Christ is all I need...

ALL I HAVE IS CHRIST

I once was lost in darkest night

Yet thought I knew the way;

The sin that promised joy and life

Had led me to the grave.

I had no hope that You would own

A rebel to Your will,

And if You had not loved me first

I would refuse You still.

But as I ran my hell-bound race

Indifferent to the cost,

You looked upon my helpless state

And led me to the cross.

And I beheld God’s love displayed,

You suffered in my place;

You bore the wrath reserved for me

Now all I know is grace.

Hallelujah! All I have is Christ

Hallelujah! Jesus is my life

Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone,

And live so all might see

The strength to follow Your commands

Could never come from me.

Oh Father, use my ransomed life

In any way You choose,

And let my song forever be

'My only boast is You.'

© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI), by Jordan Kauflin

"Sports Fanatics"

An article from "Christianity Today" (online) about 'how Christians have succumbed to the sports culture—and what might be done about it.'

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...." Romans 12:2

"Dear children, keep yourselves from idols." -- 1 Jn.5:21

I believe recreation and sports can have a very valid, enjoyable place in the life of a Christian... but that doesn't mean that it's not possible for sports to get significantly out of proportion when it comes to the time, energy, expense and interest invested....

See what you think, after reading this worthwhile article.

"Can singing about the gospel become rote?"

Bob Kauflin writes about making sure that a commitment to gospel-centeredness in worship doesn't become too limiting through a misunderstanding of what gospel-centeredness means.

New Experiences of Christ

“One new discovery of the glory of Christ’s face and the fountain of his sweet grace and love will do more towards scattering clouds of darkness and doubting in one minute than examining old experiences by the best mark that can be given a whole year.”

-- Jonathan Edwards, quoted in George M. Marsden, "Jonathan Edwards: A Life" (New Haven, 2003), page 226.

-- posted by Ray Ortlund, Jr.

Who Has Your Heart?

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” I John 5:21

“John’s last line properly leaves us with that most basic question which God continually poses to each human heart. Has something or someone besides Jesus the Christ taken title to your heart’s trust, preoccupation, loyalty, service, fear and delight? It is a question bearing on the immediate motivation for one’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings. In the Bible’s conceptualization, the motivation question is the lordship question. Who or what ‘rules’ my behavior, the Lord or a substitute?”

--David Powlison

"Accepting Jesus"...Rejecting Idols

Ray Ortlund, Jr., shares a well-written post where he makes it clear that 'accepting Jesus' means 'subtracting the idols' from our lives.

"Dug Down Deep" -- a good book on learning and loving Bible truth

Kevin DeYoung gives a good introduction to a very good book, "Dug Down Deep -- Unearthing What I Believe and Why It Matters" by Josh Harris.

We were created to live worshipfully...

"We were created to live worshipfully — not just worshiping at certain times, but continually — to be in adoring submission, serving the One whom we cannot help but adore and being adored by the One to whom we cannot help but submit. The depth and extent of this relationship is based on the uniqueness of God creating us in His image and in the indescribable intimacy that this singular act of creation made possible." -- Harold Best

True Conversion

‘What happens then, in a true conversion, is that faith comes to life in the mind as the reality of the truths about Christ (whether they have been read or heard) begin to take life and to felt. (Acts 2:36; 16:14b; Romans 7:7b-10; 10:17; 1 Cor.15:1-5ff.; 2 Thess.2:13)

‘In some shape or form, these truths center on:

· God’s holiness and love (Ex.20:1-21; Jn.3:16-21, 36; Rom.1:18ff.; 3:9-26; 11:22; Eph.2:1-10)

· Christ’s self-giving for us and in our place, on the Cross (Isa.53; Matt.20:28; Rom. 4:25; 5:1-11; 2 Cor.5:21; Eph.1:7; 1 Pet.1:18-19

· His triumph over sin, death and the devil, (Rom.5:20-21; Rom.6:1-14; 1 Cor.15:54-57; Col.1:19; 2:13; 2 Tim.1:10; Heb.2:14-15)

· And our sense of corruption, guilt, misery and despair. (Ps.51:5; Isa.1:5-6; Jer.17:9; Rom.3:10-18; 7:14-24; 8:7; Eph.2:12; Titus 3:3)

