Saturday, March 30, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
And Can It Be - Indelible Grace
And Can It Be was written by Charles Wesley, and first published in 1738. This hymn describes the wonder that fills our hearts when we consider the mercy that caused God to take on flesh and die in our place.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
How Sin Works
The law discourages us because it shows us the
holiness of God; it shows us the deceitfulness of sin within us, it
pin-points it; it brings it out; aggravates it and so stimulates it in
us. It tells us not to do something and in telling us that it introduces
us to it and arouses within us a desire to do it. The law cannot save
us or deliver us.
This is why moral teaching alone to unbelievers is insufficient. It’s complete nonsense to believe that you can teach young people not to commit sin by merely telling them about the evil consequences of sin. What you are doing is to introduce them to the pleasures of sin. That’s the effect moral teaching generally produces. In telling them not to sin you are giving them a picture of the thing and at once they desire it. The basic passions and lusts are stronger than our minds. That’s how sin works.
Here’s a person under law. They are helpless, depressed and discouraged, and the more the law tells them not to do certain things the more they desire to do them. Isn't that what every child does? Tell them not to do something and immediately they want to do it. That’s human nature. Sin twists all the commandments and makes us worse than we were before. That's why we need a savior that's why we need grace.
This is why moral teaching alone to unbelievers is insufficient. It’s complete nonsense to believe that you can teach young people not to commit sin by merely telling them about the evil consequences of sin. What you are doing is to introduce them to the pleasures of sin. That’s the effect moral teaching generally produces. In telling them not to sin you are giving them a picture of the thing and at once they desire it. The basic passions and lusts are stronger than our minds. That’s how sin works.
Here’s a person under law. They are helpless, depressed and discouraged, and the more the law tells them not to do certain things the more they desire to do them. Isn't that what every child does? Tell them not to do something and immediately they want to do it. That’s human nature. Sin twists all the commandments and makes us worse than we were before. That's why we need a savior that's why we need grace.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Sunnyland Slim - Johnson machine gun
Personnel : Sunnyland Slim/ piano & vocals ; Lurrie Bell/ guitar ; John Riley/ bass ; Hasson Miah / drums ; Beau Riley/ trombone
How to Avoid a Broken Heart
C. S. Lewis:
Justin Taylor
There is no safe investment.—C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1960), 169-170
To love at all is to be vulnerable.
Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken.
If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal.
Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.
But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change.
It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.
The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation.
The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.
Justin Taylor
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
What Evil has He done?
When the people cried out crucify him, Pilate
said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” The people shouted louder
“Crucify Him”. Pilate wanting to satisfy the crowd released Barabbas and
delivered Jesus to be crucified. Everyone in that crowd knew of the
virtuous life of Jesus. A perfect man obedient to the Father, empowered
by the Holy Spirit, who manifested the fruit of the Spirit, and the compassion
of God; He went about doing good, healing people, helping people,
feeding people, setting people free from all oppression. Even Pilate
admitted “I FIND NO FAULT IN THIS MAN” (Luke 23:4), even the demons
declared He was “THE HOLY ONE OF GOD!” (Mark 1:24).
Jesus was the summation of all moral qualities the incarnation of all virtue. Yet in spite of all of this the people cried “crucify Him!”, “crucify Him!” Think about it! Barabbas instead of Jesus. A thief instead of a giver, a sinner instead of a Savior, a killer instead of a healer, a peace breaker instead of a peace maker, an evil man instead of a righteous man. This is still happening today as people choose all kinds of things instead of Jesus Christ.
Jesus was the summation of all moral qualities the incarnation of all virtue. Yet in spite of all of this the people cried “crucify Him!”, “crucify Him!” Think about it! Barabbas instead of Jesus. A thief instead of a giver, a sinner instead of a Savior, a killer instead of a healer, a peace breaker instead of a peace maker, an evil man instead of a righteous man. This is still happening today as people choose all kinds of things instead of Jesus Christ.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Where is your salvation, your righteousness?
