Are We Ready?

Thursday, June 4, 2015, 7:47 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Fully Ready.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Galatians 4 (Selected vv. NASB).

Law vs. Grace (vv. 1-11)

Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.

The promise of our Messiah, Jesus Christ, was given by God to Abraham 430 years before the law. Jesus Christ is the promised “seed” of Abraham through whom all nations were to be blessed, and are blessed. The law did not replace the promise, but the law was put into effect to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith (Gal. 3:24). The law “was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made” (Gal. 3:19). The law was never intended to save us, because not one person can keep the whole law. It was weakened by the sinful nature (See: Ro. 8:3). As human beings, we are all born into sin, i.e. we are born with sin natures, separated from God, doomed to hell, without hope, and we are in slavery to sin. Our only hope of salvation is through us putting our faith in Jesus Christ. “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” (Gal. 3:25).  

When this speaks of being under the law, though, it is not only speaking of God’s righteous requirements for salvation, but it also speaks of the ceremonial laws of the old covenant, and the Ten Commandments, and it speaks of the curse of the law, too. The curse of the law is the penalty charged to us for not keeping the law. The law demands perfection, which is impossible for us to achieve, because we are all sinful by nature. The law was weakened by the sinful nature, which is why it cannot save us. We can never be good enough, no matter how hard we might try. We all fall short. So, Jesus Christ became a curse for us (See: Gal. 3:13-14), i.e. he who knew no sin became sin for us. He took the punishment for our sin so that he could set us free from the curse of the law (sin and death), and so we could be free to walk in his righteousness and holiness. Jesus Christ “condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit” (Ro. 8:4).

You see, God’s grace to us, and our faith response to him, do not mean we are free to sin just because we are no longer under the law but under grace. Jesus didn’t abolish God’s moral law, he came to fulfill it (See: Matt. 5:17). Faith in him means death to sin and living to righteousness. Faith in him means we no longer walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Faith in him means we no longer live for ourselves, to please ourselves, but we live for him who gave himself up for us. God’s grace to us is not a free license to sin without guilt and without remorse. God’s grace to us for salvation teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age while we wait for his return (See: Tit. 2:11-14). Yet, we don’t do this to earn our salvation, and we don’t do it in our own flesh (can’t do it in the flesh). We, as followers of Christ, are empowered with the Spirit of God to walk in holiness and righteousness. We just have to submit to God and allow the Spirit of God to work his righteousness in and through our lives, by his grace, through our faith in Jesus - I having been crucified with Christ so that I no longer live but Christ lives in me, and I now live by faith in Jesus Christ. If I sin, I repent, and I keep walking by faith in Jesus Christ.

Persecuted for Telling the Truth (vv. 16-20)

So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them. But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner, and not only when I am present with you. My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you— but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

There are certain people who deviate from the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as taught by the apostles, who wish to alienate Christians (or prospective Christians) from those within the Christian community who are teaching the gospel as taught by the apostles. These deviations come in many different forms, but the most popular and the most dangerous of them all, I believe, is this gospel which says you pray a prayer or make some acknowledgement of Christ publicly and you have your salvation guaranteed, and no one can take it away from you, no matter how you live your life from this point forward. They do not teach repentance and obedience as necessary components of believing faith, even though scripture teaches that, no question about it (See: Ac. 26:16-18; Ro. 8:3-14; 2 Co. 5:15; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:8-10; 4:17-24; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 Pet. 2:24-25; & 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

They dilute the gospel of Jesus Christ to make it more pleasing to sinful human beings. They remove the teachings of scripture on the necessity of us dying to sin and living to righteousness, or else they try to discredit these teachings by falsely calling them “works-based salvation.” They teach that God is pleased with us no matter what we do, and that walking according to the Spirit is trying to earn our salvation in the flesh. They teach we are saved (past), we live our lives, and we go to heaven when we die, even if we barely even acknowledge God in between. They don’t want anyone telling people about death to sin because it might offend them, and for fear they won’t want to come back to the “church,” i.e. to these organizations and corporations of humans called “church.” They, instead, teach tolerance and inclusiveness, and they blend various religions and beliefs together.

They focus much of their time, resources, money and energies on making sure church is fun and entertaining so that they can draw in large crowds of the unsaved by attracting them through worldly means and methods. They target the unsaved and the unchurched, and those not knowledgeable of scripture because they can then mold them and shape them according to the ways of the flesh, and of the marketing schemes of men, instead of in the ways of the Spirit. And, they work hard to discredit and to remove from their midst those who hold to the truths of scripture and who do not deny Jesus Christ, for fear that we might expose their lies and that people might learn the truth or that we might offend them and they might not come back. They simulate walks of faith, but they are really walks of the flesh, maybe just cleaned up a bit, or maybe not. So, sin is rampant in the church and goes unchecked and the church is going down the toilet, because so many are following these wolves in sheep’s clothing and are not testing what they say against the Word of Truth.

Persecution of Christians is on the rise because so many have bought into these lies of these deceivers and liars who masquerade as servants of righteousness, and because so many lack spiritual discernment to see through these lies and to see what is really happening. The church and the gospel and the foundation of our faith are being taken apart piece by piece while the church in America is largely lulled to sleep by entertainment and by feel-good messages which tickle itching ears and which are pleasing to the senses. Because the church is putting up easily enough with false teachers and has partnered itself with an ungodly government, it is not those without the church who are destroying it, yet, and who are making the way for thieves to enter in to steal and to destroy, but it is those within.

