Notes from Sunday - Father's Day 2009

I woke up Sunday morning, thinking about my father. And the first question I asked myself was, “Do you really feel like going to church today?” No, I did not ask, “Do you feel like preaching?” I didn’t feel like going to church. Thank God I did not give my feelings an opportunity to answer that questions. By the time my day was over, my “bandwagon” feelings had jumped on board. It usually happens that way.

I praise God for the good man and faithful preacher that God blessed me with as a father – H.B. Charles Sr.

Saturday, we held our annual All-Male Round Up. This has been an annual event at Shiloh Church for thirteen or fourteen years. But it was my first. And I was so encouraged to be with the brothers to fellowship, study God’s word together, and eat! I spoke on “Building Hedges for Godly Living” from Proverbs 4:20-27. I cannot wait for next year’s Round Up. But I hope we get a better speaker!

Our Women’s Chorus led the singing in both services. And they were a great blessing. Their singing of Jonathan Greer’s somewhat old number, “He Worthy,” was great. And the young lady who led Kirk Carr’s, “I Believe God,” at the 10 AM service blessed our socks off. It was wonderful. Praise God!

Deacon Brinkley covered my New Members Class for the second week in a row, finishing a lesson on “How to Keep Your First Love.” I am grateful for his assistance. And I look forward to getting back at it in my class this week.

I resumed my study of the book of Philippians.

My text was Philippians 1:22-26. To me, it is one of the more difficult passages in Philippians to organize for preaching. In fact, I had been planning to preach a message a message from it I was calling “On Making Difficult Decisions.” But over the course of the weekend, it became obvious that the point of the message I was writing was somewhat different. The basic outline of the message was pretty much the same. But the thrust was different. I called it, “The Service-Driven Life.”

The point of my message could be succinctly stated in three words: Real Christians serve.

The idea taken up with the subject of “the service driven life” by a quote from the ESV Study Bible that I used in the introduction: “Paul is not merely musing on his own crisis; he is giving the Philippians a model of the service-driven life.” (Page 2282)

I am looking forward to the next section of Philippians – chapter 1, verses 27-30. My challenge this week will be whether I will paragraph in one or two message.

Praise God for those who were saved and added to the church in our services yesterday!

After church, I went home and slept off most of the rest of the day. I believe in spiritual warfare through long naps.

I really miss Crystal and the kids. And I cannot wait to see them this week.