Due to growth Providence Church is currently exploring new locations for our Sunday services. On Sunday November 24 Providence Church will hold its morning service at a trial location. We will meet at: Please note that the service will begin at 10:45 am, and not our normally scheduled time. |
Please note that subsequent meetings will be held at our regular venue in Mifflin. Also be sure to check back to find future updates and notices about service location.
As we wrap up our series on preaching, we want to make sure we conclude on a high note. What better way to do that than by talking about the gospel! Over the years I've experienced two different extremes when it comes to the gospel and how it fits into a sermon. In my early days I attended a church that never really mentioned the gospel. Christ was pretty much absent from every sermon that was ever preached. So the messages were mainly moralistic. Later, I attended a series of churches where the gospel was preached every Sunday. It was good at first because I had been deprived of it for so long at my other church. However, I came to find that the gospel presentation was ordinarily tacked on to the end of the message and really didn't have anything to do with the message that was just preached. What's more, in these churches I found that the gospel was not really even for me! It was typically directed towards the unbeliever as a call was issued to him to embrace the Savior. Our aim at Providence Church is to preach the gospel every Sunday because we know it is important for everyone's spiritual development, even the Christian's. As a matter of fact, we believe that if Christ is not preached, then we have not preached a truly Christian sermon! But how do you do that without tacking the gospel on at the end of the message? The answer lies in the expository method. We believe that the gospel should rise naturally from the text itself. Jesus said that the whole of the Scripture bears witness to him (John 5:39). At another time he took time to interpret the things concerning himself in the law and the prophets (Luke 24:27). This means that every text of Scripture finds its culmination in Christ. It doesn't matter if it is the deep recesses of Leviticus or the heavy arguments of an epistle, every line finds its fulfillment in Christ. So as you come to Providence you will not just hear sermons that are practical. You will hear sermons that are guided and shaped by the gospel. Better yet, you will find how the gospel should guide and shape your own life. Over the last few weeks we've been seeking to introduce you to the kind of preaching you will hear at Providence Church (i.e. expository preaching). In our previous post we said that the word exposit simply means "to explain," and that expository preaching seeks to explain the meaning of a Bible passage. But that needs to be fleshed out a little more. The Bible tells us that the Word of God was given "for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." (2 Tim. 3:16-17). That means that the Bible was meant to be applied practically. It is not simply for the purpose of packing your brain full of useless knowledge. It is given for the purpose of molding and shaping one's life. That is why the exposition of Scripture must have application as its ultimate aim. It is not enough for a preacher to simply explain what the passage means. It is imperative that he explain what it means for your life! Unfortunately, a lot of pulpits that tout "expository preaching" are not practical in the least. We will be honest: much of what goes under the banner of expository preaching is nothing more than a boring lecture. And truthfully, this may be why a lot of people prefer topical preaching. Topical sermons can be much more practical than your average expository sermon. However, at Providence Church we know that a text of Scripture does not simply present facts that are to be known. It contains truth which is to be embraced, lived, and/or believed. Our belief is that a text is not rightly explained until it is applied. For us, expository preaching typically consists of three parts: explanation, illustration, and application. We begin by telling you what the passage is trying to communicate (explanation). Then we try to solidify it in your mind with a story, analogy, or some other helpful color (illustration). Having thus helped you to comprehend it sufficiently, we then attempt to show how it should affect your life (application). It is this last step in the process that really makes expository preaching what it is. For the aim of the Scripture--and the preaching of it--is the change of one's heart and life. On June 16 Providence is planning to have our Sunday morning worship service at Pleasant Hill Lake Park. The service will start at our regular time (10:30). We'd love to have you join us if you are visiting! If there is rain the service will be held at our regular meeting place in Mifflin. If there is a chance of rain, a decision will be made early that morning and email sent out. (Directions to the Campground) Enter the park through the main entrance. If there is an attendant at the gate, tell them that you are with the Providence Church group. Just after the gate, turn left to get to our site. If you need more information, please email us and let us know! You are invited to join us for our annual weekend of camping at Pleasant Hill Lake Park June 14-16. Reservations have been made and we are looking forward to some fun. There will be biking, hiking, swimming, games, and the ever popular pitching machine! We will meet at the site on Friday evening, around dinner time to pitch tents and stay through till after our Sunday morning service. If you are not interested in staying the night, you can feel free to join us for the day. You are more than welcome to come and go as you please. Be sure to take note of what will be happening for our service that Sunday. If you Facebook, make sure you add your name to our invite! For the last couple of weeks we have been talking about why we confess our faith. We have mentioned two reasons so far. The first week we mentioned that it is a form of oath taking. It is our “pledge of allegiance," so to speak.
