Remembrance (Communion Hymn)

This week is the Sunday for our quarterly communion, and as a part of our worship, we will be singing a new song by Matt Maher and Matt Redman called Remembrance. They say that they set out to write a song for communion because there are few communion songs in the church repertoire. As I sing this song, and think through the lyrics, I love the depth of the lyrics, the poetic quality, and the theological foundation on which they’re based.

Before we get to the best lines, we have to wade through Verse 1, where there is much that could be debated, and much to be misunderstood. The first line, “Oh how could it be, that my God would welcome me into this mystery” isn’t ambiguous, but the next line, “Say take this bread, take this wine. Now the simple made divine, for any to receive” causes me pause and thought.

Let me give you some history.

In 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Paul tells us, “²³ For ^xI received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that ^ythe Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for⁵ you. Do this in remembrance of me.”^{6 25} In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death ^zuntil he comes.”

The words that have caused much discussion are the words, “This is my body,” and “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” The cause for division has been the extent to which the church takes the words Christ spoke here. There are three levels of interpretation. The Roman Catholic Church takes Christ quite literally, and they believe that when the elements have been consecrated by a priest, they actually become the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ. To follow, they believe that when the bread is broken and the cup is poured, the Body and Blood present are sacrificed and imparting Christ’s grace on those gathered. (By the way, my source here is Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem, so Catholic friends, feel free to correct me).

This is why, in the history of the Catholic church, commoners weren’t allowed to drink from the cup. There we a concern that they might spill the literal Blood of Jesus Christ, thus desecrating the sacrifice. The Catholic view assumes that Christ was being literal when he spoke, yet Christ frequently uses symbols when speaking about Himself. For example, He says that He is the vine (John 10:9) and that He is the door through which we must enter the Kingdom (John 6:14). Jesus also frequently made his points using parables as symbols. Therefore, we can be confident in knowing that Christ might use symbols to highlight His point. Also, the disciples at the Last Supper certainly would not have misunderstood Christ’s symbols as He broke the bread and poured the cup. The cup is not itself the new covenant, but rather a picture of what the new covenant is, Christ’s blood poured out for our sins.

The biggest objection to the Catholic view centers on their belief that each Eucharist is a sacrifice for our sins. Hebrews 9:25-28 debunks the idea of this being a sacrifice offered each time for sin. “Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” One sacrifice for all time!

The Lutherans meet somewhere in the middle with their belief in consubstantiation, or that Christ’s Body and Blood are present in the Bread and the Cup, much like water is present in a sponge, but the sponge is not water. The last view is that the Lord’s Supper is a symbol that helps us to remember the covenant that we have in His Body and Blood.

Why does all of this matter? Because Matt Maher, one of the two writers is Catholic. “Now the simple made divine” could easily mean, now the bread become the Body, etc. However, I don’t think that’s what they mean here. Matt Redman is not Catholic, and they both stated that as they wrote this song, they deliberately stayed away from doctrinal differences in interpretation. This line would never have made it if it was talking about Transubstantiation. Rather, I think the line is simply saying that the simple act of eating the bread and drinking the cup has a significance beyond simply eating and drinking. We certainly see this from Paul, who says in right after the usual communion passage, “^{27 a}Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord ^bin an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning ^cthe body and blood of the Lord. ^{28 d}Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹ For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.”

Paul wanted to make sure that the Corinthians understood that remembering our Savior is not just eating and drinking. Paul isn’t saying we need to be sinless, rather, he’s saying we must examine ourselves. I don’t know about you, but serious self examination leads me to the cross. As we examine ourselves, we eat and drink together and are reminded that it was while we were yet sinners that Christ gave His life for us. Communion is a symbol by which we can proclaim to the world the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Let’s move on through the song. The last paragraph is summed up in the pre-chorus that says “By Your mercy we come to Your table, by Your grace You are making us faithful.” It is in recognition of His wonderful mercy that we come to celebrate His sacrifice. And it is only by the Grace of God that we are faithful at all!

That brings us to the chorus, which is my favorite part of this song. I love the progression here. Lord, we remember You, and as we remember Your sacrifice, we worship You, and as we worship You, we celebrate Your sacrifice at the Table. As we are responding at the Table, we remember You. What a wonderful cycle of worship! Are we not getting a glimpse of heaven? We see in Revelation that we’ll be before the throne singing Worthy is the Lamb who was slain! We’ll be remembering His sacrifice just as we do when we share the Table, yet in heaven, we’ll really get it. We’ll really understand His majesty! We’ll really understand what He did in becoming man, and we won’t need a symbol to see how He loved us at the cross!

Ouch, I’m into page three, and I’m not even halfway through the song, so I’ll try to hurry up. The next verse shows us both the Hope we have in Christ, and the Grace He shows us. On the cross, He overcame every trial we have faced and ever will face. And not just that, but there is no one who is outside of the range of God’s Grace if they would but come to the cross. All sins are forgiven at the cross. We must share this with the world around us!

Finally, let me touch on the bridge, where the lyric is, “Dying You destroyed our death, Rising You restored our life.” When I hear this line, I’m reminded of the way Pastor Mark baptized people, as they went under water, he would say, “United with Him in His death,” and as he lifted you up he would say, “Raised to new life in His resurrection.” Here is another symbol of how we connect with Christ through the cross. When He died on the cross and then rose from the grave, He won a victory over death itself, and when we follow Him, we too will see victory over death as we live eternally with Him! May He return soon so we might see His face!

 

I Sing Thy Wondrous Grace

I was reading through the book Knowing God by J.I. Packer, and he quoted an Isaac Watts hymn.  The words were wonderful, and so I set forth to find the hymn so we could sing it in church (first service).  I quickly discovered no music existed.  I found the original Isaac Watts hymn along with another Watts text that I thought would work well as a refrain.  I reworked the texts to be a bit more friendly and then sat down and wrote out a melody and parts to fit the hymn.  I Sing Thy Wondrous Grace was the result.

