SPCC Blog tagged 'ponderous'

Babies who die and the goodness of God

bryan@spcc-cma.org — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:00:00 +0100

Tonight in Jim's sermon on Romans 5:12-21 we hit a passage of scripture that became precious to me a few years ago. While this is a fairly complicated passage of scripture, it is nonetheless worth digging into.

As John Piper once said, "If you rake, all you get are leaves. But if you dig, you just might find diamonds." This has been my experience with this passage. Jim did an excellent job of explaining the core concept: our main issue is not th [...]

Reflections on this week's Sermon--wrath.

bryan@spcc-cma.org — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:00:00 +0100

This past weekend, Tim talked in the message about how a proper understanding of the wrath of God is necessary for an appropriate understanding of the love of God. Today I was reading an exerpt from a sermon by 16th century preacher Jonathan Edwards entitled "The Excellency of Christ" . Here is what he said...

"There meet in Jesus Christ, infinite justice and infinite grace.

"As Christ is a divine person, he is infinitely holy and ju [...]

A time for self-discipline (part 1)

nathan@spcc-cma.org — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Wow, I have been feeling really good lately. I am about a month into a very consistent exercise routine... I am averaging 5 work outs a week with some weeks getting six in. I hit the weights Mon, Wed, and Fri. Tue, Thurs, and Sat, I have a group cycling class that kicks my butt. Tim Quick and Austin McFadden love to point out and laugh at the fact that there are only two guys in the cycle class; but I don’t care.

Back in High School I wa [...]

Not American Idol

bryan@spcc-cma.org — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Ok, I confess that from time to time I like to watch American Idol. I wish it had a different name, but whatever. What does drive me crazy is how cruel and mocking the judges can be to people who are genuine. (Granted, there are some folks who are too aloof of themselves for their own good.) In this case, it would appear that this is going to be another one of those embarrassing moments.

It's not American Idol, but it's European equivalent. And I [...]

Thinking and Reading

bryan@spcc-cma.org — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Over the last couple months I've read some really good books. Well, good for me anyways. I've been on a bit of a quest...a reality check if you will. The question I have posed to myself is this...

There is no doubt that since becoming a Christian I have seen change in my life. I used to cuss like a trucker and while viewed by many peers as a "nice guy", I was deeply self-centered and manipulative. The question I posed to myself a short time back was t [...]

Gift Cards

nathan@spcc-cma.org — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 01:00:00 +0100

Have you been to Safeway lately? They have this place called "The Gift Card Mall"... our family was on route for a Christmas party and the gift exchange was only gift cards. Having heard the radio commercial about the 250 gift cards at Safeway and needing to pick up appetizers for the party we made the stop. Some of you may know that it can be silly and pointless things that create high levels of excitement for me. But even I was not prepared for the sight of 250 gift cards in on [...]

Persecuted Scientists

bryan@spcc-cma.org — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 01:00:00 +0100

Do you remember the movie, Ferris Beuhler's Day Off? Ben Stein played the teacher who took attendance and is famous for his line: "Anyone? Anyone?" Anyways, aside from that movie and a slough of other appearances in commercials for things such as eye drops, and more, he is behind a film documenting the persecution of scientists who propose intelligent design, showing that not just anyone is allowed to put forth theories of the origin of man...

Check out t [...]

You Can't Have Your Cake and Eat it Too

tkquick198@comcast.net — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 01:00:00 +0100

This English proverb has often confused people. If you eat your cake, aren't you "having" it? The intended meaning makes more sense to our modern ears if

we switch some of the wording around to, "You can't eat your cake and have it too!" Obviously once you've eaten your cake, you won't have it anymore. This proverb is meant to express the impossibility of having something both ways; if those ways conflict.

We'll be talking about this in more [...]

Never Too Old to...

bryan@spcc-cma.org — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:00:00 +0100

Having turned 37 last month, and doing a little math on (1) what my age will be when my kids graduate from High School (47 for the oldest and 55 for the youngest) and (2) the fact that when my parents were my age I was 15, I began to sense a bit of dispair coming. But God graciously sent me some encouragement...

The first was thing was a sermon by John Piper on "Growing Old to the Glory of God."

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/ConferenceMe [...]

A powerful moment

nathan@spcc-cma.org — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 01:00:00 +0100

Even now and then God graciously connects with your heart in a way so powerful it brings you to your knees in worship. In those moments my heart responds with a deep cry for closeness to Him. The longing for God is renewed in a fresh way...

I had one of those moments a few days ago, but it starts a few months back. CiY (JH fall retreat) is a JH conference that we attended for the first time this year. Thirty some students of ours went to Portland and joined a few thousand others [...]

Who am I looking at?

nathan@spcc-cma.org — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 01:00:00 +0100

I am currently typing this blog while sitting in the waiting room of a San Jose Hospital trauma intensive care unit. I have just come out from seeing my brother, who because of a severe motorcycle accident, up until a few hours ago was balancing between life and death... We are now being encouraged by the doctors that Jordan looks like he is through the worst and continues to become more stable. Jordan is currently in a medically induced coma to aid in healing and lower stress for the mult [...]

Sabbath Reflections

bryan@spcc-cma.org — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 01:00:00 +0100

After hearing Jim's message this week, it reminded me of another message I've heard on this topic. It echoes a lot of the same things that Jim spoke to but given that this particular pastor has almost twice as much time to devote to the topic in a sermon, I thought I might share it with you.

It is by Dr. Tim Keller, who pastors Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. For those of you who need a few more handles on what to do with your sabbath time, Dr. Keller giv [...]