Ken Pierpont's Blog, page 133

December 3, 2013

How to Hear God’s Voice

Bible


This morning I awoke at an unusually early hour with things on my heart. I felt a tug on my heart to seek wisdom from the Lord for the things that burden me in the night. I got up and did what I have done for years when seeking wisdom from God. I read the chapter of Proverbs that corresponds with the day of the month. I kept in mind the things that weigh on my soul and asked God for wisdom. Then I read the Proverbs. Immediately, there at the table, with my Bible open before me I received wisdom from the Lord just as plain as the print on the page, as if I was having a personal conversation with Jesus.


“My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.” (Prov. 3:1-2)


“Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.” (Prov. 3:7)


“The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the house of the righteous.” (Prov. 3:33)


Thank you Lord that hearing from you is as easy as getting out of bed, opening Your Word in the night, with the dog curled at my feet, hearing your voice in my heart. Help me to remember your teaching and keep your commands in my heart. Help me not to be wise in my own eyes and to shun evil. I ask for your blessing this morning on my life and on our house. Through Christ Our Lord, Amen


Here is a helpful link if you would like to study the Proverbs more deeply.


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Published on December 03, 2013 01:11

November 30, 2013

Deep Trouble in the Heart of Our Nation

2013-11-29 14.55.48


On my way to my favorite coffee shop this morning I turned on the heat and the radio in my Jeep. It’s been cold and they say the Thanksgiving weekend may bring some snow. Snow for Thanksgiving. We will be praying our travelers in. Tomorrow Holly flies to Washington State for Thanksgiving with Jesse. Others are hurrying home. She can’t wait to leave Granville Cottage for Thanksgiving and fly to the West Coast.


People come and go from the coffee shop this morning in hats, and furry collars, cheeks red with cold. I’m warming myself with breakfast oats, steaming coffee and the London Philharmonic Christmas music. The sky is lightening and the traffic is picking up. I’m thinking about a funeral later today, folk in the hospital, some administrative responsibilities and preparations for the Thanksgiving Eve service and study for Sunday’s launch of my Christmas Series and Christmas communion. If you live close I hope you will attend our Christmas services in person. It you don’t you can catch the sermon podcast.


Deep Trouble in the Soul of our Nation

by Ken Pierpont


Last week I heard a fellow talking about a business idea—a restaurant concept. The restaurant would serve only Thanksgiving leftovers. Cold turkey, cold mashed potatoes and gravy, cold stuffing. Each patron would have his own recliner, a little microwave to warm his food, and a TV to watch football. They would hire a family to sit over in the corner and argue politics. The restaurant chain would be called “Thanks Again.”


Every year about the time the trees are bare and the wind is cold Thanksgiving comes to Michigan again. Thanksgiving in America is blessed time of year. The holiday nicely shortens the third work-week of November. It’s a family time. It’s a mellow, simple holiday that comes and goes quietly and doesn’t require a second mortgage. Even if the Lions didn’t always play every year, Thanksgiving would still be a great idea. If you don’t love leftovers and football I’m glad to remind you that Thanksgiving is much deeper than that. It is a holiday that can reach down deep into your soul if you let it.


Thanksgiving is a Day when those who know and love God have a chance to stop and humbly and quietly acknowledge Him. It was originally conceived not as a slick on-ramp for the materialistic mayhem of holiday shopping, but a season of quiet national humility, when devout men and women acknowledge God and his goodness.


Today we are living in a nation, though that is willfully forgetting God. We are electing to office leaders who are writing laws that defy the laws of God. They are legalizing immorality and normalizing murder in our name. They are doing their best to write God out of American History. They ignore the Bible, distort its meaning, or selectively interpret it to justify their willful defiance of God.


Referring to the prohibition against immorality in Romans, our own President said that he prefers the Sermon on the Mount to what he called “An obscure passage in Romans.” That the leader of the free world has come to consider Romans an obscure passage is evidence of deep trouble in the soul of our nation.


All around us the enemies of God refuse to acknowledge Him. There are many who are not satisfied to see churches pushed to the inconsequential margins of culture. They will not be satisfied until they tax us or legislate us completely out of existence. Some of the most powerful leaders in America are working steadily toward that end. refuse to serve Him. They refuse to worship Him. They refuse to glorify Him. They refuse to even thank Him. What you see in America today is clearly described in Romans 1; “Though they knew God they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him…” Refusal to thank God darkens your heart. “Their foolish hearts are darkened…”


That is why, now more than ever, we must keep Thanksgiving alive in our hearts and homes and churches. May it never be said of us, “…their hearts were darkened because they refused to thank God.”


Ken Pierpont

Granville Cottage

Riverview, Michigan

Nobember 30, 2013


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Published on November 30, 2013 07:09

November 25, 2013

Preparing My Heart for Advent

Christmas-Hope-Isaiah-Main-Graphic


I’m preparing my heart for advent preaching. I’ve often said that I am a student. I am a careful and diligent student, but I am not a scholar. I respect scholars and I depend on Spirit-gifted scholars, but I am not a scholar. I like to think of myself as a pastor-poet. David was a shepherd-poet. Jesus was a shepherd-storyteller-poet. I’m studying to prepare to present the stories of Jesus at Advent with the mind of a student and the heart of a poet.


