I am excited about the new direction of our Sunday evening meetings. In the past we have enjoyed several different focuses and formats. We have done a missions emphasis, an apologetics class, a series on Christ in the Psalms, a study on prayer, a study of basic Christian doctrines, and currently we are completing a study of the wisdom of Proverbs. Several weeks ago I announced that the Lord is leading me to try a new format for our Sunday evening gatherings. This new format is an attempt to give our people an opportunity to do what we are unable to do during our Sunday morning meetings – to ask questions, to dig deeper, and to further investigate the secondary issues that are presented in the morning sermon.
Truthfully, I think that our evening meetings may end up having more in common with the way in which the first century church met, than our morning services do. It is my belief that lecture style preaching has its place and over the many years I have listened to the preacher – preach. I have been built up, edified, encouraged, and often challenged. Sunday am preaching has drawn me to develop a deep appreciation for my ministers God given call to go deep in diligent study and then faithfully present God’s word to me. The call on his life to preach the word has greatly built me up and helped me to fall deeper in love with the God of the bible. Yet – I have often wanted to hear more, dig deeper, uncover more, experience more. I have sat where you are sitting and know there are often questions raised in our hearts and minds that go unanswered and leave us with questions. Certainly God can take us deeper, “one-on-one”, as we study and investigate His word. Any yet, I believe a great deal can be gained as we engage ourselves in interactive conversations.
Let me first say what Sunday evening will not be: a repeat of the Sunday morning message.
What it will be is an opportunity to further discuss aspects of the morning text that, I either did not have time to discuss, or simply were issues that were secondary to the text. That does not mean they were unimportant, but in my preparation for the morning sermon, there is a given amount of time in which I am able to cover the text before us. It is always my first priority to explain the chosen text clearly, while presenting the main idea that the author was inspired to deliver. Then by God’s leading I do my best to biblically and personally illustrate the text. Finally I trust God to help me apply His word in such a way that each of you would be challenged to make it a reality in your life and in the world God has personally placed each of you in.
As an example, this Sunday morning (09/19/2010) I preached on Ephesians 2:14-22 on the unity of the body. My main emphasis on the text was to explain how by the death of Christ, God has reconciled two peoples (Jews and Gentiles) into one. Then I explained how God joins that one gathered people unto Christ and into one body called the church. I explained what a unified body looks like, and what it doesn’t. I then challenged us to apply it both personally and corporately. As a follow up in our evening meeting we took a little time to explain further an illustrative comment on baptism that I used in the morning session. This was a discussion on precisely when and by what means, one receives the Holy Spirit, as a result of their salvation experience (conversion). Then we briefly discussed the error of a position called dual covenant (two-covenant) theology, which ultimately denies the work of Christ and destroys the unity of the body by declaring that Jews in fact do not need to accept Jesus and remain under the old covenant. There were in fact many more issues raised by our morning text that we could have discussed.
HOW CAN YOU HELP ? Glad you asked…
A few thoughts about how you can help make this a more profitable time of gathering in which the body of Christ will be edified.
First – come ! The meeting will continue to begin at 6pm and last one hour. If you have been coming continue to – come! If you have not come in the past – come! The Bible contains a special promise that when we meet together in Christ’s name, He will be in our midst. Remember – youv’e got to show up if you want to grow up.
Second – come prepared ! with questions about the morning text. Questions about words, phrases, meaning, contextual questions, life application questions. Example: “Brother Scott you said this morning that the Jewish converts during the time of Christ were saved by faith”, “since Christ had not yet died, been buried or resurrected, by faith in what, were they saved”? Take notes in AM worship and jot down a question for the evening meeting. Please understand however, that if you are not comfortable getting involved in the discussion, that’s fine, you will not be put on the spot with questions or asked to say anything. If it is a, “quiet night” and no one has questions or comments, I will simply expand on one or several issues raised in the mornings text.
Third – get ready to be sharpened as you sharpen others ! As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17.
See you this Sunday at 6pm. Brother Scott >
Borden Church of Christ – the Sunday night place to be !
