Ken Pierpont's Blog, page 165
June 28, 2011
A Clumsy Dance
We inherited an adorable, intelligent little Yorkie from our daughter Heidi and her boyfriend Austin a couple years ago. The kids named him Hazard after a little town in Eastern Kentucky, near where they first met him. Heidi and Austin married and moved away and left Hazard with us. We fell immediately and effortlessly in love with the little animal.
The enthusiasm he shows when I arrive home is one of his most endearing qualities. He celebrates my arrival like he won the seventh game of the World Series.
Last night when I came in from a youth event he was jumping and leaping and wagging and breathing fast. I made my way toward the living room where I usually rest my briefcase beside my chair.
Mid-way through the kitchen he ran under my foot. I stepped on him. He yelped. I made a quick hop to shift my weight. He darted under my foot and I stepped on him again.
In instinctive self-preservation he bit my toe. I was wearing sandals. Now we were both hurting. I rolled around on the ground for a moment holding my foot and he licked me to let me know the whole thing was a big mistake. I don't like licking so usually I tell him and he stops, but he seemed to be trying to communicate that he meant no harm. I pet him for a while I groaned in pain hoping he would know that I would never intentionally step on him.
Have you ever noticed that in human relationships can be the same way? We are all eager to love and be loved but in our clumsiness we end up miss-stepping, growling, snapping, and groaning in pain and trying to make up. We live in a broken world. Until Jesus comes back and puts things right, even those of us who are devoted to each other are going to struggle to express our love. We are going to have painful episodes. We are going to say and do things that hurt those we love and deeply regret it later. We are going to struggle through that clumsy little dance of life and love we do.
Be careful when you walk though someone's life. It's easy to step on people. Be careful when people step on you. Don't be quick to snap at them. When you do hurt or get hurt, immediately tend to the wound so that your fellowship is fully restored.
Hazard and I are OK now, I think. He sits at my feet when I write and lays on the arm of my chair some, quietly growling at squirrels, rabbits and birds in the back yard. I scratch behind his ears from time to time.
He does seem to give me a little more space when I stride through the room these days. I try to tread lightly around him and I try to be very careful where I step. If you step on people enough they will run and hide when you come home. It some cases, they won't even be there to greet you anymore. You don't want that.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
June 29, 2011
June 27, 2011
Great Gas Mileage
Saturday we spend a few hours with Austin and Heidi at New Buffalo. We strolled along Lake Michigan, ate at The Stray Dog, and puttered around a few shops. It was a good day. We found a little custard stand. They had a car that looked like it would get good gas mileage.
It's Not a Real Bear
Standing in the yard across the street from Granville Cottage is a nine-foot tall bear sculpted with a chain saw. It's pretty imposing and impressive and an interesting conversation piece.
A couple years ago our oldest son and his family came for a visit. I went out to the car to greet our grandson, little Kyle Kenneth. I got him from his car seat and started to carry him into the house.
"What's that?" he said, looking wide-eyed at the bear in the yard.
"O, It's just a bear," I said.
He tightened his grip around my neck.
"Don't worry," I said. "I'm tough. I'll protect you."
"I'm scared, grandpa."
"It's OK. I will protect you. He can't hurt you. I'm here."
"Grandpa, he's coming to get us."
"No. He's not coming to get us, Kyle. He's not a real bear. He is just a piece of wood. He can't hurt us. He's not a real bear."
After that he kept a wary eye on the bear whenever we went out into the yard. In the daylight he was pretty bold, but in the dark he would stay close and cling to my neck when I put him in the car.
A few weeks ago he came to visit. I went out to get him. He's older now—braver. He walked and I held his hand. On the way into the house he glanced over his shoulder toward the bear and said, "Hey, grandpa, that's not a real bear. It's not a real bear, grandpa. It's not a real bear, grandpa, is it?"
I answered him, "No, buddy, it not a real bear." But I don't think he was talking to me. I think he was talking to himself. He was telling himself the truth. There must have been some inner voice lying to him and still trying to convince him that the bear was real and that he was in danger.
He was muttering the truth to himself—trying to calm his fears. "It's not a real bear. It's not a real bear. It's not a real bear."
For years well-meaning people have tried to construct schemes, initiate programs, institute religious systems, and discover "new" insights to help people in their struggles against guilt and shame and sin. Whole religious sects have sprung up promising to produce perfect families, holy lives and dynamic churches. They are fads and movements. They come and go.
Wherever God's people get together and sing and pray and consider truth from Scripture some good things are bound to happen, but over the years I have noticed that there is no scheme or system or spiritual "secret" that is more powerful against sin and guilt, shame and self-righteousness than the gospel applied and continually applied.
We need a return to the gospel. I'm thankful for voices across our nation that are calling for a simple return to the simplicity of the gospel. I want to join them for the rest of my life and ministry. It is the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation and it must not be diminished, neglected, distorted, ignored or replaced.
When voices rise up within you to condemn you or when you are tempted to rely on self-righteousness there is no way to improve on the simplicity of preaching the gospel to yourself. There are voices within you that would lie to you and drag you into error and bondage. Don't listen to them. Speak and sing and murmur the truth to yourself. Preach the gospel to the lost. Preach the gospel to one another. Preach to gospel to your children. But most of all, preach the gospel to yourself.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michgian
June 26, 2011
Are You A Real Christian?
