Ministry Sunday at 2:42

Hello, everyone, We have been mentioning the last few weeks that we would like to set-aside a Sunday morning that is dedicated to ministry and outreach. I told everyone last week that we would be putting together care-packages for our local homeless community, and that I would provide the list of materials to shop for and to bring. Well, here it is:

shoeboxes
toothpaste
toothbrushes
waterproof watch
$10 gift cards to local eateries
phone cards
warm socks
Beenies
comb
soft chewy granola bars
chapstickk
a sports bottle
small first aid kit
stationary and stamped envelopes

Use the comment section below and chime in with what items (and a rough estimate of how much) you can bring. I know this is last minute guys, and I apologize.

If you're anything like me, you're wondering what kind of ship we're running around here to not get the ministry details posted until Thursday night. Well, I'll tell you what kind of ship... A busy, undermanned one!

We need your help!

Frankly, it would be easier to call the whole thing off and do some more teaching next Sunday, but I am strongly committed to getting the group in the business of reaching out and ministering to our community. If it doesn't go perfectly, then I'm fine with that. I am eager to see who God might raise up in our group to provide some leadership and direction to this important part of our ABF.

Picnic in the park

Hey everyone! We're having a 2:42 picnic lunch on September 30th. The picnic will be after church and we will meet over by the playground in Mitchell park. Everyone, please bring your own food. If possible, try to pack lunch before hand since the wait at most places is pretty long after church lets out (Gus's took an hour last time we tried this!).

To summarize:
Who: Grace 2:42 ABF.
What: Picnic lunch.
Where: By the playground at Mitchell Park, across the street from Grace.
When: September 30th, at roughly 12:30 (depending on how long or short the service goes).
Why: Fellowship!

See you all there.

Cooking Classes.

Hello, Everyone!

We have missed being in 2:42 this summer and plan on rejoining the class once the church switches back to to 3 services.

I just wanted to announce that a very good friend of mine is teaching some cooking classes through the Lucia Mar Adult Ed. All classes are on Tuesday night from 6-9PM. The first one is this next Tues, Sep. 4th. If you are interested, please call me and I can sign you up! Each segment is two weeks, but if you are interested in just one of the weeks, the cost is cut in half. The classes are as follows:

Starters 101 $30
Sep. 4th and Sep. 11
Enjoy planning for your next get-together with easy and delicious hors'douerves.
Dinner 101: Includes roasted chix and veggies, couscous, salad, chocolate ravioli.

Baking With Love $30
Sept. 25th and Oct. 3
Choco dipped pretzels, scones (savory and sweet), pie crusts for pot pies and desserts, muffins, brownies, cookies, choco peppermint cake, bread pudding.

Italian Cooking $40
Oct. 9 and Oct. 16
Pasta and much more...Prosciutto and peas pasta, garlic bread, croutons, bruscetta, baked pasta rigatoni, meatballs, Caesar salad, and polenta.

Hearty Soups and Sides $40
Oct. 23 and Oct. 30
Hearty full flavored soups and delicious Thanksgiving sides made easy.


I'll definitely be doing the first two classes and I think it could be a lot of fun if a group of people decided to take them. The prices include all supplies, too.

Thanks and we'll see you at church.
Joy Newman

Message from Cade Newman:

Cade Newman sent me this email, and asked if we could post it on the blog. Please read and see if you can participate with him in any way. Thanks! - Phillip

Hello all.

I’m writing to let you know of an annual bike ride/fund raiser that we’ve organized and taken part in for the past couple of years, and to invite you and your family to join us this July 21^st.

This year my friends and I created a team called "Larry's Friends" to honor our friend Glenn's brother who has ALS. Our goal is to raise money by asking friends and family to sponsor us per mile.

My goal in posting this is to offer you a chance to join us and raise your own sponsorship (or simply enjoy a great ride). For those not up to 100 miles, there are shorter rides. We even have a 5K fun ride on the Bob Jones Trail, and a BBQ for all participants and family members after the ride. We're starting and ending at the Avila Beach Golf Course. They have a large grassy area by Avila Beach where families can walk to the beach, rent kayaks, etc. It should be a lot of fun for everyone.

