Ministries:
Adult | Teens | Children

Pastor's Pen's:
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001

Sermon Series:
Following Jesus
Earthly Cross
His Name Is
Apostles Creed
Dealing with Feelings
Jonah
Get Real
Promised Land Living

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson

Secretary Patti Hall

PASTOR'S PENS 2007

Grace Church of Burlington October 28, 2007 “The glory of God, and, as our only means to glorifying Him, the salvation of human souls, is the real business of life.”   C. S. Lewis             In many ways sharing our faith in Jesus Christ can feel a bit like coming out of the closet with a dark secret. In today’s culture talking about your faith seems too personal for public discourse. People prefer that we keep issues of faith private, rather than talking about our beliefs in public. Because of that it can seem like we’re breaking the social rules when we talk about our faith.             The word “gospel” literally means “good news.” When you have good news, you want to share it. Sharing our faith should be like that.             Most of us have some debt, whether our homes or cars or even old college bills. But what if you were carrying something like the National Debt, a debt that was completely impossible for you to pay. No doubt you’d be discouraged and defeated. Somehow, though, a Bill Gates type finds out about your impossible debt and he decides to pay it all off...your house, cars, college bills and everything else. Not only that he builds a new house for you and has given you the deed, you also find out that he’s done this hundreds, if not thousands, of times. If any of your friends or family members simply ask him, he’ll pay off all of their debts too and give them a brand new house to live in. And he wants you to tell as many of your friends and loved ones as you can that he has this wonderful program to make people debt free.             What kind of person would you be if you were scared of offending someone by pointing out that people are in debt? So you decide not to tell anyone because you want everyone to like you and don’t want to risk offending them...even though you can see that they are struggling with all of this debt.             The parallels are obvious. You and I have been forgiven an insurmountable debt, an impossible debt, a debt that makes the National Debt look like peanuts. Not only has our debt been completely paid, we now have a Home in heaven waiting for us. And not only do we have a Home in heaven, God Himself has come into our lives and indwells us. We are never alone, His power is at our fingertips, we are being transformed and conformed to the likeness of His Son. All the things that we once thought were impossible like giving up sinful habits, loving those that we couldn’t love on our own, having joy in the midst of terrible trials, peace even in the worst storm – all of that is ours now. And it is available for anyone who will ask for it, if they will just come to Calvary’s cross.             What kind of friend would we be if we weren’t sharing such great news!! How can it not be worth it to risk offending someone if it means that not only will they be spared from eternity in Hell but will go to Heaven and have heaven in their hearts and lives now!             That’s why events like our upcoming Harvest Celebration are so important! As those who have been forgiven and given so much, we’ve got to get rid of our closet-shamed mentality and replace it with the “we’ve got great news” mentality. On November 11th, with our Harvest Celebration, we’ve put together an easy opportunity for each of us to reach out to our lost acquaintances.             It’s not a Grace potluck. It’s an evangelistic event and our prayer is that every person in the Grace Church family will utilize this opportunity. What could be easier and more non-threatening than to ask a friend to come to a FREE meal.             So please be praying and inviting!! We would love to have a standing room only crowd. We’ll have a great meal, a short program and a brief gospel presentation. It will be a great night. While we all need to pitch in to make this night successful, the most critical part is inviting our lost friends. So please pray, pray, pray and invite, invite, invite!! Let’s anticipate a wonderful night for His glory!