Miscellaneous Concerns of Congregational Life (SS)

The point: Study the assigned chapter in Luke and come prepared for Sunday school.

Pastor Carlson's attendance at a West Coast Pastors Conference illustrates the church's desire for ecumenicity and fellowship between East and West Coast brethren, explaining his absence and the need for a substitute teacher.

It's 951 to 1042, and we would urge you to do your homework and come prepared for the class. Pastor Carlson is out in Livermore, California, at a West Coast Pastors Conference. It was his desire and a desire that we as elders felt was a noble and righteous desire to express some true ecumenicity between the East Coast and the West Coast brethren. And we have a country, as you know, with three...

1:02 - 1:32 Read in full sermon

The point: If you submitted the anonymous question on dancing, please speak to Pastor Martin personally to provide more specific information.

Martin mentions Mr. Camping's radio 'open forums' to explain his dislike for the term, clarifying that Trinity Baptist Church's 'open forum' has a different connotation and purpose.

He's having some very encouraging interaction with individual brethren, and they have expressed their gratitude that we judged the investment of his time to be worthwhile to have him go to that conference. Now, he announced last Lord's Day that I would be conducting what we have called in the past an open forum. Frankly, I'm not sure I like that terminology given the connotations in our area with respect to the past. I'm not sure I like that terminology given the connotations in our area with respect to a certain teacher who has open forums on the radio.

2:02 - 2:37 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains the recent incorporation of a call to worship and opening invocation, noting that previously, worship began 7-8 minutes in. He argues this change aligns with…

Martin recounts a church where a call to worship was spoken from an unseen place through a speaker, as if the Lord himself was speaking. He uses this to illustrate the right 'spirit' of recognizing God as the caller to worship, while also cautioning against being 'overly dramatic'.

help us as we seek to join them in our worship this day something along that line now that's the rationale for it we believe that it will be for us as the Lord's people an added incentive to recognize at the very outset our utter dependence upon God for all that we do in our worship even to understand and to rightly apply that portion of the Psalm that will be read to frame the remainder of our worship so that's the rationale behind this call to worship this opening sentence now we're not going to do what happened in one church I was in it was very dramatic but I think it was a little bit over...

10:54 - 12:23 Read in full sermon

Driving home: if two of you shall symphonize if two of you shall have your hearts coalescing in this focused concentrated concern with respect to the thing for which you pray it shall be done of my Father who is in heaven

Martin uses the absence of copying machines or email in Paul's day to emphasize that the Roman church would have heard Paul's letter read once, making his specific, focused prayer requests easier to remember and pray for collectively, contrasting it with modern, diffuse prayer lists.

when you study the prayer request that the apostle gives in his letter they are never convoluted they are never diffusive they are never multiple prayer requests I want us to look at several of them because we say we believe scripture is the sufficient rule of faith and practice I want us to look at three prayer requests laid out by the apostle Paul Romans chapter 15 here you are sitting in the church at Rome and remember you had no written epistle Paul did not have or the elders at Rome did not have a copying machine and Paul faxed or emailed his letter and by the time they gathered for praye...

15:20 - 16:47 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are having problems adjusting to the changes in the prayer meeting format, please come to the elders with your input.

Martin uses the example of praying for unconverted children to illustrate how structured prayer (e.g., three brethren leading) can still allow for the Holy Spirit's freedom and enlargement, with leaders discerning when to extend prayer.

let it be by two or at the most three and that in turn and let one interpret if there be no interpreter let him keep silence in the church let him speak to himself and to God and let the prophet speak by two or three and let the others discern here in a setting of a more heightened intense direct operation of the spirit there is numerical allocation to how many speakers there should be and in what order so this structuring need not in any way be an impediment to the freedom of the spirit as we discussed this matter in our elders meeting I said I trust all of us are sensitive enough to the work...

21:13 - 22:41 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are having problems adjusting to the changes in the prayer meeting format, please come to the elders with your input.

Martin uses the analogy of a two-year-old's behavior versus an adult's to explain that growth and development involve change, encouraging congregants to be open to adjustments in church practice under biblical discipline.

one soul faith and earnest petition as we seek to lay hold of God so that's the rationale for the changes in the format of our prayer meeting now I'm fully aware of the fact that all of us are creatures of habit we don't like change and there may be some of you who are feeling a little bit uncomfortable we've never done it that way so what do we claim to be under the discipline of the ongoing instruction of the word of God there are a lot of things you're doing now that you didn't do when you were two years old that you'd be considered rather a strange person if you still did them the way you ...

24:09 - 25:37 Read in full sermon

The point: If you notice a brother or sister is chronically late, approach them graciously and inquire about their circumstances before judging their motives.

Martin uses the hypothetical scenario of a child puking before church to caution against judging the motives of latecomers, emphasizing that there might be legitimate, unforeseen circumstances.

and in the midst of the opening hymn here they come traipsing in and sit next to you and distract etc we got to be careful of reading in the motives on that given Lord's day maybe they had a kid that puked all over him just as they were going out the door and so the very fact that they're there smelling sweet shows that they you know they really had to do some last minute gymnastics to change their shirt and change their jacket etc so that we must be careful of judging the motives of others however if in the providence of God where we sit a chronic late comer happens to sit next to us it would...

49:03 - 50:31 Read in full sermon

The point: If you notice a brother or sister is chronically late, approach them graciously and inquire about their circumstances before judging their motives.

Martin uses the analogy of someone coming to him having already 'sent the case to the jury and coming back and reading a sentence' to illustrate how not to approach someone with a rebuke, contrasting it with a gracious, inquiring approach.

and in the midst of the opening hymn here they come traipsing in and sit next to you and distract etc we got to be careful of reading in the motives on that given Lord's day maybe they had a kid that puked all over him just as they were going out the door and so the very fact that they're there smelling sweet shows that they you know they really had to do some last minute gymnastics to change their shirt and change their jacket etc so that we must be careful of judging the motives of others however if in the providence of God where we sit a chronic late comer happens to sit next to us it would...

49:03 - 50:31 Read in full sermon

The point: If you notice a brother or sister is chronically late, approach them graciously and inquire about their circumstances before judging their motives.

Elmer's point about people getting to work on time to keep their jobs and please their boss is used as an example to challenge the conscience of chronically tardy individuals regarding God's worthiness of similar discipline.

upon an obedient ear that Solomon talks about okay yeah that's right yeah we don't think of that so I think it's well to raise it and to search our own hearts could it be that that's why I use the term could it be that chronic tardiness is an indication of a lower view of God all right yes Elmer yes Mr. Van Dalen has made the point if people can get to work on time five days a week to keep their job and keep the smile of their boss is God not worthy of whatever disciplines are necessary to get on time to his worship I think that's a good point Elmer we've got two minutes left yes Ron nice and ...

50:31 - 51:59 Read in full sermon

The point: If you notice a brother or sister is chronically late, approach them graciously and inquire about their circumstances before judging their motives.

Ron's explanation that he is often late because he helps with phones and greets outside illustrates the danger of judging motives without facts, reinforcing the need for gracious inquiry.

yes yes yes yeah well this is a clear example why we see we can't judge till we get the facts Ron is saying he's often late because he helps hook people into the phones downstairs then he's often a greeter outside and you wanna make sure that you don't have last minute strangers coming no one to greet them so he'll come in late so if any of you notice that he was chronically late before you judged him you see there's the issue brethren before you judged him You judged him. You go to him and say, Brother Ron, I've noticed that you come in late quite frequently. Can you help explain to me why th...

51:59 - 52:57 Read in full sermon