Using Wine At Our Communion Service

At Free Grace Church after several years of offering only grape juice for communion we recently switched back to offering both wine and grape juice. From the very beginning of our church plant we have offered both out of conviction that having fermented wine is actually a Biblical practice. We switched a while ago because some women from the Hacienda ministry were visiting with us on Sundays. This move was made to accommodate these women who were in the middle of a court mandated program that forbade any and all alcohol in the strictest terms. But recently this door was permanently closed to us. So a decision was made to return to the practice of offering wine.

The response from our church has been overwhelmingly positive, and some were even urging a return to wine prior to the decision. Several of you reached out to thank me for this change, and I appreciate your encouragement. However there were a few people that were confused and surprised this last Sunday. While we did announce this for several weeks, several of you were not present or had missed the announcement, then on Sunday during the celebration of the Lord’s supper we made a mistake and forgot to announce this. It was an unintentional oversight. I want to ask for your forgiveness for not taking time to make this clear to everyone.

In the last 100 years or so in America, many in the evangelical church have arrived at the conviction that consuming any wine is sinful. I believe this is is an unfortunate position that doesn’t recognize the many places in scripture that alcohol (wine) is used and even praised as a blessing from God. I also believe it is a historically inaccurate. The wine that was used in the Old and New Testaments was definitely fermented. The temperance view of abstinence is also a historical anomaly. Through most of history, and in most places other than America, the church has thankfully celebrated the Lord’s supper with wine, and allowed the use of alcohol in moderation. And thankfully this is the practice of most in our church. And our intent is not to urge anyone to violate their conscience, but we do want to be faithful to scripture.

I do believe that some who have this conviction do so out of a sincere desire to avoid the problems of drunkenness, or based on past struggles with sin.  This desire is 100% commendable. However, I do not believe it reflects the way the Bible itself deals with sins of excess and praises moderation and the glad reception of God’s gifts (I Tim 4:1-5, Colossians 2:20-23).

Here is a helpful article that summarizes some of the big ideas connected to the acceptability of wine in the context of the current debate.   Here is another article posted at Kirk Cameron’s (a noted evangelical figure) website.

Again, I offer my apologies to anyone that is confused. Honestly, please forgive me as your pastor for not providing better leadership.

We want to hold our liberty in a way that is gracious, informed, and honors the weaker brother. This means that if you have a problem with drinking alcohol, you can use grape juice during the Supper. We don’t look down on you! We even have one member that is seriously allergic to corn syrup (which is found in grape juice and most commercial wines) so we have several cups of water available.  If you have any concerns, especially if they are big enough to cause division or abiding questions, I urge you to contact me soon that we can talk. Our motive is the desire to honor the Lord and serve his people according to scripture.

My Prayer For Our Next Worship Leader, and The Rest Of The Team

As you may know, Josh Brahm- the man who has been leading worship for us at Free Grace Church for about 6 years- is moving across the country next month. We have been praying and seeking  for more helpers on our worship team as well as our next worship leader for the last 8 months. As of today, we are still looking! Please pray with us and if you know someone who is looking for a chance to serve in church that is aiming for God-centered worship, contact us!

The Prayer

"God of grace and glory, help us to keep our eyes on you. Please work in us so that our desire for worship music is driven by a sense of your excellence and glory. Continue to open our eyes to your creation and your word so that we will be driven to worship with all our hearts, regardless of whether we have excellent musicians or not. Fill us with the Holy Spirit so we will sing to you and to one another with joy and reverence. Keep us from getting caught up in all the frivolous elements of the worship wars that are driven by personal preference.

God please send us more musicians. Please lead us to people that are available in their schedules, teachable and humble in their character, and skilled in their gifts. Especially send us another worship leader with a pastor’s heart and good theology. Send us someone who can help us learn how to sing to your glory. Help us to train and equip the ones who will equip us through song.

