Thursday, October 31, 2013
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
Brian Wilson & Jeff Beck Concert
This past Friday 10/25 I went to the Brian Wilson Jeff Beck concert. One of the
best concerts I have been to. Brian Wilson started with an 70 minute
set. He played some new songs and some classic Beach Boy songs my
favorite were from Pet Sounds. The set ended on such a high the
whole place was jumping. About 15 minutes later Jeff Beck started with a
Billy Cobham song Stratus. You are on this feel good high and Jeff Beck
came and blasted you with power rock and roll. He did a cover of Little
Wing by Jimi Hendrix that was awesome. He finished his set with A Day
In The Life a Beatles tune, Just beautiful. Beck is still one of the
greatest guitar players alive. Wilson's band came back out to vocally
back Beck on some songs and this set ended with Jeff's version of
Rolling and Tumbling a Muddy Waters song. The encore was some Beach Boy
songs with Beck playing guitar, and the finale was this beautiful
rendition of Danny Boy. Jeff Beck playing the vocal line on guitar and
the Brian Wilson and his band on vocals, it was moving. The concert was 2
hrs and 40 min. the energy was very high for the whole time. What a
concert, this was a once in a lifetime concert. We had a fantastic time.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Thursday, October 24, 2013
THE JOY OF THE BATTLE
THE
JOY OF THE BATTLE - At that sound the bent shape of the king sprang
suddenly erect. Tall and proud he seemed again; and rising in his
stirrups he cried in a loud voice, more clear than any there had ever
heard a mortal man achieve before,
Arise, arise, Riders of Theoden! Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter! spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered, a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!
With that he seized a great horn from Guthlaf his banner-bearer and he blew such a blast upon it that it burst asunder. And straightway all horns in the host were lifted up in music, and the blowing of the horns of Rohan in that hour was like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the mountains.
Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!
Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away. Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it. After him thundered the knights of his house, but he was ever before them. Eomer rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in his speed, and the front of the first eored roared like a breaker foaming to the shore, but Theoden could not be outpaced. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Orome the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like an image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed. For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the City.
--J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, p. 820
I read this and see the image of the movie as Theoden gives the charge to his army. The book adds something much needed "they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them" this is the attitude I need everyday as I enter into the battles I face in my life.
Arise, arise, Riders of Theoden! Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter! spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered, a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!
With that he seized a great horn from Guthlaf his banner-bearer and he blew such a blast upon it that it burst asunder. And straightway all horns in the host were lifted up in music, and the blowing of the horns of Rohan in that hour was like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the mountains.
Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!
Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away. Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it. After him thundered the knights of his house, but he was ever before them. Eomer rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in his speed, and the front of the first eored roared like a breaker foaming to the shore, but Theoden could not be outpaced. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Orome the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like an image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed. For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the City.
--J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, p. 820
I read this and see the image of the movie as Theoden gives the charge to his army. The book adds something much needed "they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them" this is the attitude I need everyday as I enter into the battles I face in my life.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Lets Get The Party Started!
Bryan
Chapell, commenting on the phrase 'the grace of God has appeared' in
Titus 2:11: Grace is not some abstract doctrine or theological
construct. Grace comes as Christ does. Grace is as personal as he is. In
fact, Christ is grace. The unmerited favor of God is what Jesus is
about, but it is also who he is. We should thus see grace as a personal
action by a personal God who saved us from our helpless condition out of pure love.
--R. Kent Hughes and Bryan Chapell, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus: Guard the Good Deposit (Crossway 2000), 339
Start the celebration! Shout for joy tell everybody you know you are saved by grace and grace alone. Or say it this way you are saved by Christ and Christ alone. Anyway you look at it you were helpless you were hopeless you were without God in this world. God in his grace hunted you down and rescued you from your hopeless existence because of his great love. Lets get the party started!
--R. Kent Hughes and Bryan Chapell, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus: Guard the Good Deposit (Crossway 2000), 339
Start the celebration! Shout for joy tell everybody you know you are saved by grace and grace alone. Or say it this way you are saved by Christ and Christ alone. Anyway you look at it you were helpless you were hopeless you were without God in this world. God in his grace hunted you down and rescued you from your hopeless existence because of his great love. Lets get the party started!
Monday, October 21, 2013
Friday, October 18, 2013
Thursday, October 17, 2013
You Lie!
“So
now, turn from your conscience and its feelings to Christ, who is not
able to deceive. My heart and Satan, however, who will drive me to sin,
are liars. . . . You should not believe your conscience and your
feelings more than the word which the Lord, who receives sinners,
preaches to you. . . . Therefore, you are able to fight with your
conscience by saying, ‘You lie. Christ speaks the truth, and you do not.’”
Martin Luther, quoted in Paul Althaus, The Theology of Martin Luther (Philadelphia, 1966), page 59.
Listen many times in life you have to turn away from your feelings and believe the Word of God. You have to fight spiritual warfare by speaking the Word of God. Satan is a liar and the father of lies there is no truth in him. But he will come and use your circumstances, your feelings, your conscience, your mind, and other people to try and bring you down but it is then that you have to speak up "You lie. Christ speaks the truth and you do not!"
Martin Luther, quoted in Paul Althaus, The Theology of Martin Luther (Philadelphia, 1966), page 59.
Listen many times in life you have to turn away from your feelings and believe the Word of God. You have to fight spiritual warfare by speaking the Word of God. Satan is a liar and the father of lies there is no truth in him. But he will come and use your circumstances, your feelings, your conscience, your mind, and other people to try and bring you down but it is then that you have to speak up "You lie. Christ speaks the truth and you do not!"
