On Sunday we looked at the overall message of 1 Peter. Standing firm in our gracious suffering is one of the key elements in Peter’s message (cf. 1 Peter 2:21-25).

We referenced that there may be no greater example of what 1 Peter 2:21-23 looks like in the history of modern America than in the actions and words of the Baptist minister, Dr. Martin Luther King.

We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you. Throw us in jail and we shall still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and we shall still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our community at the midnight hour and beat us and leave us half dead, and we shall still love you. But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. One day we shall win freedom but not only for ourselves. We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process and our victory will be a double victory.

-The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Selected by Corretta Scott King

Such actions point us to Jesus Christ himself who wins our hearts

• By enduring our rebellion, rather than retaliating against it, and 
• By taking our sins on himself, rather than throwing our sins back in our face. 

He has worn us down by his capacity to suffer for us. 

By his wounds we have been healed. 

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Is it Possible to Love Jesus Without Loving the Church?

In looking at the Lord’s Prayer this past Sunday we referenced several resources to help us learn to pray.

Some of the mentioned resources we referenced previously in a post called: Prayer Weapons for the Warfare: 3 Books, a PDF (Martin Luther), & Blog Post (Tim Keller).

Some New Resources

  Learning to Pray from Others

    The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers

Puritans wrote down their prayers as a way of keeping a record of God’s dealings with the soul. Included here are prayers of Bunyan, Watts, Spurgeon, and others. Arranged by theme — from the awesomeness of God to the awfulness of sin — you’ll find promptings for your own heart’s dialogue with your heavenly Father.

  Learning to Pray Scripture Itself

    Face to Face: Praying the Scriptures

Face to Face helps break prayer down in specific categories helping to make sure our prayers are biblically proportioned. 

Face to Face helps by adapting the very words of Scripture into prayers.

  Learning to Pray Kingdom Prayers

    Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every

Operation World is the definitive global prayer handbook that will help focus your heart and life towards God’s passion for His glory.

     Window on the Word: Prayer Atlas for All 

An excellent illustrated resource for families to help encourage children to pray “Your Kingdom Come” as they learn the needs of the people of the world. 

New Family Bible Classes & New Schedule

• Starting this Sunday (January 29) and running through Sunday (March 25) we’ll gather three times on Sunday: 8:45; 9:40; and 10:45. 

Two New Discussion Groups at  8:45

For the next several weeks we’ll all gather together Sunday morning for opening prayer and singing. Then we’ll be dismissed into one of two discussion groups.

1. Living for Eternity: A Radical Stewardship of Our Time, Talents, & Treasures
2. Living for a Display of God’s Glory: A Healthy Church & Healthy Members

At end of the nine weeks, we’ll provide opportunity to meet with skilled EBC members for detailed help, especially in the area of financial stewardship.

Schedule of Discussion Topics for Each Group

 1. Living For Eternity: Radical Stewardship of Time, Talents, & Treasures

    Introduction - Attributes of A Biblical Steward - Jan 29

    Stewardship of Time

• Tyranny of the Good - Feb 5
• Time for Mercy Ministry - Feb 12  

    Stewardship of Talents

• The Genius of Wrong: Harnessing Diversity in the Body - Feb 19
• The Gospel…Misunderstood - Feb 26

    Stewardship of Treasure

• The Snare of Materialism -  Mar 4
• An Index of the Heart - Mar 11
• A Wartime Mentality of Needs -  Mar 18
• A Means of Accomplishing Kingdom Work - Mar 25

2. Living for a Display of God’s Glory: A Healthy Church & Healthy Members

    Introduction - The Church: A Display of God’s Wisdom in a New Humanity

    The Church as the Pillar & Ground of Truth

• Biblical Theology - Feb 5
• A Place for Worship - Feb 12
• Biblical Church Discipline - Feb 19
• Biblical Understanding of Conversion - Feb 26

    The Church as the Location of Growth

• Discipleship & Growth - Mar 4
• Becoming an Expositional Listener - Mar 11
• Becoming a Prayer Warrior - Mar 18

    The Church as the Place We Invest Ourselves

• Understanding the Purpose of Our Gifts: To Serve Each Other in a Local Church - Mar 25

Recommended Resources 

We’d encourage you to familiarize yourself with these resources for your own personal growth and for our own growth as a church. Plus, reading these books will help our Sunday morning interaction be more profitable.

