O' For A Thousand Tongues to Sing

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise
The glories of my God and King
The triumphs of His grace

My gracious Master and my God
Assist me to proclaim
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name

So come on and sing out
Let our anthem grow loud
There is one great love
Jesus

Jesus, the name that charms our fears
That bids our sorrows cease
‘Tis music in the sinner’s ears
‘Tis life and health and peace

He breaks the power of canceled sin
He sets the prisoners free
His blood can make the foulest clean
His blood availed for me

He speaks and listening to His voice
New life the dead receive
The mournful broken hearts rejoice
The humble poor believe

Glory to God and praise and love
Be ever, ever giv’n
By saints below and saints above
The church in earth and Heav’n

There are so few words
That never grow old
There are so few words
That never grow old
Jesus

I must repeat the the phrase, "'Tis music in the sinner's ears, 'Tis life ,and health, and peace." This a beautiful description of the Salvation that we encounter in Christ. Music in our wretched ears, these ears that are so unworthy to hear of the love that is so undeserved. It is the news that gives us life forevermore and the peace that no matter what suffering may be the peace we have in Christ is far greater . This love that allow to finish the song, "So come on and sing out, let our anthem grow loud, there is one great love, Jesus."

Grandpa's Poem

My grandfather past away over the summer, and upon my return I was able to go through his books and pick the ones I would like to keep. Inside the "Scottish Hymnal" I found this note scribbled onto a fading piece of stained paper.

Tell me The Stories of Jesus
I.
Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear;
Things I would ask Him to tell me if He were here
Scenes by the wayside, tales of the sea.
Stories of Jesus tell them to me.
II.
First let me hear how the children stood round His knee;
and I shall fancy His blessings resting on me:
words full of kindness, Deeds full of grace, All in the love-light of Jesus' face.
III.
Into the city I'd follow the children's band,
Waving a branch of palm-tree high in my hand;
One of His heralds, "Yes," I would sing
Loudest Hosannas! Jesus is King!

~William P.D. Wilson

A child's faith in the risen Savior, is awe inspiring. Making my soul cry to be like a child again to love without question, and to be wholly consumed by this one truth, that Jesus is all I want, all I need. Allowing us to sing, "You can have all this world, but give me Jesus."

Amazing Grace

"Hear my cry, O God;
Attend to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For You have been a shelter for me,
A strong tower from my enemy.
I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;
I will trust the shelter of Your wings."
Psalms 61:1-4
This passage has continually been the refuge for my soul. To know that even when everything is weighing down upon me, Christ will forever be my strong tower. He will never let me down, or forsake me, for I am His son, and He is my Father. He elected me before the world knew me, before, even, the world's foundation were laid. He loved me and has made me His own, and nothing can take me away from Him, ever. I must be in awe of His mercy on me, for there is nothing that separates me from any pagan, but He still chose me, out of sheer grace He has saved me. And by that same grace I have lived thus far in life, making a mockery of His love by continually living in sin, and disobeying His law. That I have lived long enough to write these words is nothing more than sheer grace. What I do not want to do that I do, is the story of my life, but Amazing Grace shall I sing till I die.

Ponderings

As I sat and read my book (Lectures to my Students), and drank my coffee at the good old Starbucks, I realized that I do not spend the amount of time I should being quiet. My last post was a preaching more to myself than to anyone else. As I read I came across this line, "He is not always in the act of prayer, but he lives in the spirit of it." This is how we should be, steeped in constant communion with God. Reveling in the glory of God, growing strong in spirit that we may continually be a witness to others. As we wait upon God's answer we are often giving more light in this world of darkness, that we may gain, but a glimpse, of the providence of God. "Prayer may not make you eloquent after a human mode, but it will make you truly so, for you will speak out of the heart; and is not that the meaning of the word eloquence? It will bring fire from heaven upon your sacrifice, and thus prove it to be accepted of the Lord." Even though Spurgeon is speaking to those who aspire to be ministers, I feel that this is applicable to the everyday Christian. If we be not in consistent prayer then we will not be in touch with the Holy Spirit, and may miss the people that we are suppose to be sharing Christ with. "We not only ought to pray more, but we must." So, let us find the quiet place ,and be silent, and pray.
"Sacred silence! thou that art
Floodgate of the deeper heart
Offspring of Heavenly kind;
Frost o' the mouth, and thaw o' the mind."

