This is really, really well done!
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Now playing: Caedmon's Call - Before There Was Time [Live]
via FoxyTunes
Works & Wonders (August 2)
1 day ago
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Prayer Request
We would appreciate your prayers tomorrow afternoon as Kim goes in for gallbladder surgery. She is scheduled for surgery at 1:45 PM and should be home tomorrow evening if all goes well. Please pray for a healthy recovery for her.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
The Greatness of God's Faithfulness
If you were ask people what their favorite all-time Christian song or hymn was, I am sure that the responses would be varied. Yet I suspect there would be a few that rise to the top of the list according to the frequency by which they are named. Songs such as Holy, Holy, Holy, Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, and Be Thou My Vision. I suppose that Because He Lives would be towards the top and maybe even some newer contemporary songs like Indescribable or Shout To The Lord. But I am sure that no list would be complete without many references to the hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness.
Now, in no way do I mean to convey any negativism towards the song Great Is Thy Faithfulness in this post. In fact my intent is the opposite for it is certainly one of the hymns I deeply cherish. And yet I have often wondered if people realize what they are singing when they sing it. For that matter, it seems as if though the phrase, "Great is His faithfulness" is an evangelical catch phrase. It often goes something like this. "Well, I didn't have enough money to pay my bills at the end of the week, but God provided and all were paid. Great is His faithfulness." While that also is true and God often does provide in miraculous ways for those He loves, it seems to me that we do a disservice to ourselves if we don't understand where that phrase first came from and what it meant when it was written. The point I am trying to make is that too often I think that we as believers look at God's provisional faithfulness to us like a great big blessings bank. "Look at my 3,500 square foot house, my luxury suv, and my brand new boat. Great is God's faithfulness!" We see all of our physicals blessings that God has graciously given us as proof of the attribute of His faithfulness. Yet God's faithfulness to us is far grander than physical blessings and it reaches far beyond our simple imagination of stuff.
For a long time if you would have asked me where the phrase "great is Your faithfulness" came from I would have answered with one of the following answers as a possibility; maybe Abraham said it as he looked at all that God had given him, or David as he surveyed his kingdom, but it was probably Job who said the words when God restored all back to him. But the phrase "great is Your faithfulness" comes from Lamentations 3:23. You know, that little book that is wedged between Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Lamentations was written by Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, while he and the city of Jerusalem were under attack by the Babylonian army circa 586 BC. The Babylonian army circled the city of Jerusalem for approximately two and a half years from 588 to 586 BC. It was the ultimate waiting game. The Babylonians knew that Jerusalem could only defend herself and they also knew she would not surrender. So they simply waited. For two plus years not allowing anything in or anything out of the city. It was a waiting game of starvation. Sooner or later, Jerusalem would run out of food and then the Babylonians would take the city with little or no casualties. On top of the food issue that Jerusalem faced was the reality of disease. With two years of not being allowed out of the city, the refuse, garbage, and filth would have begun to pile up bringing in the vermin and disease. (II Kings 25:1-10, Lamentations 1:8-12)
Not to make anyone sick, but to give a glimpse into how bad a siege like this was we should also consider Jeremiah 19:9. In this verse, written before the attack on Jerusalem, Jeremiah prophesies that the eventual attack on the city would be so terrible that it's occupants would resort to cannibalism in their attempts to survive. This was not unprecedented. In fact when the northern city of Samaria was under a starvation attack 150 years earlier by the Assyrians, we are given the rather gruesome story in II Kings 6:26-29 of two women who agree with one another to eat each others sons.
I say all of this to try and prove the point that when Jeremiah wrote "great is Your faithfulness" he wasn't counting all of the stuff that God had given to him. In fact if you read Lamentations 3 you will find a man that seems broken almost beyond words. And yet he writes in the middle of it, "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him."
The faithfulness that Jeremiah is thankful for is that God continued to grant His mercy and compassion day after day to a sinner like Jeremiah. Jeremiah knew that he deserved to be perishing with those that were dying daily around him, yet in complete devotion to the One who alone can save he proclaims that his hope rests solely in the Lord.
Would that I like Jeremiah be able to say, "The Lord is my portion, I will hope only in Him." May He continue to strip away me from me that I become more dependent on Him. Then, as a debtor to His grace, mercy, and compassion alone may I be able to say, "Great is God's faithfulness for He has saved a wretch like me."
