How Great is Our God

Sometimes, the most complex, indescribable experiences in life can be difficult to articulate into words.  For example, how do you describe the complexity of the universe, the stars, galaxy and more?  How do you describe the birth of a new born baby?  What about the supernatural healing of cancer or deadly disease?  We could come up with a long list of adjectives, but it would all return to this simple phrase - How Great is Our God!

The Bible poetically responds to God all through scripture.  Listen to Psalm 104 as David describes God...  

1 Praise the Lord, my soul.

Lord my God, you are very great;

   you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

2 The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;

   he stretches out the heavens like a tent

3  and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.

This is just one passage of many that describe God from the Bible.  And today, we have modern hymn writers that write songs that elevate God as well.  Chris Tomlin is one of those creative songwriters who wrote a simple song that describes the greatness of our creator.  He wrote, “The splendor of a King, robed in majesty, let all the earth rejoice.  He wraps himself in light, and darkness tries to hide, and trembles at his voice.  How Great is our God!”  Simple and true.  Our God is great!

As we sing this song in worship to the Lord this weekend, I invite you to respond to His greatness through all of creation.  Honestly, once we realize how great He is, we instantly are humbled by the magnitude of His presence in our lives.  

Join me as we worship the Great God and King of the universe this weekend.

God in Three Persons

Many songs we sing in our worship services are filled with depth and insight into the heart of God, and this week we have the honor of singing one of these great hymns called “Holy, Holy, Holy” which is derived from Revelation 4:8 which proclaims, “And they did not rest day or night, saying: "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!"

Reginald Heber, the author of this poetic piece of musical history for the church, masterfully articulated the description of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit working together as the perfect Triune God.  Words like HOLY, MERCIFUL, MIGHTY, PERFECT IN POWER, PURITY & LOVE describe how the all three attributes of the Triune God work together.

We see that God is perfect which angels fall down before, and the darkness is hides because He is perfect in love and purity.  

We see that God showed his mercy and might by sending his son Jesus to earth to save us from our sins.  

We see that Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to dwell among His people to proclaim the works of the Lord in earth and sky and sea.

All three attributes of the Trinity come together in this song to proclaim: “You are Lord, You are Lord. You reign eternally.  You are Lord God Almighty.  My Savior and My King.”

How do you respond to hearing these words?  

Have you ever trusted God with your heart?  He is perfect in love and purity.  

Have you ever needed mercy in your life?  He showed mercy by sending Jesus to save us from our sins.  

Have you ever proclaimed to the Lord that He is mighty in power to meet you at your point of need?  He rules over all the earth, sky and the sea.

So as we sing this song in worship this weekend, join me singing to the almighty God in three persons - the blessed Trinity.

Running a Race

I am preparing to run another Half Marathon in November.  Preparing for a race like this takes time, energy and effort.  It takes a plan as well.  Sometimes I fail in my plans, and other times I do ok.

This morning I read this devotional by Greg Laurie that really applied to me as a jogger and I wanted to pass it along to you for encouragement as we run the race here on earth together.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013

Run Well

	You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?

—Galatians 5:7

When runners compete in a race, depending on what kind of race it is, they must stay in their own lane. A runner cannot go into a competitor's lane and cut that runner off. If this happens, he or she will be disqualified.

The apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Galatia, "You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?" (5:7). Or, paraphrased, "You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience?" Sometimes in the race of life, people will cut in on us and impair our performance. That means we need to give a lot of thought as to whom we choose to run with.

Paul instructed Timothy to "run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts" (2 Timothy 2:22). As Christians, we should run together, not trip each other in the race. We are not competing against one another.

Our competition is with the world, the flesh, and the Devil—those are our competitors in life's race. Those are our enemies. So it is not about besting one another; it is about glorifying God and overcoming the Enemy.

Paul also warned against looking back while we are running our race. He said, "Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us" (Philippians 3:13–14). You can't run a good race if you are constantly looking over your shoulder.

So in the race of life, stay in your own lane and don't look back.

http://www.harvest.org/devotional/archive/devotion/2013-10-15.html

Our God Saves

When we gather together as a church family for worship, what is the fiber that knits us together?  What is the glue that brings together scripture, praise, worship, and prayer together?  It is an element that can be easily overlooked because of our distraction, but extremely vital to what goes on in corporate worship.  

What is it?  It is when we as children of God CALL ON GOD’S PRESENCE!  When we come together and surrender our lives to God and place our minds attention on Him and our hearts affection towards Jesus, then a supernatural moment occurs and God begins to move among His people.

How does a moment like this happen?  By accident?  Absolutely not.

