Fast: Week of Mar 7
Abstain from food for a day or more. When you would normally eat, meditate on the Word or pray instead.
What?
Abstain from food for a day or more. When you would normally eat, meditate on the Word or pray instead.
Why?
We constantly seek to fill our emptiness by consuming food and other comforts. We ignore the state of our soul and our neighbor’s need by medicating with food and drink. Regular fasting turns us from our tendency to consume. In our hunger, it exposes who we really are, helps us sympathize with those who often go without, and opens us to feast on the Word of God, Jesus Christ, the nourishing bread and water of our souls.
(The Common Rule, adapted)
How?
Decide how long you will fast, whether that will be one to two meals or one or more days. Prior to fasting, be sure to consider any personal health risks (e.g., if you are diabetic, pregnant or nursing, etc.) and consult a doctor if necessary. Make sure to stay hydrated. It is best to ease into and out of a fast: Reduce your meal size prior to fasting, and do not engorge yourself when breaking the fast.
Plan what you will do rather than eating, such as praying or reading Scripture. This is what makes the practice most spiritually edifying. Also, plan on how the lack of food will likely affect you both physically and emotionally and prepare to counter these. For example, you might be tired and irritable. If you expect this, pray that the Lord would give you strength and a calm demeanor.
Daily Reading: March 5
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: March 4
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: March 3
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: March 2
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: March 1
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: February 28
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Sabbath: Week of Feb 28
One day this week, rest from your normal activities and engage in a refreshing or restorative activity.
What?
One day this week, rest from your normal activities and engage in a refreshing or restorative activity.
Why?
Our constant doing and connecting trains us to believe that the world needs us to function. The weekly practice of Sabbath, however, teaches us that God sustains the world and that we don’t. To make a countercultural embrace of our limitations, we stop our usual work for one day of rest. Sabbath is a gospel practice because it reminds us that the world doesn’t hang on what we can accomplish, but rather on what God has accomplished for us.
(The Common Rule, adapted)
How?
Think about what your average day consists of — checking emails, making phone calls, cleaning the house, running errands, etc. For one twenty-four-hour period, refrain from these activities. Consciously step away from the noise and bustle of daily life.
Resting does not necessarily entail refraining from all activity. (Remember that Jesus healed on the Sabbath!) Plan to do something refreshing. That will look different for every person and family and might include arranging an extended period in the Word or in prayer, spending time with friends, grabbing a good book, or heading to the park.
Some Christian leaders have recognized that, since we have a body and a mind, our Sabbath rest ought to refresh that part of us that lies stagnant throughout the week. That is, if you tend to work with your hands, something restful or restorative will engage the mind, and if your work involves a lot of brain power, consider a more physical activity.
Daily Reading: February 26
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: February 25
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: February 24
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: February 23
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: February 22
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: February 21
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Curate Media: Week of Feb 21
Limit your intake of streaming videos (YouTube, Netflix, and the like) to five hours or less this week.
What?
Limit your intake of streaming videos (YouTube, Netflix, and the like) to five hours or less this week.
Why?
Humans are created for stories, which root themselves deeply into our hearts. We slowly begin to view the world according to the stories we absorb. Resisting the constant stream of addictive media forces us to curate what we watch. Curating stories with an eye towards spiritual formation means that we seek stories that uphold beauty, that teach us to love justice, and that turn us to community.
(The Common Rule, adapted)
How?
Decide first what days you will watch media. On the other days, choose a few activities you can do when you would normally sit in front of a screen. (Consider some activities you can do alone and some with others.) Alternatively, set aside only thirty minutes to an hour each day to watch a documentary, show, or video.
Before the week begins, do a little research and create a little catalogue of shows or movies that uphold beauty, teach us to love justice, or turn us to community. Then, during your media time, pick something from your catalogue. Resist the urge to scroll.
You might consider adding sports and news to this practice in addition to streaming videos if you find yourself constantly before these media sources.
Commit with another person to practice this discipline and hold each other accountable.
Daily Reading: February 19
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
Daily Reading: February 18
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.
To receive these readings to your inbox, sign-up with your email using the link below.
If I was baptized as an infant or a young child, do I need to be baptized again?
This question inevitably arises with each round of Covenant Partnership classes or as a Baptism Service draws nearer. Therefore, it seems right to the leadership of TPC that we set out more explicitly the counsel that we often give to those asking this question.
On Re-baptisms
The Parks Church does not believe that “re-baptism” is a biblical category. In the New Testament, we do not see, by example or teaching, Christians who have rightly stepped into the waters of baptism once doing so again. The reason is simple:
Baptism “signifies and seals our adoption into God's covenantal family, our cleansing from sin, and our commitment to belong to the Lord and to his Church” (TPC Catechism). To undergo baptism a second time proclaims that you once were united with Christ, freed and cleansed of sin, and adopted into the family of God but that you came again under the mastery of sin. Jesus, you are proclaiming, lost one of his own, which he explicitly says he cannot do (John 10:28-29). Moreover, as the writer of Hebrews states the case, you would be “crucifying once again the Son of God” (Hebrews 6:6), another impossibility.
