Ken Pierpont's Blog, page 100

The God of the Bible is the Judge of the Universe (Rev. 14)

The God of the Bible is the Judge of the Universe

(Revelation 14:1-20)

Evangel Baptist Church-Taylor, Michigan

March 20, 2016

Pastor Ken Pierpont

The Yellow Envelope

In my desk drawer for years in a file marked “Children’s Birth Certificates” is a yellow business-sized envelope. The envelope held a stack of eight cards little blue cards—the children’s social security cards. The stack has been getting thinner year by year and the children enter the workforce and they begin to manage more and more of their own financial affairs.

It was probably about the year 2000 when I handed Kyle his card. Today Hope called. She wants to open a little business and a bank account. At the bank she must have looked like a money-laundering terrorist so they insisted on her getting her own official identification card from the Michigan Secretary of State office. I opened the file and withdrew her birth certificate remembering the morning of her birth in the early spring in the Gerber Memorial Hospital in Fremont, Michigan. April 20, 1999. It was an hour and a half before light, 5:27 a.m.

Then I saw the yellow envelope. I opened the flap and there it was, our very last little blue Social Security card. The yellow envelope had faithfully served it’s purpose for about 30 years. I opened it eight times to add a card and eight more times to withdraw a card.

I withdrew Hope America’s card. Tears welled in my eyes as I looked at the empty yellow envelope. I drove to the Secretary of State office south of the church waked in and pulled a number. They were serving customer number 40 and I was customer number 00. Only 60 people ahead of me.

Lois dropped Hope off. We waited and chatted for about an hour and a half. We filled out our forms, paid our ten dollars, and then Hope stood in front of the camera as they snapped her picture. This beautiful little girl becoming woman who has never taken a bad picture in her life complained about how hideous it was like all women do when they get their DMV picture taken.

We walked to the car to make our way home. On the way we stopped to celebrate the rite-of-passage with a treat like you do. Carmel sundae for me. Fudge for her. She chatted and laughed.

It will be years before she understands the ache in my heart as we drive toward home. A year and a month from Sunday she will officially become an adult. But she will always be the cherished baby of the family and my little Hopey.

Ken Pierpont

Granville Cottage

Riverview, Michigan

March 18, 2016

When Your Soul is Crushed With Fault-Finding. (1 John 2:1-2)

On Wednesday evening, March 15, 2016 the I preached on 1 John 2:1-2. My heart was heavy with the thought that many are damaged because of fault-finding and accusation. I hope the message is helpful to you. I would love to hear your feedback on the message.

Feel free to share this: Do you have people who talk you down or discourage you? Do they sometimes make you feel unworthy? Do you ever feel worthless or struggle with guilt over past sins? Do you ever feel frustrated with unsuccessful attempts to change? Are you sometimes tempted to just give up?

A Hideous Evil (Rev. 13)

A Hideous Evil (Revelation 13)

Evangel Baptist Church

March 13, 2016 AM

Pastor Ken Pierpont

Three Ways to Arrange a Meaningful Eulogy

Eulogy

As an evangelical pastor I am often called upon to perform funerals or arrange memorial services. In over three-and-a-half decades I have learned some things about what makes a funeral meaningful. Today I would like to address one part of the funeral or memorial service–the eulogy. At a funeral there is an almost palpable vacuum in the room that can only be filled with eulogy. A eulogy is saying something good about another. People who attend the funeral long to hear good things about their loved one. So there should be obituary–basic facts and relationships, eulogy-saying good things about the departed one, and a comforting message that includes the gospel–the way to right relationship with God.

Most of us understand that a time of bereavement is a meaningful time to make the way to heaven plain, but people see that we have taken advantage of their grief to press your religious opinions upon them, they will not hear you with their heart. If you understand eulogy, you will gain the good-will of the people and good things can happen. Here are three ways to arrange a eulogy:

1. Give the Eulogy Yourself. but be sure you are the one to do it. Never say something that you do not know to be true.

Wendell Berry in his novel A Place on Earth proves himself to be a keen observer of human nature and demonstrates that he has thought deeply about bereavement, and eulogy, and the role of a pastor in it. If you read this with a thick skin and a listening heart, you will be a better pastor when it comes to what you say when someone’s cherished and well-known loved one dies.