I Sing Thy Wondrous Grace

Verse 1

There is a voice of princely grace,

Sounds from God's holy Word.

All lost and captive sinners come

And trust upon the Lord

Refrain

I sing Thy wondrous grace.

I bless my Savior's name

He bought salvation for the poor

And bore the sinner's shame

Verse 2

My soul obeys the sov'reign call

And runs to this relief

I would believe thy promise Lord

Oh help my unbelief

Verse 3

To the blessed fountain of Your blood,

Incarnate God I fly

To wash my soul from scarlet stains

And sins of deepest dye

Verse 4

A guilty, weak, and helpless man

Into Thy hands I fall

Thou art the Lord, my righteousness

My Savior and my all!

I Sing Thy Wondrous Grace - Adobe PDF

How He Loves (part 1)

I’ve given it some thought, and I thought we’d take a break for a while from talking about Psalms and talk for a while about the songs we sing, are going to sing, or don’t sing. My intention is to take each song and work through it, talking about the biblical basis for it, or talking about why it isn’t based on sound theology. If you have some recommendations, send them my way!

I thought we’d start with the song How He Loves by John Mark McMillan. I’ve wrestled with this song for a while now. The chorus is great, and blatantly obvious in its meaning. Love the thought there, but the poetic nature of the lyrics made me step back and evaluate. My intention here is to talk about either how I interpret the lyrics, or when possible, talk about the writer’s original intent. The first thing that you learn in Biblical interpretation is that you’re attempting to understand the author’s original intent. Now for the Bible, we have to piece that together, luckily with song writers, we can ask them!

How He Loves starts off with a truth that is not necessarily a popular truth, or an understood truth for that matter. John (when I refer to John, I’m talking about the song writer) starts right off saying, “He is jealous for me.” This is an aspect of God that some people have trouble with, in large part because of the negative connotation that the word jealousy has in today’s society. Let’s break it apart a bit.

In Exodus 20:3, the very first commandment the Lord gives us is, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Throughout the Old Testament, there is talk of our jealous God. In the New Testament, we get glimpses of the same picture. In 1 Corinthians 10:14-22, Paul spends some time talking about idolatry, and at the end of the passage he says, “Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy, are we stronger than He?”

Here we come to a discussion of idolatry again. I think we’ve discussed that in God’s eyes, an idol is something that comes before Him. How devoted to God are we? Do our things come before Him? How about our family, does that come before Him? If it does, then it is an idol. Now, I’m not saying that things or family are bad things. I’m saying that they are idols to us if they are more important to us than God. Occasionally in the Bible we see God testing His people to see if they are really devoted to Him. Sometimes people show they are, sometimes not. Perhaps the starkest case is when God calls on Abraham to sacrifice the son that has been given to him after a lifetime of waiting. Abraham immediately obeyed, because he trusted His Lord to provide. His son was not more important to him than his God.

Now, we will certainly never be put in that exact situation, or will we? What if your son or daughter someday feels called to the mission field? Are you willing to give them up to do the Lord’s work? What about if the Lord lays it upon your heart to sell some of your things so that you can give? Are you willing, or are you more attached to your stuff than to your Lord. Let me ask this question, what is more important on a Sunday morning, that the worship sounds/looks the way it needs to so that you can worship the most comfortably, or that you are there with hearts poured out before the Lord regardless of the style? Bob Kauflin has posted a wonderful discussion of idols in worship at http://www.worshipmatters.com. I would encourage you to visit the site and read his discussion. My point here is that idolatry has a tendency to creep up in our hearts, and it’s usually good things that begin to supplant our Lord.

Hopefully, what you realize, as all of us should realize, is that we are hard hearted sheep. We wander aimlessly sometimes and He has to bring us back. The illustration of us being sheep, and the Lord being our good shepherd is one that the more you think about it, and the more you study it, the more apt it becomes. God is jealous for our affections. Why? Because He knows what is best for us, and He knows that the only place we will find satisfaction is in Him. So much like a shepherd sometimes has to aggressively care for his sheep, so sometimes the Lord has to wear our hearts down.

“[He] loves like a hurricane; I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.” A tree is an immovable object. Most trees don’t do a lot of bending on their own, but in the face of a hurricane, a constant pressure, the tree has two choices, it can bend or be uprooted. Our Lord knows our uprooting point though, unlike the hurricane and the tree, and so, He applies the pressures needed, until we finally bend and then….

“All of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory. I realize just how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me.” We get it; we see the Lord’s working in our lives. We are drawn near to Him, and all we can see is the beauty and majesty of our God. And most of all, when we are once again in right relationship with Him; we understand that all of the trials that brought us to the point of repentance were actually love. Yes, it hurt, but if He had not pushed, we would have remained unsatisfied. We would have remained lost. It hurt coming back, but God loves us so much, that He is willing to see us go through pain, to see us more satisfied. It’s much like as if we had a child that needed an operation. The child doesn’t understand why they must submit to pain. But the parent knows that the pain is but temporary, and will allow the child to live more freely and longer (I’m sure you can think of examples.)

So after we consider such things, we must sing, “Oh, how He loves us!” Next week, sloppy wet kisses and grace.

 

Isaac Watts hymn for the day

Lord, when my thoughts with wonder roll

O’er the sharp sorrows of thy soul

And read my Maker’s broken laws

Repaired and honour’d by thy cross

When I behold death, hell, and sin

Vanquished by that dear blood of thine,

And see the Man that groan’d and died

Sit glorious by his Father’s side;

My passions rise and soar above,

I’m wing’d with faith and fir’d with love;

Fain would I reach eternal things,

And learn the notes that Gabriel sings.

But my heart fails, my tongue compains,

For want of their immortal strains;

And, in such humble notes as these,

Must fall below thy victories

Well, the kind minute must appear

When we shall leave these bodies here,

These clogs of clay, and mount on high,

To join the songs above the sky.

