Ditching the Orange Jump Suit (Eph. 4:17-32)
Bethel Church | Jackson, Michigan
Pastor Ken Pierpont
June 11, 2023 AM
A Small Circle | Bittersweet Farm Journal | June 8, 2023
We have returned from our visit to Oregon and settled back into our routine and Bethel Church and Bittersweet Farm. Though we need rain, it has been delightful weather of late and I’ve been working in my loft over the Carriage House. The other evening I saw a Northern Flicker for the first time. They are common but I had never seen them before. A flash of yellow under the wings and their unique pattern of color captured my attention as the unusual woodpeckers hopped along the ground eating supper.
A friend of mine (Dr. David Parsons) says, “…a flicker is a bird that could only be drawn by a kindergartener or created by God. What sensible adult would dream to give this guy a mustache, a polka-dotted belly, red splotches on his head, a white rump spot, a triangular black bib, a striped back and super bright yellow feathers under the wings and tail.”
That is why we call Him, “Our Great Creator.” Anyway I like to work in the loft when I can. I’m closer to the birds out here and if it rains it will ring on the roof like music.
A Small Circle of Love
It is the prerogative of storytellers to repeat their best stories. So you will understand if you remember this story from the Bethel Pulpit a few weeks ago. Maybe you have heard me mention watching the movie “A Man Called Peter,” and reading the book with the same title. It is an inspiring true story of a Scottish immigrant who lost his father in his youth. He came to America and eventually became the pastor the of the New York Street Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C. and chaplain of the Senate. They say his sermons were powerful.
The church was weak when he came but soon the auditorium was filled to capacity and the choir loft and the balcony. In one scene people waited in the rain to hear the young Scotsman’s prosaic sermons delivered in his musical native dialect.
It’s dangerous for pastors to read books and watch movies like that. Few of us will ever preach to great crowds or be assigned to positions of power and prestige. It can ruin a man to expect it. It is good to have holy ambition and attempt great things for God, but it is as important to be faithful and fruitful in all the small daily assignments we are given and leave the scale and scope of our ministry ultimately to the Lord.
I love the story Fred Craddock tells of the baptism at Watts Barr Lake in Tennessee. After the outdoor baptism a small circle of Christians stood around the fire and each one introduced himself and offered his unique way of serving. Craddock said that they have a name for what in the mountains. They call it “Church.”
We may wait for years and years for the moon and stars to align in a way that people will line up in the rain and pack the church all the way to the balcony, but this very week we can gather with a few around the fire and listen and love and care and follow the Jesus way.
You may not draw a great crowd, but you can find someone to love and so can I. Before I went to the study this morning I stopped at the Hospice facility, there I found a precious soul eager to talk about eternal things. One of our members introduced us. He had given him a Bible and the man was reading it when I arrived. He was hungry for God and soon he prayed for forgiveness. He was confident of eternal life before I left.
He now warms his hands at the Lord’s fire. He is a brother and soon he will see the face of Jesus. Let’s build a fire of love and faithfully tend it for the sake of Christ and all who will gather there.
Bittersweet Farm
June 2023
Building Better Relationships | 1. Love
Here are some powerful ways to build stronger relationships with you wife, your children, your grandchildren, and others. These are based on a powerful principle in 2 Cor. 12:15
/
RSS Feed
8. God’s Dream Church (Ephesians 4:1-16) Audio
God’s Dream Church
Ephesians 4:1-16
Ken Pierpont, Lead Pastor
Bethel Church | Jackson, Michigan
/
RSS Feed
8. God’s Dream Church (Eph. 4:1-16) Video
God’s Dream Church
Ephesians 4:1-16
Ken Pierpont, Lead Pastor
Bethel Church | Jackson, Michigan
Six Weapons to Fight Sin | 6. Assembly
The Principle of Imitation:
You will tend to become like whoever you train yourself to admire
Who do you want to be like?
He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed. Proverbs 13:20
“He who walks with wise men will be wise…”
·
Galatians 4:19
My
little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you
·
Luke 6:40 “A disciple is not above his teacher,
but everyone who is perfectly trained
will be like his teacher.
·
1 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore I urge you, imitate me.
·
Philippians 3:17 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.
·
Philippians 4:9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in
me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
·
1 Thessalonians 1:6 And you became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the
Holy Spirit,
·
2 Thessalonians 3:9 not because we do not have
authority, but to make ourselves an
example of how you should follow us.
·
1 Timothy 1:16 However, for this reason I obtained
mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ
might show all longsuffering, as a
pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.
·
1 Timothy 4:12 Let no
one despise your youth, but be an
example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith,
in purity.
·
Hebrews 13:7 Remember
those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the
outcome of their conduct.
·
1 Peter 5:3 nor as
being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;
·
Acts 20:28-38 This is why older, godly Christians are so important
in a Christian fellowship.
Here is how the process works:
1. the behavior is modeled
2. the behavior is imitated
3. I accept
by faith that the behavior is God’s
will
4. I trust the enabling power of the Holy Spirit
5. I repeat
the behavior
6. I continue over a prolonged period of time
7. I am among brothers and sisters who support the behavior
8. Over a period of time it becomes the behavior I deeply desire. (affections)
“…A companion
of fools will be destroyed.”
·
Proverbs 12:26
The righteous should choose his friends carefully, For the way of the wicked leads them
astray.
·
Proverbs 22:24 Make no friendship with an angry man, And with a furious man do not go
·
1 Corinthians 5:11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a
brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or
a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.
·
1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
You don’t
need many friends.
What kind of
friends do you need?
1.
You need friends who fear God and obey Him. Psalm 119:63 I am a companion of all who fear You, And of
those who keep Your precepts.
2. You need friends who refresh you in
the things of the Lord. 2 Timothy 1:16 The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus,
for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain;
3.
You need friends who will stimulate you to love and good works. Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another in order to
stir up love and good works…
/
RSS Feed
Recent Comments