Three Thoughts After the Sermon

Three Thoughts After the Sermon
By Vermon Pierre, Lead Pastor
 
Here are three things that I'd like to further highlight from last Sunday's sermon, "Confidence As You Wake Up" (Ps 5):

1. God hates sin and also hates those who sin. That's probably one of the more severe statements I've made in a sermon. But Ps 5:4-6 couldn't be clearer on this point. This is a hard point to grapple with for many people because, as J. Mack Stiles writes in Marks of a Messenger, we tend to think of ourselves as people who commit sins as opposed to being a people who are sin. The problem is that in our very condition. We don't just do some rebellious things against God – we are fully rebels against God. In all that we say, think, do, and feel, we are systematically defying God's good, perfect, and righteous rule. In view of that, we should expect God to react strongly!

2. All of us have committed an abundance of sins for which we deserve to be judged and cast down into fiery punishment (v.10). Thank God, however, that he has overcome the abundance of our sins through the abundance of his love expressed to us through Jesus Christ. (v.7 cf Rom 8:38-39).

3. Assurance, joy, hope, confidence – all things people would like more of in their lives. And all things that are impossible to secure from within ourselves. It's only when we develop a life lived in the presence of the Lord, where we obey him and submit to his righteous, leading, that we experience all the elements of life that make it a blessed life. 

Why Can't We Just Read the Bible- An Interview with D A Carson

Why Can't We Just Read the Bible - An Interview with D A Carson
by Dennae Pierre 

Check out this great interview with Carson! Carson does a great job of explaining our need to understand theology and God's word.

However, I am hesitant to post this article because I disagree with what he says about not being able to read when you have young children (I never thought I would disagree with Carson!). It is true that being a mother of 3 will zap you, but I think it is only through reading large amounts of Scripture (and growing in our understanding of biblical theology through other reading) that you can survive it and have the fruit of the Spirit necessary to teach your children about Jesus and love them like Jesus.

I guess that is where mothers need to rely on their husbands and Christian community for help so that they can find the time to read. If we really take seriously our call of mothering--then there is no other time quite like now, while our children are young, that we need our sword sharp, ready to battle. We can't just "survive" our children, but we must be spiritually fit as we lead them into the battle that is waging against their soul. One of the greatest ways to be fit is through regular, consistent reading of the word.

So moms, please read this as an encouragement to further and deepen your knowledge and love of scripture. And ignore the few sentences that might tempt you to excuse this season as an "off" season...and if you want to drop your kids off at my house so you can go read for a few hours at the Sbux across the street...just holla. :)

Five Thoughts After the Sermon

Five Thoughts After the Sermon
By Vermon Pierre, Lead Pastor

Here are five things that I'd like to further highlight from last Sunday's sermon, "Salvation Belongs to the Lord" (Ps 3):

1. How can you increase your trust in the Lord? By focusing your attention more on the Lord and understanding more of his attributes. Increased trust is directly correlated to increased understanding and appreciation of God.

2. Many think glory comes when you come out on top in certain situations. Glory goes to the "winner." However, this true only from a secular perspective. From the eternal divine perspective, glory comes when our trust is put in God. Trust in God brings with it eternal glory and honor and praise (cf Ps 3:3). This is true even if in the world's eyes you are a clear "loser." And fortunately, eternal glory is obviously of much greater value than any temporary glory we might gain during our earthly lives.

3. Crisis provides a one of kind opportunity to really hear from God. It's an occasion for us to see a fuller and richer picture of God and begin to connect the dots between his sovereignty and the events of our lives. Or, on the other hand, crisis is an occasion for us to sink into despair and begin doubting and struggling with things we've never doubted or struggled with before. Our picture of God will become steadily dimmer and unclear and may even fade away altogether.

4. Prayer really is absolutely vital to the life of the persevering believer. Prayer is the means by which you can rise above your circumstances, see them from God's perspective, and then jump back into those circumstances with confidence and assurance because you have seen things from God's eternal vantage point.

5. "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) Salvation belongs exclusively to the Lord, and that salvation is only experienced in relationship to God through Jesus Christ. We must never dismiss, dilute, avoid, or forget this truth. 

"All to Jesus" rap version lyrics

Today, during worship, Roosevelt's homegrown emcee - VESSEL - spit some uplifting raps. It reminded me that last month I did the same thing in our "All to Jesus" hip hop update. So, it seems like a good idea to post some of the rap lyrics we use in our songs every now and then. With that in mind, were are the rap lyrics we use when we sing "All to Jesus".

