March is Missions Month at Grace Chapel. During this month we will raise money to support the spread of the gospel and disciple-making in several countries around the globe. As we do so, we also try to raise awareness of the mission fields that exist in our neighborhoods, our places of work, and other locations in which we gather.

This series for this month is titled, "I Will Love..." This week we look at the call to love the mission by living the mission. Ben Patterson, who is typically the host of Practice Makes Faithful is in the hot-seat today as he shares his conviction to make all of life about the mission of Jesus!

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments.

Additional Resources:

John Mark Comer: Garden City

https://www.amazon.com/Garden-City-Work-Being-Human/dp/0310337348/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678889027&sr=8-4

March is Missions Month at Grace Chapel. During this month we will raise money to support the spread of the gospel and disciple-making in several countries around the globe. As we do so, we also try to raise awareness of the mission fields that exist in our neighborhoods, our places of work, and other locations in which we gather.

This series for this month is titled, "I Will Love..." This week we look at the importance of embracing a deep love for the gospel of Jesus. When we love the gospel deeply, we become willing to live our lives, and if necessary, give our lives so that others can hear the good news.

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments.

Additional Resources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=insXsexQ5dc

For this month, Grace Chapel's discipleship minister Rob Shaver joins Paul and Ben on the podcast to talk through a series he working through called More Power. This series is rooted in the letter to the Ephesian Christians, a first century church located in modern day Turkey.

In this final episode of the More Power series, Rob calls us to see the power of a life transformed by the work of God. As Rob says, for the follower of Jesus, the death to life experience should show off God’s power to the watching world.

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments.

Additional Resources:

Live No Lies Video, John Mark Comer:

https://youtu.be/ZcWYIg0WL74

For this month, Grace Chapel's discipleship minister Rob Shaver will join Paul and Ben on the podcast to talk through a series he working through called More Power. This series is rooted in the letter to the Ephesian Christians, a first century church located in modern day Turkey.

This week Rob calls us to realize and strive for the uncommon unity that the body of Christ (the Church) should be known for. It was God's plan since before the foundation of the earth to bring all things to unity, the Church included, through and under Jesus Christ. This kind of unity is a witness to the world and to the powers and authorities in the heavenly realm that declares the wisdom and power of God!

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments.

For this month, Grace Chapel's discipleship minister Rob Shaver will join Paul and Ben on the podcast to talk through a series he working through called More Power. This series is rooted in the letter to the Ephesian Christians, a first century church located in modern day Turkey.

This week Rob calls us to consider our identity as adopted children of God. As the apostle Paul says in Ephesians 1: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments.

For this month, Grace Chapel's discipleship minister Rob Shaver will join Paul and Ben on the podcast to talk through a series he working through called More Power. This series is rooted in the letter to the Ephesian Christians, a first century church located in modern day Turkey.

This week Rob challenges us to pray more powerful prayers. Often our prayers are just too small, but when we allow the prayers of the apostle Paul as recorded in Ephesians chapters 1 and 3 to be our guide, we will begin to pray bigger!

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments.

This week we wrap up our first series of the year, called Clay, What's Shaping You? Throughout this month, we have made several acknowledgments. First, we are all being shaped by something, or more accurately, many things are working to shape us. Next, we don’t always know what is shaping us, or when we are being shaped. And finally, just because we call ourselves Christians, we shouldn’t assume that God is the primary shaping influence in our lives.

Being shaped by God requires intentionality on our parts. We must be intentional in understanding the shaping influence that relationships, experiences, media, as well as other sources of influence have upon us. We must be intentional as we bring ourselves before God and ask Him to shape us. As we do, we will find there is nothing better. The Potter does know best what shape the clay should take.

In this episode, we talk through some research that focuses in on the younger generations, asking the question, how are resilient disciples shaped? God wants to use you to shape the next generation of disciples and disciple-makers. Tune in for this important conversation!

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments.