Study in Justice

Amos 5:21-24

21     “I hate, I despise your feasts,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

22     Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,

I will not look upon them.

23     Take away from me the noise of your songs;

to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

24     But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

 

These verses among some other have been consuming my thoughts, prayers and devotions lately.  I can’t help but ask myself the question, “What are we doing on Sunday mornings?”  Are we worshiping?  Or are we just offering empty sacrifices?  Are we just singing words together because that’s what we do?

The Lord makes a pretty strong statement here.    Matter of fact, there are only a couple of times in the Old testament that he talks about hating something.  The Psalms of David talk about hating a lot, but the Lord only expresses hate a couple of times, and oddly enough, each time it is an aspect of His people that He hates.  So here we are, “I hate, I despise.”  Boy that must be something pretty bad to hate and despise it.  Our ears perk up.  Here it comes; God is going to tear down some evildoers.  He’s going to point out his despising of those against Him.  Ready for it?  “I hate, I despise….. your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.”  Wow, He doesn’t like our offerings, and he can’t stand the noise of our songs.  That’s pretty harsh.  I mean, come on, we’re singing these songs for You Lord.  We’re sacrificing some stuff for You.  And you hate it.  Why?

I’ll get to that in a second, but this is what consumes my thoughts.  God doesn’t change.  He never has and He never will.  As Christians, we sometimes get this idea of the Old Testament God and the New Testament God.  No difference at all.  Throughout the entirety of the Bible, He has loved His people, He has worked to redeem them, and He has given His Son for them.  Because of Jesus, we have fellowship with Him, and we have forgiveness because of it, but I would ask this, is it still possible that when we show up on Sunday morning and we sing some songs, and we give some money, and we listen to a message that God still hates and despises that?  Is it possible that He’s still shaking His head in frustration because His people still don’t get it?  Is it possible that what we’re doing on Sunday mornings is terribly empty?  We’re just singing cute songs with good lyrics.  Our hearts may even be connecting, and worshiping through the Spirit because of our Savior Jesus Christ.  But Romans 12:1 tells us, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”  Amos says it this way, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”  Here it is, this is what God wants for worship.  He wants us all week.  He wants all of us.  He wants us to be interested in bringing about justice and righteousness.  Then He’ll listen to us.  Then He hears our worship and says, that is sweet.

See, we have a disconnect.  We sing one thing and we do or act out something different.  In our closing song, we sing, “How beautiful the feet that carry this Gospel of peace to the fields of injustice and the valleys of need.  To be a voice of hope and healing, to answer the cries of the hungry and helpless with the mercy of Christ.”  We sing that, we don’t live it.  I don’t live it.  I’m not sure I know how to live it yet.  I do know this though; we can no longer be content.  We must have a holy discontent with our walk.  I am an excuse guy.  I’ve got lots of reasons why I don’t do things.  I’ve got lots of excuses for the troubles in my life.

So, discouraged, we shut down, we hit the guilt bunker.  We may even say, boy, that’s right, we need to work on that, but look at what Paul said in Romans, “by the mercies of God.”  It all comes back to where are we leaning?  We live in a “me” culture.  If I can steal a turn of phrase from Leonard Sweet, “We have the iphone, the itouch, the ipod, we can’t even spell wii without two i’s.”  We get this idea that we save ourselves.  Right?  We say, I accepted Christ….  I prayed a prayer….  It’s like we get this idea that we recognized our sinfulness and we repented, and we came to Christ, and then He saved us.  Where did we get the conviction of sin in the first place?  What drew us to Christ?  God draws us.  Christ saves us, we don’t do anything.  Who is going to keep us steadfast in the faith?  Well, I’m certainly not.  It is only by God’s mercy and grace I am going to hold to the Faith that saved me.  Who’s going to do justice in the world?  I’m not!  Christ is.  Christ alone.  So if we want to see fruit, where had we better be trusting?  Christ.  Christ alone.  Now I don’t expect to really get this until I’m before Him in heaven, but I sure better be proactively running the race.  Christ will give me strength.  Matter of fact, I’m firmly convinced that Christ brings us through the race, with or without us.  How often is he dragging me?  I wouldn’t even say that I’m fighting against Him.  We’re all too often just dead weight.  Figure out what He wants you to do and do it!  What is he telling you, well we’ve got His word to give us some guidance, we’ve got His Holy Spirit to help us in the right direction, but only if we’re not quenching Him!

 

What does His Word say about worship?  It says things like, let justice and mercy rain.   It says things like, “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and cloth you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’  And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”

 

 

There is worship.  Right there.  Do we want to serve our Lord?  Do we want to love Him?  It’s easy to sing a song, but are we showing Him love?  He tells us right here how to show Him love.  He hasn’t changed since Amos at all.  He still wants to see justice and mercy raining down.  So here we are.  It’s a tough spot.  What in the world do we do?  Let me use the Love and Logic answer, something.  Whether that means buying a water filter so that someone might have water do drink, or visiting a nursing home and spending time with the lonely there.  Volunteer with the food pantry.  I know they can use the help.  Becca is organizing a supper for the homeless in a couple of weeks.  Call her and ask her to help.  Let us be more than empty words and hollow promises.  Let us wrestle with this.  Let us not be content.

 

National Worship Leader

Hi All,

They’ve started posting videos from the conference two weeks ago.  Watch David Nasser Part 1, hopefully they put up part two soon.

Here’s the link:  http://www.316networks.com/nwlc2009

between the beauty & chaos

Have you checked out the new Aaron Ivey album yet?  You should!

Secondhand Jesus Review

Last Friday I read through the new Glenn Packiam book Secondhand Jesus.  Glenn is one of the worship pastors of New Life church in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  He runs the New Life School of Worship and regularly leads worship for the college ministry there, theMILL.  I’m sure you will recognize the church name New Life first from the Ted Haggart scandal and then from the shocking tragedy that happened there only a couple of years later.