Wednesday afternoon, after the news had pretty well got around, I seen Brother Piston going in up there at Mat’s. And I says to Jayber, “I know the speech he’s going to make.” And so would all of us. He come and said all that to me after we knew Tom was dead. And none of it quite fit. You could say that he didn’t have too good of an idea who he was talking to. While he was having his say I sat there and thought my thoughts. Here in a way he’d come to say the last words over Tom. And what claim did he have to do it? He never done a day’s work with us in his life, nor could have. He never did stand up in his ache and sweet and go down in the row with us. He never tasted any of our sweat in the water jug. And I was thinking: Preacher who are you to speak of Tom to me, who know him, and knew the smell of him?

And there he sat in your grandaddy’s chair, with his consolations and his old speech. Just putting our names in the blanks. And I thought: Preacher he’s dead, he’s not here, and you’ll never know what it is that’s gone.

The last words ought to say what it is that has died. The last words for Tom ain’t in the letter from the government, and they won the said by the preacher. They’ll be said by you and me and the rest of us when we talk about our old times an laugh about the good happenings. They won’t all be said as long as we live… I say that a man has got to deserve to speak of the life of another man and of the death of him…

…the life of a good man who has died belongs to the people who care about them, and ought to, and maybe itself is as much comfort as ought to be asked or offered. And surely the talk of a reunion in Heaven is thin comfort to people who need each other here as much as we do.

The worst thing about preachers is they think the’ve got to say something whether anything can be said or not. -A Place on Earth pp. 104-105 Wendell Berry

So, remember, it’s not always what you say, but what you arrange to happen and how powerfully and perceptively you listen. A pastor has to develop the art of never plugging names into a form and saying things that don’t come from a sincere place within. Listen. Try to put yourself in their situation–what if it was your brother, mother, friend who died. Then be quietly with them. But you will have things to arrange in the memorial or funeral or dinner to follow that will create an atmosphere for those healing, helpful, thought-provoking conversations. Then make arrangements:

2. Arrange for Someone Else to Deliver a Eulogy. There are about four ways to do that.

-You can arrange for a family member speak and give the eulogy.

-You can arrange for family member read a eulogy they wrote.

-You can arrange for a family member to read a eulogy someone else has written.

-You can have them write it and you can read it.

But be sure there is a meaningful eulogy.

3. Use Media to Create a Eulogy. If you are not in a position to eulogize and if you cannot arrange a family member to eulogize, try to have the famililes arrange a collage of photos or a slide program with a musical background. You may have a short film clip of the person who died. Once we concluded the service of a woman with a video of her singing at church and then a clip of her delightful yodeling.

If you arrange a meaningful eulogy you will care for people well and they will appreciate it.

Pastor Ken Pierpont

Granville Cottage

Riverview, Michigan

March 9, 2016

Revelation Series (In Progress)

Revelation Series

Ken Pierpont

Evangel Baptist Church-Taylor, Michigan

Preached from September 2015 to Present

A Simple Explanation of the Book of Revelation


http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20150906_Ken_Pierpont_A_Simple_Explanation_of_the_Book_of_Revelation.mp3

The Time is Near (Rev. 1:1-3)

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20150913_Ken_Pierpont_The_Time_is_Near.mp3

Finishing Faithful (Rev. 1:4-8)

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20150920_Ken_Pierpont_Finishing_Faithful.mp3

A Vision of the Son of Man (Rev. 1:9-20)

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20150927_Ken_Pierpont_A_Vision_of_the_Son_of_Man.mp3

How to Renew Your Love for God (Rev. 2:1-7)

The Church at Ephesus

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20151004_Ken_Pierpont_How_to_Renew_Your_Love_For_God.mp3

The Suffering Church (Rev. 2:8-11)

The Church at Smyrna

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20151011_Ken_Pierpont_The_Suffering_Church.mp3

How to Resist Becoming a Worldly Church (Rev. 2:12-17)

The Church at Pergamum

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20151018_Ken_Pierpont_How_To_Resist_Becoming_A_Worldly_Church.mp3

He Searches Minds and Hearts (Rev. 2:18-29)

The Church at Thyatira

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20151025_Ken_Pierpont_He_Searches_Minds_and_Hearts.mp3

Will Christ Confess You? (Rev. 3:1-6)

The Church at Sardis

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20151101_Ken_Pierpont_Will_Christ_Confess_You_.mp3

Enduring Opposition (Rev. 3:7-13)

The Church at Philadelphia

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20151108_Ken_Pierpont_Enduring_Opposition.mp3

Eager Repentance (Rev. 3:14-22)

The Church at Laodocea

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20151115_Ken_Pierpont_Eager_Repentance.mp3

The Control Center of the Universe-Part One (Rev. 4)

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20151129_Ken_Pierpont_The_Control_Center_of_the_Universe_-_Part_1.mp3