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Monday, October 14, 2013
Friday, October 11, 2013
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
The Biggest Problem Facing the Church Today is not "cheap grace" but "cheap law"
J. Gresham Machen counterintutively noted, "A low view of law always
produces legalism; a high view of law makes a person a seeker after
grace." The reason this seems so counterintuitive is because most people
think those who talk a lot about grace have a low view of God's law
(hence, the regular charge of antinomianism). Others think those with a
high view of the law are the legalists. But Machen makes the compelling
point that it's a low view of the law that produces legalism, since a
low view of the law causes us to conclude we can do it—the bar is low
enough for us to jump over. A low view of the law makes us think the
standards are attainable, the goals reachable, the demands doable. This
means, contrary to what some Christians would have you believe, the
biggest problem facing the church today is not "cheap grace" but "cheap
law"—the idea that God accepts anything less than the perfect
righteousness of Jesus. As essayist John Dink writes,
Cheap law weakens God's demand for perfection, and in doing so, breathes life into the old creature and his quest for a righteousness of his own making. . . . Cheap law tells us that we've fallen, but there's good news, you can get back up again. . . . Therein lies the great heresy of cheap law: it is a false gospel. And it cheapens—no—it nullifies grace.Only when we see that the way of God's law is absolutely inflexible will we see that God's grace is absolutely indispensable. A high view of the law reminds us that God accepts us on the basis of Christ's perfection, not our progress. Grace, properly understood, is the movement of a holy God toward an unholy people. He doesn't cheapen the law or ease its requirements. He fulfills them in his Son, who then gives his righteousness to us. That's the gospel. Pure and simple.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Thursday, October 3, 2013
“The Restoration of the Banished”
“He
spares not His Son, but sends Him in quest of the exiles. He comes into
the land of banishment, lies in an exile’s cradle, becomes a banished
man for them, lives a banished life, endures an exile’s shame, dies an
exile’s death, is buried in an exile’s tomb. He takes our place of
banishment that we may take His place of honor and glory in the home of
His Father and our Father. Such is the exchange
between the exile and the exile’s divine substitute. Though rich, for
our sakes He becomes poor. Though at home, He comes into banishment,
that we may not be expelled forever.”
—Horatius Bonar, “The Restoration of the Banished”
Jesus took my exile and gave me his place in the Fathers house, I am now eternally secure I can never get kicked out of the Fathers house. Christ took my banishment and gives me his place of glory and honor. I have a seat at the Fathers table and a room in the Fathers house. I can run to the Fathers arms any time and He will always accept me. hold me, care for me, he will never get tired of me, or become disgusted with me because He sees me as he sees Jesus.
—Horatius Bonar, “The Restoration of the Banished”
Jesus took my exile and gave me his place in the Fathers house, I am now eternally secure I can never get kicked out of the Fathers house. Christ took my banishment and gives me his place of glory and honor. I have a seat at the Fathers table and a room in the Fathers house. I can run to the Fathers arms any time and He will always accept me. hold me, care for me, he will never get tired of me, or become disgusted with me because He sees me as he sees Jesus.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Everything Is Secured By Christ On The Cross
“Everything
that we know and appreciate and praise God for in all Christian
experience both in this life and in the life to come springs from this
bloody cross. Do we have the gift of the Spirit? Secured by Christ on
the cross.
Do we enjoy the fellowship of saints? Secured by Christ on the cross.
Does he give us comfort in life and death? Secured by Christ on the cross.
Does he watch over us faithfully, providentially, graciously, and covenantally? Secured by Christ on the cross.
Do we have hope of a heaven to come? Secured by Christ on the cross.
Do we anticipate resurrection bodies on the last day? Secured by Christ on the cross. Is there a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness? Secured by Christ on the cross.
Do we now enjoy new identities, so that we are no longer to see ourselves as nothing but failures, moral pariahs, disappointments to our parents—but deeply loved, blood-bought, human beings, redeemed by Christ, declared just by God himself, owing to the fact that God himself presented his Son Jesus as the propitiation for our sins? All this is secured by Christ on the cross and granted to those who have faith in him.”
—D.A. Carson, Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus
This is why Paul said, "Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" I have nothing to claim of my own, I have nothing to bring to God so I cling to the cross and all that Christ did for me there. Thank God for the cross of Christ, all my confidence is in Him.
Do we enjoy the fellowship of saints? Secured by Christ on the cross.
Does he give us comfort in life and death? Secured by Christ on the cross.
Does he watch over us faithfully, providentially, graciously, and covenantally? Secured by Christ on the cross.
Do we have hope of a heaven to come? Secured by Christ on the cross.
Do we anticipate resurrection bodies on the last day? Secured by Christ on the cross. Is there a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness? Secured by Christ on the cross.
Do we now enjoy new identities, so that we are no longer to see ourselves as nothing but failures, moral pariahs, disappointments to our parents—but deeply loved, blood-bought, human beings, redeemed by Christ, declared just by God himself, owing to the fact that God himself presented his Son Jesus as the propitiation for our sins? All this is secured by Christ on the cross and granted to those who have faith in him.”
—D.A. Carson, Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus
This is why Paul said, "Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" I have nothing to claim of my own, I have nothing to bring to God so I cling to the cross and all that Christ did for me there. Thank God for the cross of Christ, all my confidence is in Him.
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