My message Sunday might be worth a listen. The text us Romans 3:21-31. This paragraph is the heart of the Bible. Let me know what you think.
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An Achievement
In Boston today an American won the Marathon for the first time since the early 80’s. He ran over 26 miles in just a little over two hours. I have spent much of the winter in my recliner.
I go to the closet and get a plastic bag.
Hazard springs to attention a look of delight, or is it shock, on his face.
I step into my worn sandals and walk out the door into an evening that smells and sounds like springtime.
The evening breeze carries the scent of mown grass and grilled meat.
On the porch the wind moves the chimes.
In the distance a few Canada Geese honk.
In the woods along the creek a Wood-thrush calls.
On the street a runner shuffles past.
A block away children laugh and play.
In the park a swing complains form a long winter of disuse.
In a Blue Spruce a Mourning Dove Coos.
Out on the main road a throaty Harley rumbles by.
At the north end of the pond boys banter and fish.
It’s been a long, hard, snowy, cold, unrelenting winter but I have made it out of my recliner and around the pond for the first time this year.
They say the smallest deed is better than the grandest intention and the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and you have to start somewhere and the slothful man will go hungry… so… I’m out of my recliner.
There were no cheering crowds but it was a satisfying achievement.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
April 21, 2014
I Had No Idea
It’s been a very long, very hard winter, but spring has finally come. Monday was the last day of March and it dawned clear and warm. It was sunny and spring-like and it was opening day of baseball season for the home-town Detroit Tigers. Everyone was wearing their Tigers hats and shirts and jackets. There was a holiday atmosphere around town.
I had some coffee, did some writing, and made small-talk with the locals at Starbucks. Holly was flying in from Oregon. I picked her up from the airport and we went to brunch and caught up. It was a relaxed day off for me. In the back of my mind I remembered what a mess our yard was from a winter of wet wind-fall leaves. I thought I should spend some time raking the yard on my day off since it was such a nice day, but I pressed that unpleasant thought to the back of my mind.
I had said nothing about my thoughts to Lois, but when I turned the corner and pulled up in front of Granville Cottage there were half dozen yard-waste bags lined up at the curb and not a single leaf in the yard. While I was running my errands, drinking coffee, and eating brunch, Lois and Hope had raked the front yard, bagged the leaves, and started to work on the back yard. I helped a bit on the back but they did the bulk of the work.
We have been married almost 35 years. While I was pushing the leaf-raking out of my mind Lois was raking the leaves and stuffing them into bags. When I met Lois I was taken with her beauty and her quiet ways. As a young man I did not have the maturity or experience to see what a loyal, hard-worker she would be or how valuable that would be to me and to the eight children we would have together.
Proverbs 31 extols the various values of the virtuous wife. The passage says; “Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also and he praises her..” That is what I’m doing now.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
April 2, 2014
What Are You Good At?
Bob was a quiet man. It was hard to get him to talk. You would ask him a question and he would wait for his wife to bail him out. I figured something out though. There was one thing Bob didn’t let his wife speak for him about: The Cincinnati Reds. He knew every player. He knew every manager. He knew every statistic. He knew Riverfront Stadium. He knew the legends and the lore the history and the future prospects of the Reds. He had a radio by his chair and he listened to Marty Brenneman and the Old Left-hander, Joe Nuxall call every play of every game. He knew the Reds inside and out. If there was a bench-clearing brawl he knew which of the relievers in the bull-pen that was most likely to dive into the pile and come out with someone’s ear in his mouth. He was an expert.
Most of you know that I am the pastor of a church. The church is named Good News! Evangel! I have a dream for this church. I have a dream of a church named Evangel-Good News Baptist—Gospel Baptist—that lives boldly up to her name. A church with 600 members and growing where hundreds of members know the Gospel like Bob knew the Cincinnati Reds.
This year I am preaching through the Epistle to the Romans. One of my main objectives is to use it to train our people to be experts in believing, applying and explaining the gospel. We are going to take a fresh look at the Gospel today and in the weeks to follow an in-depth view… We are going to study the book of the Bible with the clearest and most extended treatment of the gospel. We are going to get our advanced certification in Gospel. I want the members and friends of Evangel to be experts in explaining the gospel.