Last week I suggested to you that it is a form of instruction. As my seminary professor used to say, “Repetition is the mother of learning.” Hopefully, as we recite these things from week to week, we are etching these truths deep within our hearts and minds. This week I want us to note one last reason why we confess our faith. Today I want us to understand that our confession of faith is a means of mutual edification. In the book of 1st Thessalonians the Apostle Paul has a lengthy discussion of the end times. The Thessalonians were worried about some of their brethren who had passed away. They were wondering “what happens to them?” Paul essentially tells them that their bodies rest in the grave for a time and their souls go to be with Jesus. Then, on the day when Christ comes again, they will be rejoined to their resurrected bodies. But at the end of that section Paul says, “Encourage one another with these words.” The Thessalonians were to speak of these things to each other so that they might strengthen one another and console one another in the faith. That is something that ought to happen when we confess our faith together. When we recite the creeds and confessions, it is supposed to be a time of corporate encouragement. Think about it, after a long week of being in the world—rubbing shoulders with a lot of unbelieving people, maybe even people who are hostile to the faith, what could be better than standing in a room full of people who are confessing the same thing that you believe? I know that for myself, I get a real charge out of it, knowing that there are some other freak-o’s who believe the same thing I do and are willing to stand up and say it. That should be a means of encouragement to you to help you face another week. If you would, allow me to tell you of another time when the Creed was a means of encouragement for me. It was on the occasion when a dear saint had passed away. We were standing at the graveside, ready to lay our sister to rest. It was a somber moment as this lady had meant so much to the congregation. She had given an incredible testimony through her battle with cancer and we all had grown to admire her. So, you can imagine that bidding our last farewell was a solemn and tear-filled moment. At the end of the service the pastor had us all recite the Apostle’s Creed. Throughout the service there seemed to be a sad gray that overshadowed the whole of the proceedings. However, when we came to the end of the creed, all of that was whisked away. We all recited the words, “I believe…in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.” I don’t know if I can speak for everyone there. But I know that, for me, those words were like bright rays of sunshine breaking through the clouds. I walked away from that moment with a renewed feeling that my God was the God of the resurrection. And one day, I would see this dear sister again. All of this, of course, was because the brethren around me recited the creed together. Even though I was in seminary at the time, and even though I was thoroughly trained the truth of the afterlife—all that was nothing, compared to the encouragement I received through the corporate witness of the body of Christ. That was the essence of what Paul intended when he said, “Encourage one another with these words.” Last week we began a sort of mini-series on why we confess our faith. We said that we do it each week because it is a form of oath taking. It is, so to speak, our pledge of allegiance.
