I am proud to announce that my sister, Cherith, has successfully graduated from high school. Congrats girl!

Hosanna to the Prince of Light,
That cloth’d himself in clay,
Enter’d the iron gates of death,
And tore the bars away.

Death is no more the king of dread
Since our Immanuel rose,
He took the tyrant’s sting away,
And spoil’d our hellish foes.

See how the Conqueror mounts aloft,
And to his Father flies,
With scars of honour in his flesh,
And triumph in his eyes.

There our exalted Saviour reigns,
And scatters blessings down,
Our Jesus fills the middle seat
Of the celestial throne.

Raise your devotion, mortal tongues,
To reach his bless’d abode,
Sweet be the accents of your songs
To our incarnate God.

Bright angels, strike your loudest strings,
Your sweetest voices raise,
Let heaven, and all created things,
Sound our Immanuel’s praise.

Bless’d morning, whose young dawning rays
Beheld our rising God,
That saw him triumph o’er the dust,
And leave his dark abode.

In the cold prison of a tomb,
The dead Redeemer lay,
Till the revolving skies had brought
The third, th’ appointed day.

Hell and the grave unite their force
To hold our God in vain,
The sleeping Conqueror arose,
And burst their feeble chain.

To thy great Name, Almighty Lord,
These sacred hours we pay,
And loud hosannas shall proclaim
The triumph of the day,

Salvation and immortal praise
To our victorious King,
Let heaven, and earth, and rocks, and seas,
With glad hosannas ring.

Thank you, Isaac Watts.

I just downloaded an App for my Droid for WordPress. I have installed it, and so far it has integrated my WordPress dashboard seemlessly to my phone. This is my first mobile post. Posting should be much easier now that I have access anytime. Very cool!

this is “grace at work”

Every year, now, for a while, my family has set aside a time when we go out to eat together and celebrate God’s provision in the previous year. We began to do this after my Dad read and meditated on this passage from Deuteronomy 14.

22 “You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. 23 And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. 24 And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, 25 then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses 26 and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.”  (ESV)

Although it is not necessary to keep the distinct instructions of this law (after Jesus kept and fulfilled the entire law through His life and death), the law still teaches us what pleases God. By the law, we recognize in what God delights, so we can know how shape our worship and lives. This, what our family attempts to observe, focuses our minds on the goodness of God.

I appreciate the effort that my Dad has made to deliberately focus our families eyes on God through our family taditions. Here is a post from my family blog which briefly recounts this years feast in my Dad’s words.

Annual Feast to Praise God 2010

this is “grace at work”

I first read this quote of Spurgeon from the blog, Worship Matters. I thought that it was a great follow up to what I wrote in the previous post.

“Brethren, there is an abiding fullness of truth in Christ; after you have heard it for fifty years, you see more of its fullness than you did at first. Other truths weary the ear. I will defy any man to hold together a large congregation, year after year, with any other subject but Christ Jesus. He might do it for a time; he might charm the ear with the discoveries of science, or with the beauties of poetry, and his oratory might be of so high an order that he might attract the multitudes who have itching ears, but they would in time turn away and say, ‘This is no longer to be endured. We know it all’.”

“All music becomes wearisome but that of heaven; but oh! if the minstrel doth but strike this celestial harp, though he keepeth his fingers always among its golden strings, and be but poor and unskilled upon an instrument so divine, yet the melody of Jesus’ name, and the sweet harmony of all his acts and attributes, will hold his listeners by the ears and thrill their hearts as nought beside can do. The theme of Jesus’ love is inexhaustible, though preachers may have dwelt upon it century after century, a freshness and fullness still remain.”

From a sermon entitled “The Fulness Of Jesus The Treasury Of Saints,” delivered February 28, 1869.

I was recently confronted by a question as I mused on some thoughts surrounding the subject of my influence. What do I magnify?

When I consider what is important to me, I immediately submit essentials such as God, the Gospel and the Body of Christ – the Church. Any follower of Jesus Christ will quickly affirm these as subjects of ultimate importance. After all, they are the core topics about which the Christian Bible is written.