Verse 1
We give up our lives into Your hands
No more plans, no more demands
Expect for Yours cause we’re all Yours
Your will is our food - John 4:34

We’re done with the lump sum rut and the run
Chasing after funds till we’re numb for fun
That’s dumb we’re done we wanna be Your sons
And daughters Living Water can’t taste with a tongue

Still it’s real now Your will be done
Through Your church every day, Holy Spirit, please come
Kill our will, make us behave
Fulfilled it’s ill, make us a slave!

verse 2
Surrender surrender surrender surrender no pretender
No pretender I surrender my life burn like cinder
I claim no rights on my own life like winner
In the winter my Mentor surrender enter from on hither

So now I’m [dead no more]
So now I’m [Yours oh Lord]
So now I’m [dead no more]
So now I’m [Yours oh Lord]

He’s dripping the blood, sipping the cup
Giving it up, living it up
Dripping the blood, sipping the cup
Giving it up, living it up

Surrender surrender surrender no pretender
No pretender I surrender my life burn like cinder

Praise be to Christ whose back split the splinter
Praise be to Christ the Door through we enter!
Praise be to Christ whose back split the splinter
Praise be to Christ the Door through we enter!

Five Thoughts After the Sermon

Five Thoughts After the Sermon
by Vermon Pierre, Lead Pastor


Here are five things that I'd like to further highlight from last Sunday's sermon:
 
1. God gives leadership, teaching, and preaching gifts to all kinds of people in the church. He gives them to both men and women. At the same time, there is a specific calling for certain men to be the elders of a local church. We might call them "the guys" – the ones who the church will look ultimately to for direction and leadership, the ones who the church can count on to lead the church forward (and even carry the church forward if necessary!) towards what God wants to do next.
 
2. Character is everything. Let me repeat. Character, who a guy is, means everything for determining who the Lord is raising up to be an elder.
 
3. Take note of the qualification listed in 1 Tim 3:4 – "He must manage his own household well." If you want to know if a guy will really care for his church as an elder, check to see how well cared for are his wife and kids.

 
4. Take note of the qualification listed in 1 Tim 3:7 – "He must be well thought of by outsiders." I've often wondered – how often do churches ask non Christians their opinion concerning their elder candidates? It seems to me that this should be a regular part of the process.
 
5. Remember, at the head of every leadership chart in the church is Jesus. He is the Chief Shepherd, the Senior Elder-Pastor of the church. All elder-pastors, and indeed all leaders, should lead out of an underlying spirit of submission and obedience to him.

Reasons to Memorize Scripture

"Reasons to Memorize Scripture"
by Vermon Pierre, Lead Pastor

Following from Eddie's post on how to memorize Scripture, here are some good points from John Piper on why to memorize Scripture.

1. Conformity to Christ - Bible memorization has the effect of making our gaze on Jesus steadier and clearer.

2. Daily Triumph over Sin - As sin lures the body into sinful action, we call to mind a Christ-revealing word of Scripture and slay the temptation with the superior worth and beauty of Christ over what sin offers.

3. Daily Triumph over Satan - When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness he recited Scripture from memory and put Satan to flight.

4. Comfort and Counsel for People You Love - When the heart full of God's love can draw on the mind full of God's word, timely blessings flow from the mouth.

5. Communicating the Gospel to Unbelievers - Actual verses of the Bible have their own penetrating power. And when they come from our heart, as well as from the Book, the witness is given that they are precious enough to learn.

6. Communion with God in the Enjoyment of His Person and Ways - The way we commune with (that is, fellowship with) God is by meditating on his attributes and expressing to him our thanks and admiration and love, and seeking his help to live a life that reflects the value of these attributes.

Thoughts on the Music from 5/23/10

Thoughts on the Music from 5/23/10
by Alden Powers, Director of Music @RCC

Ahh! It’s nice to play some electric guitar for the Lord again! With Karla our bass player out on maternity leave for the last two months, I’ve been picking up the bass duties with Joey supplying the guitar. I do enjoy grooving along on the bass, and Joey’s been a great addition to the worship team, but it is definitely A LOT easier to lead worship from the guitar. With the electric I am free to do more riffs and explore more sounds.

Praise God that Karla has a beautiful, healthy baby girl and now she is ready to serve again! Praise God that He has given us another guitar player in Joey and praise God that we can now be more flexible with our instrumentation!

“Father of Lights”

We began our worship by praising God for being such a great God. He loves us and delights in His children. He supplies us with every good and perfect gift. He is eternal and unchanging. For many of us, we tend to spend our week thinking that our problems and our sins are greater than God. Singing a song like this helps us to re-focus our attention on the awesome God we have.

“The Father’s Love”

Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father, and there is no greater gift than His Son Jesus Christ. We come together and sing praises to the Father because we are now called Children of God through faith in His Son. What great assurance we have of our salvation! This is a great song from Sovereign Grace’s CD Sons and Daughters.