On Invalid Baptisms
When the New Testament commands or depicts baptism, faith and repentance always precede the action. Justification of our sins and union with Christ — that which baptism “signifies and seals” — does not occur without them (e.g., Mark 1:5; Acts 2:38; 2:41; 8:12-13; 18:8; Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 2:11-12; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21). Therefore, The Parks Church believes that baptisms that occur without the presence of faith and repentance are invalid. They do not follow the biblical teaching or model of the sacrament.
For that reason, it is right to encourage someone who was baptized invalidly to be truly and rightly baptized for the first time. This, we believe, would not be an instance of re-baptism but of valid baptism.
Some Additional Questions
“So when I was sprinkled as an infant, that Didn’t count?”
On the whole, we would answer, “No, because faith and repentance were not, and could not have been, present, that was an invalid baptism.” We concede that historically the Church has practiced infant baptism. Records in the first few centuries after Christ reveal both infant and adult baptisms. On the one hand, many hold infant baptism for poor, theologically unsound reasons. But on the other hand, some Bible-believing, gospel-trusting Christians make well-reasoned arguments in favor of this practice (though we find these arguments ultimately to be lacking, as exhibited here). Some in this camp admittedly have a conversion experience later in life while others claim that they cannot point to a time when they did not trust in Jesus.
In all cases, we will always encourage a believer to be rightly baptized for the first time following the presence of faith in Christ and the evidence of repentance. Only in the latter instance — a sound biblical case for infant baptism and a lifetime of following the Lord — would we not press one to enter into the waters of baptism. When a conversion experience and the fruit of repentance can be recounted after being baptized, however, it would seem to be the case that faith was not present at the time of baptism, thus invalidating the sacrament.
“I was baptized when I was six. Did that count?”
The answer may be yes or no depending on the context. Here are a few considerations:
If you were baptized out of a sense of obligation or pressure, whether implicit or explicit, the baptism was invalid. This is perhaps the most black-and-white instance of child baptism. Faith and repentance were in no way present.
The amount of faith or depth of understanding you had as a child when you were baptized is largely irrelevant to this issue. Some doubt the validity of their baptism because they wonder if they really trusted in Jesus then. Others, after coming to see the beauty of the gospel more clearly, doubt whether they understood it all as a child stepping into the waters of baptism.
In the first case, we must remember that it is not the amount of faith that saves us but the object of our faith. Even a feeble trust in the Lord saves, not because of the weakness of the faith but because of the strength and power of our Savior. A baptism undergone with little faith is valid so long as that faith is placed in Jesus Christ.
In the second case, no matter at what age you were baptized, it should always be the case that, as you continue to walk with Christ, you will gain a greater knowledge of the gospel. You almost certainly, whether you were baptized at age six or sixty, did not have a full picture of the gospel at that time. Indeed, Paul says that all of us know only in part and will only fully know at the end of time (1 Corinthians 13:8-12). Again, it is Christ who saves, not any capacity or attribute in yourself.
The evidence of your life post-baptism is relevant to the issue, though not conclusive. “Each tree is known by its own fruit,” Jesus affirms (Luke 6:44). If the trajectory of your life following your baptism as a child veered far from God, if you were in open rebellion against him, it is likely the case that the seed of true faith was not planted in you at the time of your baptism, making it an invalid baptism. Now, following true faith and repentance, you should be rightly baptized.
If, on the other hand, you have continued to walk with God since that time and you have demonstrated the fruit of repentance, do not doubt the work that God began in you at that young age.
For many asking this question, however, your life is more checkered, the fruit more difficult to inspect. You seem to have run with God at times and away from him at other times. That might have been the case simply because you are not yet fully sanctified or perfected but, throughout that time in question, you still had been gifted a new, regenerate heart from the Lord. Yet it may be that you were not in fact saved until later. In this case, we encourage you to seek counsel from a pastor or elder and, more importantly, from the Holy Spirit, for it is he who ultimately “bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16).
On the whole, however, as in the case of faith and knowledge, trust Jesus’ perfection, not your own. Let your testimony be that, although you tried to run away, God would not have it and held you firmly in his fatherly love. For that is indeed what he does so graciously for all of us.
Daily Reading: February 17
Today’s Scripture Reading
Reflection and Prayer
What do these passages reveal about God, and how can his revealed character cause me to praise him, give him thanks, or wonder at his mystery?
How does God speak into the historical situation of the original readers and work to bring about his redemption in Jesus Christ? How does this build my trust in God's ability to fulfill his promises regardless of my present circumstances?
What sins do these passages expose that I need to confess before the Lord? In response to the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, how am I to think, act, and worship differently, putting off my sin and putting on Christ's righteousness?
How do these passages challenge the ways I typically engage my spheres of influence? How do they encourage me to live in the Kingdom of God and pray for the redemption of all things?
These passages follow the TPC daily Bible reading plan, which leads us as a community through the full breadth of God’s Word over the course of two years. For more information, click here.