We're a couples’ class of 40-somethings (give-or-take a few or more years)!
What We Do:
Our goal is to build bridges (thus, "The Bridge" Class) and forge strong friendships with each other as we continue to grow in our walk with the Lord.
Why We’re Here:
Our desire is to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ through the study of His Word and to foster active involvement in a community of people who live and love one another in a manner that displays God’s character to each other and the world around us.
Encourage one another and build each other up. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
Bridge Class bible study lessons are now available on MP3 download, starting with 7/26/09. Available in the "Lesson Passages" section.
The class directory is now available on-line. See link at the top of this page. See your e-mail update for ID and password.
If you have not done so already, please e-mail Blake the names and dates of birth of all of your children, along with month and day for your birthdays and anniversary.
In WWII, there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every night at a prescribed hour for
one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its people and peace.
Each evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time (8:00 PM Central) (6:00 PM Pacific), stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of our troops.
Cost: $40 per person, maximum amount any one family pays will be $160 per family. Partial and full scholarships are available through the missions office.
Children who have completed K-5th grades and their family. Families will meet at Houston's First at 7 am on Friday for breakfast burritos and then load onto the bus with parents and chaperones following in their own vehicles as we head to Galveston for a one day mission trip. Maximum number of people allowed on the trip is 100.
a thing that provides a connection between two points
provides passage over a gap or barrier
Take away points:
A body consists of many parts because there is in it an essential unity that comes in the body.
There is an "I", a personality, that gives unity to the body (ex: "I" have a pain in my finger.). What the "I" is to the body, Christ is to the Church.
It is in Him that all the diverse parts find their unity.
"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:14-17
"The Christian life is a continuous going into the presence of God from the presence of men and coming out into the presence of men from the presence of God."
"It may well be that the whole trouble in our lives is that we give God no opportunity to speak to us, because we do not know how to be still and to listen. We give God no time to recharge us with spiritual energy and strength because there is no time when we wait upon the Lord. How can we shoulder life's burdens if we have no contact with Him who is the Lord of all good life? How can we do God's work unless in God's strength and how can we receive His strength unless we seek in quietness and, in loneliness, the presence of God."
But one day, as I was passing into the field, and that
too with some dashes on my conscience, fearing lest yet
all was not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my
soul, Your righteousness is in heaven; and methought
with it all, I saw, with the eyes of my soul, Jesus Christ
at God’s right hand; there, I say, as my righteousness; so
that wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could
not say to me that He wants my righteousness, for that
was just before Him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not
my good frame of heart that made my righteousness
better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness
worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself,
the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8).
Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was
loosed from my afflictions and irons; my temptations
also fled away; so that, from that time, those dreadful
Scriptures of God left off to trouble me; now went I also
home rejoicing, for the grace and love of God. So when
I came home, I looked to see if I could find that sentence,
Your righteousness is in heaven, but could not find
such a saying; wherefore my heart began to sink again,
only that was brought to my remembrance, He is made
unto us of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption (1 Cor 1:30). By this word I saw the
other sentence true.
For by this Scripture I saw that the man Christ Jesus,
as He is distinct from us, as touching His bodily presence,
so He is our righteousness and sanctification
before God. Here therefore I lived, for some time, very
sweetly at peace with God through Christ. Oh! methought,
Christ! Christ! there was nothing but Christ that was
before my eyes: I was not now only for looking upon this
and the other benefits of Christ apart, as of His blood,
burial, or His resurrection, but considering Him as a
whole Christ! as He in whom all these, and all other
virtues, relations, offices, and operations met together,
and that He sat on the right hand of God in heaven.
’Twas glorious to me to see His exaltation, and the
worth and prevalency of all His benefits, and that because
now I could look from myself to Him, and would
reckon that all those graces of God that now were green
in me, were yet but like those cracked groats and fourpence-
half-pennies that rich men carry in their purses,
when their gold is in their trunks at home! Oh! I saw my
gold was in my trunk at home! In Christ, my Lord and
Savior. Now Christ was all; all my righteousness, all my
sanctification, and all my redemption.
Along the path: How does the devil take away the word from their hearts?
Among the rocks: What do the rocks represent? Why do you suppose they fell away?
Among the thorns: How do these things "choke" the Christian life? What are indications of maturity?
On good soil: What are the common characteristics between soil which is good from growing plants and those who not only receive the message well, but also produce fruitfulness after much perseverance?
How can people in the first three develop good soil?