This book is primarily about the wake-up call that happened as a result of the former scandal.  He calls this the first of many what-the-heck moments that happened that caused him to reevaluate his walk with Christ, and his ministry to the Church.  In this book he talks about four rumors of God that have crept up in the “suburban church.”

#1: God will give me what I want.

#2: God can be added to my list of loyalties.

#3: God is pleased with my goodness.

#4: God prefers specialists.

I won’t go through the rumors, I’ll let you pick up a copy of the book and let you do that yourself, but the fourth rumor is the basis for this book.  When I read the title, “Secondhand Jesus,” I assumed that it was about spreading the gospel.  Instead the title refers to the cosmic game of telephone that many Christians have chosen to play.  Rather than getting their information straight from the source (Christ himself through the Bible), they have contented themselves to learning about Him from secondhand sources.   This is why when you ask many Christians why they believe what they believe, they can’t tell you.  Too many people skipped the steps to reach conclusions, and are satisfied with being told the answers by someone else.  I wonder if this isn’t the reason that when I read the book, UnChristian, I saw such a disconnect between who and what Jesus calls His Body to be, and what we actually are.

To talk about each of these rumors, Glenn walks through the story of the Ark of the Covenant.  He does so in a straightforward fashion.  I found the book an easy read, yet it was deeply insightful and often convicting.  I found Glenn’s openness throughout the book to be refreshing.  He closes the book with a description of the tragedy that happened only a short time after the scandal that caused him to reevaluate his walk.

I would highly recommend you grab this book.  Read it with an open heart and mind

New worship CDs coming out

Boy, there’s some great stuff coming up in the worship music world.  There are several albums coming out soon that I’m really looking forward to hearing soon, so I thought I would share them with you.

Already ordered, and I’m waiting with baited breath for, the new Keith and Kristyn Getty album, Awake the Dawn.  What can I say, I’m growing more and more attached to the Getty’s modern hymns.  I’m sure you will be singing many of these songs someday in church.  Actually, if you come to Grace, you already are!  You can listen to previews of the album here.  Future favorites:  Come People of the Risen King, By Faith, Benediction, and who doesn’t love to listen to an Irish person read Psalm 57 in a full on Irish accent.  I should move to Ireland long enough to pick up an Irish accent……

There are actually a couple of albums coming out on the 23rd (of June) that I’m really looking forward to.  The first is beauty & chaos by my cousin Aaron Ivey. He is one of the worship pastors at Austin Stone church.  Since I got Spur 58’s (his old band) indie cd, Image of New, I’ve loved the way he does hymns, and his original songs are sweet.  He has promised a site redesign with streaming audio of his new album soon, so keep an eye on aaronivey.com.

The other cd I’m looking forward to is Rumors and Revelations by Glenn Packiam.  Harmony folks will recognize songs like My Savior Lives which has been used by Hillsong.  Also he has cowritten songs with a bunch of guys, including Paul Baloche’s Your Name.  Glenn is one of the worship pastors at New Life Church, which I’m sure you will recognize.  If not, watch this video.  Glenn has written a book calledSecondhand Jesus partly about these experiences.  Review to follow.  Anyway, Glenn is releasing a cd on the 23rd.  You can listen through most of the album here.  There’s a sort of Psalms feel to the songs that I appreciate.  These songs will be in my playlist and I’m sure some will make their way into Sunday mornings.  Take a listen to Burning in Me, For Love I Sing, I Will Stand ….. Take a listen to the album.  I’ll put up a full review after I’ve lived with it for a while.

Other albums I look forward to hearing, but don’t know anything about.  July 14, Robin Mark is releasing a new album.  August 14, a new Hillsong album comes out.  On August 25, it seems like the worship community is all releasing an album.  Ditto Sept 22, then we get into Christmas Album season.  Check out newreleases.com for details!

Psalm 27 Part 1

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Psalm 27:1-2 (ESV)

Have you ever been lost in the dark (talking literally here). I’m a stereotypical male in the directions category, so being lost isn’t a cause for great concern. I’ll figure out where we are and where we’re going eventually. Being lost in the dark is a totally different matter though. I don’t like to drive to unknown places in the dark but walking around on a pitch black night can be downright scary. This was us. We weren’t just lost, we were wandering around in pitch black, clueless, no point of reference, no hope that we might find our way. We needed God to light our lives and Christ to set our feet on the path. Listen to the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 42:6-9:

6 “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, 7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. 8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. 9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

He calls us to show His light to others! This is a common theme throughout the Psalms and the Bible. God is great! Don’t keep it to yourself. Yet we have a bunker mentality as Christians. At whom are most of the ministries of the church aimed at? Who are our friends? It’s almost like we have a “bring them to church/youth group so the pastor can preach the gospel to them” mentality. BTW, I’m preaching to myself above all here. Get to know the “heathens” (kidding) around you. Have them over for a movie night. Have a bonfire. Invite your neighbors over for dinner. Before you venture out, I would encourage you to read UnChristian. It’ll give you a startling view of what your “unbelieving” friends probably think about you. Then become friends with them. Love them as they are. Don’t love them just because you’re going to share the gospel with them. Be friends long enough for them to notice there’s something different about you. For that to happen: a) there has to be something different about you!! b) your friendship has to be solid enough to talk about spiritual matters. Above all, pray for them! We used to talk about 3 friends. Have 3 friends always that you’re praying for that God might open their hearts to the gospel of Christ.

I’ve ventured pretty far off topic here, so let’s return to verse 1! We’re at a severe disadvantage in terms of intuitively understanding the word stronghold here in America. Places like Ft. Riley are strongholds protected by technology and fence. We don’t see the unassailable aspect of it. I grew up next to the Iowa State Penitentiary, but that’s really designed to keep people in, not out. I don’t think I really got the stronghold concept till I visited Ireland. The sheer size of the castles is intimidating. When I read passages like this, I can’t help but think of Ireland and places in Israel like Masada, which was built into the mountain right to the sheer cliff face. Yet all of those fortresses were assailable. Masada was conquered (it took the Romans some fancy engineering to build a ramp), along with the awesome castles in Ireland are the ruined castles. We have something greater yet in the Lord. He is the unassailable stronghold of our lives. With that, who do we have to fear? When evildoers attack, it is they who fail! When you are under siege, remember this and praise the Lord!