By diluting the gospel, and by making it more acceptable, non-offensive and pleasing to the people of this sinful world; by blending it in with other religions, and by using trickery, manipulation and subliminal messages to deceive the church, this has paved the way and has opened the door for the church here in America to now come underneath severe persecution. There is an alliance of nations and religious groups who are presently making it their goal to bring all religions underneath one umbrella, and to do away with those they deem to be extremists, i.e. those who still hold to the true gospel of salvation and who believe Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, and the only way by which humans can be saved. We will soon be among the obsolete who must be reprogrammed or discarded. This has already happened in the church here in America, but we will now see this on a much larger scale and with much greater severity and intensity, I believe. So, we must be ready.

Fully Ready! / An Original Work / June 19, 2013

Based off Acts 20-22, 26; Mt. 28:18-20; Ac. 1:8

Why are you weeping and breaking my heart?

I’m fully ready to suffer for Christ.

If I must die for the sake of His name,

I am convinced it will not be in vain.

Glory to God and to His Son Jesus,

Who has redeemed us; bought with His blood.

May I speak to you? Jesus came to me;

Asked of me, “Why do you persecute me?”

He said, “Now get up and stand on your feet.

Go, and you’ll be told all I have for you.

I have appointed you as a servant,

And as a witness; you have been sent.”

“Go into the world and preach the gospel.

Open the blind eyes. They will receive sight.

Turn them from darkness to the light of Christ;

From power of the evil one to God,

So they may receive forgiveness of sins,

And a place among those who’re in heav’n.”

https://vimeo.com/115439432

Check out this site: http://www.unaoc.org/who-we-are/

We Live by Faith

Wednesday, June 3, 2015, 4:17 p.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “The Lord’s Anointed,” which is based off Isaiah 61. Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Galatians 2:20-3:14 (ESV).

Crucified with Christ

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

What does it mean to be crucified with Christ, and how does that happen? Paul taught us about that first of all in the book of Romans, particularly in chapters 6 and 8. First off, Jesus Christ, God the Son, came to earth, took on human flesh, and was crucified on a cross for our sins. When he died, our sins died with him, were buried with him, and when he was resurrected from the dead, he rose victorious over sin, death, hell and Satan. In his death and resurrection he delivered us from the curse of sin and from the power (control) of sin, and he set us free to walk in his holiness and righteousness. As well, he gave us eternal life with God, beginning now and forevermore. This is his gift of grace to us, yet we must receive this gift of grace by faith. And, that is where crucified with Christ comes into play.

When we believe in Jesus Christ, we die with Christ to sin, and we are raised with him to new life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but by faith we submit to that work of grace, and we yield control of our lives over to God. “Our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin” (Ro. 6:6). Jesus Christ died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God (v. 10). In the same way, we are to count ourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus, and we are to not let sin reign (have control) in our mortal body so that we obey its evil desires. Sin shall no longer be our master (vv. 11-14). Jesus Christ came to set us free, not just from the punishment of sin, but from the control (power, rule) of sin over our lives.

God sent his Son Jesus Christ to earth to be a sin offering for us. “And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit” (Ro. 8:3-4). This is what it means to believe in Jesus. It means we die with Christ to sin, and sin is no longer our master, and now we no longer conduct our lives according to our sinful flesh, but we live by the Spirit. “By the Spirit” is not works-based salvation. It can’t be “by the Spirit” and be by the flesh at the same time. “By the Spirit” is also not the freedom to live however you want now that you have been saved by grace. It is not freedom to continue in sin, “for if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death” (present tense, not just past) “the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (v. 13).

So, when it says that I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, what this is saying is the sinful flesh has been put to death, and now my flesh no longer reigns (rules) in my life, but Jesus Christ is now my Lord (master). I now live by faith, which means I now live according to the Spirit, which means according to the ways of God, and the ways of his holiness and righteousness, but all in the power of the Spirit living within me, and not in my own flesh. I can’t do this in my own flesh, for my flesh is diametrically opposed to the Spirit. If I obey Christ and his teachings, this can’t be works-based salvation. Otherwise it would not be obedience. If we try to earn our salvation by following a set of religious rites, and we don’t submit to Christ’s righteousness, then it is not obedience.

Not of The Flesh

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

So many people today are confusing death to sin and living to righteousness with works-based salvation. They are not one and the same, otherwise scripture would not teach us that faith in Christ means death to sin and living to righteousness, and that Christ was crucified in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Jesus Christ did not die that painful death on a cross, and take upon himself the sins of the entire world, and put them to death, so that sin could continue to reign in our mortal bodies. He did not die just so we could escape hell and have eternal life with God. He died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave himself up for us. This is what it means to be crucified with Christ. This is what it means to believe in Jesus Christ to be our Savior from sin. He died to free us from slavery to sin, too.

So, when Paul speaks of the Galatians as being bewitched, and as being foolish, he is not addressing the matter of them having died to sin and now living under the control of righteousness, or of them believing that walking no longer according to the flesh, but walking according to the Spirit affects our eternal salvation. He is addressing the fact that, after having received Christ Jesus by faith, in death to sin and in being given new lives in Christ to be lived in his righteousness and holiness, they were returning to trying to earn their salvation by works of the flesh. What are works of the flesh? For them it had to do with circumcision and following a set of religious rites and rituals, thinking they had to do these external things, which God did not require, in order to be saved. Therefore, it was not Christ living in them, and it was not living by the Spirit, but it was them doing what they wanted to do, thinking that somehow this would make them more righteous. They were not finding their righteousness in Christ, but in the flesh of humans. And, that is where they erred.

