Bittersweet Farm
A little John Sloane picture to give it a Christmas feel…
Here is my Christmas message at Evangel the Sunday before Christmas. If you can, listen to it before Christmas. It comes from a deep place in my soul.
Series: Knowing God by Heart
Title: The Goodness of God
Text: Psalm 84, 145
Place: Evangel Baptist Church-Taylor, Michigan
Date: August 9, 2015 AM
Speaker: Pastor Ken Pierpont
Every morning of my first 18 years of life I woke up to music—Christian music. Every morning. My mother, Jane Pierpont, awakened the house with a joyful song every single day. When I was about 12 I started delivering newspapers for the Dayton Journal-Herald at about 5 a.m. six days a week so the music started as soon as mom got up—but Mom saturated our home with edifying Christian music. When I was small mom would put is in bed and then, often, play the piano softly while we went to sleep.
Mom loves to sing and signs all her notes; “Singing His Praise.” Everyone who knows mom knows she loves to sing for the Lord. It’s not about music to her but about ministry and about making known her love for the Lord. When we would travel she would always be sure to bring music with her because she was often asked to sing at the churches we visited. When someone asked her to sing she would send one of us back out to the car to get an old Avon bag she used to carry her music and she would sing.
Whenever our family had a difficulty or a hardship she seemed to have a song for the occasion. Usually she would just sing a few bars of the song and we would all drawn back to what we professed to believe. “…lovingkindness, lovingkindness, my heart is filled with lovingkindness…” or “…with Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm…” or “…be like Jesus this my song, in the home and in the throng, be like Jesus all day long….”
Saturday nights mom would always practice her music for Church, often preparing a solo that would go with Dad’s message. She loves to sing His praise.
For that reason it was a sad to hear a couple years ago when she began to lose her singing voice. Today she can only sing a few minutes and then she is reduced to a barely audible whisper. She can’t sing in church anymore. She can’t sing around the house.
Dad and mom serve a church in south-central Michigan in a place called South Litchfield. The church is South Litchfield Baptist Church. It is an idyllic white clapboard country church with a parsonage next door, perfect for them. They work hard and faithfully shepherd the flock there. Mom really doesn’t have the health and strength to do all that she would like to do. She is able to contribute regularly to her blog. Every week she publishes a little devotional that she uses in church each Sunday morning. This week she published a little poem about her determination to be faithful in praise even though she can’t sing anymore and she can’t do what she would like to do to serve the Lord. When she wrote the poem, her son Nathan (the youngest and a pastor in Kalamazoo, Michigan) immediately went to his piano and wrote a melody.
Here is what Nathan wrote about the little song:
“After reading mom’s poem today, I sat down to the piano to play some music that seemed to fit the poem. It didn’t take long to realize a melody could fit the words and make it a song. Though it seemed it should be heard in a woman’s voice, I decided to record it so that my mom could hear how I put our her words to music. This is the song. I can’t believe mom and I haven’t collaborated on a song before. Maybe we should do more, and maybe her song is not silent alter all. Her song continues in the voices of her children and many grandchildren who share her passion for the Lord’s work.”
After listening to Nathan’s song, with tears streaming down my face, I quietly determined by the grace and with the help of God that I, too, would praise Him with all my heart at every opportunity as long as He choses to allow me to have a voice to sing.
He has given you a voice. Even if you can’t sing, will you praise Him?
You can listen to the song here:
Ken Pierpont—Singing His Praise
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
June 1, 2015
Today I had a fascinating Skype conversation with a young man named Nate Eastman. A few years ago Nate met some believers from his small town in Northern Michigan. They played basketball together. His friends were believers. Soon they invited Nate to a Bible study. As the men studied the Gospel of John a chapter at a time, Nate became of follower of Jesus Christ.
A friend (Jon Ford) gave Nate a recording of a biographical sketch by John Piper about the life of Adonirum Judson. “Listen to this and you just might sell everything you have and be a missionary some day,” He said. A about six months ago Nate and his wife decided to sell everything they had and go to France to reach the Basque people in the Pyrenees Mountains of northern France for Christ.
There is nothing in the world more exciting or more significant than the mission of Jesus. There is nothing as satisfying as devotion to that mission.
I’ve posted a talk he gave to his local church. When you have a bit of time, you should listen to it and get in touch with Nate. He is a fine young man who has clearly been deeply touched by God and stirred up for the mission of Jesus and the glory of Jesus.
Here is a link to the Eastman’s site
This is one of the most important messages I have ever written and preached. I woke up quite early this morning with a burden on my heart for talks I am going to give this weekend to men and women, fathers and daughters and I listened to this message on my pre-dawn walk. Often listening to my own talks is very humbling and hard. Every once in a while I will listen to a message and think, “I wish this talk could reach a wider audience.” That is the way I feel about this vital message. Please take time to listen to it and send me some feed-back.
Date: May 12, 2013 11:00 AM
Title: Followers of Jesus Honor Women
Text: Psalm 8
Speaker: Ken Pierpont
One evening we spend some time in our much-loved Grand Haven, Michigan Beach Town. It was a beautiful, blustery evening. Lois captured this image of our youngest, Hope America, one of the cherished women in my life.
In a moment of weakness this week I yielded to the temptation to buy some Michigan Sour Cherry Candies. I really don’t need Michigan Sour Cherry Candies at all, but I can eat them like a champion. Outside the store was a kid riding a skateboard back and forth in front of the door. Just a rude kid. I was a little irritated with him. He had no regard for the safety of the customers trying to get into the store. He made no attempt to pause to let me get into the store. He knew they didn’t want him there interfering with business. I walked past him without acknowledging his presence.
As I walked toward the candy aisle I remembered a news story I’d been listening to on the radio that morning. A thirteen-year-old boy named Tyler Nichols was sitting in class in a school about two miles from our church on Thursday morning and asked to be dismissed to use the restroom. What the teacher had no way of knowing is that Tyler had a loaded gun with him. He quietly went the bathroom and took his life.
They say Tyler was a nice boy. He was a good student. He was well-liked. No one knew. This week the whole area mourns his sad, senseless death. All of us wondered what would have happened if we could have helped Tyler with whatever was clouding his young mind.
Walking to the candy aisle I thought about the rude kid on the skateboard. I bought an extra bag of cherry sours. On the way our I caught his eye and said; “Hey, I got something for you. He looked at me suspiciously and I tossed him a bag of my favorite candy. He started to object. I said; “They are great. You’ll like them.”
“Thanks,” he said.
I gave him a smile and drove away with a pray on my heart that I would see him again.
It was a small gesture. Maybe someday we will build a skatepark for him and his friends and the Tylers of the Downriver and we will point them to Jesus before they listen to the dark, deadly voices within that would rob them of life.
…And I pray: Christ Jesus My Savior; give me love and compassion for everyone. Even when they are bad or rude or irritating. Even if I don’t understand them. Even if they are not kind to me. Give me a heart of love. Help me to see into their souls like you do. Help me walk though my world like You walked through Galilee healing and helping, teaching and feeding, loving and forgiving—before it’s too late.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
March 25, 2103
I tell a version of this story toward the end of this message recorded on Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013
Recent Comments