“First, the Christian is the man who no longer
seeks his salvation, his deliverance, his justification in himself, but
in Jesus Christ alone. He knows that God’s Word in Jesus Christ
pronounces him guilty, even when he does not feel his guilt, and God’s
Word in Jesus Christ pronounces him not guilty and righteousness, even
when he does not feel that he is righteous at all. The Christian no
longer lives of himself, by his own
claims and his own justification, but by God’s claims and God’s
justification. . . Our righteousness is an “alien Righteousness”, a
righteousness that comes from outside of us (extra nos). .. If somebody
asks him, Where is your salvation, your righteousness? He can never
point to himself. He points to the Word of God in Jesus Christ, which
assures him salvation and righteousness. (From Life Together by Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, pg.21-27)
Slowdown - Paul Butterfield
Woodstock, Bearsville NY 1977. With Levon Helm Dr.John and David Sanborn.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Alison Krauss - I Believe In You - Bob Dylan cover
I still remember the impact this song had on me when I first heard it in 1979 on a cassette while driving in my car
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Gods That Fail
Vinoth Ramachandra:
The people of the modern West are better fed, better housed, better equipped with health care than those in any previous age in human history. But paradoxically, they also seem to be the most fearful, the most divided, the most superstitious and the most bored generation in human history. All the labor-saving devices of modern technology have only enhanced human stress, and modern life is characterized by restless movement from place to place, from on experience to another, in a frenetic whirl of purposeless activity.Gods That Fail: Modern Idolatry and Christian Mission p.12-13
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Hope in a decadent age
“All that is meant by Decadence is ‘falling off.’ It implies in
those who live in such a time no loss of energy or talent or moral
sense. On the contrary, it is a very active time, full of deep
concerns, but peculiarly restless, for it sees no clear lines of
advance. The loss it faces is that of Possibility. The forms of art as
of life seem exhausted, the stages of development have been run
through. Institutions function painfully. Repetition and frustration
are the intolerable result. Boredom and fatigue are great historical
forces.”
Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present (New York, 2000), page xvi.
The ultimate historical force: “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5).
Ray Ortlund
Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present (New York, 2000), page xvi.
The ultimate historical force: “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5).
Ray Ortlund
Friday, March 8, 2013
Chávez’s Last Words and Yours
The head of Venezuela’s presidential guard was with Hugo Chávez during his final moments. His report on Chávez’s last words paints a picture of a man desperately clinging to life. According to this report, Chávez said:
But the great question we all have to ask ourselves is this: Will we be ready? Will our last words exhibit the desperation of a person who knows that it is all slipping away? Of a person who has the foreboding sense that something more terrible than he can imagine waits just on the other side? Or will our final words reflect the confidence that Christ has defeated the final enemy (1 Cor. 15:26)? The confidence that whoever trusts in Jesus Christ will live even if he dies (John 11:25)?
If the moment of your demise were descending upon you and you could see it coming as Chávez could, what would you say? That is the great question of your life. It’s the great question of every person’s life.
by Denny Burk
I don’t want to die. Please don’t let me die.
As a rule, I’m no fan of socialist dictators—particularly those of
Chávez’s ilk. But this strikes me as one of the saddest things I’ve ever
read. I grieve to think about what the horror of his final moments must
have been like. Death is no respecter of persons—not even of
billionaire Presidents who command a cult-like following among their
countrymen. Not even of you. As the old hymn has it, “Time like an
ever-flowing stream bears all its sons away.” None of us will escape
this great equalizer.But the great question we all have to ask ourselves is this: Will we be ready? Will our last words exhibit the desperation of a person who knows that it is all slipping away? Of a person who has the foreboding sense that something more terrible than he can imagine waits just on the other side? Or will our final words reflect the confidence that Christ has defeated the final enemy (1 Cor. 15:26)? The confidence that whoever trusts in Jesus Christ will live even if he dies (John 11:25)?
If the moment of your demise were descending upon you and you could see it coming as Chávez could, what would you say? That is the great question of your life. It’s the great question of every person’s life.
by Denny Burk
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
The Pink Prophet: A Lenten Reflection on Control
Thus says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere
mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from
the LORD. 6 They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see
when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the
wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. 7 Blessed are those who trust
in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. 8 They shall be like a tree
planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear
when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of
drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. 9 The
heart is devious above all else; it is perverse– who can understand it?