“Praise God”

We continued to praise God with two well-known hymns done a different way. Our arrangement of “The Doxology” is taken from several sources. The original verse has been a mainstay in traditional Lutheran liturgies for generations. Bob Kauflin wrote the other verses we sang in 2000. Our bass player Karla Miller wrote the bridge of the song in 2008.

“What a Friend We Have in Jesus”

Christ is our creator and redeemer. He is also our closest friend. I definitely try to avoid songs that imply “Jesus is my homeboy” theology, but we do know from scripture that Jesus calls us friends (John 15:15) and that God knows us better than anyone else. We cannot be ashamed to bring EVERYTHING to the Lord in our prayers.

Just because we sing a song once doesn’t mean we can’t sing it again; I have not found any biblical commands to do this. So after we sang the verses to “What a Friend” we simply went back and sang the bridge to “Praise God”, as well as the original verse. Reprising songs gives us a chance to further reflect on the truths we are singing about. Sometimes after singing a different song, the words we sing on the reprise have a stronger meaning.

“Give Me Jesus”

After the sermon we responded to the preached word with a very pretty song by Fernando Ortega (aren’t all his songs pretty?). Jesus isn’t someone we connect with on Sunday. We need Him morning, noon, night, when we are alone and when we die.

“Blessed Are the Sons of God”

This is an original arrangement that the RCC worship team has worked up over time. John-Mark’s sermon was about the importance of Church community. I thought this might be a good song to respond to this with. In hindsight, it might have been better to sing this during the first singing set. It might have fit better. Thanks be to God that we have 52 Sundays a year to improve our worship experience!

10 Tips for Memorizing Scripture

"10 Tips for Memorizing Scripture"
by Eddie Cross, Roosevelt's Web Site Coordinator


In light of our new monthly memory verses, here is a short list of tips that can help those of you who are either looking to participate or are working through your own memorization schedule.

1. Find a memorization partner

Talk to people in your home group and see if anyone would be interested in joining you. Check-in with one another once a week and review where you are and what you have learned about the scripture you are working on. By offering our insights and keeping tabs on another, we grow relationships and build accountability.

2. Break-up the verse into segments

It is much easier to memorize verses in portions, rather than trying to absorb the entire passage once. Consider the following verse:

2 Timothy 2:2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (ESV)

 Slice up the sentence into pieces that seem natural to you (it is important to include the reference, either at the beginning, the end, or both). Here is what works for me:

2 Timothy 2:2

and what you have heard from me

in the presence of many witnesses

entrust to faithful men

who will be able to teach others also.
2 Timothy 2:2

 Once this is done, work on one piece at a time.

3. Recall as often as possible

This tip is related to the one above it. Once you split the verse in question into manageable chunks and are ready to begin with the first part, try not to read it repeatedly. Instead, read it once, then try to recall what you just read, saying it out loud or in your head. You will find that the more you use your recollection rather than your reading skills, the more accurately you will be able to recall the verse later – it works to cement the verse into your long-term memory. Picture the words being branded into your brain, deeper and more striking after each repetition.

4. Memorize to a beat

This is a useful method that many people don’t consider. I thought it may be hard to explain this tip by text alone, so click here for a verbal explanation.

5. Write the verse down

Perhaps this one is for those of you who were disciplined as a child by being assigned a particular statement to write out a certain number of times to teach you your lesson. Exciting debates about disciplinary methods aside, this process works quite well for some (less “green”) people. Essentially, you simply write out the verse over and over again on a sheet of paper. I personally prefer the above strategies, but try it yourself and see if it aids in your mission of memorization.

6. Schedule time to practice

It does not have to be very long, but five to fifteen minutes should suffice, depending on the amount you are attempting to memorize at any given time. Whatever number of minutes you decide to allocate, stick with it – ‘em verses ain’t gonna memorize themselves! Prime times are while you wait for your coffee to brew every morning; before or after your daily Bible reading; when you sit down for lunch; heading to the parking lot a few minutes early before waiting to pick up your kids from a daily activity; as you lay in bed when you wake up/are going to sleep, etc. I have even heard of people who have written their verse on a card, placed the card in a plastic bag, then hung the bag in the shower so they could fit their practice into their busy daily schedule. This leads us to our next tip...

7. Carry your verses with you

Whether by flash card, smart phone, iPod, tablet PC, mini-chalk board, elaborate tattoo…just be sure to transfer your verses onto something mobile that you can pull out and use to practice if and when you stumble upon some down time. For example, I ride the bus or light rail fairly regularly, affording me ample time to sneak in a few practice sessions once in awhile. I am confident you can use your creative genius to imagine situations in your own life that may arise which would give you the same opportunity.

