This Super Bowl Sunday we will meet at 9:00 am
We will have a normal worship service with worship, fellowship, and kid’s activities. Come early for coffee and donuts!
Put in your calendars and set your alarms!
There are times when Christians need to reflect, worship, praise, and pray! This Sunday we will focus on God through communion & worship. We will “address one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart” (Ephesians 5:19) this Sunday. As is our usual practice on Communion Sunday we will eat with one another after church.
Last Sunday we considered Romans 8:28, one of the most loved verses in the Bible. This Sunday we move on to Romans 8:29-30, some of the most misunderstood (and therefore hated) verses in the Bible. People love the idea of God working everything for the good in v. 28(with good reason!). But people struggle with the concepts of foreknowledge and predestination in v. 29. If not understood properly, these theological concepts make it seem like God is unloving and unfair. This could not be further from the truth!
Navigating our way though life’s difficulties and challenges is hard. We can come up with different solutions and strategies to help, but sometimes we simply land on trusting in whatever gets us through. Settling for “whatever gets us through” can lead to superficial solutions. Solutions such as escaping in entertainment, distracting ourselves with busyness, or even destructive behaviors designed to mask our pain. These solutions ultimately do not help. They don’t give us direction. And they end up being hopeless. Thankfully, God offers us better help to navigate life.
Think of an event or trip in your life that you looked forward to going so much you couldn’t get it out of your mind. It was so exciting you could not help talking about going. It was so anticipated that even your worst days were made better by imagining you were there. As each month, week, and day drew closer your excitement built. There was an eagerness to go that made you practice patience. This is a part of life for things we look forward to doing. And this has everything to do with glory.
Happy New Year! There will be Sunday Service on New Year’s Day at 4:30 pm. No Sunday School - it will be a Family Worship Service.
Merry Christmas! The Rock Christmas Eve plan has evolved. The Harbor Covenant Church is holding their first ever Christmas Eve Service and have invited The Rock to join! We have tried to foster a relationship and do ministry events together with The Harbor so this is the perfect opportunity! If you are planning to go to church on Christmas Eve join us at The Harbor. If you planned on going to Peninsula Community Church for Christmas Eve Paul will be there leading worship and you are more than welcome to go to PCC.
Christmas Eve at The Harbor - 6:00 pm at 54th Elementary School (5501 Eileen Ave., Los Angeles 90043)
Christmas Eve at PCC - 5:00 pm at Peninsula Community Church (5640 Crestridge Rd. RPV 90275)
SPECIAL NOTE: NO SUNDAY SERVICE ON CHRISTMAS DAY.
Are you a Christmas package shaker? A snooper? An early opener? It is hard to be patient waiting for Christmas! And not just for the kids! Part of the Christmas joy is the anticipation and waiting for the big day. God’s design for our spiritual lives involves anticipation and waiting as well. Ancient Israel was longing for and waiting for their Messiah. The Romans to which Paul was writing in the 1st century were instructed to patiently wait for Jesus. And we practice waiting for Jesus during the Advent season. God wants us to long for Jesus, to anticipate heaven, and to live life patiently in the process.
Family life can be complicated. Fathers can be adored in one family and despised in another. One father can be trying his absolute best, while another is simply not available. Life in this fallen world can lead to terrible memories of family life. At the best family life is complicated, and at the worst it feels like hell on earth. No wonder some people are troubled with the concept of God as our Father. Some bristle at the theological concept of a Father/child relationship between God and us. Yet, that is the truth the Bible presents us with in Romans 8:12-17. God is our Father. We are His children.
Advent season anticipates the coming Messiah, Jesus! We join the anticipation as a church in 2 ways this weekend. First, The Rock Annual Christmas Party on Sat., Dec. 3 at The Wiley’s house. Click Here for Details. Second, we continue Advent season with the 2nd Sunday of Advent this Sunday. I will preach on the anticipated Jesus out of Romans 8, perhaps the most revered chapter in the whole Bible! I hope to see you this weekend!
Advent season anticipates the coming Messiah, Jesus! We join the anticipation as a church in 2 ways this weekend. First, The Rock Annual Christmas Party on Sat., Dec. 3 at The Wiley’s house. Click Here for Details. Second, we continue Advent season with the 2nd Sunday of Advent this Sunday. I will preach on the anticipated Jesus out of Romans 8, perhaps the most revered chapter in the whole Bible! I hope to see you this weekend!