Silence

"Silence is golden." This old adage is a wise one. We are given this beautiful gift so that we may be able relax and enjoy the presence of God, and hear Him speak. When we are running about all day long moving from thing to thing, listening to the ipod or CD player, while we are in the car there is no time for silnce. We think that the busier we are the more important we are, this is nothing more than a lie. There is nothing that is better for the soul than to sit and be still and know that He is God. When we do not take the time to listen we will have little, if any, direction in our lives. The soul will eventually begin to crave this alone time, and if it does not obtain it, it will slowly, but surely, die. We will feel as if we are boxed in with no way to escape, but when the opportunity to do nothing comes along, and we take it to be silent, the feeling must be experienced, for words are found to be lacking to describe this state of mind. Silence is, in my mind, perfection. Not only are is this a great gift, but we are commanded to do this by God. Therefore, let us take this valuable time to allow our souls to breath the free air, and to grow in the grace that God bestows upon us. Take the time whether it be five minutes or 5 hours, and just turn off your ipod and be still, and listen to the God that created you.

Once again

The “Feel-good” or the “Prosperity Gospel” Church is something that has been consuming my thoughts for the past few months. I am astonished that so many thousands of people are giving into this blasphemous teaching. My heart is broken that the Word of the Living God is being mutilated and treated worse than the refuse of man. My soul cries our for God’s wrath to rain down upon this indignant people, we as a whole deserve nothing less. “We are worms groveling in the dirt holding in contempt the Majesty of Heaven” (Edwards). These words have never range more truly than in this wretched day. We are in dire need of being shown our wrongs. The teachers who preach this blasphemy are, in fact, damning their congregation to hell, and creating nothing more than moral pagans. The American Church is on the edge of a knife, and we need to take a stand against such teaching. This I beg of you, to speak, and teach, and lead against this sacrilege. I, once again, implore you to aid, and help save these people who are blinded and consequently being lead, through the gates of hell.

The Supermecy of Christ the King... Piper

Romans 12 overview

Romans 12 is filled with relational instructions, John Piper says that Romans 12 is, “How justified Christians Love each other.” He means that the people who have been justified already, and the ones that will be justified in the future (the elect), are suppose to act toward each other, we are, “To love without hypocrisy… Abhor what is evil…Bless those who persecute you…Repay no evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the site of all men…etc.”
In the first part of the chapter we are told, “ I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present you bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” The word “Therefore” is pointing us back to the forerunning passages of Romans. Because we are justified by Jesus’ death, we should always be in the act of giving our bodies as a living sacrifice. The word used for bodies in the Greek is “soma” this term is used to not only describe our physical bodies, but our emotional souls as well. So, not only the physical, but the spiritual should be given unto Him, not one part of the whole, but the whole itself.
“For this is your reasonable service.” So, this giving ourselves as a living sacrifice would just make since because of the love that Christ showed to us on the cross. There is no way that we will ever be able to repay God for the things He has done for us. So, to look at this from a historical standpoint, at one time when another saved a man he would give himself as a servant to the man that saved his life. So, we should view our salvation in the same light. Because Christ died for us to save us from our own death, we should always be giving our whole being to Him; we are God’s servants being given to Him because it is our reasonable service.
Looking back at the beginning of verse 1 where it is said, “ by the mercies of God,” The topics that I have previously stated are not things that we have brought around for ourselves, but by God’s ever-present mercy in the Christian’s life are we able to give ourselves to Him. Because of this mercy we should never be conformed to this world, but be, “in the world but not of the world.” We are aliens in this world, sojourners in the land that God has placed us in.
Moving on to verses 3-8, in this passage of Scripture we are told not to think of ourselves more highly than another, that there are many members of the Church, and the Church is compared to a body, there is no part of the body that is higher than the other, there are parts that appear more important, but if we are found to be missing a small portion that is unseen, say the liver, then we will not live long. So is the body of the Church, some parts appear more important, like the pastor, and other not to important, the janitor, but without the janitor the Church would be dirty, and the pastor would be unable to preach a God glorifying message because he would be cleaning all the time. Therefore every part po the body is important.
It goes on to talk about the gifts of grace that are bestowed upon Christians, none of them more important than the other, but all extremely necessary. In verse 6 it says, “ Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us.” We do not have these gifts for our own doing, but by God’s grace we have them to do the work that He has set aside for us to accomplish. Allow me to reiterate, these gifts are not for your own purposes, but for the One who has given them to you, we are to use them for the glory of God, and only the glory of God, that is only the purpose for these gifts, nothing more, nothing less.
As we continue to verses 9-21, in this segment we are given the marks of a true Christian. These are things we, as Christians, should be striving toward, this list should be at the fore of all of our thinking at all times, by living out these commands we show God’s love for the sinner, to a people that normally might never hear about the ever-present, never ending, unfathomable depths of God’s glorious amazing Love. This is a section of scripture that should be as prominent in Christian teaching as John 3:16. We should be saturated by this part of scripture.