In our world today, many people are trying to earn their way to heaven by good works, or by religious performance, by attending certain religious services, or by being involved in certain ministries, and they often see themselves as better than others because they go through these religious forms of worship of God. Many of these have prayed a prayer to receive Christ or have made a public confession of faith in Jesus Christ, but they never died to sin, and they are not living to righteousness in the power of the Spirit within them. They think they can decide what they do or don’t do for God, and so they do all these good deeds, thinking that God is pleased with them, but they are still walking according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit, because they have not submitted to the cross of Christ, and they have not surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ in death to sin and in living to righteousness, all in the power and working of the Spirit within them. Abraham was justified by faith, but his faith was proved by what he did in obedience to God (See: Jas. 2).

We Live by Faith

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

We cannot be saved by keeping all of God’s laws, because not one of us could keep the law perfectly. That is why Jesus Christ became sin for us, so that he would put our sin to death on the cross, so that we could made righteous through faith in him. Our righteousness is as filthy rags in God’s sight. So, if we are relying upon our own good deeds or religious performance to get us into heaven, we are wrong. As well, if we are relying upon some prayer we prayed or some acknowledgement of what Christ did for us in dying for our sins, but we have not come to the cross and died with Christ to sin so that we can be resurrected with him to new life in Christ, in the Spirit and by the Spirit, then we also do not have eternal life with God. This is what the Bible teaches. These are not my own thoughts.

So, if the righteous live by faith, and faith means death to sin and living to righteousness, then it means we conduct our lives no longer after the flesh but now after the Spirit, yet not of the works of our flesh, but in the power and working of the Spirit within us as we submit to God’s work of grace in our lives. Basically it means each day we say “yes” to Jesus and “no” to sin. Yet, if we do sin, we repent of it humbly before God, and we put it to death, by the Spirit. Living by faith means holiness, godliness, submission and obedience to Christ Jesus, our Lord, because we love him, and we desire to please him above all else.

The Lord’s Anointed / An Original Work / December 16, 2011

Based off Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Sov’reign Lord on me;

Anointed to preach the Good News;

Sent me to bind up the brokenhearted;

Proclaim freedom for the captives.

He sent me to preach release for pris’ners

Who are walking in sin’s darkness;

Proclaim God’s grace to all men who’ll listen;

And tell them about God’s judgments;

Comfort all who mourn;

Give crowns of beauty;

Oil of gladness and thanksgiving.

They will be called oaks of God’s righteousness,

A planting of our Savior, God,

For the display of our Lord’s splendor, and

They will rebuild God’s holy church.

God will renew them, and will restore them,

And you’ll be called priests of the Lord.

You will be ministers of our God, and

You will rejoice in salvation.

The Lord loves justice;

He is faithful to

Reward those who are seeking Him.

I delight greatly in the Lord;

My soul rejoices in my Savior, God.

He has clothed me with His salvation,

And in a robe of His righteousness.

He has given me priestly garments to

Wear, as the bride of Jesus Christ.

As the garden of our Lord and Savior,

He causes us to grow in Him.

He makes righteousness,

Praise, and thanksgiving

Spring up before all the nations.

https://vimeo.com/114836524

To Rescue Us

Wednesday, June 3, 2015, 8:30 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “Jesus, Rescue Me.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Galatians 1:1-12 (NASB).

From This Evil Age

Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins so that he might rescue us from this present evil age, i.e. that he might deliver us from all manner of evil which is in the world, in order that we might be holy, unlike the world, because we are becoming like Christ. “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14). He rescued us from the power (or control) of sin and Satan over our lives so that we would no longer be slaves to sin, but so we would be slaves to righteousness. “…the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation…” (2 Pet. 2:9). “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy…” (Jude 1:24). He is able to deliver! We do not have to live in sin any longer! We should no longer walk according to the flesh.

Jesus Christ died for our sins so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (See: 1 Pet. 2:24). He died so we would no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave his life up for us (See: 2 Co. 5:15). His grace, which brings salvation, teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we wait for his return (See: Tit. 2:11-14). When we believe in Jesus Christ, and we come to know him as Lord and Savior of our lives, we put off our old lives of living for sin and self, we are made new in the attitude of our minds via the power and working of the Spirit of God within us, and we put on the new self in Christ Jesus, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (See: Eph. 4:17-24). By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, God “condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (See: Ro. 8:3-4). This is God’s grace, to free us from the power of sin over our lives and to free us to walk daily in his righteousness and holiness. Amen!

A Different Gospel

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

A “different gospel” which is the most prevalent in the church today, particularly here in America, is a gospel of false grace which teaches its adherents that all they have to do is “believe,” although belief is not usually explained, or that they just have to pray a prayer to “receive Christ,” though often that is not really explained, either, or is only partially. And then they tell them they are guaranteed eternal life. Part of what they teach is the true gospel, i.e. that Jesus Christ died on the cross to take away the sins of the world, that he was resurrected to give us new lives in Christ, that he sent his Holy Spirit to indwell his followers, and that one day he is coming back to take us to be with him forever. Yet, they leave out the part that he died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, and that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, for if we conduct our lives according to the flesh, we will die, but if, by the Spirit we put to death (present, not just past tense) the deeds of the flesh, we will live. If we want to live with Christ forever, we must first of all die to sin.

