Hey all,

We will NOT have our monthly access meeting this Saturday but will have it on Sunday, July 4th!!!!

“Here’s to rebellion you can celebrate: find yourself at
the beach July 4th evening for romping good fun and a fireworks display
so brash it’ll have the Queen shaking her head. Bring a lawn chair,
bring a friend!
We will meet at the church at 6:30 pm to drive to the Oceanfront for the
… Stars & Stripes Explosion Fireworks.”

-Peter Benson

http://www.beachstreetusa.com/events/StarsAndStripesExplosionSee More
Stars & Stripes Explosion | Beach Street USA
www.beachstreetusa.com
Multiple live performances on oceanfront stages attract tens of thousands of visitors and residents of Hampton Roads to a “star-spangled” salute to this great country of ours at Stars & Stripes Explosion! Musical acts offer something for everyone with tribute bands saluting some of the biggest names…

come out on saturday, april 10 for a bonfire.  we’ll have s’mores, hot chocolate, and best of all – guest speaker, Albert Turner.

meet in the elbow road parking lot @ 7 pm.  dress warm and bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on.  (if the weather is bad, we’ll meet in the spurgeon rm.) can’t wait to see you there!

Eric

Hey all,

Thank you so much for coming to our Christmas Banquet in benefit of Covenant Mercies Ministries!  We had a wonderful night and we are still calculating the amount that we’re going to be able to send.  We plan to let you know as soon as we can.

In the meantime – the Photo Booth pictures are AVAILABLE!  Click here and you will magical-inernet-ly be sent to Zenpholio.  To view the photos type in the password: covenantmercies (all one word)

Enjoy and thank you again!

Eric

PS:  Click on this WORD if you haven’t found the other links to get you to Zenpholio!

At the Holy Spirit’s prompting, I thought it would be wise to turn to the Word of God to once again see truth: who was I, who am I now, and how this transformation was possible. “Let’s start from the beginning. What did my former self look like,” I thought. The Lord led me to Romans chapter 1 starting in v 18 where Paul declares: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” Then from there working through v 32, Paul begins to explain who Danny Dowling used to be before Jesus Christ. In order to make it personal, I found it helpful to change the “they/them”s to “you”s: “So you are without excuse. For although you knew God, you did not honor him as God or give thanks to him…and your foolish heart was darkened…Therefore God gave you up in the lusts of your heart to impurity…because you exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.” I was further described in vs 29-31 by the following: unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, gossip, slanderer, hater of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventor of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless, and finally an exclamation point in 2:1, “Therefore you have no excuse, O man.”

And I thought I was having a bad morning before. Something must happen. I’ve messed everything up and now have ZERO chance at pleasing a Holy God. Paul continues in Ch 2:13 “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.” Wait a minute, Paul, do you really mean that. You’ve spent the latter half of chapter 1 telling me ALL the ways I’ve failed to keep the law and now in chapter 2 you’re going to tell me that only the “doers” of the law are justified. Where in the world can I turn now? Obviously there’s no hope for this one, because this one failed to keep the law. So I kept reading until Ch 3:20 where Paul seemingly plays an “Uno reverse card”, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight,” Hold on a second, you just said that only by works of the law—the doers of the law—will one be justified. Now you’re trying to say that no one is justified by works of the law. Is Paul, and therefore the Bible, contradicting itself? Does he really mean that “by works of the law no human being will be justified”? Or does he really mean that “the doers of the law will be justified”? If Paul’s logic is to stand, there must be something else in play here. Yes, there MUST be something else, right? People = sinful…..law = way to God…..keeping the law = impossible…..what now = “the righteousness of God manifested apart from the law… the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Ch 3:21-22). Now THOSE are sweet words to a sinner’s ear, one who must keep the law to approach God but can’t keep the law to approach God! Take heart, Paul is not contradicting himself, and the Bible remains truthful: “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Ch 3:28). Oh how sweet the sound of unmerited favor from God! That wretch, the one described in chapter 1, he is not justified by works of the law; he is justified by faith in Jesus, the righteousness of God. What mercy!

Now how is my morning going? Am I still concerned about all the things that I don’t really feel like doing, or am I freshly amazed at the underserved mercy of God poured out on me in Jesus? I think that’s a pretty easy question to answer. Once…(Ch 1:18-31)…, now the adopted son of God. “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ…I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (from Romans 8:33-39).

Freshly amazed at the Savior’s love,

Danny Dowling

Albert’s message last access was just that.

