Ken Pierpont's Blog, page 53

Bittersweet Farm Journal (Number 24) Holly’s Baby Girl!

This will be short. It’s Christmas Eve, Eve as I write. Most of the family will be here to celebrate Christmas. The circle drive was full of cars… One even got stuck in the yard for time… The little farmhouse will be full for a couple days. Today at Bethel Church we celebrated the birth of Jesus in a beautiful service full of Christmas music and church full of loving people. Tomorrow we will have a traditional Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. It’s a highlight of the year.

Merry Christmas to each of you from Bittersweet Farm.

Paulene Afman’s Funeral

Saturday I left at 5:30 in the morning to return to First Baptist in Fremont where I pastored 18 years ago. It was the last place where we all lived under one roof together. I preached the funeral of Paulene Afman, who was the wife a former associate pastor. It was a beautiful service. Jesus was her Savior, King, and Treasure. She was a woman of prayer.

I once visited her in the hospital and I asked her the secret of raising a family for God. I admired her family very much. She said; “It’s the grace of God.”

Twice I pressed her for specifics… She refused to add to what she had said. “If you see anything good in my family, it is the grace of God.”

Bella Allene

We traveled to Oregon to capture pictures of our oldest daughter and her family especially their new daughter Bella Allene.

Hope When You Are Threatened and Troubled (Sermon) Audio

Series: Christmas Hope: The Gospel in Isaiah

Message: Hope When You Are Troubled (Isaiah 7:14)

Ken Pierpont, Lead Pastor, Bethel Church–Jackson, Michigan

December 16, 2018 AM

https://kenpierpont.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2018-12-16-153017-ovszngwis89ezhwfx8tl-1080p-b195-e412.m4a

Hope When You Are Threatened and Troubled (Sermon) Video

Series: Christmas Hope: The Gospel in Isaiah

Message: Hope When You Are Troubled (Isaiah 7:14)

Ken Pierpont, Lead Pastor, Bethel Church–Jackson, Michigan

December 16, 2018 AM

Bittersweet Farm Journal (Number 23) Through the Foggy Mountains Home

This week the children are coming to Bittersweet Farm for Christmas from New Mexico, Texas, Wisconsin, and West Michigan. We just returned from Oregon where we visited Holly and Jesse and their little growing family. Early Saturday morning we put my Spotify Christmas playlist on the car speakers and drove through the Coastal Range from Seaside to Portland then boarded a plane back to our home here on Bittersweet Farm.

We are looking forward to being with some of the people we love and don’t often get to see. I hope you all will enjoy a little circle of love during the Christmas and New Year holidays. 

Bethel Church is flourishing. Yesterday was a happy day at Bethel including a choir, english handbells, a special Christmas piano solo by Larry Carlson, and a beautiful sacred dance. I’m taking my Christmas messages from the prophecies of Isaiah this year. Yesterday we returned home with our hearts full and grateful, laden with Christmas gifts and Christmas treats from Bethel parishioners. Over a quiet lunch Lois and Hope and I talked about what a kindness from God it was that we were led to Bethel and to Bittersweet Farm. 



One Christmas I climbed high into the gable end of our huge barn on an important mission… Something happened that night that none of us will ever forget:

Are Your Lights On?

It must have been the coldest day of the winter so far. Our neighbor silenced the pleading of his children by climbing to the top of his TV antenna tower to hang a star of colored lights. His daughter came down the hill red-cheeked, all bundled up and begged us to come up and see it.

I have always been proud of my imagination, but it took every ounce of it to tell the wad of lights up there was a star. I did admire the man’s humble attempt to make a memory for his children. They will have children of their own one day. When they do this tangled string of lights will become a breath-taking and brilliant display in the re-telling.

Christmas had come simply to my neighbors little trailer on the hill. His star is shining. Sadly that is not true with everyone this time of year.

One year I was running short of calling nights. The Christmas crunch would make it impossible to find people home or receptive to my visits. I needed to visit a family one night so I turned off the state highway and pointed my little brown station-wagon north and wound through Apple Valley five miles toward the Fleeman’s home. The snow had been falling most of the evening. Flakes were coming faster and thicker. It was hard to read the road signs. I always had trouble finding their lane anyway. Was it West Moreland or East Highland?

The car was cold, my heater was broken, and the defroster blew ice-cold air on my windshield. I thought of our old warm farmhouse nestled in the Walhounding River valley. I imagined the smell of dinner, a hot cup of cocoa, and my big recliner surrounded by children, but I determined not to go home until I had made this call.

My headlights threw a pool of light on the darkness ahead. Suddenly I remembered something that would simplify everything. Every year Sonny outlined their entire house in Christmas lights and displayed a huge star on the top of their TV tower. That star should be visible for a mile or more even on this dark snowy night. I searched the darkness for the star without success.

Finally, guessing at the road, I turned down a lane that lead to their home. When their house came into view it was dark. No lights, no candles in the window, no light from within, no Christmas lights, and no star overhead.