We have a little strategy at Evangel we call it Operation Evangel. It goes like this: Pray, Love, Invite, Gospel Conversation. It is amazing what can happen in whole families when you simply pray for people, look for ways to love them, invite them to church and into your life, and have natural give-and-take conversations that include clear explanations of the gospel.
Last night two young ladies stood to sing a beautiful song. Before they sang one of them said, “We knew each other before either of us were walking with the Lord. Now here we are in the same church. Because of the diligent love or our members these women and their families came to be followers of Jesus. I baptized all of them right here at Evangel.
What in the world do you know that more important then making the way to heaven clear to people? What in this world is more important than that?
Who are you praying for?
Who are you loving?
Who are you inviting?
Who are you engaging in gospel conversation?
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
March 17, 2014
Secrets Revealed!
The Bible says that there is no such thing as a secret act. A few years ago during a heated rivalry game between Georgia and the University of Florida one of the players got his helmet ripped off and his eye scratched. He waited for an opportunity to retaliate and later in the game, during a pile-up, after the play was whistled dead, he reached into his opponent’s helmet and tried to gouge his eyes. He thought no one saw, but he was wrong. The incident was captured on film and now the video of his low-life behavior is all over the internet in slow motion. He was suspended and his team has issued an apology. What he thought was a secret act is public.
How many times have you heard that story in some form? Let’s live secretly with a great awareness that all we do is open before God and there are no real secrets.
Let’s be aware that no matter how carefully you live, you will not want to stand before God unless you stand in the righteousness of the only One whose secret acts could be revealed without shame and without sin. Christ is our righteousness. Christ died for our shameful sins. We must be hidden in Him.
Proverbs 5:21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He ponders all his paths.
Luke 8:17 For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.
Ecclesiastes 12:14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.
Matthew 10:26 Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.
Mark 4:22 For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.
Romans 2:16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Revelation 20:11-12 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. [12] And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
Brandon Spikes, the eye-gouger, is not alone. Who of us would want our shameful acts and attitudes displayed in slow-motion for the world to see over and over again? God help us live by God’s help in such a way that we will not be ashamed when secret things are revealed.
Meeting God in a Plymouth Fury
My dad gave us an old four-door Plymouth Fury. Ours was very similar to this picture, except I remember that the grill in the front was all in one section and not divided. We hit a small deer and knocked out the grill and did not replace it which, the kids agreed, gave the car the appearance of a shark. We called it the Great White Shark. It wasn’t the most appealing car, but it was faithful and I have some memories of it, one of which I will tell you here.
Years ago I was starting a church and trying to make ends meet financially I took part-time work in a factory. It was loud and there were many around me who did not know and love God. The environment was coarse to say the least. On my fifteen-minute break I would dash to my car and there in the quietness of my old white Plymouth, in the parking lot of a factory, I would open my Bible and meet with the Lord. To this day I cherish sweet memories of that.
Remember the old hymn, Draw Me Nearer? “O the pure delight of a single hour, that before thy throne I spend. When I kneel in prayer and with thee, my God, I commune as friend with friend.”
Saturday I drove home from a meeting in Grand Rapids alone. It was a beautiful, sunny, winter day in Michigan and I drove along the familiar route alone with the Lord quiet in my Jeep, just allowing the silence and solitude and rest my soul. It was a good trip. I didn’t listen to music or messages like I often do, I just enjoyed the simple comfort of silence.
The faster the world turns for us the more important it is to find a way regularly to cultivate the inner life and nurture our spirits. Business and distraction can leave us without reflection or refreshment. This can sap the joy out of life and leave us vulnerable to the enemy of our souls.
According to Romans 8:6, to be spiritually minded is LIFE and PEACE, but to be carnally minded is death. One way to cultivate your spirit is to be sure you include three things in every day as early as possible. These three things were in Jesus life, even though he was very busy and very, very productive. Jesus did not neglect solitude, silence, and simplicity. Get alone. Be quiet. Listen to God. Keep things very simple. Know the one thing you are living for and how everything you do contributes to that ONE THING.
I have to go. The sun is coming up. I want to go alone and spend some time with my Bible open and my heart quiet alone before the Lord. I like to start every day on my face before Him and I like his word to be the last word on my heart before I drift into sleep at night. Yesterday my heart was touched with this:
Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me. Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. (Psa 86:1-13 KJV)
Hope you can make some time for solitude, silence and simplicity in your day today.
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