Lord, please blessour current music volunteers so that they will serve with joy. Thank you for all the wonderful things you have already done in us through them.  Give them the growing reward of fellowship and greater delight in you. Help our people to grow in grace and skill. Please make it so that each member of the body is functioning for your glory. 

God lead us in the future when it comes to questions of style and context. Help us wisely navigate the tension between being rooted in history and relevant in culture. Help us to balance truth without neglecting emotions. Help us to embrace both sobriety and joy as we respond to you.

We pray only through Christ, Amen"

Spiritual Body Language

“What Every BODY Is Saying” is a book about body language written by Joe Navarro, a former FBI agent and psychologist.  He also wrote the FBI policy on how to use body language tips when determining deception, so he knows a lot about the topic. The book is fascinating on a number of levels and the lessons are told through interesting stories and tips that are useful for every day life. At one point the author asks the reader to consider what the most “honest” part of the body is for interpreting nonverbal cues. When I read this, my first thought was that it had to be the face. But he said the face is definitely NOT the most reliable because we have been raised from childhood to lie with our facial expressions. We are taught to smile and act happy even when we have other feelings. To display a look of disgust when eating aunt Matilda’s Brussels sprouts would be rude.

But even though we are good at trying to deceive others with our body language, there will always be other “tells” that reveal what we are actually feeling. It might be our feet or hands.  (By the way, according to Navarro the feet are the most truthful body part). In the book, the author shows how he used body language as an FBI agent in questioning criminal suspects, solving crimes, and working to capture terrorists. Repeatedly he mentioned the importance of “congruency.” The various aspects of the human body are like an orchestra. When they are all playing the same music we can rely on the message.  But if we are attempting to hide something, the different sections of the orchestra end up on different sheets of music.   And when this happens, frequently the body will tell the truth when the lips are lying. He suggests that if the mouth is saying one thing and the body language is saying something else, then trust the body language. In order to do his job he had to look past what the people were telling him to see the truth written in gestures and actions.

This illustrates something that the apostle Paul tells us about a kind of "spiritual body language." There are times when people make professions- especially about their faith in Jesus- but they are not telling the truth.  How can we know the difference? In Titus 1:16 Paul writes about people making these kinds of false claims. He says, “they profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”  Isn’t it interesting that the life can deny what is pouring out of the mouth. If someone’s lips say that they follow Jesus, but their life denies it, then trust what their life is saying.  Our lives have a voice and speak a message. And that message is more reliable than the words that come from our lips.  

A Lesson From My Dog: How NOT To Choose A Church

Our family loves dogs, but some would say we are not very good at making our dog follow the rules. I am told that you aren’t supposed to give dogs “people food,” and we generally avoid this indulgence. But once in a while, in a moment of weakness, an unmentioned family member will give our dog a treat.  The person who does this has earned the name “Weak Link,” for obvious reasons. Our dog is highly motivated by food and has learned how to work the system. She will ignore everyone else and follow the “Weak Link” around the house in order to get what she wants. She knows that the other family members won’t indulge her bad doggy manners, so she ignores them. But she knows how to act very cute and beg in order to get what she wants from me.

I thought of this while reading from 2 Timothy 4 this morning.  After exhorting Timothy to preach the word (v. 2), Paul says “The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching , but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” (4:3) People who don’t want to hear the truth won’t stop going to church or listening altogether. They have passions and desires that must be satisfied. So they will act like my dog and seek out teachers and churches who will scratch their itching ears. And what do they want? What is the standard criteria for deciding which teachers to listen to? It is their passions (v. 3b). 

Evidently there were people in the church who had a set of sinful desires and attractions, and instead of indulging these desires, the teaching of the apostles (called “sound teaching”) confronted them and called them to repentance.  Jesus routinely taught that many of the things we naturally desire are violations of God’s law, are bad for us, and end up becoming substitutes for God himself (Matt 5:21-30 & 6:24-33).  These people put up with the truth for a while, but eventually act just like my dog. They ignore anyone who won’t tell them what they want to hear. 

