Author Archives: Jim
A Christmas Prayer: Thank You for The Gift of All Gifts
Merry Christmas everyone!
The following Christmas prayer is from the largely forgotten deposit of the Puritan Movement of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They testify to the richness and color of evangelical thought and language, as well as their devotion to the Savior. They can be found in a book titled “The Valley of Vision”, by Arthur Bennet. I have included them in this blog so that others can use them in their own prayer life as a springboard to a more faithful walk with Jesus. These prayers are 200-400 years old! They were written in old English, but that should not get in the way if you don’t let it.
Following Him together…
Read the rest of this entry
Together For The Gospel
We are brothers in Christ united in one great cause – to stand together for the Gospel. We are convinced that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been misrepresented, misunderstood, and marginalized in many churches and among many who claim the name of Christ. Compromise of the Gospel has led to the preaching of false gospels, the seduction of many minds and movements, and the weakening of the church’s Gospel witness.
As in previous moments of theological and spiritual crisis in the church, we believe that the answer to this confusion and compromise lies in a comprehensive recovery and reaffirmation of the Gospel – and in Christians banding together in Gospel churches that display God’s glory in this fallen world… Read the rest of this entry
Cross-Centered Worship “All I Have Is Christ”
We have noticed a disturbing trend in the corporate worship songs of the church. Perhaps you have too? It seems that we sing very little about the main point of Christianity. This is due, in large part, to church leaderships desire to be more “sensitive” to those who attend the service but are not Christians.
The research tells us (we are told), that non-Christians don’t really want to hear about sin and guilt and being accountable to a holy God. Hearing about a Savior dying on a bloody cross for their sins is not high on their priority list. To reach them, we must eliminate these topics from our sermons and our songs. Sadly, much of the Evangelical church has mistakenly signed on to this approach. We could not disagree more strongly!
The message of a crucified and risen Savior and the reconciliation that this can bring is the only message the church has! It is the one and only message the church has been entrusted with and that the lost so desperately needs to hear.
As one who has been responsible for leading corporate singing for years,… Read the rest of this entry
Want To Be Challenged By The Early Church? Read This…
Do you ever grow weary of all the new fads and techniques the modern church creates? I do! What is important to us, may not have been important to those who were personally discipled by Jesus Christ and those whom they disicpled.
I am continually challenged when I read the history and the writings of the early church. I am drawn to them over and over again because of how close they were in time to the Apostles. There writings are not scripture, but neither are the writings of Luther, Calvin or John Stott. These writings shed tremendous light on how the Apostles and the early church viewed the Christ event and the implications of it. Anyone who wants to follow Jesus Christ faithfully owes it to themselves to read the writings of these Godly men.
Today, I have included the entire “Didache”, also known as “The Teaching of The Twelve Apostles.” It is one of the most fascinating documents to emerge from the early church. It was probably in circulation somewhere close to the end of the first century… Read the rest of this entry
Jesus, THE Christmas Story
Click on the following link to read why Jesus Christ was born in a manger and died on a Cross. The Reason for The Season.
A Satirical Look at The Seeker-Sensitive Church Model
Coming to a town near you. The Contemporvant Church. A satirical video about a Seeker-sensistive church. The truly sad thing is that there are thousands of churches like this in the US. I have attended several in the city I live in. Remember: Please don’t shoot the nmessenger.
Be the first to start a conversation
What is Your Life Centered On?
C.J. Mahaney writes in his book “Living The Cross-Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel THE Main Thing”
“Each of our lives is centered on something. What’s at the center of yours? Think about it for a moment. What’s really the main thing in your life? Only one thing can truly be first in priority; so what’s at the top of your list, second to none? What are you most passionate about? What do you love to talk about? What do you think about most when your mind is free?
Or try this, what is it that defines you? Is it your career? A relationship? Maybe it’s your family or your ministry? It could be some cause or movement or some political affiliation. Or perhaps your main thing is a hobby or talent you have or even your house and possessions… Read the rest of this entry
Cross-Centered Christmas Worship Song: “Glory Be to God”
As one who has been responsible for leading corporate singing for years, I can attest to how frustrating it has become to find songs that are worth singing! There are many out there, but it takes time to find them. Because of this, we have started a new feature at Not For Itching Ears. Each week, we will post one worthy (at least in our opinion) worship song for you to listen to. We will post the lyrics as well as the Mp3 along with a chord chart when possible. This weeks selection is a cross-centered Christmas song called “Glory Be To God.” It is an exuberant and lyrically rich celebration of the Incarnation miracle. Listen to it below. After listening to it, please rate it by taking our quick poll. You will find the poll at the bottom of this post.
