Restoring His Family

What are your plans for Children's Ministry?

What is a family devotional, and how do I have one?

What is Sustain? How do I read the Bible? I believe in Jesus, but I don't go to church. Why would I?

What's a "small group"? How is that different from Restore? Why not do "big events" together, rather than a bunch of smaller ministries? Are your groups becoming in-grown? Why would i want to become a part of a Restore family? Why kinds of things do you do there?

This is just a short list of some of the thoughts and questions addressed in today's message. If you ever wanted to know what South Church is all about, why we do what we do... today's message is just for you.

Have questions, comments, concerns? Post them below!

Did you know you were created to worship? We all spend our lives proclaiming the worth of things we love, so what matters most do you? What do you worship?

David was a man after the Lord's own heart and the Psalms record this passionate man's walk with the Lord through the high's and lows. Psalm 34:8-14 is a great psalm of David to teach us a few things about the kind of worship God desires.

May we taste and see that the Lord is good! May we respond to God's love for us by honoring Him with our whole lives because He is worthy... He is good!

Today's passage:

8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,for those who fear him have no lack!10 The young lions suffer want and hunger;but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.11 Come, O children, listen to me;I will teach you the fear of the Lord.12 What man is there who desires lifeand loves many days, that he may see good?13 Keep your tongue from eviland your lips from speaking deceit.14 Turn away from evil and do good;seek peace and pursue it. -Psalm 34.8-14 (esv)

One of the South Church shepherds, James McDonald, prepares our Restore ministry teams for the next six weeks of study by proclaiming Isaiah 50.1-4.

Sustain is the simplest of ministries, yet packs quite an encouraging and necessary punch into our lives as followers of Jesus. It is a ministry that is as simple as 1, 2, 3!

1 time a week...

2 friends get together to encourage each other in...

3 spiritual disciplines: prayer, Scripture, and accountability.

James adds fuel to the fire this week as he explains our rebellion, God's sovereignty, and yet determination and power through His Son to sustain the Body of Christ.

Join us in Restore over the next six weeks, and today as James leads us through Isaiah 50.1-4.

Today's passage:

50:1 Thus says the Lord:“Where is your mother's certificate of divorce,with which I sent her away?Or which of my creditors is itto whom I have sold you?Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.2 Why, when I came, was there no man;why, when I called, was there no one to answer?Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?Or have I no power to deliver?Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea,I make the rivers a desert;their fish stink for lack of waterand die of thirst.3 I clothe the heavens with blacknessand make sackcloth their covering.”4 The Lord God has given methe tongue of those who are taught,that I may know how to sustain with a wordhim who is weary.Morning by morning he awakens;he awakens my earto hear as those who are taught. -Isaiah 50.1-4 (esv)

Pastor Paige's father shares from the Scriptures the what and why of a Christ-Centered Family.

Join us as he shares passages that lay the groundwork for the next 6 weeks in Restore. Brad shared from three different passages today: Matthew 7, Deuteronomy 6, and Judges 6. In Matthew 7, Jesus speaks about the importance of Truth in our lives, as individuals, as families of faith. Deuteronomy 6 commands the children of God to teach their children of God. And, finally, Judges 6 paints the picture of what happened to Israel when they ceased passing along to their children the Truth of God's Word.

Today's passage:

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. -Deuteronomy 6.6-9 (esv)

Today we'll be looking at several passages to help us formulate a biblical perspective on Jesus' institution of baptism.

What is baptism?

Why is baptism?

When should someone be baptized?

Can anyone be baptized or is it only for the "super-disciples"?

What about you? Have you been baptized? Why? When? Does it matter?

Join us today as we look–not to your ideas or mine, but–to the Scripture, God's Holy Word, discovering the Truth on Baptism.

Today's passage:

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. -Matthew 28.19, Colossians 2.11-15, Romans 6.3-4 (esv)

Pastor John Hierholzer of partnering church, Hill Country Evangelical Free Church, provides the Scriptural foundation for the next 6 weeks of Restore ministry.

Drawing from both old and new testament passages, Pastor John paints a picture of our Sovereign God's power and might working through the prayer and humility of His people.

What would the Lord do through communion with folks in Fredericksburg would we but call on Him and wait expectantly as we follow His lead?

What does it mean to be a disciple? What does it look like to follow Jesus today?

This week, South Church leader, Chuck Dobson, provides the foundation for our next six weeks of Restore ministry. He teaches us what it means to follow Jesus using Scripture and modern-day examples from His own life, learning from other men who followed and led him to follow Jesus.

Guest speaker, Beau Founet (Watermark Church, Dallas), provides an array of passages and testimonies providing the foundation for the following six weeks of South Church Restore ministry.

With the average American weighing it at just under $17,000 of credit card debt, it's obvious that, despite the label of being a "Christian Nation", our nation is doing anything but taking financial direction from Christ. Consider just one verse:

"Owe no man any debt, except the debt to love." -Romans 13.8

So what about you? Who do you look to for instruction of how to manage your money?

Today's passage:

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. -Romans 13.8 (esv)

What is it? Why is it? When is it? How do we do it?

Discovering the answers to these questions is almost as difficult as trying to nail jello to the wall.

However, the Scripture does provide us with the tools of worship: namely, Jesus Christ.

Restoring the life of Christ to the body of Christ.

Are you being equipped to do the work of ministry? Are you doing the work of ministry? Do you know the role you play--yes you--in the eternal security of those around you?

How are you being built up in Christ? Who are you building up in Christ? How are you building them up in Christ? Does any of this matter?

The biblical answer is available this week as we PROCLAIM!