Harvest Community Church Blog

Gen 24:29-58 'A Match Made in Heaven' pt2 (19-Jul Evening Sermon)

2009-07-20T04:44:00.001-05:00

[click here to listen, right-click to download/save]

This was the second half of the morning sermon. We finished thinking about Rebekah's family's consideration of her, especially as the text turned back to the thought of her willingness--this time, her family's consideration of her willingness, rather than the servant's testing of it. We then moved on to the main point of the text from a human perspective--consecration: that all of this was from God and for God. And we concluded by applying the fact of Jesus' death and resurrection to our practice of the Scriptural wisdom that we have gleaned from this text.

Gen 24:29-58 'A Match Made in Heaven' pt1 (19-Jul Morning Sermon)

2009-07-20T03:47:00.017-05:00

[click here to listen, right-click to download/save]

Many thanks to Matthew Fedders who engineered a way to get the audio through the soundboard again. I think the audio quality is significantly better. We got halfway through the sermon in the morning (despite my determination to read it from a manuscript this time in order to curtail length!). Hearing about the family situation that God used to provide not just a wife for Isaac and ancestors for Jesus but an example for the church, we learned that godly family leadership involves communication and consideration. The second part, the rest of consideration and the aspect of consecration, were left for the evening message.

Afterparty Location Change--the Van Essendelfts'

2009-07-18T17:03:00.000-05:00

The Van Essendelfts have invited the congregation over to their home after worship tomorrow evening, so the afterparty will be at their place, not the Hakims'. HAPPY LORD'S DAY everyone!

19-Jul Worship Booklet

2009-07-18T10:35:00.000-05:00

[click here to view; right-click to save]

Psalm 40:1-5 (15-Jul Prayer Meeting)

2009-07-17T15:15:00.000-05:00

[click here to view, right-click to save]

As we began this Psalm, we found a focus upon how God's great acts on behalf of those who trust Him show God's gracious affections toward those who trust Him, and how we who are the objects of such affection and action respond. There are study questions for next week's text included.

Rom 9:6-13 "God's Successful Word" (12-Jul Evening Sermon)

2009-07-17T15:08:00.000-05:00

[click here to listen, right-click to download/save]

This passage declared to us that the Word of God has NOT failed! In fact, it is the unfailing, eternal Word of God--His purpose, His election, His calling--that is the sure and only guarantee for all who believe in and therefore love Jesus.

Gen 24:10-28 "A Diligent, Strong, Enduring Wife" (12-July Morning Sermon)

2009-07-17T14:59:00.002-05:00

[click here to listen, right-click to save]

As we watched with Abraham's servant to see if God had prospered his journey, we saw Rebekah being diligent, strong, and persevering. We then discovered that this is a theme in Scripture for what an excellent wife is, and further that these are heart-qualities produced by the Spirit as He uses the Bible to shape us into Christ's mold.

A Prayer for Lord's Day Eve

2009-07-11T16:47:00.000-05:00

Tim Challies has posted this (quoting from elsewhere) over at his blog. I'm guessing it's from Valley of Vision, though I don't have my copy ready at hand. God grant that it would be as useful to you as it has just been to me:

Another week has gone and I have been preserved
in my going out,
in my coming in.

Thine has been the vigilance that has turned threatened evils aside;
Thine the supplies that have nourished me;
Thine the comforts that have indulged me;
Thine the relations and friends that have delighted me;
Thine the means of grace which have edified me;
Thine the Book, which, amidst all my enjoyments, has told me that this is not my rest,
that in all successes one thing alone is needful, to love my Saviour.
Nothing can equal the number of they mercies but my imperfections and sins.
These, O God, I will neither conceal nor palliate, but confess with a broken heart.

In what condition would secret reviews of my life leave me
were it not for the assurance that with thee there is plenteous redemption,
that thou art a forgiving God,
that thou mayest be feared

While I hope for pardon through the blood of the cross,
I pray to be clothed with humility,
to be quickened in thy way,
to be more devoted to thee,
to keep the end of my life in view,
to be cured of the folly of delay and indecision,
to know how frail I am,
to number my days and apply my heart unto wisdom.

12-July Worship Booklet Online

2009-07-10T16:42:00.000-05:00

[click here to view it, or right-click to download/save a copy]

Another Easy (and free) Calvin Read

2009-07-10T16:40:00.000-05:00

Ligon Duncan describes THL Parker's Portrait of Calvin as an easily read (He says one sitting) biography that gives you a real feel for Calvin. Well, Desiring God is offering it for free download, or $2 for the paperback (make sure to read Dr. Duncan's cautions for the reader).

Excellent Offer from Ligonier

2009-07-10T16:32:00.003-05:00

This weekend, go to http://rymoffer.com and donate any amount, and Ligonier will send you a copy of John Calvin: a Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, and Doxology. It's Calvin's 500th birthday today, by the way. I recently recommended this book to a friend who is an ordinary housewife in the Chicago area, and she found it easily readable and deeply spiritually helpful. It's a collaborative work of several authors, so some chapters may be much more helpful than others.