Glory be to God on high
Let peace on earth descend
God comes down before our eyes
To Bethlehem
Endless ages wrapped in years
He has come who cannot change
And Jesus is His name
He comes in human form
Being’s source begins to be
And God is born
All our griefs He’ll gladly share
All our sins He’ll fully bear
He will cover our disgrace
And suffer in our place
The Prince of Peace proclaim
Lift your heart and voice to shout
Immanuel’s name
What a work of grace this is
Son of Mary, chosen One
The Lamb of God has come
The Lamb of God has come
Hosanna, hosanna
He is the promised One
Let peace on earth descend
God comes down before our eyes
To Bethlehem
Get the FREE authentic chord chart Here:
http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/downloadFiles.aspx?key=Freef8506d24-81b1-4113-b873-257ebcfa2033
The Centrality of The Bible
John Piper says:
Cross-Centered Worship: “The Greatest of All”
We have noticed a disturbing trend in the corporate worship songs of the church. Perhaps you have too? It seems that we sing very little about the main point of Christianity. This is largely because the church wants to be more “sensitive” to those who are not Christians.
With the best research in hand, we are told that non-Christians don’t really want to hear about sin and guilt and being accountable to a holy God. They also don’t want to hear about a Savior dying on a bloody cross for their sins. To reach them, we are confidently told, we must eliminate these topics from our sermons and our songs. Sadly, much of the Evangelical church has mistakenly signed on to this approach. We could not disagree more strongly!
The message of a crucified and risen Savior and the reconciliation that this can bring is the only message the church has! It is the one and only message the church has been entrusted with and that the lost so desperately needs to hear.
As one who has been responsible for leading corporate singing for years, I can attest to how frustrating it has become to find songs that are worth singing! There are many out there, but it takes time to find them. Because of this, we have started a new feature at Not For Itching Ears. Each week, we will post one worthy (at least in our opinion) worship song for you to listen to. We will post the lyrics as well as the Mp3 along with a chord chart when possible. This weeks selection is “The Greatest of All” , we hope you enjoy it. After listening to it, please rate it by taking our quick poll. You will find the poll at the bottom of this post.
The Greatest of All
The costliest purchase price
Father, Your Son’s atoning death
Was given in payment for mine
To buy me back from slavery
To set me free from my chains
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
Redeemed through Your infinite mercy
Your child forever I am
You ransomed and saved my soul
Jesus, Your death and Yours alone
Has canceled the debt that I owed
You satisfied the law’s demand
And new life’s been given to me
© 2007 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP) Chorus by Fanny J. Crosby, music and additional words by Pat SczebelAs recorded on Sons & Daughters
Listen to “The Greatest of All”
Download the FREE guitar chart for this song here: http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/productinfo.aspx?QuickAddProductID=M4220-04-57
Listen to other songs in this series:
Cross-Centered Worship Songs: “Oh What Grace”
Cross-Centered Worship: “The Gospel Song”
Cross-Centered Worship “All I Have Is Christ”
Cross-Centered Worship: “The Prodigal”
Cross-Centered Christmas Worship Song: “Glory Be to God”
Cross-Centered Worship: “The Greatest of All”
The Offensive, Attractive Cross
“The curious paradox of the atoning death of a bloody Jesus rising above the plane of human history with a mocking crown of thorns is that he is offensive in an attractive way. It is the utter horror of the cross that cuts through the chatter, noise, and nonsense of our day to rivet our attention, shut our mouths, and compel us to listen to an impassioned dying man who is crying out for the forgiveness of our sins and to ask why he suffered… Read the rest of this entry
Does Your Sunday Morning Service Look Like This?
The Look on Lucy’s face says it all! So take a minute and look at these short videos about worship. They are hilarious! I sure hope your Sunday doesn’t look like this. Enjoy and let me know what you think! Follow these links to view the videos:
“Consumer Worship” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8KnhchT_58
“Its All About Me” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XHkMPA1334
We are taking a Poll of how Christians view worship and the church. Please take the poll. We will post the results soon. Click here to TAKE THE POLL
Will The Non-Conformists Please Rise Up?
In his book The Mindchangers, Em Griffin describes an experiment with groups of 12 people. They were brought into a room where four lines of unequal length were displayed. They had to decide which two were the same length and publicly vote for their choice. Person after person after person (11 in all) voted for the wrong line–because they had all been told to ahead of time. The one individual who was in the dark couldn’t imagine how in the world all these seemingly normal people could all choose the wrong line. When it was his turn to vote, he had to decide, “Do I go with what I know my senses are telling me, or do I go with the crowd?” One third of those tested caved in to group pressure and changed their vote to agree with their peers.
