VIDEO Lion of the tribe of Judah

Oct 25, 2012

Just a wonderful worship song that I wanted to share with believers

And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. Revelation 5:5

“Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;” Ephesians 5:19-20 KJV

The Yellow River – Undigested Knowledge – Are You Listening to God?

The Yellow River

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Matthew 15:19

Last year the American Environmental Protection Agency allowed an ocean of sludge to pollute Colorado’s Animas River, turning the tributary to a sickening bright yellow. The accident occurred when a crew tried to pump out the polluted buildup of an abandoned mine. The waste overflowed, ruining a hundred-mile stretch of river.

According to Jesus, the human heart is a cesspool of evil, which overflows into our words and deeds. Our world is polluted by the toxic buildup of our hearts. The problem isn’t political, and it can’t be solved by political means. It’s not legal, and all the laws in the world can’t solve it. It’s not educational. If everyone had a doctorate, we’d still have a corrupted culture. It’s not financial; and if everyone were a millionaire, we’d still be in trouble.

Moral hearts lead to moral hands, and only a transformed life brings holy habits. It’s not enough to turn over a new leaf, pass a new law, elect a new president, or create a new slogan. The only answer is a new heart. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The greatest need you and I have—the greatest need of collective humanity—is renovation of the heart. Dallas Willard

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Undigested Knowledge

If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. John 8:31

In his book on language, British diplomat Lancelot Oliphant (1881–1965) observed that many students give correct answers on tests but fail to put those lessons into practice. “Such undigested knowledge is of little use,” declared Oliphant.

Author Barnabas Piper noticed a parallel in his own life: “I thought I was close to God because I knew all the answers,” he said, “but I had fooled myself into thinking that was the same as relationship with Jesus.”

Faith is not accepting the fact of God but receiving the life of God.

At the temple one day, Jesus encountered people who thought they had all the right answers. They were proudly proclaiming their status as Abraham’s descendants yet refused to believe in God’s Son.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did” (John 8:39). And what was that? Abraham “believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). Still, Jesus’ hearers refused to believe. “The only Father we have is God himself,” they said (John 8:41). Jesus replied, “Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God” (v. 47).

Piper recalls how things “fell apart” for him before he “encountered God’s grace and the person of Jesus in a profound way.” When we allow God’s truth to transform our lives, we gain much more than the right answer. We introduce the world to Jesus.

Father, thank You that You receive anyone who turns to You in faith.

Faith is not accepting the fact of God but of receiving the life of God.

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Are You Listening to God?

They said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” —Exodus 20:19

We don’t consciously and deliberately disobey God— we simply don’t listen to Him. God has given His commands to us, but we pay no attention to them— not because of willful disobedience, but because we do not truly love and respect Him. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Once we realize we have constantly been showing disrespect to God, we will be filled with shame and humiliation for ignoring Him.

“You speak with us,…but let not God speak with us….” We show how little love we have for God by preferring to listen to His servants rather than to Him. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we don’t want God Himself to speak to us. Why are we so terrified for God to speak to us? It is because we know that when God speaks we must either do what He asks or tell Him we will not obey. But if it is simply one of God’s servants speaking to us, we feel obedience is optional, not imperative. We respond by saying, “Well, that’s only your own idea, even though I don’t deny that what you said is probably God’s truth.”

Am I constantly humiliating God by ignoring Him, while He lovingly continues to treat me as His child? Once I finally do hear Him, the humiliation I have heaped on Him returns to me. My response then becomes, “Lord, why was I so insensitive and obstinate?” This is always the result once we hear God. But our real delight in finally hearing Him is tempered with the shame we feel for having taken so long to do so.

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The Bible is a relation of facts, the truth of which must be tested. Life may go on all right for a while, when suddenly a bereavement comes, or some crisis; unrequited love or a new love, a disaster, a business collapse, or a shocking sin, and we turn up our Bibles again and God’s word comes straight home, and we say, “Why, I never saw that there before.” Shade of His Hand, 1223 L

OSWALD CHAMBERS

The Call To Serve

Philippians 2:7-9

When it comes to serving in the church, people rarely volunteer for tasks where they’ll go unnoticed. They usually prefer a position of leadership. There’s nothing wrong with heading a committee or teaching a large class. But God calls us to have a servant’s heart—motivated to live a life that glorifies Him, not ourselves.

Over the years, I’ve had many conversations with young men studying at seminary. Countless times, they’ve shared the desire to lead a sizable church. And those called to serve at a small congregation frequently struggle with feelings of insignificance.

