Monday, March 31, 2014
Friday, March 28, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Little Walter's Jump - Little Walter live
Little Walter playing acoustically* (E harp, 2nd position - key of B), Hound Dog Taylor on guitar. From American Folk Blues Festival 1967, Germany
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Christianity is the Only Paid Religion
To
demonstrate the exclusivity of Christ's work, the Church can boldly
claim that Christianity is the only paid religion. It is not a way of
life; it is life given to you. In other words, Christianity is not a
system of moral rules that must be followed or an arrangement of
obligatory rituals. At its heart is mankind's utter inability to adhere
to God's standard, and our universal need of God's grace,
which comes to us through the work of Jesus Christ alone. It is often
said that Christianity is the only free religion, or that it is the only
religion in which salvation comes through faith apart from works, but
that's only partially true. For sinful man's part, Scripture teaches
that salvation is freely given through faith in Jesus apart from works,
but for God's part, our salvation was not free; it came at a great cost.
Jesus paid dearly for our salvation.
by Andy Wrasman
by Andy Wrasman
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
Reaching God's Ear
Sam
Storms in his book “Reaching God’s Ear” said, “Prayer in and of itself
possesses no power. Prayer is powerful because God is powerful and
prayer is the means through which that divine power is released and
channeled into our lives”. In other words all the power in prayer is
really God’s power activated by prayer and faith. When you pray for
another person nothing flows from you to him — no vibes,
no force, no energy. Instead your prayers go to heaven and the power of
God moves from Him to the ones you’re praying for. When James says that
“the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (NIV), it
means that God acts powerfully and effectively through the prayers of
His people. Prayer is the instrument by which God has chose to have His
power directed in the universe.
Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
Jerry Wexler signed Aretha after her CBS contract ended and sent her to Fame studios in Muscle Shoals AL. The studio band was a group of young white musicians. After a period of silence the piano player came up with the opening lick and in 20 minutes the song was finished. It was Aretha's first million seller.
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Friday, March 21, 2014
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Justification by Faith: A Matter of Death and Life
Lutheran theologian Gerhard Forde (1927-2005) on the simultaneity--the at-the-same-time-ness--of gospel grace:
Generally law tends to remain the dominating reality and grace dwindles off into the status of a pious fiction. After all, we have to do something, don't we? . . . In the place of all such schemes, in the place of the conditional thinking that always traps us, we must put the absolute simultaneity of sin and righteousness. When God acts upon us with his grace, with his justifying deed, his pronouncement, we become simul justus et peccator, simultaneously righteous and sinner. . . . When the word of promise comes or begins to dawn on us, our reaction is 'I can't believe it! You mean that's all?' . . . Grace is the divine pronouncement itself, the morning star, the flash of lightning exploding in our darkness which reveals all truth simultaneously, the truth about God and the truth about us.
--Gerhard Forde, Justification by Faith: A Matter of Death and Life
Generally law tends to remain the dominating reality and grace dwindles off into the status of a pious fiction. After all, we have to do something, don't we? . . . In the place of all such schemes, in the place of the conditional thinking that always traps us, we must put the absolute simultaneity of sin and righteousness. When God acts upon us with his grace, with his justifying deed, his pronouncement, we become simul justus et peccator, simultaneously righteous and sinner. . . . When the word of promise comes or begins to dawn on us, our reaction is 'I can't believe it! You mean that's all?' . . . Grace is the divine pronouncement itself, the morning star, the flash of lightning exploding in our darkness which reveals all truth simultaneously, the truth about God and the truth about us.
