Ken Pierpont's Blog, page 95

Red Dot Days (Sermon)

Series: Longings

Sermon: Red Dot Days

Text: Matthew 11:28

Speaker: Pastor Ken Pierpont

Date: July 31, 2016 AM

Place: Evangel Baptist Church, Taylor, Michigan

An Hour of Personal Worship

I am indebted to Tim Challis and Bill Ellif for these suggestions on how to spend an hour in personal worship:

1. In Jesus’ Name

Begin your time of personal worship by acknowledging that it is only through Christ’s merits that you can come before the Father. It is only through the work of Christ in which He took our sin upon Himself and satisfied the Father that we can now be accepted by God. Acknowledge your unworthiness and dependence on Him. In the spirit of the following verses, believe and trust that Christ died to be your Mediator to the Father. Thank Him for allowing you access to God.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13) For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:18)

2. Delight in Him

Delight in the Lord, expressing your wonder of His greatness. Praise Him for who His is – for His character and attributes. Do not focus yet on the things He has done for you, but on His person and attributes. A good place to start as you mediate on Him may be with answer four of the Shorter Catechism: “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.” You might also thank Him for His love, patience, kindness, goodness, knowledge and glory.

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)



3. Repentance

Have a time of personal repentance where you reflect on your own sin and shortcomings in the light of the perfect majesty of God. Confess and repent of specific sins, asking God to forgive you for them. Trust that He is faithful to do so.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)



4. Express Your Longings

Express your deepest, most personal longings to God. This is not a time to pray about everything you need or want, but a time to make known to Him your deepest desires. This may include your desire for deeper fellowship with Him, for personal holiness, to “finish strong” and so on. Ephesians 1:15-23 may serve as a guide for this.

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for the living God. (Psalm 42:1,2)

5. Read a Psalm

Read a Psalm or a portion of a Psalm. Consider reading it out loud, remembering that Psalms were written as music and poetry. Praise God through your words.

6. Sing to the Lord

Sing a song to the Lord. You might consider singing a version of the Psalm you just read or singing a biblically-sound hymn or chorus. You may prefer to make up your own song based on the Psalm you just read or any other passage of Scripture. If you are not a singer, consider reading or reciting a creed or reading a question and answer from a Catechism.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! (Psalm 100:1,2)

7. Intercede For Others

Bring before God the needs and concerns of others. You may wish to remember specifically:

Friends

Family members

The leadership of your church

The leaders of your nation

The unsaved

Missionaries

Those who have asked for prayer and those you have promised to remember in prayer

Those who are grieving or troubled

Those who have experienced disaster

Because you will find there are so many people to remember in prayer, you may wish to make a system of rotation where you pray for only several of the groups each day, remembering to include each group at least once per week.

Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. (1 Samuel 12:23)



8. Place Your Day Before God

Place your day before the Lord, dedicating the day to His service. This is a good time to ask Him for specific opportunities to serve Him in sharing the Gospel and serving others. It may be helpful to go through your day chronologically, asking him for help, patience, guidance, faith and so on in specific areas. For example, you may ask Him for patience as you deal with your children, guidance as you examine job opportunities and wisdom as you share the Gospel with your neighbours.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

9. Petitions

Petition the Lord for other needs that you have not yet brought before Him. This is the time to make personal requests and desires known before Him. More than just remembering these before Him, ask Him specifically for guidance, deliverance, wisdom or endurance. Bring your petitions before Him with faith and humility, knowing that God loves to grant the desires of your heart.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. (Jn. 16: 24)



10. Study The Word

Having prepared your heart and removed any emphasis from yourself, it is now time to turn to the Bible.

Begin by asking the Spirit to illumine the Words you will read, ” – that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints – ” (Ephesians 1:17,18)

Read a passage, and preferably at least a chapter, of the Bible. Read it first as a whole and then in smaller pieces. Seek out the key verses and read them meditatively, continually seeking God’s wisdom to help you understand. Reflect, contemplate, ponder them. Read with a view to understanding the sense and meaning of the passage. Then begin to apply the passage to yourself, asking how this truth relates to you. Ask the following questions of the passage:

Are there commands to obey?