“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
Repay no one evil fore evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably, with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. Therefore ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty give him drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals of fire on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 12: 9-21

Providence

First let me say that God's providence is amazing, working everything around for the glory of God, our maker. That we go about our day, and by His providence we are still alive and breathing at the end of the day is astounding in, and of, itself, but to see how God works seemingly small insignificant things to His glory is incredible. I write this note because, while I was in Egypt God used me to lead a Muslim to Christ, He used a small tract that the Church had given to me, entitled, " Two ways to live." This small tract sat in my Bible for over a year doing nothing but holding the place of a passage I thought was important. Until one day while I was speaking with this Muslim man, and remembered it sitting there. I went through what it had to say, and asked the man if he would like to pray the prayer at the end of the tract, He said "yes." My point is that this small piece of paper that I had, had for over year, that I thought I would never really do anything with became the greatest tool that day in helping me lead a man to the knowledge of his Savior. Because of the providence of God this small thing helped a man come to the knowledge of His loving Son.
Charles Spurgeon says about providence, " Providence is comparable to a wheel because sometimes one part of the wheel is at the top, and once again is at the bottom... You know in the wheel there is one portion that never turns round, that stands steadfast; and that is the axle... Other things my move but God's will never moves." This is the very essence of God's will, it never changes, it is always the same, it is always there, and it is perfect. We go about our lives doing what we think is of no concern to God, when out of seemingly nowhere, we have the massive opportunity to give the word of God to another, or just the mere moment to show someone what a Christian is like, by only our actions. "Such is the providence of God; wherever you are, the eye of God will be upon you, as much upon you as if you there were not another person in the world."
God's will is amazingly unchanging and perfect, no matter how much we think we screw up we are still in God's providence, we may be learning a lesson at that particular moment, but we are still in the providence of God. Whether we are Christians or not, there is no escaping His will for our lives. This is the lesson Christ has been teaching to me for quite some time now, I pray that this is a comfort to you all, and that we continue to live our lives with the knowledge of, God is always watching you for you are apart of His providence, so live your life in a manner that will be a glorification to God at all times, so that others may see.
"Preach the gospel aways, and when necessary use words." -St. Francis Assisi

Prayer

I know that this is a subject that is focused on quite a bit in any church (hopefully), and it is one that needs the attention. I know for a fact, that I, am horrible about putting my needs before God. It is something that we are called to do, and should be doing without ceasing. John Calvin says about prayer, " For there is a communion of men with God by which, having entered the heavenly sanctuary, they appeal to him in person concerning his promises in order to experience, where necessity so demands, that what believed was not in vain, although he had promised it in word alone. Therefore we see that to us nothing is promised to be expected from the Lord, which we are not also bidden to ask of him in prayers." Prayer is the very way that we come into communion with God, and make known to Him (even though he already knows) our needs and concerns, prayer is also the most sincere act of worship that we can have toward God; to let him know that we have complete faith in a situation and that we are utterly willing to give that moment, situation, or fear, up to him. Words truly fail in the effort to explain how necessary prayer is in a Christians life, and how profitable it is in the our walk with him.
By praying we, "Invoke the presence both of his providence, through which he watches over and guards our affairs, and of his power, through which he sustains us, weak as we are and well-nigh overcome, miserably burdened with sins, unto grace; in short, it is by prayer that we call him to reveal himself as wholly present to us. Hence comes an extraordinary peace and repose to our consciences. For having disclosed to the Lord the necessity that was pressing upon us, we even rest fully in the thought that none of our ills is hid from him who, we are convinced, has both the will and the power to take the best care of us."