If you are reading this and you have a moment pray for me. One of our men, Randy Brown, went to be with the Lord last week. His widow said she misses coming out into the family room in the morning and not finding him there on his knees praying. I know I was included in his prayers. I would be honored if you would include me in your prayers. If you ask, I will include you in my prayers.


In the Evangel pulpit this year I will be preaching glad tidings from Isaiah. Scholars say Isaiah is like the fifth gospel. It is the Romans of the Old Testament. Isaiah is filled with messianic passages that soar up to God. All my messages will be taken from Isaiah from Christmas Communion on December 1st to our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. I’m praying for a warm heart and crafting the poetry of the messages now.


Maybe you can attend Evangel during Advent or Christmas and listen to some of the messages. If you live a long way away or attend another fellowship, maybe you could listen to the messages after I post them.


Thanks to Kyle Pierpont for the graphic


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Published on November 25, 2013 10:51

November 15, 2013

This Christmas We Will Adopt A Seven-Year-Old Again

TreeFarm


I’m speaking tomorrow for a Christmas Banquet. it got me thinking and reading old Christmas essays. I stumbled across this paragraph:


“Through the long warm days of seven summers it has stood on that pleasant hillside. On the fresh rain of seven springs it thrived. Seven winters flocked its branches with snow. And the geese of seven gold and auburn autumns passed over it by moonlight.”


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Published on November 15, 2013 18:33

November 11, 2013

Praying and Plowing

AlexMarton


Yesterday we interviewed a couple for membership. They are older folk. He immigrated to the United States from Hungary in 1957. I asked him to tell how he came to know the Lord. He said that he was raised in a Christian home. He knew the gospel and he knew what was right but he did not yield to Christ until he was older.


During his testimony he said; “My father was a farmer. He farmed with horses. When I was a boy I noticed that he would stop before he began to plow his field and remove his hat. He would bow his head in silent prayer, then he would put his hat on and begin to plow.”


Later, when he was fleeing from the Russians and trying to escape Hungary to come to America, he lay in a barn in the night and cried out to God for his help. It was then he began to yield his heart to the Lord. God allowed him to escape to America and he settled in the Delray community in Detroit.


As I listened to his beautiful testimony I was glad that this elderly man with deep and sincere affections for Christ would find a spiritual home at Evangel and I prayed that my children, when they are years and miles removed from the home of their youth, would remember me removing my hat and bowing in reverent prayer before my day’s work.


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Published on November 11, 2013 05:41

November 8, 2013

How Would You Answer Ragna’s Question?

2013-10-11 09.58.40


I used to work in the Nationwide Insurance Claims Center in Columbus, Ohio. One morning I got into work and logged onto my computer, began to ready myself for the day when Ragna came in and went to work in the cubicle beside me. She looked over at me and said thoughtfully, “Why are you so happy all the time?”


My initial response was, “Ragna, I have seven children. (eight now) The Bible says, “Children are a heritage from the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward, happy is the man who has a quiver full of them.’ I have seven children so that is one of the reasons I am so happy all the time.”


She thought for a minute but did not seem satisfied with my answer. “I don’t have any children, so how can I be happy?” Just then a phone call came in and we had to go to work, but at the first opportunity I put my phone on hold and took off my headset to answer Ragna’s question. She looked into my eyes for the answer.


“Ragna, you were created by God and you were made to worship Him and enjoy Him. In this life there are many things that will give you temporary and incomplete happiness. You can enjoy food, relationships, romance, experiences, adventures, honors, possessions and pleasures and all of them will bring some happiness. But inside you there is a deep spiritual hunger that no person, experience or possession can ever fully satisfy. Only God can do that.”


I went on to explain to gospel to my friend and she listened thoughtfully. My happiness had given me an opportunity to tell Ragna the gospel. My favorite tip for those that desire to give the gospel to their friends is, “Love them ’til they ask you why’ but this is another very powerful missionary technique: “Be happy ’til they ask you why.”


That’s something to think about the next time you are tempted to curse the traffic or complain about the boss at work. Be a happy Christian, a joyful believer. If you do maybe people will ask you the secret of your happiness and you can tell them all about Jesus.


A Powerful Verbal Blessing


One morning I was feeling the pressure of many responsibilities. I was a little overcome and overwhelmed. It brought fog into my heart and robbed me of my smile. People around me could tell it.


The next day I received a phone call from my boss, Mr. Gothard. He has literally “written the book” on how to bless. The book is a wonderful little volume called, “The Power of Spoken Blessins.” He had prepared a biblical blessing for me. He said; “Today I read the last words of David. Are you familiar with the last words of David?” I hesitated. He read the passage to me.


The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. (2 Samuel 23:2)


Then he said, “Ken, when I read that it reminded me of you. You rise early every day to write and try to be a blessing to people like the sun coming up every morning. That is how I see you. You are a blessing to everyone you meet.”