Another “different gospel,” though, which is not so popular, but which some people have taken ahold of, is the gospel of sinless perfection. They believe that once you are saved you must never sin again or else you are not truly saved. Although I do believe that salvation requires that we die to sin so that we might live to righteousness, I don’t believe it teaches that sinless perfection is required or that we are not saved at all, or that we lose our salvation every time we sin. In 1 John 2:1-2 John wrote to his “dear children,” i.e. to true followers of Christ, that they might not sin, but if any of them did sin, they were to know that they had an advocate (comforter, helper, and intercessor) with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. So, what does this mean? It means that we are not saved by our own righteousness, and it is only through the blood of Christ that we are even able to be made righteous. The righteousness of Christ stands in for us, and is our defense. We are not condemned to die if we should sin. Yet, if we conduct our lives according the flesh, and not according to the Spirit, we will die. But, if by the Spirit we put to death (present, not just past tense) the deeds of the flesh, then we will live.

I believe it all comes down to our understanding of salvation and what that means, and I believe that is where a lot of people get hung up. It helps if we understand that we, who are in Christ Jesus by faith, have been saved (past), we are being saved (present tense - progressive action), and we will be saved (future) when Christ returns for his bride. And, it helps, too, if we understand that the kind of belief that saves us is present tense, which is, by the very nature of what that means, continuous and progressive in nature, i.e. we are not guaranteed eternal life with God based on past belief. It does not say "to all those who at one time believed," but it says, "to those believing," meaning we must continue in the faith, we must abide in Christ, we must continue in his word, etc. In other words, our salvation and our faith are progressive and are not complete until Jesus Christ returns. Yet, we don't lose our salvation if we should sin at some point nor are we given free license to sin without guilt and without remorse just because of God's grace to us.

A true Biblical understanding of God's grace to us and of our salvation is half-way in between these two opposing beliefs. It says that it is possible for a believer in Jesus Christ to sin (1 Jn. 2:1, as well as the whole of the epistles), but that we are not called to sin but to holiness, and thus we must conduct our lives in a manner worthy of the calling we have received. We must surrender to the cross, and submit ourselves to Christ, and we must obey Christ, yet it teaches that daily we put to death the deeds of the body, and we throw off the sins which easily entangle us so we can run the race. We resist Satan, and flee temptation, and draw near to God, but if we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who paid the price for our sin. We, who conduct our lives no longer according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, are no longer under condemnation.

Not of Humans

For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

This point that Paul made here is essential to us following Christ and not humans. We have to be students of the Word of God, and not of the teachings of human beings. If we are following a preacher, someone who calls himself or herself a “prophet,” or a particular theology or denomination, then we are in danger of following after a gospel of men, rather than the true gospel of Jesus Christ. We can’t pull a few scriptures out of context and build entire belief systems around those few scriptures. We have to compare scripture with scripture, and look at the whole of the New Testament, in context, to see what it is teaching with regard to our salvation, and then we have to reconcile, by the Spirit within us, those scriptures which seem to contradict one another, because they do fit with each other. I have found that going to the Greek, which I know everyone cannot do, has been very helpful, because our English translations don’t always pick up the verb tenses in the Greek, which can make a huge difference in interpretation. [I sometimes use biblehub.com, and I look at the interlinear, but I rely upon the Holy Spirit to show me what it all means.]

The modern church of today here in America is so focused around human thinking, reasoning, and human philosophies and business marketing schemes for how to grow their churches and draw in large crowds of the unsaved people of this world. Thus, they often reject the teachings of scripture because the teachings are too hard, i.e. they require death to sin so we might live to righteousness. This makes fleshly humans uncomfortable and it is offensive to them. The church of today is big on not offending people, so they dilute the gospel of Christ in order to make it more appealing to the flesh, and to make it more desirable to those who are listening. Instead of holiness being taught, we are being taught tolerance. Instead of the Word of God being taught, in many cases, books written by mere humans are being taught, some of which are evil, and are intended to lead people away from pure devotion to Jesus Christ. “Worship” services have become more about entertaining the masses so that they will like what they experienced and will want to return.

Jesus, in his death on the cross for our sins, rescued us from sin and death, and provided the way of escape for us so that we can no longer be under the control of Satan and sin, but we can now to be slaves to righteousness. Jesus said that if we (anyone) want to come after him, we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin and self) and follow (obey) him. We must walk no longer according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, and we must, by the Spirit, put to death (present tense) the deeds of our flesh. So, if you have been walking according to the flesh, I pray you will surrender your life to Jesus today. We can’t do this in our own flesh, but only in the power and working of the Spirit within us.

Jesus, Rescue Me / An Original Work / September 18, 2011

Based off of Romans 7:7-8:39

Jesus, rescue me today.

Listen while I bow and pray.

I need Your help to obey You;

Live for You always.

Meet me in my hour of need, Lord,

As I pray to You.

Help me walk in fellowship, Lord,

Living in Your truth.

Jesus, how I long for You to

Change my heart anew.

