Sunday's Music - Feb. 28

I didn't forget! Some of you like to know before Sunday morning what we will be singing. Hmm, maybe those folks practice before they come. Not a bad idea.

We'll begin with "Days of Elijah" which is always fun to sing.

Then the choir will sing "Miracle Man" which is from our Passion Play. (coming up April 1-3) Since that song tells a lot of the ministry of Christ I thought it would be good then for all of us to sing "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High" which tells Jesus' life and mission very concisely.

You came from heaven to earth to show the way.
From the earth to the cross - my debt to pay.
From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky.
Lord, I lift Your name on high!

Here's a karaoke versio for you to practice with.



After that we'll all sing "Tell Me the Story of Jesus" and one more song that I can't think of right now.

Traci Koon will sing "special music", Bro. Larry will preach and second service Dan will lead the invitation because I will be baptizing Jesse K. at the end of the second service.

It will be a great day.

I hope to see you all in worship tomorrow (If you live in Clarksville).

Big Boy Prayers

Did you learn prayers like these when you were a child?
God is great, God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen.

A friend of mine, when first learning to pray, said, "shank sho for our food." The story goes that some time when he was in Jr. High that he said his prayer, "shank sho for our food" and then looked up and said, "Why do I say 'shank sho' ?"

Another phrase often tacked onto the end of a prayer is "and God bless the missionaries." Have you prayed that? I'm certain God hears our prayers and that God does "bless the missionaries," but I know that in our prayers there is so much more God is willing and waiting to do. It's time to put away our childhood prayers and do some big boy praying!

God wants us to be involved in His kingdom work both physically and through our prayers. God is not limited in what He does by our prayers, but I also know that as we pray God's power is seen in great ways. For some reason God lets us in on the wonderful things He wants to do so we can share in the work.

 God answers prayers - not so we can say, "oo, look at this. I prayed for something and it happened." but so that He will receive glory.

Let me try this another way. Which prayer and answer will give God more glory.

1. Prayer - "Lord, bless the missionaries." Answer -  God does something really great in some part of the world.

2. Prayer - "Lord, I pray that an affordable place will be found in Palo Verde in the east part of  Caracas, Venezuela so the four small groups of Christians near there can join together and form a church to be a witness in that part of town. Answer - an affordable place is found and a new church is formed and they begin reaching that area for Christ.

Obviously if you had prayed the second prayer you would join many in rejoicing about the new place and church start and would give God the glory for an answer to prayer.

The prayer request #2 I gave as an example above is an actual prayer request from Ed and Pamela who are part of the Barrios Caracas mission team. Here is a link to a web site from that mission team that tells you about their work and how you can pray. http://www.caracasforchrist.com/

Will you join me in praying for them? Will you pray your childhood "bless the missionaries" prayer or will you pray a "big boy" prayer?

I will update you when I hear an answer to the prayer request and we can give God the glory together as we see Him at work!

Disciple Now on Hickory Point - the Fun Never Stops

We had a great group of guys at our house!

Started off expecting 11 nd a leader, then we added one or two one day and then all of the sudden it was 16 guys and Kevin as their fearless leader.

We've teased a lot about having to open the windows to air the house out after they left, but they were great! They had some great times of Bible study, played a lot of xbox and rock band and wii, ate a LOT of food, played football outside and didn't break anything, so it was all good!

We're already talking about wanting them all back next year!

Memory Monday - February 22

I have to admit that memorizing the Beatitudes is turning out to be more difficult than I had imagined. It's not that any one in particular or by itself is difficult to memorize or to understand... the problem seems to be that with my weak mind I end up scrampbling them all together.

For those of you who are just now joining in on our Memory Monday challenge, you have some catching up to do if you want to memorize all of the Beatitudes. We have learned/memorized 6 so far. If you just want to join in starting this week, scroll down a little until you see verses 9-10.

Here is what we have memorized so far (of the Beatitudes. search the blog using "memory monday" and you'll find other verses we have memorized.)
3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4."Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5."Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

6."Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7."Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8."Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
 
Here are our two verses for this week.
 

9."Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

10."Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

The Persecuted Church is something near and dear to my heart. Please click on the link for more information on how our brothers and sisters in Christ suffer for their faith and how you can help them.

