Thursday, January 31, 2008

Dragged into it... but glad.

This is the first time I have ever done a blog.  I am sitting here because my son, Caleb, the main techie in our family (at least with PC's) set up this blog for Faith Bible Church and repeatedly said, "Dad, you have to put something on the church's blog.  When are you going to do it?"  So I am writing this, not because I long to publish something on the web but because Caleb has pushed his foot-dragging dad into it.  Thanks, Caleb!  (If it flops, it's his fault, not mine.)

But I also recognize that we must get the word out that there is - in Pearl City, Hawaii - a small fellowship of believers devoted to God, committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and convinced of its power to deliver us from Hell and fit us for Heaven.  

God is at work among us.  He is producing in us the fruit of the Spirit because He has given us His Spirit to live in us.  The Holy Spirit has given us gifts to use in serving one another.   By the Spirit we have His inerrant, infallible Word - the Bible.  By Scripture He is making us more like His precious Son.  Yes, we work at obeying the truth we've come to understand.  But we can work it out only because He is working in us.  

Hence the blog's title, "Perceptions of Grace".   God is working.   My hope is that we are actually seeing His grace evidenced in one another's lives.  So it's my goal to follow a bit of C.J. Mahaney's advice to pastors and look into the lists of the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit and then look up and see the evidence of His working in the lives of brothers and sisters in this fellowship.

Thanks for reading this.  I hope God will use it for His glory in your life.

(Thanks, Caleb, for dragging me into the world of blogging.  I'm glad you did.  Perhaps my first perception of God's grace is that my son has faith that God will work through this blog.  You are a gracious gift.  Love, Dad)