Father, God, my heart’s desire

Is to live for You this hour

In Your Holy Spirit’s power

Living in me now.

Teach me to walk in Your love, Lord,

Guiding me each day.

Help me to show love and kindness

To the lost, I pray.

Father, teach me to love others

As You love always.

Holy Spirit come in pow’r.

Revive our hearts in this hour.

Change our hearts to be like You, Lord;

Live for You each day.

Help us to forsake our sins, Lord,

As we humbly pray.

Teach us how to live for You, Lord,

Obey You always.

Holy Spirit come in power,

Revive us today.

https://vimeo.com/126092919

Speak, Lord

So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. ~ I Samuel 3:9-11

Most every day when I awake there is a song in my mind which the Lord Jesus placed there. The song is to go with where I am reading in scripture for that day. As I sit down to hear from the Lord through the reading of his word, I ask him to speak his words to my heart, and he does. I cannot begin to describe the awesomeness of hearing God speak his words to my heart in very practical and applicable ways to my life. He sometimes answers my requests, but sometimes he teaches me things I was not even seeking. Oh, how I love to hear him speak and to have him show me the plans he has for my life, and to lead me in his righteousness. His words are very precious to me. I want to know his ways, so that I can walk in his truth, and so that I can do what I know is his purpose for me. Praise his name!

Speak, Lord / An Original Work / May 8, 2011

Speak, Lord, for Your servant’s list’ning to You.

Let me hear You speak in love and in truth.

Guide me, I pray. Teach me Your way.

Speak, Lord, while I bow before You now.

Speak, Lord, fill me with Your peace and Your joy.

Let Your Holy Spirit’s work now employ.

Strengthen within. Keep me from sin.

Speak, Lord, words that lead to victory.

Speak, Lord, so that I might walk in Your ways.

Let Your love o’er-flow in my heart today.

Be my desire. Set me on fire.

Speak, Lord, comfort me with Your presence.

https://vimeo.com/119817891

The Alliance

Tuesday, June 2, 2015, 8:15 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “Arise & Shine.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read 2 Corinthians 13 (ESV).

By the Power of God

This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them— since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

So, what is going on here? Paul just wrote an entire letter to the church in Corinth, in which he addressed several different topics, but in which the overall central theme was the fact that false apostles had slipped in among the church and were trying to lead the church astray. These false apostles were working diligently to try to discredit Paul and the other apostles so that they could gain the trust of the people, and so they could deceive them with their lies. And, to some extent, it was working. The church was tolerating these who masqueraded as servants of righteousness and as apostles of Christ. So, Paul came to the defense of the gospel, and to his own defense and that of the other true apostles in order to try to regain the trust of the church in Corinth, and to prove to them that they were God’s true messengers, and that they should listen to them, and not to these false teachers.

Another main theme that was central to this letter to the church was unrepentant sin going on within the church, whether committed by those who falsely called themselves Christians or by those having genuine faith in Jesus Christ, or both, is not perfectly clear, though the indication is he is writing to the church, and it is to correct them, but also it is for their strengthening and for building them up in the Lord. So, it would appear he is speaking to genuine followers of Christ, some of whom had fallen into sin (See: 2 Co. 11:28-29), though among them could certainly be those who had a false confession of Christ, for in the next section he asks them to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith (See: 2 Co. 13:5-7). And, this could be tied in with these false apostles, as well, for they may have been preaching a more libertine approach to Christianity, which gave the believers the freedom to sin without guilt and without remorse, for they were teaching them “another Jesus.”

So, Paul was writing this letter ahead of his third visit to them in order to warn them, but also to encourage them to settle these matters ahead of his visit, i.e. to insist that they repent of their sins, that they stop listening to these false teachers, and that they listen to what Paul and the other true apostles had taught them, for they had the very words of God, which were the words of life to them. The warning was that if they did not repent of their sins, when Paul visited them this third time, some type of church discipline was going to take place, yet he let them know that he would not be acting on his own accord, but that this would be Christ working through him, and that Jesus Christ lives by God’s power, so they were not to see Jesus as weak at all, which apparently some of them were.

The Church Today

The Lord Jesus has given me a practical application of this passage of scripture to today. I believe, first of all, that this situation with the church in Corinth sounds much like the situation with the church in America today. Many, many false teachers have slipped in among the church and have already led a vast majority of the church astray. So many people are teaching a false Jesus and a false gospel of salvation and are giving people the impression that they can be saved and still live (conduct their lives) in sin and still have the hope of heaven when they die. And, that is just wrong! And so, the vast majority of the church here in America has fallen prey to these false teachers, and they are putting up with them easily enough, and many are being led into sin by this teaching that says that repentance and obedience are not required for salvation. So, people within the gatherings of the church are living in spiritual adultery, and in idolatry, and God is not looking the other way. He intends to pay the church in America a visit very soon, I believe, and he will demonstrate to the church here that he is not weak, as some believe he is.

We have to realize that we live in a time of great deception, and that lies abound, but not only in the church, but in government and in the media, too. If you have been following world news for even the past 10 to 15 years, and if you have paid close attention to the language used in various news articles with regard to “terrorism” and “factions” and “uprisings,” etc., and if you have done so with any amount of spiritual discernment, you will have to realize that not everything you read and hear in the news is true, and that much of it is a fabrication of those whose motives are evil. You will also have to realize that what has happened in the Middle East and in North Africa, in particular, is now happening here in America. The signs are everywhere. We just have to have eyes to see and ears to hear.

