Sunday in Review
Where in the world does the time go?
While I haven’t blogged since February 25th, I have been enamored and enthralled in the busy-ness of March. From celebrating 5 years of pastoral ministry at Mt. Salem, doing some itinerant preaching, to sharing in the 30th pastoral anniversary of my father, to the demands of my immediate family and hospital chaplaincy…I am both thankful and glad that it is over!
God is doing some great things in our church, in my ministry, my family and I am very grateful and humbled. Our church has, and continues, to go through various seasons of growth and growing pains since I arrived; and I was very pleased to have 2 ministers join our congregation. Before this past month, I had NO HELP, in that department. Their arrival and their presence is just one, of many, affirmations of God’s faithfulness when we obey His voice and follow His plan. God is awesome!
I’ve also been teaching and working through what we call our “Program Plan”. This is an idea I got from my pastor, Harvey Clemons, Jr., years ago, to provide our members with every dynamic and aspect of our church’s vision, mission, purpose, ministries, calendar, policies, accomplishments, etc. in the given and previous year. This year, our Program Plan primarily consists of bylaws, statement of faith and the statement on our view of marriage and the marital covenant. I’ve been dealing with the controversial issue of homosexuality that I’ve entitled “Is it okay to be gay?” Interestingly, this has sparked a wave within our congregation, community and city that I did not anticipate. Young adults are flooding our pews, seeking to hear what God’s Word, and this 37 year old preacher in town is talking about.
On another note, I halted my preaching series that entailed a book I’ve been putting together; and preached a few messages surrounding Christ’s passion, crucifixion and resurrection. While wanting to begin a series on Giving, I came across a series of articles and outlines from Dr. Tony Evans dealing with Revival. After prayerful consideration, and the time needed to put together our series on giving, I took Dr. Evan’s articles and tried to “make it live”.
Here’s the outline…
Title: Why We Need Revival
Text: Psalm 85
C.I.T. (Central Idea of the Text): Remembering God’s favor in the past, prompts us to seek God for restoration and revival.
I. Revival presupposes spiritual decay (verses 1-3)
II. Revival spells the need for spiritual reconnection (4-7)
a. Restore us (4-5)
b. Revive us (6-7)
III. Revival surpasses external change.
IV. Revival steps in the land of God’s promises.
a. The manifestation of Gods glory (8-9)
b. The magnification of God’s goodness (10-13)
Kraig Lowell Pullam 