Archive for November 8, 2011


Nov 8

Sermon Follow-up: “In Hot Pursuit of His Presence”

2011 | by Trent Hunter | Category: Sermon Follow-Up

In Sunday’s sermon, “In Hot Pursuit of His Presence,” Ryan explored Psalm 16 to show us how we can pray with the Psalmist, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you…in your presence there is fullness of joy.”

In the course of his message, Ryan took some time to develop how the Bible relates the presence of God with the people of God. In what sense is God always with us and in what sense is He with us when we meet together on Sunday mornings? How And what is different for us as those who live on this side of Christ’s coming and have received the Spirit of God?

That portion of the message is worth listening to several times, as those are important questions. But if you are particularly interested in this central biblical theme, there are two previous sets of messages that you should consider: Ryan’s Saturday Seminar, Biblical Theology, and Ryan’s Sunday morning series, Mapping Out the Old Testament.

In reflection upon Psalm 16’s call for us to find our delight in God and in His people, Ryan addressed what has become a rather obvious and awkward weakness here at DSC: Some of us are not coming regularly and many of us are coming late to our Sunday services.

Noting the obvious periodic good reasons for being late, Ryan gave us several reasons why we should labor to make showing up early the new normal at DSC:

  • Reverence for God
  • Respect for others
  • To set an example to our children of what’s really important
  • To demonstrate to visitors that God is among us (1 Corinthians 14:24-25)
  • To get as much of what we ultimately need (God) as we can get

Ryan also gave several practical suggestions:

  • Prepare on Saturday night
  • Plan to be early and take into consideration various predictable interruptions
  • Listen for the band when they start playing one minute before the service starts
  • Be willing to end your conversations around the building graciously, even if awkwardly, in order to get to the service on time

On this subject, two resources are helpful, including a sermon by John Piper, “Prepare to Meet Your God,” and Coty Pickney’s “Preparing to Worship.”