‘Then we hear the words of grace in the Gospel. Emotions may well be stirred, for although the perception of spiritual reality is not itself emotional, distress, fear, shame, and hopeful joy are at different times the result of coming to realize the truth of the Gospel. (Ps.32:1-5; Isa.6:5; 12; Luke 18:13; Acts 2:37; 16:34; Rom.6:21; 1 Thess.1:6; 1 Pet.1:8-9)

‘Faith, beginning as this knowledge (this real understanding of the truths of the Christian faith) (Acts 11:13-14; Ro.10:13-17; Col.1:5-6; 2 Tim.1:11; Titus 1:1; Jas.1:18; 1 Pet.1:23-25; 2 Pet.1:3ff.) blossoms into assent in which the will is now engaged; (Acts 2:37; 8:36-38; Ro.1:5; 6:17; 1 Thess.1:9-10) assent issues into heartfelt trust…. (Jn.3:16; Acts 16:31; Rom.1:16-17; 3:22; Rom.10:6-17; Eph.2:8-9; Col.1:4; 1 Jn.5:4-5,10) and from the trust flows real repentance and the turning from sin to Christ.’ (Lk.19:8-9; 24:27; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 26:20; Rom.6:17-23; Eph.2:10; Gal.5:6; Eph.4:17-32; 1 Thess.1:3; Heb.4:14-16; 12:2; Jas.2:14-26; 2 Pet.1:5)

-- David Wells, "Turning to God" (Eerdmans)

"We Are All Worshipers"

“We Are All Worshipers”

New Horizons

Jan. 24, 2010

Paul to the Thessalonians converts: “…your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. (1 Thess.1:8ff.)

The Bible makes it clear that true conversion (“getting saved”) includes turning from idols (God-substitutes) and beginning a life of serving the living and true God.

Key passages:

• Rom. 1:20-25
• Rom. 6:16-18,22
• Matt. 28:18-20
• Rom. 7:6
• 1 Thess. 1:9ff.
• 1 Jn.2:15-17
• 1 Jn. 5:21

Pastor Doug reminded us that the basic meanings of the Biblical words for ‘worship’ are to ‘bow the knee (literally, to fall prostrate to the ground) in submission and allegiance’, and to ‘’serve (as a willing devoted slave).

· With that in mind, what does that say about the fundamental nature of a believer’s life (at home, work, at play, at church, etc.)? [Remember again the key passages listed above.]

“Worship is not a special event or any sequence of them. Worship is fundamental to humankind itself, so much so, that we must assume that it goes on all the time, all around us, inside of us, and, in a paradoxical way, in spite of us. …We must first of all understand that there is no one in this world who is not, at this moment, at worship in one way or another: consciously or unconsciously, formally or informally, passively or passionately. For in a most comprehensive way, we are always giving our lives over to something or someone that we consider to be worth the most.” (Harold Best)

· What are some of the idols/obsessions/God-substitutes that pre-occupy people today, deterring them from wholehearted devotion to serving God? (Compare Lk. 8:14)

· Could you identify the idol(s) that is the most tempting to you?

· Since living as a Christian involves not only the ‘negative’ aspect of turning from idols and sin, but also the ‘positive’ aspect of ‘serving the living and true God,’ how do we come to know how it is that God wants us to serve Him, and how we can be pleasing to Him?

For future reflection: In order to better understand what worship really is, in your future Bible study and reading, substitute the word ‘serve’ every time you come across the word ‘worship’ (including when people use the word ‘worship’ around church, in conversation, etc.).

Why Love the Church?

From Josh Harris:

* Don’t love the church because of what it does for you. Because sooner or later it won’t do enough.
* Don’t love the church because of a leader. Because human leaders are fallible and will let you down.
* Don’t love the church because of a program or a building or activities because all those things get old.
* Don’t love the church because of a certain group of friends because friendships change and people move.

Love the church because of who shed his blood to obtain the church. Love the church because of who the church belongs to. Love the church because of who the church worships. Love the church because you love Jesus Christ and his glory. Love the church because Jesus is worthy and faithful and true. Love the church because Jesus loves the church.

HT: Thabiti Anyabwile

Everyone is a worshiper

"Worship is not a special event or any sequence of them. Worship is fundamental to humankind itself, so much so, that we must assume that it goes on all the time, all around us, inside of us, and, in a paradoxical way, in spite of us.