My encouragement to them is this: In His great love, God places us exactly where He wants us to serve, and every task we undertake should be given our all, whether there’s one person listening or a multitude. We ultimately serve Christ, and He is not concerned with recognition we receive. He desires our obedience and best effort. This is true not just for pastors but for all believers.

There are many reasons that the Lord calls us to serve. First, He rids us of pride and selfishness, allowing our focus to be on Him. Second, we proclaim our love for Christ through our care for one another. Third, God tests and purifies our hearts through service.

How do you define success? A common response is “achieving our predetermined goals.” Scripture’s definition, however, is different. The Lord desires that we discover His plan, obey, and become all that He intended. In other words, for success in the biblical sense, God sets the goals for our lives.

Our Ministry to Angels

“To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.” (Ephesians 3:10)

There is “an innumerable company of angels” in heaven (Hebrews 12:22) who serve as “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation” (Hebrews 1:14).

At the same time, it is instructive to realize we also have a ministry to the angels. Despite their great power and knowledge, angels are not the “heirs of salvation” themselves, and so will never personally experience that peculiar type of love and fellowship that we share with our Lord and Savior. Nevertheless, as personal beings with the free will to reject their role as God’s servants if they choose, they are intensely interested in our salvation. “Which things the angels desire to look into” (1 Peter 1:12).

In addition to serving for the protection and guidance of individual believers, apparently certain angels are also assigned by God to serve Christian congregations functioning corporately, especially in true local churches. Paul mentions the observing presence of angels in the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 11:10), for example.

In His letters to the seven representative churches, Christ addressed the individual angels of each church (Revelation 2:1, etc.). That these are heavenly angels (not human pastors or other human church leaders) seems probable from the fact that the word “angel” is used 65 other times in Revelation and always refers to real angels.

Finally, the words of our text for the day give a special incentive for our lives, for there we are reminded that it is through God’s dealings with “the church” that His holy angels are able to learn for themselves “the manifold wisdom of God.” HMM

Practice Spiritual Concentration

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. —Hebrews 12:2

Retire from the world each day to some private spot, even if it is only the bedroom (for a while I retreated to the furnace room for want of a better place). Stay in the secret place till the surrounding noises begin to fade out of your heart and a sense of God’s presence envelops you. Deliberately tune out the unpleasant sounds and come out of your closet determined not to hear them. Listen for the inward Voice till you learn to recognize it.

Stop trying to compete with others. Give yourself to God, and then be what and who you are without regard to what others think. Reduce your interests to a few. Don’t try to know what will be of no service to you. Avoid the digest type of mind—short bits of unrelated facts, cute stories and bright sayings. Learn to pray inwardly every moment. After a while you can do this even while you work. Practice candor, childlike honesty, humility. Pray for a single eye. Read less, but read more of what is important to your inner life. Call home your roving thoughts. Gaze on Christ with the eyes of your soul. Practice spiritual concentration.

Lord, lift my gaze from the clutter and distractions around me and give me a “single eye” for that which is eternal. Amen.

Just Think Like God Thinks

Search me, O God… and try me, and know my thoughts. (Psalm 139:23)

If God knows that your intention is to worship Him with every part of your being, He has promised to cooperate with you. On His side is the love and grace, the promises and the atonement, the constant help and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

On your side there is determination, seeking, yielding, believing. Your heart becomes a chamber, a sanctuary, a shrine in which there may be continuous, unbroken fellowship and communion with God. Your worship rises to God moment by moment!

We have all found that God will not dwell in spiteful and proud and selfish thoughts. He treasures our pure and loving thoughts, our meek and charitable and kindly thoughts. They are the thoughts like His own!

As God dwells in your thoughts, you will be worshiping—and God will be accepting. He will be smelling the incense of your high intentions even when the cares of life are intense and there is activity all around you.

This leaves us no argument. We know what God wants us to be. He wants us to be worshipers!

We will wait only upon God

Oh! it is a happy way of smoothing sorrow when we can say, “We will wait only upon God.” Oh, ye agitated Christians, do not dishonor your religion by always wearing a brow of care; come, cast your burden up on the Lord. I see ye staggering beneath a weight which He would not feel. What seems to you a crushing burden, would be to him but as the small dust of the balance. See! the Almighty bends his shoulders, and he says, ”Here, put thy troubles here.”

“Come unto Me, and I will give you rest.”