I am not saying that if you pray for the hot new girlfriend or car it is going to be given you. What I am pushing so earnestly toward is that God wants us to show our faith in Him by praying to him, and giving all of our cares and worries to him that he can work his sovereign will in and through every situation that we happen upon. Prayer is NOT a get our best life now idea, it is coming before the all encompassing, all powerful Savior and Creator of the earth, and make your request known before him. We must cry out to him. "Abba! Father! I need you in this wretched time, I need you to take my shamble of a life, and make me yours for without you I am nothing, without you will I am empty and wondering, but a mere worm alone in the dirt." This gives the Christian a new hope in this horrid world, that we can talk freely to our Leader, in this time of war, that he will hear us and answer them. Take solace in that we can always talk to Christ, no matter if we are in the depths of the valley, or on the highest peak of the world. We are always called to make known our requests before the Holy Living God.

Romans 7:24-25

So, as I was in Egypt my "life verse" change from Micah 4:5 to Romans 7:24-25.
There is such a power in that verse (Romans 7:24-25) it is, of course, written by Paul to the Romans. It is at the very end of the chapter that is mostly discribed as, "Get out of Romans 7 and on to Romans 8." Like this part of the Bible is some how less inspired by God or something. Romans seven is all about man and his sinfulness, how the Christian struggles with his indwelling sin, "For what I will to do, that I do not practice, but that I hate, I do." This chapter is the perfect description of me, and I'm sure, every other Christian out there. We do the very thing that we hate, and every time we do it we are broken inside, that we continue to do that same sin repeatably.
That we are inherently sinful and apart from God we are complete and utter wretches, we are, "Worms groveling in the dirt holding in contempt the Majesty of Heaven (Edwards)." We, while still in our sin, would like nothing more than to hate God forever, there is nothing that we want to do with Him, because He is so very perfect and we a wretched people of debase minds would like nothing more than to see Him fail at something... anything. But God in His infinite mercy and grace, brings the elect to Himself and loves them, "In that while we were still sinner Christ died for us." And by His loving kindness He allowed His only Son to come and pay a ransom fr many, by letting these evil people take His Son rip his flesh apart, and hammer rusting nails into His hands and His feet, and killing this perfect man. But when Christ rose from the grave and, "Lead captivity captive" this gift of eternal life is available for those who are called. Letting the Christian say, " O' wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death? I think God-through Jesus Christ my Lord." Romans 7:24-25

The "Feel Good Church"

The Emerging (feel good) “Church”
Sam Morris

Passages: Matthew 7:21-23, Acts 13:10, Acts 20:29-31, Romans 1:21-23,25a, I Timothy 6:3-5, II Timothy 3:1-7, 13
Matthew 7:21-23, “ Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from me you who practice lawlessness.’”
Acts 13:10, “O full of deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all unrighteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?”
Acts 20:29-31, “For I know this that after I depart savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.”
Romans 1:21-23,25a, “Because although they knew God they did not glorify Him as God nor where thankful, but became futile in thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image of corruptible man-and birds and four footed animals and creeping things…who exchanged the truth of God for a lie.”
I Timothy 6:3-5, “If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to the wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with the godliness, he is proud knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which comes envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wrangling of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From which withdrawal yourself.”
II Timothy 3:1-7,13, “ But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemous, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self control, brutal, despiser's of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away with various lusts, always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth…But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