----------------
Now playing: Aaron Keyes - Not What My Hands
via FoxyTunes
Now, in no way do I mean to convey any negativism towards the song Great Is Thy Faithfulness in this post. In fact my intent is the opposite for it is certainly one of the hymns I deeply cherish. And yet I have often wondered if people realize what they are singing when they sing it. For that matter, it seems as if though the phrase, "Great is His faithfulness" is an evangelical catch phrase. It often goes something like this. "Well, I didn't have enough money to pay my bills at the end of the week, but God provided and all were paid. Great is His faithfulness." While that also is true and God often does provide in miraculous ways for those He loves, it seems to me that we do a disservice to ourselves if we don't understand where that phrase first came from and what it meant when it was written. The point I am trying to make is that too often I think that we as believers look at God's provisional faithfulness to us like a great big blessings bank. "Look at my 3,500 square foot house, my luxury suv, and my brand new boat. Great is God's faithfulness!" We see all of our physicals blessings that God has graciously given us as proof of the attribute of His faithfulness. Yet God's faithfulness to us is far grander than physical blessings and it reaches far beyond our simple imagination of stuff.
For a long time if you would have asked me where the phrase "great is Your faithfulness" came from I would have answered with one of the following answers as a possibility; maybe Abraham said it as he looked at all that God had given him, or David as he surveyed his kingdom, but it was probably Job who said the words when God restored all back to him. But the phrase "great is Your faithfulness" comes from Lamentations 3:23. You know, that little book that is wedged between Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Lamentations was written by Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, while he and the city of Jerusalem were under attack by the Babylonian army circa 586 BC. The Babylonian army circled the city of Jerusalem for approximately two and a half years from 588 to 586 BC. It was the ultimate waiting game. The Babylonians knew that Jerusalem could only defend herself and they also knew she would not surrender. So they simply waited. For two plus years not allowing anything in or anything out of the city. It was a waiting game of starvation. Sooner or later, Jerusalem would run out of food and then the Babylonians would take the city with little or no casualties. On top of the food issue that Jerusalem faced was the reality of disease. With two years of not being allowed out of the city, the refuse, garbage, and filth would have begun to pile up bringing in the vermin and disease. (II Kings 25:1-10, Lamentations 1:8-12)
Not to make anyone sick, but to give a glimpse into how bad a siege like this was we should also consider Jeremiah 19:9. In this verse, written before the attack on Jerusalem, Jeremiah prophesies that the eventual attack on the city would be so terrible that it's occupants would resort to cannibalism in their attempts to survive. This was not unprecedented. In fact when the northern city of Samaria was under a starvation attack 150 years earlier by the Assyrians, we are given the rather gruesome story in II Kings 6:26-29 of two women who agree with one another to eat each others sons.
I say all of this to try and prove the point that when Jeremiah wrote "great is Your faithfulness" he wasn't counting all of the stuff that God had given to him. In fact if you read Lamentations 3 you will find a man that seems broken almost beyond words. And yet he writes in the middle of it, "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him."
The faithfulness that Jeremiah is thankful for is that God continued to grant His mercy and compassion day after day to a sinner like Jeremiah. Jeremiah knew that he deserved to be perishing with those that were dying daily around him, yet in complete devotion to the One who alone can save he proclaims that his hope rests solely in the Lord.
Would that I like Jeremiah be able to say, "The Lord is my portion, I will hope only in Him." May He continue to strip away me from me that I become more dependent on Him. Then, as a debtor to His grace, mercy, and compassion alone may I be able to say, "Great is God's faithfulness for He has saved a wretch like me."
----------------
Now playing: Aaron Keyes - Not What My Hands
via FoxyTunes
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Labor Of Love
It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David's town
And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold
It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David's town
In the middle of the night
So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move
It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David's town
And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold
It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David's town
In the middle of the night
So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move
It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Christmas Present for a Friend
A friend of ours called and asked for us to provide a Christmas present for her daughter. Her daughter had mentioned how she would like to know what various people had as their favorite Bible verse or passage and why it was important to them. So her mom was collecting these to place into a little keepsake book and she asked if we would participate. I agreed and thought I would share the same contents here.
