God is in Control

Another music video today; one that was filmed at a time when the criteria and expectations for music videos were not the same as today.   Twila Paris (and her sister Starla, don’t you love the names?) grew up on a base of Youth With A Mission.   Her own story is worth knowing.

Some would question the “value” of this song in today’s modern worship environment, but I have reasons for including it here.

For one, the question of “Where is God when bad things happen?” along with “How can a loving God allow suffering?” continue to top the lists of theological questions asked by believers and non-believers alike.

A strong declaration that God is, indeed, in control is, in my opinion, as needful as the song that says “How Great is our God.”

But the skeptic will ask, “Is God in control of the details of individual lives, or is God simply overseeing the big picture?”    Psalm 139 speaks of a God whose ‘micro’ focus is detailed to the point of seeing the ‘knitting together’ of the baby in its mother’s womb.    God is the author of a big picture story, but the idea that “He’s got the whole world in His hands” — an equally viable, although somewhat dated expression of worship — simply by definition must extend to the ‘macro’ picture and the ‘micro’ picture.

God’s either in control of everything or He’s not in control of anything.

But here’s the question:  What’s your definition of “control?”

This is no time for fear

This is a time for faith and determination

Don’t lose the vision here

Carried away by emotion

Hold on to all that you hide in your heart

There is one thing that has always been true

It holds the world together

God is in control

We believe that His children will not be forsaken

God is in control

We will choose the remember and never be shaken

There is no power above or beside Him, we know

God is in control

History marches on

There is a bottom line drawn across the ages

Culture can make its plan

Oh, but the line never changes

No matter how the deception may fly

There is one thing that has always been true

It will be true forever

God is in control….

He has never let you down

Why start to worry now?

He is still the Lord of all we see

And He is still the loving Father

Watching over you and me

Caedman’s Call: Who You Are

I’m so glad someone posted this song.   Caedman’s Call have a great ‘listening’ worship song here; though increasingly some Churches are adding pieces with greater complexity.

I love the line, “You opened your arms / You call me into salvation / Your infinite love / Echoes in all creation.”

When I was young
You were my breath and heartbeat
Born in the dark
You were the hand that held me
You opened your arms
You call me into salvation
Your infinite love
Echoes in all creation

For who You are
You’re the great I am
For who You are
You’re the son of man
For who You are
I am who I am

Father of grace
I am a child of mercy
Inside my heart
And all around me I see the glory

Of who You are
You’re the great I am…

You pull me out of darkness
You pulled me out of all my emptiness
You are Your instrument of praise

Who You are
You’re the great I am…

Have Hurting People Estranged From the Church Left The Faith?

A piece I wrote at Thinking Out Loud about the need for confession and forgiveness used, as a springboard for discussion, a post from a ‘confessional’ website where a reader stated that they’ve actually left their faith, but are staying on the church’s e-mail prayer chain list so they can continue to be in on all the church gossip.

If you’re interested, here is the item I wrote.

A reader responded with this comment which expresses a rather comment sentiment which you’ve probably heard come up in any discussion of someone leaving the faith.

The obvious scripture about christians who are no longer christians is that they went out from us because they were never part of us. What’s terribly sad is that they really do think they were once a christian. Though they mislead a few. It’s not possible for those people to make a dent in the reality of Christians anymore than a drop of dew on a shingle. Thanks for the blog.

I fully understand that there are a number of people who feel that way.   However, I also recognize that this reader does not speak for many others who would be reading that particular blog post; so I responded:

I’m sorry, but the “They were never Christians to begin with” flow of argument just doesn’t work for the many, many readers of this blog who disagree with your dogmatic eternal security position.   Since this was a post about the need for confession and forgiveness, and not about other doctrinal matters, I won’t pursue it beyond suggesting that the Bible makes very clear the possibility of being “a partaker of the Holy Spirit” and then “falling away.”

