Sermon Poetry, 14 February 2010 Sermon Title – “The Great Commission and the Church” Sermon Text – Matthew 28:16-20 Preacher – Pastor Steve Garrick
Jesus Christ, Exalted King, has sent His Chosen Bride He sends as One who rules and reigns, as One Who’s earned the right Both God and Man, the Lamb Who died, our risen Potentate Our slaughtered Lord, our sovereign King, our God who loves and saves
Our loving Lamb has bound the one who hates the Holy God This devil’s bound by Jesus Christ and men are being saved The Spirit moves and men are saved from every tribe and tongue The Church is sent and used by Christ to call His chosen loves
Our Savior sends His holy Bride into a darkened world So men are saved and sanctified, submitting to the Lord Our goal is to disciples make, baptizing growing souls So they can be more like our Lord, this work’s our worthy goal
The Great Commission’s still our goal, until our King’s Return The Word proclaimed is till our task, the Church is going forth Though single souls, we’re saved in One, the Bride of Jesus Christ You love the Groom, you’ll love the Bride and work so she is saved
The Church is called to preach the Word to lost and deadened men The Great Commission is our task, to missionaries send We meet to pray, we hear the Word, we send to preach the Truth The Gospel of our Lord and King to send into the World
Sermon Poetry, 7 February 2010 Sermon Title – “The Great Commission and the Purpose of God” Sermon Text – Romans 8:18-25 Preacher – Pastor Steve Garrick
For all of time our God above has been eternal blest Sufficient in Himself With happiness and joy supreme, full fellowship of Three
He made a world that fell in sin, rebellion from our race We fell in sin and death But in our sin, He’s glorified and we are given Grace
The world we’re in is frail and pale, it breaks and falls apart Our hearts are weak and poor But in our Christ, we’re made alive, the fruits of Heaven’s earth
We’re slaves to sin, corruption’s lord, this world will rot away We can’t escape its work Subjected firm, with Hope the goal, the futile thence to Grace
Before the world was ever made, ‘twas God ordaining sin And all of its effects This sin and death was worth the hope of Christ’s eternal win
We urge decisions (especially during invitations), but base them on emotional pressure rather than the unpacking of the Person and Work of Christ, starting our sermons in the Ephesians 4-6 portions of Scripture without rooting them in the Ephesians 1-3 portions of Scripture. By doing so, we’re setting people up for failure and despair by preaching law without preaching Christ.
Frankly, this is what concerns me most. Sure, I grieve when we don’t preach the text with sobriety—but even when we do, we often highlight what we must do for Christ more than what He has done for us [emphasis added]. Sure we must remember the former, but we need to base it on the latter—without fail. The truth is, we don’t exult in Christ. Seriously, listen to what gets the most “Amens” in your next fundamentalist conference. A message that focuses on compromising evangelicals or rebellious teens or worldly music is apt to be met with a chorus of people saying “Amen!” and “That’s right!” Meanwhile, a message focused on Christ’s atoning work and it’s affect on every day living can be met with silence or a “tell me something new” inattentiveness. It grieves me. I urge those choosing special speakers to choose those who make much of Christ. What else do we have to offer sinners, after all? …
Preacher, get serious about preaching. Get a conscience about it. And for mercy’s sake, if you’re going to criticize John Piper or Sovereign Grace, you’d better bring it. You’d better drive your message deep into the text. You’d better have the approach of a prosecuting attorney who knows that every single thing he says has to be verifiable by hard facts, not clever jokes or circumstantial evidence. Because if you criticize men who are passionate about preaching the text even as you give it a back seat to your own wisdom, you’ll be deservedly ignored. And it’s happening a lot. A lot.”
Sermon Poetry, 20 December 2009 Sermon Title – “Christ’s Incarnation and God’s Eternal Purpose” Sermon Text – Ephesians 3:11 Preacher – Pastor Larry Vincent
Through blood and through water our Savior was born A baby both naked and cold ‘Twas beautiful screaming the first sounds he made From Mary he suckled and fed
He came as an infant, a babe born to die The Suffering Servant and King He came in humanity, Savior in deity His praises His people e’er sing
Christ came for a reason, to rescue His Bride For sinners from every tongue The Babe in the Manger, the Man on the Tree Salvation by Jesus is won
The Father is faithful, His promises kept In Jesus the Scriptures fulfilled The Man of all Sorrows, the Prince of all Peace For us Christ our Savior was killed
The Savior was born into poverty strong Despised and rejected by men In Christ’s incarnation poor sinners are saved In Christ we are made into sons
Praise Jesus our Savior, our Shepherd, our King Praise Him all you sinners and saints Praise Jesus for coming, a babe born to die Come all, lift your voices and praise
Sermon Poetry, 1 November 2009 Sermon Text – 2 Cor. 2:14-16
A fragrance of Jesus, a sweet smelling life Lord, give me the mercy to be A vessel to witness of Jesus’ great love This mercy be showered on me
I’m planting the Gospel, I’m watering dirt But haven’t the power to grow The growing is given through Jesus’ shed blood The Spirit enlivening stones
Although we aren’t many, Your mercy is large You save how You will when You want Lord, help us to trust You, though fearful we be To suffer as Jesus above
Please keep us encouraged, to keep running on To run further up, further in Lord give perseverance, dear Father we pray To stay in the race you have giv’n
Dear Father, this sinner is weak and is frail With nary the strength to obey Enable this sinner to love as I’m loved The love of my Savior e’er sweet
Yes, I know that this song is way over-played and I know that there is not a ton of in-your-face theology being expressed here. But, the desire is appropriate and simply put, I love the song. So there. ;-)
Perhaps the most perplexing question I’ve ever considered is this: “Why Grace?” Why would God love me? There is nothing to commend myself to God. There is nothing in me that would be in any way attractive to Holiness. I am but a lowly creature and God is the lovely Creator.
I break God’s Law, I impugn His Name, I spit on His Mercies and I do not love my fellow urchins. I am ungrateful, irresponsible, and I dwell too much on wickedness. There is nothing beautiful in me and nothing that is truly loveable.
Yet … God still loves me.
I am a wicked man. Perfection is as much an impossibility for me that it is nigh impossible to concoct anything more impossible.
Yet, God loves me.
In fact, He loves me enough to sacrifice His perfect and utterly loving and loveable Son on my behalf.
It is this great truth that is the key. In Christ, my lack of righteousness is veiled in the covering of Christ’s perfect righteousness. In His great love for me, God sent His Son to die so that I might be cleansed by His blood and covered in the white robes of His holy obedience. In Christ, my sinful ugliness is veiled and covered in Christ’s righteous loveliness. In Christ, my God’s love covers my repulsiveness.
The beauty of such a reality? There is absolutely nothing we can do to earn God’s love and favor. Nothing at all. We are complete sinners completely at the mercy of a holy God. Yet, in Christ we can be saved, loved and fully accepted into relationship with the Father, the God of the all things.
Believe in Christ and be saved. So hard, yet so very easy. Believe in Christ.
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I break God’s Law, I impugn His Name, I spit on His Mercies and I do not love my fellow urchins. I am ungrateful, irresponsible, and I dwell too much on wickedness. There is nothing beautiful in me and nothing that is truly loveable.