8. Study the content of the verse

Let’s say you are choosing to memorize one verse a week. Choose a day or two, preferably near the beginning of the week, and set aside time to study and meditate upon the meaning of the scripture you have chosen. Use various resources – commentaries, Study Bible notes, sermons, prayer, the opinion of a wandering neighborhood kid – to supplement your memorization and enhance your meditations. John Piper’s website has a wonderful resource library with a scripture index that allows you to query for any sermon, conference message, article, book, poem or study guide associated with any given passage of scripture.

9. Review past verses

O, 'tis sad when wisdom is lost with the passage of time! Does it not seem as though it should otherwise, that we grow in wisdom and knowledge as time progresses? Once you are all memory experts, do not allow thyself to slip into the sins of pride and slothfulness! On top of the time you schedule to memorize your new chosen verses, be sure to consistently revisit past choices. Keep a master list of all the scripture you have memorized, then during a separate time, simply go down the list and practice each verse. There is no need to go down the entire list in one sitting - the idea is that you stay familiar with what you have already worked through.

10. Apply the verse to everyday circumstances

Keep things practical; do not fall into the trap of separating your memorization from your sanctification or the edification of The Body. If you are memorizing a verse concerning anger, recall it to mind when you experiencing a bout of frustration. If a friend is seeking counsel on how to talk to her coworkers about the Gospel, share the Gospel-centric verse you memorized a few weeks ago. If you are walking through nature and witnessing the beauty of His creation, pray a verse about His glory in creation that you worked on 3 months ago. You get the idea.

What are some other tips that have helped you in the past? 
Please, comment below and share your experiences.

Reflections on the Music from 5/16/10

Reflections on the Music from 5/16/10
by Alden Powers, Worship Leader @Roosevelt Community Church

As I mentioned in last week’s blog, the music I pick for the opening set tries to follow a progression from acknowledging our sinfulness and need of salvation, being assured of our salvation and praising God for our salvation. To this end, here are the songs I picked and why.

“More Like You”

Lincoln Brewster’s song “More Like You” sets the worshipper in the right mindset. Using Isaiah 55:9: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”; we acknowledge that we are sinful and God is Holy. Until we admit this, we can never truly worship God because we will have a wrong idea of who God is. God is the supreme, righteous, holy, wrathful, loving and eternal God and we are his fallen creation. We need to be more like Him, and not the other way around which our sinful nature tempts us to feel.

“You Are Good”

So if we are to be more like God, then what is God like? God is good … … ALL THE TIME. He is never changing and his mercy endures forever. Israel Houghton’s song “You Are Good” is a great song to sing about this.

“Those Who Trust”

Now we begin the “assurance” part of our singing. As Psalm 125 tells us, those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, they cannot be moved. When we put our faith in the Lord Jesus and now live for Him, then we will be unmovable and eternal like our great God.

Reading

I then read a passage from Mark Dever’s book The Gospel and Personal Evangelism. The passage in mind is a great reminder of what exactly this good news is that we celebrate and proclaim to the world. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to grow in their evangelistic skills.

“Forever Blessed be the Lord”

This is an arrangement of an old hymn done by Park Slope Church. It’s on an album called Kingsborough Hymns Vol. 1. Now that we have assurance that we stand forgiven because of the righteous sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we rejoice and sing “Allelujah! Allelujah! His shall be the praise!"

“Jesus Draw Me Close”

I love to sing this song after communion. It’s a great song we can sing to help us now recommit our lives to worshiping and obeying Jesus Christ.,which is what is called of us after partaking in the Lord’s Table.

The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation

The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation by Michael Reeves
A Review by Dennae Pierre

The Unquenchable Flame by Michael Reeves gives us a glimpse into a world where “justification by faith alone” was a truth that had been "hidden" from the Christian world for a long time. It reminds us there was a time when hundreds of years passed in which believers had little direct access to the Bible and were often at the mercy of a priest to explain God’s living word to them.

This work reminds us that Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Tyndale, Knox, and many others spent their lives and often died for the Reformation. They did so because they knew that central to the heart of the gospel is the fact that we can only be justified (be made right with God) through the blood of Christ Jesus. They ached for people to know that they could not merit God’s favor through works and good deeds.

A basic understanding of the Reformation should drive each of us into God’s word with greater fervor. As a Puritan once said,

“Lord, whatsoever thou dost to us, take not thy Bible from us; kill our children, burn our houses, destroy our goods; only spare us thy Bible, only take not away thy Bible.”

This statement may sound extreme in a Christian culture where we all have multiple Bibles in our home yet still “struggle” to find the time or the desire to read God’s word but, as Reeves explains “for the Puritan, the Bible was the most valuable thing this world affords.” How I pray that would be true for me as well!

I just finished reading this book and enjoyed every paragraph. If you love history, especially church history, you will enjoy this book. If you don’t like to read and especially do not like history, I still think you will enjoy this book because Reeves uses words to paint such a vivid picture of the Reformation.