In preparation for the six week series, I had been reading through the Gospels and decided to do a series on the biblical themes of 1. Turning, 2. Coming, and 3. Following.  These thoughts stream together seamlessly in the Gospel accounts, and as well throughout the rest of the New Testament, if not the entire bible. 

Later, I may share some of the content and ideas here on the blog, but I thought in this post I would share about my process in sermon writing.  These are general methods that I follow in preparing for preaching and teaching:

- Reading the Scripture

This and the next item are the two most important activities for me when preparing sermons.  Part of it is because I'm a slow learner and I need to see and hear things over and over.  The other part of it just makes sense.  The more that I read a passage, the more likely its message is to work its way deeper into my mind.  The more a passage works into my mind, the more likely its message is to work deeper into  my heart. If my mind and heart are in tune with the passage I'm preaching, the easier it is to move onto the sister step in this process, meditation and prayer. 

- Meditating and Praying

Reading through a text multiple times lends itself to the practices of meditation and prayer.  Meditation has to do with ruminating on an idea.  In my personal spiritual walk, prayer is necessary for meditation, and I do not always separate the two.  As I meditate on a passage, I require God's help to see its truth, and I rely on the Holy Spirit to guide in that regard.  Part of this process usually results in the capturing of ideas on the page, as well.  As I begin to capture thoughts in writing, it eventually leads naturally to…  

- Writing out the Sermon

When I create the written portion of the sermon, I do it as though I were speaking it.  I have always written as though I were speaking, or as though someone were watching.  I'm not sure why that is, or what it is in me that causes me to write like that, but that's the way I work.  And when I say I write it out manuscript style, I mean it.  I write out my prayers, my jokes, stage directions (seriously, like emphasize here, important!).  Some are better on the fly.  I tend to go down unrelated rabbit trails when I stray from my notes.  I don't want to do that on Sunday mornings, unless I know for sure, for sure, for sure, that it is relevant to the message.

To answer your question, "Yes, I practice it."  I don't stand in front of the mirror, but I do go over and over it, at the very least one time.  It helps me think through it again, make sure the ideas are coherent, work out the illustrations more, and check for errors.

Well, that's a little about my sermon prep process.  I'll be sharing more about the experience in upcoming posts.

Day 1 or 2, Can’t Remember

With Big Brother

Middle ‘O the Night a couple days later

didn’t wanna wear his hat for me

somehow convinced him (and Ally coaxed a smile!)

making faces and fund with friends at Bob Evan’s

taking pictures while driving (it was just too beautiful)

Grandma and Grandpa (games with his stuffed kitty)

We were meeting for the first of several summer sessions on leadership.  Particularly, we are looking at Jesus’ example in the gospels, asking questions about both his words and his actions, then discussing how we can apply Jesus-like methods in our daily lives right now.  We don’t want to have just another Bible study where we sit around and talk with nothing coming of it in our lives.  Our desire is to hone in on Jesus and his leading, with open discussion and poignant questions that can affect our lives immediately.

Why This Method of Study?
Sharing with the guys tonight, I mentioned that asking good questions is one of the best things we can do as leaders.  Active listening requires asking questions.  Some questions clarify the meaning of the speaker (when you said that, did you mean _______ ?).  Other questions cause us to look further (why would Jesus say _______ ?).  Still other questions compare or contrast (if Jesus led like _______, what can we do to be more _______ ?).  Good questions are hard to come by, but when we find them they help to shed light on a passage or idea in ways that simply don’t come with ordinary book study.

Discussion encourages ownership and participation.  It is one thing to study alone in our basement or in our library, but another thing altogether to flesh out ideas in a forum.  When the forum is trusted and any question goes, the potential to learn grows exponentially.  I made it clear to these guys that we can ask difficult, challenging questions of each other, and that is part of this process of discipleship.  Iron sharpens iron, and that process is one of heat, pressure, and repeated pounding.  This means it is okay to challenge one another, so long as it is done with grace and truth, and a good helping of brotherly love.

I would submit that this is perhaps the best possible learning environment when combined with daily life.  I don’t have a boat load of scholastic research to support this, but I know in my life the things I’ve learned the most are those which I have been taught in word, shown in action, and discussed in retrospect.  If we can see, do, and then assess, we can improve upon our failures, anticipate mistakes, and grow as individuals.  When I say “learned the most,” I mean those are the lessons I remember and try to live out today.  We hear, but we must do, and verbalizing what we do helps to solidify the experience and the lessons involved.