10 I the LORD test the mind and search the heart, to give to all
according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.
(Jeremiah 17: 5-10)
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah (who died in Egypt in 586 BC) gives us two ways of living. You can trust in “mere mortals” (verse 5). Or you can trust in the Lord (verse 7). No other options. Trust in man, earthly things, human wisdom. Or rely on God.
The first way is the path of control. You look at your life, your surroundings, and you trust in what you can see and do. You try to control your career, your relationships, your health, your children, your world. You fix things. You send articles to people to convince them to see things your way. You offer unsolicited advice to people. You use formulas and strategies to get things to come out your way. Jeremiah says if you live like this, you’ll be like a “shrub in the desert.” That’s a lonely picture. This is because, as it turns out, people don’t like to be controlled. In addition, you quickly come to find out, control is an illusion. The sure-fire investment goes south. You are not able to have children. Acute depression forces you to leave college. Your daughter chooses the artists’ commune over business school. And despite your faithfulness to the gym and organic food, you find a lump. Just ask this Chinese government official who just missed his flight (for the second time):
The other path is to trust in God. You realize that you are not in control, and God is. There is a yielding, a resting here. This is the place of non-anxiety. You allow God to save you (that’s what the cross of Jesus is about, after all), rather than trying to save yourself.
When I tell people this, they immediately ask, “Well, how do I do that?” They want a formula to make it happen. They want to “do something” to trust God more. This is what the human heart does—assert its own autonomy. As Jeremiah says in verse 9, “The heart is devious above all else.” (Pink paraphrases this in her current single, “Try”: “Funny how the heart can be deceiving/more than just a couple times.” Check out Pink’s gymnastics-infused multi-colored dance-fighting in the video ()). The heart lies and says: “You can control things. Why don’t you give it another try?”
But that’s going back to the old control mindset. God is not ours to control. So what to do? Wait. Rest. Let things go. Pretend like the world isn’t on your shoulders. Many times, trusting God means you do less. And I bet you’ll find that God is already at work, through the circumstances of your life, to loosen your grip on things you can’t control anyways. The more you see things not yielding to your attempts at control, the more you can be sure that God is teaching you to trust him. So what do you do to trust God? Don’t worry—God will get you to a place where you don’t have any other option. And then, as the Psalmist says, you’ll finally find rest for your soul.
Mockingbird
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah (who died in Egypt in 586 BC) gives us two ways of living. You can trust in “mere mortals” (verse 5). Or you can trust in the Lord (verse 7). No other options. Trust in man, earthly things, human wisdom. Or rely on God.
The first way is the path of control. You look at your life, your surroundings, and you trust in what you can see and do. You try to control your career, your relationships, your health, your children, your world. You fix things. You send articles to people to convince them to see things your way. You offer unsolicited advice to people. You use formulas and strategies to get things to come out your way. Jeremiah says if you live like this, you’ll be like a “shrub in the desert.” That’s a lonely picture. This is because, as it turns out, people don’t like to be controlled. In addition, you quickly come to find out, control is an illusion. The sure-fire investment goes south. You are not able to have children. Acute depression forces you to leave college. Your daughter chooses the artists’ commune over business school. And despite your faithfulness to the gym and organic food, you find a lump. Just ask this Chinese government official who just missed his flight (for the second time):
The other path is to trust in God. You realize that you are not in control, and God is. There is a yielding, a resting here. This is the place of non-anxiety. You allow God to save you (that’s what the cross of Jesus is about, after all), rather than trying to save yourself.
When I tell people this, they immediately ask, “Well, how do I do that?” They want a formula to make it happen. They want to “do something” to trust God more. This is what the human heart does—assert its own autonomy. As Jeremiah says in verse 9, “The heart is devious above all else.” (Pink paraphrases this in her current single, “Try”: “Funny how the heart can be deceiving/more than just a couple times.” Check out Pink’s gymnastics-infused multi-colored dance-fighting in the video ()). The heart lies and says: “You can control things. Why don’t you give it another try?”
