Knox - 5 weeks old

Knox III

Not Just cute, Gerber cute!

Knox Pics II

Can't get enough of him! Here he is!

Knox Alexander Covert

Knox Alexander Covert
Born: 2-19-2007 10:25pm
7 lbs. 9 oz. & 20 inches

Evening Sermons

Check out these sermons by Rev. Ashton Stewart on the awakening in Iran
Sermon Audio 10/8/06
Evening Sermons 10/8/06

An Encounter with Jesus

John 1:35The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" 37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.[g] 40One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus[h] was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). 42He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter[i]).

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael 43The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 48Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these." 51And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

What happens to someone who truly encounters Jesus? What happens to their thoughts, actions, joys and desires? I can tell you this much, they DO NOT STAY THE SAME! Remember John (the apostle) is this second disciple here. He is giving us further testimony that this Jesus truly is the Son of God. This is his story of his encounter with Jesus Christ. Notice a few things:

1. This event with life changing - the Kennedy assassination, walking on the moon, 9/11, these are events in recent memory that people remember just where they were at the moment when these happened. Why do we remember such vivid details? Because they were life/world changing. Here John gives us vivid details of his first encounter with Jesus, he even remembers the hour!

2. This event was desire changing - what was first on their hearts? I HAVE TO GO TELL MY FAMILY! I HAVE TO GO TELL ME FRIENDS AND MY NEIGHBORS! This was indeed GREAT NEWS that must be expressed!

3. This event was heart changing - Skeptics were turned to believers. Hard hearts were melted like wax. The proud were humbled.

All this leads me to ask you a question, Have you encountered Jesus Christ? Remember from last wed night, that we tell we are followers of Jesus by looking at the past and current fruit in our life and seeing if we "walk as Jesus walked." Look, at your life! What do you see? Has your world been turned upside down by this man who knows your name, your most inmost thoughts, your comings and goings? This man who is the bridge between heaven and earth, this Lamb who shall take away your sins and mine and give us a new name if we come to Jesus? This is what HE says unto you, REPENT! Turn away from your sin and your current walk, and get a new step! Indeed, Jesus says unto you, "COME AND SEE...COME, FOLLOW ME! "

Thoughts on Happiness (aka TRUE JOY) from John Piper

There is a Way to Be Happy, Even in SadnessGodly Sorrow: Jesus' and Ours
By John Piper March 23, 2005

Christian Hedonists (Those who seek joy in Christ) embrace necessary sorrow for the glory of God. On the one hand, we are utterly committed to pursuing joy in God at all times. But on the other hand, we know there is more to the emotional life of godly people than joy. Joy is not the only good emotion. But without delight in God, no emotion would be good. Either as component or the concomitant of all godly emotions, it is joy in God that makes them good.
Consider sorrow. Neither Jesus nor the Holy Spirit has ever sinned. But both have grieved. Both have been sorrowful. Therefore, godly sorrow is possible.
Not only that, godly sorrow is possible also for sinners. It is possible precisely because of our sin. One form of sorrow is sorrow for doing something wrong. So Paul writes to the Corinthians:
For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it. . . . I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. 10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:8-10)
At least two things govern what makes sorrow good. One is the cause, the other is the outcome. The cause of godly sorrow for our own sin is the spiritual perception of its moral ugliness, not just its negative consequences. We see it as morally repugnant. This repugnance is owing to our spiritual preference for the taste of the truth and beauty of God. Therefore our sorrow for sin is rooted in our savoring of God. Sin is a revolting flavor in the feast of godwardness. Therefore, sorrow over this is a signal that we delight in God. That is what makes the sorrow good.
The outcome of good sorrow for sin is repentance and holiness. In fact, repentance includes sorrow for sin and extends it to a more durable experience of holy living. This holy living is the outward form of delighting in God above all sin. Therefore delight in God is what makes the sorrow and repentance good.
But what about sorrow that is not for our own sin, but for the way we are sinned against or the way we are hurt by calamity and loss? Jesus sorrowed like this. For example, when he saw the Pharisees murmuring about his healing on the Sabbath, “He looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart” (Mark 3:5). And in the garden of Gethsemane, he said, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch” (Mark 14:34).
Jesus’ sorrow was not owing to his own sin, but to the sins of others. This is the way it is with the Holy Spirit as well. Paul calls us to put sin out of our lives so that we do not grieve the Spirit: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:29-30).
In the same way believers embrace godly grief not only for our own sins but for the sins of others and for the pain that loss brings us. For example, Peter speaks of our grieving over trials: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, as was necessary, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6). Paul speaks of our grieving over lost loved ones: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). And Paul refers to his own grief over the lostness of his kinsmen: “My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart (Romans 9:1).
Nevertheless Paul makes the astonishing statement in 2 Corinthians 6:10 that what marks his life and should mark ours is “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” This is what makes our sorrow godly. I do not claim that this experience is simple or that we can even put it into adequate words—what it means to be joyful in sorrow. Heaving sobs at the loss of a loved one does not look like joy. Indeed is not joy in its fullness, as we will know it when “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
Rather the joy that endures through sorrow is the foretaste of that future joy in God which we hope for in the future. When Jesus was “very sorrowful, even to death” in Gethsemane he was sustained by “the joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2). This does not mean that he felt in the garden or on the cross all that he would feel in the resurrection. But it does mean that he hoped in it and that this hope was an experienced foretaste of that joy.
Therefore, we groan here, waiting for the redemption of our bodies and for the removal of all our sins (Romans 8:23). This groaning and grieving is godly if it is molded by our delight in hope of glory (Romans 5:2-3). The delight is muffled by the pain. But it is there in seed form. It will one day grow into a great vine that yields wine of undiluted delight.
So let us embrace whatever sorrow God appoints for us. Let us not be ashamed of tears. Let the promise that joy comes with the morning (Psalm 30:5) sustain and shape our grief with power and goodness of God.

Joy either spills out or dries up

Joy. We have been talking the last few weeks about the joy offered to us in Christ. We are hedonist (pleasure seekers) by nature, yet in our sinful nature we seek pleasure in all the wrong places, this is sin and the "wages of sin is death." You see, God created us to glorify and ENJOY HIM forever. Yet we have a problem due to our sin nature and the flowing sin actions we are incapable of glorifying Him and enjoying Him. We are dead as a door nob, as scripture puts it we are "dead in our sins and trespasses." And as the catechism summarizes we are made liable to all the miseries of this life... and the WRATH OF GOD. All your friends, your family, your neighbors, everyone apart from a miracle is subject to the alimghty infinite wrath of God. Where is the hope then? In Jesus Christ through His Spirit. We are going to see a little more this Sunday from John chapter 1 how this is possible for us to be Born Again.

One must be Born again, or born from above to experience true joy for as we are told in Galatians it is a fruit of the Spirit. If you do not experience daily joy in Christ, you DO NOT have the Spirit. We all have our bad days, but we judge a tree by its fruit! DO NOT FOOL YOURSELF! Look to your fruit, do you see Gospel joy shining though even the bad days of your life? Remember as Martin Loyd-Jones said, "Joy is a response and reaction to seeing the glory of God (aka Christ)." It flows from and is rooted in Him and that joy is to overflow. If your joy is not overflowing in sharing Christ it will dry up. Let the Spirit of God fill you to overflowing with the Spirit of CHrist as you bask in His Glory by seeing Him in the Word of God and then may your joy spill out onto others. May we see a mighty harvest as God uses these little old Spounges to show His Good NEWS to a dying world. Let His love flow!

It's a boy!

It's a Boy! Check out the baby pics!


Is that Darth Maul? haha