But, what is truly important to me? What do I make much of? When I become the subject of a conversation by others, what is it that people say I am all about? Sure, it is easy for me to quickly pledge allegiance to the central truths of the Christian faith. But, is my allegiance obvious to others when they observe my life? I find that I do not always make a big deal about the same things about which the Bible makes a big deal.

The health of the Body of Christ is dependent upon believers emphasizing the big deals of Scripture. The Bible calls the Church to unite around the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the express image of God. The whole Godhead is pleased to live in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Head of the Body. His Name will be exalted above every name. And it pleased the Father to crush Jesus in our place. Jesus represents all that God is; therefore, He represents the big deals of Scripture. Unfortunately, I throughout my life, like many other,  have fallen victim to the influence of spiritual leaders who make a big deal about things of little or no importance. They build their life and teaching around things that are insignificant or even irrelevant to the Name of Christ. They die on hills that are far from the battle and take down their own comrades in the process.  Ultimately, the legacy of their life is that which takes away from the Name of Jesus rather than magnifying it. This will cause damage to the Body of Christ.

So, I ask myself again, “What do I magnify?” I  now find myself  in a sphere of influence over people who are looking to me for guidance. What are they gleaning? The psalmist encourages me by saying, “O Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exult His name together.” The parallelism here leads me to believe that magnification is tied closely to exultation. It must be my goal in all I do and say to lift up specifically and clearly the character and works of the Lord.

This is possible only through a complete submission to the Word of God. I must first acknowledge that I am prone to wander and naturally desire for my name to be exulted rather than the name of Jesus. So, humility must be  my constant state of being. I must saturate my mind and affections with the whole Word of God so that God’s thoughts and affections become mine. And finally, I must plead with the Spirit of God to lead me and teach me daily so that I become a living channel of worship to God.

So, what do I magnify? My prayer and plea is that it is the Lord. “O God, kill me, that is my flesh, and make me a boisterous instrument used to proclaim those things which are your big deals.”

this is “grace at work”

“Not that we can never enjoy any pleasures of life, because these are gifts of God. But that we live independent of them so that they don’t have a controlling influence on us.” Andrew Franseen while teaching a lesson from John Piper’s book, Let the Nations Be Glad.

“Disciples must continually weed the garden of our affections. Ripping out thorns will give you bloody hands” Andrew Franseen on Matt 13 and the parable of the sower.

If I were to write a post everytime I thought about writing one, I would have a highly active blog. As it is, I have done a poor job of keeping up with everything. The blame goes to my lack of discipline which does not reflect too highly on me. However, recently, I have been reading through the book The Call to Spiritual Reformation by D. A. Carson with other men in my church.  The book focuses on developing a successful prayer life by examining the prayers of Paul. Already, I have been rebuked and encouraged regarding my communion with God through prayer.

In the initial chapter of this book, Carson suggests journaling as a discipline to help build an effective prayer life. I remember back when I was blogging regularly that I profitted greatly from the meditation that came with writing posts. It helped me to think through much of what God was doing in my life and put thought into a solid form. The absract took on form, if you will. Although I doubt no one cares to know the details of the cares of my mind and heart, I hope to write here general thoughts and ideas that are currently shaping my life. Due to the extended absence of my presence here, I am banking on the fact the few, if any, will be reading anyway. However, for those who may accidently stumble back here, I would appreciate your encouragement and accountability.

As for now, I am learning more and more of my dependence on God. He continually moves me into the realm of uncertainty where I find Him to be all that I have. Even the physical things that I trust are benefits which He has given to me. Some days where I find that I am trusting God much. Then, other days I am anxious and sinfully independent. This I am learning and is increasing my prayer life. I would much rather be here, humanly vulnerable and divinely dependent, than the contrary. God is working this in me.

So it goes, once again I am back – hopefully to stay. And as usual…

this is “grace at work”