Monday, May 15, 2017

THE STORY: Chapter 5 New Commands and a New Covenant (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on May 21, 2017)

The story of Moses continues as we read Chapter 5 for May 21, 2017. As we continue in The Story, I hope you are gaining a greater sense of the story that God is telling. The redemption of humanity is the greatest story of all. God's love for humanity and His willingness to bring us back from rebellion is remarkable.

Enjoy Chapter 5.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

THE STORY: Chapter 4 about Joseph (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on May 14, 2017)

It is so strange to not be here for our Kenwood family worship on Sundays. Paula, myself, Caleb,

and Katie (his fiancee) spent the last week with my parents in TN. I preached last Sunday at my parents church. Paula sang beautifully. My mom played the organ. My dad did the communion meditation. Caleb and Katie sat in the pews. We had it all covered.

Because we did not have a sermon last Sunday on Ch. 3 of The Story, I will give a quick review of that chapter in order to get us ready for the message of Ch. 4 "Deliverance." The Moses story is an important part of the upper story of God's redemptive work for Israel and the World.

I hope to worship with you Sunday.

His servant,

Todd

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

THE STORY: Chapter 2 God Works in the Midst of Our Dysfunction (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on April 30, 2017)

There is no such thing as a perfect family. They just don't exist. We all have our issues, our dysfunction, our stuff. The story of God building a nation illustrates how God works in the midst of who we are in spite of who we are. He uses real people, not perfect people.

I thank God that He works in midst of my family as imperfect as their father and husband might be. God is so good to us. His grace is overwhelming.

How has God used your family in spite of your failures? How is God working in you? What promise are you waiting for God to fulfill?

Have faith.

Monday, April 24, 2017

THE STORY: Chapter 2 God Builds a Nation (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on April 30, 2017)

The creation is a fitting place to start The Story. The Book of Genesis (Beginnings in the Hebrew Bible) tells us a good deal about how things began- the universe, humanity, sin, family, redemption (making Adam and Eve leave the garden, the flood, etc.).

Chapter 2: God Builds a Nation takes us to another beginning, the beginning of God's people. The story of Abram forms the beginning of how God would work through a group of people to bring redemption and hope to all the peoples of the world.

Read Chapter 2 this week for our message this Sunday, April 30. Good reading.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

READING SCHEDULE FOR THE STORY: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People (a blogpost for a sermon series to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, from April 23 until November 26, 2017)

The Story Reading Schedule for 2017

4-23 THE STORY Ch. 1 Creation: The Beginning of Life

4-30 THE STORY Ch. 2 God Builds a Nation

5-7 THE STORY Ch. 3 Joseph: From Slave to Deputy Pharaoh

5-14 THE STORY Ch. 4 Deliverance

5-21 THE STORY Ch. 5 New Commands and a New Covenant

5-28 THE STORY Ch. 6 Wandering

6-4 THE STORY Ch. 7 The Battle Begins

6-11 THE STORY Ch. 8 A Few Good Men . . . and Women

6-18 THE STORY Ch. 9 The Faith of a Foreign Woman

6-25 THE STORY Ch. 10 Standing Tall, Falling Hard

7-2 THE STORY Ch. 11 From Shepherd to King

7-9 THE STORY Ch. 12 The Trials of a King

7-16 THE STORY Ch. 13 The King Who Had It All

7-23 THE STORY Ch. 14 A Kingdom Torn in Two

7-30 THE STORY Ch. 15 God’s Messengers

8-6 THE STORY Ch. 16 The Beginning of the End (of the Kingdom of Israel)

8-13 THE STORY Ch. 17 The Kingdom’s Fall

8-20 THE STORY Ch. 18 Daniel in Exile

8-27 THE STORY Ch. 19 The Return Home

9-3 THE STORY Ch. 20 The Queen of Beauty and Courage

9-10 THE STORY Ch. 21 Rebuilding the Walls

9-17 THE STORY Ch. 22 The Birth of the King

9-24 THE STORY Ch. 23 Jesus’ Ministry Begins

10-1 THE STORY Ch. 24 No Ordinary Man

10-8 THE STORY Ch. 25 Jesus, the Son of God

10-15 THE STORY Ch. 26 The Hour of Darkness

10-22 THE STORY Ch. 27 The Resurrection

10-29 THE STORY Ch. 28 New Beginnings

11-5 THE STORY Ch. 29 Paul’s Mission

11-12 THE STORY Ch. 30 Paul’s Final Days

11-19 THE STORY Ch. 31 The End of Time

THE STORY: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on April 23, 2017)

For the next 31 weeks we are going to follow along with the Scriptures from the beginning of the Bible ;until the very end. We will not traverse the pages in numerical order but in a chronological order. "The Story" has been broken down into 31 chapters with the material of the NIV Bible placed in chronological order. If you read with us for the next 31 weeks, you can check off "reading the Bible" from your bucket list. (To be fair, every verse of the NIV Bible is not in "The Story," but when you complete this study you can pick up your Bible and find the rest in there.)