Since I had come so far I knocked anyway to be sure. Sonny was home. He manages a large department store and must work up to Christmas Eve and return the day after to process returns. It was impossible for him to travel home to his people in the south for Christmas. That year his family went south without him. With the boys gone he had not gone to the trouble to display the lights or hang the star.

As I drove away after a nice visit, I wondered how many times someone looked to me when they were lost and cold. How many times had someone looked to see if my star was shining? Was the light of Christ’s love shining when people lost in darkness needed it?

One night the girls went Christmas shopping and the boys stayed home. I called the boys out to the workshop and we pounded nails in a big square of plywood. We took a couple strings of lights and wound them around the nails. “Oh, a star!” Chuk said, when I plugged in the lights.

At great personal risk I climbed up into the peak of our huge barn and fed a rope over a pulley in the gable end. Within an hour we had hoisted the huge star into place. I struggled in the darkness to keep my footing on the old ladder nailed to the inside of the barn wall, but I still remember the warmth and excitement that came to my heart as we pulled the beautiful lights up into place.

If you had taken your family out State Route 36 in eastern Knox County, Ohio that Christmas, and looked to the north about a half-mile after you passed over the river, you would have seen our star from a mile away and you would know our little valley was occupied by people whose hearts still beat fast when they think of the wonderful miracle of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Will your star be shining this year?

Christmas Message-Chuk Pierpont

A couple weeks ago our son Chuk preached a beautiful Christmas message at his church. I thought you might like to hear it. It’s pretty strait-forward. I hope it helps you and encourages you.

https://kenpierpont.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/PM-12-9-18-Pastor-Chuk.mp3

The picture above of Chuk was taken in front of the Starbucks in Jackson, Michigan on Thanksgiving many years ago. Little did we know that last year I would be called to pastor the church that is just over his shoulder… the Bethel Church. Who knew?

The Bittersweet Journal (Number 22) Peace on Earth?

This week I watched the Bethel service from the west coast.Bella is Born

Lois and I were gifted a flight into Portland and a trip out to the coast of Oregon. Our oldest daughter lives there with her husband Jesse and first-born Aiden Redemption. Last week they had a baby girl. Her name is Bella Allene. Mom and baby are healthy. Lois helped Holly get her new routine in place and we all enjoyed some time together sitting by the glowing Christmas tree, listening to the coos and cries of little Bella and letting Mr. Aiden Redemption entertain us with his antics. (Shortly we will post some pictures of Bella here). The coffee out here is pretty good, too.

Coffee roasted here on the coast is powerful good.

The little piece that follows was written by our son Chuk as an introduction to a sermon he preached last night at the church where he serves as youth pastor here in Michigan.

Peace On Earth?

by Chuk Pierpont

Well it’s that time of year. The time of year when ovens fire up filled with goodies and treats that will only be had in December.

It’s the time of year when tree farms that stood silent during the tree planting season fill with hoards of happy people looking for that perfect tree to adopt into the family for the next month.

It’s the time of year when you carry a plate of cookies over to the neighbors—the ones you haven’t had the time to catch up with this year—and you let them know that you are still there, across the street, and that you care about them.

The time of year when folks will dance merrily to “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,” even though they hate the snow.

It’s the time of year that even the backwoods boys who haven’t seen the inside of a store other than Ace Hardware, wander the aisles of Nordstrom looking for the one thing that will bring delight to their wives on Christmas morning.

It’s the time of year folks think deeply on the incarnation of Christ. God becoming man.

It’s the time of year when parents sit their children down on the couch and seniors wrap in a blanket and read quietly a story like this one.

“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”(Luke 2:8–13, ESV)

That’s it. Peace. I think that’s what this celebration is all about. Peace on earth. That’s what folks are trying to find during this festival of God became man. They are looking for peace.

But quickly December’s feelings of peace turn to a January of resolution. You are back to the grind. You are angry in traffic again.

The wife who worked so hard to make you happy on Christmas morning is now angry again and you wonder if your marriage will make it to next Christmas.

The husband who loved you and worked hard for you is gone. The family that visited in December is back home and you find yourself alone again.  

Your children are making terrible choices and you stay awake at night in fear of what will happen to them.

The factory you work at has found a much cheaper way to make their products in china and they wonder if they are going to move the factory there.

Where is the peace on earth that the angels sang about. They promised this boy would bring peace on earth. What did they mean? How do you get there?

In the message Chuk went on to explain that the peace the angels promised comes though Christ like this:

—When we are justified (saved, born again) we have peace with God.

—As we are being sanctified (growing in holiness) we experience the peace of God within.

—When we are glorified after the return of Christ there will be peace on earth—in the millennial reign and in the ultimate Kingdom of God-the eternal state.

When the prophets promised peace on earth they saw the fulfillments of the first advent or coming of Christ and the second advent or coming of Christ together, though the full peace on earth the angels announced would be inaugurated at Christ birth but fully realized after His second-coming.