The past few months I have been struggling with forgetting God.  I forget to acknowdlege him. I forget to ask him for help. I forget to ask him to carry my burdens. I forget him and his promises. During Alb’s message, as he explained how we can often have a vague or general faith, the Lord struck me with fresh conviction.  I read my bible in the morning, but am I feeding on it?  No, I wasn’t, and it was apparent in my life everyday. Yes, I know about God, and Jesus, and the Gospel, but I was not actively searching the word and hiding it in my heart. Albert made it clear that when we avoid using the word as our sword to “gain ground” in the battle against sin, we are practicing self sufficiency. This described me perfectly. I was not seeking to apply specific verses to help me with what I was struggling with on a daily basis.

This semester I have had a very heavy workload with school. Just thinking about it now, homework doesn’t sound that bad, but many days, as I stare at all I need to accomplish, I feel crippled.  But praise be to God, for he promises to carry our load!  This week, instead of falling into my trap of self sufficiency, I have sought to memorize two verses:

Psalm 55:22
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you, he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

Matthew 11:28 -20
Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my  yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and will find  rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Remembering and praying these verses throughout the week has helped me to keep my focus on God and to depend on him to sustain me! They have brought peace, comfort and strength to my soul.  I encourage you, my friends, to take hold of this sword and go to battle!

I still do forget God often, but as Alb so graciously reminded us, the savior will NEVER forget us!  Our very person is engraved on His hands. What a loving savior we have!

Thanks for reading my access friends! And thank you Alb for a wonderful message!

Maggie

“If I were to put my finger on one devastating sin today, it would not be the so-called women’s movement, but the lack of spiritual leadership by men at home and in the church. Satan has achieved an amazing tactical victory by disseminating the notion that the summons for male leadership is born of pride and fallenness, when in fact pride is precisely what prevents spiritual leadership. The spiritual aimlessness and weakness and lethargy and loss of nerve among men is the major issue…Pride and self-pity and fear and laziness and confusion are luring many men into self-protecting, self-exalting cocoons of silence.”                                                                                                                                     John Piper, from “What’s the Difference”

Last week Gary Ricucci – Pastor of the PC guys – taught the PC on Marriage.  (Ever think about marriage?)   Wow.   It was amazing, inspiring teaching.  Gary helped us to see that a biblical husband is a humble, loving, sacrificial, tender, and wise servant.  But he also helped us to see that a husband is all these things in the context of leadership.

If you’re a guy – when you think about marriage, do you ever think about leadership?  Our culture often portrays the idea of husbands leading their wives as an idea synonymous with domination, authoritarianism, and ultimately, evil.

Surely sinful husbands have helped promulgate this, but male leadership as the Bible teaches it isn’t this way at all. And – if you want to be a man the way God meant you to be, you can’t ignore his call to be a biblical leader by grace -whether you’re married or single.

So… I’d like to recommend a great book I think all single guys could really benefit from.  I like it because its TINY (as far as books go) – And it’s easy to read, but it will give you a great primer on an issue that couldn’t be more central to God’s call on your life:  Masculine leadership.

The book is called “What’s the Difference:  Manhood and Woman hood defined according to the Bible”

Our church bookstore has it, or you can get it here as a PDF or free!

Your bro,

Alb

P.s.  SO SO SO SO SO SO GREAT to see you all Saturday night. Thank you for the warm and loving welcome you gave Jen and I!

Do I really need to say anymore?  But in case I do, make sure you come out for our monthly meeting this Saturday night.  We’ll have a time of worship, testimony, and Alb will be speaking to us. After, we’ll have time for discussion and fellowship around dessert and coffee.

We’ll see you Saturday night!

For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!

Psalm 92:4-5

So Jen and I decided to take Marie downtown to DC to see the sites …

Anyhow…As we walked to the car to leave the house we noticed that – though it was warm – it was also windy and slightly raining.  I was carrying Marie and she was getting blown on by the wind and a tiny bit wet.  But I noticed that every time the wind blew she would laugh and laugh. Big Breeze then laugh+ cackle…Big breeze then laugh+giggle.

After a few rounds of this it dawned on me: she is laughing because she is delighted by the wind and the sprinkles.  She has never really been able to experience and process them before because she is just a baby.  So it’s all brand new to her.  And what is her largely God -given reaction? Delight and joy at this amazing creation of wind and rain.

Marie hasn’t had time yet to become bored and dull to the wonder of God’s creation.  She can’t take it for granted yet. What a lesson it was for me. Wind, rain, sun, all of creation: These things should lead my heart to delight in the miracle of God’s power and genius. If you stop to think of it all of life – every moment of existence – is a miraculous gift from God. And His wonderful works, which are beyond my understanding, are not beyond my awed delight. …God, help my heart not to take you for granted, but to give you the worship and delight you deserve!

Grace and Peace to my access peeps,

Alb