The idea that if someone was truly “in Christ” they would never walk away is good positionally, and there is an extent to which I can embrace that; but then you run into people who have endured a great deal of brokenness in their post-conversion situation, and have elected to walk away.

But the simple rejoinder to your statement might be, if a Christian can’t truly ‘leave,’ then they haven’t actually left; they are just going through a period of extreme hurt, extreme pain or extreme rejection.   Some seed in the parable of the sower actually did “take root” and “sprang up” before it was scorched by the sun.

There’s a lot of scorched people out there.

(Actually, I’m amazed at the level of “belief” among so called committed atheists.  They say they’ve left the Church, but they hold on to an interesting mix of doctrines.)

It’s funny how you can coin a phrase in the middle of writing something.   Scorched people is one of those.   But they are legion and and I’m sure you know some.

How do you respond to the “they were never one of us” argument? Judas walked with Jesus for three years.   I believe he was as in as in can be.   Perhaps he had a predilection to some kinds of temptation.   Perhaps he was jealous of the inner-circle relationship enjoyed by Peter, James and John.   Perhaps he just felt the whole crusade wasn’t making enough of a political dent in Galilee.  But was his sin any different from the many distractions which carry away people in Christian leadership today?   If Satan had truly blinded him 100%, he never would have recognized his transgression; he would have continued to believe his cause was just.

I believe the teachings of Jesus “took root” with Judas as much (or more) as with anyone else.

But he got scorched.

Finding Your Worship Moment

I have written and spoken many times on the concept of finding a worship moment; that time when you are just overcome by the beauty of creation and you have to stop and thank God for what He has made, and worship Him for being able to make it.

But not all worship moments involve emotional intensity, there are some that equal the fervor of a Sunday morning worship time in a Charismatic church, but there are others where you don’t respond the same, but in your heart, there is no doubt about giving credit to Whom credit is due.

This little forest is nested in a town park not far from our business.   It’s been awhile since we grabbed a sandwich and took a half hour to enjoy some time together, but on Thursday we did just that.   Mrs. W. was quite excited about owning — for the first time in her life — a truly decent camera and was snapping picture after picture of leaves, and tree trunks, and tiny little spiders.

“Hurry up,” I kept saying; “No more micro pictures, you need to take more macro pictures.”   For me, the beauty in creation is always the big picture scenes;  I tend to choose Niagara Falls over the little drops of water running down the rock; although, when I was thirsty this summer at High Falls Gorge, the water from the rock proved much easier to access than the torrent racing down the gorge itself.

Each one of us has different things in creation which remind us of the  greatness of God.   The heavens do indeed tell the splendor of God’s glory (the macro) and the earth provides the details of His creative engineering (the micro).   Day after day, nature repeats this message to us like a flashing beacon; night after night nature provides the information.   What matters is that we need to formulate some response to all that we see.

But for me, the beauty of the forest, is the more appreciated.   This time around I wasn’t exactly overcome with worship, but again, you see it all differently when you know the Maker.

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Portions of today’s thoughts are taken from Psalm 19.

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The Assurance of Pardon

Today at Thinking Out Loud, I looked at the need people have to confess, but often this is nothing more than a desire to get something off their chest, or to blurt out something that they’ve been keeping to themselves.

A key element of confession has to involve the WHO question. To whom am I making this confession?   The person wronged?   A third party to whom might be inflicted some collateral damage?   Or do we confess our sins to God and then expect that to be sufficient, and leave the earthly details to sort themselves out?

The next question is the WHAT question. Is simply telling God (or someone else) what we did sufficient or is genuine sorrow or remose needed as well?   In other words, is confession simply bringing the truth to the surface, or does it involve genuine repentance?   (What James MacDonald in his Downpour tour, might call “face in the dirt” repentance.)   Clearing the air is not clearing the soul.

Finally there is the matter of the CONFESSOR’S RESPONSE. If we confess our sin to God, he is faithful and just to forgive us… here’s how I paraphrased that one today: “if we confess our sin, with faithfulness and according to a justice we can’t always comprehend, he will pardon that sin and help us to work out that sin-nature that caused it.”

