Are We There Yet? (Psalm 13)
Bethel Church–Jackson, Michigan
May 3, 2020 AM
Ken Pierpont, Lead Pastor
The Greening of the Year (Sermon) Video
The Greening of the Year
Bethel Church–Jackson, Michigan
April 26, 2020 AM
Pastor Ken Pierpont
The Greening of the Year (Sermon) Audio
The Greening of the Year
Bethel Church–Jackson, Michigan
April 26, 2020 AM
Pastor Ken Pierpont
The Greening of the Year
Bethel Church | Jackson, Michigan | Ken Pierpont, Lead Pastor | April 25, 2020 AM
Introduction: In Genesis God promised that as long as the earth remains the cycle of the seasons will continue. “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”” (Genesis 8:22) Seasons will not cease as long as the earth remains. We have God’s word on it.
We are again on the brink of warm, sunny days and evenings among the flowers in the yard. We’re in the greening of the year. It’s like the whole world is blushing with young love. We never tire of it.
Last night our little Hope America went into her room in a baggy sweatshirt and closed the door. A few minutes later she came out in a wedding gown of shocking beauty. So winter melts away every year and springtime arrives with all the glory of a young bride.
The crocuses push valiantly through the snow. The daffodils spring up and begin to dance in the sunshine. The Magnolia bursts into magnificent blossom. The redbuds open in a purple haze along the lane. The Dogwoods flower on the wooded hillsides. The air is alive with the fragrance of lilac again and the morning and evening are noisy with a blessed symphony of birdsong. Blessed be God… Springtime is coming… again!
[Darkness and Disturbing Things Around Us.] There are things around us that are dark and disturbing though, and I would give you an account of them if I thought you needed it – but the ubiquitous media stream evidence of human depravity into our homes, and cars, and businesses, and offices non-stop. We don’t need any more detail.
Unrelenting evidence of sin’s curse surrounds us. Stories of disease, death, division, self-interest, abuse of power, greed, lust, murder, theft, perversion, betrayal, pride, violence, tragedy—politics, news, sports, and weather are tucked between breezy adds to sell everything from insect repellant to insurance, from laundry soap to ladders, from basement repair to plumbing services to cemetery property.
Young chirpy model-types in short skirts and perfect teeth sit between talking heads in crisp always navy suits and chat about the mayhem that plagues our earth as if they were swatting flies away or brushing ants off the table at a picnic. News outlets hawk their slant on the facts. It is often frustratingly not as much truth and information as it is a bald entertainment product. (My apologies to real newspeople) Sometimes it’s downright shady business like a carnival hawker trying to empty the pockets of the vulnerable on the midway.
Lately the evil has been hitting closer and closer to home. The disease. The death. The loss. The fear. The anxiety. And when the evil hits close to home, or when the tragedy touches a friend, or when a series of painful things hit us at once, we are tempted to be overcome by the evil around us.
[How to Keep From Being Overcome By Evil.] How can we keep from being overcome by evil? Knowledge of evil will not overcome evil. Brute force will not overcome evil. Law will curtail evil but the law cannot overcome evil. Legislation will not overcome evil. First-century Christians in Rome must have had a sense of evil pressing in on them. Paul reminded them of the teaching of Jesus and said, “Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (see Romans 12:21) (T) How DO we keep from being overcome by evil?
—Take Evil Seriously… I think Jesus would have us remember with every earthquake, every whirlwind, every misuse of a child, every death by disease, every disfigured thing that we are at war with evil on a cosmic level. These dark and evil things are not the things described in the Apocalypse, but they are enough like them that the Lord knows it would remind us of them and that is not all bad… That can be a good thing.
When evil appears in any of its grotesque forms, we should remember that there is evil in each of us and it must be overcome. There is evil in the world and it must be resisted. It is real and it is dark and it is powerful and it is inevitable and we cannot overcome evil in the world any more than we can overcome evil in our own hearts without divine help… (T) So we must take evil seriously…
—But Live With Hope/Confidence in the Promises of God. The springtime of God’s promises must arrive in our souls over and over again. Here is what I know: Jesus wants us to take evil seriously, but he does not want us to be defeated and live as victims without hope. As God wants brokenness to sober us He wants his promises to give us hope. Even the simple promise of the arrival of spring should quicken our souls with hope that God always does what he says:
[The virus is a reminder we are in a Cosmic Conflict now.
But Spring is a reminder of God Promises Prevail.]
Let me suggest that every hint of the return of spring
remind us of the promises of God.
