February 10, 2012
So son, I want you to know that we believe you are a part of God's plan for our life, and more importantly, a part of God's plan for his glory. (And that's good news for us...more joy!)
You are not a mistake. You are not a statistic. You are not a tragedy or an accident. You are not an inconvenience. You will not be defined by a birth defect. You are God's craftsmanship, you have been hand-knitted in your mother's womb to his perfect and exact specifications,...Read More
by: Josh McPherson
| Categories: Sermons
February 9, 2012
"Now that you have the context for our journey, flash forward 7 years. 5 pregnancies later, 2 gone ahead to heaven to be with Jesus and await our arrival, an almost 4-year old church-plant, and a journal entry, dated December 27th, 2011, 2:15 pm.
"Father,
Thank you for your grace. Today, in a few minutes, we go in for the ultra sound of baby #4. 7 years ago, with Ella's ultra sound, this was a traumatic, difficult, painful day. And yet, what we thought was tragedy you turned into...Read More
by: Josh McPherson
| Categories: Sermons
February 8, 2012
Redefining Tragedy...The first penny to drop was when God redefined the word tragedy for me. I had been calling this event a tragedy. Then one day the Lord spoke to me very clearly. It was as if He said, "Josh, you're looking at it all wrong. Tragedy is not your daughter growing up with two legs that don't work. Tragedy is your daughter...Read More
by: Josh McPherson
| Categories: Sermons
February 7, 2012
Thus began our theological journey into discovering the beautiful sustaining grace found in the sovereignty and goodness of God, not in spite of suffering, but over it and in it.
It started with Psalm 27:13, "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. So my heart will take courage and waits upon the Lord."
"Yes," I thought, "I will wait on the Lord. He knows what's coming, He knows what's best. We will see His goodness in this, therefore we don't have to despair. He didn't cause it, but he'll somehow use it for his glory" (there was that phrase again). "Well, at least that's somewhat comforting. I think. Although, if I'm honest, quite frankly I'm not sure how excited I am about Him getting His glory at my expense right now."
And then I had to back up. "Wait a minute...Read More
by: Josh McPherson
| Categories: Sermons
February 6, 2012
If you haven't picked up on it yet, one of the waves that swamps your boat in moments like these come in the form of questions..."Where Is God?! How can he be loving and kind and compassionate and sovereign and let this happen to us??!! What is He thinking?" The waves pound against the ship, the tensions are real, and the tensions demand answers....Read More
by: Josh McPherson
| Categories: Sermons
February 4, 2012
This is the second part in a blog-series taken from what I shared with the GCC church-family last Sunday:
Practical Questions
"When news like this hits, it hits like a thunderbolt. Immediately you begin processing on every level of life. Often the practical level hits me first...question after question races through my mind, searching desperately for an answer to grasp on to. What will this mean, what do we know for sure, how can we best prepare...Read More
by: Josh McPherson
| Categories: Sermons
February 2, 2012
Today I will start a series of blogs, taking excerpts from the sermon I shared with our church family on Sunday. Here's the first:
"Today is going to be a little different, due to a few new events in the life of our family. For those who haven't heart, the little boy growing in Sharon's tummy has been diagnosed with...Read More
by: Josh McPherson
| Categories: Sermons
November 25, 2011
This Sunday we’re starting our Advent series in preparation for Christmas. I couldn’t be...Read More
by: Josh McPherson
| Categories: Sermons
November 4, 2011
It's interesting to observe Peter's preaching about Jesus. As he is filled with the Spirit, he stands up and proclaims Jesus as the great prophecy-fulfilling, miracle-working, grave-killing, disciple-transforming, sin-forgiving Messiah. This Jesus would have been extremely relevant to his Jewish-audience.
It's interesting to note simply because we see Peter talking about Jesus in a way that we don't see Paul talking about Jesus later in Acts when preaching to Gentiles.
What's the lesson?
Simply that when preaching the gospel...Read More
by: Josh McPherson
| Categories: Sermons
November 4, 2011
Peter, in preaching the first post-resurrection gospel sermon, does nothing short of relentlessly and beautifully pointing us to Jesus. He doesn't argue fringe issues. He doesn't tickle his listener's ears. He doesn't take a poll and tell them what he thinks they want to hear. He just preaches about the truth and beauty of who Jesus is. And about 3000 of them get saved. What a lesson to be learned!
There are many issues we could defend, argue for, and debate over with non-believers (I'm thinking here about ...Read More
by: Josh McPherson
| Categories: Sermons