If you’re interested in joining us, check out the site at www.centralcoastcentury.com.

Maybe somebody would even like to start a 2:42 team?

Love to have you join us. Contact me with any questions.

Cade

Praise Report

I wanted to let 2:42 know the good news about our prayer request for our house hunt. Over the past few weeks, we had an excellent offer come in on our Condo. What a relief! We'll have sold our place at the end of this week. We're now also in escrow on a new place... it looks like we're here to stay. Thank you all for your prayers!

What other answered prayers are out there?

Centrality of the Gospel

My wife reminded me last night that I said I was going to post the Tim Keller article, "The Centrality of the Gospel" to the blog. So... here it is.

I didn't get a chance to go through everything in this article, and it is worth taking the time to really sit down and think about it.

I am looking forward to beginning "The Disciplines of Grace" by Jerry Bridges this week. The books have come in, so if you were hoping to get them from us, I believe the cost is $12. If you can't afford a book (or forget your money) that should be ok.

I'm looking forward to it!

Calling All 2:42 Ladies

Are any women out there interested in a Bible study for the summer? Just something where we could fellowship once a week and discuss the topics from Sunday. This would be a wonderful way to get to know the women of the ABF group. If you're interested e-mail Elizabeth Casparro at ecasparro@gmail.com or just 'comment' on this post with your thoughts or days and times you'd be available.

Thanks Elizabeth for heading this up; sounds great!

- Kate

Let's put feet to this thing

Okay, it's time to stop talking about how great it would be to get together and start doing it! So... Beach Night (families welcome)

Where: Avila Beach (in front of park)
When: Thursday May 17th (yes, that's next Thursday)
Time: 5:30-8pm
Eats: We'll provide hot dogs and buns (and condiments), Kool-aid, chips, and strawberries
I'd also be cool if we had homeade cookies for dessert, but I'll need some help for that.
Cost: $2/adult (to cover some of the cost)

All you have to bring is more munchies if you want them, and any toys, towels, or blankets. Please post a comment if I'm missing anything else.

I'm looking for some help to put this thing all together so if anyone is willing please let me know!

Please post your comments if you can come or not, as we'll have to make decisions on how much food to buy.

Hope to see you there!

-Travis

More than halfway through...

Hello again. We are almost through with our "fundamentals of 2:42" series.

I must say that I was very blessed by our discussion time last week and this week- led by Travis and Eric. It was great to look at scripture together and examine the nature of fellowship, and how it should play out in our daily lives.

I am excited to see how we all begin experiencing biblical fellowship together and in our community. Travis will post (soon - right?) with follow-up opportunities to all that we discussed on Sunday.

In the meantime, I would like to take a minute and get a few of your reactions on how things are going so far. What are your thoughts on the teaching and the discussion times? Is it working? Do you like this format? Do you have ideas on how it could be better? Would you rather have a video?

We have two more weeks to finish out this series before we move on, and I would love some feedback on the teaching so far. This is your ABF - chime in!

Phillip Moses

The Fundamentals of 2:42

Hello, my name is Phillip Moses, and I am the new Teaching Leader of 2:42. As I mentioned last Sunday, this title does not imply that you will be stuck listening to me each week. Rather, I will be coordinating between our team of leaders, and hopefully keeping my ear to the ground on issues that the group would benefit learning about.

I mentioned on Sunday that the next six weeks (five now, really) we will be looking at the fundamentals of 2:42. Using Acts 2:42 as the template for our group's vision, we are looking at what it means to devote ourselves "to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."

Here is the basic outline of where we will be going in the next few weeks, starting with last Sunday:

I. The Importance of Doctrine
II. The Importance of Gospel-Centered Fellowship
III. The Importance of Prayer

Last week, we jumped into The Importance of Doctrine, and my goal was to first help us define essentially what "doctrine" is. We all agreed that there were alot of negative thoughts and associations that usually come along with doctrine in general. However, as we look at why the study of doctrine is so important, it becomes clear that it is vital and necessary in the life of the Christian.

