Praise

O God, to us show mercy and bless us in Thy grace; Cause Thou to shine upon us the brightness of Thy face; That so Thy way most holy on earth may soon be known, And unto every people Thy saving grace be shown. O God, let all men praise Thee, let all the nations sing; In every land let praises and songs of gladness ring; For Thou shalt judge the people in truth and righteousness, And through the earth the nations shall Thy just rule confess. O God, let people praise Thee, let all the nations sing, For earth …keep reading »

“Forever with the Lord!” Forever in His will, The promise of that faithful word, Lord, here in me fulfill. With You at my right hand, Then I shall never fail; Uphold me, Lord, and I shall stand, Through grace I will prevail. So when my latest breath Breaks through the veil of pain, By death I shall escape from death, And life eternal gain. That resurrection word, That shout of victory: Once more, “Forever with the Lord!” Amen, so let it be! James Montgomery, Forever with the Lord, 1835. (Last two stanzas.)

Let us be persuaded to love God with all our heart and might. O let us take our love off from other things, and place it upon God! Love is the heart of religion, the fat of the offering; it is the grace which Christ inquires most after, John xxi. 15, “Simon lovest thou me V Love makes all our services acceptable, it is the musk that perfumes them. It is not so much duty, as love to duty, God delights in; therefore serving and loving God arc put together, Isa. lvi. 0. It is better to love him than …keep reading »

God the Father is altogether Jesus-like!—it is the most breathtaking news that anyone can ever hear. But do we attend to what is revealed? I fear not.Imagination takes over again. What do we do? We imagine a clash between the presentations of God in different parts of the Old Testament, and between the entire Old Testament presentation and what we imagine Jesus to have been. What sort of person do you think of him as? Gentle, meek, and mild? Kind, and endlessly ready to be entreated and forgive? True—but only half the truth, and a half-truth treated as the whole …keep reading »

“There is such a thing as thanks-feeling—feeling thankful, and this ought to be the general, universal spirit of the Christian. Suppose, my dear brother, you are not rich, be thankful that you have to eat and to drink, and wherewithal you may be clothed. Suppose, even, that you had not a hope of heaven, I might say to a man, “Be thankful that you are not in hell.” But to you, Christian, I would add, “Be thankful that you never will be there, and that, if just now your present joys do not overflow, yet “there remaineth a rest for …keep reading »

If you would walk with God, you will associate and keep company with those that do walk with him. ‘My delight’, says holy David, ‘is in them that do excel’ in virtue. They were, in his sight, the excellent ones of the earth. And the primitive Christians, no doubt, kept up their vigor and first love, by continuing in fellowship one with another. The apostle Paul knew this full well, and therefore exhorts the Christians to see to it, that they did not forsake the assembling of themselves together. For how can one be warm alone? And has not the …keep reading »

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, written by Martin Luther in 1529, is an appropriate hymn for Reformation Sunday. This hymn is special to the Reformation as it was also called The Battle Hymn of the Reformation. It is also a great hymn on its own and the first song my wife and I heard as husband and wife as brother Steve Camp played the piano and sang it for us as we exited the church. A Mighty Fortress Is Our God A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal …keep reading »

In preparation to worship with your church family this weekend, I offer some wonderful words from Jeremiah Burroughs to reflected on concerning contentment in Christ, that He is all in all. If Christ is all in all, then let us bless God that ever we knew Christ, and that the great mystery of the gospel has been revealed to us. For otherwise we would have been without God in the world, and what would have become of us had not this grace of God in the gospel been revealed to us? Could it ever have entered into your heart? Certainly …keep reading »

Ought Christians glorify God in their attitudes? We should. We have so much to be thankful for. Just think , Christ was nailed to a cross and hung there to die for us; all we are called to do is pick up our cross. What a great time to reflect on our attitudes through the lens of what Christ has done on our behalf in preparation for corporate worship. Thomas Watson’s A Body of Divinity contains a sermon titled “Man’s Chief End is to Glorify God,” where he asks, “What is it to live to God?” 

