Blog Archives
A 300 Year Old Prayer for The Difficult Seasons of Life
The following prayer was first offered back in the 1700′s. It is from the largely forgotten deposit of the Puritan Movement of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These people knew God and they knew how to pray. We can learn a lot from them. They are written in old english. I have updated a few outdated words and changed the Thee’s and Thou’s to make it more 2011. However, they still have the feel of that era. This prayer, titled ’The Valley of Vision’, along with many others, can be found in a book titled “The Valley of Vision”, by Arthur Bennett. Read the rest of this entry
The Bottom 5: Our LEAST Read Posts from 2011
Yes, it is that time again. The “Best of” posts are all coming out. Tomorrow we will have our top 5 posts of the year. Today, as an act of humility, we present our Bottom 5. They are our least read posts of 2011. Go ahead and read one. They can’t be all bad!
Merry Christmas Everyone! Read the rest of this entry
Monday Mornings with The Early Church Fathers: What Authentic Christianity Looked Like- Justin Martyr
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. Their 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 posted a quote from Justin Martyr as well as the quote in context. It deals with identifying real Christians and is from his First Apology, chapter 16. Justin lived from 100 AD to 165 AD. He was a philosopher who was converted to Christianity and became a tireless evangelist and apologist. He was executed for his faith sometime Read the rest of this entry
The Most Meaningful Christmas Gift Ever Given to Me
I received it 26 years ago. I know that because the inscription from my non-Christian sister who gave it to me is dated “Christmas 1985.” Though I have over 20 other bibles of various versions sitting in my study, this Bible is my most cherished friend. It has spoken into every area of my life, through every season of that life: being single, getting married, raising a family, pastoring, sermon preparation, tragedy and heartache; victories and failures. It was the Bible I read from at the high school graduation of both my kids. Every morning it sits on my desk, waiting for me. Someday, when my days on earth wind to a close, it will be the Bible used at my funeral.
We’ve been through a lot together. I went to Bible College with it. Professor Middlebrook’s notes from I Peter and I John are still Read the rest of this entry
A Wise Word of Encouragement from the Early Church to Today’s Generation
Saint Cyprian penned the following wise words in AD 256. Brothers and sister, we would be do well to take them to heart. They remind us that what God requires of us is not a deeper understanding of his ways, but a life that is lived following them. It is easy to get the two confused. Learning facts is one thing. Living them out on a daily basis is something entirely different. When we have more facts than fruit in our lives, our lives are out of balance. Of course, theology was important to the early church. It just took a back seat to living the Christian life. Cyprians words reminded me that Read the rest of this entry
Looking for Cross-Centered Christmas Song ideas for Worship? Check this out
Break out the peppermint lattes and your Bing Crosby CD’s. It is that time of year again: Christmas! As a worship leader, you know what I am talking about. While everyone else was busy getting ready for Halloween (or whatever you call it) you were thinking about worship music for the upcoming Christmas season. Or at least you should have been. Waiting till Thanksgiving to start planning, is a little too late!
As one who has been responsible for leading corporate singing for years, I can attest to how hard it can be to plan for Christmas worship. Four weeks of December singing! At Christmas time, I always want to have a song that wraps the message of the Cross around the Christmas message. I like to have one new song that people aren’t familiar with so they have to think about the words as they sing. I think this is helpful for believers as well as all those people who only come on Christmas and Easter. Here’s a song that I have liked. It is called “The Son of God Came Down.” It is a slow, meditative song that mixes the Christmas story with Easter. Listen to it below. You will find it and many other “Christmas songs” on the album Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man
Words and music by Doug Plank
As recorded on Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man
THE SON OF GOD CAME DOWN
The Son of God came down and laid aside His crown
Born without great renown, this Sovereign One
All holiness and might, all glory shining bright
Have come to earth this night in Mary’s son
O come, let us adore
O Christ the Lord, our hope and Savior
Son of God yet made like us
O Christ the Lord, our King adored
Born a child, our Lord Jesus
Messiah born so small, asleep in cattle stall
Come to redeem our fall, nailed to a tree
This tiny, helpless child through death would reconcile
The holy God and vile, His grace so free
O come, let us adore
© 2004 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP).