Let’s gather this Sunday to give thanks to God for who he is, what he has done, and what he has made us! He is good, His works are wondrous, and we are declared righteous! We will gather for worship this Sunday to sing, pray, hear God’s Word, and celebrate Thanksgiving with a meal. The turkey is taken care of… click this link to contribute.
Ok, Ok… I admit the headline “Black Widow” is clickbait. In modern vernacular, a black widow is a woman who kills her husband for financial reasons. Not exactly what Paul had in mind writing, “but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.” (Rom. 7:2b) But Paul does use the illustration of a wife being free to remarry after her husbands death to help us understand we are no longer under law, but under grace. In Rom. 7:1-6, Paul uses this marriage illustration to help us understand we are no longer “married” to the law, but are “married” to Jesus. The system of works righteousness through the law is dead. Our marriage relationship has changed. And our marriage to Jesus is infinitely better!
This Sunday begins the holiday season at The Rock! Please note the following dates to celebrate, fellowship, and serve:
Nov. 6 (This Sunday) - Thanksgiving Service Project During/After Church Service
Nov. 20 - Annual Rock Thanksgiving Service/Dinner
Dec. 3 - Annual Rock Christmas Party at Wiley’s
Dec. 18 - Special Christmas Service
Dec. 24 - Christmas Eve Service at Peninsula Community Church (5:00 pm)
Dec. 25 - No Sunday Service (Enjoy Christmas Day!)
The 1960’s were a time when many musicians were seeking freedom and enlightenment. It was an era when people were seeking freedom from traditions, structures, and ideas of the past. Some sought and found that the freedom they were looking for did not exist. They simply transferred their idolatry from one idol to the next. The Velvet Underground sang, “I’m set free to find another illusion.” One end of the quest for true freedom ends in skepticism and disillusionment. Freedom is an illusion. Seeking after idols is meaningless. But if the quest for freedom ends up in Jesus, there is hope. Jesus truly frees us from sin and death, the things that really matter. This kind of freedom brings joy, peace, love, and hope. Romans 6 tells us about this kind of freedom. But, oddly, Romans 6 is also about slavery.
The Apostle Paul seems to always know what his audience is thinking. He addresses people’s concerns and questions before they are even asked in the New Testament. He starts chapters 3, 4, and 6 in Romans with anticipated questions from his prior statements. In Romans 6 he anticipates responses to the facts that “grace abounded” (5:20) and “grace also must reign (5:21). The question posed is, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” Essentially, the question asked is implying that if grace abounds, can’t we just continue sinning? Paul answers, “By no means!” He essentially rubs his temples, sighs, and says, “We can’t have nice things.” Grace is the greatest gift God can give us, and we respond with questions regarding continuing our sinful lifestyle.
The Apostle Paul seems to always know what his audience is thinking. He addresses people’s concerns and questions before they are even asked in the New Testament. He starts chapters 3, 4, and 6 in Romans with anticipated questions from his prior statements. In Romans 6 he anticipates responses to the facts that “grace abounded” (5:20) and “grace also must reign (5:21). The question posed is, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” Essentially, the question asked is implying that if grace abounds, can’t we just continue sinning? Paul answers, “By no means!” He essentially rubs his temples, sighs, and says, “We can’t have nice things.” Grace is the greatest gift God can give us, and we respond with questions regarding continuing our sinful lifestyle.
There have been many conversations in relationships that go something like this: “After all I have done for you, you are going to doubt that I love you?” Teens question their parents decisions. Husbands doubt their wives’ love for them. Wives wonder whether their husband truly cares. Some of these may be valid, and some may not. It is subjective and changing. What never changes is God’s love for us. Yet, we still question His love during hard circumstances, suffering, and trials in our lives.
I’m interested in observing people. They can be celebrities, politicians, neighbors, friends, and/or family. It is interesting to observe people’s actions, behaviors, beliefs, likes, dislikes, reactions to circumstances - how they live their lives. I’ve found that no matter who they are, where they are from, and what they believe, there are common threads in what people seek after in their lives. Three of them are peace, access, and happiness. Peace that comes from lack of conflict or any general hassles in life. People want access to people (bosses, celebrities, people in power, popular crowd), places (VIP entries, clubs, popular restaurants), and activities (concerts, sporting events, galleries). And people simply want to have joy & happiness. The problem is people try and find inner satisfaction in these things alone. And it does not work.