If you have ever been in a similar situation, you know how powerful peer pressure can be. The pressure to conform to the world around us is a constant challenge. That is one of the reasons the Apostle Paul wrote Romans 12:2, which says: Read the rest of this entry
Back to the Future: Sunday Morning Church Service circa 150 AD
In the movie “Back To The Future”, 17 year old, Marty Mcfly, lives a lousy life. His dad, George, a nerdy scaredy cat, and his mom, Larraine, is an alcoholic, who met George through pity, when her dad hit George with a car. All he has ever known is this reality. The only thing that he can do for fun, is hang out with the local scientist, Dr. Emmit Brown (Doc) who has created a time machine. You know the story. Marty goes back in time and changes how his parents meet. In the process everything that was wrong with his life and family is dramatically changed for the good.
When I contemplate the current state of the American Evangelical church, I wish we could get into that DeLorean and head back in time. If we could, perhaps we would be able to intervene at just the right moment so that today’s church reflected God’s design rather than our own. We can not time travel back to the first century, but we can read their documents to see how they understood “Church.” It is good to look at history to observe how things “were”. We often look at how things “are” and assume that’s this is the way things are supposed to “be”… Read the rest of this entry
A 300 year Old Prayer: “All I Want Is To Know and Serve You, Lord”
The following prayer is drawn from the largely forgotten deposit of the Puritan Movement of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They testify to the richness and color of evangelical thought and language, as well as their devotion to the Savior. They can be found in a book titled “The Valley of Vision”, by Arthur Bennet. I have included them in this blog so that others can use them in their own prayer life as a springboard to a more faithful walk with Jesus. These prayers are 200-400 years old! They were written in old English. but that should not get in the way if you don’t let it.
Following Him together…
SERVICE AND EQUIPMENT
Thou God of my end,
You have given me a fixed disposition
to go forth and spend my life for thee;
If it be your will let me proceed in it;
if not, then revoke my intentions.
Seeker-Sensitive Absurdities: “Come to our Church, We’ll Help Improve Your Sex Life!”
A local church in my city recently ran this “Pure Sex” advertising campaign to attract the non-churched to come to their services. They drove around the city with this banner on a trailer. First, I thought it was an advertisement for a porn shop. I was stopped dead in my tracks when I realized it was an advertisement to come to a church.
Does the seeker-sensitive model have no limits? Now our message to the lost is “Come here and we’ll teach you how to have a better sex life?” Is that the message God has entrusted us with? Read the rest of this entry
Top Posts For November
Below you will find links to our top 5 posts in November. Have a quick read and join the discussion!
1. Does God Care How We Worship?
2. When Did “Worship” Become the Singing of a Song?
3. Jeremiah’s Message to Today’s Church Leadership
4. Poll: What is the Most Important Element of Corporate Worship for you Personally?
Poll: What is the Most Important Element of Corporate Worship for you Personally?
Over the past few days, hundreds of people have read and commented on our post “Does God Care How We Worship?” As a follow-up to that post, we have created an online poll asking the question: “What is the Most Important Element of Corporate Worship for you Personally?” We hope you will take the time to vote. We will reveal the results in two weeks. About the poll: We understand that we are asking you to make a choice that in the real world you may not have to make. However, for the sake of the poll, we want you to vote for the one thing you just cannot live without in a CORPORATE worship setting. Feel free to comment, or to add an element that is not on the poll. Following Him together, Jim
Does God Care How We Worship?
The past twenty-five years has seen the corporate worship of the evangelical church radically transformed. Throughout the years, the liturgy of the early church and the liturgy of the modern church had been very similar. But that all changed with the arrival of the seeker-sensitive movement that the church has largely embraced. The modern seeker-sensitive church meeting bares very little resemblance to the historical church… Read the rest of this entry
What Are You Thankful For?
Thanksgiving has arrived! If you are like me, you are busy getting ready for the big day. There will be lots of food, visiting family and friends, football, pie and shopping on Friday (I need a new laptop!). With all these activities, it is easy to forget that the whole purpose of the day is to give thanks to God for all he has done in our lives. As Americans, we have a lot to be thankful even in these hard economic times. Those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ have the ultimate reason to be thankful. Not just on Thanksgiving day, but every second of every day… Read the rest of this entry
Not For Itching Ears 