But that’s going back to the old control mindset. God is not ours to control. So what to do? Wait. Rest. Let things go. Pretend like the world isn’t on your shoulders. Many times, trusting God means you do less. And I bet you’ll find that God is already at work, through the circumstances of your life, to loosen your grip on things you can’t control anyways. The more you see things not yielding to your attempts at control, the more you can be sure that God is teaching you to trust him. So what do you do to trust God? Don’t worry—God will get you to a place where you don’t have any other option. And then, as the Psalmist says, you’ll finally find rest for your soul.
Mockingbird
Eric Clapton - "Gotta Get Over" [Official Lyric Video]
From Eric's brand new studio album "Old Sock"
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Muddy Waters - Johnny Winter Live (Audio) 7 song set
1.Mannish Boy (Morganfield,Ellas McDaniel Mel London 0:00
2.She's Nineteen Years Old 4:34
3.Nine Below Zero" (Sonny Boy Williamson) 9:39
4.Streamline Woman 14:58
5.Howling Wolf 19:37
6.Baby Please Don't Go 25:23
7.Deep Down in Florida 29:38
Monday, March 4, 2013
Muddy Waters - Got My Mojo Workin'
"Blues Masters" 1966 Canadian TV recording. James Cotton on Harmonica the best after Little Walter.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Never give up praying
“It is very apparent from the Word of God that he often tries
the faith and patience of his people, when they are crying to
him for some great and important mercy, by withholding the
mercy sought for a season; and not only so, but at first he
may cause an increase of dark appearances. And yet he
without fail, at last prospers those who continue urgently in
prayer with all perseverance and ‘will not let him go except
he blesses.’”
Jonathan Edwards, “A Call to United Extraordinary Prayer,”
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Screamin'
The man in the middle of the picture is Sam Lay. I played bass for The Sam Lay Blues Band in the early 1970's
Friday, March 1, 2013
Possessing All Things
By virtue of the believer's union with Christ, he doth really possess
all things. That we know plainly from Scripture. But it may be asked,
how doth he possess all things? What is he the better for it? How is a
true Christian so much richer than other men?
To answer this, I'll tell you what I mean by "possessing all things." I mean that God three in one, all that he is, and all that he has, and all that he does, all that he has made or done--the whole universe, bodies and spirits, earth and heaven, angels, men and devils, sun, moon and stars, land and sea, fish and fowls, all the silver and gold, kings and potentates as well as mean men--are as much the Christian's as the money in his pocket, the clothes he wears, the house he dwells in, or the victuals he eats; yea more properly his, more advantageously his, than if he could command all those things mentioned to be just in all respects as he pleased at any time, by virtue of the union with Christ; because Christ, who certainly doth thus possess all things, is entirely his: so that he possesses it all, more than a wife the share of the best and dearest husband, more than the hand possesses what the head doth; it is all his. . . .
Every atom in the universe is managed by Christ so as to be most to the advantage of the Christian, every particle of air or every ray of the sun; so that he in the other world, when he comes to see it, shall sit and enjoy all this vast inheritance with surprising, amazing joy.
Jonathan Edwards
To answer this, I'll tell you what I mean by "possessing all things." I mean that God three in one, all that he is, and all that he has, and all that he does, all that he has made or done--the whole universe, bodies and spirits, earth and heaven, angels, men and devils, sun, moon and stars, land and sea, fish and fowls, all the silver and gold, kings and potentates as well as mean men--are as much the Christian's as the money in his pocket, the clothes he wears, the house he dwells in, or the victuals he eats; yea more properly his, more advantageously his, than if he could command all those things mentioned to be just in all respects as he pleased at any time, by virtue of the union with Christ; because Christ, who certainly doth thus possess all things, is entirely his: so that he possesses it all, more than a wife the share of the best and dearest husband, more than the hand possesses what the head doth; it is all his. . . .
Every atom in the universe is managed by Christ so as to be most to the advantage of the Christian, every particle of air or every ray of the sun; so that he in the other world, when he comes to see it, shall sit and enjoy all this vast inheritance with surprising, amazing joy.
Jonathan Edwards
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