Our 2nd installment of Turning Points is this Friday at Sac State! This week we’ve invited Dr. Richard Spencer, a former atheist and professor of electrical engineering at UC Davis, to share the testimony of how he became a Christian. We are very excited to host this event, and there will be people carpooling to Sacramento from Davis and Sac City if anyone needs a ride. See you there!
The first installment of our new series Turning Points is next Friday! This is an amazing opportunity to come and hear guest speakers share their testimonies of how their lives were changed when they encountered Christ. No matter what you believe or what your background is, all are welcome to come and join in the discussion over dinner out at our church. Be sure not to miss this event- it is truly a rare and exciting opportunity participate in honest conversations about your personal beliefs and the spiritual turning points in your own life.
The church’s address is:
Winter Retreat 2012
We had a wonderful time at our retreat last weekend, thanks to the lovely people at Golden Valley Campground, and it was a great way to kick off the quarter! God will bless us as we carry out the resolutions we made.
Winter Retreat
Grace Alivers! We have a retreat coming up very soon. Next weekend, on January 13 and 14th, we will be heading up to Golden Valley campgrounds for a special time of fellowship and hearing from God. We’ll be caravaning up at 3:00pm on Friday and staying through Saturday afternoon, but if you can’t make it up at that time, there will be more people going up later as well. The best part about this retreat is that it’s taking place on a 3-day weekend, so you’ll have plenty of time to whatever else it is that people normally do on weekends after the retreat. If you have any questions just contact Caleb Kesling at vbcalebk@comcast.net
Music Video Magic
This year for New Years we had a music video contest, and the entries we received were truly… inspiring. The following are two standouts from the night. Much thanks to all who participated!
Howdy everyone! I know we’ve all been crazy busy with midterms and schoolwork, but it’s time to take a break and join Grace Alive this Saturday for our Country Night!
The event starts at 4pm out at our church, Grace Valley Christian Center, in the gym where we meet every Sunday morning. We’re going to have dinner, games, competition, and fellowship, so bring your friends and your appetite. Dressing up in your country best is encouraged but not required at all. See you there everyone!
We got a room!
The Grace Alive Bible study now has a permanent room at Sac State! We are pretty excited about that. It’s in the Valley Suite, which is on the 3rd floor of the Union, and tomorrow we will be studying some key passages from the book of Galatians and talking about what Justification by Faith is all about. So come and bring a friend! Remember, that’s noon in the Valley Suite. Hope to see you there!
Goodness
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 2 Peter 1:5-7
From our “Developing Christian Character” series, here are notes from Mr. Perry’s message about goodness:
Before goodness there must be faith. Faith is foundational- you must have it, and you must add to it. You are justified by faith alone, but faith does not remain alone.
What is goodness? Goodness is moral excellence. God is the standard by which we know and measure good, you cannot define it how you want to. To be good is to do what God defines as good, so to be good is to obey God. To grow in goodness is to grow in obedience to God and grow in his will, for his will is good. To grow in goodness is to become more and more like Christ, always doing the Fathers will.
Faith and obedience are the twin pillars of the christian life, and your obedience must be from the heart. Christian life is about positively doing good, not just staying out of trouble. It is about Christ exercising his dominion over your entire life. You can ask yourself: ‘What territory in my life is left unconquered?’ You can look at each aspect of your life and examine whether or not it is obedient to Christ.
- Is there obedience in your head? Is your thought life under obedience to Christ? This means casting out evil thoughts- malice, lust, and pride- don’t entertain these. But your mind has to be filled with something, it can’t just be blank. So think about noble, excellent, and praiseworthy things. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. What are the noble things you should think of? The Word- meditate on it and savor it day and night. Meditate on God’s works and his majestic deeds and meditate on his character.
- Your heart: Examine the motives and attitudes behind what you do. “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.” God is most interested in your heart- WHY you do what you do. For example, why do you go to church? Do you go out of habit? Or are you going to meet with and please the living God? God hates emptiness. Are you doing what you do just to make yourself feel better? God sees your attitudes. Do you hate obeying? Do you give grudgingly? Do you ever pray- God, show me my motives? Do you ever even worry about these things? Ps 66:18- “if I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” Above all else, guard your heart. Read more…