What the Lord Jesus is showing me in particular this morning, with regard to all the afore mentioned, is completely consistent with what he has been showing me the past 11 years. The United States of America and their political allies form an alliance of nations (the beast) which has been very busy throughout the world conquering nations, overthrowing governments, taking lands and properties not their own, and stealing other nations’ natural resources, etc. (See: Habakkuk 1). In order to do this they make use of much deception and trickery, utilizing false flag operations, faking uprisings, stirring up dissension among people’s, and utilizing weather manipulation, too. All this is done with one ultimate goal, which is to bring the entire world underneath one dictatorial global government (the beast).

The U.S. and their allies are meeting in Paris today, supposedly under the guise of discussing strategies to battle ISIS. If you have ever studied Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology, you may know that Isis is the Egyptian Queen of Heaven and the mother of Horus. If you know anything about U.S. national symbols, you will recall that the “All-seeing eye” on our Great Seal is the “Eye of Horus” and it sits atop an unfinished Egyptian pyramid, though presently detached. Supposedly the Statue of Liberty was patterned after Isis. You can search this out for yourself, but basically ISIS is not what they say it is. It is a fabrication of the U.S. and their political allies, i.e. this alliance of nations, also called the New World Order. An internet search on “New World Order” should give you much information on this, especially if you combine it with the United Nations. So, basically ISIS is this alliance of nations (the New World Order “Beast”), and they are the ones doing what they accuse ISIS and Islamic extremists of doing. I believe they were prophesied concerning in Habakkuk chapter 1, and that this speaks of the time of the end.

So, when the U.S. government-controlled media tells us that the U.S. and its allies are going against this terrorist group called ISIS, it is a lie, for they ARE ISIS. They are the ones coming against Christians and are killing them and persecuting them, and this is headed to America very soon, I believe. They give the impression that their goal is to bring peace, but the kind of peace they are talking about comes at a great cost – the cost of many human lives, and it is a false peace, for it is not really peace at all, but it is war. The kind of peace they are after is the kind represented by the history of the peace symbol, which is a satanic symbol, which represents the brutal persecution of Christians and the death of man. And, they have been planning this for a very, very long time. The course is fixed. It is written about in Revelation. And, it will mean the destruction of the American government and the persecution and death of many Christians here in America, and other human lives, too.

Yet, I believe what the Lord Jesus is showing me here, and has been showing me, and has been having me write about for a very long time now, is that this will come as a judgment of God against this nation, but in particular against the church in America because of her sinful ways, her idolatry, her spiritual adultery, and her refusal to repent. She is so much like what Paul described in this letter of 2 Corinthians. There are people here who are walking with the Lord in obedience to his commands, but we are in the minority. The vast majority has gone the way of the world and they are following after these false teachers who are masquerading as servants of righteousness, because they tell them what their itching ears want to hear. And, so God is coming to America to judge us (See: Rev. 2-3), but not to destroy us, but to purify us and to make us a holy people prepared for the return of her bridegroom. Therefore, we need to examine our hearts before Almighty God.

Examine Yourselves

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

Only God knows how many of those who meet regularly with the church are genuinely saved and how many are not, but he does let us know in his word how we can know if we truly know him or not, so we must test ourselves against the word of God to see if we are truly in the faith. Scripture is real clear that Jesus “condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live” (conduct our lives) “according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit” (See: Ro. 8:3-14). As well, scripture teaches us that Jesus died so we would no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave himself up for us (2 Co. 5:15). And, God’s grace which brings salvation teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we wait for Christ’s return (See: Tit. 2:11-14).

In Good Working Order

Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

So, the Lord Jesus is warning us here of impending judgment on America, and on his rebellious church in America, but he is also calling us to repentance, and to renewed faith, and to living the lives for which he saved us, holy and pleasing to him, which is our reasonable service of worship of him, no longer conformed to the ways of this world, but transformed in the renewing of our minds, so that we can prove what the will of God is.

Arise and Shine / An Original Work

March 6, 2014 / Based off Isaiah 60

Arise and shine; your Lord has come.

Allow His light to flow through you,

For many walk in wickedness.

Show them the way to life anew.

Arise and shine. Your Lord loves you.

Lift up your eyes, and look about.

Some do believe, while others doubt.

Believe in all God’s promises.

The many will, In Christ, find rest.

Lift up your eyes, and you’ll be blessed.

Arise and shine; salvation comes

To all who trust in Christ, God’s Son.

Forgiven of their sins, they’ll be,

When they repent on bended knee.

Arise and shine, so all will see.

Lift up your eyes, and see your Lord.

He will revive his church, forlorn.

Though humans have forsaken you,

They will find Christ, and walk in truth.

Lift up your eyes; God honors you.

https://vimeo.com/88371130

I'm Jealous for You

Monday, June 1, 2015, 6:33 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “My Prayer.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read 2 Corinthians 11:1-15 (NASB).

I Betrothed You (vv. 1-2)

I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.