The Voice of the Martyrs

I Gave That up for Lent

Any time my dad didn't want to do something, or didn't want to eat something, or needed an excuse for whatever, he would say, "I gave that up for Lent." As a good ol' Southern Baptist boy I really had no idea what he was talking about. Lent wasn't something we actually did. And since his comments of "giving it up for Lent" weren' confined to any particular time of year I never knew Lent was a season in the church calendar of many Christians.

Here is a very simplified but hopefully somewhat acurate explanation of Lent, Ash Wednesday, Fat Tuesday and other things that are mysteries to most Baptists.

Lent is the 40 days (not counting Sundays) before Easter. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. Ashes from the burned palm leaves from the previous year's Palm Sunday are put on foreheads in the shape of a cross. During Lent Christians are encouraged to give something up. Many give up meat and end up eating a lot of fish. Some friends of mine in Denver always gave up desserts during Lent. The point of giving something up is to remind ourselves what Christ gave up for us, to remind us to rely on Him (as we miss the thing we gave up), to reflect on Christ's call on our lives and actually give up things we shouldn't be doing anyway, ... I think the list could go on for a while.

Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras were invented because people realized that they weren't going to have some of the excesses of life until after Easter and specifically how they would miss the fat of the meat so on that Tuesday they would literally stuff themselves with lots of meat and fat knowing that was it for a long time. And of course as people tend to be and do, that then evolved into the drunken mess it is in a lot of places as people try to get in all the sin they can before they have to give it up.

So what do we miss from this if we are Baptists?

All of us need times of reflection when we remember again our need of a Savior. We all need times to realize we have filled our lives up with a bunch of junk - and I don't just mean physically. All of us need to spend more time reflecting on the cost Jesus paid as He took on the sins of the world - your sins and mine. All of us need to personalize Christ's sacrifice and see again His call and claim on our lives.

If Lent helps you to do that, that is a great thing. If it causes you to get drunker than a skunk and eat yourself into a coma on Fat Tuesday then it is NOT a good thing.

Perhaps you have some things you need to give up for Lent. Ask the Lord to show you what is in your heart and my guess is there will be at least a couple of things to "give up" perhaps not just for Lent, but for always.

Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23 NIV

Community String Orchestra

Memory Monday - The Beatitudes Continue

I hope that not only are you memorizing the Beatitudes through our Memory Mondays Challenge, but that you are also trying to live a life guided by them.

Here are the next two.

Matthew 5:7-8
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.



Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
 
Check previous posts if you are behind on memorizing with us.

True Love and Sunday's Music - Feb. 14

Sunday is February 14 - a day of love and romance

Hahaha! I thought this was rather funny. Over the years I have seen a lot of people get really messed up because of Valentine's Day. He didn't read her mind and get what she wanted or she bought him something romantic and he wanted a new set of hubcaps.

As a hopeless romantic myself, I've often said that Valentine's Day is for amateurs. Husbands and wives should do nice little romantic things for each other every day. A box of candy and some flowers one day a year don't make up for 364 other days (365 this year) of taking each other for granted. Oh, and by the way - chasing a rabbit here I suppose - the pajama-grams with the footies and hoddies are NOT what your husband wants to get you or see you in. At least not for Valentine's Day. And guys, it's OK for you to clean up a little for your wife like you used to do when you were dating.

Well, I guess that was a little free advice you weren't looking for...

True love between people is only possible when people know THE source of true love - God.

John 3:16 NASB
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

1 John 4:10 NASB
"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

Romans 5:8 NASB

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
 
When we accept God's unconditional love for us we can then give that same unconditional love to others.

Here's Sunday's music.

Crown Him with Many Crowns
“Crown Him the Lord of love!
Behold His hands and side -
Rich wounds yet visible aboe,
In beauty glorified.
All hail, Redeemer, Hail!
For Thous hast died for me:
Thy praise and glory shall not fail
Throughout eternity."


He Reigns

Choir - Thine Is the Kingdom

Fellowship Song – Hallelujah-Your Love is Amazing

I Stand Amazed in the Presence
"How marvelous, how wonderful
and my song shall ever be.
How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me!"

Covers Me for Life

Special Music – Shannon Jones

Message – Dr. Larry D. Robertson

Invitation song – Have Thine Own Way, Lord

Offertory – Gena Tate

Closing – Bro. Tony Lewis

Choir Tonight

In case you are in my choir and for some reason you didn't get an e-mail from me and if by some chance you decided to check our worship blog...