Then there’s our NEXT STEPS. Our response also has to involve a determination to both learn from our error and not repeat the same actions or type of actions.   And it may involve subsequent confession to other parties who have been affected by what we have done.

You can read the post I referred to by clicking here.

Consider Your Ways

Anyone who can’t find Christian devotional content on the internet just isn’t looking hard enough.  Today we introduce Fresh Manna by Tim Burt, an associate pastor in Minnesota who has been writing devotions online since 2007.   You can also read today’s devotional here.

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“Now therefore thus says the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.” (Haggai 1:5)

I woke up this morning thinking about people that enter into sudden crisis and how it affects their spiritual walk. The man that suddenly has his wife utter those words that grip his heart, “I’m leaving you – I just can’t do this anymore.” The person who has just had his boss tell him or her “I am so sorry but the company has to lay off fifty people and I have to let you go.” The person that is sitting with their doctor to find out what those unusual symptoms have been about and he says, “I am sorry to tell you this but you have cancer.” The person who gets the phone call about their loved one just having a serious accident. All these horrible crisis occurrences can grip the heart and attempt to send one’s mind into a tailspin. And they are seldom over in a moment. Difficult times and seasons like this often lead to pain, confusion, condemnation, blame, and eventually backsliding from God. I believe that today, God is trying to warn some of those reading about needed changes that will help them avoid crisis and to others – a call to come back to Him from their wandering away.

When sincere Christians experience these kinds of painful, heart-gripping events, most at some point begin to process through a spiritual inventory. “What did I do to bring this on?” Even though they may have done absolutely nothing, the devil uses these occasions to take advantage of pointing out our sinful weaknesses and beats us over our head with condemnation. That is his wicked nature that will never change. He is an accuser and is called the accuser of the brethren. Rev. 12:10 “…the accuser of God’s children, who accuses them before our God day and night…” Some think the accusations they hear are from God and that He is mad at them. They don’t have the discernment to know it’s the voice of Satan. Consequently, some run from God at these times of crisis. Others get mad at God. They think God has let them down.

When people are guilty of sin and won’t own up to it and it has led to pain or crisis, they often blame God, but since they can’t see Him, they blame those that represent God. They blame their Pastor, or religion, or someone who preaches the gospel on television that they can take cheap shots at, or maybe even their Christian friends. Suddenly every Christian looks like a hypocrite because of their imperfection and Satan amplifies that. Blaming someone else feels better than looking inside through self-examination and repenting for sin.

If disobedience has led to or contributed to the crisis they are facing, the Lord’s goal is always an assurance of His love and willingness to forgive where there is repentance of sin. His goal is always reconciliation – the restoring of relationship and right behavior with Him and help and deliverance from the crisis. Examine Jesus’ walk and you will see this is true. Its’ always about Him bringing correction and instruction on how to get it right. It’s all about leading people into change – supernatural change. It’s never about beating someone up and leaving them in the dust. The devil will do that. People do that to each other, but that is not God’s character.

Crisis often drives healthy self examination. It is always the right time to examine your life. It is also always the right time to purge ungodly thoughts, attitudes, unforgiveness, immoral behavior, and anything that we would mark unpleasing to God. Crisis might drive us to our knees. But it would be better to hit our knees before crisis came. It would be better to delight ourselves in the fear of God and move as far away from ungodly attitudes and behavior out of our love for God as possible. If we did, we’d have greater confidence that God would protect us and help and deliver us when crisis rears its ugly head instead of being buried in the devil’s condemnation.

He will supernaturally strengthen us to make needed changes and that often helps us avoid the crisis’s that could derail us. That is why He calls out to us and says: “Now therefore thus says the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.” (Haggai 1:5)

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt

Worship Leader Strategy

For a blog that was created to avoid the topical tangents of my other blog, I do, in fact, end up talking about worship many times.   Maybe that’s not a bad thing.   Even if you don’t sing or play an instrument, to what degree are you known as a ‘worshiper’?

