Sunday in Retrospect

On the first Lord’s Day of 2014, God smiled on us and blessed our day of worship at the Mt. Salem Church.  I am so grateful to Pastor and lead this precious congregation whom God loves, and sent His Son to die for, and His Spirit to guide and comfort.  It has been a tremendous time of growth, tutelage and joy.  

Typically, I implement a few new changes at the beginning of February since being at Mt. Salem.  I am planning and praying about those changes now.  The changes are much more gradual, thought-through, and sensitive due to the age of our congregation.  I have seen this challenge as more of a blessing to me than a burden, amid occasional frustrations.  Patience is NOT my virtue!

My sermon title was, “The Difference the Gospel Makes.”  I had a different title (Clothing, Containers & New Beginnings) but I decided against it, going with a more ‘conservative’ label.  I have often struggled with titles and the labeling of my sermons.  Sometimes I get an epiphany of a blockbuster title; but those times have been rare.  There has been, at times, an envy of those (especially my white seminary brothers) who have such catchy titles for days.  Bryan Carter, who pastors the Concord Church in Dallas, has become one who is great in this area.  I remember visiting the concorddallas.org website once, and seeing a Resurrection series entitled ‘HeRose’, a play on words from a television show entitled, ‘Heroes.’  I remember saying, ‘Wow....that’s genius.  Why didn’t I think of that!?!?’ lol  If I ever get the opportunity, I hope to take advantage of some college or seminary interns, or bright minds, who sit around and don’t mind throwing out ideas and title to preachers who have the content but no title!  My only consolation is once hearing of one of my preaching heroes, Dr. Ralph West, stating he struggled with titling his sermons, at least creatively.  

I will say that my major reason for going with, ‘The Difference the Gospel Makes,’ came to me as I delved deeper in my study of the text.  It was one of the sermons where I went into the study of this text, Luke 5:33-39, thinking I would be dealing exclusively with ‘new wine and old wineskins’ and giving our people an encouraging message on a type of ‘new year/new you’ kind of pep talk.  BUT.....the more I began to study the parable and text, I began to notice much more - Christ is dealing with the contrast of Judaism and the gospel.  Essentially, Christ reveals to the Pharisees (who were such a pain, by the way) and the disciples of John the reason why He hangs with publicans and sinners.  The premise (or as my friend, Rev. Arthur Lane would say), the sermon in a sentence is: the gospel of Jesus Christ trumps any other religion in its message, its standard and its recipients.

I argued that:

1. The gospel begins with a new start 

2. The gospel births a new self

3. The gospel builds a new structure 

4. The gospel brings in a new seat

When I return to the Mt. Salem Pulpit on the 3rd Sunday, I plan to share on prayer.  It was my plan to preach on prayer yesterday, considering we begin our annual 21 Days of Prayer on the 7th of January.  However, the Lord be praised for the direction He led us in.  

After I speak on prayer, it is my hope to lead our church in a short series on Stewardship.  Looking forward to what God is doing in our congregation and excited to be apart of what He is doing now.  To God be the glory!

Sunday in Retrospect

Well....another great Lord's Day!  

This was not without its challenges; but we had a great day in the Lord.  It has been refreshing (as I've probably said before) to witness some of the things I have envisioned for our congregation come to fruition.  For the laymen's understanding, the experience is akin to witnessing your child become responsible and make wise decisions without your stern direction at every turn.  It is God's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.  

My experience has been quite challenging yet quite rewarding.  Pastoring is hard work!  Yes, it comes natural when you're called to do it.  But it is hard work!  Those who've said it is not hard work, I will not say they are doing something wrong; but will simply argue they are in the minority.  Most would contend.....pastoring is hard work!  However, it is the most rewarding experience in the world.  Going from a congregation I started to a congregation over a century and a quarter old is about as contrastingly distinctive as it comes.  But it has been good for me.  I'm learning a lot, about patience, vision, preaching, inclusion (nothing to do with Carlton Pearson!), balance, Pastoring everyone, and so much more.  

I am really excited about the meeting we had today with those involved in Worship service.  We have been looking on ways to improve our worship experience, and also to flow better in our services.  I envision planning our services, as do some congregations now.  Shout out to Derrick Garrett.  This guy, who is also one of our Deacons in Training, has been a Godsend.  Joining our church about a year ago, he come from a congregation who worked monthly in planning their services.  Glad to have him as our Director of Worship & Fine Arts.  

This past Lord's Day, I also announced our congregation's very first Media Director, Erikka Murphy.  This is a major milestone in our congregation; and it is necessary if we plan to do effective ministry in the 21st century.  Erikka, one of our recent college graduates, will help us bring interactive media to our services, including mid-week; and also assist us in the process of the audio and visual recordings of our weekly Sunday services.  Please pray for us.  This is a huge step; and a necessary challenge for a 141 year old congregation.

I continued our series through 1st Peter.  Here is my outline...