Again, Paul wrote this to the church, the body of Christ in Corinth. He was distressed over his spiritual children because false teachers had come in among them who were trying to persuade them to reject Paul (and the other apostles) which, in essence, was to also reject Christ and the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for the apostles were God’s chosen instruments (servants) to bring the gospel message to both Jew and Gentile, and to lead them to salvation in Christ Jesus, their Lord. So, much of this letter was written in defense of the apostles and their ministry, and in refuting the lies that these false teachers were spreading about them, because if the apostles were discredited, so would be the gospel as was taught by them. So, in defending themselves, they were also defending the gospel.

Paul loved his children in the Lord so much that he spent his life in service to his Lord and to them, often forsaking his own needs. He wept many tears over them, and was greatly grieved and distressed over how they were being so strongly influenced by these liars and deceivers, though I feel certain that not all were, but it seems some or many were.

Paul said he was jealous for them with a godly jealously, i.e. with a burning zeal for God, for his Word, for truth, for holiness and purity, for righteousness, and for the church to walk in that holiness and righteousness and no longer after the flesh. Paul, in sharing with them the gospel of Jesus Christ, and in leading them to salvation, in a sense, betrothed (promised; engaged; gave in marriage) them to Jesus Christ. He, in essence, was the father who gave the bride away. Yet, we have to have the picture in mind here of engagement/marriage according to Jewish culture of that period of time, which is much different from my culture today in America. When a father gave his daughter in engagement to a man in that day, they were as good as married, just without the consummation of the marriage and without them living together. She was considered his wife, and he her husband, and they were to conduct their lives just as though the wedding had already taken place, which is also how we are to conduct our lives, walking daily in Christ’s righteousness and holiness.

And, that is the picture, too, of our relationship with Jesus Christ. We, the church, are his bride, but we are in the engagement period right now, though just as binding as an actual marriage, for an engagement in that culture was legally binding, like a marriage contract. So, breaking off an engagement was much like getting a divorce. The wedding won’t actually take place, though, until Christ Jesus returns for his bride. But, oh, what a glorious day that will be when I shall see my Savior face to face and I am with him forever!

You Bear With This (vv. 3-4)

But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

Eve, the wife of Adam, was with God and with her husband in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, when created by God, lived in perfect harmony with God and were without sin. But, then they sinned, and since that time all humankind has been born into sin, and bears the image of Adam. Now mankind was separated from God, without hope, and doomed to eternity in hell, so God the Father sent his Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins so that we could be made right with God and restored to fellowship with the Father. It is by grace we have been saved, through faith – it is the gift of God, not of our own fleshly works lest any of us should boast that we deserved or earned our own salvation. We have been made pure, not because we have kept the law perfectly, but because Jesus paid the price for our sins, and because he took the punishment for our sin. By his stripes we are healed.

Yet, faith in Jesus Christ means we have gotten engaged (betrothed) to Jesus Christ. We are to love and obey him, serve him, submit to his Lordship over our lives, surrender our wills to him, and conduct our lives no longer after the flesh but after the Spirit. We are to be faithful to him in our commitment to be his bride and in having him be our husband. We are not to have any more boyfriends (idols, false gods, etc.). So, Paul was concerned for the church that they might be deceived by Satan, via these false teachers, and that they might be led astray, or that their minds might be corrupted, turning them away from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ, which they were to have for Christ as his bride. There seemed to be evidence that this was already beginning to take place, for Paul said they were bearing with, having patience with, and were putting up with false teaching.

They Masquerade (vv. 12-15)

But what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

I believe the Lord would have me give you a modern-day example of this. A couple of days ago I was presented with the book, Waking the Dead, by John Eldredge. John Eldredge is a very popular author of books, primarily written to men, though many women read them, too. His books are being used in many churches today, particularly in men’s groups, in place of Bible studies, and this is a very sad reality. John Eldredge relies heavily on movies and movie quotes, including movies which promote what is sinful, and he includes quotes from various writers, including mystics and those who have rejected God entirely, yet not to expose them as being false, but to include them as sources to support his teaching.

Eldredge includes quotes from the Bible, too, but usually out of context. As well, he distorts the truth, twists it, and makes it say what he wants it to say, but he doesn’t really teach the word. He often blends the word right in with his false teaching, or else he neatly places it in there every now and then to give the appearance, it would seem, that what he is writing is Biblical, though he doesn’t really explain what a lot of these verses are talking about, and then he goes off on his own psychobabble which he so cleverly passes off as truth.

Ok, to give you some examples of what I am talking about I will quote some of what he said in this book so that you can see for yourselves that this man is a false teacher of the worse kind, and that this book comes straight out of the pit of hell.

“Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive”

Eldredge began his book with a quote from Wallace Stevens, now deceased, who was an American Modernist poet. A modernist, among other things, is one who rejects traditional forms of religious faith. “A notable characteristic of Modernism is self-consciousness.” “More common, especially in the West, are those who see it as a socially progressive trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create, improve and reshape their environment with the aid of practical experimentation, scientific knowledge, or technology.” “In his book Opus Posthumous, Stevens writes, ‘After one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life’s redemption.’" Wow! [Source: Wikipedia] As we will see, I believe, Eldredge appears to be a modernist, too.

He quoted Stevens as saying, “The way through the world is more difficult to find than the way beyond it.” He followed this with a quote from “Jesus of Nazareth,” in which Jesus said, “Narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matt. 7:14).

