The latest on 'Life at Metro'

Meet the Ruiz family. A few family members began attending Metro two years ago. At the start of this year a few more family members began to visit. Since January 6 different family members have placed their trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins! Family members, the Chin home group, and the preached Word have all been used by God to draw one family member after another to The Lord. And then they bring more family members!

Good Morning Metro! I hope the steadfast love and mercy of The Lord is encouraging you in your day. I don't know all the ways the Holy Spirit was speaking to our church family yesterday, but speak He did! We have such a tender Heavenly Father, gracious in His every dealing with us. My prayer is that there is faith in every heart for the good work that began for so many who "buried" their idols.

I can't believe we have reached the end of our series in Genesis so fast! It seems each week we have been seeing just how much of the Gospel is actually in the first book of the Bible! It would be generations upon generations before the birth of Jesus Christ, but in the patriarchal family we have seen glimpse after glimpse of God's salvation plan.

We reached the turning point on Sunday in our study of Genesis 37-50. Joseph revealed his identity and the brothers are reunited! As Joseph listened to Judah plead with him to take Benjamin's place, Joseph knew that Judah was not the same man he once was. And that led to Joseph revealing his identity. More than reveal himself, Joseph forgave his brothers! How, in light of what they had done to him, could he do that? Joseph said it best himself

Joseph's story is helping me to see that God is at work in the hardest places of my life, even if I can’t presently see the outcome. Joseph's story is reminding me that what looks and feels like a pit to me is a kiln in God's purposes, where He is shaping me more and more into His image. He is growing me in those places. Joseph's story of looking past Egypt reminds me that this world is not my home.

I hope your week is beginning by being warmed by the grace given to you in Jesus Christ! What a thought... God wants me to grow (uh-oh, that sounds like a work)…in grace! God's good intention for me and for you is to go deeper in the experience and knowledge of what we have been given in Jesus.

We concluded our series on building the local church by looking at 5 pledges, or commitments. Unlike a country club or association dues, building a local church calls for each part of the body to do its part, so that the whole body is built up. That can't be accomplished simply through giving, and it can't be accomplished if the body isn't functioning properly. Take some time to review the pledges below, and see how the Lord will lead you and your family into a greater understanding of the difference we can make for His kingdom when our gifts and lives are knit together!

What makes a good church? Good preaching, outstanding musicians, awesome youth ministry, good coffee, multiple and short services? Maybe a good church is one that runs a soup kitchen for the needy, supports missionaries overseas, or has a partnership with a local crisis pregnancy center.

Pray for opportunities and seize the moments to tell the world the reason for the hope that is in you, and pray for the grace to live in such a way that the light of Jesus Christ shines forth from you, causing many to wonder, "why are you joyful, hopeful, helpful, etc?"

A priesthood of believers, where everyone had a vision to see the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on display, by investing in other lives, was possible. And it possible now. As one of your pastors the thing that excites me the most is that I see it happening all throughout our church! This is a church filled with people who love Jesus, who know they need His grace day by day, and who are desirous to share that grace with others. That is what will "BUILD" Metro Life Church.

I hope you have encountered the encouragement and power of the Holy Spirit since we gathered on Sunday. As we begin our series entitled Build: Fashioning a Spirit Filled, Mission Minded Church For His Glory, I could think of no better place to begin than on the person of the Holy Spirit.

Good Afternoon, Metro. Jesus' words to the church in Sardis from Revelation 3:1-6 are still ringing in my ears. How about yours? Why did God preserve those seven letters to the churches in Asia? Only He knows all of His reasons, but I believe one of them is clearly expressed by Jesus Himself.

It seems we just started our series in the Sermon on the Mount, and now we have reached its conclusion. In Matthew 7:15-27 Jesus concluded His sermon with what might be called three warnings, or three doses of healthy fear. Healthy fear is a good thing, intended to cause us to consider. That's exactly what Jesus wants us to do at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. He calls us to "beware" of false teachers, to "beware" of false professions of faith where someone's life does not resemble their profession of devotion to Jesus, and finally, to "beware" of the kind of foundation we build our lives upon. These warnings and exhortations call for discernment, and Jesus is so eager to provide us with the wisdom we need to rightly discern.

