GuineaField

The flaming sword that guarded Eden's path Has found its mark, the greatest Son of Seth. The fallen children's perfect Seed chose wrath To pluck eternal life for Adam’s race. By picking for Himself the tree of death He grants life’s one fulfilling fruit, God's face. I wrote the lines above reflecting on the following sermon by Robert Murray M’Cheyne on John 14:6.   “ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me’” (John 14:6). “As long as Adam walked holily, God dwelt in him, and walked in him, and communed with him; but when Adam fell, ‘God drove the man out of paradise; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden, cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.’   This flaming sword between the cherubim was a magnificent emblem of God, - the just and sin-hating God.   In the bush, He appear...

I'm encouraged by the progress of the organization and implementation of phase two of our LIFE Groups series at Grace.  After spending a couple years developing and teaching through material, we are very excited about the opportunity that our people now have to take others in the church through the first series of studies together as they work to "build up" the others in the body.  Personal discipleship is the responsibly of every believer.    We have just finished a mini-series encouraging this emphasis at Grace.  As Pastors, we pray for grace to "equip the saints for the work of ministry" namely, the building up Christ's body.  In the weeks to come we will be dividing into many different groups of three to four people to help build each other up in the faith.    Three sermons: God's Blueprint for Discipleship Part 1 (Ephesians 4:11-13) The Blueprint for Discipleship Part 2 (Ephesians 4:14-16) Biblical images of the church. Organ...

Well, it appears that spring is just around the corner. The ten day forecast is calling for nine of the next ten days above 40 degrees. That is a nice thought = ) Although I’m happy to see the snow go for a few months, I found myself enjoying even this last snowfall. What a quiet blanket snow is! It keeps people indoors. Traffic stops (almost). Quiet comes.  Almost a peaceful quiet.  A good snow fall blankets the whole community in a beautiful sugar colored clean. Its blanket makes even NYC’s dirtiest streets appear clean... for a bit. “But the mud returns, nastier than ever!” Yes I realize that. But for several moments after and during a good snow fall, everything appears clean. I’m so thankful that the Lord’s cleansing is deeper than that. Jesus’ blood does not just cover our sin it cleanses. The penalty for our sin that deserved God’s wrath is paid for by Jesus on the cross. He takes the wrath. Jesus paid the ultimate price. Not one ounce of guilt can s...

LIFE Studies Brochure by timrichmondnyc

Try to picture Jesus teaching to an ever expanding group of people on a green hillside.   The hillside slopes down gradually to what appears to be a large lake.   He is rustling the feathers of the religious leaders sitting off to one side closer to the front.   Perhaps another pocket of them stand further back to the left.   But Jesus teaches very practical truths to the everyday person and they are scattered on the ground all around Him.   Woodworkers, farmers, fathers and mothers are drinking in the word pictures Jesus uses – it is language they can understand.   And so they listen in silence.   Occasionally a bird’s call breaks the silence, or the shuffling of people trying to get in closer to hear even better.   You can sense some tension in the air because Jesus is teaching differently than the religious establishment.   By now it is probably evening – the sun is setting and hundreds have gathered around to hear the Rabbi.   Now, l...

How do you know what is moral?   How do you know what is true?   How do you know God?   How do you know that you are right with God?    Your answers to these questions should be tied in some way to the Word of God, the Bible.   However, it is tempting to answer those questions (especially the final two) with some life experience outside of Scripture that relates to those questions.   This is a natural response because we see God active in our lives every day and we are tempted to think His past activity in our life is more trustworthy than His speech.   Although these experiences are very real and may encourage us in our walk with the Lord, they should never be the foundation of our faith.   Our foundation must always be God’s Word. I met Mr. Finch on his porch many years ago.   He was always willing to chat, and I enjoyed sharing God’s message with him.   We sat on his porch because there was no room in his house. ...

What happened in Thessalonica was remarkable.  Paul spent a little over three weeks there proclaiming the Gospel.  Soon after his third week, there was a good number of believers in the city growing in the Word.  But much more work needed to be done.  Work Paul was not able to do.  Shortly after his third week, a mob rose up against Paul to kill him.  He and his companions had to escape in the middle of the night. What is remarkable about this story is that Paul writes to this group a year later and they were still a thriving local church body.  They did not allow violent threats or the loss of the church planting evangelist deter them from faith.  In fact they had grown to be an example all throughout the region of a growing faithful church.  Even though Paul left, God continued to work and the church thrived.  Paul gives the explanation for this in his letter to them.  “For this reason we also constantly thank God t...