Psalm 150

" Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!" (Psalm 150, ESV)

Wow, I think the psalmist managed to put every instrument of the ancient world in here. I suppose he felt the need to hammer his point home. Let’s start with all the instruments and then end up back at the beginning.

Ah, the trumpet! What a biblically foundational instrument to play. Trumpet players must be in a higher echelon of God’s people…. JK. We first hear about the trumpet inExodus 19:16-20, where the trumpet announces the coming presence of the Lord. The trumpet was used to call the people of Israel (Lev 23:24, Num 10:2, Num 10:8). Also, the trumpet was used often in war, but I think it’s important to notice the significance of Num 10:9. The trumpet was used so the people might be remembered before the Lord. Fast forward to the New Testament, and we see in 1 Thess 4:16that the Lord’s coming again will be announced by the sound to the trumpet of God.

Next we praise Him with the lute and harp. Unfortunately we don’t actually know what any of these instruments looked or sounded like. We can infer, but that’s it. When I think of a lute, it’s almost like a guitar with a whole lot of strings, but like I said, that’s speculation. The harp referred to here is the lyre.. I think I’ve got a mental picture of these two instruments, but then I read 1 Chr 16:28 where it says they made loud music on harps and lyres (same Hebrew words). I had pictured these stringed instruments as being a soft sound, but perhaps not. I would guess the author is simply poetically contrasting the “brass” (actually likely a ram’s horn, although in Numbers the Israelites were instructed to make 2 silver trumpets) with the stringed instruments.

Boy, I hate to even bring up the next verse in the Baptist church……. 

The tambourine was an instrument associated closely with dance. We see dance as a part of praise throughout the bible in places like 1 Chr 16:29 where David was being undignified in his praise to the Lord. We get the picture from the ensuing argument with his wife that fear of man should not drive our worship, but rather our reaction to the Lord. How much does the fear of man drive our worship today? Say you’re a person who likes to raise their hands in worship? It’s a biblical expression in worship (Ps 28:2, Ps 134:2, Lam 3:41, 1 Tim 2:8). Some people feel called to lift their hands in worship, some don’t. Both are okay, it’s accepted in the Bible, but it’s not commanded in the Bible. If you were a person called to raise hands in worship, and you were in a congregation with hands down, would you raise your hands? Why not?

The same case of using every instrument we have at our disposal is again built with the cymbals. Clashing cymbals aren’t the most elegant of instruments. There isn’t a lot that you can communicate with a cymbal. There is no finesse to a cymbal. Cymbals are not poetic, or orderly for that matter. Yet the psalmist says that we can praise the Lord in cymbals. For whom do you crash the cymbal? Do you draw attention to the Lord, or yourself?

So who should be doing all of this praising? Everything that has breath!!!! We look forward to the day when every tribe, and every nation and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. How wonderful it will be before the throne, in His sanctuary Praising the Lord.

My Savior My God

Boy, talk about being clueless as to songs to be found in the hymnal. I’ve been going through the hymnals I’ve got in the office, and I ran across I Am Not Skilled to Understand. I thought, wow, this is a really up to date hymnal. Duh! Aaron Shust used this old (1873) hymn by Dora Greenwell as the basis for his song. By the way, I still take issue with the chorus. I contend that he could have easily said My God He was, My God He is, My God He always will be, rather than always gonna be. I cringe every time I hear that.

Psalm 40: Part 4

“In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”” (Psalm 40:6-8, ESV)

This portion of the Psalm is wrought with Messianic connections and yet speaks so closely to our hearts as we dive into the text.

Immediately upon reading this passage, I’m reminded of passages like Hos. 6:6,Micah 6:6-8, Isa 1:11 and especially Amos 5:21-24.  (BTW, if you’re on the blog, if you hover your mouse over the reference, the verse should pop up!)  As a worship leader, verses like this hit me pretty hard.  If you spend any amount of time reading worship blogs or books, you begin to realize that there are a whole lot of folks out there that spend a whole lot of time trying to figure out what the right way to worship is.  What songs do we use?  How often do we serve communion?  Should the lights be dimmed or full?  The questions and “biblical” answers go on and on! How we “do worship” has spawned whole volumes of material.

The Jews had a worship manual straight from God.   They had the Law of Moses, handed down directly from God specifying the sacrificial system and worship rites to follow.  There was just one problem.  The sacrifices weren’t about the animals, they weren’t about the ritual.  The sacrifices were about hearts bent towards God!  After all, if ever a group of people “had it together,” it was the Pharisees.  Jesus didn’t react well to the Pharisees.  In Philippians 3:2-11, Paul lays out just how good a Jew he really was.  He was as good of a person as you could be in the Hebrew world.  If anyone could boast, it was Paul.  What does he say about this?  “… I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Our hearts are what are important here.  We are to count all of our works and stuff as nothing compared to knowing Christ!

So what is the Psalm talking about when it says, “You have given me an open ear?” The Hebrew here is a bit ambiguous, but the same phrase is used in places like Ex 21:6 talking about a slave’s ear being pierced.  In one way here, this could be read essentially, though You have not delighted in sacrifices and offerings, you have made me your servant.  The Septuagint translated this phrase, “a body hast thou prepared me,” which is the translation that the writer of Hebrews uses in Hebrews 10:5-7when referencing this passage as a Messianic prophecy.  Since Jesus himself used the Septuagint, we can be fairly certain that it was a faithful translation of the Hebrew into Greek.