Will­iam R. Fea­ther­ston wrote My Jesus, I Love Thee in 1864 when he was on­ly 16 years old. When singing hymns like this during certain season in life it makes me stop and think. I search my heart and think – Do I really love Jesus? I know I’m singing that I do, but do I? I do because He first loved me. Jesus taught me what love is. He loves me in spite of myself and He’s all I have. My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine; For Thee all the follies of sin I resign. …keep reading »

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast once adopted us, and continues to confirm this thy favour by calling us unceasingly to thyself, and dost not only severely chastise us, but also gently and paternally invite us to thyself, and exhort us at the same time to repentance, — O grant that we may not be so hardened as to resist thy goodness, nor abuse this thine incredible forbearance, but submit ourselves in obedience to thee; that whenever thou mayest severely chastise us, we may bear thy corrections with genuine submission of faith, and not continue untameable and obstinate to …keep reading »

Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior Pass me not, O gentle Savior, Hear my humble cry; While on others Thou art calling, Do not pass me by. Savior, Savior, Hear my humble cry; While on others Thou art calling, Do not pass me by.

Grant, Almighty God, that since thou art pleased kindly to invite us to thyself, and hast consecrated thy word for our salvation, — O grant that we may willingly, and from the heart, obey thee, and become so teachable, that what thou hast designed for our salvation may not turn to our perdition; but may that incorruptible seed by which thou dost regenerate us into a hope of the celestial life so drive its roots into our hearts, and bring forth fruit, that thy name may be glorified; and may we be so planted in the courts of thine house, …keep reading »

Grant, Almighty God, that since we are by nature so prone to rash judgement, we may learn to submit to thee, and so quietly to acquiesce in thy judgements, that we may patiently bear whatever chastisements thou mayest daily allot to us, and not doubt but that all is done for our well-being, and never murmur against thee, but give thee the glory in all our adversities; and may we so labor to mortify our flesh, that by denying ourselves we may ever allow thee to be the only true God, and a just avenger, and our Father, and that …keep reading »

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me, Confused at the grace that so fully He proffers me; I tremble to know that for me He was crucified— That for me, a sinner, He suffered, He bled, and died. I marvel that He would descend from His throne divine, To rescue a soul so

We argue endlessly over matters of religion and philosophy, about ethics and politics but each person must ultimately face the personal issue squarely: “What do I do about my sin?” That I sin and that you sin is debated by none save the most dishonest of men. We sin. We violate each other. We assault the holiness of God. What hope do we have in such dreadful turmoil? We can deny our sin or even the existence of God. We can exclaim that we are not accountable for our lives. We can invent a God who forgives everybody without requiring …keep reading »

O God, whose Name is excellent in all the earth, and Thy glory above the heavens; who on this day didst inspire and direct the hearts of our delegates in Congress to lay the foundations of our national peace, liberty, and safety; We bless and adore Thy glorious Majesty for all Thy loving kindness manifested towards this land and people; and we humbly beseech Thee to continue Thy goodness to us, that the heritage received from our fathers may be preserved in our time, and be transmitted unimpaired to the generations to come; that all nations of the earth may …keep reading »

Awake, my soul, and with the sun Thy daily stage of duty run; Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise, To pay thy morning sacrifice. Thy precious time misspent, redeem, Each present day thy last esteem, Improve thy talent with due care; For the great day thyself prepare. Heav’n is, dear Lord, where’er Thou art,

To us, also, in due time, shall be brought the message, “The Master is come and calls for you.” My ear hears a voice crying aloud, “Set your house in order; for you shall die and not live.” Will not you hear it? Will any one of you refuse the voice which speaks from Heaven? Death evidently pays no respect to character, age, or hopefulness. A man may addict himself to the service of his country, but his patriotism will not protect him.