Of course when I got off the phone I marked the passage in my Bible and I have returned to it over and over again, especially when I am tempted to allow my responsibilities to rob me of my smile. I want to be like the sun rising on my world every day like the light of the morning when the sun rises on a cloudless morning and the rain is gone. I want to live up to my blessing. I want to have a disposition that makes people curious about Jesus. I want to be happy until they ask me why.


A Classic Re-post from 2004


Ken Pierpont

Riverfront Character Inn

Flint, Michigan

October 18, 2004


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Published on November 08, 2013 01:00

November 6, 2013

Getting Ready for Christmas

ChristmasBarn


I’ve been in pastoral ministry for 35 years. During that time I have aways preached Christmas messages during the whole month of December. Many of my friends in ministry have difficulty coming up with a unique Christmas message once or twice a year but have preached from five to nine Christmas messages every year for three and a half decades. I love Christmas preaching.


About this time of the year I start thinking about it and planning for it. When the children were small in early to mid-November I would go to the library and check out a big stack of Christmas books. I would drive to the city and spend time browsing through Christian bookstores getting ideas and illustrations and researching interesting, fresh approaches to the wonderful ancient Christmas story we all love so much. I would begin to play Christmas music quietly in my study while I planned so the story of Christmas would sink down into my soul. That was back in the cassette-tape era, when it was a little more work to keep a fresh archive of Christmas music. I spent hours creating mix-tapes of Christmas music so our lives would be flooded with beautiful Christ-honoring music.


Yesterday Holly (no she was not born at Christmas) was talking about Ann Voskamp’s new Christmas book; “The Greatest Gift.” I went on a hunt for the book and on my third bookstore I found it. I have started my Christmas preparations. Never before have I sensed such a great need for Christ among the people in our region. We must make Him known. I’m unapologeticlly starting early.


The photo is from Ann Voskamp’s wonderful site: A Holy Experience.


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Published on November 06, 2013 08:43

November 4, 2013

Preparing for a Wedding

Ken Study


A few weeks ago I was preparing for a wedding in my inner study and Chuk took this picture. It seemed to capture the quiet the place. Thanks for the pic, Chuk.


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Published on November 04, 2013 04:56

October 12, 2013

Saturday Night Routine

Andy-Opie


When I was ten I dressed like Opie Taylor. I wore Levis, basketball shoes, a red felt cap, and tee-shirts with stripes. On fall Saturdays when I was growing up there were chores in the morning, listening to football banter on the radio. Usually I helped (watched) Dad work on the car or prep the house for winter. We installed storm windows, clean gutters, made trips to the dump, puttered about the garage and raked leaves. Dad always washed the car on Saturday. In the afternoon we would go in town to make hospital calls and come home to listen to football on the radio or sometimes watch the game on TV.


The evening was different, though. At about 6:00 p.m. things began to change. The house began to quiet. The TV was turned off. Shoes were shined for church. Clothes were prepared. Dad would quietly study his sermon. Mom would prepare for her class or practice her music. We would be sent to our room to do our “quarterlies.” (our Sunday School books). The little brothers (now both pastors here in Michigan) were given their baths. Our offering was set aside. That’s the way it was growing up for me.


I hope you have a routine of preparation for worship. A routine of preparation is a part of your worship. It is a way to show honor to God and remind your whole family of your devotion to Him and their dependance on Him. People who take corporate worship seriously and honor God are honored by God and blessed by God. That’s the way it is. I’ve seen it for years. God honors those who honor him. (1 Samuel 2:30).


Under the Mercy;

Ken Pierpont

Granville Cottage

October 12, 2013


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Published on October 12, 2013 08:50

October 9, 2013

Two Pastors

Craig Clapper


Pastor Criag Clapper (Google him–interesting guy)


It’s crisp and it’s clear this morning. It’s cool and colorful. It’s the kind of morning you think about when deep into the hot and humid swelter of summer you imagine an autumn day.


I’m nursing a coffee and enjoying some conversation at Starbucks. I’m doing some writing and getting ready for a long string of meetings with people today. Many of the local pastors cycle through here and you get a unique mix of news, opinion and ecclesiastical banter unavailable anywhere else. Chuk is the early-morning shift manager here and has that special gift of making wherever he is feel like home. I have a coffee-shop story to tell you today.


True story. Two pastors frequented a coffee house. One of them studied with the kind of ear-protection you would wear if you were operating a jackhammer or industrial lawn mower–big, orange headphones. He buried himself in his study, a large study Bible and his sermon preparation. He didn’t take off the headphones, even when he went to the men’s room. He was orthodox, Bible-believing, sound in faith, truth-teaching and out of touch with the world around him.


The other pastor knew everyone’s name. He would breeze in every day with a smile on his face and a kind word for everyone. He genuinely cared about people. At Christmas time he would come in for his regular coffee and drop a one hundred dollar bill in the tip jar.


I want the be like the second pastor. Around Jesus were men and women with every imaginable need and he didn’t walk through his world with headphones on.


Ken Pierpont

Granville Cottage

Riverview, Michigan

October 9, 2013


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Published on October 09, 2013 03:50