YES! We are having choir rehearsal tonight!

The Passion Play will be here before you know it and before that -

Sunday's coming!

See you at 6:30.

When the Saints Go Marching In

I'll have to admit that it was fun watching the Saints go marching (and passing) down the field. I don't really watch football much, but I was glad to see New Orleans have some good news. 

"When the Saints Go Marching In" was written and has been sung for decades as a celebration song for that day when God's Saints enter the promised land of heaven. The verses even point to the themes of revelation, with "when the sun refuse to shine" referencing the solar and lunar eclipses and other verses talking about "crowning Him Lord" and "gathering around the throne"... what? you don't know those verses?

OH, WHEN THE SAINTS, GO MARCHING IN,
OH, WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN,
OH, LORD, I WANT TO BE IN THAT NUMBER,
WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN.

OH, WHEN THE SUN, REFUSE TO SHINE,

OH, WHEN THE SUN REFUSE TO SHINE,
OH, LORD, I WANT TO BE IN THAT NUMBER,
WHEN THE SUN REFUSE TO SHINE.

OH, WHEN THEY CROWN, HIM LORD OF ALL,
OH, WHEN THEY CROWN HIM LORD OF ALL,
OH, LORD, I WANT TO BE IN THAT NUMBER,
WHEN THEY CROWN HIM LORD OF ALL.

OH, WHEN THEY GATHER AROUND THE THRONE,
OH, WHEN THEY GATHER AROUND THE THRONE,
OH, LORD I WANT TO BE IN THAT NUMBER,
WHEN THEY GATHER AROUND THE THRONE.


I've blogged before about how YOU can be a saint Is Today Your Day?  You really should read it and see how everyone of us can be a Saint. (You don't have to be another Mother Teresa.)

If you would like to know more about being a follower of Jesus Christ click here. Tell Me About Jesus

I'm going to cheer along with the football saints for a day or two, but in the end, I'm cheering for all of you out there in blog land to check your "saint" status and see if you will be in that number when the Saints go marching in.

Memory Monday - Feb. 8

If you are going along with our Memory Mondays and started when I started then you should be able to quote the following verses:

Micah 6:8 Micah 6:8

James 2:26 James 2:26

Psalm 1:1-2 Psalm 1:1-2

and Matthew 5:3-4 Mattheew 5:3-4

Do you need some hints?

Micah 6:8 (what the Lord requires)

James 2:26 (faith and works)

Psalm 1:1-2 (Blessed is the man who...)

Matthew 5:3-4 (the first two Beatitudes)

So today we'll pick up the next two Beatitudes - Matthew 5:5-6. They sound a little different if you are used to KJV because these are from the NASB. The NASB uses "gentle" instead of "meek." "Gentle" is a more common word today don't you think?

5."Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

6."Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
 
Being gentle is another thing modern Americans are TERRIBLE at being. Why do you think Rambo movies (and similar) are so popular. And how do people in Clarksville and other military base towns survive if they are gentle?
 
The only way to live a gentle life is to learn it from the Master.
Jesus said, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.  Matthew 11:29 NAS
 
Gentleness doesn't mean you have to go out in the forest like Snow White and sing to the birds and the other critters.
 

Gentleness and humbleness of heart is what the Apostle Paul was talking about in Phillipians when he was describing Christ who humbled Himself. Being gentle is not demanding your own way rather than forcing your way on others. Being gentle is answering with a "soft answer" that turns away wrath. (Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.)
 
Here are Paul's instructions to us from Phillipians.
 
Phillipians 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
 
You can't be this way by accident or in your own strength. Take on Christ'as yoke and learn from Him. Let the Holy Spirit live in and through you (since gentleness is one of the fruits of the Spirit.)
 
Let me know how it's going.

Sunday's Music - Feb. 7

January 31, 2010 AM


Hear Our Praises

Choir Anthem – Prepare Ye the Way

Mug a Member Video - You're gonna love this!!

Fellowship song – Mighty to Save

It Is Well

I Will Rise

Special Music – Laughrie Tucker - Do You Still Feel the Nails

Message – Dr. Larry D. Robertson

Invitation Song – I Give You Me

Offertory – Mary Beth Matthews

Baptisms: (8:30) Mark Day

Closing – Bro. Terry Brown

Beatitudes

If you are following along on Memory Mondays then you know we are memorizing the first two Beatitudes this week.