The other day my mother mentioned to me in a phone call that even though her voice has aged, on a recent afternoon she wanted to sing a couple of songs to the Lord.  She got the concept that He was the audience.   She wanted to give Him that gift.

Doug Thorsvik writes the blog Strategic Song Selection which is read by other worship leaders.   What follows isn’t a regular post, but a special page he created in April ’09 on the subject of worship leaders having a well-planned strategy behind what they do.

As part of the Air Command and Staff College seminar I completed when I was in the Air Force, I took a correspondence elective course titled “On Vietnam”. The big idea I took away and the lesson that has stuck with me is: tactically the U.S. Military had little trouble winning individual battles; however, strategically the U.S. ended up losing the war. Following those tactical defeats, our opponents strategically delayed the war through regular peace table talks until the lack of popular support for the war in America ultimately forced an end.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the military terms tactical and strategic here are brief definitions and examples:
Tactical: 3. of or pertaining to a maneuver or plan of action designed as an expedient toward gaining a desired end or temporary advantage. (Dictionary.com) Example: Desserts and junk food stimulate the taste buds with fleeting satisfaction.
Strategic: 4. Military. a. intended to render the enemy incapable of making war, as by the destruction of materials, factories, etc.: a strategic bombing mission. (Dictionary.com) Example: A balanced and nutritious diet makes good overall health and well being possible.

I wonder . . .

• Does our approach to planning and choosing songs for individual worship services emphasize the tactical at the expense of the strategic?
• Are we winning the battles, individual engaging church worship experiences, but losing the war, growing worshippers of depth, substance, and endurance?
• Do we choose songs to serve believers at all times and for a lifetime, or is our concern limited to individual Sunday worship services?

Paul uses military concepts in Ephesians 6:10-18 as he talks about the armor of God. The passage is rich with potential applications using songs. For example, when he says: “18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests,” I would say strategic use of great prayer songs can help prepare believers to do just that.

What exactly does strategic song planning look like? A starting point is recognizing the difference between being tactical and strategic. It’s easy for the tyranny of the urgent (the next set list) to overshadow being strategic (taking a longer view).

Read more at Strategic Song Selection

Don’t Give Church Kids “Things”

A Christian bookstore in Anytown, U.S.A. …

Customer: I’m looking for something to give my Sunday School class on the first week; maybe some pencils or something…

Clerk: You know, kids are pretty high-tech these days, they’re not really impressed with pencils anymore and we’ve kinda stopped ordering them.

Customer: Well, what does that leave? How about some rubber stamp things, or stickers; or one time I got bookmarks with smiley faces…

Clerk: You know, forgive me for saying this, since I don’t know you well, but maybe you should just give them you.

Customer: I’m sorry. What was that?

Clerk: Maybe you should just give them yourself. Pour your life into them. Spend time listening to their stories. Invite them over to your house a few times.

Customer: Okay. I get that. But I really felt I was meant to come in and buy something here today.

Clerk: And so you should.  But invest in your own spiritual development. Build yourself up in God’s Word, and then, out of the overflow, you’ll have so much more to give your Sunday School students.

Customer: Like what?

Clerk: I don’t know. It will be different for each person. But something that challenges you to get deeper into Bible study, deeper into prayer, deeper into sacrificial giving, deeper into awareness of global missions, deeper into personal witness.

Customer: But that doesn’t directly benefit my Sunday School class.

Clerk: Actually it does directly. As you are being moved deeper into grace and deeper into knowledge; as you are being moved toward the cross; your kids will pick up on that spiritual momentum. They’ll be drawn into the current of spiritual motion that’s taking place.  It’s the best gift you can possibly give them.

