Parkside Mission

First, I'd like to tell you a story about a man who considered the Gospel of grace scandalous. Amir was a highly educated young professional in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Amir invited our family over for a traditional Bosnian meal. After supper, over Turkish coffee, he told me his personal story of returning to Islam. I then shared my story of discovering the grace of God through Christ in college and explained passages from the NT book of Romans that make the case that the only way for us to be right with God is by faith in God's grace. Amir's reply was one of frustration, "So, you think you do nothing to earn God's mercy?" Most people I talk to in Atlanta do not quite share Amir's contempt, but they do share something in common with his confusion and suspicion towards grace. We have a hard time holding together free grace with the truth that grace changes us. We are tempted to compromise; either in a relativistic or in a moralistic way. Which brings me to...

It's December 13th, and this is it for me.  It's the pinnacle -- the peak of Christmas craziness. Even as I have grown to approach this season more thoughtfully over the past few years, it is still busier for me than any other time of year.  I have ornaments to hang, presents wrap, cards to mail, parties to attend, teacher gifts to purchase....the list goes on.  Those are all good things, to be sure, but it's still an awfully long list. And from what I can tell, it's the norm.  Everyone I talk to, including my wisest and most prudent friends, operates at warp yuletide speed in December.  Where do we find peace and joy amid the chaos of too much well-intentioned celebration? As someone who craves quiet and peace during every season, I'm often tempted to just skip Christmas and hibernate until  January 2nd.   Since that's not practical, I have found comfort in a surprising place:  the account of Elijah's battle with the Israelites and King Aha...

This Christmas "I myself will" ___________.  1. This Christmas I myself  wil l not put on 5 pounds . 2. This Christmas I myself  will  not buy my wife a small kitchen appliance . 3. This Christmas I myself  will  love my neighbors well. What would you write in the blank space?  Would you write something like my examples:  1. Which is doable but not likely to change the world or spread love to others. Or,  2. Which also doable, but is the least a decent person in your situation should do. Or,   3. Which is wonderful, but honestly, we won’t do it nearly as well as we should.  Then I remember how Christmas came to be in the first place. An ancient scripture prophecy of the coming Messiah, Ezekiel 17:22, " ‘This is what the Sovereign  Lord  says: I myself will take a shoot  from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a h...

2 Blessing Him for blessing us. Ephesians 1:1–14 Purpose: To know God better and praise Him for His glory and grace This letter launches right into praising God. But Paul is not trying to write a formal essay on the glory of God, this is a letter to you about God and us. 1.   Complete the following statement. God is:                 In light of these things, why do you think we still struggle to consistently worship God? 2.   Read Ephesians 1:1–14. According to verses 3–6, what blessings are ours from the Father? What other blessings, according to verses 7–12, do we have in Jesus Christ? 3.   Which of these is most significant to you? Explain. 4.   Ephesians 1:1–14 uses words like the will of God , chose , predestined , according to the plan and the purpose of his will . Much emotion can surround the discussion of such words. What is Paul's emotional reaction to being chosen ...

4 Amazing Grace Ephesians 2:1–10 Purpose: To see how God has brought us from death to life by the riches of his grace. To be gripped by the Gospel. One of the best-known verses in the book of Ephesians is 2:8, “By grace you have been saved, through faith.” Probably the most famous Christian hymn of all time is "Amazing Grace" but unfortunately we usually live like it might be "Decent" grace, "If all else fails" grace, or sadly "cheap" grace. In this study we want to rediscover what is so amazing about grace. 1.   Read Ephesians2:1–10. In verse 1 Paul says, “You were dead in your transgressions and sins.” How do dead people function? What must this mean about our spiritual state before we knew Christ? 2.   In verses 2–3 Paul mentions three deadly forces on our lives. According to Paul, how did each of these affect our lives as non-Christians? 3.   How have you seen these influences at work? 4.   According to verses 4–7, what mo...

Psalm 31 Sermon 3rd draft The passage of scripture we are looking at this morning is a lament Psalm of David. David may have written it about the time he faced Goliath. David could have been talking about the time when he was on the run and hiding out from King Saul.   It might be a prayer that David prayed later in his life when his own son leads a rebellion to take David’s throne. We know for sure that David is crying to the LORD for help. And then when we get the end of the prayer, he is commanding all God’s people, love the Lord. So, the Psalm focuses on two things, facing stress and loving the LORD. Stress is an in big problem for most of us. Many of you have already experienced stress today, it getting ready and making your way to church.   There is stress related to time, money, work, and relationships. We continually have more to do that we have time to do it. I don’t need to convince you that we live in a stressful world. Whether you think of the financial downturn of...

One the greatest needs every person has is for hope. The Christian faith makes a pretty bold claim to be the ultimate hope for all mankind. It makes sense that this claim must be supported by reasons. Here is an outline for a seminar that I give called "Reasons for Hope." 1 Peter 3:15-16 (NIV) "15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. " There are three foundational reasons for the hope that I have in Christ. They are: 1.     The reality of God’s Lordship You will find this in the following Biblical passages:  OT   Gen 15:7, Exodus 20:2, Deut 4:39 NT 1 Tim 6:15, Rev 17:14, Rev 19:16 “The apologetic situation is one in which we are especially to “set apart Jesus...