i know tobey mac is no Handel or Watts... but ....

.... riding in the van with my family these lyrics struck me powerfully:

I keep trying to find a life
On my own, apart from you
I am the king of excuses
Ive got one for every selfish thing I do

Whats going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That Im still a man in need of a savior

(chorus)I wanna be in the lightAs you are in the lightI wanna shine like the stars in the heavensOh, lord be my light and be my salvationCause all I want is to be in the lightAll I want is to be in the light

The disease of self runs through my blood
Its a cancer fatal to my soul
Every attempt on my behalf has failed
To bring this sickness under control

Tell me, whats going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That Im still a man in need of a savior

Resources on Forgiveness in Personal Relationships

The Four Promises of Forgiveness
Ken Sande - A great way to remember what you are really saying (and committing to) when you say "I forgive you."

Forgiving Others - Part 1
Bryan Chapell (mp3) - Matthew 18:21-31

Forgiving Others - Part 2
Bryan Chapell (mp3) - Matthew 18:21-31

Bundle of Paradoxes

“When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.”     -- Brennan Manning

When I Receive Jesus... I receive HIS view of things

John Stott first exposed me to this path to receiving the Scriptures as the Word of God... it is described well here:

I am not here trying to argue for the complete trustworthiness of the Bible, only that its portrayal of the life and teaching of Jesus is historically accurate. If it is, then we can draw conclusions about who Jesus is from the information we read there. If eventually we put our faith in Jesus, then His view of the Bible will become ours. Speaking personally, I take the whole Bible to be reliable not because I can somehow prove it all to be factual. I accept it because I believe in Jesus and that was His view of the Bible. --Tim Keller, page 263 endnote 4... in The Reason For God

What we take in by the Word we digest by meditation and let out by prayer.        
                                                        — Thomas Manton

"You have given so much to me.  Give me one thing more--a grateful heart."
    
                    --a prayer in a poem by George Herbert, a seventeenth-century Anglican--

The Lure of the Village of Morality

Many are turning aside from the Christian pathway; they are turning to the village of Morality, and to the house of Mr. Legality, who is reported to be very skillful in relieving men of their burdens... 'Making Christ Master' in the life, putting into practice 'the principles of Christ' by one's own efforts – these are merely new ways of earning salvation by one's obedience to God's commands.  
------------
J. Gresham Machen in What Is Faith?

Sweeter than all pleasure

How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose!... You drove them from me, You who are the true, the sovereign joy.  You drove them from me and took their place, You who are sweeter than all pleasure...O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation.
                                                               --Augustine, Confessions, IX, I

Tonite tonite tonite 5:30pm

Vacation Bible School (VBS) along with nights in the park


Good times.... at kanapaha park

Why God Wants Us To Sing

We do it every Sunday.  When was the last time you thought about WHY we do it?  Good thoughts to prep you for tomorrow:

Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

For God is the King of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm!     --from Psalm 47

Why Does God Want Us to Sing?

1. Because singing helps us remember.  When Moses was getting ready to lead the people into the promised land... God told Moses to teach the people a song... so they would remember.

2. Helps us combine doctrine & devotion.

Music has the capacity to stir us emotionally... in a way that stating the very same truths does not often have.

3. Aligns us with Heaven, now and  future

God is being praised by creatures above

We shall sing Him sin-free one day with people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

-- Bob Kauflin

Go to the Cross!

There is no victory over the indwelling power of sin, and there is no pardon for the guilt of sin, but as the soul deals with the blood of Christ. All true sanctification comes through the cross.



Seek it there. Go to the cross—oh, go to the cross of Jesus. In simplicity of faith, go. With the strong corruption, go. With the burden of guilt, go, go to the cross.


You will find nothing but love there—nothing but welcome there—nothing but purity there. The precious blood of Jesus ‘cleanses us from all sin.’ And while you are kept low beneath the cross, your enemy dares not approach you, sin shall not have dominion over you, nor shall Satan, your accuser, condemn you.”        —Octavius Winslow

Almighty God, who has given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech you that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of your favor and glad to do your will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion us into one united people. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in your Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to your law, we may show forth your praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in you to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

This my friends, is what idolatry can feel like

Every night you are trying to prove your self-worth…you want to be the absolute best, wittiest, smartest, most charming, best-smelling version of yourself. If I can make people enjoy the experience and have a higher regard for me when I’m finished, it makes me feel like an entire person. If I come short of that, I’m not happy. How things go for me every night is how I feel about myself for the next 24 hours.

— David Letterman

I am NOT throwing stones at Letterman... he is one of us!  The addicted & insecure.  The ones who are looking for acceptance and longing to be righteous.  The question is NOT, in my opinion, whether or not you struggle with Letterman is talking about... you do.  The question is: "Are you aware of those wells from which you seek to slake your thirst?  Are your friends aware of them?  Are you repenting from them or thinking that one more drink will satisfy.  Rescue us from ourselves, Jesus."

Ways people try to define themselves:
-- How goes my late-nite TV show?
-- How goes my preaching, teaching, leading?
-- What do people think of my kids/marriage/reputation?
-- How is the portfolio?
-- Am I on the team?  In the starting line-up?
-- Have I been published?  How many times?

-- etc

Gospel-Happiness

John Bunyan, in meditating on the phrase "I will in no wise cast out" in John 6:37, wrote this:

"He that cometh to Christ shall not want anything that may make him gospelly-happy in this world, or that which is to come."

A Communion Prayer

May the grace of Christ our Saviour,
                    And the Father's boundless love,
                    With the Holy Spirit's favor,
                    Rest upon us from above.

 
                    Thus may we abide in union
                    With each other and the Lord,
                    And possess, in sweet communion,
                    Joys which earth cannot afford.
                                Amen.
                                     by Rev. John Newton, 1779

Lie & Blush at Jesus' feet as your safe retreat

What a motley wretch am I!
Full of inconsistency!
Sure the plague is in my heart,
Else I could not act this part.

Let me come unto my Lord,
Self-condemnèd and abhorred;
Take the sinner's safe retreat,
Lie and blush at Jesus' feet.

If my heart is broken well,
God will surely with me dwell;
Yet amazèd I would be,
How the Lord should dwell with me.   --John Berridge

Gadsby's Hymns, #301, 7s
Inconstancy. Ps. 39. 5-7, 11; Job 25. 6

Gadsby 194 by Newton

Preserve the power of faith alive
In those who love thy name;
For sin and Satan daily strive
To quench the sacred flame.
 

Thy power and mercy first prevailed
From death to set us free;
And often since our life had failed,
Had it not been in thee.

  To thee we look, to thee we bow,
To thee for help we call;
Our Life and Resurrection thou,
Our Hope, our Joy, our All.                      --John Newton

Dwelling in the Same Heart

... What has puzzled and amazed many a good Christian, that there should be

that which is so divine and precious, as the saving grace of God, and the

new and divine nature dwelling in the same heart, with so much corruption,

hypocrisy, and iniquity, in a particular saint.    -- J. Edwards

The Father Loves by GIVING

The Father loved us by giving His Son for us

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

..... God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(John 3:16, Romans 5:8)

And, He loved us by giving us to His Son

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

(John 6:37, 39, John 10:28, John 17:6, 9, 24)

A Huge Shift Comes When We Begin.....

To recognize and believe that the many unexpected events are not just disturbing interruptions of our projects, but the way in which God molds our hearts and prepares us for His return.

--Henri Nouwen