Pete Wilson on Small Group Ministry

“We’ve always said we would never judge success at Cross Point by how many people we lined up in rows, but by how many people we could circle up in homes…”

[read more]

Stuart Townend — There is a Hope

This is another song from the CD/DVD by Stuart Townend, There is a Hope. I have an extensive review running at Thinking Out Loud, which you can read here...but I also wanted to link back here for a video, since T.O.L. has a distinctive no-embedding policy in deference to people still on dial-up internet access.

For those of you arriving from T.O.L., welcome to Christianity 201.   There are a number of worship songs scattered throughout this blog which I hope you’ll take the time to find.

This is the song which opens the Stuart Townend album and the video.   In the U.K, Christian music compositions are known by their first line, so this is You’re The Word of God the Father.   In the U.S., pieces go by an actual title, so this is, Across the Lands.   Regular C-201 readers can also find the column about Stuart posted as a comment to this post.

Early Church Snapshot

“Christians are not distinguished from the rest of humanity by country, language, or custom. For nowhere do they live in cities of their own, nor do they speak some unusual dialect, nor do they practice an eccentric lifestyle….While they live in both Greek and barbarian cities, as each one’s lot was cast, and follow the local customs in dress and food and other aspects of life, at the same time they demonstrate the remarkable and admittedly unusual character of their own citizenship.

They live in their own countries, but only as aliens; they participate in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign country is their fatherland, and every fatherland is foreign. They marry like everyone else, and have children, but they do not expose their offspring. They share their food but not their wives. They are `in the flesh,’ but do not live `according to the flesh.’ They live on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws; indeed in their private lives they transcend the laws.

They love everyone, and by everyone they are persecuted. They are unknown, yet they are condemned; they are put to death, yet they are brought to life. They are poor, yet they make many rich; they are in need of everything, yet they abound in everything. They are dishonored, yet they are glorified in their dishonor; they are slandered, yet they are vindicated. They are cursed, yet they bless; they are insulted, yet they offer respect. When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; when they are punished, they rejoice as though brought to life….Those who hate them are unable to give a reason for their hostility.”

~From The Epistle to Diognetus, a little known piece of early Christian literature written to a high-ranking pagan, Diognetus. You can read the post where I found it at Scott Shirley’s blog, which also links you to a longer article about this document and another segment of its text.

Being Real, Being Transparent

The word ‘transparency’ comes up in more recent worship music once that I know of, in the 1976 hymn, “We Are God’s People,” by Bryan Jeffrey Leach.
“Our cornerstone is Christ alone
And strong in Him we stand
So let us live transparently
And walk, heart to heart and hand in hand.”

But the theme is stronger in scripture, especially the injunction to “Let your yes be yes and your no be no.” (Matt. 5:37 echoed in James 5:12) Interestingly enough, that scripture got twisted to form the chorus of a hit song by Brownsville Station about a girl who is teasing a guy who wishes she would just say if she’s interested or not. The song’s a bit off the mark with its sexual suggestiveness, but in a sense, when we don’t live life transparently, we’re just teasing everybody.

When we opened our first bookstore, a well-meaning friend recognized the need for a store like ours to be a denominationally neutral zone, like Switzerland is politically. “People shouldn’t know what you think;” he told me. I took that advice for awhile and then realized, people actually wanted to know what I was thinking. In fact they were looking for someone who, as sports talk show host Jim Rome would say, “had a take” on any given doctrinal or ecclesiastical issue.

Mark gets right at the heart of the issue in Jesus’ ministry in verse 22 of chapter 1; “The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.” (NIV) Unfortunately, the NIV doesn’t use the word “Forthright” anywhere, which also describe the quality we see here. But authority (which comes from God) is as desirable now as it was when Jesus taught. People are looking for someone who is willing to take a stand. To delineate the issues. To not be concerned about possibly offending a few (or many) in the process.

I admire people who are wiling to stick their neck out to defend their position on various subjects. And it’s simply an added bonus to meet the person and consider that their public persona is not an act. Because in Jesus’ time, as now, there is a lot of acting going on. I just wanna be transparent.

