Building Update

The plans for an addition to our building are continuing to take shape. The Building Committee of Grace Church met with our site engineer yesterday. The engineer has showed us his plans and helped us choose some of the landscaping and make some style choices for the front of the building. The engineer should be ready to submit our permit application to our township next month.

Applying for permits costs money. Before we spend that money, the Building Committee wants to make sure the entire church is informed and in approval of the plans. In order to inform the congregation, the Committee will call a special congregational meeting for our church immediately following our next Fellowship Dinner (after church on Sunday, November 21). At this meeting I expect that the plans for the building and the plans for the parking lot and driveway will be presented. In addition, the cost of the project and the needed monthly payments will also be shown. Once we spend the money on permits, that money will be wasted if we come back later with a different plan or if we decide not to build the building that we apply to build. As a result, it seems important that we all are in agreement on the building plans before we apply for the permits. Additionally, once we borrow money for the building, our monthly mortgage cost will rise. We need to make sure that the people of Grace Church are financially committed to the project before we shoulder a new mortgage.

Proud Papa

My daughter asked a terrific question during our Bible reading last night. She wanted to know why the pronouns had changed from "they" to "we" in Acts 16. We talked about the fact that Luke wrote the book of Acts. The kids were able to realize that the transition from "they went and did things" to "we went and did more things" meant that Luke had joined Paul's group. My daughter also wanted to know why Luke didn't just say that he began travelling with Paul.

I was very proud of my daughter for noticing this very minor change. It not only showed that she was paying attention, but also lets me know that she is already equipped to handle the first step of studying the Bible for herself- the step of observing what the text actually says.

Quotes About Reading

"The man who never reads will never be read. He who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own." C.H. Spurgeon

"And in all this reading, our objective is not so much the accumulation of knowledge as the stimulation to think Christianly." John Stott

"Unread Bibles are evidences against rebels, and are unbecoming in believers." C.H. Spurgeon

"Either read or get out of the ministry!" John Wesley

"This much is certain; we will never preach more than we know and we will never preach above our reading." Albert Mohler

(speaking of preaching) "There is no profession in which performance depends so much upon the accumulation of insight and information." John Killinger

100 and 100

You are currently reading the one hundredeth post on this blog. In addition, our church Facebook page now has 100 fans. You may now access Grace Church of Old Bridge's Facebook page with this link: www.facebook.com/GraceChurchOB.

Quotes about Prayer and Preaching

"Whatever else a preacher does in preparing for the pulpit, let him above all pray." Arthur Pierson

"Spare neither labour in the study, prayer in the closet, nor zeal in the pulpit." C.H. Spurgeon

"Prayer will singularly assist you in the delivery of your sermon; in fact, nothing can so gloriously fit you to preach as descending fresh from the mount of communion with God to speak with men." C.H. Spurgeon

"Great talents you may never have, but you will do well enough without them if you abound in intercession." C.H. Spurgeon

"The minister who does not earnestly pray over his work must surely be a vain and conceited man." C.H. Spurgeon

"Good preaching is born of good praying." John Piper

"We can preach competently, earnestly, faithfully, intelligently, interestingly, missionally, passionately, humorously, and even brilliantly. But we fail when we do no preach prayerfully." Phillip Jensen and Paul Grimmond

"All preaching must be prayerful, because no preaching is effective unless God is at work in it." Phillip Jensen and Paul Grimmond

Quotes About Prayer

Here are some general quotes regarding prayer. Tomorrow I intend to post quotes about prayer in relation to preaching.

"When a local church ceases to depend on prayer, God ceases to bless its ministry." Warren Wiersbe

"When we depend upon organizations, we get what organizations can do;
When we depend upon education, we get what education can do;
When we depend upon man, we get what man can do;
But when we depend upon prayer, we get what God can do." A.C. Dixon

"When I fail to pray, the best I can do is the best I can do. I forfeit my spiritual potential. But when I pray, the best i can do is no longer the best I can do. The best i can do is the best God can do. And He is able to do immeasurably more than I can ask or imagine." Mark Batterson

"The condition of a church may be very accurately gauged by its prayer-meetings." C.H. Spurgeon

"Church members who never pray for the good of the church, have no love for it;" C.H. Spurgeon

"Praying will make you leave off sinning, or sinning will make you leave off praying." C.H. Spurgeon

"We have our requests, not always as we pray, but as we would pray were we wiser." Robertson Nicoll

Quotes About Worship

"The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied." Jonathan Edwards

"Worship is all about consciously reflecting the worth of value of God." John Piper

"Worship is an active response to God whereby we declare His worth. Worship is not passive, but is participatory. Worship is not simply a mood; it is a response. Worship is not just a feeling; it is a declaration." Ronald B. Allen and Gordon L. Borrror

"Reverent corporate worship, then, is not optional for the church of God . . . Rather, it brings to expression the very being of the church. It manifests on earth the reality of the heavenly assembly." Edmund Clowney

"As angels find it their highest joy to praise god continually, should we not also delight each day to sing God's praise, counting this as the highest and most worthy use of our time and our greatest joy?" Wayne Grudem

"The alternative to worship is apostasy." William Lane

Here is one that was just "published" the day after I initially posted these quotes:

"We can worship God by serving our neighbors, but once a week we are called to serve our neighbors by worshiping God." Kevin DeYoung