Hello friends!

We hope that you can join us Friday, June 19th, at 244 Berding Street in Ferndale for an evening of community, friendship, challenging Biblical teaching and discussion, prayer for one another, and some great coffee. Dinner/coffee time begins at 6:00.

For our teaching/discussion time (starting around 7:00 pm), we”ll be returning to the 2 Peter 1:16-21 from Mars Hill Church in Seattle. This week we’ll be looking at . In this video sermon, we see that there are many cleverly devised myths about who Jesus is and what he did. Jesus is the good teacher, and the Bible tells us all about him. We should trust the Bible, its eyewitness authors, and its divine inspiration. We will ask the questions “What are the unique claims that Jesus makes about himself?” and “Where can the truth be found about who Jesus is?”

Childcare will be available during the sermon and discussion time.

ESV Study Bible

This week marks the release of the ESV Study Bible, a wonderful resource for deepening ones understanding of Scripture.

The ESV Study Bible was created to help people understand the Bible in a deeper way—to understand the timeless truth of God’s Word as a powerful, compelling, life-changing reality. To accomplish this, the ESV Study Bible combines the best and most recent evangelical Christian scholarship with the highly regarded ESV Bible text. The result is the most comprehensive study Bible ever published—with 2,752 pages of extensive, accessible Bible resources.

Created by an outstanding team of 95 evangelical Christian scholars and teachers, the ESV Study Bible presents completely new study notes, maps, illustrations, charts, timelines, articles, and introductions. Altogether the ESV Study Bible comprises 2 million words of Bible text, insightful explanation, teaching, and reference material—equivalent to a 20-volume Bible resource library all contained in one volume.

Primary Features

• 2 million words of Bible text and insightful teaching in 2,752 pages.
• 20,000 notes—focusing especially on understanding the Bible text and providing answers to frequently raised issues.
• Over 50 articles—including articles on the Bible’s authority and reliability; on biblical archaeology, theology, ethics, and personal application.
• 200-plus charts—offering key insights and in-depth analysis in clear, concise outline form; located throughout the Bible.
• Over 200 full-color maps—created with the latest digital technology, satellite images, and archaeological research; printed in full color throughout the Bible.
• 80,000 cross-references—to encourage easy location of important words, passages, and biblical themes.
• 40 all-new illustrations—including full-color renderings and architectural diagrams of the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, Solomon’s temple, Herod’s temple, the city of Jerusalem in Jesus’ time and throughout the history of Israel, and many more.

Goal and Vision

The goal and vision of the ESV Study Bible is, first and foremost, to honor the Lord—in terms of the excellence, beauty, and accuracy of its content and design; and in terms of helping people come to a deeper understanding of the Bible, of the Gospel, and of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Crossway is a not-for-profit publishing ministry and all receipts from the ESV Study Bible go directly toward the support of this ministry goal around the world.

To learn much more about the ESV Study Bible, visit www.esvstudybible.org. If you are interested in purchasing one, WTS Books has really good prices on them.

Kingdom: God Reigns- Video

Kingdom: God Reigns- Notes

Something has gone terribly wrong with the world. Everyone who has ever hoped in a politician, gotten sick, wept at injustice, become angry at evil, tried to help someone, or just felt like giving up knows it and despite all the wars that have been fought, money that has been spent, and good works done in the history of the world sin, death, evil, tyranny, sickness, poverty and the like continue to reign and will to varying degrees until the Kingdom of God is fully established on the earth.

Join us Friday, July 4th, at 244 Berding Street in Ferndale for the thirteenth and final message in Mars Hill Church’s Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe series, entitled Kingdom: God Reigns. Dinner begins at 6:00, teaching begins around 7:00. Childcare will be available.

Because we are meeting on 4th of July, we want to continue hanging out after our dinner/fellowship time and watch the fireworks at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds. There is a $5 parking fee if you park in the lot at the fairgrounds, so we can carpool down there together and there is plenty of seating in the grandstands. The fireworks start around 9:30 pm, so we’ll try and head down there in time to get some good seats.

There will events all day long in Ferndale, so feel free to come over and enjoy the festivities. Click here for info and times.