~For the full lyrics and further thoughts on “We Are God’s People,” check out today’s post at Thinking Out Loud.

Believing Is Easy, Following Is Hard

I’ve been reading Texas pastor Trey Morgan for several years now.  I’ve reproduced this August 16th post in full here, but encourage you to read it on his blog.

I spent this past weekend in Santa Fe, New Mexico, doing a “Strong Marriages” seminar. I had a great time. I don’t have a lot to blog about this morning, so I thought I’d share a few things from my journal. Here are a few things I’ve written down this past week about being a “Follower of Jesus.” These are just a few thoughts and quotes I’m trying to process and work through:

Jesus said, “Follow me…”

• The church is to be the body of Christ in the world. Jesus’ followers are to be His hands and feet to others. Somehow the church has done a great job of making believers, but a horrible job of making followers of Jesus. We do a great job being Jesus’ mouth, but a poor job of being his hands and feet.
• Being a believer is easy. Being a follower is hard.
• Jesus didn’t come just to save me from hell … He came to call me (and you) to a lifestyle change.
• Jesus didn’t call me to a life of just going to church, but a life of adventure by being his hands and feet to other people. I feel most fulfilled in my faith when I’m accepting that adventure.
• My job is to draw people to Jesus, to call them to follow, to challenge them to be Jesus in other’s lives …
• To bring people to Jesus, it must happen by showing people Jesus … not scaring the hell out of them.
• If we lose a generation of people it won’t be because we didn’t entertain them enough, but because we didn’t dare them with the gospel and the adventure that’s involved in following Christ.
• When Jesus said, “follow me,” he was saying “watch me,” and “see me.” He was telling people to see how he lived and do it the same way. If people watch Christians closely, will they see us looking like Jesus?
• “We need to stop complaining about the church we’ve experienced and work on becoming the church we dream of.” ~Shane Claiborne
• When it comes to Christianity, maybe even more important than what you believe and how you believe, is how you live.
• What I long for is a Christianity that looks more like Jesus.
• “The largest barrier to Christ has been Christians who shout loudly with their mouths, but have nothing to show with their lives.” ~Manning

So, what are some things that you’ve been thinking about? Do you have any thoughts on the things I mentioned above?

God Uses Nobodies

Here is a short devotional from Dwight Wagner at Strengthened By Grace:

I just recently spent some time studying Christ’s call of the twelve disciples. Even the nicknames they are given are suggestive that they were not impressive or extraordinary in many ways.  Then I came across this quote that reminded me again of whom God chooses and whom he uses.

“Grace means God uses nobodies.  Grace also means He makes nobodies into somebodies.  The problem is this:  Our shame screams so loudly and our guilt is so huge, we convince ourselves we’re not useful and we think we cannot measure up.  After all, you may think, I have to be somebody special to be useful or important to God.  But the fact is He does great things through nobodies.  He does some of His best work with those who think they are finished and, humanly speaking, should be.”–Chuck Swindoll

What a Faithful God

In the spirit of “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” this 1989 worship song extolling one of the many great characteristics of God is by Dawn and Robert Critchley from the UK. This version is paced a little different from how I first learned it; and the three verses start out pitched really low, but then the song explodes like fireworks into a higher register celebrating the faithfulness of God. This is the original recording by the songwriter.  This is a great worship song that still has possibilities; it may not be “new” but it’s new to you!

Lord, I come before Your throne of grace
I find rest in Your presence,
And fullness of Joy
In worship and wonder,
I behold Your face
Singing what a faithful God have I

What a faithful God have I
What a faithful God
What a faithful God have I
Faithful in every way

Lord of mercy, You have heard my cry
Through the storm You·re the beacon
My song in the night
In the shelter of Your wings
Hear my heart·s reply,
Singing what a faithful God have I

Lord, all soverign
Granting peace from heaven
Let me comfort those who suffer
With the comfort You have given
I will tell of Your great love
For as long as I live
Singing what a faithful God have I