Date: September 16, 2012 AM
Title: Does Grace Still Amaze You?
Speaker: Ken Pierpont
Series: Matthew’s Gospel
Text: Matthew 20:1-16
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Does Grace Still Amaze You?
Time and Church
In a few short weeks the leaves will begin to turn and fall. In our part of the world It is a continual reminder of the swift-passing of life, a reminder to number our days and apply ourselves to what really matters. (Read Psalm 90).
Church is a weekly reminder of eternal things. Church is a way to keep our souls in tune with heaven. Church is a way to keep from being overcome with the “tyranny of the urgent.”
The Psalms and songs and scriptures and sermons and stained glass and lessons are ways of reminding our hearts that there is much more happening around us than what we can see with our eyes. Church is a way of giving us a glimpse into where we fit in the Epic Drama of Life that arches from the Garden of Eden to the New Heavens and the New Earth.
We used to live in a quiet valley in an old white farmhouse. North of the house was a steep hill. I liked to start my day by climbing the hill to watch the sunrise and the deer and wild turkey and listen to the birds greet the morning. From where I sat I could see the road snaking over the river to the West and laying like a ribbon in the valley off to the east as far a the eye could see.
Church is like that. It is a way of getting perspective on where you have been and where you are going. That has a way of settling your soul. When we let church to its work in us we leave with an sense that there is more to life than what we expeience on in our short walk across the stage of life.
Ken Pierpont
Lily Lake, Wisconsin
July 27, 2012
Godly Selfishness
Date: June 24, 2012 AM
Title: Godly Selfishness
Speaker: Ken Pierpont
Series: Matthew’s Gospel
Text: Matthew 16:24-27
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A Shocking Lesson
Date: June 17, 2012 AM
Title: A Shocking Lesson
Speaker: Ken Pierpont
Series: Matthew’s Gospel
Matthew 16:21-27
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Things I Love About Being a Pastor
It was beautiful last night. There was a light breeze. The sky was clear and the sun was setting. Hazard took me on a long walk and I got to thinking about being a pastor.
On August 11 I will have been a pastor 34 years. I pastored my first church when I was seventeen. I’ve known I would be a pastor since I was fourteen years old. I’ve never had a day that I regretted being a pastor… not a single day. Here are some things I have loved about being a pastor:
The sound of a church bell ringing through the village
Quiet Country Churches set among tombstones
Christmas pageants and candlelight services
Faithful “salt-of-the-earth” deacons
Funeral dinner ladies doing what they do
Full-volume choirs and organs with their stops pulled out
Happy tears of repentance
Excited kids boarding the bus for summer camp up north
Whole-hearted, hands-lifted, singing
Serious men reverently distributing the elements of communion
A full parking lot and a full balcony
Dinner on the grounds
Scalloped corn in the fellowship hall
Pronouncing a couple “Husband and Wife”
Missionary adventure stories
Dressing up on Easter
Orchestras and praise bands
Sunday morning sun through stained glass from the inside
Sunday night lights through stained glass from the outside
People who weep when you pray with them in the hospital
Shaking hands on the steps a little after noon
Chatting with people before the service starts
The applause when a new believer emerges from the waters of baptism
The rustle of Bible pages when I announce the text
Giving biblical counsel to someone and watching “the lights go on”
Having breakfast with one of the men of the church
Discipling new believers
Standing around talking until the last car leaves the parking lot on a Sunday night
Funerals of people who knew and loved God–They are like a revival service
Telling the Old Old Story of Jesus and His love
The quietness that sweeps across the auditorium when I use a story to make a truth clear
The point in my message every Sunday when we slow down and “climb the hill to Calvary’
That’s all for now. I pray that because of how I am spending my life people come to know the sweetness and beauty and comfort and mystery and God in the local church.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
June 13, 2012
I Will Build My Church
Date: June 10, 2012 PM
Title: I Will Build My Church
Speaker: Ken Pierpont
Series: Matthew’s Gospel
Text: Matthew 16:13-20
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