Out of curiosity, I spent some time reading Jewish commentaries on this passage where they backlash against the use of this verse in Hebrews saying that the passage is obviously David talking.  They miss entirely the idea that the Spirit speaking through the writer can say something and mean two things.  There is sometimes an obvious meaning and a meaning that won’t be fulfilled until the remote future.  This passage is one of those with amphibological meaning.  There are two different, but fully correct interpretations.

The writer of Hebrews rightly realized the second meaning of these verses as the pre-incarnate Christ speaking through David.  In this section of Hebrews, the writer is pointing out how the sacrificial system was and could never be enough for God.  Christ therefore comes to offer a better way.  Look at this passage from the perspective of Christ saying it,

“Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ” (Hebrews 10:5-7, ESV)

The writer of Hebrews goes on to explain, “When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:8-10, ESV)

Let’s head back to the David centered meaning of the Psalm to end up.  David says, “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.”  Kind of reminds you of Jeremiah 31:33-34 doesn’t it?  We have the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Rather than studying the Torah, we have the Law of the Lord written on our very hearts.   He forgives our iniquities and remembers our sin no more!  What a great truth that is.  Praise God for the work done at the cross!

Stott's The Cross of Christ

Okay, so I’ve been really connecting with my inner bookworm this week.  I’ve read (or finished) like three or four books.  Reviews possibly coming, but that would require me to put the book down too long.  Okay, so I just picked up The Cross of Christ and couldn’t make it out of the preface without quoting, especially in light of what I talked about at the end of the latest Psalm study.

In daring to write (and read) a book about the cross, there is of course a great danger of presumption.  This is partly because what actually happened when "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ" is a mystery whose depths we shall spend eternity plumbing; and partly because it would be most unseemly to feign a cool detachment as we contemplate Christ’s cross.  For, whether we like it or not, we are involved.  Our sins put Him there.  So, far from offering us flattery, the cross undermines our self-righeousness.  We can stand before it only with a bowed head and a broken spirit.  And there we remain until the Lord Jesus speaks to our hearts His word of pardon and acceptance, and we, gripped by His love and full of thanksgiving, go out into the world to live our lives in His service.

John Stott, The Cross of Christ

Good stuff.

Psalm 40: Part 3

You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.

(Psalm 40:5)

I loved growing up in the country.  We had the aforementioned timber, a pond to fish in, and snapping turtles to shoot BB guns at.  You know what one of the coolest things was?  Stars.  Yes, on a clear night, you could clearly see the stars.  Have you ever lain out at night and started counting stars?  The funny thing is, the more you stare at the sky and focus, the more stars you begin to see.  That’s the picture I get here from David.  The more we see God for who He is, the more we see His glory!

Let me quote the good Dr. Spurgeon here, because he says it better than I ever could.  “Creation, providence and redemption, teem with wonders as the sea with life.  Our special attention is called by this passage to the marvels which cluster around the cross and flash from it.  The accomplished redemption achieves many ends, and compasses a variety of designs; the outgoing of the atonement are not to be reckoned up, the influences of the cross reach further than the beams of the sun.  Wonders of grace beyond all enumeration take their rise from the cross; adoption, pardon, justification, and a long chain of godlike miracles of love proceed from it…. Let our interest in our God be ever to us our peculiar treasure.”

Then we hit a recurring theme throughout the Psalms, and indeed the whole of the Bible.  David says yet again, “I will proclaim and tell of them.”  Noticing is one thing.  Proclaiming is quite another.  How are the lost to hear if we don’t tell them?  The Word tells us that if He so desires, the very rocks can cry out for us, but it is our task to share His gospel.

Are we running out of things to say?  If we are, then we need to open our eyes!  The Lord is doing a work in your life.  He is guiding you, changing you and sustaining you.  Here is where that study of theology comes in.  I’m convinced that the more we study Him, the more we will be drawn to praise Him!  Here’s the part I love most.  No matter how many books have been written, Psalms or Hymns have been sung, preachers have preached, His wondrous deeds are still too much than can be told!  Throughout the whole of human history, we have been trying to tell of the glory of God, and that hasn’t and will never be enough!  If you ever hear someone say they’ve got a grasp on God and His works, they might not quite understand just who God is.

Let us consider the Trinity.  There is a lot out there you can read on the Trinity, and you can come to a good knowledge base about the Trinity.  You can begin to understand the relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in oneness as God.  You can read many scholarly works of men who have thought of the Trinity.  You can know that it is a true doctrine through that study.  You can understand many aspects of it, but can you ever truly understand the Trinity this side of heaven?  I’m going to say no.  But that certainly doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t pursue a greater understanding the length of our lives.  The nice part is, we can be sure that we will never really understand our Lord until we are faced with Him before the throne, and then we will really worship!

Stuff Christians Like Post

Great stuff today on Stuff Christians Like.  Check it out.

http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2009/04/527-thinking-god-needs-you.html

Psalm 40: Part 2

He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD. 

(Psa 40:2-3 ESV)

When we were kids, my brother and I used to spend our summers “exploring” the timber. Word of explanation. In Iowa, some people own a plot of woods known as a stand of timber. Usually timbers are used for such activities as deer hunting and turkey hunting. On the edge of our timber, Mom put in a pond, and through the timber ran a very small creek. That creek is where my brother and I would lose our boots.

The ground was soft clay, and apparently the combination of clay and water would create what my brother and I would affectionately call “quick mud.” I would be walking along, and then suddenly one foot would go down. Stuck. Trying to pull the foot out boot intact was pointless; the mud’s pull was too strong. The only solution was to extricate (good word usage huh) my foot from the boot, then pulling together, Eric and I could with all our might get the boot out. From that point on in the day, we would be careful to walk on the rocks.