Death was transformed for the believer when God sent His Son into the world and placed Him on the cross. Jesus Christ experienced the second death on behalf of His people – second death is biblical shorthand for the eternal judgment and punishment that awaits those who have not trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. After the believer experiences the first death, he does not taste the second death. For the Christian, death is no longer a precursor to the final judgment and separation of God; instead, death is now transformed to the portal into the presence of God. – …keep reading »

But as I ran my hell bound race Indifferent to the cost You looked upon my helpless state And led me to the cross And I beheld God’s love displayed You suffered in my place You bore the wrath reserved for me Now all I know is grace -Chorus- Hallelujah! All I have is Christ Hallelujah! Jesus is my life Second verse and chorus of All I Have Is Christ. Sovereign Grace Music. Words and music by Jordan Kauflin. We sang this a few times at T4G and it was wonderful. The song can be downloaded here.

Consider Christ upon the cross as a public person, that when He was crucified, and when He died, He died for your sins, and this knowledge of Christ will be a crucifying knowledge. This will stir up your heart to use your corruptions as your sins used Christ; as He hated your sin, so it will work the same disposition in you, to hate this body of death, and to use it as it used Christ. As we see this clearly, it will conform us to Christ. – Richard Sibbs

Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home. A thousand ages in Thy sight Are like an evening gone; Short as the watch that ends the night Before the rising sun. Time, like an ever rolling stream, Bears all its sons away; They fly, forgotten, as a dream Dies at the opening day. Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Be Thou our guard while troubles last, And our eternal home. Selected verses from Our God, Our Help In …keep reading »

Lord, it belongs not to my care by Richard Baxter Lord, it belongs not to my care whether I die or live; to love and serve thee is my share, and this thy grace must give. If life be long,O make me glad the longer to obey; if short,

You don’t have to go worship God this weekend with His people. You get to go worship God this weekend with His people. You get to do what God’s past people could only dream of, worship God openly, directly and corporately through the Messiah. Think and reflect on the words below as you savor the opportunity to worship God through Christ. “We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh” (Hebrews 10:19-20). Without Christ the holiness of …keep reading »

If Christ has our love, he has our all; and Christ never has what he deserves from us, till he has our love. True love withholds nothing from Christ, when it is sincerely set upon him. If we actually love him, he will have our time, and he will have our service, and he will have the use of all our resources, and gifts, and graces; indeed, then he shall have our possessions, freedom, and our very lives, whenever he calls for them. In the same way, when God loves any of us, he will withhold nothing from us that …keep reading »

In the face of suffering, the believer is not to look for the “hidden God”-that is, God in his secret majesty. We cannot even attempt to figure out by speculation why we are suffering. We can only, with Moses, look upon God’s “back-side,” his compassion and mercy as revealed in Christ and his cross. While God’s hidden will in suffering cannot be found, and searching for it can only drive one to depression or delusion, his revealed will is displayed in the suffering of Christ, in which his people are called to share. Suddenly, in light of this, the dark,

Poor sinner, something to consider as you undeservedly get to worship the Savior with other poor sinners. Christ’s Love to Poor Sinners Let us stand still, and admire and wonder at the love of Jesus Christ to poor sinners; that Christ should rather die for us, than for the angels. They were creatures of a more noble extract, and in all probability might have brought greater revenues of glory to God: yet that Christ should pass by those golden vessels, and make us vessels of glory,-oh, what amazing and astonishing love is this! ~Thomas Brooks sermon excerpt.

It is the first Lord’s Day of the new year. The first day many will gather together to worship corporately.We will gather together to worship God because of Jesus’ story – the gospel. Many times this year we will come together because of this story, but will we tell it? Will we tell it daily to ourselves? Will we tell it to others? Lord willing, this new year brings us another year of opportunities to tell

Below is a great poem/hymn by Joseph Hart. It is a great evangelistic call and a great reminder that even Christians need to continue to rest upon Christ. A Christian’s need for the Savior never ends. It seem appropriate so I moved the refrain of this hymn to the end as the last stanza as a response. What a blessed reminder! Come, ye sinners, poor and needy, Weak and wounded, sick and sore; Jesus ready