"So before we talk about the specificities of worship, we must first of all understand that there is no one in this world who is not, at this moment, at worship in one way or another: consciously or unconsciously, formally or informally, passively or passionately. For in a most comprehensive way, we are always giving our lives over to something or someone that we consider to be worth the most.

"Worship does not just apply to specific religious activities and to the deeply religious people who have strong feelings about a nameable god (Judeo-Christian or otherwise), and how that god is to be occasionally encountered, pleased, placated, served, and worshiped. In a way that goes beyond nameable liturgical activities, it applies to our deepest expressions — many of them left unseen or unsaid — of our worldview."

-- Dr. Harold Best, Former Dean of Wheaton Conservatory of Music and Author of "Music Through the Eyes of Faith"

"99 Balloons"

On the anniversary of the dreadful Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, this video presents a family who showed commitment to the sanctity of every life with compassion and courage.

"99 Balloons"

Authentic Worship...and the Place of Music (Harold Best)

"As to all of our music, we cannot afford to forget that the whole of all musical undertaking in temple, church, and basilica, is based on a three-in-one commandment, one sentence long, from the Psalms: 'Sing (play) to the Lord a new song.' We can also not afford to forget that it is the commandment, God's commandment, that is of prime importance. We must understand that when God commands, He means what He says, and that it is the commandment that makes music important and not the reverse.

"When we attempt to empower God's commands with something even as wonderful as music we have stepped over a forbidden line, for there is such a thing as musicolatry. We must recognize that as wonderful as music is, and as much as we lovingly strive for excellence in its practices, there are no such ephemera as a theological Mozart effect, or expose-yourself-to-the-masterpieces talk, or what-will-music-do-for-me talk. When music becomes of prime importance and God's work is conditioned upon, or made subject to it, we have already paid the entrance fee into the darkened complexities of religion posing as godliness, of Truth conditioned by beauty, and music taking on the qualities of sacrament, if not Transubstantiation."

-- from Dr. Harold Best, Former Dean of Wheaton Conservatory of Music and Author of "Music Through the Eyes of Faith." From an address entitled "Authentic Worship and Faithful Music-making" presented at the American Choral Directors Association.Location: Music & Worship Interest Session, ACDA National Convention, Chicago, Illinois, February 27, 1999

"Authentic Worship" -- Harold M. Best

I have found the writings of Dr. Harold Best to be some of the most insightful and Biblical when it comes to authentic Christian worship. Here is an extended excerpt from an especially comprehensive and carefully articulated essay on worship (for more information, see below).

"...We are talking more about worship today than possibly ever before in Church history, certainly more than the Scriptures do. We need to remember that when we make worship too much the subject, we risk destroying the very thing for which it is intended. The subject can never be worship until the subject is first of all the Lord. To the extent that attention is overly drawn to worship, to the extent that it becomes the primary object of our work, the overriding protocol, within which the Lord and His work are subjects, we can only assume that we have begun to worship worship, or at least, to worship about worship, therefore to worship about God.

"Visit the typical seminar or conference and you will discover that the attention is on tools for worship (whatever they are), on worship enhancement, ideas, options, and worship leading, in effect, as a spin-off of management technique. And as to the ideas about worship teams, let me say that, theologically speaking, the only worship team that is worthy of the name is the congregation, the people of God who, as a corporate body raise their voices in response to a command, not in acoustical competition with (or surrender to) a select group of miked-in folks.

"I repeat, the attention is, first and last, to be on the Lord, so much so that worship ceases to be the primary subject, the focus, the action in itself. But when we keep ourselves steadied upon the Lord, worship gains its rightful place as the full articulation, but not the substance, of this steadiness. Left to itself, worship is a dangerous thing, for it needs an object, a preposition. For it is not how or when or with what degree of quality, variety, and imagination that we worship. It is whom we worship. It is a passion about God that finds its voice. It is the 'of-God' worship that begins the separation of authentic worship from inauthentic worship...."

-- from "Authentic Worship & Faithful Music Making"
Presenter: Dr. Harold Best, Former Dean of Wheaton Conservatory of Music and Author of Music Through the Eyes of Faith. Harold addresses a diverse audience of professional musicians at the American Choral Directors Association.
Location: Music & Worship Interest Session, ACDA National Convention, Chicago, Illinois, February 27, 1999