Here’s a few more resources regarding worship and idolatry from author Dr. Harold Best.

Dr. Harold Best Homepage- articles, bio, etc.

Books

Unceasing Worship- Harold Best- Widely respected as one of the foremost thinkers and practitioners in his field, Best explores the full scope of worship as continuous outpouring in all settings and contexts. With careful exposition and eloquent analysis, Best casts a holistic vision for worship that transcends narrow discussions of musical style or congregational preference.

Audio/Video

Continuous Worship: Is “Worship” the Only Word for Worship?- audio/video

Continuous Worship: Jesus the Sole Mediator of Worship and the Helplessness of Music- audio/video

The Arts in Worship: Can’t Art Just Be Art?

Art For The Church; Art From The Church, Art Facing The Church

What Creative People Can Learn From The Creation

Author Harold Best defines worship as: “Worship is the continuous outpouring of all that I am, all that I do and all that I can ever become in light of a chosen or choosing god.”

The biblical word for worship is also sometimes translated “sacrifice.” This insight is helpful because what we make the greatest sacrifices for reveals what we truly live to glorify and worship. For example, if we eat and drink in excess, we are worshipping our stomach and sacrificing our health. If we sacrifice relationships with God and people for a hobby (e.g., sport, music, craft), then we are worshipping that hobby. If we are giving our bodies to sexual sin, we are worshipping sex and/or another person whose glory is our highest aim, sacrificing holiness and intimacy with God in the process. In short, we give our time, energy, body, money, focus, devotion, and passion to that which we glorify most and make sacrifices to worship that person or thing. Because we were made for the express purpose of worshipping God, everyone is a worshipper. The only difference is who/what we worship. (from Vintage Jesus, Chapter 9)

Join us tonight, June 20th, at 244 Berding Street in Ferndale for the eleventh message in Mars Hill Church’s Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe series, entitled Worship:God Transforms. Dinner begins at 6:00, teaching begins around 7:00. Childcare will be available.

The local church is a community of regenerated believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. In obedience to Scripture they organize under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, observe the biblical sacraments of baptism and communion, are unified by the Spirit, are disciplined for holiness, and scatter to fulfill the great commandment and the great commission as missionaries to the world for God’s glory and their joy.

Join us tonight, June 13th, at 244 Berding Street in Ferndale for the tenth message in Mars Hill Church’s Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe series, entitled Church: God Sends. Dinner begins at 6:00, teaching begins around 7:00. Childcare will be available.

As a supplement to the sermon on the Resurrection that we listened to last week, I highly recommend the excellent sermon The Resurrection: An Idle Tale?, preached by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson.

The Resurrection: An Idle Tale?- Download

The Resurrection: An Idle Tale?- Stream

Dr. Ferguson is the preaching pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina and is one of my favorite preachers. I would enthusiastically encourage you to listen to any of his sermons on the FPC site or at Sermon Audio. Dr. Ferguson is also the author of numerous books and we have his book The Christian Life in our Books We Recommend section.

Last week we watched the sermon What Makes Jesus Superior To Other Saviors? That message was part of the Vintage Jesus sermon series that Mark Driscoll preached in the fall of 2006. If you are interested in accessing the content from the other sermons in the series, click on the links below:

10.08.06 – Is Jesus the Only God?
10.15.06 – How human was Jesus?
10.22.06 – What did Jesus accomplish on the cross?
10.29.06 – Did Jesus rise from death?
11.05.06 – Where is Jesus today?
11.12.06 – What will Jesus do upon His return?
11.19.06 – Why should we worship Jesus?
11.26.06 – What makes Jesus superior to other saviors?
12.03.06 – How did people know Jesus was coming?
12.10.06 – Why did Jesus come to earth?
12.17.06 – Why did Jesus’ mom need to be a virgin?
12.24.06 – What difference has Jesus made in history?

Also, you may be interested in reading book Vintage Jesus that Mark wrote with Dr. Gerry Breshears, which you can find in our Books We Recommend section.

What Makes Jesus Superior? Download the Sermon Video (m4v)

What Makes Jesus Superior- Read the Sermon Notes (pdf)