My wife and I have gone to all of the Redeem Marriage events at Sojourn and we didn’t hesitate to sign up again for this Friday night! We know it will be a great opportunity to spend constructive time together doing something truly sanctifying and edifying. Through the Redeem Marriage events, we are being equipped to fight for our marriage and push through sin by the grace of God. Bethany and I know we must fight to see each other the way Christ sees us and live our marriage for Christ’s glory! Thanks to Sojourn for these sweet times of reflection and learning. — Chris and Bethany Fisher, Midtown Campus members

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Jesus is Better than Sex: Warfare and Redemption in the Marriage Bed

The marriage bed can be both heaven and hell on earth. Oftentimes, this area of intimacy ends up revealing the junk in our hearts. But such suffering and sin should compel us to seek Christ for refuge and relief. God designed the marriage bed to be a place where we can follow Christ, be redeemed by his love and enjoy him in deeper ways.

Join other Sojourn couples as we address this important aspect of marriage straight on with the gospel. You can also submit questions anonymously before the event for our Q&A sessions. Register for this marriage event whether you are struggling in your marriage or want to help others who are struggling in this area.

This event will include: – Coffee and tea – Door prizes – Intentional “heart-talk” time with your spouse – Gospel-centered teaching about marriage

All of the above for only $5/couple!

• Register here! Registration closes Friday at noon.
• And submit anonymous questions for the Q&A portion of this event here.

*Please note that due to the late ending time of this event childcare will not be provided*

Schedule: 6:30p-7:00p Welcome, Worship & Door Prizes

7:00p-7:45p Group Teaching

7:45p-8:00p Couples Group Q & A

8:00p-8:10p Break

8:10p-8:40p Husbands and Wives Separate Q & A

8:45p- 9:15p Heart Talk 9:15p-9:45p Wrap Up/Worship

“I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” — Gen. 17:7

Read these eight verses in your study time this weekend, and come prepared for what God will teach us together.

Songs we’ll sing together this week include:

• King Of Glory . Hear a sample on Amazon.com
• Faithful, from These Things I Remember. Hear “Faithful” in full.
• Approach My Soul, The Mercy Seat from The Mercy Seat/The War. Hear “Approach My Soul, The Mercy Seat” in full.

See you Sunday.

Zurich Marshall

Sojourn members Aaron and Nichole Marshall will arrive at Louisville International Airport this Thursday, Feb. 2 at 5pm with their new son, and would love for as many of you as possible to meet them there. We’ll gather in the lobby (outside security).

This is the end of a two-year journey to adopt Zurich from Ethiopia. Following a 9-month process of application, clearance and acceptance, (after over a year of paperwork and bureaucracy) Aaron and Nichole were told they would be able to officially adopt their son, an Ethiopian orphan they named Zurich, in November. On Nov. 17, the Marshalls appeared in Ethiopian court, filed all necessary paperwork and adopted Zurich.

The U.S. Embassy delayed approving a Visa for Zurich from then until only last week, January 24. Nichole has been living in a small apartment next to his orphanage since the November court date. Aaron has been with his wife and son in Ethiopia since December 23. The additional time subjected the family to sickness, victimization by local scam artists and enormous personal expenditures on top of an already expensive process.

The Marshalls wish to bring attention to their ordeal to protest the U.S. Embassy’s delays and treatment of not just them, but dozens, if not hundreds, of other families in similar circumstances.

This issue effects hundreds of generous American families and, more importantly, hundreds, if not thousands of children left as orphans around the world. Aaron and Nichole hope to bring light to the issue of the problems with International adoptions and ask U.S. government officials to help willing parents fight for needy children around the world.

You can read about the Marshall’s ordeal on their family blog here, and see more photos of Zurich. Then join us this Thursday, 5pm as we welcome the newest member of our family home. There’s even an Event page for this on Facebook, if you’d like to RSVP there (although you don’t have to).

Songs we’ll sing together this week include:

• Gifted Response. Hear a sample on Amazon.com
• Nothing Without You. Hear a sample on Amazon.com
• God Who Saves. Hear a sample on Amazon.com

See you Sunday.

Need a refresher? Listen to October’s God Gave sermons here.

This week our pastor will teach on the Parable of the Rich Fool from Luke 12:13-21.Read this brief section yourself or with your family this weekend, and come prepared for what the Spirit has for us Sunday.

Songs we’ll sing together include:

• Jealous Arm from The Mercy Seat EP. Hear “Jealous Arm” in full here.
• My Maker and My King from Before The Throne. Listen to “My Maker and My King” in full here.
• Lead Us Back from Before The Throne. Hear “Lead Us Back” in full and read about it here.
• All I Have Is Yours from Before The Throne. Read about “All I Have Is Yours” and listen in full here.
• Whom Have I In Heaven But You from The War EP. Hear “Whom Have I In Heaven But You” in full here.