8-Jul Elders' Meeting Roundup

2009-07-10T12:00:00.001-05:00

The elders spent the entire meeting this week considering a few sensitive pastoral issues. We are grateful to God for your prayers and believe He has brought us to Scriptural and wise courses of action. Please pray that He would bless the action and permit us to see fruit from it. We have an adjournment meeting planned for the 29th to complete the July agenda. As always, these meetings are public, and the elders would love both to have your input available to us and to have you witness and "catch" the Scriptural Spirit in which we are pastoring the congregation by God's grace.

Help Me Prepare Sermons!

2009-07-10T10:33:00.000-05:00

I know that this is what I get paid the big bucks to do. But, I really would like your help.

If you have questions about or objections to the ideas of predestination or election, I want to know what they are. Or even if you have friends with such questions and would like to learn how better to help them. Romans 9 is the place to do it (Eph 1 would be great too).

Knowing which questions/objections are the most troubling will help me decide how much attention to pay, and how best to illustrate and apply in the pulpit what we learn from the text.

Send me your questions and objections! (e.g. stuff like: Doesn't this make God mean? How can it be fair to punish people for what they are predestined to do? etc.)

Psalm 39 - Divine Protection against Our Loose Lips (8-Jul Prayer Meeting Lesson)

2009-07-08T18:57:00.000-05:00

It'll be a little more effort to get the gold out, since it's in the form of an inductive study, but you're welcome to download [tonight's prayer meeting handout] for the lesson on Psalm 39.

Pray for Your Pastors

2009-07-08T11:57:00.000-05:00

With Paul and Spurgeon, I--and, I'm sure, all of your pastor-teachers at Harvest--ask, "Brethren, pray for us"! For what do we need prayer? [click to read Spurgeon applying Paul's words]

In the Tradition of Pilgrim's Progress

2009-07-08T10:36:00.000-05:00

History will tell if Kevin DeYoung is a gift from Christ to the church in the way that Bunyan was. But you don't have to wait a few hundred years to profit from the allegory he's been spinning at his blog. Click the links below (and print out to read and discuss with your children) to follow along:

[Part 1]

[Part 2]

Your Suffering Doesn't Just Belong to You

2009-07-06T16:47:00.001-05:00

Tim Challies again. This time pointing us to a quote from Ligon Duncan's Does Grace Grow Best in Winter? Seeing Randy Rowenhorst in worship yesterday and hearing his testimony of rest in Christ was strengthening to me. Ligon's (ie Paul's, ie God's) point is spot on.

Rom 9:1-5 "Sorrow and Anguish for Those in the Shadows" (5-Jul-09 Evening Sermon)

2009-07-06T16:30:00.000-05:00

[click here to listen; right-click to save]

Summary: Is Paul failing to let his yes be yes and his no be no in v1? Or is he revealing something very profound at v2 by telling us that he is saying it "in Christ," and that by the Holy Spirit his conscience bears witness that this is a fact? Indeed, he is saying that v2 doesn't just show his own heart; it shows Christ's! Do we share that grief and anguish? In vv4-5 we find out that we might be in the same danger as the Israelites--after all, who else in history has been in such a nearly identical covenantal position to the Israelites as a church member at Harvest? In Christ ALONE our hope is found; may it be said of us at the judgment: "to them belong Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever, Amen."

Gen 24:10-28 "Whom We Will Marry Is a Secret Thing" (5-Jul-09 Morning Sermon)

2009-07-06T16:23:00.001-05:00

[click here to listen; right-click to save]

Summary: Yesterday morning's sermon was mostly about how the secret things belong to God, and the revealed things belong to us and our children. Whom you should marry? That's a secret thing. It belongs to God until you're married. It's like the answer I sometimes give when someone asks me how to know if they've found "the one." Ans: "when you marry them, they're the one--until death do you part." But there are revealed things, and among them are the characteristics we should look for in a prospective spouse. Of our planned list of 5 we got to #1--kindness.

God Himself Is the Substance of Our Worship

2009-07-06T08:35:00.000-05:00

Tim Challies quotes this excellent statement from Don Carson on worship. It goes quite well with the point that Paul made about Israel's worship in yesterday evening's sermon. May God grant that He Himself, particularly in the person of Christ, would always be the substance of our worship.

Gen 24:1-18 'A Humble Wife, Who Can Find?', pt2 (Jun 28 Evening Sermon Audio)

2009-07-04T14:33:00.000-05:00

[Click Here to listen, right-click to save]

Gen 24:1-18 'A Humble Wife, Who Can Find?', pt1 (Jun 28 Morning Sermon Audio)

2009-07-04T14:30:00.000-05:00

[Click Here to listen, right-click to save]

Rom 8:35-37 'Super-Conquering Love' (June 14 Evening Sermon Audio)

2009-07-04T14:26:00.000-05:00

[Click Here to listen, right-click to download]

Gen 24:1-14 'A Godly Wife, Who Can Find?' (Jun 14 Morning Sermon Audio)

2009-07-04T14:22:00.000-05:00

[click to listen, right-click to save]

July 5, 2009 - Worship Booklet

2009-07-03T15:14:00.000-05:00

A pdf of the worship booklet is now online [click here to view/print/save it].

By my count over half of the congregation will be out of town this coming Lord's Day morning for the fellowship meal and the Lord's Supper.

Though we shall miss them, yet let us take this opportunity to reaffirm in our hearts that it is the Lord Jesus Himself we come to meet in worship, the fellowship of the Lord Jesus that we enjoy with each other, and union and communion with the Lord Jesus that we enjoy as we commune together.