One of the lessons for us is to beware of choosing a church, podcast, blog, etc. based on our desires. Don’t choose teachers who refuse to confront your darker appetites. Especially watch out for the ones that are willing to encourage or normalize the passions and desires that are condemned in scripture. Beware of anyone that that tells you that Jesus wants you to be happy indulging greed, hatred, lust, envy, covetousness, or pride.

By Pastor Matt Troupe

Go Deeper With Your Knowledge of God This Weekend

Church family, Professor Bruce Ware from Southern Seminary is going to be speaking on Friday night and Saturday morning at Trinity community church in Clovis. He is solid theologian and has written extensively on the doctrine of God, including responses to a modern error known as open theism.  He will be speaking on the doctrine of God. I am planning on attending. The conference is free and I have every expectation that it will  be excellent. I would love to have some folks from our church attend and learn together.  

Let me know if you are able to come to any of this.

Pastor Matt Troupe

 

Find more info about the conference here:  www.trinitycc.com. 

You can register by clicking this form:
 

   

My Prayer This Week For Leaders In Our Church

I find it helpful to write out my priorities and requests in prayer (as below) and then use this as a guide in the coming weeks. Here is what is on my heart for leadership development at our church. will you join me in praying this?

Leadership Prayer

Lord Help me to be a godly leader, to grow, and to have both humility and confidence in you. By your grace, make me an example, and give me a clear vision for the future. Help me to set the right goals for your church in this context and generation. Help me not to elevate my own purposes above your word and glory.

Lord please bless all our current leaders and volunteers with ongoing change by your spirit, clarity and strength to serve you, and concern for the next generation and the lost.

God please guide me to other leaders that can help me grow, teach, and inspire me. I need examples ancient and modern and I ask you to bring them into my life.

God, I need wisdom and discernment regarding others. Help me to trust people when I ought, to give wise and gracious feedback so they can grow. Give me grace and wisdom to instruct and correct when it is pleasing to you. Help me to see the difference between struggling christians and dangerous wolves.

Lord of the harvest, please raise up more leaders in the future. Please give the gifts, the character, and wisdom for our church to be full of godly leaders. 

Please guide our current leaders and congregation with discernment about future leaders. Give us clarity on seeing your gifts and calling in others.

Why You Should Join Us To Pray For Abortion? God is Answering

There are many reasons we neglect prayer. There are too many to list. One particularly stubborn reason is discouragement. We pray and wait. We wonder if it works.  And  too often we move on to something else when things seem hopeless. 

I want to encourage you that the abortion situation is not hopeless! God is at work answering our prayers in ways you may not even know!  Consider this: I recently read an article (read it here) about Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director. She is now a prolife advocate and has started the organization "And Then There Were None" (ATTWN) to help employees in the abortion industry escape and find healing. 
 
Her organization has been so successful that Planned Parenthood sent an email to all its employees warning them about ATTWN. But this move backfired and Abby Johnson reports they got numerous calls from Planned Parenthood employees in crisis. People that came to see the humanity of the unborn and wanted out. So far they have helped over 200 hundred workers in the abortion industry get out. Many are becoming voices for the prolife cause, giving first hand testimony about what really happens. That is 1 in 16 abortion clinic workers leaving the industry in the last 4 years!
 

That is an example of God answering prayer! 

Why should you pray? Add this to the list of reasons: Because he listens. Our God hears us when we call out to him. We invite you to join us to pray for this issue on February 28th at 7pm to pray for these issues along with many other concerns related to abortion? 

We have also set up a Facebook event page to help prepare, if you plan on coming please RSVP here

When:  Sunday Night Feb 28th from 7-8pm
Where: St James Anglican Church 4147 E Dakota Ave, Fresno, CA 93726
It is on the north side of the property in the Scofield hall.