--Gerhard Forde, Justification by Faith: A Matter of Death and Life
Monday, March 17, 2014
Milt Jackson - People Make The World Go Around
One of my favorite songs, containing some of my favorite jazz players. Herbie Hancock has a tremendous piano solo, Freddie Hubbard,
awesome solo, turn it up feel the grove yes.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Friday, March 14, 2014
Here we go wisdom from the Westminster Confession of Faith
"All those that are justified, God vouchsafes,
in and for His only Son Jesus Christ,
to make partakers of the grace of adoption,
by which they are taken into the number,
and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God,
have His name put upon them,
receive the spirit of adoption,
have access to the throne of grace with boldness,
are enabled to cry, Abba, Father,
are pitied, protected, provided for,
and chastened by Him as by a Father:
yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption;
and inherit the promises, as heirs of everlasting salvation"
That should make you shout for joy if you're a christian
in and for His only Son Jesus Christ,
to make partakers of the grace of adoption,
by which they are taken into the number,
and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God,
have His name put upon them,
receive the spirit of adoption,
have access to the throne of grace with boldness,
are enabled to cry, Abba, Father,
are pitied, protected, provided for,
and chastened by Him as by a Father:
yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption;
and inherit the promises, as heirs of everlasting salvation"
That should make you shout for joy if you're a christian
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Don't Make Jesus Unprofitable To You
Paul
does not say that works are objectionable, but to build one’s hopes for
righteousness on works is disastrous, for that makes Christ good for
nothing. Let us bear this in mind when the devil accuses our
conscience. When that dragon accuses us of having done no good at all,
say to him, “You trouble me with the remembrance of my past sins; you
remind me that I have done no good. But this does not
bother me, because if I were to trust in my own good deeds, or despair
because I have done no good deeds, Christ would profit me neither way. I
am not going to make Him unprofitable to me. This I would do if I
should presume to purchase for myself the favor of God by my good deeds
or if I should despair of my salvation because of my sins.”
Luther’s commentary on Galatians
I hope your not getting tired of my Luther quotes, I find him so refreshing, so straight forward, so clear as to the gospel and the law. I always feel liberated when I read Luther it clears my mind from all the religious mumbo-jumbo and gets right to the heart of the matter.
Luther’s commentary on Galatians
I hope your not getting tired of my Luther quotes, I find him so refreshing, so straight forward, so clear as to the gospel and the law. I always feel liberated when I read Luther it clears my mind from all the religious mumbo-jumbo and gets right to the heart of the matter.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Are You God's Material?
"Therefore,
God accepts only the forsaken, cures only the sick, gives sight only to
the blind, restores life to only the dead, sanctifies only the sinners,
gives wisdom only to the unwise fools. In short, He has mercy only on
those who are wretched, and gives grace only to those who are not in
grace. Therefore no proud saint, no wise or just person, can become
God's material, and God's purpose cannot
be fulfilled in him. He remains in his own work and makes a fictitious,
pretended, false, and painted saint of himself, that is, a hypocrite." -
Martin Luther from "The Seven Penitential Psalms."
Profound thoughts from Luther he pulls no punches he makes it as clear as it could possibly be made. The question is can you see it? Do you know pure grace?
Profound thoughts from Luther he pulls no punches he makes it as clear as it could possibly be made. The question is can you see it? Do you know pure grace?
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Friday, March 7, 2014
Thoughts On Spiritual Warfare from Martin Luther
By
good experience, I know the devil’s craft and subtlety, that he not only
blows the law into us, to terrify and affright us, and out of
mole-hills to make mountains,—that is, to make a very hell of what is
but a small and little sin, which as a wondrous juggler he can perform
artfully; but also, can sometimes make such to be great and heavy sins
which are no sins; for he brings one threatening sentence
or other out of the Holy Scriptures, and before we are aware, gives so
hard a blow to our hearts, in a moment, that we lose all light and
sight, and take him to be the true Christ, whereas it is only the
envious devil.
Though Satan ceases not to plague the Christians, and to shoot at us his fiery darts, ’tis very good and profitable for us, for thereby he makes us the more sure of the word and doctrine, so that faith increases, and is stronger in us. We are often shaken, and, indeed, now and then the devil drives out of us a sour and bitter sweat, but he cannot bring us to despair; for Christ always has kept the field, and through us he will keep it still. Through hope, in all manner of trials and temptations, we hold ourselves on Christ.