Matthew 5:3-4
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

You may alread know all of the Beatitudes. (I get them all jumbled together. That's why I've decided I need to purposefully memorize them correctly.) If you don't know them you probably know which verses are refered to when you hear the word "Beatitude." But do you know why they are called that?

Beatitude is from the Latin word "beatus" meaning "blessed." The Beatitudes were a big contrast to the thinking of the day in Jesus' time - and for that matter our times too. For example, being "poor in spirit" is not something Americans care to aspire to. Humility is seen as a weakness. So Jesus' words contradict our culture and challenge us to look at life and live life differently.

Painting by Paul Gustave Dore 1865

I really like the commentary found here Beatitude Commentary from JesusChrist Savior.net I'm quoting this site here. I think it will help you begin to grasp the deep truths found in these verses. Here is the commentary on the two we are memorizing this week.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

"Poor in spirit" means to be humble. Humility is the realization that all your gifts and blessings come from the grace of God. To have poverty of spirit means to be completely empty and open to the Word of God. When we are an empty cup and devoid of pride, we are humble. Humility brings an openness and an inner peace, allowing one to do the will of God. He who humbles himself is able to accept our frail nature, to repent, and to allow the grace of God to lead us to Conversion.

It is pride, the opposite of humility, that brings misery. For pride brings anger and the seeking of revenge, especially when one is offended. If every man were humble and poor in spirit, there would be no war!

"Blessed are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted."

If we are humble and appreciate that all of our gifts and blessings come from God, we grow in love and gratitude for Jesus Christ our Savior. But this can only produce mourning and regret over our own sins and the sins of this world, for we have hurt the one who has been so good to us. One also mourns for the suffering of others.

St. Gregory describes another reason to mourn: the more one ascends in meditation of Divine Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, and then realize the poverty of human nature, man can only be left in sorrow. When one contemplates that we were made in the image and likeness of God and lived in Paradise, the Garden of Eden, and compare that to our present state after the Fall, one can only mourn our present condition. But the sentence continues that they shall be comforted, by the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and hopefully one day in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Mourning in this context is called a blessing, because mourning our fallen nature creates in us a desire to improve ourselves and to do what is right!

Happy Groundhogs' Day

So here's how it works... (from what I can best understand from these old folk lore deals.)

If the groundhog sees his shadow then there are 8 weeks before the Passion Play.

If he doesn't then the Passion Play is only 2 months away.

Either way... I'll be looking for you in choir rehearsal tomorrow night. YES! We are having choir rehearsal. Therreisn't a Wednesday night meal and the only other activity is Prayer Meeting.

So bring your kids or leave them with grandma. We need you here EVERY Wednesday from now until the Passion Play.

Memory Monday - February 1

Happy February! I hope your January was grand!

If you memorized all of last week's memory challenge I'm proud of you. I'm finding that my biggest challenge is not mixing up different translations.

When I was young the King James Version was about the only translation available. I memorized many Bible verses and passages out of the KJV. In 1975 I received a "Scofield Bible" from my lovely girlfriend (who the next year would become my lovely wife). It was KJV, but Dr. Scofield had changed a lot of the archaic words of the KJV into words that made sense! It was so cool!

Later I bought a New International Version. Wow! Sentences in modern English helped make the Bible so much easier to understand.

When I was ordained into the ministry in 1982 my church gave me a New American Standard Bible. I loved it! Like the NIV it was easier to understand than the KJV, but it was written beautifully like the KJV. Since that time I've researched and found that the NASB is considered one of the most acurate translations and uses much older manuscripts than were available in 1611 when King James had his Bible translated.

There are many great translations available today. The Holman Christian Standard is another great translation. The important thing in reading and memorizingscripture is that you use a translation and not a paraphrase.

So... because I have read and memorized so many verses in several different translations I sometimes get some of the words mixed up. So far - and probably always unless for some specific reason - all of our Memory Mondays verses have been taken from the NASB,

For the next few weeks I'd like us (those of you who are joining me) to memorize the Beatitudes. You probably know many of them and probably out of the KJV, but I'm going to put them up here in NASB, Half way through the week I'll give you some background and info on why they are called "the Beatitudes." for now, here are the first two.

painting by Carl Bloch 1890

Matthew 5:

3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.