The Rock Covenant Church

The Rock Church Worship Service

Paul Jon In the middle of a series on being a Spirit-filled community Gospel is an explosion around us God shrapnel all around Talk about the family nature Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Romans 12:9-13 (NRSV) The non-selectivity The non-privacy I like that phrasing, mutual affection Phileo has to do with brotherly and sisterly love Storge has to do with devotion You don’t choose your siblings, you are born into a family, it is a gift given to you, a natural kind of love He uses storge because there must be something deeper going on It’s … Continue reading →

The Rock Covenant Church

The Rock Church Worship Service

Paul Maria Imagine you are an ancient Israelite around 700 BC With what should I approach the Lord and bow down before God on high? Should I come before him with entirely burned offerings, with year-old calves? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with many torrents of oil? Should I give my oldest child for my crime; the fruit of my body for the sin of my spirit? He has told you, human one, what is good and what the Lord requires from you: to do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:6-8 (CEB) I get faithful love and walking with you, but what does it mean to do justice What does it mean to be a community of justice Here in Micah justice is the Hebrew term mishpat, means to put things right, to intervene in a situation that is wrong, … Continue reading →

The Rock Covenant Church

The Rock Church Worship Service

Paul Maria There’s a lot going on tonight After service is potluck, Thanksgiving tradition Renee is here tonight and she is going to talk about adoption and foster cares Advent conspiracy is about reexamining how we celebrate Christmas in our community That’s why the tree is upside down, we’re flipping the traditional celebration omit s head Katie came up with a great idea where we take our ideas for this and write them on little ornament papers and pin them on the tree True confessions: ever go to church hungry and get to communion and you’re wondering “how large a chunk can I pull off?” The early church didn’t have that problem because communion for them was about coming together for a meal This is from Acts, right after the Pentecost Devoted to their shared meals They shared food with gladness and simplicity Renee is up next, but first a … Continue reading →

The Rock Covenant Church

The Rock Church Worship Service

Paul Jon Looking at Phillipians 4 Next week Paul’s got a friend coming in from his Gospel signing days Week after that, Maria and I will be talking about contentment V4-14 Be glad in the Lord always! Again I say, be glad! Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near. Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise. Practice these things: whatever … Continue reading →

The Rock Church Worship Service

Paul Jon A word in the text Phronesis Will/desire/inner part of us that makes decisions Thinking, acting, feeling But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things – indeed, I regard them as dung! – that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness – a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness. My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to … Continue reading →

The Rock Church Worship Service

Paul coda Heather Mercy’s Village sign-up sheet going around, sponsor a child The pot luck November 18th Online sign-ups Men’s Olympics next Sunday Danny Ray at youth ministry this Friday Pizza at six, show at seven Middle/high school, but elementary appropriate Paul Disappearing Mercy’s Village sign-up sheet Jon Philippians 1:9-11 Grace and Peace to you And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11 ESV) I had the pleasure of working on these verses with a friend of mine over a couple of phone calls This is my prayer Agape – God love, selfless, pursues, sacrificial Perissos – grow, increase, with no … Continue reading →

The Rock Church Worship Service

Paul Jon Tonight we are parabling it up Next week were starting a new series of Philippians We’ve never been through that book before, it’s a book of joy mixed with suffering He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was … Continue reading →