Promises of a New Heaven and New Earth
—Jesus promises Peter a New Heaven and New Earth. Matthew 19:28 in the regeneration—the new world…
—He was referring to a promise from Isaiah 65:17-25; 66:22-23 New Heaven and New Earth.
—Peter picks this up and preaches this same promise after the resurrection…. In Acts 3:21 he called it: …the times of refreshing… restoration of all things… and calls them to repent.
—Peter refers to it again: 2 Peter 3:1-13 New Heaven New Earth… 13 according to his promise we are waiting with confidence—hope!
—Paul: Creation will be redeemed and restored: “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” (Romans 8:20–21, ESV)
—John: Rev. 21-22 New Heaven New Earth
—Jesus: Matthew 6:10 “…your will on earth as it is in heaven…”
1. We invest in eternal this (ill) young man delivering pizza and investing…
2. We do not despair because we are driven by a powerful hope-confidence. Pour over the promises. (ill) looking at pictures of our home before we moved here.
3. We live holy lives… 2 Peter 3:11-13
4. We model repentance and call others to repentance (Acts 3)
We do not despair because we know the One who with the Father and the Spirit spoke the worlds into existence has promised that as long as the earth remains the greening of the year will come around again. Spring will follow winter.
Conclusion: Springtime in Galilee
Springtime in Texas
Springtime in Michigan…
I told everybody. Springtime is coming. I’ve seen it
You are going to love it!
We must be those who overcome evil with good. We cannot allow our spirits to be dragged into the swamp of despair. I am among those who will continually strain to hear the sounds of spring on an April morning. I will continually trust that He who conceived such wonder and beauty and life and spoke it instantly into being, will one day push back evil like spring overcomes winter every year. I long for that day.
Until then I will conspire with others who would overcome evil with good. I will speak and tell and write good words. Good words are powerful words. I will make videos. I will shout it from the rooftop. I will conspire with others to do good deeds.
Who is with me?
Rise up oh church of God have done with lesser things.
Give heart and soul and strength and might
to serve the King of Kings!
We will tell all who will listen. We will pray. We will love. We will invite. We will encourage. We will have gospel conversations. We will Zoom and Skype and FaceTime. We will share and teach and protect and deliver groceries. We will plow and we will plant. We will teach and doctor and nurse and respond and keep the peace. And we will build and sew and fabricate and send cards.
…And when in the evening in the greening of the year we sit on our porch and breathe in the fragrance of spring our hearts will be filled again with hope that one day evil will be overcome by good. So I say:
Welcome back, the greening of the year.
Welcome birdsong.
Welcome busy farmers.
Welcome children on bicycles
Welcome garden chores and golfers and fishermen and women
Welcome sunning turtles.
Welcome Sand Hill Crane chicks.
Welcome hopping crows.
Welcome Loons on the lake
Welcome genial breezes and welcome sun on my head.
Welcome front porch talks among the peepers and crickets and owls…
Welcome Greening of the Year
Welcome back spring…
Because you always remind us that God keeps his promises…
…even so come Lord Jesus…
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Bittersweet Farm Journal (Number 81) Bacon, Carrots, and the Grace of God
Last week was blustery and cold. It has been a March-like April week out on Bittersweet but the little daffodil bulbs we planted last year are flowering and the place is alive with birdsong. The window is open beside me and a tufted titmouse is calling out his two-note “peter-peter” with all his might. It is a welcome sound. Next week we are watching for Oriels and listening for the Wood Thrush. For the last couple years the Oriels have visited Bittersweet. We may have to take a hike to find the Wood Trush on his way north. Every season is a gift from the hand of God for which we pray and give thanks unto God.
“Ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain, from the Lord who makes the storm clouds, and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field.” (Zechariah 10:1, ESV)
What Do You Eat For Breakfast?
I like a couple eggs and two or three crisp strips of bacon and black coffee for breakfast.
I have a friend who is an eye doctor. The other day we were comparing our morning routines. I said, “Dave, what do you normally eat for breakfast?”
He said; “I usually grab a carrot on the way out the door.”
“There but for the grace of God go I,” I thought to myself.
I said, “You eat a carrot on the way to work?” Imagining the smell of coffee, the salty goodness of a friend egg, the powerful, nearly sacramental aroma and sizzle of bacon, like a call to worship God and thank Him for his goodness.
“You really eat a raw carrot on the way to work for breakfast,” I ask, thinking what a dismal mood that would cast over my whole day.