We studied Jesus' words about anxiety from Matthew 6:25-34. It seems Jesus is saying essentially one thing, which is that we have a heavenly Father who cares for us beyond our comprehension. He knows what we need and He intends to provide. But we can all confess that sometimes we face circumstances that put our trust in the promises of our loving heavenly Father to the test. In the sermon we looked at the example of Abraham from Romans 4. Commenting on this passage Paul Tripp said the following:

Ok friends, be honest. How many of you have gone to realage.com to find out your "real" age? You have probably noticed just since Sunday how surrounded we are by advertisements, music and other forms of communication that want us to believe we will be most happy if we do all we can to store up treasure here on the earth, and fight to stay young doing it! How radical and other worldly is the kingdom of God! What can you give away today, this week? How can we be a people whose gravitational pull is Heaven, instead of the things that will pass away?

Does it get more radical than this, friends? Does anything in the Sermon on the Mount communicate to us more the need for poverty of spirit? Let’s remember, this sermon isn’t about entrance into the Kingdom; it’s about life in the Kingdom. That life is made possible by the power of Jesus Christ!

We just studied Matthew 5:21-26 together on Sunday. What a passage. What a hard passage! When Jesus said our righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees he wasn’t kidding! It is a hard passage, because it humbles us in seeing that what Jesus is really building in us by His Spirit are a people who don’t just refrain from external acts, but who are literally changing from the inside out. I want to be the kind of follower of Jesus who does not grow indifferent to a passage like this, because it really is a demonstration of the Gospel’s power in us. Relationships are plain hard work. As fellow Christians we are all redeemed works in progress. We are fully forgiven and righteous, yet we change by degrees (1 Corinthians 3:18).

Throughout church history the relationship between law and grace has been a lively discussion. Legalism and license have been tripping up the saints for centuries. Does it have to be that way? No! The Gospel is our anchor, keeping us from either error! Lets pray together for a deeper understanding of what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, and out of that understanding, a right application of living completely at rest in the finished work of Jesus on our behalf, while we also walk by the Spirit, as God who began a good work in us, will be faithful to complete it! We love God’s moral law because we desire to be like Him and shine forth His glory on the earth.

Blessed are you when you are...persecuted. Are you like me? Left to my natural way of thinking, avoiding persecution is a blessing. Jesus enables us to think and live differently. If we suffer any form of persecution for righteousness' sake, and on account of the name of Jesus, we are blessed indeed! Let the words of Martyn Lloyd-Jones envision us this week;

Ok, many of you at MLC aren't old enough to even know where the title of this blog post comes from. Well, long before the Partridge Family wanted to get happy, Jesus was eager for you and I to be happy. He wants that so much for us He gave a sermon on a hillside dedicated to it. The Sermon on the Mount is where true happiness (blessedness) is found. Happiness, I think, shares something similar to death. They are both great equalizers. We share these in common; death will happen to all people, and all people want to be happy.

I hope your week is off to a grace filled start. I had a number of wonderful interactions after the service on Sunday about relationships. They were encouraging conversations. Isn't it refreshing to know some of the backstories on the people in Scripture, and to know that they had to work through so many of the same dynamics as we do when it comes to building relationships with one another? Relationships are hard work! Let's reflect on what R. Kent Hughes said again:

Good Morning, Metro? How was your Monday? Did you feel like, “Monday you can fall apart, Tuesday, Wednesday break my heart…”

Good Morning Metro, I hope your Easter weekend was a time of being built up in your most holy faith. As I shared Sunday morning, Colossians 3:5-17 isn't a standard faire Easter sermon.

"These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city." - Hebrews 11:13-16

Who do we expect to "be there" for us when life gets hard? Our families. And those of us in the church have the same expectation of our church family. So how do we pray for those facing terminal illness? How can we overcome the awkwardness of interacting with those going through a divorce or grieving the death of a spouse or child? How do we keep from being that person who said the wrong thing to someone who's lost a loved one? How do we help those who have gone through a very public trial get back to normal in the life of our church? These are the kinds of questions Nancy Guthrie addresses in her breakout session taught at this years Pastors Conference: Learning to Walk with Each Other Through Loss.

Good Morning, Metro! So where is that place where you keep your bills that need to be paid? Some of ours are auto pay, but some still go the old fashioned way of the mailbox. Those bills are in the kitchen. I write a check and seal the envelope but sure enough, about 30 days later they show up again!

We had a wonderful Sunday evening Thirst meeting. The Lord was so kind to provide us with numerous ministry opportunities, and it seems a great many people were encouraged, refreshed and ministered too in specific ways.

Good Morning Metro! I hope you are very aware of the love of Christ and enjoying this fact; Jesus is in you! As we continued on in Colossians on Sunday morning I thought I would bring this reflection from Sam Storms back to our attention:

Amazing grace! We know it, but our hearts and consciences so often betray us. A confrontation with our imperfections, stumbling and sins whisper things to us that would seek to weaken our confidence in the finished work of Jesus.