These are all passages that speak of this up and coming movement known as the “Feel-good Church” wherein the “pastors” teach their huge congregations that Jesus came to die to make our guilt, monetary issues, social problems, suffering, and self-esteem problems disappear. However this is not creating genuinely saved people, it is only making moral lost people. This blasphemous teaching method will be sending myriads of people to hell, and is crippling the Church. That the men teaching this lie are being labeled as “America’s Pastor” is a travesty. We as Americans are giving ourselves over to this lie, and thinking that nothing is wrong with it, allowing them to live their lives thinking that they are okay, but in reality they are still lost and still damned to the gates of Hell. We NEED men to rise up in the Church to lead a movement against this blasphemy, if none are able to be found then the Church of America has utterly failed, and the hope of the world hearing of the saving redemptive news of Christ, lies with another country. The world has yet to see the power of a man truly on fire for the cause of Christ.
Christians are promised to suffer, that is one thing that we as Christians can count on. “Suffering with Christ is not strange, it is our calling, our vocation” (Piper). In Hebrews 13:12-14 it is said,
“So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.”
We are called to, “go outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.” Suffering is not something that will just magically disappear after we accept Christ. “We fist step onto the battlefield the moment we accept Christ, and we will never leave the battle until we leave this earth” (Pruitt). Suffering fro Christ is not an oddity; it is the Christians job until we go to Him. Life will not be any easy thing it will not be a cake walk, we will suffer for the sake of our Savior, but for those that are truly converted we are be able to take solace in the fact of God is allowing us to suffer for His glory. There is so much biblical evidence to support the Christians suffering that to exclude this from teaching would be like taking half of the New Testament out, and almost completely disposing of the Old Testament. Matthew 10:16-18,22-23,28,
“Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles… And you will be hated all for My name’s sake. But he who will endure to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in this city flee to another. For assuredly I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes…And do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear the Him who is able to destroy both body and soul.”
It is made very clear in the passage that Christians will be hated! We must move from city to city to escape, because the persecution has grown so strong. This, however, will not be a unprofitable suffering, we will be blessed to have people convert to the faith, and come to the awakening knowledge of the Redeeming Lord. That Jesus’ death was not a death to free us from low self-esteem and monetary issues, but to save this wretched people from the damnation that we so justly disserve. Before our sanctification we want nothing to do with God, we want no part of His glory, “We are worms groveling in the dirt, holding in contempt the Majesty of heaven” (Edwards).
The “pastors” that preach this blasphemy are in dire need of being shown the truth. They are unknowingly leading thousands upon thousands of people to hell. Charles Spurgeon best describes my thoughts on this matter in the book, “Lectures to My Students” Lecture 1 “The Minister’s Self-watch.” “A graceless pastor is a blind man elected to a professorship of optics, philosophizing upon light and vision, discoursing upon and distinguishing to others the nice shades of and delicate blending sod the prismatic colors, while he himself is absolutely in the dark! He is a dumb man elevated to the chair of music; a deaf man fluent upon symphonies and harmonies! He is a mole professing to educate eaglets; a limpet elected to preside of angels…Alas! The unregenerate pastor becomes truly terribly mischievous too, for all the causes that create infidelity, ungodly ministers must be ranked among the first. I read the other day, that no phase of evil presented so marvelous power of destruction, as the unconverted minister of a parish, with a 1,2000 pound organ, a choir of ungodly singers, and an aristocratic congregation. It was the opinion of the writer, that there could be no greater instrument for the damnation out of hell than that. People go to their place of worship and sit comfortably and think they must be Christians, when all the time their religion consists in, listening to an orator, having their ears tickled with music, and perhaps their eyes amused with graceful action and fashionable manners; the whole being no better than what they hear at the opera - not so good, perhaps, in point of aesthetic beauty, and not an atom more spiritual. Thousands are congratulating themselves, and even blessing God that they are devout worshippers, when at the same time they are living in an unregenerate Christless state, having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. He who presides over a system which aims are nothing higher than formalism, is far more a servant of the devil than a minister of God.”
This is the dire situation the Church, in this present age. We must have an urgent state of mind, that if this teaching is not put to death, then myriads of people will be receiving their just damnation. Godly men must stand, now, and fight against this raging flood. There is no greater calling than to take the knife and put it to the throat of this teaching. My soul cries out that if nothing is done then, the American Church is failed, and is no better than this blasphemy. This burns as a fire in my bones to rebel against this horrid speech, are there others that have this same feeling or am I alone?
Christ did not die to free you from your guilt, and low self-esteem, but rather to save you from your sins Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His love for toward us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” There is nothing more beautiful than this one truth that Christ died for us, to save us from our sins. Why would this teaching ever be taken out of the Church? To make His death into some source of feeling good, is nothing more than blasphemy, and should be treated as such. That the glory of the elect being able to sing,

“Amazing grace,
How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me,
I once was lost, but now I am found,
Was blind but now I see.”

Is taken out of the Church is an outrage, and should be given no heed, ever.