Luke 4
Today our focus was on Luke 4.  In this chapter, Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit to be tempted in the wilderness, ministers in Galilee in several ways, and then moves on to minister in other parts of Judea.  We asked 4 main questions to prompt discussion:

…1) What are some of Jesus’ leading qualities in this passage?
…2) What are some of your leading qualities that may help you as a leader?
…3) Who are you already in the process of leading this summer?
…4) What is at least one thing you can take away from this chapter and try to apply in your life and the lives of those around you?

Here are some of the answers to the questions from each of my co-conspirators, Piper, Chan, and Tozer… you know who you are!

Question 1
What are some of Jesus’ leading qualities in this passage?
Piper
-- Knowledge of God’s Word and the ability to use it with authority
-- Compassion and servanthood
-- Knew where true authority came from (vv. 5-8)
Chan
-- He had purpose and a goal in mind (vv. 42-44)
-- Focused, stayed on task
Towzer
-- He had the Word dwelling in him (used it to rebuff the Devil’s attacks)
-- He had discernment about when and how to use it (not just head knowledge)
Maxwell
-- Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit, and continued throughout the chapter to work in power together with the Holy Spirit

Question 2
What are some of your leading qualities that may help you as a leader?
Chan
-- Connecting and unifying the people that I lead, so that we’re all leading, not just me
-- Help to get everyone focused outward, instead of everyone just looking to me for leadership
Piper
-- Compassion and hunger for God’s Word (John shared an inspiring story here about leading a boy to accept Christ as Savior during summer camp this year)
Maxwell
-- Patient leadership (not complacency, but willingness to wait on God to act in the lives of others)
Towzer
-- Desire to see young men grow in intimacy with God
-- Organizational and planning skills

Question 3
We skipped it!  Organic discussion for the win!

Question 4
What is at least one thing you can take away from this chapter and try to apply in your life and the lives of those around you?
Piper
-- Using the power and authority of God’s word to avoid giving the Devil an opportunity.
-- Using the TIME in my life for God
Maxwell
-- Learning more about the Holy Spirit, what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit
Towzer
-- Having the word of God abide in me
Chan
-- Need to be more prepared, as Jesus was, to talk to and relate to those who are unsaved.

Conclusions
Wow!  All of these things out of 1 chapter in the book of Luke!  Amazing.  These guys are, by God’s grace, totally amazing!  It was refreshing to “talk in the round” about Luke 4, its impact on our daily lives, and the incredible example that Jesus was.  This and so much more came out of our discussion tonight.  Wish you could have been there with us.

The young men of today’s generation need to be given opportunities to lead.  We, as members of the older generations, must WORK to provide them with these opportunities.  Yes, each of us must listen to God’s call on our lives, but we cannot assume that He won’t use us to make that call clear in someone else’s life.  I really am amazed at everything that could come out of that one chapter in the story of Jesus’ life on earth.  Given our time tonight, I am certain we just scratched the surface of everything that passage has to offer.

We have some upcoming vacation weeks to throw off our meeting schedules, but we are going to continue working out these leadership topics, not only in discussion, but also in our everyday lives.  The Gospel was meant to be lived, not just read.  A city on hill cannot be hidden….

Robin tirelessly toiled to keep the yard looking so incredible, and Allyson works hard on our yard, too.  I think if we do not win a beautification award from the city at some point, she will be quite disappointed, considering some of the awarded yards in years past.

We tilled the soil in part of this garden today, and planted young flowering bushes.  There is likely a more appropriate classification for these plants, but hey, I’m not the gardener.  Anyway, as we tilled and planted, which is not easy work, I got to thinking about the soil of our hearts.

Our hearts are appropriate as a garden metaphor, and I can see parallels between our yard with several gardens and our hearts with many corners.  Much of the time gardening involves getting rid of the things we don’t want crowding the spaces; weeds, rogue plants, rocks, stubborn roots.  These things creep in over time and slowly destroy the beauty of the garden if we are not vigilant.  Before knowing Christ, we once walked in ways that are no longer acceptable.  Paul tells us to put these things away:

⁵Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator

Like this side garden in our yard, the soil in our hearts can develop hardness and grow weeds.  Sometimes, it is one particular part of our hearts that needs tending.  Maybe we keep a secret patch for lies or vanity.  Sometimes we harbor a tough plot of bitterness or anger, or resentment toward a particular family member.  Left alone they become overgrown with weeds that can eventually grow to reach other parts of our heart, and begin to erode at the beauty they find there.

