December 26, 2010 - Sunday Service

We had another fabulous day of worship at Grace River this morning. 

Pastor Dave gave a good sermon titled, "Finding God in Your Crisis" that centered around Matthew 1:18-25. As the saying goes, you are either coming out of a crisis, in the middle of a crisis, or about to go into a crisis.  Nobody is immune and Pastor Dave talked about the importance of listening to God and getting confirmation from God during these times.  We also got a "sneak peak" into next week's sermon which will be about how finances are discussed in the bible.

This is a big "Thank You" to a couple of our unsung heroes (aka nursery workers), April Williamson and Debbie Staley.  Glenda Mills is our nursery coordinator and also does a fantastic job. 

Grace River - where we're all about family.

December 19, 2010 - Sunday Service

Today we had our first ever Grace River Christmas play and the kids (as well as Jamie and Denise) did a fantastic job!  Trying to put on a Christmas play when there is no building to hold practices in is difficult but we did it and the kids were great!

This is what the sound team's copy of the play looked like. 

Rehearsal

Pastor Steve sharing with the kids about Advent.

The Program

Thanks for joining us!

Experiencing God #54 - Pastor Dave's Bible Study

Experiencing God #54


Essentials of Fellowship

#1 We must love God with our total beings. "This is the first and greatest commandment" (Matt. 22:37-38). If you love God, you will obey Him (John 14:21-24). If you love Him, you also will love your brother (1 John 4:21; 5:3). If your fellowship with God is right--if you love Him with your total being--you will even be able to love your enemies.

A threat to fellowship in a church is anything that causes you to lose your "first love" for God. This was the problem with the church at Ephesus (Rev. 2:1-7).

Loving money or things more than God will break your fellowship with Him. When your love is not pure toward God, fellowship with God is broken. For example: Suppose a person begins to love things more than more than God. When fellowship with God is broken, love for others will suffer. A person who loves things more than God will become stingy and greedy. When he sees a brother in need, he will keep his "things" to use for himself. He will not give to help others. Materialism is a terrible trap that robs many people of their love for God.

Experiencing God #53 - Pastor Dave's Bible Study

Experiencing God #53


God's Remedy for Sin
*  Humble yourself. Do not try to justify yourself. Do not hold on to pride.
*  Pray. God hears the prayer of repentance.
*  Confess your sin to God. Agree with Him that it is wrong. Confess to all who have been directly affected by your sin and ask for their forgiveness (Matt. 5:23-24).
*  Repent. Turn away from your sinful ways and return to God and His ways.
*  Seek God's face. Seek to renew fellowship with God. Talk to Him. Listen for His voice.
*  If your sin has been an ongoing problem, confess the sin to one or more Christian friends and ask them to pray or you to be set free from sin's bondage (Jas. 5:16).
*  Grieve. Ask God to help you understand how He feels about your sin. His desire is that you feel grief. When your heart is broken over your sin, you will be less likely to ever repeat the offense (Ps. 51:17).
*  Submit yourself to God. Resist the devil. Purify your heart (Jas. 4:7-10).
*  Claim the promises of forgiveness, cleansing, and healing (2 Chron. 7:14; 1 John 1:9).
*  Then live in the victory Jesus gives through His resurrection power!

--Henry Blackaby, Experiencing God

Experiencing God #52 - Pastor Dave's Bible Study

Experiencing God #52


We cannot be in fellowship with God and not walk in godly fellowship with one another!

"Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness" (1 John 2:9-11).


"This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother" (1 John 3:10).


"We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him" (1 John 3:14-15).


"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" (1 John 3:16-17)


"Let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love" (1 John 4:7-8).


"Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us" (1 John 4:11-12).


"If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother" (1 John 4:20-21).


"Everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands" (1 John 5:1-2).

The Grace River Video

December 12, 2010 - Sunday Service

Today is the day we've been waiting a whole year for.  That's right....it's Grace River's first birthday!  We've been in existence for 365 days now.  Steve Vanscoy provided this wonderful cake and a fabulous catered breakfast. 