If you were unable to be with us for our Family Meeting, then you missed the opportunity to hear a profound and "real" testimony of what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is doing in the heart of member.

So I've been thinking about the times of worship at the Enduring Love Marriage Retreat, and then during our Sunday morning service. I could be wrong in my impression, but in both places there seemed to be a more tangible awareness of the presence of God.

The Message paraphrases Galatians 6:9-10 the following way (I added our church name!):

Do you have hope this morning? I pray you do, because we have every reason too! Consider the power of these words from Hebrews 6:17-19:

Al Pino served us all through Luke's account of Jesus' teaching on mercy. Mercy depicts love as few things can.

Good Morning, Friends! What a joy it is to awaken to knowing that we have every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ!

Acts 19:20 says, "So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily." As we studied this passage on Sunday I hope this verse in particular ministered to you.

How good it is to awaken today to the knowledge that our God reigns, and yet He wants to use you and me in fulfilling His purposes.

So how is your week going, friends? I hope that Hebrews 10:19-25 has encouraged your hearts.

I hope Acts 14 refreshed your soul in knowing that even though there are trials along the way, your life and mine will ultimately be a testimony to the triumphant power of the grace of God!

Well, I think I topped myself with the most mispronounced words to date this past Sunday! But through that, I hope the passage from Acts 13 encouraged your soul that the promises of God, all of them, always prevail!

Dear Metro, Thank you to all of you who were able to join us at the Family Meeting on Wednesday, September 5th. It was a wonderful meeting filled with many expressions of God's grace at work in so many people's lives.

"Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD you his saints, For those who fear him have no lack!

Did you think about what you woke up to this morning? It starts with an "M". That's right, mercy! I thought I'd give you some "Old English" today to encourage you as you get into your week.

Good Morning, friends. Have you had any situations since Sunday to tempt you to anxiety?

Good morning, friends. What a blessing it was on Sunday to hear so many of our friends pray their personal prayers of trust in the Lord, our Keeper!

Okay, I don't typically blog twice in the same week, but a few stories have come up that I think will encourage us all to pursue our brothers and sisters when they find themselves in the wilderness.

We began our summer series in the Psalms with Psalm 131. It reads,

"What does it mean for God, through the Holy Spirit, to do beyond what we could ask or imagine? Below is a quote from this weekends sermon. May it inspire you!

"I sometimes think that we live in fear and call it wisdom. But we live in fear - fear of the negative influences of the world. We live as though we have far more to fear from the "world" than they have to fear from us.

This past Sunday we studied Acts 9:1-31 together. In the message we looked at how Saul, later named Paul, never moved on from his conversion story. Here is how he reflected on his conversion in 1 Timothy 1:13-16:

I have heard from many dear members of Metro about the message, "When Neglect and the Gospel Intersect." Wow,

We have been hearing a lot in these early chapters of Acts about the boldness of the early church. So far we have seen it primarily through the Apostles,

I read Acts 4:32-5:11 again this morning. I was stirred again by the life the early church was enjoying, all because of Jesus!

I'm guessing a blog on earwax removal was not what you were expecting.

I'm still thinking about that key word in the passage from Acts 2:42-47...devoted. There really is no replacement for the time and intentionality that it takes to build a community that is devoted to one another.

This past Sunday we studied Acts 2:1-41 together. What a passage! How kind of God to not leave us as orphans, to send the Holy Spirit so that now, everyday, Jesus is with us!

If you were at our Family Meeting last week, then you got to hear Greg and Espy Travassos share a bit about themselves.

Last week in our Alive meeting and this past Sunday in our first message in our Acts series we have been talking about thirst. In his book, "Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health," Donald Whitney begins the book with a chapter on thirst. May the following excerpt encourage your thirst today!

I don't know about you, but hearing the account by Dwight L. Moody of what happened in his heart as he devoted himself to studying love really encouraged me to devote myself to the same study.

I must have heard four or five humorous remarks right after our Sunday service about "courtesy notices". If you were unable to be with us it was an illustration from the sermon - "Walk in Love".

This past Saturday we had a men's breakfast. We looked together in 2 Peter 1:3-11 at what it means to make every effort. After the meeting I received an email.

1/15/12. That may be just another date, but I left this past Sunday morning in faith that the Lord had met us in a profound way, as we looked together at his encouraging and challenging words to the Ephesian church in Revelation 2:1-7.