See you Sunday.

We will celebrate another Baptism Sunday on March 4. If you would like to take this important step in identifying with Christ and His bride, email baptism@sojournchurch.com by February 28.

One of my first memories of church is being peeled off my mother’s leg by the children’s minister because I absolutely did not want to go back to Sunday school.  My parents are solid believers and understood the importance of raising their children to understand the gospel.  Needless to say they patiently and lovingly brought me back every week, and while my experiences with church never really improved, I did grow in my understanding that there was a God who sent His Son to make a pretty significant sacrifice for me because I was definitely less than perfect.

Fast forward to high school and I began to get involved in Young Life (the organization that was the catalyst for both of my parents to become believers when they were younger) and I finally felt like I had found a group of people where I didn’t need to have it all together.  My Young Life leaders had no expectations (unlike our church youth group where you needed to act a certain way and have the right answer), they just focused on the gospel and knew that through a relationship with Christ my heart (and thus actions) would be refined.

I was sitting under the stars one night at Frontier Ranch in the mountains of Colorado after a particularly devastating talk about how sinful I was and it hit me that my relationship with the Lord was not really a relationship at all.  It needed to be more than something I believed because it was what I had grown up with. I needed to develop my own personal walk with the Lord.

I had heard that “sin talk” numerous times throughout my life, but that evening the Lord opened my heart to what it meant for ME.  From a young age I had taken for granted that Jesus died for my sins but it was at that point that I started a personal relationship with Christ and began to understand what it meant to surrender my life to Him.

Not long after that I left for college and had the incredible fortune throughout those four years to be discipled by strong women who challenged me in my sin, encouraged me in my walk with the Lord, and taught me what it meant to dig into the Word and grow in my relationship with Christ.

After college I moved to Louisville and got involved in Sojourn.  It was here that I first saw what church, done biblically, was really supposed to be like.  Of course it’s not perfect, no church ever will be, but it was a stark contrast from what I’d grown up knowing and the walls I had built up against the church slowly began to crumble.

At Sojourn I have experienced community that challenges me to open up in new ways, dig deep into the lives of those around me, and “preach the gospel to myself” every day.  Here, I am continually learning through community and the preaching of the Word what it means to walk in obedience to Christ. It is for this reason that I have chosen to be baptized today: to proclaim that Christ is my Lord and in him I am forgiven and redeemed.

This week our pastor will continue with Abraham’s story. We’ll learn about the Covenant God made with Abraham, what this meant for God’s people in the Old and New Testament, and what it means for us today. Come prepared to learn and to let the Word of God strengthen and challenge us together.

This is also our first Baptism Sunday of 2012. It’s always exciting to celebrate this exciting symbol of new life in Christ. Bring your friends!

Songs we’ll all sing this Sunday include:

• Rock of Ages from The War/The Mercy Seat. Listen to “Rock of Ages” in full here.
• There Is A Peace from Before The Throne. Hear “There Is A Peace” in full here.
• We Are Changed from Over The Grave. Listen to “We Are Changed” in full here.

See you Sunday.

We will celebrate another Baptism Sunday on January 15. If you would like to take this important step in identifying with Christ and His bride, email baptism@sojournchurch.com by Monday, January 9.

I grew up in a Christian home with loving parents. My father was a Southern Baptist minister, which means I was in church or at a church function eight days a week. Unfortunately, my home growing up could also be considered legalistic. Doing the right thing and looking the part seemed to be more important than admitting imperfections.

Because my life was engulfed by “church”, I was corralled into saying a version of the sinner’s prayer at the age of seven and was baptized. With no true understanding of the gospel, I dove into a life of good-works, trying to improve my position before God. Feeling defeated and overwhelmed by my failures I began to doubt by salvation.

At the age of 15, I did the only thing I knew to do that would give me an assurance of salvation, I repeated the sinner’s prayer and was rebaptized. Again, not understanding the gospel, I started round two of trying to earn my salvation through good works. When I moved out of my parent’s house to attend college, for the first time in my life I felt free to live the life of who I really was inside, a sinner. I proceeded to satisfy my youthful desires in women, drugs and the abuse of alcohol.

While in college I met a man who was a part of a college ministry called Campus Outreach. He asked me if I would be interested in hanging out once a week. What I didn’t know was that he was going to share the gospel with me every week for an entire year. Believing that I was already a Christian, just backslidden, I became annoyed by our discussions.

One day, frustrated from our conversation, I went home mentally spent, sat on the end of my bed and cried out to God for truth. I didn’t care anymore if I was right or if he was right, I just wanted truth. I picked up my bible and began to read a bible I’ve never read before. God began to allow me to see the truth of the gospel on every page. At the age of 21, God, not me, redeemed me from my sin and adopted me as His son. I would still consider myself a sinner, but a sinner with hope.

“having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might.” Ephesians 1:18-19