A year ago, we never imagined that this is where we would be today.  We have doubled in size, worshiped in 5 different locations, and utilized 6 worship leaders.  I guess you could say that the one thing that hasn't changed through this past year is that we still have the same pastor....lol

I think God has big, big plans for us in our next 365 days.

Experiencing God #51 - Pastor Dave's Bible Study

Experiencing God #51


Read The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds - Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43.

"Membership rolls of churches are not the true test of whether a person belongs to the Kingdom. Just because a person has some resemblance to other Christians does not mean he is a Christian. Using this parable, Jesus teaches that some lost and evil people are mixed with true believes in churches. Notice, however, that God is the one who will make the final judgment about each person's relationship to Him. We should give ourselves to helping true believers grow and bear fruit. God will do the weeding out of unbelievers. That is His job. When a person is not bearing fruit, we should let God work through us to help the person with his deepest spiritual need. He knows what that need is, and what needs to be done about it." --Henry Blackaby, Experiencing God.

Experiencing God #50 - Pastor Dave's Bible Study

Experiencing God #50


"When you respond to God's invitation to an intimate love relationship with Him, He brings you into a partnership with Himself. God has added you to a local body of believers. Together you are the body of Christ in your community. As Head of your church, Christ Himself is guiding and working through your church to accomplish the will of the Father".

"When God speaks to you through the Holy Spirit, He is going to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways. Citizens in God's kingdom are to function to accomplish God's purposes in kingdom ways not in human ways. 'My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are you ways my ways' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts' (Isaiah 55:8-9). The principles of God's kingdom and the principles of the world are vastly different. Human ways will not bring forth lasting spiritual fruit. God's purposes are accomplished only by God's ways".

--Henry Blackaby, Experiencing God

Experiencing God #49 - Pastor Dave's Bible Study

Experiencing God #49


First Corinthians 12:7 and 18 tell us that God is one who adds members to the body as it pleases Him. He adds them to the body for the common good of the whole body. When God adds a member to our body, we have cause for rejoicing. God does not add anyone to our church accidentally. Every person comes to Grace River to make us more complete. None of us knows what a person may go through in the days to come. God may have added a person because He knows that he will need our ministry. They may be here to help lead us to a new ministry.

"If I were going to be a wight lifter, I would train my body so that it could lift weights effectively. If I were going to be a sprinter, I would train my body differently. When I want to do a job well, I train my body to match the assignment. When God builds a local church as the body of Christ, He adds members to the body and trains them to match the assignment He has for that body. He builds a local church body in a way that enables that body to respond to Him. Then God can accomplish an assignment through that body". (Henry Blackaby).

Because we know God builds the body to match the assignment, we should pay close attention to the people God adds to Grace River. This may be an indication of an assignment that God is getting us ready for.

December 5, 2010 - Sunday Service

Awesome, awesome, awesome worship this morning. 

Experiencing God #48 - Pastor Dave's Bible Study

Experiencing God #48


How to Have a Unified Church:

"Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. . . . each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way" (Romans 14:1, 12-13).


"Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others" (1 Corinthians 10:24).


"Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body" (Ephesians 4:25).


"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to thir needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Ephesians 4:29).


"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you" (Ephesians 4:31-32).


"Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything" (Ephesians 5:29-20).


"Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Ephesians 5:21).


"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity" (Colossians 3:13-14).

Experiencing God #47 - Pastor Dave's Bible Study

Experiencing God #47


Paul wrote the Corinthian church, a local body of believers, and said: "You are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it" (1 Cor. 12:27). Just as your physical body needs every part in order to live a normal and healthy life, so the church needs every member in order to live a normal and healthy church life. No member can say of any other member, I don't need you. Apart from the other members of the church (the body) you will not be able to experience the fullness of life God has intended for you. When one member is missing or not functioning as God intended, the rest of the body will miss out on the fullness of life God has intended for the church.

--Henry Blackaby, Experiencing God