Psalm 40 says, “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay.” How often are we walking through life when suddenly we’re stuck in the mud? The only difference is that we don’t have a boot to take off. The only way to extricate ourselves from the situation is to have someone else pull us out. Going back to verse 1 from a couple of weeks ago, God hears our cry and pulls us out of the mud and sets us on the Rock. Christ. The Hymn writer says, “On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”

How true. Only in Christ can I walk without getting bogged down. Unfortunately, I don’t know about you, but I seem to, more often than not, think that I can handle stuff. I say, “No, that’s okay God, I’ve got this one.” And so begins the mucking about until finally I’m stuck and I have to cry out for help. What would my walk look like if I spent less time getting myself stuck, and more time walking on the Rock?

Speaking of reliance on God, what does this needed reliance say about our worship? “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.” He put, not I put! I don’t have any capacity to worship God minus the Holy Spirit. None, none whatsoever. This should and does concern me. Really. Do I quench the moving of the Spirit in worship? I’m talking both private and corporate worship. What gets in the way? The obvious answer is me of course, but what do I do about that? How do I get myself out of the way? I don’t! But I’d better be spending serious time with the Lord, so that when I’m worshipping the focus upward is already in place.

The next verse is great. What is the result of living this way? “Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.” Here is a promise we need to grab hold of. If we walk with the Lord, we are going to be different and people are going to notice.

Psalm 40: Part 1

I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

I’m sure that you’ve heard and know quite well that we’re living in a culture of instant gratification. Want a burger? Go to Wendy’s (shameless product placement), order one, and in less than a minute, you have one. Want to hear the new song by Seventh Day Slumber? Go to Rhapsody, look it up and you’re listening. Remember back in the day when if you wanted to watch a TV show, you had to actually sit down at that time and watch it, commercials and all? That, or a tech savvy person could program his/her VCR to record the program on tape, so he/she could watch a scratchy, fuzzy recording later with the ability to fast forward through commercials. Now you can TiVo it, or go only the next day and watch your favorite show with minimal commercials in high quality video.

This instant gratification culture carries into every aspect of our lives. I can’t tell you how many sixth graders were shocked to discover playing an instrument was hard and required work. Our attention spans have become increasingly shorter and shorter. Today, the music is 3-5 minutes long per song. Certainly no time for theme development! The idea of listening though something like Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for 74 minutes is totally foreign. Matter of fact, when we would listen to the fourth movement in it’s entirety, I could guarantee one or more students walking out of my class in protest. That was always a fun conversation with the principal. He would ask, “You mean they’d rather have a detention than listen to 30 minutes of music?” I’d reply, “Yep!”

So let’s put this in a spiritual context. Re read things like John 16:23-24 that say, “in that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you…. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” Sweet, the ask and ye shall receive verse! We know that one pretty well. Bring on the instant gratification. Does God work like that. Not to say that sometimes He doesn’t answer prayers immediately, but that’s His prerogative, not ours.

Are you frustrated by asking things of the Lord and not immediately seeing answers? We need to hear Psalm 40, “I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me, and heard my cry.” Patiently. Let me say it again, Patiently. You know when Spurgeon wrote on Psalm 40 in The Treasury of David, he barely spends any time at all on that word. Maybe it’s because that word didn’t stand in stark contrast to society then.

This is something my heart needs to hear. I need to be asking the Lord for patience. And I need to patiently ask the Lord for patience! I need to cry out to Him constantly. I need to cry out to Him desperately. When I ask Him to move in the hearts of people, is it a flippant, on the side comment, or is it like the parable of the Persistent Widow. Jesus says in Luke 18,

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

We read this, and yet, I don’t know about you, but I catch the part about, “He will give justice to them speedily.” I miss the part about, “who cry to him day and night.” Are we persistent and patient? Shouldn’t we be? What does this look like in your life? Have you been crying out for the lost day and night? Do you pray earnestly for our missionaries abroad in the world? I don’t, but just how dissatisfied am I with my prayer life am I? Not enough.

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Guarantees are funny things. Try to do a Google search on guarantee sometime. It’s fun to read the wild claims companies make to try to give you a feeling of security. Here are some examples. “Our products are guaranteed to give 100% satisfaction in every way. Return anything purchased from us at any time if it proves otherwise. We do not want you to have anything from [our company] that is not completely satisfactory.” How about this news story from late October? “Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) said Sunday on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ that he can ‘guarantee’ a win on Nov.4 in a squeaker victory that won’t be clear until late that night.”

How about Biblical guarantees? If you believe some of the television preachers these days, the Bible guarantees that followers of Christ will live healthy, financially secure lives. Really? When I read the Bible, I see a guarantee that we will have storms in this life. I see that followers of Christ will be persecuted. A quick look at the lives of the apostles doesn’t show a life of ease and comfort. How many times was Paul beaten within an inch of his life? Paul was shipwrecked, imprisoned and eventually martyred for his faith. A third of the Psalms are laments. It looks like the one true guarantee we have in this life is trouble.

Our lives are and will be full of trials. God gets this. Matter of fact, we have a loving Father willing to send His Son to endure more pain and agony that we can imagine, so that we might be His children. We have a loving Savior with the power to conquer sin and death, who sits at the right hand of the Father. The Psalmist says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Our refuge, our fortress, our unassailable bunker. He is present through those trials that will besiege us. He stands strong for us in our weakness. The earth can shake, the mountains crash into the sea, and the seas can rise (perhaps the Psalmist heard of global warming), but we can hold fast in the knowledge that our Lord God is with us. What a magnificent promise! Martin Luther often would say to the people around him during times of duress, “Come, let us sing the 46th Psalm.” Then they would sing, “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, Ein gute Wehr un Waffen,” “A firm fortress is our God, a good bulwark and weapon.”