When they get like this, it may take tough love from the Maker, in the form of tilling that heart-soil to prepare it for something beautiful.  While I was tilling today, the ground was tough, dry, and needed to be broken.  After I had tilled the soil, it then needed to be raked into order, then holes were dug to make room for the plants.  I wondered to myself, “How often is my heart just like this?  How many times have I neglected things in my own heart to the point where God needs to take drastic action to break me, soften me, get me in order, and pour His growing water into my life?”

The good news about gardening is that when all of the hard work is done, you are left with a thing of beauty, or at least something that is on the way to becoming beautiful.  It isn’t that the plants or flowers are instantly marvelous.  Rather, it takes even more time and attention to ensure they come to life and are as beautiful as possible.  Eventually, though, with tender care, repeated watering, and removing the evil in the soil around, they produce amazing results.

There may be chastening along the way, heartache and sorrow, pain and discipline.  At long last, though, the Savior makes way in our hearts to plant the fruit of the Spirit, and He cultivates those things in us that please Him most, reflect Him most, and so are most beautiful and pleasing to him.  But oh, it hurts along the way.

2nd Cor. 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

The Saturday breakfast in VollerHAUS is Pancakes and Bacon… You can substitute your favorite breakfast meat, and even occasionally do waffles instead.  Today is July 5th, though, so we’re having Saturday on Monday.  On the 3rd, we had a fun canoe trip with family, so we missed out on Pancakes and Bacon.

For those who might be interested, this is my tried and true Buttermilk Pancake recipe:

2 cups flour
2 T sugar
1 t power
1 t soda
1/2 t salt

2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
4 T butter, melted
1 t vanilla (mmmm)

In the meantime, the large skillet has been heating on 4, because you don’t want the burner too hot.

Here I’ve already mixed together the dry ingredients, then I dump all the other stuff in and mix it up.  I leave the vanilla for last, after I’ve mixed the wet with the dry.

Oh, did you notice the chocolate chips?  Allyson loves them in her pancakes, so I put several in hers after I get them cooking.  If you add them into the batter directly, it makes for an ugly batter, and the chips tend to melt into the rest of the mix, thus stealing the joy of individual chip crunching when consumed.

I cook the bacon in one big mess, the whole 1 lb. package.  We use the leftover bacon for other foods throughout the week, and perhaps I’ll do my Pasta Carbonara this week and show that recipe, as well.

Everyone needs a helper!

A few minutes later and we’re in pancake heaven.

The yellow boots have become his outside playtime signature.  I tried catching him in motion as much as I could, and got several shots.  I won’t post the glut that I did in my last post, but here are some Little A. images to satisfy the hunger of those who need a fix.

Little Truck

Dump Truck

BIIIIIG Dump Truck

And the always present little black guest:

When I say “age” I mean the DateLateModified property of the file object in question.  In this script, you specify the number of days (most accurate method), and the target folder, and the name of a logfile.txt that you want generated, as well.  With the log file you can look for OK on success and Failed if the delete didn’t work.

I put my scripts in a folder at C:\scripts.  I called this one delete.vbs. 

To run this script, copy the code to your favorite text editor, save the file as a .vbs, open a command line to the directory and type “cscript delete.vbs”

Remember to edit:
1. Line 1 which indicates the target folder where files are going to be deleted
2. Line 2 which indicates the logfile that will be created
3. Line 3 which indicates how many days old you’re starting with… files with a DateLastModified OLDER than this date will be deleted permanently.

You should be able to access the logfile after the script runs.

Here’s the code:

Motion… Motion… Motion… Always they are in motion… And they seem to be great friends.  Keep your eyes on the little ones in blue and orange.  Click any picture for a nice lightbox slideshow.

There were some other beautiful landscapes, in addition to the tireless runner.

We had a lovely time with the family.  Though the little ones take up most of the pictures, we were accompanied by the birthday girl, Heidi, Cynthia and Chad, Luke and Willow, and Jordan too!  We had a nice lunch in their quaint on-site cafe, and taking a slow meander across the grounds.  Japanese garden above was neat, I hadn’t seen that part before.