Follow this link for the official free Guitar Chart: The Son of God Came Down Chord Chart
Follow this link for the official free LEAD CHART: The Son of God Came Down Lead Chart
Looking for Cross-Centered Christmas Song ideas for Worship? Check this out
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! At Christmas time, I always want to have a song that wraps the message of the Cross around the Christmas message. I like to have one new song that people aren’t familiar with so they have to think about the words as they sing. I think this is helpful for believers as well as all those people who only come on Christmas and Easter. It is harder to find these types of songs, and if you are thinking ahead, the Christmas season is upon you and you are unprepared! Here’s a song that I have liked. It is called “Christ the Lord Is Born Today.” It is an exuberant song, calling us to celebrate the incarnation and pointing us towards the cross. Listen to it below. You will find it and many other “Christmas songs” on the album Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man
Words and music by Mark Altrogge
As recorded on Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man
Christ the Lord is Born Today
How my happy heart rejoices
I can hear the angel voices
“Christ is born” they all are singing
From the sky this good news bringing
Let the earth rejoice
O come and lift your voices
Christ the Lord is born today
He came from heaven’s throne
God is born a man today
To bring His children home
To bring His children home
Death and darkness surely tremble
Light has come to all the people
The Lion comes to crush the serpent
He comes a Lamb, a lowly servant
Let the earth rejoice
O come and lift your voices
God has sent His greatest treasure
Shown His love in greatest measure
Sending Christ to bleed and suffer
Purchasing our joy forever
Let the earth rejoice
O come and lift your voices
© 2006 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).
Follow this link for the official free Guitar Chart: Christ the Lord is Born Today
Follow this link for the official free LEAD CHART: Christ the Lord is Born Todaleadsheet
What Does God Want From the Human Race?
What Does God Want From the Human Race?
Does He want us to believe the right things or act the right way? Is His primary concern that we believe the right doctrine or that we behave the right way? Does He want us to hold to and defend until death the “correct” teaching about Him? Or is God more concerned with how we choose to live our lives?
Does it please God more when we give ourselves to study every facet of his character, diving into the deep end of the pool to contemplate God in all his glorious ways or when we devote our lives to living according to those ways? Put another way, do you think that God was more pleased with John Calvin Read the rest of this entry
Sunday Morning Funnies: Can You Come up with A Great Caption for This Photo?
I drove by a church in my town today and saw this sign. After rear-ending the guy in front of me, exchanging insurance information, and calling the tow truck, I had time to take the photo. I tried and tried to come up with a caption for this one that was funny. Here are a few examples: “Pastor Steve Boldly Implements His New Church Growth Plan” or “Church Animal Outreach Produces Unwanted Offerings” or “Could This Be the Next Great Awakening?” In the end, I couldn’t come up with anything I liked.
So, we are asking our readers to give it their best shot. Can you come up with a good caption/title for this photo? Submit your best idea in the comment section below.
This is THE ONE Bible Every Christian Should Own…!
“SELL YOUR BED AND BUY BOOKS!”
That’s what my Homiletic’s professor declared to the whole class. Another student had asked what we should do if we wanted to be good pastors. “Get books, big books, thick books, good books, lots of books and read them. Sell your bed if you have to, but get books and read!” Much to the chagrin of my young bride, I bought that one hook, line and sinker. His admonition helped to forever alter the course of my money. My freshmen year in college I bought over $700 worth of Biblical reference works (back in the mid 80’s!) that I was not required to have for class! I didn’t sell the bed (though I would have definitely traded it for Kittel), but I did eat a lot of popcorn for breakfast. So began my love affair with books.
It would be my Greek teacher who would have the most profound impact on me. It happened when he uttered this statment on the first day of class:
“Your challenge is not that the people in your congregation WON’T believe what you teach. Your challenge is that many people in the congregation will Read the rest of this entry
Why I Read the Early Church Fathers and You Should Too!
“Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.”
Or so the saying goes. In essence it means that those who don’t consider the past, when making choices in the present, will likely arrive at similarly bad conclusions. This phrase strikes a chord with many. Perhaps it is because we tend to always look forward, seldom pausing to consider the past. Part of our DNA seems to include the belief that the next best thing is just up on the horizon. Who can blame us? Isn’t it often true? At least with technology it is. The next generation computer, or Iphone or IPad is going to be better than the previous one. Things we build seem to improve over time, as we discover new ways of making them faster, smaller, bigger, cheaper, and more reliable.
Many within the evangelical Christian community seem to adopt this same belief when it comes to understanding Christianity and how that applies to our corporate lives. We are often looking for the next thing, God’s next move, a “new and improved, better than the old” way of Read the rest of this entry
Sometimes, You Just Need to add Ice and All Your Problems Vanish!
A friend of mine posted this photo of his dog on facebook, and I immediately connected with it! As it keeps getting hotter and hotter, this old boy seems to have the right answer! Look closely, I think he is sleeping!
I haven’t had time to write lately as I have been moving my family across the country! It is a lot of work, and it is quite time consuming. I should be back wrinting in August.
Not For Itching Ears 