Here is the 1828, Webster's dictionary definition of doctrine:

"In a general sense, whatever is taught. Hence, a principle or position in any science, whatever is laid down as true by an instructor or master. The doctrines of the gospel are the principles or truths taught by Christ and his apostles. The doctrines of Plato are the principles, which he taught. Hence a doctrine may be true or false; it may be a mere tenet or opinion."

In an article by Jean LeStourgeon, which is essentially summarizing an R. C. Sproule lecture (and a source relied on heavily for this posting), LeStourgeon states the following:

"Your doctrine is the underlying principles of what you believe. As Webster's says they can be true or false. Whether you think doctrine is important or not, don't be deceived, everyone has doctrine. Sound doctrine enables us to worship God in spirit and in truth, but since our beliefs also generate our thoughts, emotions and ultimately our actions, Biblical doctrine aids us in godly behavior and attitudes as well."

Simply put, all of us live by a certain doctrine. It is the core values of our life that define our actions. Therefore, true and sound doctrine is required for right living. You can’t modify behaviour without first modifying the underlying belief system.

More than that, our doctrine is a representation of our understanding of who God is, or our Theology of God. If our doctrine is biblical, then our understanding of God is biblical. If our doctrine is founded on the presuppositions of men, then our understanding of God will be clouded by fallen, human assumptions.

Doctrine is important because Truth is preeminently important. John MacArthur puts it this way, “God's strategy centers on objective truth, not subjective experience."

Doctrine is important, because God gave us both His written word, by which we are to know Him, and He has given us the mental capacity to observe Him through the Scriptures. Here's another John MacArthur quote: “God never intended His people to worship Him apart from the use of their minds. Real spirituality begins with a precise understanding of truth."

Next week, we will look at "fundamental doctrines." I'll save you the lecture and put it to you this way: the fundamental doctrines of scripture are the ones that are drawn from and clearly understood by scripture. They are all things that pertain to saving faith in Christ, and all things that Scripture clearly states we are forbidden to deny.

Thus, our doctrine is determined by nothing more than Scripture. We find ourselves back to one of the five “solas” of the Reformation: Sola Scriptura - “Scripture Alone.”

Doctrine is important, because Scripture is important. That is basically what I aim to communicate next week, and hopefully our homework for this week will lead us into some good discussion on Sunday morning.

In the meantime, please feel free to comment and let us know what you think of this new series. I look forward to seeing you next week!

So, how's it going?

Well, I'm the one that bugged you guys last week to come to this blog, so I better step up to the plate and post something.

We've had quite the past several weeks. We worked our way through a loaded R.C. Sproul series, we had a picnic, we had the "Roast of P. Steve", and we finally took some time off to hang out and pray for and with each other. Not bad for something that just started in February!

So, with about two weeks until our next meeting, I want to ask, how is 2:42 going? What can we do better? What sucks? Do we need more prayer? Less video? A live teacher?

Did you enjoy the video series? Would you like to do another one? Insert question here?

Let us know. I'm committed to this class, and by the turnout, you guys are to. Please help me/us by taking some ownership and letting us know what we can try to do better.

Speaking of ownership, we are still looking for potential teachers, leader, and/or behind the scenes help. If you feel a calling to step up in any capacity (and it can be as simple as making sure coffee is out in the morning or bringing nametags), please let me know, we need help.

So, how's it going?

You Got Questions?

So I hear Sproul with his 80's 'do and bright blue carpet (not to mention short shorts of some audience members!) has raised some questions for 2:42. The leadership guys asked me to come by on Sunday and field some questions from a pastoral standpoint--and I'm excited! I was just talking with Pastor Tim about this and he's bummed he can't be in there with me! SO, I thought it would be fun to start hearing your questions. Post 'em here for everyone and come on Sunday to get 'em answered. I think we're going to have some fun together!

Welcome to the 2:42 Blog!

As today was the first official Sunday for 2:42, I thought it would be fun to kick things off by asking a question. What is the biggest reason(s) that you are attending 2:42? and what are you looking forward to most in this fellowship?