It is almost incredible how God enables us, weak flesh and blood, to enter combat with the devil, and to beat and overcome so powerful a spirit as he, and with no other weapon but only his Word, which by faith we take hold on. This must needs grieve and vex that great and powerful enemy.
From Table Talk by Martin Luther
Luther knew a lot about spiritual warfare and offers insight and encouragement to us about what we need to remember when we are attacked.
Though Satan ceases not to plague the Christians, and to shoot at us his fiery darts, ’tis very good and profitable for us, for thereby he makes us the more sure of the word and doctrine, so that faith increases, and is stronger in us. We are often shaken, and, indeed, now and then the devil drives out of us a sour and bitter sweat, but he cannot bring us to despair; for Christ always has kept the field, and through us he will keep it still. Through hope, in all manner of trials and temptations, we hold ourselves on Christ.
It is almost incredible how God enables us, weak flesh and blood, to enter combat with the devil, and to beat and overcome so powerful a spirit as he, and with no other weapon but only his Word, which by faith we take hold on. This must needs grieve and vex that great and powerful enemy.
From Table Talk by Martin Luther
Luther knew a lot about spiritual warfare and offers insight and encouragement to us about what we need to remember when we are attacked.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
On Living in an Atomic Age
From
a short essay by C.S. Lewis called 'On Living in an Atomic Age,'
expressing a key theme of Lewis' engagement with Naturalism/Atheism/
For one thing, it is only through trusting our own minds that we have come to know Nature herself. If Nature when fully known seems to teach us (that is, if the sciences teach us) that our own minds are chance arrangements of atoms, then there must have been some mistake; for if that were so, then the sciences themselves would be chance arrangements of atoms and we should have no reason for believing in them.
There is only one way to avoid this deadlock. We must go back to a much earlier view. We must simply accept it that we are spirits, free and rational beings, at present inhabiting an irrational universe, and must draw the conclusion that we are not derived from it. We are strangers here. We come from somewhere else. Nature is not the only thing that exists. There is 'another world,' and that is where we come from.
And that explains why we do not feel at home here. A fish feels at home in the water. If we 'belonged here' we should feel at home here. All that we say about 'Nature red in tooth and claw,' about death and time and mutability, all our half-amused, half-bashful attitude to our own bodies, is quite inexplicable on the theory that we are simply natural creatures. If this world is the only world, how did we come to find its laws either so dreadful or so comic?
If there is no straight line elsewhere, how did we discover that Nature’s line is crooked?"
--C. S. Lewis, 'On Living in an Atomic Age,' in Present Concerns (London: Fount, 1986), 78-79 (italics original)
For one thing, it is only through trusting our own minds that we have come to know Nature herself. If Nature when fully known seems to teach us (that is, if the sciences teach us) that our own minds are chance arrangements of atoms, then there must have been some mistake; for if that were so, then the sciences themselves would be chance arrangements of atoms and we should have no reason for believing in them.
There is only one way to avoid this deadlock. We must go back to a much earlier view. We must simply accept it that we are spirits, free and rational beings, at present inhabiting an irrational universe, and must draw the conclusion that we are not derived from it. We are strangers here. We come from somewhere else. Nature is not the only thing that exists. There is 'another world,' and that is where we come from.
And that explains why we do not feel at home here. A fish feels at home in the water. If we 'belonged here' we should feel at home here. All that we say about 'Nature red in tooth and claw,' about death and time and mutability, all our half-amused, half-bashful attitude to our own bodies, is quite inexplicable on the theory that we are simply natural creatures. If this world is the only world, how did we come to find its laws either so dreadful or so comic?
If there is no straight line elsewhere, how did we discover that Nature’s line is crooked?"
