The Old Rugged Cross, Ps. 46:1, John 14:27, It Is Well With My Soul, In Christ Alone, Jesus Paid It All, Whom Shall I Fear, How Great Thou Art Continue reading
Worship Set for March 30, 2014
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Though You Slay Me
Job 13:15a “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.”
Job has lost everything. His fortune is destroyed, all of his children have been killed, his health has been taken from him and he has . His friends turn against him, and even his wife tells him to “curse God and die.” He has nothing left…but when Job fell he fell on the firm foundation of his faith in God.
Not that Job was walking around thinking “it’s all good.” Rather, Job was crying out to God, asking why, and wishing he was dead. But “in all this Job did not sin in what he said.”
If you’ve been in a church more than once in the last 15 years you’ve probably heard the song “Blessed Be Your Name” by Matt Redman which references Job’s amazing comment after hearing of his incredible losses: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
This truly is an amazing statement. I don’t know if I could say it, but I sure hope I can. I have had a very blessed and safe life, with very little loss. But I pray that my foundation in Christ is firm enough to withstand difficult times. I’m sure when that day comes, this song by Shane and Shane will be constantly on my mind and on my ipod. Continue reading
The Fertile Soil of Prayer
A little more than three years ago I was leading the college group at Church and I made one of the best decisions I’ve ever made: to do a 9-week study on prayer. It revitalized my faith like crazy! I hope it did the same for some of the students, but I’m sure I got more out of it than anyone else; as they say, the best way to learn something is to teach it.
I spent more time in prayer during those nine weeks than any other period of time in my life. And I’m kicking myself right now for letting some of those habits fall to the way side. I know I could use a review of my studies on prayer, so I’m going to revisit it here in my blog. Don’t worry, I won’t go through all nine weeks of the curriculum here in my blog, but I’ll try to touch on a few of the main points. And I’ll start with an overview of what I covered:
The Problem With Prayer.
The biggest problem with prayer is Continue reading
Worship set for March 23, 2014
What a great worship time this morning! The choir introduced another awesome Matt Redman song, “Endless Hallelujah”, and we had an extended time of worship with five songs and some inspiring scripture after the sermon. God was definitely worshiped! Thanks to the Holy Spirit for showing up. 🙂
Salvation Is Here, Endless Hallelujah, When The Stars Burn Down, Eph. 3:18, Psalm 36:5, Psalm 139:7-8, Rom. 8:38, Zeph. 3:17, Furious, Isaiah 1:18, 1 Cor. 15:56-57, Stronger, Worthy Is The Lamb, Great I Am. Continue reading
Psalm 51
Ok, I’ll admit it publicly: I used to be a big Bon Jovi fan. That can guy sing! And he sure knows how to write a ballad!
One of his famous lines, from the song In These Arms (which he wrote for his wife), goes like this:
“Baby, I want you like the roses want the rain
You know I need you like the poet needs the pain”
First time I heard that I thought, “man he’s onto something…I’m so glad I’m not a poet!!”
But isn’t it true, even for those of us who aren’t true poets, that our deepest and most significant thoughts (or works of art) are brought about by pain? Another way of saying it (much less poetically) is that we learn the most from our mistakes.
I think David, the psalmist, would agree.
Let’s take a look at Psalm 51. My NIV study Bible notes this as “A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.” Now that’s some serious poetry-inspiring pain! Continue reading