My favorite verse or passage is II Corinthians 4:16-18 "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
This passage is so powerful! It gives us hope to face any trial or struggle that may come our way as believers. Here we see the proper perspective we are to have as we face this thing we call life, we are to view them as light afflictions. Barely an issue for us, certainly no problem for God. We also see that not only are our struggles not an issue for God, but we also see that God is working through them in His divine purposes for our good. For He is using them to "prepare for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." I'm not sure what the weight of glory is, but I can't wait to find out! But there is a caveat, our focus or vision. What are we looking at? There is nothing that we can see with our physical eyes that will matter in the end, but with the eyes of our heart (Ephesians 1:18) we can be Christ focused and cross centered. A quote I borrowed from someone goes like this, "People with eternal natures cannot be made happy by temporal things." Keep your eyes on the prize of Christ Jesus and you will find that any challenge that God asks you to face will seem as nothing in the end when it is compared with the supreme knowledge of knowing Christ.
----------------
Now playing: Third Day - Show Me Your Glory
via FoxyTunes
My favorite verse or passage is II Corinthians 4:16-18 "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
This passage is so powerful! It gives us hope to face any trial or struggle that may come our way as believers. Here we see the proper perspective we are to have as we face this thing we call life, we are to view them as light afflictions. Barely an issue for us, certainly no problem for God. We also see that not only are our struggles not an issue for God, but we also see that God is working through them in His divine purposes for our good. For He is using them to "prepare for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." I'm not sure what the weight of glory is, but I can't wait to find out! But there is a caveat, our focus or vision. What are we looking at? There is nothing that we can see with our physical eyes that will matter in the end, but with the eyes of our heart (Ephesians 1:18) we can be Christ focused and cross centered. A quote I borrowed from someone goes like this, "People with eternal natures cannot be made happy by temporal things." Keep your eyes on the prize of Christ Jesus and you will find that any challenge that God asks you to face will seem as nothing in the end when it is compared with the supreme knowledge of knowing Christ.
----------------
Now playing: Third Day - Show Me Your Glory
via FoxyTunes
Thursday, December 18, 2008
A Glimpse Into Forgiveness
For those of you who know the Scott Willis family, here are a few articles that shine a light into what Biblical forgiveness looks like. For those of you who may not know, ex-Governor Ryan of Illinois just recently asked for a Presidential pardon that has brought the Willis story back into the limelight. Scott and Janet Willis's response is gracious and Biblical and it is a response we could all learn from. You can read the Chicago Tribune article here and another portion of the story here.
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Now playing: Sara Groves - Less Like Scars
via FoxyTunes
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Now playing: Sara Groves - Less Like Scars
via FoxyTunes
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
We Now Return To Our Regular Scheduled Blogging
After the last few hectic weeks I feel almost as if I can breathe again. I hope to start blogging again soon and maybe even try to get a Christmas letter out (I'm not betting on the last part.) Anyway, I just thought I would let everyone know that we are still alive and are still maintaining the status quo.
I also wanted to let you know of a very good new album that was just released by Covenant Life Church. It is an album of 10 of the most loved hymns of the church. They keep the melodies of the hymns the same but update the instrumentation that normally goes with them. For those who are not aware, Covenant Life is affiliated with Sovereign Grace Ministries so you can expect the same quality in this new album as you would get on the albums from Sovereign Grace. Here is the best part. You can get if for free! Noise Trade is offering it as a free download. Just provide them with a few e-mails (you can use mine as one of them) and you get the album for free.
If you are in the Christmas music mood yet, you might want to take a listen to the group Sojourn and their album Advent Songs. More folk sounding with a couple of original rewrites of standard classic Christmas hymns, I really like this album. It is also free at Noise Trade.
You can find both albums here as well as many others.
----------------
Now playing: Covenant Life Church - And Can It Be
via FoxyTunes
I also wanted to let you know of a very good new album that was just released by Covenant Life Church. It is an album of 10 of the most loved hymns of the church. They keep the melodies of the hymns the same but update the instrumentation that normally goes with them. For those who are not aware, Covenant Life is affiliated with Sovereign Grace Ministries so you can expect the same quality in this new album as you would get on the albums from Sovereign Grace. Here is the best part. You can get if for free! Noise Trade is offering it as a free download. Just provide them with a few e-mails (you can use mine as one of them) and you get the album for free.
If you are in the Christmas music mood yet, you might want to take a listen to the group Sojourn and their album Advent Songs. More folk sounding with a couple of original rewrites of standard classic Christmas hymns, I really like this album. It is also free at Noise Trade.
You can find both albums here as well as many others.
----------------
Now playing: Covenant Life Church - And Can It Be
via FoxyTunes
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