Preparing Our Hearts

Greetings, and a Happy St. Patrick's Day to you. I hope that you're enjoying a great meal of corned beef and cabbage.

As we prepare our hearts to gather and worship the Lord tomorrow morning, you may be blessed to give Matthew 5:1-12 and advance read. We will be talking about the Sermon on the Mount as we continue our study of the Kingdom of God in the morning. Mike has a worship music set ready to go for us tomorrow that will have a bit of a different feel to it. It should be a blessing.

Immediately after the 11AM service tomorrow we will be having a very brief meeting to talk about a summer mission trip opportunity to Florida, to partner with our friends at Covenant Community Church. If you might be interested, plan on spending about 15 minutes after the second service tomorrow to hear about this opportunity.

I look forward to joining together with you in the morning to worship the Lord.

Preparing Our Hearts

Mike and the music team have a great set of songs ready for us to sing Sunday including favorites from Matt Redmon, Chris Tomlin and a new tune from Lincoln Brewster. There's also a great new arrangement of a classic hymn that the team has worked out. Come prepared to sing tomorrow morning!

As we look to the word, we will be reading through Matthew 21:28 thru 22:14. In that passage we will consider parts of three different parables Jesus spoke to the religious leaders of His day.

I look forward to our gathering to worship each week - and tomorrow even one hour sooner!

Yep, that's your reminder: Don't forget to set your clock ahead an hour before you go to sleep tonight! A public service announcement brought to you by the owner of this blog.

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon, Kingdom of God, Parables

The Kingdom of God - Two Months In

We’ve been studying the Kingdom of God for two months worth of Sundays now. I thought it would be appropriate to offer a little review. Just so that it might be fun – and because I am such a fun-loving guy – I thought I’d couch the review in a little matching game. See if you can recall these lessons we’ve learned of the Kingdom of God and match them with the text that we considered that brought them to light.

1) Gen. 1:26-31 & Ex. 19:1-6
2) Deut. 17:14-20
3) Psalm 2
4) Psalm 22
5) 2 Kings 22 & 23
6) The Parable of the Sower – Matt. 13:1-23
7) The Parable of the Banquet – Luke 14:15-24
8) The Parable of the Wheat & Weeds – Matt. 13:24-30, 36-47
9) The Parable of the Mustard Seed – Matt. 13:31-32
10) The Parable of the Yeast – Matt. 13:33-35


a) Being part of God’s Kingdom doesn’t mean that you will always be spared suffering, in fact, you should expect it.
b) The relationship God has with the King (in our case, Jesus) has direct bearing on how He deals with us.
c) It starts small and insignificant, and grows to great ends.
d) God’s plan for a Theocratic reign over His people, individually and collectively, was evident from the very beginning.
e) The Gospel of the Kingdom permeates a soul, a life, society and the world.
f) The Kingdom of God will face rebellion from other kings and kingdoms.
g) One of the stumbling blocks of defining Kingdom is our tendency to look horizontally for our definitions.
h) God’s Kingdom message is spread liberally, but people respond in different ways.
i) For a time, God’s Kingdom will exist with the kingdoms of this world – and that is by His design.
j) Many of the people called to be a part of the Kingdom of God will surprise ‘religious people’.

So, how do you think you did?

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon, Kingdom of God, Pop Quiz

Preparing Our Hearts

This weekend we will worship the Lord in observing the Lord’s Supper. Where the Lord’s Supper is concerned, you might give 1 Corinthians 11:23-29 a read. Come with your heart prepared to commune with the Lord.

Peter and the band have a number of great tunes ready for us to sing. A trio of favorites from Chris Tomlin, ‘Your Grace Is Enough’, ‘Enough’ and ‘Famous One’ are on the list, as is a favorite of our Namibia team in 2005, ‘You’re So Good’, plus a couple more. Come with your voice ready to sing praises!

If you’d like an advance look at the texts we will consider together on Sunday morning, give the Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Yeast a read in Matthew 13:31-35 (note that you can also find them both in Luke 13). To take it deeper you might glance through Ezekiel chapters 17 and 23.

I look forward to worshipping the Lord with you this weekend!

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon, Parables, Kingdom of God

Upon Further Review

Well, what was it that turned your theological knobs yesterday as we studied the Parable of the Weeds together?

Was it my assertion that while wheat and weeds do not change in their nature, human beings do, that sent up a red flag? How about the C.S. Lewis quote from Mere Christianity that proclaimed there are Christians who are slowly ceasing to be Christians and there are unbelievers who are slowly becoming believers? Or the part where Lewis implied that there are even people in other world religions under the 'secret influence of God', who are perhaps brothers in Christ?

Give my notes a look here or give the audio file of the message a listen here. Let me know what the Lord is impressing upon you where our study of the Kingdom of God is concerned.

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon, Parable of the Weeds, Kingdom of God, C.S. Lewis

Prepare Your Heart

As Sunday approaches, join me in preparing to worship our Lord! Tomorrow has been titled 'Amazing Grace Sunday' by many churches around the world in celebrating the end of slavery, and in anticipation of the theatrical release of the movie 'Amazing Grace' which opens next week.

Jesse and the music team have a great set of songs ready for us to sing. Our study in the word will include a parable in Luke 14:15-24 and a text in Matthew 13:44-46, all having to do with the manner in which we respond to the gospel of the Kingdom.

I look forward to worshipping the Lord together with you!

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon, Amazing Grace, Kingdom of God

Prepare Our Hearts

As you prepare your heart to gather tomorrow as the church and to worship our Lord, give Matthew 13 a read. We will consider together the passage we call 'The Parable of the Sower' in desiring to understand how the message of the Kingdom is received. You might also be blessed to give a quick look to some of the passages in the New Testament where Jesus mentions either 'the Kingdom of God' or 'the Kingdom of heaven' - a concordance can help you locate them. What did Jesus have to say about this Kingdom?

Jesse and the music team are preparing a great acoustic set for the morning complete with a couple of Chris Tomlin tunes, Tomlin's new arrangement of 'Amazing Grace', a Lincoln Brewster tune and a couple more favorites of the congregation. Come with your heart and voice ready to sing praises!

Our friend Brenda Johnston from Hopes Promise Orphan Ministries in Namibia is also here with us this weekend. She will be at both services in the morning, and available between the services and after the second service, for people to meet and greet her and to hear the latest news from HPOM.

As always, I look forward to sharing in worship with you!

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon, Kingdom of God, Parable of the Sower

Back In The Blogging

Apologies for the blog interruption the last few days. It seems that Blogger wanted me to convert my blog to their new format before they would let me blog on - and that was no small matter considering that my blog is hosted not with Blogger, but on Christ's Church's server. Thanks Germaine for sorting out the sordid details. Ah, but the news is good... I'm back! Look out world!

Now, for those interested in the sermon series, please find my notes here and the audio file here for this past weekend's study. Of course, you can find both in the right hand menu panel.

Let me hear from you. How is our study through the emerging picture of the Kingdom of God in the Old Testament striking you? How about this past week's consideration that sometimes life in the Kingdom doesn't feel so 'milk & honey'? What is the Lord stirring in your thoughts?

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon, Kingdom of God, Psalm 22