1. Living for Eternity 

• Money, Possessions, and Eternity by Randy Alcorn
• Radical Together by David Platt

2. Living for a Display God’s Glory

• What is a Healthy Church Member? by Thabiti Anyabwile
• Why Church Matters? by Joshua Harris
• What is a Healthy Church?  by Mark Dever
• Important Note: Through February 1 Westminster Bookstore is offering these titles at 50% off.

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations: these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals with whom we joke, work with, marry, snub and exploit: immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

- C.S. Lewis in Weight of Glory

This Sunday our church recognizes the haunting truthfulness of Lewis’ words as we celebrate Sanctify of Human Life Sunday. Lewis’ words reflect the heart of a compassionate Creator born out in these words:

• You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. (Ps 139:13 NLT)
• Your hands made me and formed me. (Ps 119:73 NIV)
• God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen 1:27 ESV)

We Celebrate the Inestimable Value of All Human Life …  

• especially life of the unborn child.
• especially the life of those neglected by our society like the widows and orphans. 
• especially those who’ve had an abortion.

We celebrate the life of all these people … 

• for they’re all made in the image of an incomparably glorious, gracious, and merciful Savior. 
• because he provides the barren woman a home and the broken woman a balm in his dear Son, Jesus Christ.  

Two Ways We’re Celebrating Life This Sunday

1. Make Friends with Pro-Life Agencies & Ministries in Our Community 

Our own Laura T., who’s herself an “expert” with such ministries, has done hard work collecting information from many local ministries and agencies in our community. Sunday we’d encourage you to familiarize yourself with the local ministries. Make friends with them. Give thought and prayer to what part you can play.

2. Dave Cruver from Together for Adoption

Many of you will remember Dave Cruver. Dave and his family played a crucial role in helping start EBC.

Dave works for Tother for Adoption as Midwest & House Conference Director, a position for which he’s still raising support. He blogs regularly at To Tell You the Truth.

We’re glad to have Dave, Carrie, Owen, and Abby back at EBC to serve us this Sunday.

437 W. Butler Rd Mauldin, SC 29662 is our new home. 

Please pardon our “construction” as we settle into our new location. 

• Here’s a link to pictures of the outside of the building. 

Directions from Our Old Location (269 Lakewood Dr. 29607).

• Turn right onto Butler Rd (heading towards Laurens Rd/417). 
• Go through the next traffic light. (The Mauldin Pub is on the right of this intersection and the Mauldin Library is on the left.) 
• After passing though the traffic light, our location is a few hundred feet on the right, in between Brooks Flowers & Gifts and Interstate Battery. 

Three Temporary Inconveniences

  1. Church Signage.

• Don’t look for our church sign, as it won’t be up this Sunday. 

  2. Parking.

• Right now only part of the lot is paved. 
• You may need to park in the grassy lot around the side and back of the building.
• We will gravel the grassy area for parking as soon as possible.  

  3. Entering & Exiting.

• There’s only one entrance, and it’s small. 
• Please be alert and patient when entering and exiting the property.

The Christmas Story - An Animation

(HT: Andy Naselli)

Just how important is the virgin birth? What are the implications of not believing it?

An article called “Must We Believe in the Virgin Birth?” supplies some biblical answers. 

Must one believe in the Virgin Birth to be a Christian? This is not a hard question to answer. It is conceivable that someone might come to Christ and trust Christ as Savior without yet learning that the Bible teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. A new believer is not yet aware of the full structure of Christian truth. The real question is this: Can a Christian, once aware of the Bible’s teaching, reject the Virgin Birth? The answer must be no.

Read the rest of Al Mohler’s article here. 

During our first service on Sunday our missions speaker shared his experiences relating to his Muslims friends, in and out of the United States. He reminded us that, while there is certainly a radical element to their faith which needs to be taken seriously, they are people who have the similar fears, dreams, and desires that we do. We should not be afraid to befriend them. 

He also recommends a very helpful book in sharing the gospel with our Muslim friends. 

The Gospel for Muslims: An Encouragement to Share Christ Christ with Confidence by Thabiti Anyabwile. 

Thabiti Anyabwile, himself a convert, from Islam to Christianity, instructs you in ways to share the good news of Christ with your neighbors and friends. The Gospel for Muslims allows you to focus on the people rather than the religious system. Meant for the average Christian, this book is not an exhaustive apologetic or a detailed comparative study of Christianity and Islam. Rather, it compellingly stirs confidence in the gospel, equipping the reader with the basics necessary to communicate clearly, boldly, and winsomely.

You can also listen to an interview with Thabiti: The Gospel & Islam.

He describes the beliefs and history of Islam, his own experience as a Muslim, the contradictions in the Koran, as well as the way for churches to approach evangelism with Muslims.