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Sermon/Recap – 8/23

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Yes, the sermon from today, 8/23, is online. It is entitled “Compassionate Father and Lost Sons (1)“. I thought we had a great Lord’s Day morning. Full fellowship and lots of people serving one another and working to make the morning be pulled off in a way that brought glory to God. So I praise God for that, first of all.

I thought the sermon on Luke 15:11-16 was especially good is exposing what lost people see. I have a hard time remembering what it was like to be lost, since I am so entrenched in church culture. This sermon was really eye-opening in that regard to me.

And, it had been some time since we came to the Lord’s table together. That was an especially deep time of fellowship. So, I’m full. What a wonderful work God has done today. And we still have small group tonight.

Senior Pastor Model Questioned…

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Challies pointed to this discussion on the failures of the Senior Pastor model. Now, as a senior pastor, why would I allude to such a thing? I think many pastors, even those how have elder-led church governance, deep down act as if they are the center of the universe. God wants us to be servant leaders, though. Too many pastors feel as if God’s given them a leadership team so that they don’t have to do ministry they don’t feel like doing (often couched in terms of giftedness). But God has called pastors (read: elders) to be shepherds and overseers of the entire work of the church. This means that we are called to do more than just sit as a board and make decisions and that there is more involved than just being relational with people. Pastoring means oversight and shepherding. It means doing things we don’t FEEL like doing and laying down all of our selfish proclivities for the glory of Christ and the good of His bride, the Church. This is the kind of ministry that characterized Christ and the early apostles and this the ministry that should characterize us. Not some SENIORPASTOR-centered limitation that stifles the plurality of leadership that God has ordained in a local body.

More on prep for Lord’s Supper…

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I thought Kevin DeYoung’s post on Tears and the Table is another helpful consideration in our preparation to come together at the Lord’s table this coming Lord’s Day. Here’s the quote from the Heidelberg Catechism that is so helpful…

Question 75 asks, “How does the Lord’s Supper remind you and assure you that you share in Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross and in all his gifts?” Here’s the answer:

In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken break and to drink this cup. With this command he gave this promise: First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup given to me, so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured out for me on the cross. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of the one who serves, and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ’s body and blood, so surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with his crucified body and poured-out blood.

Weekend Prep (Part 2)

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I just finished the sermon for this coming Lord’s Day from Luke 15:11-16. It is part 1 of 3 sermons on “The Compassionate Father and Lost Sons”. In this sermon, I hope to engage hearts as God’s Word shows us what it looks like to be lost. Honestly, I think one reason so many of us don’t love the lost like we should is that we have forgotten what it was like to be lost. God’s Word is up to the challenge of engaging us on this idea. Plan to join us this weekend.

Lord’s Supper This Sunday AM

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Yes, this Sunday AM we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. If you get a chance, work through the following links to get a good, Cross-centered focus working as we come to the table together.

Prayer for Lord’s Supper from Valley of Vision

From Matthew Henry’s Method for Prayer: Prayers For the Lord’s Supper (In Preparation for the Lord’s Supper, In the Celebrating of the Lord’s Supper, and After Celebrating the Lord’s Supper)

8/16 Recap…

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Yesterday’s sermons are up and on the web…

In the AM, “God and The Lost (2)” from Luke 15:8-10, we noticed how we can have heart attitudes that match God’s heart for the lost. The parable of the lost coin speaks volumes into our lives in this regard.

In the PM, “God Isn’t Pleased” from Hosea 8:1-9:17, we sought to find a course that would please God by looking at what provoked His displeasure.

I thought we had a great Lord’s Day. Lots to chew on and lots to spur us on in further growth and sanctification. Any thoughts on your end?

A Pastor’s Prayer (On Sun AM)…

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Father,

You have brought me out of darkness into Your light,
And called me to tell those in darkness of Your light.

You have sent me as salt into the earth,
And use my stewarding of Your Word
to call others as salt into the earth.

You found me when I was lost,
And have set me apart to find the lost,
And equip the saints to find the lost.

Give grace, I pray, to me in this hour,
To manifest Your Word in humbled pow’r.

In my words may You be praised,
Your people injured and then graciously raised.

I bow before You in desperate need,
For Your sweet mercies I insatiably plead.

Allow this to happen because of Your Son,
In His name I pray…may Your will be done.

Amen.

Spurgeon on the Lost Coin…

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In prep for Sunday AM, I thought it doesn’t get any better than Spurgeon himself, commenting on Luke 15:8-10…

Did the woman rejoice at finding her piece of silver, that she had lost, and shall not God much more rejoice over an inestimably precious human soul which had been lost, but which, through Grace, is found again? Ah, yes, there is joy in Heaven! There is joy in all heavenly hearts! There is joy in all who are the friends of Christ when lost ones are found! There was another quiet stroke at the Pharisees and scribes who were proved not to be the friends of the soul-seeking Savior because they did not rejoice with Him over those whom He had found. If they had been at all like the angels in Heaven, as they thought they were, they would have been glad that the Lord Jesus Christ had come to seek and to find the lost. Then came the third most touching panel of the picture—perhaps the best beloved of all the parables—one which, like a key, fits the locks of the human heart and many a time has opened the heart.