Series: Matthew's Gospel
Date: June 25, 2011 AM
Place: Evangel Baptist Church–Taylor, Michigan
Speaker: Ken Pierpont
June 21, 2011
How to Cultivate Desire for God
Growing Season Wednesday Night Series
Message: How to Cultivate Desire for God
Date: Wednesday Evening–June 15, 2011
Place: Evangel Baptist Church–Taylor, Michigan
Speaker: Pastor Kenneth L. Pierpont
How A Man Can Have a Lasting Influence
Text: Ephesians 2:1-10
Date: June 20, 2011 (Father's Day)
Place: Evangel Baptist Church–Taylor, Michigan
Speaker: Pastor Kenneth L. Pierpont
June 14, 2011
Flyover of Proverbs
Series: A Flyover of the Bible
Text: The Book of Proverbs
Date: June 12, 2011 PM
Speaker: Pastor Kenneth L. Pierpont
The Terror and Tragedy of False Profession
Text: Matthew 7:21-23
Place: Evangel Baptist Church
Series: Matthew's Gospel
Date: June 12, 2011 AM
Speaker: Pastor Kenneth L. Pierpont
June 7, 2011
"Cha-Ching"
On a summer afternoon years ago our oldest son Kyle came in from playing out in the back with a friend looking serious.
The conversation went something like this:
"Hey, Kyle. You OK?"
"Yea."
"Watcha' up to?"
"Rusty was here."
"Were you playing?"
"We were talking. I was witnessing to him."
"Well, that's good, Kyle. How did it go?"
"OK, I guess," Kyle says—lines in the forehead.
"OK?" We ask.
He shuffles his feet and says; "He was sittin' in the tree swing and I was witnessing to him. I told him that Jesus died for his sin and he said, 'Cha-ching.' When I told him about heaven he said, 'Cha-ching.' I don't think he understood."
"Kyle, you're right. I don't think he understood. Let's pray for him. Maybe someday he will understand."
It's been years now. I don't know what's become of Rusty. I don't know if he understands the gospel yet. I don't know where he is, what's become of him, or what he believes. I do know that he needs to know that the gospel is more than hitting the celestial jackpot with God.
What's sad is that most people don't understand the gospel and if they think they do they see it as a cheap and easy free-ride to heaven when they die after a life of living any way they want.
You tell them about Jesus and they say "cha-ching." You tell them about Heaven and they say; "cha-ching."
They really don't get it and we should have a concerned look on our face to say the least.
If anyone is qualified to talk about the way to Heaven it is the One who came from Heaven, made a way for men and women to get to Heaven and is seated in Heaven now… the Lord Jesus.
As Jesus began his conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount he had something shocking and sobering to say about who goes to Heaven and who doesn't go:
"Enter by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and here are few who find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)
I don't know what you think, or what you have heard, but that's what Jesus said about how hard it is to get to Heaven.
You really don't hear people talking that way much, do you?
Ray Comfort is an evangelist from New Zealand who is all over the web. He noticed how many false professions and how many false converts there were in his ministry. He began to study the Scripture and the lives of great evangelists of the past and noticed that his evangelistic strategy was lacking something that Jesus and effective evangelists of the past emphasized… They often didn't give people the gospel until they were silenced with conviction by the law of God.
Ray Comfort began to teach the law before he gave people the gospel and he began to see more people genuinely converted to Christ.
Most of you know that Kyle is a pastor in northern Indiana now. I called him to tell him that I was going to tell this story about Rusty and confirm the details. He said, "Do you remember that you had taken me to hear Ray Comfort speak and when I came in from talking to Rusty I was thinking, "I don't think I gave him enough law…"
If you tell people about Heaven and they say "Cha-Ching," and if you tell them about forgiveness and they say, "Cha-Ching," you probably didn't give them enough law.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
May
June 6, 2011
Carsickness Forgotten
Seeking a way to comfort families grieving the loss of their loved ones I wrote this story:
There was a boy who always grew deathly ill of carsickness on long trips. It happened especially on the way to his grandparents home when the hills began to roll. He was in such pain, that he would complain to his father;
"Daddy, you have to do something. I think I am going to die. I can't take it anymore."
His Daddy wouldn't say much. He would just keep driving toward the farm. "Well, if you get sick, don't make a mess, son. Tell me if I need to pull over. Look outside the car. You'll be better when we get there."
Finally, mercifully, he would arrive at his grandparent's farm and his suffering would end.
When he got to the farm he would take off his shoes and roll up his jeans and wade in the stream-
cold water washing over his feet
Smooth rocks beneath.
He would run in the grass,
Pick flowers for his mother.
And chase butterflies
He would fish
He would swim
He would climb trees
He would swing in the barn
And jump in the hay
And chase the dogs
He would lay on his belly in the field
and eat wild strawberries…
Then they would call him for dinner…
He didn't eat too much…
Then after dinner they would put a piece of warm pie in from of him with a big glob of melting home-made ice cream.
And then as evening came he would lie on the porch and he would look up into the night sky at the bright stars.
Then he would climb the wooden stairs to bed
Crawl into the big poster-bed
And lost in the soft covers
With hay-scented air billowing the white curtains he would listen to the murmuring and the soft laughter of adult voices from down below and sounds of the frogs and the crickets out in the night.
Lying there with the weight of his grandmother's quilt on him he couldn't even remember what it felt like to be sick. He was so happy to be in such a wonderful place with people he loved
and with people who loved him.
We may be car sick on the way but there will come a time that the beauty of eternal life and the presence of perfect love will make us forget all of it and remember it no more.
Paul said it like this: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18)
