As I sit here in the beautiful city of Porum, Oklahoma, I'm thankful for such a wonderful extended family, immediate family, and Church! This morning I had the time, and interest to read through some devotional readings in Logos and saw where Jonathan Edwards had changed church music after he began to pastor the church in Massachusetts (where he was famous for many sermons on grace, such as Romans 5:1-5 and other passages....remember he is most known for Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God) the text stated that he encouraged the singing of the more lively congregational hymns by Isaac Watts. Oh yes, Isaac Watts! I looked down in the description and saw "Joy to the World"....Praise God! Amen! and Hallelujah!!!! Joy to the WORLD! The Lord has come.
I'm not kidding my spirit leaped within me and I praised God. What a joy!, what a wonder, what a relief, when Jesus robed himself in human flesh (Philippians 2:1-11) and carried all our sin. So...black friday notwithstanding, there is JOY to the World because Jesus has come for all of us. One more thing to be thankful for this weekend, one more reason to keep on serving Him this Christmas Season.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
A Grateful Heart
I found this great article on gratitude and thought I would share it with you.
Gratitude was such a vital part of Israel's religion that it pervaded most ceremonies and customs. Thank offerings acknowledged blessings from God (Lv 7:12, 13; 22:29; Ps 50:14). Shouts of joy (Ps 42:4), songs of praise (145:7; 149:1), and music and dance (150:3–5) all added to the spirit of thanksgiving in worship. Feasts and festivals were celebrated in remembrance of God's steadfast love throughout their history (Dt 16:9–15; 2 Chr 30:21, 22). King David appointed levitical priests to offer God thanks (1 Chr 16:4). This custom was carried on by the kings Solomon (2 Chr 5:12, 13) and Hezekiah (31:2), and by those who returned from the exile (Neh 11:17; 12:24, 27).
In the NT, the object of thanksgiving is the love of God expressed in the redemptive-work of Christ. The apostle Paul thanked God for that gift of grace (1 Cor 1:4; 2 Cor 9:15) and the ability to preach the gospel (2 Cor 2:14; 1 Tm 1:12). Paul thankfully participated in the spiritual gifts (1 Cor 14:18). Gratitude for love and faith among believers pervades his letters (Rom 6:17; Eph 1:15, 16; Phil 1:3–5; Col 1:3, 4; 1 Thes 1:2, 3).
Because the expression of gratitude is tied so closely to the response of faith, Paul encouraged believers to give thanks in all things (Rom 14:6; 1 Thes 5:18). He commanded Christians to pray with thanksgiving (Phil 4:6; Col 4:2) in the name of Christ, who has made all thanksgiving possible (Eph 5:20). In his teaching on how to celebrate the Lord's Supper, Paul specified that Christians should give thanks, just as the Lord "had given thanks" (1 Cor 11:24).
Elwell, Walter A. and Barry J. Beitzel. Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1988.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Search the Bible!
This is the season for giving thanks and one of the things we can thank God for is His word! If you can't get enough of God's word, You should look at this:
Add this to your site!
You can add this search engine to any site or blog by copying their HTML script and pasting it in. Have fun searching!
Verse:
John 3:16; Jn 3:16; John 3
Keyword:
Salvation, Jesus, Gospel
With Operators:
AND, OR, NOT, “ â€
You can add this search engine to any site or blog by copying their HTML script and pasting it in. Have fun searching!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
How Do YOU Study your Bible?
Bible Study has come a LONG way. I remember when I got my first complete Bible. My pastor, Rev. Charles M. Barnes took me (I couldn't have been any older than 8) to the Woodall Bookstore in Waxahachie and bought it for me. I remember when I got my first Bible with a concordance. Iris Watson taught in Children's Church at Bethel in Arlington what a concordance was and how to use it. That Christmas, I received a Bible with a concordance. To say that it changed my life would be an understatement. You can find all the verses on a topic grouped together? Glory to God. Then I was in Bible Quiz with the Assemblies of God for several years as a teen and memorized many books (it involved competition...not spirituality) in KJV. Today I praise God for that experience. I received a New American Standard version from my church when I graduated high school....and then!....I went to SAGU and discovered the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance! Another praise went heavenward. So what? you say?
Today it has all changed. Now, thankfully you can get the word of God just about any way you want it. The Soldier's Bible, the Policeman's Bible, Baby's first Bible, a Bible for every age level and every demographic. May His Name be Praised! Lest I sound too much like an early morning infomercial.....wait....there's more!
Since the advent of the PC, everything has changed. Now concordance searches are instantaneous on every kind of word in any kind of version. Now maps, commentaries and greek and hebrew tools can be utilized instantaneously and produced in a report. Through the use of the PC, a pastor, teacher, or Christian worker can instantaneously keyword search through ALL their library of books.
The internet Bible search engines are amazing in and of themselves. http://www.bible.logos.com/ for example will enable you to concordance search ANY word in ANY version, copy to your word processor and topic search as well.
Now the good people at Logos have won in the Bible software war. I'm happy to tell today you can download Logos for the iphone for free as well as consider the benefits of Logos 4. What they are calling Bible Study, Reimagined is exactly that. No longer just the domain of religious professionals (pastors, teachers, missionaries) Logos has created a software that will literally take discipleship and personal Bible study to the next level. Take it from a person who gets excited about a concordance, you might want to give your personal Bible study habit a look, and see what you can do faster, smarter, and to a much greater depth.
Since we're talking about the Scripture, consider theses Scriptures that urge us to study:
2 Timothy 2:15
Psalms 119:11
2 Peter 1:19-21
Hebrews 4:11-13
May the Lord bless you as you sharpen your saw.
Today it has all changed. Now, thankfully you can get the word of God just about any way you want it. The Soldier's Bible, the Policeman's Bible, Baby's first Bible, a Bible for every age level and every demographic. May His Name be Praised! Lest I sound too much like an early morning infomercial.....wait....there's more!
Since the advent of the PC, everything has changed. Now concordance searches are instantaneous on every kind of word in any kind of version. Now maps, commentaries and greek and hebrew tools can be utilized instantaneously and produced in a report. Through the use of the PC, a pastor, teacher, or Christian worker can instantaneously keyword search through ALL their library of books.
The internet Bible search engines are amazing in and of themselves. http://www.bible.logos.com/ for example will enable you to concordance search ANY word in ANY version, copy to your word processor and topic search as well.
Now the good people at Logos have won in the Bible software war. I'm happy to tell today you can download Logos for the iphone for free as well as consider the benefits of Logos 4. What they are calling Bible Study, Reimagined is exactly that. No longer just the domain of religious professionals (pastors, teachers, missionaries) Logos has created a software that will literally take discipleship and personal Bible study to the next level. Take it from a person who gets excited about a concordance, you might want to give your personal Bible study habit a look, and see what you can do faster, smarter, and to a much greater depth.
Since we're talking about the Scripture, consider theses Scriptures that urge us to study:
2 Timothy 2:15
Psalms 119:11
2 Peter 1:19-21
Hebrews 4:11-13
May the Lord bless you as you sharpen your saw.
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