This week I want to highlight another significant reason why we confess our faith from week to week. Part of the reason we do it is for pedagogical reasons. That is to say, we recite the creeds and confessions for the purpose of instruction. In his first letter Paul told Timothy to “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.” And on the basis of this we recognize that one of the main purposes of worship is to edify the believers through education in sound doctrine. That is exactly what happens with our confession of faith. We are taking time to highlight the essential truths of our faith so that we all might know what we believe. We can think of it this way too: The Bible instructs us to “instruct and admonish one another” by “singing songs, hymns and spiritual songs.” When we recite the creed—or as we sing it, as we do from time to time—we are allowing the Holy Spirit to use us in instructing and admonishing one another. Let me give you one example of how this was once driven home to me. A few years back my niece came and spent a few weeks with us over the summer. Up to that point she had had very little, if any, exposure to Christian teaching. But that summer she attended church with us each week. And each week as a part of our service, we recited the Apostle’s Creed. We didn’t think much of it. It was simply something we did week to week. We only came to see the significance of it later when we happened to have a conversation with her about Christmas. You see, she had never even heard the Christmas story. For her, Christmas was about Santa Claus and presents. But we had the opportunity to talk about how it was really about the birth of Jesus. She then surprised us by saying, “You mean that whole ‘born of a virgin’ thing?” We were surprised that she made the connection. We were even more surprised that of all things, she got it from the Creed. That of course, gave rise to a further discussion about the gospel. But right there we had a new perspective of how important the creed was in our services. The Spirit of God was using it to impart a solid understanding of the essential truths of the Christian faith. This is a great good example of why we confess our faith. It builds greater understanding of the faith. It may be for someone who is un-churched or visiting, or perhaps the constant repetition is helping to ingrain it in our young people who might not get much else out of the service. Or maybe it is you. Maybe it is used to simply remind you of some of the great truths of Scripture. Whatever the case may be, the Spirit uses it to impart knowledge and understanding regarding our faith and our God. The Call to Worship
The Call to Worship begins the public worship service and sets the tone for the entire worship service. It reminds us who we are and why we gather together. It can begin with a welcome or a passage of scripture or even a song. If a welcome is given it should be followed by a scripture reading. If a scripture is read first then one may follow it with a welcome and a couple of brief comments on the passage. It is best to then conclude in prayer seeking God’s blessing on the gathering. It is to be welcoming, encouraging, can be centered on a theme, but most of all calling and reminding the people of the purpose for gathering. It can be formally read or be very informal. One can also tie it to the sermon topic if that is known ahead of time. The Confession of Sin The Confession of Sin is a time to remind us of our sinful nature (recall who we are apart from Christ), our continuing ongoing sinful actions, and of the abundant grace and forgiveness found in our Savior. It is not to regain forgiveness; we are already forgiven. It is not to pay penance (penalty) for our sins. It is to remind us of what He has done and to keep us humble before God. It is a time to repent (turn away from or renounce our sins). Each week we have this particular part of the service that we call “the confession of faith.” It is not something you find in a lot of churches today. In the main it is found in churches that are Lutheran or Reformed; you might say churches that are directly linked to the Protestant Reformation. Being that it is somewhat unfamiliar to so many, I was asked to give a brief synopsis of why we have this as a regular part of our services. There are a number of reasons why historically, this has been a regular practice in the church. The primary reason is because the confession of faith is a form of oath taking; it is a vow that we take before God and man. The Bible tells us that one of the things that is permitted in worship the taking of oaths and vows. For instance, Deuteronomy 10:20 says, “You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear.” Or, we might think of the third commandment. The third commandment says, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord your God will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” Of course, the opposite of that is that we are to take God’s name. And as you take that name, you are to do so with love, reverence, and zeal. The essence of the 3rd commandment is that you are to vigorously claim God as your own and assert before the world that He is your God. Think of it this way, every time you recite the Apostle’s Creed you are not just articulating the church’s basic beliefs about the Triune God; in reciting those words you are publicly testifying that this particular God is your God. It used to be the practice in schools to say the pledge of allegiance every morning before they dug into their day. When they did that what they were essentially doing was taking an oath. They were pledging their allegiance to America and to her flag. In the same way when we recite the creeds and confessions, we are making our pledge of allegiance. When we stand with the congregation of Christ and give voice to these words we take an oath before God and man that we believe these things to be true and we have given our lives to the service of this God. This coming Lord's Day there are a number of special events to be aware of due to it being Sanctity of Life Sunday. Our morning service will remember the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion by breaking from our regular series in Genesis to devote time to meditation and supplication for the issue of life. Then, in the evening, we encourage everyone to attend the Ashland Care Center's rally for life. That event will take place at 6:30 pm at Ashland Brethren in Christ Church (2750 Mifflin Ave, Ashland) |
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November 2015
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