Are there examples to follow?

Are there errors to avoid?

Are there sins to forsake?

Are there promises to claim?

Are there new thoughts about God?

Are there principles to live by?

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1,2)

You may wish to finish with a prayer of application, asking God to apply to your heart what you have learned.

11. Thanksgiving

Finish your time with a prayer of thanksgiving. Be specific in thanking God for his forgiveness, goodness and providence. Thank Him for the time you have been able to spend with Him.

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. (Hebrews 13:15)

And That Is It

If you have used this method, I trust you have just spent a meaningful, intimate hour with the Lord. May God bless you as you dedicate yourself to becoming intimate with Him.

Longing for Rest (Sermon)

Message:Longing for Rest

Series: Longings

Genesis 2:2-3

Pastor Ken Pierpont

Evangel Baptist Church-Taylor, Michigan

July 24, 2016 AM

The Sacred Rhythm of Work and Rest; Podcast #61

(The Word of Life Bookstore where I “met” Vance Havner for the first time).

http://kenpierpont.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/The-Sacred-Rythmn-of-Work-and-Rest-Story-Podcast-61.mp3
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Good Smells

What are some of your favorite smells? I love the smell of steaks on the grill. I love the scent of new-mown hay on a summer evening. The breeze that billowed the curtains in the farmhouse where Lois and I played house when we were first married was hay-scented breeze. I love to drive slow on a summer night in the country and see the fireflies flicker over a field of hay and smell its earthy perfume.

There is a unique combination of pleasing smells that takes me back in my mind to my grandma’s living room. It warms my heart and moistens my eyes to think of it now. She and grandpa are both with the Lord now, but I can still see her smile and hear her voice in my memory. We always talked about books and the things of the Lord and other things and people dear to us. She was one of the few people in my life who would never think of rushing me off. She loved to hear my stories. I loved to listen to hers. I do so miss the smell of that little house in Indiana.

When I kiss our sweet baby Hope goodnight after her bath on a Saturday night she has the sweetest smell about her at that time. We have five beautiful girls in the house. Sometimes with all their lotions and perfumes the whole house smells like a flower shop. (You don’t want to know what the boys room smells like).

There is the wonderful fragrance of our wood fire that haunts me when I step out on a starlit night to walk and meditate.

Yesterday morning there were two prevailing smells in the house. Both of them were good. One was the wonderful smell of coffee (butterscotch toffee to be precise). The other smell was the lingering pleasant scent left by my oldest son before he left for work. He was wearing my cologne. It was a good smell. It made me smile.

The subject came up again on the phone later in the day while I was talking to a parishioner. Her daughter works in the same office with my son. She related a comment someone in the office made. She said; “The place always smells nice since Kyle came to work here.”

The Bible really has a lot to say about smells.

To some our convictions about Christ are attractive and compelling like a pleasing scent. To others those convictions are repulsive and distasteful like the smell of death. “To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.” (2 Corinthians 2:16).

Ecclesiastes says foolishness is like a foul odor. “Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.” (Ecclesiastes 10:1)

Whenever I smell the perfume Lois wore when we first met, powerful memories stir my heart again. Solomon must have had the same experience, he said; “How fair is your love, My sister, my spouse. How much better than wine is your love, And the scent of your perfumes Than all spices!” (Song of Solomon 4:10) You gotta’ admit the guy had a way with words, didn’t he?

The good advice of a friend is like a delightful smell. “Ointment and perfume delight the heart, And the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel.” (Proverbs 27:9)

According to the book of Revelation the prayers of the saints are so sweet smelling to the Lord that he assigns angels to gather them in golden bowls. (5:8 and 8:3). What’s true in heaven is true on earth too. In our church a handful of saints have gathered for years every Wednesday night for an old-fashioned prayer meeting. They get in little groups all over the auditorium to pray. The murmur of their prayers is a sweet thing to hear.

