This weekend I preached in South Haven. It was a perfect early autumn-like weekend. On the way over we visited my little brother Nathan’s new home and spent the night there enjoying a long talk with coffee by the fireside before bed.
[Read more…] about This Week (September 15-21, 2003)
What is A Church?
Lately I’ve been doing some thinking about church. A church is:
…a hospital for wounded soldiers
…a resting place for weary travelers
…a guide and outfitter for hearty adventurers
…a training center for disciples
…a place to wash one another’s feet
…a family reunion for brothers and sisters in the faith
…a feast for hungry children
…a fountain for thirsty souls
…a place of sacred song
…a quiet house of prayer to talk to God
…a celebration for those with happy hearts
…a comfort for those with broken hearts
…a life preserver for those in spiritual danger
…a temple for devout worshippers
…a community of forgiven sinners
…a place on the earth to get in touch with things eternal…
A vital church is a powerful thing…And what makes it so? Not brick and mortar as helpful as they are, but people, God’s people in a community of faith together. God has promised to send the blessing of life evermore were brothers and sisters dwell together in unity. (Psalm 133)
A church should be a dynamic place of spiritual vitality. It should be a place where families have been strengthened. Homes are built. Hearts are stirred for things eternal. Missionaries are sent to tell the sweet story of how Jesus loves sinners and died to offer them the gift of eternal life. May it ever be so. Since Jesus died for the church we should be willing to lay down our lives for her too.
Kenneth L. Pierpont
Riverfront Character Inn and International Conference Center
Flint, Michigan
September 22, 2003
VISIT HOLLY’S PAGE
Take a look at Holly’s page. www.kenpierpont.com/holly/ Send her a note and let her know what you think!
Raspberry Lemonade
Lois loves to eat at Red Lobster. I have never understood that. It’s not that she loves exotic sea food. She never really orders sea food. She likes fish nuggets. I could live the rest of my life very happily without ever going to Red Lobster and I am more than a little suspicious of fish nuggets even if they come with fancy garnishes.
[Read more…] about Raspberry Lemonade
Fixing Furnaces for Jesus
I don’t remember where I got Lori Strickland’s name but one Saturday morning I was out calling and stopped by her home to invite her and her family to church. After a nice visit she promised me that she would attend church the next week. When Sunday morning came it was very, very cold and her furnace would not work.
Some would have used that as an excuse to avoid church. She was tempted. She got out a phone book and looked up a furnace repairman. When he answered the phone she told him that she had planned to attend church but that now she was going to stay home instead because of the furnace.
He listened for a while and then said, “I will be happy to come to your house, help fix it today under one condition.”
“What is the condition?”
“I will get your house warm if you will promise me that you will still attend church this morning”
The furnace repairman didn’t know where Lori planned to attend. Lori didn’t know the furnace repairman just happened to be a deacon in our church. His name was Denny Long.
Lori was spiritually hungry. Within a few weeks she came to understand her need to trust Christ for salvation. A few months later I baptized Lori. Her husband was an unbeliever but on Father’s Day he came and we gave him a nice gift. He rarely attended again and before my ministry ended there in Ohio the Stricklands moved to Florida.
One Sunday evening a few months later in our little village church I was conducting the service when the door opened and a family came in late. It was Lori and her children and her husband Gary. Gary was dressed in a suit and tie and he had a nice study Bible tucked under his arm. He was beaming. God had done for Gary in Florida what He had done for Lori in Ohio.
When we give what we have to Jesus he makes something of it. Ask the boy with the fishes and loaves. Only in eternity will we know what God has done with the skills and gifts we give to him. There will be a reward for the boy who gave up his lunch, and men and women who gave up their lives and there will be a reward for a thoughtful furnace repairman from Ohio, too. God give us more furnace repairmen who are spiritually sensitive and who will dedicate their skill to Jesus.
Ken Pierpont
August 25, 2003
Gourds
Preachers sometimes get spoiled. I know I have been. I have been given baked goods, bags of potatoes, lawn furniture, dinners out, the use of a swimming pool for a week, popcorn, clothing, money, offers of free airline tickets, tickets to sporting events and concerts, garden produce and cuts of meat. Because we have eight children it’s common for people to offer us used clothing.
[Read more…] about Gourds
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