Psalm 47:6-8 Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. The book of Revelation begins with an amazing scene- hundreds of millions of people, the redeemed of all creation encircling the throne of God singing “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and…
1 John 4:4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. In the damp spring of 1863 just outside Rome, Georgia, 450 Confederate cavalrymen under Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest were preparing to engage a federal force about three times their size. Forrest and his men had been skirmishing with northern troops led by Colonel Abel D. Streight for several weeks while in the…
Psalm 8:3 & 9 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him… O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Have you ever seen the stars? Now I’m not talking about the few stars you can see from the back deck of your suburban home where the stars compete with street lamps, headlights,…
Ephesians 3:17-19 And I pray that you… may have power, together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge… This past week my entire family vacationed with my parents at a beach house in Atlantic Beach, NC. We’ve been going down to the North Carolina coast for almost 20 years now, but for one little girl in our family this trip…
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember You… Psalm 42:5-6 The other morning I woke up “finky”. Perhaps you aren’t familiar with that word. I’ve been using it for years to describe an emotional state that I sometimes get in. However, before I began writing this I checked Wikipedia…
The Bride of Christ June 9, 2010 at 3:23 PM “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery- but I am talking about Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:31-32 I love the illustrations found in Scripture which describe our relationship to God. None of them can ever completely capture every facet of God’s desire and purpose for us, but…
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water… Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. Psalm 63:1 & 3 Food: It matters what you put in your tank. On Monday Josh and I went fishing on the Chesapeake with some friends. This was the second year in a row that we’ve done…
1 Peter 2:2-3 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. Job 23:12 …I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread. Psalm 19:10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. The other weekend I was sitting on the front porch while the…
Exodus 33:18-23 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence… But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a…
It was [God] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. Ephesians 4:11-12 There’s a trick question that I’ve used for years when I help facilitate the Discover ODBC class at our church. Discover ODBC (soon to be “Discover GLCC!”) is the several week introductory class that we encourage…