The goal of this study is to help us all become more familiar with the story about God and His people. For many of us, we know the major stories but lack a cohesion of the bigger picture. We know the story of David and Bathsheba but have never read Psalm 51 where David repents of his sin in the same context as the narrative story. This series will give us that opportunity.

I will be preaching a message from the material found in Chapter 1 of "The Story" on April 23. Please read this first chapter so you can have a greater understanding of the message as it pertains to your story. Please continue reading one chapter per week for the next 30 weeks. At Thanksgiving we will celebrate that we have gone through the Bible as a church family. What a reason to celebrate!

Additional copies of "The Story" are available on Sunday mornings. See you Sunday!

Thursday, February 2, 2017

FROM MEMBER TO MINISTER - God's Will in Your Life - A New Series Supported by David Platt's "Follow Me" (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on February 5, 2017)

John 6:29New International Version (NIV)

29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

New International Version (NIV)

How does this verse inform your outlook on God's will for your life?

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

FROM MEMBER TO MINISTER - I Am a Child of God - A New Series Supported by David Platt's "Follow Me" (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on January 29, 2017)

I consider myself very fortunate. I grew up in a great family. We were not perfect, but we were a family. My mom and dad did a great job raising my brother and I. My brother and I had a great childhood filled with lots of friends, toys, adventures, and struggles.

My parents protected us and watched over us without being "helicopter parents." We ran the town. We made lots of friends. We had responsibility. We made bad decisions. We got in trouble. We were kids.

I don't ever remember wishing I was someone else's kid. I may have gotten mad or not liked my punishment, but I never imagined being in any other family than mine. I fit. We worked. It was good.

The reality of being a child of God proclaims the "rightness" of your position in His family. You belong with Him. He wants you to be with Him. You are family!

Monday, January 23, 2017

FROM MEMBER TO MINISTER - Children of God - A New Series Supported by David Platt's "Follow Me" (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on January 29, 2017)

Have you ever really thought about what it means to be a "child of God."

What does being a child of God mean to you? (please post your response)

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

FROM MEMBER TO MINISTER - Spirituality - A New Series Supported by David Platt's "Follow Me" (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on January 15, 2017)

In your own words, what is spirituality?

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

FROM MEMBER TO MINISTER - Superficial Spirituality - A New Series Supported by David Platt's "Follow Me" (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on January 15, 2017)

White-washed tombstones - an analogy against hypocrisy, not imperfection. We are all imperfect, but we are not all superficial! Take warning!

Matthew 23:27-28New International Version (NIV)

27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

New International Version (NIV)

Monday, January 9, 2017

FROM MEMBER TO MINISTER - Superficial v. Supernatural - A New Series Supported by David Platt's "Follow Me" (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on January 15, 2017)

If spirituality were a spectrum from superficial (1) to supernatural (10), where would you score?

Thursday, January 5, 2017

FROM MEMBER TO MINISTER - The Great Invitation - A New Series Supported by David Platt's "Follow Me" (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on January 8, 2017)

Invitations are wonderful. To be "invited" to anything is a great experience. For someone to think enough of you to ask you to join them, that is amazing. Baseball games, dinner, ice cream, a movie, the theater, church, etc. I have been to a Monday Night Football game, Red Wings playoff game, Tigers booth, countless concerts, numerous plays and musicals, graduations, a speech by the Patriarch of Egypt, exhibits of ancient Bible texts, weddings, all by invitation.

Have you ever thought of the gospel as an invitation to join God's family? I think I have always thought of the gospel as the directions that help me get to the party. I still had to figure out how to get in. I never really thought of the gospel as my invitation.

God wants you and me at the party. He reached out to us long before we were even born. He wants us to be there. We only wanted to be there after He made the invitation.

Luke 14:15-24New International Version (NIV)

The Parable of the Great Banquet

15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”

16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’

19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’

20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’

23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”

New International Version (NIV)