Corporate Amen: Practical Guidelines for the Use of

The point: Take the distributed notes and use two or three family worship times to instruct your families concerning the place of the 'Amen' in corporate worship.

A sister felt she had 'lost a good friend' after the completion of the Book of Ruth study, illustrating the deep emotional connection believers can form with Scripture and its characters.

There are some familiar faces and others not so familiar. And especially for you who are visiting, let me just say a word about where we have been in this class. Pastor Michael J. has just completed a 15-week study in the Book of Ruth, and one of the sisters spoke to me and said that she felt last Sunday in that last study as though she had lost a good friend, and I think many of us feel the same way.

0:32 - 0:59 Read in full sermon

The point: Take the distributed notes and use two or three family worship times to instruct your families concerning the place of the 'Amen' in corporate worship.

Martin was so moved by Dr. Carlson's book that he tracked him down to express gratitude, highlighting the profound impact of good theological writing.

When I first read the book about four years ago, I was so moved by it that I tracked down Dr. Carlson's number where he teaches out at Trinity Divinity School in Illinois to just speak to him and express to him my deep gratitude and my sense of indebtedness for his labors. The book was of such help to me. And this book will be made available at a real bargain price.

1:32 - 1:57 Read in full sermon

The point: Take the distributed notes and use two or three family worship times to instruct your families concerning the place of the 'Amen' in corporate worship.

Martin equates the contemporary phrase 'right on' with the meaning of 'Amen' to help the audience grasp its significance as an affirmation.

It was in this area that some of you had questions and it is in that area that I want to concentrate the bulk of my time with you and then hopefully some time will be left for questions and I hope I'll be able to give some answers. If I don't have the answers, I hope I'll have the grace of honesty to tell you I simply don't know. All right, with the sheet in front of you that has been distributed, you will notice that Pastor Carlson began with instruction regarding the significance of the term amen. And by a word study and citing specific text of scripture and doing some linguistic background,...

4:31 - 5:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider whether your cultural or temperamental reserve in worship is simply a 'cop-out' and allow God to refine and shape your temperament by His Word.

People show uninhibited enthusiasm at secular events like ball games or theater, contrasting with their reserved behavior in church, challenging the notion of cultural or temperamental hang-ups in worship.

I cannot understand how people, no matter what their temperamental and cultural background may be, when they are at a ball game, when they are at a theater, when they are in some other situation where what they have seen and heard is such that they want to make known their approval that they don't have cultural and temperamental hang-ups. The most important thing is that they don't have cultural and temperamental hang-ups. The most important thing is that they don't have cultural and temperamental hang-ups. The most reserved people become the most enthusiastic people.

21:39 - 22:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider whether your cultural or temperamental reserve in worship is simply a 'cop-out' and allow God to refine and shape your temperament by His Word.

Martin shares his own background (Swedish and Scottish, known for reserve) and how his conversion led him to overcome this temperament in worship, illustrating that God deserves enthusiastic engagement.

I don't understand it. My background is Swedish and Scottish. All right? The Swedes are known for being blockheads.

22:12 - 22:23 Read in full sermon

The point: In corporate prayer, if a petition, confession, or praise has overwhelming personal relevance, feel free to give vent in an individual, personal 'Amen'.

Elihu's description of his breast as 'wine which has no vent' and 'ready to burst' is used to illustrate the internal spiritual pressure that necessitates a spontaneous 'Amen' when one's spirit would be 'inwardly ruptured' by silence.

And notice what he says in verses 19 and 20 of Job 32. This man, Elihu, begins to speak. Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent. Like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.

32:26 - 32:46 Read in full sermon

The point: In corporate prayer, if a petition, confession, or praise has overwhelming personal relevance, feel free to give vent in an individual, personal 'Amen'.

The metaphor of an 'internal spiritual aneurysm' is used to vividly describe the intense internal pressure one might feel if they suppress a necessary 'Amen'.

I will speak that I may be refreshed. I will open my lips and answer. He didn't want to have an internal spiritual aneurysm. You know what an aneurysm is when a blood vessel bursts.

32:47 - 33:00 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin addresses questions from the congregation. He clarifies that women's silence in church (1 Corinthians 14) does not prohibit them from singing praise or affirming truth with…

The diverse temperaments of birds at a bird feeder (cautious cardinal, jumping sparrows, selfish pecking bird) are used to illustrate that God-given diversity in personality and temperament should be liberated, not swallowed up, in expressing 'Amen'.

And if your Amen got beyond that decibel, you can't... No, we want to have the liberty and freedom for, you know, for in my backyard where we've got a bird feeder.

49:17 - 49:27 Read in full sermon