California Here We Come

We flew to Phoenix this morning to return three of our grandchildren to their parents. It has been a delight to have them with us the past few weeks--first at the conference and then at home for a time of fun. They are growing up so fast! But we needed to get them home before grandma spent all our savings showing them a good time.

One delightful piece of info: Rick tells me that they are perhaps a week away from securing their own location for Southwest Grace Fellowship. One of the men in the church is trying to purchase a property and if the deal goes thru, the assembly will be able to aquire part of it for a permanent facility all their own. If it works out, both the location and venue will be great. PTL!

We will all drive to California tomorrow. Camp starts tomorrow evening. I'll be speaking on "Finding Rest In a Restless World." There are certainly many things to be jittery about these days. Rest, however, is not conditioned on circumstances but rather is grounded on our idenity in Christ Jesus. Gal. 2:20 is the secret. I'll be teaching thru II Thess. 2:13-17, with special attention to Paul's prayer in verses 16 and 17. Why not read it for yourself!

The rest of the week I'll be doing a series on "The Faith of Christ." I've found that everytime I have had opportunity to teach this topic it has resulted in great blessing. The fact that Jesus Christ was the God-Man makes Him the unique person of the universe! While His incarnation did not in anyway lessen the fact that He was and is the Second Person of the Godhead, it did add something never before imaginable: God Himself was "made flesh, and dwelt among us." He was also truly "the man Christ Jesus," as Paul says.

The term "the faith of Christ" is a Pauline term and refers to the fact that as "the Man" our Lord lived His life in the flesh in exactly the manner in which God intends man to live--in total dependence on the will and word of the Father. No wonder Paul exhorts, "let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus"!

I'll be going over new material--or at least approaching the subject from a new angle, so I'm looking forward to what I have to say! Give them a week or two and then check out www.Helpersofyourjoy.com and I'll bet they have all the camp studies available for download.

We are expecting a good turn out for camp. Do pray for this important week. John Verstegen and the saint at Berean Bible Ministries do a wonderful job and are making a real impact on the "left coast" for the message of grace.

Marantha!