Additional Resources:

Hidden Worldviews: Eight Cultural Stories That Shape Our Lives https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Worldviews-Eight-Cultural-Stories/dp/B0BK59YRSH/ref=sr_1_1?crid=YRQ2FK40U8MM&keywords=hidden+worldviews+eight+cultural+stories+that+shape+our+lives&qid=1673902040&sprefix=hidden+worldv%2Caps%2C128&sr=8-1

David Kinnaman, You Lost Me:

https://www.amazon.com/You-Lost-Me-David-Kinnaman-audiobook/dp/B00657Z41W/ref=sr_1_1?crid=333Z9P1JVVYJ7&keywords=david+kinnaman&qid=1675190996&sprefix=david+kinna%2Caps%2C103&sr=8-1

David Kinnaman and Mark Matlock, Faith for Exiles: 5 Ways for a New Generation to Follow Jesus in Digital Babylon:

https://www.amazon.com/Faith-for-Exiles-audiobook/dp/B07ZZDLBRB/ref=sr_1_2?crid=333Z9P1JVVYJ7&keywords=david+kinnaman&qid=1675190996&sprefix=david+kinna%2Caps%2C103&sr=8-2

Take a look at the research:

https://www.arizonachristian.edu/2022/05/12/shocking-lack-of-biblical-worldview-among-american-pastors/

https://www.barna.com/research/competing-worldviews-influence-todays-christians/

https://julieroys.com/george-barna-survey-biblical-worldview/

We didn't talk about these findings, but they are also informative:

https://thestateoftheology.com

Practice Makes Faithful is back for a third season! As we kick off this new season, and a new year, we are asking the question: What is shaping you? Many of us take time, as a new year begins, to reflect upon the past and look toward the future as well.

As we begin this new series, we do so by acknowledging that we are all being shaped by something. In reality, the truth is even deeper that we are all being shaped by many things. Our experiences, the relationships we have with others, the media and content we consume, our political affiliations...all of these things are shaping us. But as followers of Jesus, nothing should shape us more than He does.

As Isaiah says (Isaiah 64:8, NIV):

Yet you, Lord, are our Father.

We are the clay, you are the potter;

we are all the work of your hand.

In this episode Paul and Ben take a look at some startling research findings that have been shared over the course of the last several years. This research asks the question, "what percentage of Christians hold a biblical worldview?" The numbers aren't good and reveal the truth about the discipleship crisis within much of the American Church. We are all being shaped (discipled) by something. Is God the primary shaping influence in our lives, or are we more likely to be formed by not-of God influences? Join us as we wrestle with this important question.

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments.

Additional Resources:

Get the 21-day Prayer and Fasting Guide @ gracechapelchurch.com

Hidden Worldviews: Eight Cultural Stories That Shape Our Lives https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Worldviews-Eight-Cultural-Stories/dp/B0BK59YRSH/ref=sr_1_1?crid=YRQ2FK40U8MM&keywords=hidden+worldviews+eight+cultural+stories+that+shape+our+lives&qid=1673902040&sprefix=hidden+worldv%2Caps%2C128&sr=8-1

Take a look at the research:

https://www.arizonachristian.edu/2022/05/12/shocking-lack-of-biblical-worldview-among-american-pastors/

https://www.barna.com/research/competing-worldviews-influence-todays-christians/

https://julieroys.com/george-barna-survey-biblical-worldview/

We didn't talk about these findings, but they are also informative:

https://thestateoftheology.com

Practice Makes Faithful is back for a third season! As we kick off this new season, and a new year, we are asking the question: What is shaping you? Many of us take time, as a new year begins, to reflect upon the past and look toward the future as well.

As we begin this new series, we do so by acknowledging that we are all being shaped by something. In reality, the truth is even deeper that we are all being shaped by many things. Our experiences, the relationships we have with others, the media and content we consume, our political affiliations...all of these things are shaping us. But as followers of Jesus, nothing should shape us more than He does.

As Isaiah says (Isaiah 64:8, NIV):

Yet you, Lord, are our Father.

We are the clay, you are the potter;

we are all the work of your hand.

In this episode we take a look at some of the hidden worldviews which shape and influence the people we become...even when we are unaware of the roles these worldviews play in shaping us.

We pray you find this episode's content useful, and as always, invite your thoughts and comments.

Additional Resources:

Get the 21-day Prayer and Fasting Guide @ gracechapelchurch.com

Hidden Worldviews: Eight Cultural Stories That Shape Our Lives https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Worldviews-Eight-Cultural-Stories/dp/B0BK59YRSH/ref=sr_1_1?crid=YRQ2FK40U8MM&keywords=hidden+worldviews+eight+cultural+stories+that+shape+our+lives&qid=1673902040&sprefix=hidden+worldv%2Caps%2C128&sr=8-1