Message:Longing for Rest
Series: Longings
Genesis 2:2-3
Pastor Ken Pierpont
Evangel Baptist Church-Taylor, Michigan
July 24, 2016 AM
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Longing for Rest (Sermon)
The Sacred Rhythm of Work and Rest; Podcast #62
(The Word of Life Bookstore where I “met” Vance Havner for the first time).
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Good Smells
What are some of your favorite smells? I love the smell of steaks on the grill. I love the scent of new-mown hay on a summer evening. The breeze that billowed the curtains in the farmhouse where Lois and I played house when we were first married was hay-scented breeze. I love to drive slow on a summer night in the country and see the fireflies flicker over a field of hay and smell its earthy perfume.
There is a unique combination of pleasing smells that takes me back in my mind to my grandma’s living room. It warms my heart and moistens my eyes to think of it now. She and grandpa are both with the Lord now, but I can still see her smile and hear her voice in my memory. We always talked about books and the things of the Lord and other things and people dear to us. She was one of the few people in my life who would never think of rushing me off. She loved to hear my stories. I loved to listen to hers. I do so miss the smell of that little house in Indiana.
When I kiss our sweet baby Hope goodnight after her bath on a Saturday night she has the sweetest smell about her at that time. We have five beautiful girls in the house. Sometimes with all their lotions and perfumes the whole house smells like a flower shop. (You don’t want to know what the boys room smells like).
There is the wonderful fragrance of our wood fire that haunts me when I step out on a starlit night to walk and meditate.
Yesterday morning there were two prevailing smells in the house. Both of them were good. One was the wonderful smell of coffee (butterscotch toffee to be precise). The other smell was the lingering pleasant scent left by my oldest son before he left for work. He was wearing my cologne. It was a good smell. It made me smile.
The subject came up again on the phone later in the day while I was talking to a parishioner. Her daughter works in the same office with my son. She related a comment someone in the office made. She said; “The place always smells nice since Kyle came to work here.”
The Bible really has a lot to say about smells.
To some our convictions about Christ are attractive and compelling like a pleasing scent. To others those convictions are repulsive and distasteful like the smell of death. “To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.” (2 Corinthians 2:16).
Ecclesiastes says foolishness is like a foul odor. “Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.” (Ecclesiastes 10:1)
Whenever I smell the perfume Lois wore when we first met, powerful memories stir my heart again. Solomon must have had the same experience, he said; “How fair is your love, My sister, my spouse. How much better than wine is your love, And the scent of your perfumes Than all spices!” (Song of Solomon 4:10) You gotta’ admit the guy had a way with words, didn’t he?
The good advice of a friend is like a delightful smell. “Ointment and perfume delight the heart, And the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel.” (Proverbs 27:9)
According to the book of Revelation the prayers of the saints are so sweet smelling to the Lord that he assigns angels to gather them in golden bowls. (5:8 and 8:3). What’s true in heaven is true on earth too. In our church a handful of saints have gathered for years every Wednesday night for an old-fashioned prayer meeting. They get in little groups all over the auditorium to pray. The murmur of their prayers is a sweet thing to hear.
Everyone contributes an aroma to the atmosphere wherever they are. Some people by their words and attitudes foul the atmosphere wherever they go. When they leave the room you want to fumigate. I would like to think that when I leave the room people say; “The place always smells nice since he started working here.
Originally published November 22, 2001 (Fremont, Michigan)
Sometimes it is Sinful Not to Rest
This picture was taken from a little footbridge on the northeast shore of Shear Lake on the property of Camp Barakel where I rest and reflect and pray as often as I can.
Some day I will tell you the time and place God released my soul from seeing ministry as an unrelenting burden. It is a beautiful story. But for now let me say that among other providences He used a delightful little book by Vance Havner called Pleasant Paths In one of the chapters Havner wrote of Jesus pace and His teaching on rest:
“Our Savior’s calm, peaceful journeys over Galilee with a band of plain fishermen and lowly workingmen would have exasperated some of our modern church specialists who would have rejected the twelve because the didn’t have college diplomas. But, after all, that lowly group started something that has never stopped, and we moderns cannot begin to match the gait of Galilee or the pace of Pentecost.
Our Lord never wasted His time. There are other ways of wasting time than by just doing nothing. It can be wasted by doing too much. Idleness is the devil’s workshop, but so it the wrong kind of busyness.
The Bible has plenty of verses to stir up the saints, and most of the saints need stirring. But there are just as many verses about resting in the Lord. He does not favor loafing, but He does not frown on resting. It is a poor song that has no rests in it. Jesus was busy but never in a hurry.”
Jesus said “Come to me all you who are wearly and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.”
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
July 21, 2016
A Man Named John; Story Podcast #61
In New York there is a neighborhood called Harlem. In Harlem is a section called Mousetown that was named by Reader’s Digest one of the toughest neighborhoods in the United States at one time. A young man lived in the neighborhood who was on a spiritual quest. Here is how he put it: “I was on a quest to find a church—a church with a basketball team. I found such a church in Broadway Presbyterian Church and at the same time I discovered an axiom in life: every silver lining has a cloud. The church required attendance at Sunday School three out of four Sundays for all who played on the team.”
It was in Sunday School that the young man came under the influence of a man whose name was John Mygat. John was unusual. He taught an interesting Sunday School lesson every week and he took a personal interest in his students—even visiting them in the neighborhoods where they lived.
The young man broke his glasses and had not gotten around to replacing them. One Sunday John came up to him and said: “I was saving some money for a suit, but I don’t need a suit. I would like you to have this money to buy some new glasses.”
He did not need the money and turned it down but he remembered John’s kindness. Under the influence of John Mygat, the young man came to Christ and he would eventually leave Harlem for a ministry that would influence people around the world. He has had a profound influence on my own preaching.
His name was Haddon Robinson and he went on to be come a pastor and seminary professor and eventually authored a textbook on preaching used by over 300 seminaries training thousands of preachers.
When John Mygat died Haddon Robinson preached his funeral. He chose the text: “There was a man sent from God whose name was John.”
Only God knows the ongoing influence of a teacher who works to be interesting and who sincerely cares for his students.
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Longings: The Way to God (Sermon)
Longings: The Way to God
John 4:1-18
Evangel Baptist Church-Taylor, Michigan
July 17, 2016
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