Sweet counsel 12.03.09
December 3, 2009
REACHING BELIZE: Thursday, December 10, Johnny Boswell and I are leaving for Belize. We will come back the following Monday. We are going down there to visit with the Belizian church leaders and with the MTW missionaries down there (and with Helen Lacey too!), so that we can bring back recommendations to the Session on what the next 5-10 years of our partnership together for the gospel should look like. We feel that the Belize work is at a significant crossroads, and we want to do everything we can to encourage the brethren there and see Christ’s Church in Belize be strong and grow in its maturity and in its ability to be self-sustainable. We will convey your love and affection for them all, and Johnny and I will report to you on our visit when we return.
A THANKFUL PASTOR: Much of my week is spent addressing problems, listening and talking to people, directing traffic and preparing to preach and teach. I have a front-row seat to individual problems and our shortcomings as a church. Sometimes it all gets me down. Thanksgiving has come along at just the right time and made me think about the mercies of God to me. I ought to share some of those thoughts with you.
I am thankful for First Presbyterian Church–a congregation…
- which loves the Word of God and values sound doctrine and expository preaching,
- which has such a keen interest in blessing the whole world with the good news of Jesus Christ,
- which is willing to let its leaders lead,
- which is willing to let its leaders alter vehicles of ministry without too much fuss,
- which has so many people who regularly remind me that they are praying for me,
- which weeps with those who weep and rejoices with those who rejoice,
- which expresses its love for little ones and our community through its children’s ministry, Preschool, and Presbyterian Day School,
- whose deacons work really hard,
- whose elders genuinely want to see people converted and nurtured in the Christian faith,
- which pays me generously so that I can preach, lead and serve without worrying about how to make ends meet, and
- which doesn’t mind having fun along the way.
I am thankful to God that you let me be your pastor.
Gratefulnesse
Thou that hast giv’n so much to me,
Give one thing more, a gratefull heart.
See how thy beggar works on thee
By art.
He makes thy gifts occasion more,
And sayes, If he in this be crost,
All thou hast giv’n him heretofore
Is lost.
But thou didst reckon, when at first
Thy word our hearts and hands did crave,
What it would come to at the worst
To save.
Perpetuall knockings at thy doore,
Tears sullying thy transparent rooms,
Gift upon gift, much would have more,
And comes.
This notwithstanding, thou wentst on,
And didst allow us all our noise:
Nay, thou hast made a sigh and grone
Thy joyes.
Not that thou hast not still above
Much better tunes, then grones can make;
But that these countrey-aires thy love
Did take.
Wherefore I crie, and crie again;
And in no quiet canst thou be,
Till I a thankfull heart obtain
Of thee:
Not thankfull, when it pleaseth me;
As if thy blessings had spare dayes:
But such a heart, whose pulse may be
Thy praise.
—George Herbert, The Temple (1633)
REALIZE: Sunday School classes are the primary vehicles of NURTURE (remember our four values: WORSHIP, TEACHING, NURTURE, REACHING) at FPC. Here are some reasons you ought to be part of a Sunday School class at FPC.
- You need a place to develop community with other believers. You were never meant to live the Christian life alone.
- You need a place to pray and care for others and to be prayed for and cared for.
- You need a place to hear and discuss God’s Word and its application in your world.
- You need a place where you can find, grow, and use your gifts and talents for good of the church body.
- You need to be under spiritual protection of godly leaders who will help you grow (Heb. 13:17; Acts 20:28‐29).
Join us at 9:30 am each Sunday morning. There’s coffee and refreshments in the fellowship hall from 9:00 until 9:30.
ANTICIPATE
Morning Worship: Luke 13:22-30 will be in front of us. Here Jesus speaks of his message in narrow terms. One commentator put it this way: “Unless all human life is just a game; unless we are mistaken in our strong sense that our moral and spiritual choices matter; unless, after all, the New Testament as a whole has badly misled us–then it really is possible to stroll past the open gate to the kingdom of God, only to discover later the depth of our mistake.” It’s Communion Sunday. In the morning liturgy we will sing Joy to the World, Thou Art the Way, three verses of Shepherd of Souls, Refresh and Bless (after Communion) and in place of the Gloria Patri we’ll sing the last verse of While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night.
Evening Worship: I will preach the third sermon in the Legacy series on women in the Bible. We’ll take a third look at our great-great-great…grandmother Eve, especially as she is the audience of the first proclamation of the gospel and a participant in God’s great work of redemption. We’ll sing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, What Child Is This, All Praise to Thee, Eternal Lord (one of Martin Luther’s Christmas hymns), Good Christian Men, Rejoice, and Gentle Mary Laid Her Child.