It happens when we come together by praying like this…

In the name of the Father

In the name of the Son

In the name of the Spirit, Lord we come

We gather together

To lift up your Name

To call on our Savior

To fall on Your grace

Hear the joyful sound

Of our offering

As Your Saints bow down

As Your people sing

We will rise to you

Lifted on Your wings

And the world will see

OUR GOD SAVES

Psalm 68:19-20 (NIV)

19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.

20 Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.

So, this weekend we will sing this song in worship.  We will call upon the Lord and passionately pursue Jesus.  Will you join me?  Will you lift up the Name of Jesus together and worship with me, so the whole world will see that our God saves?  That is my prayer for us this weekend.  Have a great week and I will see you Sunday

Carry Your Name

What is a worship song?  

This can be difficult to define, but I will do my best to try to define a worship song as follows...Any song that directs people to God by speaking of Him or to Him, or His son Jesus Christ.  This can be accomplished through songs of adoration (a prayer to God), songs of exhortation (describing who God is and telling others about Him), songs of declaration (proclaim God’s truth - who He is), and  songs of supplication (a prayer petitioning God).  Many songs focus directly on one of these four aspects, but do not be surprised when a song writer will use 2 to 3 aspects within a worship song.

Why am I going into this in depth description?  Because our worship matters to God.  We do not just sing songs to sing songs.  We sing songs to worship the truth, the living God!  It matters what we sing - God is watching, listening and hearing our songs lifted up to Him. (Psalms 40:1-3)

This weekend, we are singing one of my favorite worship songs from Passion Ministries called “Carry Your Name”.  In this song, you will notice the personal tone and language of the song as the singer prays a prayer to God in worship.  It is a song of Adoration and Exhortation.  Listen to these words...

By Your wounds we are healed

And You have conquered the grave

And in Your rising, we will rise

To carry Your name

Above every name

I will carry Your name

Carry Your name

Jesus, Your name forever

For all of my days

In all of my ways

Jesus, Your name forever

Isn’t that amazing - the personal prayer from our heart directly to God.  If we sing a song like this and truly enable the song to transfer from our heads to our heart, then our lives will be changed!  We are salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16) and we are called to carry the name of Jesus wherever we go.  Might this song remind all of us the importance to allow God to use each one of us for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-14) and to carry His name into a world that so desperately needs to know Christ.

Thanks for the time and I look forward to seeing you in worship this weekend.  Remember - Carry the Name of Jesus wherever you go! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLQmdL9xdnc

Caring for Those in Need

I read the daily devotional and commentary by Jim Denison on different world and cultural issues that our society is facing each week.  Today, I thought his direction through pointing out key scripture references were extremely key to caring for those who are in need and those who might be homeless.  Scripture is clear with the verses below.  Personally, it is very convicting to me and how I view the poor, care for the poor and begs the question, what am I doing to care for the poor.

Jesus' statement, "You will always have the poor with you" (Matthew 26:11), was not his Father's desire for us but an observation about our fallen world. 

How does God feel about those in need? "He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow" (Deuteronomy 10:18). 

What does he want us to do for them?  "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed" (Psalm 82:3).

What happens if we do not help them?  "He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses" (Proverbs 28:27). 

What will he do for those who care for them?  "He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done" (Proverbs 19:17).

After reading these verses, ask the Lord to lead you and reveal to you one way for you to care for those who are in need.

Have a great day - Keith

http://www.denisonforum.org/global/694-why-you-should-care-about-the-poor

A Mighty Fortress

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”  (Psalm 46:1)  As we read from David’s writing in the book of Psalms, listen to the promise we receive from this verse...God is our refuge, our strength.  God is not far away, but right beside us in life.  In Psalms 91 David also reveals to us the strength and power of God when he says...“He (GOD)  is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  

Let us journey back to 1529, during the time of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.  Strife, discord and unrest surrounded the church during this time.  Luther was determined to restore worship to the German Church.  He worked closely with skilled musicians  to create new music for believers in Jesus to sing and helped revive congregational singing during this time.  Interesting note...He would often borrow popular secular melodies for his hymns that were heard at the local bar or tavern.  That connection struck a familiar tune with words that were life changing.

Luther’s most famous hymn is “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott” - commonly known as “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”.  In writing this song, He reflects on the awareness of our intense struggle with our enemy - Satan.  When danger and difficulty came close, Luther would often resort to this song.

Now, let us come back to 2013.  The same is true today as it was in 1529.  We are in a time of strife, discord and unrest in our culture and society.  The message of this song is a message for the church today.  “Hallelujah, we believe our God is good.  Hallelujah, a mighty fortress is our God.”  Take hold of this promise today and trust God today.

Video: https://player.vimeo.com/video/75053906