Not only does the Father stand with us in the storms of life, He supplies us with peace and joy. “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.” Are you tapping into that river? When troubles beset you, to which bunker do you head? Do you head for the fear bunker? How about the worry bunker? Personally, I head for the isolation bunker. When the storms hit, I slam the doors and cut the hard lines. There’s no source of joy in any of these bunkers. I tell you what bunker I need. I need to head for the God bunker. In it are things like prayer, the Word, the Body of Christ and the paraclete, the Holy Spirit. In it, there is a river to feed my soul and give me strength. His Kingdom will not be moved though the nations may rage, and the earth may melt. “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

I want to camp on one more point from the Psalm here. Verse ten says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” The context here is talking about the nations being still, but I think there is application in our lives. I’m a kind of guy who likes to be busy. Jodie will tell you that when we first got married, carving out time for her was a serious issue. I remember my first year teaching when during part of the year, I was teaching Jazz band before school, marching band on the weekends, stage construction and design right after school for the musical I was directing on three nights of the week. On the other nights I either had worship team practice, or I had Attaboy Dave (our college ministry praise band) practice. Sundays were full with church, choir and evening church. My life was crazy, and the weird thing is that I kind of crave that kind of busyness. Jodie has to remind me frequently that I’m on the verge of filling up every night with something. When do I take time to be still? When do I stop, put down the stress and spend time with God? This is an area in which I’ve grown over the last year, but I have a long way to go. When are you being still? Are you taking time to know your God?

Worship is about me?

Here’s a great blog post you should read.

http://www.boundlessline.org/2009/01/modern-worship-all-about-me.html

Thanks to Stephanie for the tip!

Cool Website

If you get some time, you should check out this website:

http://www.iamsecond.com

Worship Philosophy Message

Okay, if you’re interested, here is the intended text of my message from Sunday evening.  I left a couple of things out, and more often than not took tangents to illustrate my points.

Grace Worship Philosophy

Okay, so for a while now, I’ve been writing and refining a worship philosophy for GBC.  This Sunday night, I’ll be presenting the philosophy and explaining the various points.  So, for your perusal and as a bait for you to come Sunday night to hear me speak, here are the points:

• Our worship is Spirit powered and Christ centered.


• Our worship must issue forth from sound theology.


• Our worship is not music alone, but our music is worship.


• Our worship is not seeker driven, but a seeker should see Christ in our worship.


• Our worship should be both individual and communal.


• Our worship is flawed and will always be such on this side of heaven.


• We must be diligent in our worship to not allow idols to enter in.

New Year's Resolutions

I don’t do new years resolutions.  Jodie and I were talking today, and I don’t really get all that excited about the new year.  I think it’s because, up until this year, I’ve always been in school.  That means, for me, the year ends around memorial day, and starts in August.  Well, anyway, I’ve made some resolutions this year that happen to fall on new years.  Yes, that’s right, I have been resolutely deciding I need to do some things, and what better time to start than with the new year.  So here goes.

I hereby resolve to:

1. 
   
   1. 
      
      Begin a scheduled daily devotional.
      
      
      
      
      • When I was a band director, I lived on a schedule.  I got up at the same time every day.  I took my shower at the same time.  I drove the same distance to school.  I had the same daily schedule.  And so on, and so on.  Now, I don’t have a schedule.  I get up when I get up.  I go to sleep when I go to sleep.  I work at least a certain number of hours each week, but those hours are somewhat loose between different rehearsals and meetings and stuff.  The result?  My devotional life is haphazard.  Sometimes I do it in the morning, sometimes the afternoon, sometimes the evening.  Sometimes I read through a book of the Bible, sometimes a random chapter.
      
      
      • 
        
        So, at 6:00, every morning, I’m going to be working though the Bible on the schedule included in D.A. Carson’s, For the Love of God.  I’m going to journal as I go, and spend time in prayer.  Two times in my life, I had a schedule like this.  First, when I was a camp counselor at East Iowa Bible Camp after my sophomore year.  This was actually the first time that I read and prayed through the Bible, and my walk was so matured that summer.  The second time was one of my bachelor years.  I got into the habit of journalling through, and again, my walk was greatly deepened.  So, since Jodie works at 6 on Mondays and Wednesdays, that’s going to be my regular time.
        
        
        
        
        • 
          
          Schedule of Seasons (I have to watch DVD seasons to distract myself from the fact that I despise working out):
          
          
          
          
          1. Stargate Atlantis
          
          
          2. Star Trek
          
          
          3. Star Trek: The Next Generation
          
          
          4. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
          
          
          5. Star Trek: Voyager
          
          
          6. Stargate SG1
          
          
          7. Babylon 5
          
          
        
        
        
        
      
      
      
      
   
   
   2. 
      
      Walk daily and eat healthy.
      
      
      
      
      • 35 pounds.  That’s what I’ve put on since moving to Manhattan.  Apparently, not marching or being on my feet every day eight or more hours a day has made a HUGE difference in my weight control.  Pitiful, huh?
      
      
      • So, at 7:00 every morning, I will be on the treadmill walking.  Two years ago, I walked daily and lost 30 pounds.  If I wouldn’t have fallen down the stairs and hurt my foot (and gotten out of the habit), I think I might have possibly made it much lower.  In conjunction with this, I’m going to cut pop, and start eating healthy.  I hate salad, but for lunch, Jodie and I are going to start eating salads, because they’re good for us.  No more eating of the whole pizza with loads of cheese and hamburger.  No more munching on chips.
      
      
      
      
   
   
   3. 
      
      Call Mom once a week.
      
      
      
      
      • Obvious
      
      
      
      
   
   
   4. 
      
      Meet people outside of the church.
      
      
      
      
      • I used to teach in a public school, where I wasn’t allowed to share my faith openly with the students.  I knew a lot of people not in the Body of Christ though.  Then I moved to Manhattan to work at Grace.  Moving to Grace has been such a blessing.  The thing is though, the people I interact with are members of the Body of Christ.  Jesus commands us to share our Faith.  With who?
      
      
      • This is a hard one.  I am not by nature a social person.  Jodie and I have talked about it, and I think I’m going to join community chorale.  This will be a start, but I need to continue to think about how I can get out and meet people.
      
      
      
      
   
   

There you go, my "new years resolutions."  What about you guys?

(editorial note, see this post about the miserable results)