The Control Center of the Universe-Part Two (Rev. 5)

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20151206_Ken_Pierpont_The_Control_Center_of_the_Universe_-_Part_2.mp3

Life is Not Fair But God is Just (Rev. 6)

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20160103_Ken_Pierpont_Life_is_Not_Fair_But_God_is_Just.mp3

God’s Mercy and Protection (Rev. 7)

http://kenpierpont.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/GODs-Mercy-and-Protection.mp3

The Trumpet Judgments Begin (Rev. 8)

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20160124_Ken_Pierpont_The_Trumpet_Judgements_-_Part_1.mp3

Sin Makes You Stupid (Rev. 9)

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20160131_Ken_Pierpont_Sin_Makes_You_Stupid.mp3

The Great Angel and the Little Book (Rev. 10)

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20160207_Ken_Pierpont_The_Great_Angel_and_the_Little_Book.mp3

What Lasts is What Matters (Rev. 11)

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20160214_Ken_Pierpont_That_Which_Lasts_Is_What_Matters.mp3

Who is On The Lord’s Side? (Rev. 12)

http://evangelbaptist.com/podcast/20160306_Ken_Pierpont_Whose_Side_Are_You_On_.mp3

Who Is On the Lord’s Side? (Rev. 12)

Who Is On the Lord’s Side (Rev. 12:1-17)

Evangel Baptist Church-Taylor, Michigan

March 6, 2016 AM

Pastor Ken Pierpont

Dawn’s Story; Story Podcast #57

http://kenpierpont.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-03-01-Story-Podcast-Dawns-Story.mp3
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Pastoral Leadership

I’m reading through the Bible again. Every time I read a passage that I have read and studied before I see something new. Usually this is because of what I am going through. Lately I have been thinking about the importance of leadership. Leadership has always been an enigma to me. I would never consider myself an expert at leadership. Sometimes the idea of leadership they way it is expressed in our culture is distasteful to me as a pastor.

I’m working though a bit of a mid-life self-evaluation and have been thinking about the difference between being a parson-storyteller and leading Evangel forward to the next level of ministry and mission in the Downriver. I have a strong sense that at this time in my life the Lord is leading me to LEAD.

This morning I built and fire, brewed some coffee, and sat down in the quiet house to read my Bible. I noticed how God gave simple instructions to Moses and Moses led and organized the people to carry out God’s instructions. Moses organized, motivated, and invited people to use their gifts to complete the Tabernacle. The people gave sacrificially. They each contributed their giftedness. They accomplished what God wanted them to do with great excellence, Moses commended them, and then the glory of God fell on the project.

Leading the Moses way looks pretty strait-forward. You get your direction from the Lord. You tell the people. You inspire them to give and work. You find people who are gifted and have them work in their area of giftedness. You affirm their work. You watch the glory of God fall.

I changed the header on my web site a few minutes ago from “Parson-Storyteller” to “Leading People to Follow Jesus.” I still intend to be a faithful pastor and, like my Master, I will always use storytelling, but it is clear that now is the time in my life to lead.

Longing for the Blessing

We all long for the verbal blessing of others. This longing starts early and continues all through our lives. Last night we were all lying in our bunks in a cabin where I was speaking at a family camp. The children were getting in their last squirms and giggles. When things were finally quiet I could hear Hope talking to mom.

“Mom, when are you going to teach me to cook?”

“Why do you want to learn to cook, Hope?”

“When I get married I need to know how to cook.”

Hope is five so I was a little surprised to find that she was already thinking about honing her homemaking skills.

Lois asked her, “Hope, what do you want to learn to make?”

Without hesitation she said, “I want to know how to make pies.”

I think Hope is going to make her husband very happy some day. Men appreciate women who take pie-making seriously.

The room fell silent for a moment and then Hope began to making sneezing sounds. She wasn’t really sneezing, she was pretending to sneeze. She “sneezed” three or four times and then she was quiet for a while. Finally she said with disgust, “Isn’t anybody going to bless me?”

Quickly out of the darkness voices came. All of Hope’s brothers and sisters and her mom and dad chimed in together to give her the blessing she asked for.

“Bless you, Hope. Bless you,” everyone said.

They were the last words of the day.

People all around us every day wherever we go long for the blessing of others. Often when they come to the end of the day and lie in the darkness with their thoughts they have to go to sleep night after night without it. We should be quick to bless others even before they ask for it. And we should all know someone who loves us and takes pie-making seriously. Life would be a lot happier then, now wouldn’t it?

Ken Pierpont

Riverfront Character Inn

Flint, Michigan

September 6, 2004