Services

February 7, 2010 AM Worship

Another cold, day-after-the-snow kind of a day in Louisville, Kentucky. This didn’t keep a number of members and guests from worshiping the LORD at Vine Street Baptist Church.

The service opened with a reading of Psalm 31:1-14 and a prayer, both lead by Deacon Joe Gross. Minister of Worship and Praise, Johann Kim, commented on the Psalm, reflecting on the repeating theme of God our refuge. With that, Kim lead the gathered in the following songs about Christ as our refuge.

  • I Will Run to You
  • Shout to the Lord
  • In the Garden
  • All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name

Just before the last song began, Kim encouraged everyone to prayerfully reflect on Christ as our refuge and the image of being in the garden with Him. At the end of that time of prayer, everyone stood to proclaim the majesty of Christ through the text of the last song.

After a time of welcome, Kim introduced a song that had not been sung at VSBC in quite a long time. He indicated that the choir ensemble would sing all three stanzas of Lord, Lay Some Soul Upon My Heart (BH-570), then everyone should join and sing a reprise of the first stanza.

Interim Pastor Ben Dockery reviewed the past few weeks sermon topics and introduced this week’s topic, which will wrap up marriage and talk about children. After a time of pastoral prayer, Brenda Waters read Luke 24:36-53.

Prior to the offering being collected, the gathered sang Awesome Power. During the time of offertory, a friend of the Dockery’s, Kelly Northam, sang “Gracious and Loving God,” by Jessa Anderson.

In today’s sermon, the roles within the marriage relationship were examined and a brief look at parenting was discussed. Dockery reminded the listeners that that Jesus did not come primarily to make our marriages better or to help us with parenting. From Dockery’s notes:

Paul, in Ephesians, emphasizes two things:1) Christ has reconciled -put back together- all creation to God. 2) People from all nations are sovereignly united to Christ in his church. Our relationships reflect God’s larger purposes in the Gospel.

First, Obedience to God in Marriage (31-33)

  • (v31) Both husband and wife leave their worlds to start a new one.
  • (v32) Christ is ‘head’ over everything in the church (Ephesians 1:22-23)

(v33) Obedience of Husbands, LOVE

  • A) Stop: abdicating your responsibility, stop being lazy, stop sitting back and watching, stop trying not to mess up, Instead – initiate love in your marriage
  • B) Start: loving. Love is different than respect. Reinforce your wife’s security in your marriage relationship. Do this by verbally communicating it (regularly and creatively)
  • C) Beware: Scripture warns you not to become bitter (harsh) Three practical suggestions
    • -bitterness grows when you compare (love never envies)
    • -bitterness grows when you serve your wife to get something in return (love it is not self-seeking)
    • -bitterness grows if you don’t keep short accounts (love keeps no record of wrongs)

Obedience of Wives, RESPECT

  • A) Stop: initiating in key areas of your relationship (takes wisdom and seems counter-intuitive) ex. asking husband if he heard the sermon today
  • B) Start: respectin. Respect is different than love. Study and search for abilities and achievements of your husband (small and great) and tell him you are proud of him for these (verbally)
  • C) Beware: Scripture warns not to talk disrespectfully (to them or about them) or nag (Prov. 24 & 27) Nagging is like a dripping faucet.
    • -nagging comes by comparison (comparison is the thief of joy)
    • -nagging results when you serve to gain something for yourself
    • -nagging grows when you bring up failures or sins of the past (keep short accounts)

(6:1-4) Obedience to God through Parenting

Children –

  • obey your parents. Think, “I must obey my parents because God wants me to.”
  • honoring your parents doesn’t stop at 18. Even as parents grow old and disagreements come in late stages of life, we are to honor them.

Fathers (implication is for parents)

  • Do not provoke them to anger – do not exasperate them
  • Some things to avoid: over-protection, under-protection (no discipline), favoritism, discouragement, living your dreams through your kids, bitter words or physical abuse

Conclusion: Reminder that all of this is for the purpose of reflecting God and imaging the gospel. Our marriages look as radical as the gospel. Our parenting looks as radical as the gospel.

As the sermon concluded, Dockery led a quite time of prayer, allowing everyone to pray for their marriages, their children and their parents. “And Can It Be” was sung to close out the time of worship.

You can listen to the entire sermon by clicking in the player or downing with the link below.

February 7, 2010 (Ben Dockery)

Mickie Bainter presented a few announcements, and Dockery dismissed the gathering with a benediction reading of Ephesians 1:17