Everyone contributes an aroma to the atmosphere wherever they are. Some people by their words and attitudes foul the atmosphere wherever they go. When they leave the room you want to fumigate. I would like to think that when I leave the room people say; “The place always smells nice since he started working here.

Originally published November 22, 2001 (Fremont, Michigan)

Sometimes it is Sinful Not to Rest

This picture was taken from a little footbridge on the northeast shore of Shear Lake on the property of Camp Barakel where I rest and reflect and pray as often as I can.

Some day I will tell you the time and place God released my soul from seeing ministry as an unrelenting burden. It is a beautiful story. But for now let me say that among other providences He used a delightful little book by Vance Havner called Pleasant Paths In one of the chapters Havner wrote of Jesus pace and His teaching on rest:

“Our Savior’s calm, peaceful journeys over Galilee with a band of plain fishermen and lowly workingmen would have exasperated some of our modern church specialists who would have rejected the twelve because the didn’t have college diplomas. But, after all, that lowly group started something that has never stopped, and we moderns cannot begin to match the gait of Galilee or the pace of Pentecost.

Our Lord never wasted His time. There are other ways of wasting time than by just doing nothing. It can be wasted by doing too much. Idleness is the devil’s workshop, but so it the wrong kind of busyness.

The Bible has plenty of verses to stir up the saints, and most of the saints need stirring. But there are just as many verses about resting in the Lord. He does not favor loafing, but He does not frown on resting. It is a poor song that has no rests in it. Jesus was busy but never in a hurry.”

Jesus said “Come to me all you who are wearly and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.”

Ken Pierpont

Granville Cottage

Riverview, Michigan

July 21, 2016

A Man Named John; Story Podcast #60

In New York there is a neighborhood called Harlem. In Harlem is a section called Mousetown that was named by Reader’s Digest one of the toughest neighborhoods in the United States at one time. A young man lived in the neighborhood who was on a spiritual quest. Here is how he put it: “I was on a quest to find a church—a church with a basketball team. I found such a church in Broadway Presbyterian Church and at the same time I discovered an axiom in life: every silver lining has a cloud. The church required attendance at Sunday School three out of four Sundays for all who played on the team.”

It was in Sunday School that the young man came under the influence of a man whose name was John Mygat. John was unusual. He taught an interesting Sunday School lesson every week and he took a personal interest in his students—even visiting them in the neighborhoods where they lived.

The young man broke his glasses and had not gotten around to replacing them. One Sunday John came up to him and said: “I was saving some money for a suit, but I don’t need a suit. I would like you to have this money to buy some new glasses.”

He did not need the money and turned it down but he remembered John’s kindness. Under the influence of John Mygat, the young man came to Christ and he would eventually leave Harlem for a ministry that would influence people around the world. He has had a profound influence on my own preaching.

His name was Haddon Robinson and he went on to be come a pastor and seminary professor and eventually authored a textbook on preaching used by over 300 seminaries training thousands of preachers.

When John Mygat died Haddon Robinson preached his funeral. He chose the text: “There was a man sent from God whose name was John.”

Only God knows the ongoing influence of a teacher who works to be interesting and who sincerely cares for his students.

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Longings: The Way to God (Sermon)

Longings: The Way to God

John 4:1-18

Evangel Baptist Church-Taylor, Michigan

July 17, 2016

Regrets; Story Podcast #59

http://kenpierpont.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/2016-07-16-Regrets.mp3
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Simple Things for Which We Give Thanks

Last night after a sweet, refreshing storm the fireflies were out over the lawn at dusk. They were a welcome sight to me. They are only with us for what seems like a few, short weeks a year. They never over-stay their welcome and then for only a few hours a day-never at dawn always at dusk. You can’t really capture their unique light.

We thought we could when we were young. We chased them. We caught them. We even gathered them in mason jars and covered them with a lid punctured with small holes so they could breathe. We took them to our room and set them on the dresser to admire them glowing in the darkness… but now that we are older and wiser we are content to see them out over the lawn on a mellow summer’s eve and thank God for the subtle beauty they add to our lives.