And how can those on the good soil maintain the condition of their soil?
Among which type of soil or soils represent the redeemed?
What type of soil are you growing on?
O God, most high, most glorious, the thought of Thine infinite serenity cheers me, for I am toiling and moiling, troubled and distressed, but Thou art for ever at perfect peace. Thy designs cause thee no fear or care of unfulfilment, they stand fast as the eternal hills. Thy power knows no bond, Thy goodness no stint. Thou bringest order out of confusion, and my defeats are Thy victories: The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
I come to Thee as a sinner with cares and sorrows, to leave every concern entirely to Thee, every sin calling for Christ's precious blood; revive deep spirituality in my heart; let me live near to the great Shepherd, hear His voice, know its tones, follow its calls. Keep me from deception by causing me to abide in the truth, from harm by helping me to walk in the power of the Spirit. Give me intenser faith in the eternal verities, burning into me by experience the things I know; Let me never be ashamed of the truth of the gospel, that I may bear its reproach, vindicate it, see Jesus as its essence, know in it the power of the Spirit.
Lord, help me, for I am often lukewarm and chill; unbelief mars my confidence, sin makes me forget Thee. Let the weeds that grow in my soul be cut at their roots; grant me to know that I truly live only when I live to Thee, that all else is trifling. Thy presence alone can make me holy, devout, strong and happy. Abide in me, gracious God.
"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 3:18
"Grow in grace"; not in one grace only, but in all grace. Grow in that root-grace, faith. Believe the promises more firmly than you have done. Let faith increase in fulness, constancy, simplicity. Grow also in love. Ask that your love may become extended, more intense, more practical, influencing every thought, word, and deed. Grow likewise in humility. Seek to lie very low, and know more of your own nothingness. As you grow downward in humility, seek also to grow upward —having nearer approaches to God in prayer and more intimate fellowship with Jesus. May God the Holy Spirit enable you to "grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour." He who grows not in the knowledge of Jesus, refuses to be blessed. To know him is "life eternal," and to advance in the knowledge of him is to increase in happiness. He who does not long to know more of Christ, knows nothing of him yet. Whoever hath sipped this wine will thirst for more, for although Christ doth satisfy, yet it is such a satisfaction, that the appetite is not cloyed, but whetted. If you know the love of Jesus—as the hart panteth for the water-brooks, so will you pant after deeper draughts of his love. If you do not desire to know him better, then you love him not, for love always cries, "Nearer, nearer." Absence from Christ is hell; but the presence of Jesus is heaven. Rest not then content without an increasing acquaintance with Jesus. Seek to know more of him in his divine nature, in his human relationship, in his finished work, in his death, in his resurrection, in his present glorious intercession, and in his future royal advent. Abide hard by the Cross, and search the mystery of his wounds. An increase of love to Jesus, and a more perfect apprehension of his love to us is one of the best tests of growth in grace.
Spurgeon, C. H. (2006). Morning and evening : Daily readings (Complete and unabridged; New modern edition.) (January 4 AM). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.
Galatians 1:11-24
Proof of Change: Comparison of Paul before and after surrendering to Christ.
We should do the same in our witness.
Rudyard Kipling: Mulholland's Contract
The poor know they are in urgent need of redemption.
The poor know not only their dependance on God and on powerful people but also their interdependance with one another.
The poor rest their security not on things but on people.
The poor have no exaggerated sense of their own importance and noexaggerated need of privacy.
The poor expect little from competition and much from cooperation
The poor can distinguish between necessities and luxuries.
The poor can wait, because they have acquired a kind of dogged patience born of acknowledged dependance.
The fears of the poor are more realistic and less exaggerated, because they already know that one can survive great suffering and want.
When the poor have the Gospel preached to them, it sounds like good news and not like a threat or a scolding.
The poor can respond to the call of the Gospel with a certain abandonment and uncomplicated totality because they have so little to lose and are ready for anything.
Source: by Monika Hellwig,"Good News to the Poor: Do They Understand it Better?" in Tracing the Spirit, James E. Hug, ed. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1983, p145 as quoted in "The Jesus I Never Knew" by Philip Yancey
Martyn Lloyd-Jones' quote: "Charles Spurgeon says, 'There is a point in grace as much above the ordinary Christian as is the ordinary Christian is above the worldling.' So I ask my obvious question: Are we in this point to which Mr. Spurgeon refers...do we conform to this description that this apostle gives in Ephesians 3:16-19?"
Live Out Loud
