The Weekly Epistle 8/7/19

“This car climbed Mt Washington.” You’ve seen the bumper sticker, I’m sure. I can remember driving the Mt Washington Auto Road as a kid. If you have ever driven towards Mount Washington (or any mountain), you know that they look one way in the distance but as you get closer, they look different. When you look at a mountain, even though it’s the same one, you would describe it differently from a distance, from down below, from the middle or up top.

That’s a lot like the Bible. God’s Word is a book with a lot of layers. When we come to God’s Word it has many applications. That is not to say, Scripture means one thing one time and something different another time. But depending on which part of the mountain you want to look at, you can apply it many different ways. This is why God’s Word is so rich! We can come to it again and again and see something fresh.

People often ask me about my process for sermon preparation. It has many different steps, but one important step in the process is observation. As Sherlock Holmes was fond of saying, “you see, but don’t observe.” When it comes to reading God’s Word, whether in preparation to teach or for our own personal time, asking, “What do I see?” is a critical question in mining the depths of God’s Word. I encourage you to make some observations about the passage of Scripture you are reading. My desire for you is that you are a self-feeding believer.

Not too long ago, I had the privilege of feeding my 8-month old grandson some yummy mush from a jar. I say “yummy” because that is what I said as I “air planed” a little helping of this green stuff from the spoon to his mouth. He would open wide and the food would go into his mouth, except those times he turned his head and it landed on his cheek. But I digress…

My point is feeding an 8-month old food is cute and appropriate. But what if I was still doing that when he was 8 years old? You would observe that something is wrong. Either the child was not developing as 8-year old’s do or it was time for that child to feed himself. How many believers are not feeding themselves God’s Word but only relying on what the preacher feeds them once a week? When I have heard that believers leave a church because they aren’t being fed God’s Word, I wonder if contained in that statement isn’t a self-indictment. I am not suggesting that it is unimportant to be fed on Sunday mornings, but as Howard Hendricks puts it, “Sitting under the teaching of God’s Word ought to be a stimulus, not a substitute for getting into it ourselves.” Are you getting into God’s Word yourself? What do you see/observe when you read it for yourself?

Speaking of sitting under the teaching of God’s Word, beginning on September 8, our sermon series will we will be looking at Second Timothy and the importance of leaving a legacy. Community groups will begin that week as well following along again in the sermon series. Later in September (9/22), we will resume our Sunday morning Bible study (9:00) on the book of James.

There are many other things happening at EBC this month and the months to come, so stay in the loop. You don’t want to miss the picnic and baptism on 9/8 and the business meeting and ice cream on 8/28. There are also baptism classes and a financial review scheduled this month.

Look forward to seeing you this Sunday as we feed on God’s Word together!
Pastor Brian