Next, Eldredge leads us down a path of self-discovery, looking for answers to life’s questions and to the meaning of life. He said, “Twenty clear days a year – that sounds about like my life. I think I see what’s really going on about that often. The rest of the time, it feels like fog, like the bathroom mirror after a hot shower” He said, “Oh, I’d love to wake each morning knowing exactly who I am and where God is taking me” “But, for most of us, life seems more like driving along with a dirty windshield and then turning into the sun,” which then clouds his vision even further. (Quotes from pg. 5).

Then, he goes on to describe life’s misfortunes and how people, including himself, question God, and why he isn’t there for them, and question what happened to this abundant life they were promised, etc. The conclusion? “Either (a) we’re blowing it, or (b) God is holding out on us, or a combination of both (pg. 9).” Then, he prayed, “Jesus, take away the fog and the clouds and the veil, and help me to see… give me eyes to really see” (pg. 10).

So, what did he end up seeing? He asked the question, “What did Jesus mean when he promised us life?” (pg. 11). He said, “God’s intentions toward me might be better than I’d thought. His happiness and my happiness are tied together? My coming fully alive is what he’s committed to? That’s the offer of Christianity?” (pg. 12).

Eldredge leads us to believe that knowledge (facts) about God do not lead us to happiness. While that is true, he then says it is because facts get lodged in the mind; “they don’t speak at the level we need to hear… but when you tell a story, you speak to the heart” (pg. 24). Now, stories to him also mean movies, novels, and such, which he uses extensively to illustrate his philosophy he wants to convey, even if the movies are loaded with moral filth. He quoted Rolland Hein saying, “They are the kind of story that wakes you up, and suddenly you say, ‘Yes, yes, this is what my life has really been about! Here is where my meaning and my destiny lie!’” Eldredge adds, “And we need some waking up, you and I” (pg. 25). He then quotes Kilby: “Systemizing drains away color and life, but myth restores. Myth is necessary because of what man is… because man is fundamentally mythic. His real health depends upon his knowing and living his… mythic nature” (pg. 26). Wow!

He speaks of Jesus in this way, “An innocent man, the Son of God, bleeding for the sins of the world. Standing in for us, as Jack gives his life for Rose in Titanic,…” (pg. 61; a reference to a movie in which Jack has sex with Rose, to whom he is not married. Rose is actually engaged to another man, I believe.). He makes several such references in this book in which he compares what is spiritual to what is worldly and sinful, and brings God down to human level, as though they are somehow on an even playing field with sinful man, but this is even more sinister than that, for it compares a holy God and what Jesus did in dying on the cross for our sins with an ungodly man giving his life for a woman with whom he had had an illicit affair. Wow!

He said, “The cross is not the focal point of Christianity” (pg. 64), the resurrection should be or is, in his opinion. He went on to suggest that those who walked with Jesus didn’t make the cross central (pg. 64). He said, “As the record goes, what the apostles preached was the Resurrection” (pg. 64). Let me remind us all here that Paul, in the power of the Spirit of God, said, “For the message of THE CROSS is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Co. 1:18). Without the cross, there would be no resurrection. Without the cross, there would be no forgiveness of sins. Jesus said that if we want to live, we must first die. John Eldredge minimizes and almost dismisses the importance of the cross of Christ. So many want their resurrection without the cross, and that is what ails our society. We must be warned against these who masquerade themselves as “servants of righteousness,” so that we are not led away by their deceptions.

My Prayer / An Original Work / May 30, 2011

“Fill me with Your Spirit;

help me to love others;

Let me know Your power;

be an overcomer.

Show me how to follow

Jesus Christ, my Savior;

Be His faithful servant

to obey Him always.

“Lead me with Your presence;

help me know the right way;

Teach me love and kindness,

generous compassion.

Give me grace and courage

to be Jesus’ witness,

Teaching His salvation

to a world who needs Him.”

Won’t you come and follow

Jesus Christ, your Savior?

He died so you’d be

free of control of your sin;

Free to follow His ways

in complete surrender;

Living sacrifices –

let His grace transform you.

https://vimeo.com/122052093

We Will Sing!

I think that when things are going well in our lives that it is easy to sing praises to God and to thank him for all his many blessings to us. Yet, when life kicks us and knocks us down; when severe trials come our way; when we are faced with great persecution and rejection from those we love, including from the family of God; when illness or heartache come our way; and/or when it seems there is no end in sight to these trials, it is then harder to give praise to God, though it is most necessary and healing at those times that we do. In fact, He gives us songs of praise and joy during these times to heal our wounded hearts and to soothe our troubled minds so that we get our focus off the temporal and onto Christ Jesus, our Lord, and to what is eternal - the salvation of human lives, and our worship of God.

We Will Sing! / An Original Work / December 4, 2013

Based off The Psalms

I will praise You, Lord, among all peoples.

I will praise You for all that You have done.

I called to the Lord, and He heard my cry.

He turned weeping into a song of joy!

I will sing praise to my Lord all my life;

I will sing praise to my God evermore.

I will praise You, Lord, for Your mighty works,

For Your love is great, reaching to the heav’ns.

O my Strength, I sing my praise unto You,

For Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

I will sing praise to my Lord all my life;

I will sing praise to my God evermore.

Shout with joy to God all who’re on the earth.

Say to God, “O how awesome are Your deeds.”

The redeemed sing praise to their Savior, King,

For He saved them all in His righteousness.

We will sing praise to our Lord all our lives;

We will sing praise to our God evermore.

https://vimeo.com/114678287