It could be expressed this way: Peace on earth comes initially though the offer of a spiritual, inner kingdom and ultimately through a literal physical eternal kingdom of God on earth. Both will be fully realized by all who believe and are saved.

This is what we want to keep in mind and close to our hearts when we think of the beautiful announcement of the shepherds: The peace our hearts so desperately long more will come for those who believe in Christ in wonderful stages ending in ultimate and eternal peace in the presence of Jesus Christ on earth as King. To keep that in our hearts is the heart of Advent.

I hope you have that hope. That hope is what makes Christmas Christmas.

Ken Pierpont

Gearhart, Oregon

December 10, 2018

The Bittersweet Journal (Number 21) Peace on Earth?

This week I watched the Bethel service from the west coast.Bella is Born

Lois and I were gifted a flight into Portland and a trip out to the coast of Oregon. Our oldest daughter lives there with her husband Jesse and first-born Aiden Redemption. Last week they had a baby girl. Her name is Bella Allene. Mom and baby are healthy. Lois helped Holly get her new routine in place and we all enjoyed some time together sitting by the glowing Christmas tree, listening to the coos and cries of little Bella and letting Mr. Aiden Redemption entertain us with his antics. (Shortly we will post some pictures of Bella here). The coffee out here is pretty good, too.

Coffee roasted here on the coast is powerful good.

The little piece that follows was written by our son Chuk as an introduction to a sermon he preached last night at the church where he serves as youth pastor here in Michigan.

Peace On Earth?

by Chuk Pierpont

Well it’s that time of year. The time of year when ovens fire up filled with goodies and treats that will only be had in December.

It’s the time of year when tree farms that stood silent during the tree planting season fill with hoards of happy people looking for that perfect tree to adopt into the family for the next month.

It’s the time of year when you carry a plate of cookies over to the neighbors—the ones you haven’t had the time to catch up with this year—and you let them know that you are still there, across the street, and that you care about them.

The time of year when folks will dance merrily to “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,” even though they hate the snow.

It’s the time of year that even the backwoods boys who haven’t seen the inside of a store other than Ace Hardware, wander the aisles of Nordstrom looking for the one thing that will bring delight to their wives on Christmas morning.

It’s the time of year folks think deeply on the incarnation of Christ. God becoming man.

It’s the time of year when parents sit their children down on the couch and seniors wrap in a blanket and read quietly a story like this one.

“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”(Luke 2:8–13, ESV)

That’s it. Peace. I think that’s what this celebration is all about. Peace on earth. That’s what folks are trying to find during this festival of God became man. They are looking for peace.

But quickly December’s feelings of peace turn to a January of resolution. You are back to the grind. You are angry in traffic again.

The wife who worked so hard to make you happy on Christmas morning is now angry again and you wonder if your marriage will make it to next Christmas.

The husband who loved you and worked hard for you is gone. The family that visited in December is back home and you find yourself alone again.  

Your children are making terrible choices and you stay awake at night in fear of what will happen to them.

The factory you work at has found a much cheaper way to make their products in china and they wonder if they are going to move the factory there.

Where is the peace on earth that the angels sang about. They promised this boy would bring peace on earth. What did they mean? How do you get there?

In the message Chuk went on to explain that the peace the angels promised comes though Christ like this:

—When we are justified (saved, born again) we have peace with God.

—As we are being sanctified (growing in holiness) we experience the peace of God within.

—When we are glorified after the return of Christ there will be peace on earth—in the millennial reign and in the ultimate Kingdom of God-the eternal state.

When the prophets promised peace on earth they saw the fulfillments of the first advent or coming of Christ and the second advent or coming of Christ together, though the full peace on earth the angels announced would be inaugurated at Christ birth but fully realized after His second-coming.

It could be expressed this way: Peace on earth comes initially though the offer of a spiritual, inner kingdom and ultimately through a literal physical eternal kingdom of God on earth. Both will be fully realized by all who believe and are saved.

This is what we want to keep in mind and close to our hearts when we think of the beautiful announcement of the shepherds: The peace our hearts so desperately long more will come for those who believe in Christ in wonderful stages ending in ultimate and eternal peace in the presence of Jesus Christ on earth as King. To keep that in our hearts is the heart of Advent.

I hope you have that hope. That hope is what makes Christmas Christmas.

Ken Pierpont

Gearhart, Oregon

December 10, 2018

A Winter Visit to an Ocean Village (Podcast)

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny winter day from the coast of Oregon. I drove into the little seaside village of Gearhart to take some thank you notes to the little post office there.

Click here is my latest podcast…

When You Are Weary of Waiting (Sermon) Audio

Series: Christmas Hope: The Gospel in Isaiah

Title: When You Are Weary of Waiting

Bethel Church–Jackson, Michigan

December 2, 2018AM

Ken Pierpont; Lead Pastor

When You Are Weary of Waiting (Sermon) Video

Series: Christmas Hope: The Gospel in Isaiah

Title: When You Are Weary of Waiting

Bethel Church–Jackson, Michigan

December 2, 2018AM

Ken Pierpont; Lead Pastor