“Yes,” he said. “It’s handy and it’s good for you.”
“You do this every morning?” I ask.
“Yes, most mornings, I do.”
Stuck me funny. My mother always said I should eat my carrots because they are good for my eyes. She said pilots in WWII ate carrots so they would have good eyesight. I always thought it was a cheap ploy to get me to eat veggies, but here is my eye-doctor friend, who eats a carrot every day on the way to work. So, there you go.
One more reason to pay attention when your mamma is talkin’.
Speaking of What You Eat
When I was a boy my mom always tried to force me to eat vegetables—spinach, oh my. Brussels’s Sprouts. Cauliflower. Broccoli. Squash. She was always buggin’ me to eat this stuff. I didn’t like any of it. Finally I reached an age where I could make all my own food choices. I began to eat what I wanted and walked away from veggies, except corn with butter and salt, potatoes with butter and salt, peas with butter and salt, green beans with butter, salt, and bacon fat—Oh, and fries. Other than that most days the only vegetables I came near were the pickles on my burger. I ate my veggies, but they were fried or made with plenty of—you know—butter and salt.
Well Mom hasn’t controlled my diet for many, many years. I eat exactly what I want in the portions that I want. To be honest, that has not been particularly good for me. I’ve been remarkably healthy, but now I’m at the age where my eating habits are catching up to me.
I go to the doctor. The first thing they do is weigh me. They act all professional about it, but they just keep bumping those weights to the right. They write on their little clip-board and they try not to act surprised. Then they check my blood pressure and my cholesterol levels. Let me save you the painful details. After I run up a healthy bill with the doctor he gives me a speech that sounds remarkably like the one my mother gave me with a few medical terms thrown in to justify the considerable expense of the visit.
You can take the medicine and enjoy the side-effects of the medicine and wash it all down every day for the rest of your miserable life with your orange juice in the morning or… you guessed it—you can eat your vegetables. Lay off all that fat-marbled meat with salt. Stop eating all those carbs with salt and butter and fat in its various and tantalizing forms. Ditch the junk food. Potato and corn chips don’t count as vegetables. A Large Coke, Bacon and Cheddar Quarter-Pounder, and a Large Fry does not constitute a balanced meal. Here is what you have to do to stay off the medicine:
Walk at least 30 minutes every day and eat brussels’s sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, squash, salad, salad, and salad with small amounts of lean meat. Meat is fine, but it is best if you consider it a garnish, not your main dish. I can save you a lot of money and embarrassment. I can save you money for drugs, weight watchers, diet pills, and snake oil.
Do what my mom told me years ago. Eat your vegetables and fruit. Get out and play a lot. Say your prayers at night. Don’t make a habit of doing wrong. When you do wrong fess up and make it right. Go to church. Did you hear me? I said go to church—I’m talking every Sunday not Christmas, Easter and when you don’t have the green to get away to the cottage. Go to church and eat your veggies.
I’m pretty sure that if you don’t eat your veggies you are likely to die young and if you know the Lord you are going to go to Heaven and they don’t have fried chicken and barbecued ribs there. You will have glorified tastes for fruit and vegetables and your mother will be sitting over there across the table from you with an “I-told-you-so” look on her face.
I do remember reading once of a lady in the deep south who lived to be 107 or 114 or something and when they asked her what she ate she told them she eats bacon every day. Bacon. Every. Day.
Country Music
This morning I was thinking about country music. I like country music, some of it. In my humble opinion country music is two parts God, home, and apple pie and one part drunkenness, fornication, and general despair. Come to think of it country music is a lot like America. Most of it is beautiful but sometimes it’s downright ugly.
So grab a carrot or some bacon and try not to be ugly today. Oh, and listen to your mother.
Bittersweet Farm
April 24, 2020
When Things Get “Chippy”
Last Sunday on the roof of my study I preaching on what to do when things get “chippy” at home. Living in quarantine can get a little trying. In this message I show you how, by the Spirit of God working within you, you can push the “chippy” right out of your house. Let me know what you think.
The Spirit of Your Home (Sermon) Audio
The Spirit of Your Home (Galatians 5:16-25; 6:6-10)
Bethel Church; Jackson, Michigan
Pastor Ken Pierpont
April 19, 2020 AM
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The Spirit of Your Home (Sermon) Video
The Spirit of Your Home (Galatians 5:16-25; 6:6-10)
Bethel Church; Jackson, Michigan
Pastor Ken Pierpont
April 19, 2020 AM
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