“Growing in grace is not so much a matter of you doing things for God as it is learning to appreciate what God has done for you.”

-Richard Lovelace

The Intelligent Design (ID) movement takes a look at God’s fingerprints in His creation. Intelligent Design is not so much an argument for the Genesis account of creation as it is an argument against Darwinian evolution. Much good work is being done to display the difficulty of understanding the existence of the universe as a result of time plus chance.

On April 18th, a new film by Ben Stein entitled “Expelled” is being released that looks at the great bias in academia against ID. I plan to go see it (it is supposed to open at the Galleria in Warner Robins on 4/18).

On Thursday, I attended a Pastor’s luncheon hosted by Bonaire First Baptist to promote a conference on ID they are sponsoring. It looks very interesting and will be held May 9-11. You can get more info by going to www.bonairefbc.org/id

The ID movement can strengthen the faith of believers further demonstrating that our faith in the Creator is not superstitious myth. Of course, our utmost confidence comes from God’s revelation of Himself in His Word. We know that no amount of evidence can change the heart and mind of man apart from God’s spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. ESV) People are born with spiritual blinders that make them incapable of being truly objective.

Nevertheless, we should be encouraged by the ID evidences. God’s general revelation of Himself in His creation may be the tool He uses to work in some of our friends, neighbors, and co-workers.

Chris Larson posted this helpful and convicting article (originally published in Tabletalk magazine) by Rick Phillips over at the Ligonier Ministries blog:

“What the Needy Need”

You see “proclaiming and living the gospel” on our church sign, on our worship folders, and on our letterhead. This, hopefully, captures what we hope is the emphasis of Houston Lake Presbyterian Church.

Recently I heard the comment made that the gospel is not what you do, because it is the proclamation of good news to be believed. When a herald came and announced the good news of victory in the ancient world (the origin of the word for “gospel”) it was a message to be believed and celebrated, you didn’t “do” anything. I wholeheartedly agree with that. We don’t “do” the gospel in that sense. It is a declaration that through Christ reconciliation with the Father has been accomplished and that by faith we are credited with the perfect record of God’s Son and so are declared righteous in God’s sight and are thus adopted as God’s sons and daughters.

Ok, then why do we have “living the gospel” in our motto? We live the gospel when we live out the implications of it. We live out the gospel when we respond to God’s mercy in Christ and live different lives (Rom. 12:1). We live out the gospel when we forsake our idols in favor of the well that never runs dry provided in Christ. We live out the gospel when we recognize our desperate need for God’s mercy and so treat others with mercy, kindness, and patience. We live out the gospel when we use this “gospel logic”.

I hope this helps. I believe that anyone who attends HLPC with any frequency will quickly see that we are committed to the gospel of God’s grace. Grace is what motivates and changes. We don’t earn God’s favor or else the term “grace” is robbed of meaning.

When we say live the gospel we mean live according to its truth and that truth changes everything. We don’t do the gospel but we do live in light of it and that’s what we’re after.

Connie, the Watsons, and I attended the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology last weekend at Midway Presbyterian in Atlanta.  We sat under some excellent teaching and preaching.  One book I picked up I want to recommend is Sinclair Ferguson’s new book In Christ Alone.  There are 50 short chapters on what it means to live a gospel centered life.

You can get your own copy through HLPC’s online booktable by clicking here and looking under “Gospel Driven Living”

I found an article by John Piper entitled “6 Reasons Pastors Should Blog” so I’m taking the plunge (this will be my second attempt- you woudn’t want to read the last).  Stay tuned for more posts to come.