This Joy That I Have

1 Peter 1:6-9

Big Idea: Believers rejoice in the midst of suffering

I.      There is a Joy that comes through Faith (Verses 6-8)

                 a. The Ground of Faith

                 b. The Growth of Faith

                      1. Tests and trials are temporary 'for a little while'

                      2. Tests and trials are tailored 'if necessary'

                 c. The Goal of Faith

                     1. God wants our faith to grow in value—“greater than gold.” Verse 7

                     2. God desire our faith to grow in validity—“proved genuine.” Verse 7 

II.      THERE IS A JOY THAT COMES THROUGH HOPE (Verses 7b & 9)

                 a.     The Hope of Comparison

                 b.     The Hope of Completion 

                           1. We have certainty of Christ’s return.

           a.“Praise”—Christ will say “well-done.”

           b.“Honor”—Christ will give us honorable positions of authority.

      c.“Glory”—Christ will give us glorious bodies and place us in glorious   offices.

                             2. We have the assurance of salvation’s results, verse 9

III.      THERE IS A JOY THAT COMES THROUGH LOVE (Verse 8)

                a.     There is the Joy of Loving

                b.     There is the Joy of Being Loved

Thank God for the one who made a decision to unite with our congregation today.  Glad to have him.  Also glad to get a few gifts this week for my birthday.  That was great!

Sunday in Retrospect

This past Lord's Day happened to simply be one of those Sunday's where practically everything went right.  While I am not naive to the realities of 'tomorrow', it was a good refresher for me and us as a congregation.  Attendance was great, all seemed to have a great attitude (if they did not, they didn't let me know), God smiled on the morning Sermon, people responded to the message, choir sang like they rehearsed, liturgical ministry danced in a way that I believe was pleasing to God, and the people were receptive throughout the entire service and day.

Of course, moving to being an experienced Pastor, this has both been Spirit-led and directed, along with premeditation on my part.  This past week we had a Mid-Year Tune Up 2-night revival.  One of my old preaching mentors, Rev. James R. Miller, shared with us last Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Monday night.  Our congregation was tremendously blessed.  More than this, God sent us just what we needed, both in terms of encouragement (as we seek to move forward for the rest of the year) and instruction.  Rev. Miller has blessed me and us in more ways than I am sure he even knows, as Pastor and people.

I began a series yesterday in First Peter.  I've been flirting with the idea of going through this great Petrine epistle for over a year; and I just decided to finally 'jump'.  Typically, I don't start a new series like this in the Summer; but it started off great.  I pray that it grows our congregation, as it has and is growing me personally and devotionally.

My greatest challenge has been to grow in the area of my study of the Word of God, as well as my private devotion.  In my sermonic preparation, I am trying to glean from what I've learned several weeks ago at the E.K. Bailey Preaching Conference, and trying to have the bulk of my sermon done by Tuesday, and written out in manuscript form by Wednesday.  While this has been only a slight change (last year I've tried to complete my sermon manuscript by Friday morning, 8am), it has been a challenge because my preaching has moved entirely to working harder to frame and construct as much of my own sermon skeleton and content, with utilizing a plethora of resources, documenting my sources.  Over the years, I became 'lazy', and utilized some 'sources' that really gave me time to simply deal with the surface elements of textual study, without digging deep in the wells of the Word, FOR MYSELF.  With this change, and wanting to publish, much of my preparation and manuscript writing is now being  re-framed and re-formed.

Here is my outline:

Subject/Title: When Following Jesus Seems to Wreck Your World
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:1-2
The Big Idea: How God's people stay on course when following Christ brings pain and calamity, conflict in this world.

I.  REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE IN THIS WORLD OF CONFLICT

1.    You are Special to God – “elect”

a.    Israel, the chosen people of God (Isa. 43:20-21)

b.    Church, the chosen community (Gal. 6:16)

2.    You are Strangers to the World – “strangers” or “exiles”

a.    The example of Abraham (Heb. 11:8-13)

b.    The experience of Christians (Heb. 13:13-14)

3.    You are Scattered to Serve – “Diaspora” or “Dispersion”

II.  LEARN HOW TO HOLD YOUR HOPE IN A HOSTILE WORLD

1.   The Word of the Father

a.    Choosing to reveal Himself as Father

b.    Choosing to redeem His people as Children

2.    The Work of the Son

a.    The shedding of His blood

b.    The sprinkling of His blood (Exod. 24:3-8)

3.    The Work of the Spirit

a.    Sanctification—an accomplished fact (1 Cor. 6:11)

b.    Sanctification—a progressive necessity (2 Cor. 3:16-18)

III.  KEEP STANDING RIGHT SIDE UP EVEN WHEN YOUR WORLD IS UPSIDE DOWN 

Thankful for the souls who came forward.  And I am looking forward to continuing on with 1st Peter 1:3 this coming Sunday.