--C. S. Lewis, 'On Living in an Atomic Age,' in Present Concerns (London: Fount, 1986), 78-79 (italics original)
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Laughing At The Devil - Spiritual Counsel From Martin Luther
The
following is from a letter written in July 1530 to Jerome Weller, a
31-year-old friend who had previously lived in the Luther home, tutored
his children, and was now struggling with spiritual despair:
. . Excellent Jerome, You ought to rejoice in this temptation of the devil because it is a certain sign that God is propitious and merciful to you.
You say that the temptation is heavier than you can bear, and that you fear that it will so break and beat you down as to drive you to despair and blasphemy. I know this wile of the devil. If he cannot break a person with his first attack, he tries by persevering to wear him out and weaken him until the person falls and confesses himself beaten.
Whenever this temptation comes to you, avoid entering upon a disputation with the devil and do not allow yourself to dwell on those deadly thoughts, for to do so is nothing short of yielding to the devil and letting him have his way. Try as hard as you can to despise those thoughts which are induced by the devil. In this sort of temptation and struggle, contempt is the best and easiest method of winning over the devil. Laugh your adversary to scorn and ask who it is with whom you are talking.
By all means flee solitude, for the devil watches and lies in wait for you most of all when you are alone. This devil is conquered by mocking and despising him, not by resisting and arguing with him. . When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus:
“I admit that I deserve death and hell.
What of it?
Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation?
By no means.
For I know One who suffered and made a satisfaction in my behalf.
His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Where he is, there I shall be also.”
Yours, Martin Luther
Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel, trans. and ed. Theodore G. Tappert (orig., 1960; reprint, Vancouver, BC: Regent College Publishing, 2003), 85
Tremendous spiritual counsel offered up by Luther, let this sink in its very liberating.
. . Excellent Jerome, You ought to rejoice in this temptation of the devil because it is a certain sign that God is propitious and merciful to you.
You say that the temptation is heavier than you can bear, and that you fear that it will so break and beat you down as to drive you to despair and blasphemy. I know this wile of the devil. If he cannot break a person with his first attack, he tries by persevering to wear him out and weaken him until the person falls and confesses himself beaten.
Whenever this temptation comes to you, avoid entering upon a disputation with the devil and do not allow yourself to dwell on those deadly thoughts, for to do so is nothing short of yielding to the devil and letting him have his way. Try as hard as you can to despise those thoughts which are induced by the devil. In this sort of temptation and struggle, contempt is the best and easiest method of winning over the devil. Laugh your adversary to scorn and ask who it is with whom you are talking.
By all means flee solitude, for the devil watches and lies in wait for you most of all when you are alone. This devil is conquered by mocking and despising him, not by resisting and arguing with him. . When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus:
“I admit that I deserve death and hell.
What of it?
Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation?
By no means.
For I know One who suffered and made a satisfaction in my behalf.
His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Where he is, there I shall be also.”
Yours, Martin Luther
Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel, trans. and ed. Theodore G. Tappert (orig., 1960; reprint, Vancouver, BC: Regent College Publishing, 2003), 85
Tremendous spiritual counsel offered up by Luther, let this sink in its very liberating.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Deserve's Got Nothin' To Do With It
Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman) "I don't deserve this… to die like this. I was building a house."
William Munny (Clint Eastwood) "Deserve's got nothin' to do with it."
From Unforgiven
Ain't that the truth! I am so glad God will not give me what I deserve, he gave to Christ what I deserved and gave to me what Christ deserved, thats grace.
William Munny (Clint Eastwood) "Deserve's got nothin' to do with it."
From Unforgiven
Ain't that the truth! I am so glad God will not give me what I deserve, he gave to Christ what I deserved and gave to me what Christ deserved, thats grace.
Johnny Cash - She Used To Love Me A Lot
"She Used To Love Me A Lot" is from the studio album, Out Among The Stars, available March 25, 2014.
Monday, March 3, 2014
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