Ephesians 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Psalms 150:1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
Psalms 150:2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Psalms 150:3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Psalms 150:4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Psalms 150:5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
Psalms 150:6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

I am excited that the Body of Christ is beginning to value depth and cogency in music again. Music that expresses our earthly and brotherly love for Christ is Cainish in its offering. I understand personal songs can be personal expressions of How God is dealing with us and I have no problems with that unless we begin to bring them into worship as a corporate and church sense, this is not where our person should be expressed but His Person.

A musical perspective has to change when the doctrines of sovereignty have taken their appropriate place again from our pulpits. We are no longer expressing ourselves to God (as if we have something good to offer Him) instead we are built up and encouraged by what He is delivering to us. We are longer singing about our faithfulness but His. I am encouraged that many churches are beginning to value singing about Theology not just preaching it. I found this by Martin Luther and it made me laugh…

Foreword to Georg Rhau’s Collection, “Symphoniae iucundae”.

“I, Doctor Martin Luther, wish all lovers of the unshackled art of music grace and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ!

I truly desire that all Christians would love and regard as worthy the lovely gift of music, which is a precious, worthy, and costly treasure given to mankind by God.

The riches of music are so excellent and so precious that words fail me whenever I attempt to discuss and describe them…. In summa, next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds, hearts, and spirits…

Our dear fathers and prophets did not desire without reason that music be always used in the churches. Hence, we have so many songs and psalms.

This precious gift has been given to man alone that he might thereby remind himself that God has created man for the express purpose of praising and extolling God.

However, when man’s natural musical ability is whetted and polished to the extent that it becomes an art, then do we note with great surprise the great and perfect wisdom of God in music, which is, after all, His product and His gift; we marvel when we hear music in which one voice sings a simple melody, while three, four, or five other voices play and trip lustily around the voice that sings its simple melody and adorn this simple melody wonderfully with artistic musical effects, thus reminding us of a heavenly dance, where all meet in a spirit of friendliness, caress and embrace.

A person who gives this some thought and yet does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.”

- Martin Luther

Georg Rhau. 1488 – 1548

Just some morning thoughts

Able

“Oil-press,” the meaning of Gethsemane, is in direct correlation to the agony our Lord went through in the garden. The olives would be picked from the tree in that garden and be drained of their oil by several different means. The final stage of getting the vital oil from the olive was to crush it with a very heavy stone until all that the olive had to offer wash pressed from it leaving only a shell.

Luke 22:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

This reminds me that our Savior poured out His own precious life blood during the agony in the garden. Crushed under the weight of incredible sorrow and obedience he had only to look a stones throw away to find those who should have been looking, watching and praying … asleep.

Lets not fall asleep, come alive and awaken to see all that God desires to show you.

I wrote this song many years ago while in high school I was so touched by the meaning of Gethsemane that the Lord brought a song to my heart. I put some pictures to it here at home today. I hope it is a reminder of our Saviors Love for the father… and for you.

In Him

Able

Taxes seem to melt me, drain me and render me about as unintelligible and useless as a melted lump of neapolitan Ice cream. My once happy, tasty and neatly presented attitude dwindles down to a rather bleak and tasteless mix of my former self. Humdrum inspired morbid curiosities such as cliff jumping with out a parachute and cobra wrestling seem to fill my mind.

The one hope that pulls me out of my troublesome tax induced trance are wonderful thoughts of a day when I will be with Christ in His free government.

A day when all of God’s children will cower before the tax man no more…that will be magnificent!

I cant wait for a government that gets it right every time because there is no wrong. The Joy of an eternity with Christ and His future will FAR surpass the feeling that comes over me when I go from red to green on the Turbo Tax!

Come Lord Jesus! Take me home to that place where I am no longer reminded that I am paying for abortions, abominations and Obamas!

Just some thoughts needing to be flushed ten minutes after filing!

Able

Jeremiah 33:3- “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”

When I was traveling as a Youth Evangelist, Jeremiah 33:3 was a memory verse I would teach the children. The children would oftentimes stumble through the verse with one hand out ready to receive a prize for their sometimes suspect ideas of memorizing. While handing out my incredible assortment of really cheap prizes to the children, I remember thinking of the blessings these children would receive if they would only believe the very powerful verse they where quoting.

Throughout life*s changes, a beautiful wife, two wonderful children, and much more responsibility, I have never forgotten this verse. Life gets complicated, heavy, and sometimes overwhelming.

Did you know that Jesus never wants you to quit calling on him?

When you have found yourself in a huge mess and all your card house walls are ready to crash in, Jesus is waiting for you to call on Him. If you stand back and look at what you*ve become and wonder how you got there, if drug addiction, alcoholism, financial debt or anything is looming over you like a huge wave ready to crash, you can call on Him.

Psalm 91:15, He shall call upon me and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.

Christian, who have you been calling on? What is stopping you from calling on the name of the Lord for help? I often wonder today if any of the hundreds of children I gave gifts to still remember that verse and if they still believe it.