Special Members' Meeting:
There will be a members' informational meeting on Thursday April 7, 2011, at 7:00 P.M. at Old First Church. The purpose of this special meeting is discuss the current state of WellSpring Church using a question and answer format, especially in light of resent resignations of elders and musicians. Current elders Pastor Matthew Burt and Paul Dernavich, and recent elders Dave Hopkins and Tim Duff will be in attendance.
New Mailer:
As you can see we have switched over to a new mailing system and if you are receiving this email then you have been successfully added to our system! If you no longer wish to receive emails from us, you can quickly remove your name from our mailing list at the bottom of this page. If by accident you unsubscribe from this listing, please email us at www.wellspringchurch.org@gmail.com and let us know! More information to come!
Looking Ahead:
-Sunday March 27, 2011 (Sermon Text):
Luke 9:23-27-Why Should we Practice Self-Denial and Cross-Bearing?
-Sunday April 3, 2011 (Soup Lunch will follow Worship and the Lord's Supper):
This month we will have a "Soup Sign Contest" for the best soup label featuring the letter "A" (for April).
To sign up for a soup, salad or dessert contact Susan O'Donnell at
bodonnell9@comcast.net.
-Thursday April 21, 2011 (Maundy Thursday Meal):
Soup and Bread and the Lord's Supper
A Note from Pastor Burt:
What about Words?
Words are powerful things. They are tools in the hands of a worthy user and weapons in the hands of a vicious user. God uses words. They are his creation and he has given the ability to hear and to understand words. His words create, define, inform, reveal, convict, judge, and redeem. Our words are used to inform and teach, reveal our thoughts, build up and tear down others, but our words cannot create or redeem. Because words are created by God and because he has chosen to use them to reveal Himself, His ways, and His purposes to us, they are also precious things. I will never fully know on this side of eternity how horribly I have wasted the precious gift of words. I have ignored wise words, forgotten enlightening words, spewed evil words, and withheld affirming words. I have read the written word for entertainment and escape at the expense of reading words that would broaden my understanding of God and His world. Since we affirm that everything that is created by God is for His glory, then both our intake and our outflow of words are meant for His Glory. One of my desires is to use the words that God has provided to me more and more for His glory. This commitment will affect my speaking, my hearing, and my reading.
As a speaker, one who teaches, preaches, counsels, and converses, I ask God that the words of my mouth might be pleasing to him and that no unwholesome words come out of my mouth (Psa. 19:14, Eph. 4:29). I have been so thankful for Paul David Tripp's book, War of Words. In this book Tripp lays down a wide-ranging theology of words and their use. I cringe to remember that my words reveal my heart. I rejoice that God's words reveal His heart.
As a hearer I ask that God would guard my ears from gossip, blasphemy, coarseness, and the siren's song of temptation. As I am bombarded with words, I ask that I not begin to discount their value and cheapen the precious words of truth. Many of us listen to sermons or worshipful music during the day. My fear is that I will use these words as a kind of sanctified elevator music and dull my ears to the power that these words carry. Good listening take practice. This is especially true today in a culture that is so dependent on the visual. For those wanting to improve listening skills for sermons, get a copy of the little booklet, "Listen up!" from our BookTable or read this sermon from the great 18th Century evangelist George Whitefield. As a hearer I want to listen to my own words and hear what they are saying about the idols I am serving.
As a reader I want to be careful of what I put in front of my eyes and bring into my mind and heart. The power of words is multiplied when they are used in story. Much fiction is a vehicle to transport the parameters of an unbiblical and ungodly worldview to us while our defenses are weakened by the emotions the story evokes. At the very least, every Christian should be reading The Word every day. We cannot live in God's world God's way if we do not know God's Word. More importantly, if you are not hungering for more of God's Word in your life, you are in a very dangerous place spiritually. In fact, it is possible that you are not truly a Christian, or that The Holy Spirit, who is sent to lead us into all truth, is not resident and working in your life. John Stott reminds us that the early church sat hungrily at the Apostles' feet to hear the Word of God (The Spirit, The Church & The World, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1990] 82). Secondly we should be reading words about God's Word and ways by those who are gifted with words and the ability to communicate His truth to the rest of us. I am quite convinced that we will never grow in our knowledge of God's ways nor walk with progress in His ways if we are not using His gifts of words to us on a regular basis. I also want you to learn to increase your intake of the written word. This is why I am always recommending books to you.
As a Christian I want to know God through His Word and words so that I can live, think, and use words in ways that exhibit my love for him and for others.
And most of all, we thank God for Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, who has revealed the Father to us. Words are wonderful things, let us not waste them.
On the Book Table:
Preparing For Easter
"The Atonement" Several authors (R.C. Sproul, J.I. Packer, John Piper, etc) explore the reasons and results of Christ's death. Excellent value @ $5.00
"Scandalous" Don Carson, one of the best thinkers and writers of contemporary Reformation Evangelicalism, shows the scandal and injustice of Christ's death-and the greatness of the grace of God in the gift of Christ's death to us.
"Seven Sayings of the Savior on the Cross" by A.W. Pink. For the past three years Pastor Burt has been involved in Easter week service focusing on the last words of Christ on the cross at Solid Rock Community Baptist Church. This book has been a helpful resource in preparation for those messages. It is a wonderful preparation for your consideration of the death of Christ and a good introduction to this unique writer. We have purchased copies for resale @ $5.00.
Self-Denial, Taking up the Cross, Suffering As we continue our study in Luke 9 and focus on the requirements of self-denial and cross-bearing for a life of discipleship, we have these three timeless classics from the pen of the peerless Puritan John Owen abridged and rewritten in modern English:
"Indwelling Sin in Believers" $9.00
"Mortification of Sin" $6.00
"Temptation-Resisted and Repulsed" $7.00
Learning the Hidden Ways of God A part of learning self-denial and cross-bearing is knowing how to read God's ways, that is his Providence. We generally focus on God's foreknowledge only in terms of salvation. These authors show us how God is sovereignly active in every arena of our lives-even our suffering.
"Mystery of Providence" by John Flavel, Puritan @ $5.00
"Hand of God" by Frederick Leahy, contemporary Irish author @ $9.00
"Behind a Frowning Providence," a small but helpful booklet by John J. Murray @ $2.00
For further reading online:
Pastor Walter Chantry on "Taking up Your Cross"
"Some who call themselves "Christian" in fact have never taken up their crosses. Being ignorant of the experience of self-execution, of self-denial, they are of necessity strangers to Christ. Our Lord himself intended his illustration and his demand to deepen alarm in such individuals. If this is your condition, then there can be no relief to conviction but in taking up your cross and following him." Walter Chantry article.
If you missed last weeks sermon you can listen here. You can also subscribe to our podcast here.
For more information about any of these events, visit our website at www.wellspringchurch.org. If you would like to contact us, please email us at wellspringchurch.org@gmail.com.
