared enchiladas and tamales along with refried beans and Spanish rice. Stacy brought a cherry pie. As Andy Griffith would say, “Them sure was good eats, Aunt Bea!” MMMMMM!
Sunday Night I concluded my message from Psalm 63, “Are You Thirsty?” The truly thirsty souls finds absolute satisfaction in God and God alone.
Verses 1-4 God was David’s Desire
Verses 5-8 God was David’s Delight
Verses 9-11 God was David’s Defense.
Great Psalm spend some time in it.
Jonathan Edwards said, “The greatest moments of my life have not been those that have concerned my own salvation, but those when I have been carried into communion with God and beheld His beauty and desired His glory…I rejoice and yearn to be emptied and annihilated of self in order that I might be filled with the glory of God and Christ alone.”
Where does a believer find absolute satisfaction in this barren land called life? The thirsty soul finds satisfaction in God, and God alone.
I challenge you to look to God for absolute satisfaction! May this one holy passion for God’s glory thrill your souls and dominate your lives throughout all your years upon this earth. May you seek to glorify God by enjoying Him forever and ever and ever!
I will catch up on your blogs. I left early Friday and have not had time to look at them and make comments. Thanks for stopping by my blog.
8 comments:
As usual something for us to ponder over.
Have a lovely day.
Yvonne.
Everything that God does in this universe is motivated by God’s desire to have His glory reflected, revealed, or imaged to this world
And yet many people think that their own, personal happiness should be God's priority and are offended when that isnt the case.
The last time I was went to a men's retreat was in the mid 1980s. There is one thing that sticks out in my mind from that retreat.
One evening we had a time of sharing after dinner. About 30 of us were in a circle taking turns sharing what was going on in our lives.
Several men were sharing about the problems they were having with their teenage children. When it was one man's turn to share this is what he said, "I wish I had all the problems you men are dealing with. I would be thankful just to have my son back." His son had recently been killed in a car accident.
Haha the Andy line made me laugh. :) Stay blessed!
Yvonne - thanks for your comment. I would be interested in reading what you have pondered over in some of my posts. Your thoughts are important to me.
JD Curtis - isn't that the truth? You nailed it!
Ron - I love going to Men's retreats. Especially Living Water Community Church retreats - they are not "fluffy" little get aways. There is real meaty down and dirty business with God done.
Yikes - many people would say the same thing that fellow said. I am sorry for his loss, thought by now I trust that He has dealt with it.
Sounds like you have been busy! Great post my friend!
Smile - Jesus Loves You - Thanks! I am blessed eternally, for I am in the beloved!
Shannon - it has been busy. Thanks again!
dear gregg,,,i have read your comments at mr. old geezer's blog so many times and in my opinion, they have been some of the best!
i have been scanning through your blog and i am telling you...these are deep posts!
when i looked at this one, and the sunday message "are you thirsty?", it reminded me of the woman at the well and it made me think of one of my favourite songs by my favourite southern gospel group, "greater vision",."i asked him for water..he gave me the well"!
just a tremendous song...we have the well inside of us if we are christians and that well is jesus!
when i read your most recent post of the sovereignty of god,gregg, i was wondering , do you believe in the trinity?...let me know ok, because i would really like to be a follower of your blog....from terry..
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