Sovereign Grace Church Middletown, Delaware » Church Blog

Dave Harvey, Church Planting & Sovereign Grace Ministries

cpatton — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:36:45 +0000

Dave Harvey, who oversees international expansion and church planting for Sovereign Grace Ministries (and is a close friend of our church), posted several days ago a brief history of church-planting in Sovereign Grace. Often visitors to our church will ask me about the history of our family of churches and much of what I tell them is contained in Dave’s post–so I encourage you to check it out here.

Sovereign Grace Mission Video

sovgrace — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:47:41 +0000

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to watch the first two videos in a three part series of videos that comprise this years Sovereign Grace Ministries Mission presentation.

If you missed it, the video below is the second part. Next, Sunday we will watch the third and final video.

Five Years of God’s Faithfulness!

sovgrace — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:00:06 +0000

This past Sunday we celebrated our five year annivesary as a local church!

To help us reflect on God’s goodness, we watched the portion of the 2005 Mission Video produced by Sovereign Grace Ministries that featured the start of this local church. We also watched a slideshow that helped us to reflect on what God has done in establishing this church. Both presentations are posted below.

Mission Video:

Slideshow:

The Gospel Is Like A Flywheel

cpatton — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:28:06 +0000

Think of an enormous, heavy, ponderous flywheel. That is the gospel. And once you get the gospel going, once you get the gospel moving, there is a deep understanding and a deep personal appreciation of the gospel. It has the power to carry with it incredible weight. It has the power to get things done as you attach things to this moving flywheel.

People can feel like the gospel is not close to them. But when you start talking about condemnation, or when you start talking about some of these other patterns of thought, they are very close to where people live. And so when you attach that truth to the gospel, now the gospel is doing its work in a way that is very close to where people live. This is how the gospel functions for them.

- Quotes from Mike Bullmore’s message “The Functional Centrality of the Gospel” at the 2005 Sovereign Grace Leaders Conference

Stott the Prophet

cpatton — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:08:27 +0000

John Stott, writing 27 years ago (I Believe in Preaching, p. 69):

“It is difficult to imagine the world in the year A.D. 2000, by which time versatile micro-processors are likely to be as common as simple calculators are today.

We should certainly welcome the fact that the silicon chip will transcend human brain-power, as the machine has transcended human muscle-power.

Much less welcome will be the probable reduction of human contact as the new electronic network renders personal relationships ever less necessary.

In such a dehumanized society the fellowship of the local church will become increasingly important, whose members meet one another, and talk and listen to one another in person rather than on screen. In this human context of mutual love the speaking and hearing of the Word of God is also likely to become more necessary for the preservation of our humanness, not less.”

HT: JT

Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

sovgrace — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:38:23 +0000

As promised on Sunday, here are the links to a series we did a few years back on biblical masculinity and femininity:

Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (part 1): Equal But Different (MP3)

Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (part 2): The Husband’s Role (MP3)

Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (part 3): The Wife’s Role In Marriage (MP3)

Just Do Something – Upcoming Series on Spiritual Guidance

sovgrace — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:44:18 +0000

That’s the title of a new three part series that Sovereign Grace Church in Middletown, DE will begin on Sunday, September 27. Our Pastor, Chris Patton, will show what trips us up from moving forward in making decisions. He’ll talk about how God speaks to us and what it means to be guided by wisdom. We want to encourage clear and biblical thinking about the subject of spiritual guidance. We cordially invite you to join us!

Note: Series title comes from Kevin DeYoung’s book “Just Do Something”

New CJ Mahaney Sermon Videos

cpatton — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:36:41 +0000

As most of you know CJ Mahaney leads our family/network of churches known as Sovereign Grace Ministries. Tony Reinke, on the Sovereign Grace Ministries blog, today posted a series of links that I have re-posted here to videos of CJ preaching. Enjoy!

A list of available videos:

Do Not Love the World
1 John 2:12–17
New Attitude
January 3, 2002

Sovereign Grace
Ephesians 1:4
Sovereign Grace Small Group Leaders Conference
November 14, 2002

Only One Gospel
Galatians 1:1–5
Covenant Life Church
December 8, 2002

Interrogating the Legalist Within
Galatians 3:1–5
Covenant Life Church
February 9, 2003

Cravings and Conflict
James 4:1–2
Covenant Life Church
March 21, 2004

The Morning After
Psalm 33
Covenant Life Church
October 31, 2004

Encourage
Ephesians 4:29
Covenant Life Church
December 12, 2004

Different by Design, Session 2
1 Timothy 3:14–16
Different by Design Conference
January 31, 2005

The Cross: A Meditation on Jesus’s Atoning Death
Isaiah 53
New Attitude Conference
May 29, 2006

The Assessment That Matters
1 Corinthians 3:18–4:5
Covenant Life Church
October 22, 2006

Deflating the Puffed Up Church
1 Corinthians 4:6–13
Covenant Life Church
November 5, 2006

Trinitarian Pastoral Ministry
2 Corinthians 13:14
Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference
April 13, 2007

The Idol Factory
Exodus 20:1–3
New Attitude Conference
May 27, 2007

Discern How to Apply
James 1:22
New Attitude Conference
May 29, 2007

The Cup
Mark 14:22–42
Covenant Fellowship
October 21, 2007

Who’s Really at Work?
Philippians 2:12–13
The Pursuit
November 10, 2007

Q&A on Biblical Masculinity
The Pursuit
November 10, 2007

A Warning Label
1 Corinthians 2:6–16
Sovereign Grace Church
February 3, 2008

Pastoral Character and Loving People
1 Corinthians 1:1–9
Resurgence: Text & Context Conference
February 25, 2008

Death Swallowed Up in Victory
1 Corinthians 15:17
Covenant Life Church
March 23, 2008

Sustaining a Pastor’s Soul
Philippians 1:3–8
Together for the Gospel
April 17, 2008

The Troubled Soul
Psalm 42
New Attitude Conference
May 25, 2008

Knowing God as Father
Galatians 4:1–7
Resolved Conference
June 17, 2008

The Scream of the Damned
Mark 15
Resolved Conference
June 16, 2008

Hidden in Plain Sight
1 Corinthians 1:1–9
Straight Up Conference
October 7, 2008

Q&A with James MacDonald
Straight Up Conference
October 7, 2008

Extravagant Devotion
Mark 14:1–11
20/20 Collegiate Conference
February 6, 2009

Death
Mark 15:33–39
Next Conference
May 25, 2009

Ligon Duncan – What Are The Non-Negotiables For The Gospel?

sovgrace — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:46:22 +0000

Ligon Duncan is a good friend of our family of churches, Sovereign Grace Ministries. He is the Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi. Enjoy listening to Mr. Duncan present the Gospel in this video.

John Calvin & the Glory of God

sovgrace — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:44:51 +0000

Steve Heitland, member of the pastoral team at Crossway Church in Lancaster, gave an excellent message this past Sunday entitled, “John Calvin and the Glory of God.” For those interested in learning more about Calvin, Steve recommends several excellent resources on the Crossway Church blog here.