The Guy in the Next Booth - Let My Words Be Few

I was at a restaurant the other day and was totally distracted to where I could hardly eat. Not that I'm a really big eater anyway, but that's not the point of the story. There was a person in the next booth who NEVER stopped talking. His voice was a bit whiny and he was complaining NON-stop. "Well, she blah, blah, blah and I've tried to show her respect but she isn't showing me any respect and I think you should... blah, blah, blah, and then she, blah, blah, blah, and I want blah, blah and then she, and I think, and I , and I ... blah, blah..."

I almost got up and told him EXACTLY why he didn't get any respect and that a real man doesn't whine to get respect and that if he didn't stop talking I would help him finish his meal by...

Well, of course I didn't.

Sunday morning Andrew and Calli will join me in singing a beautiful song titled "Let My Words Be Few." I was contemplating what this scripture means since it is the basis for the song.

Ecclesiastes 5:1 Guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil. 2 Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few.

How many times have I been like the guy in the next booth, whining and complaining to God and telling HIm what He should do and making promises of what I think I'll do for Him and on and on and blah, blah, blah.

I appreciate the fact that for several decades now we have emphasized how God is our Friend. John 15:15 NAS "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing ; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you."

But I'm afraid that in our efforts to help everyone understand that God loves us and that He is our Friend that we have forgotten that He is also holy and righteous and that His thoughts are not our thoughts. We treat God like our old pal with no respect or awe. Except for being redeemed by the blood ofthe Lamb why would we ever think we could start telling God what to do or our big ideas.

The guy in the next booth didn't even give the people with him a chance to say anything, much less have any input into his thoughts. Are we the same way when we come to a worship service? Do we have a list of things we want to say to God or do we come ready to listen to Him? Do we come whining about the week we've had? Do we come with a big list of ideas and things to say to God wanting His blessing? Or do we come with hearts waiting to hear from Him? Do we talk about God all Sunday morning or do we talk to Him and more importantly - do we listen to Him?

"You are God in heaven and here am I on earth,

So I"ll let my words be few.

Jesus, I am so in love with You."

Other songs we will sing Sunday include
Glorious Is Thy Name

Shout to the Lord

Power of the Cross - choir
Jesus Messiah
Grace Flows Down

I hope I'll see you in worship this week. Don't be the guy in the next booth. Let your words be few.

All Saints Day

All Saints Day is always on November 1. If you don't read the entire blog, you should scroll to the bottom and watch the video of the great hymn "For All the Saints" and be sure to see the awesome text of the last verse. 
As a side note, it is why we have Halloween - All Hallows Eve - the "hallows" being the "holies" or, the Saints. And as is the case with other sacred days, over the years what was once a time of reflecting on holy things has morphed into a time of unholiness. (Mardi Gras before Lent is another example.)

The idea behind All Saints Day is to remember the men and women of faith who have gone before us and to let their lives inspire us to live lives of holiness before God serving others and following the Great Commission to make disciples in all the world.

Hebrews 11 is often called "the Roll call of faith."

In it we read about some rather famous people - Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Jacob, Moses and David. There are also some listed here that aren't quite as famous - Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jepthah.

Some saw miraculous things in their lives - 33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection

Others did not have happy endings to their stories - and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection ; 36 and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword ; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins , being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

But the writer of Hebrews tells us 39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

I

I love these old paintings of the "Cloud of Witnesses."

By faith they looked forward to "the Promise." By faith we look back at "the Promise," that in the fullness of time God sent His Son.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

I've blogged several times about All Saints Day even though Baptists don't really observe it.
All Saints Day post you should read...

The thing I most want to emphasize from the previous post is that if you are a follower of Jesus Christ then YOU are a Saint. (Aren't so sure about that? Go read the post. Click here to see why YOU may be a Saint

This is the dome of the Andrew Gerow Hodges Chapel of Beeson Divinity School (Samford University) in Birmingham, Alabama.

Special Guests - No Other Name

I'm really excited that this Sunday, October 30, we have the group "No Other Name" leading us in worship at all three services.

Bro. Larry will continue his sermon series through Acts, so it will be a great morning of music, worship and preaching.



No Other Name has been singing for the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meetings for the last few years. They always do a fantastic job singing and leading in worship.

Here is a link to No Other Name's web site where you can find out more about them.

No Other Name

They have a great heart for missions and sing for many International Mission Board functions too. Here's a wonderful missions video featuring No Other Name.

The Beauty of Autumn - Sunday's Music

I think in corporate worship we need to sing about many different things. I worry about congregations who only get to sing songs that basically say the same thing indifferent ways. I'm not saying any particular songs are bad. I'm just saying that our faith has to include every aspect of our lives. If we sing about the cross every Sunday, when will we sing about the Second Coming? If we only sing songs of praise when would we sing songs of confession or repentance?

This Sunday we are going to sing about God's greatness - partly as seen in the beauty of Autumn.

How Great Thou Art is such a wonderful hymn. I usually have us sing the third verse "And when I think that God His Son not sparing..." But this week we are going to sing the second verse "When through the woods and forest glades I wander..." Behind the words will be some beautiful Fall pictures.

How Great Thou Art will segue right into
How Great Is Our God.

"Sing with me! How great is our God!"

The choir anthem for Sunday is called Great Is the Glory of the Lord

For our "fellowship" time we'll sing Rise Up and Praise Him.

The last set of songs will give us a chance to respond to the greatness and glory of God that we have just sung about.
My Jesus I Love Thee
and
For the Beauty of the Earth

Both of these songs let us express our love and praise to God in a personal way. I hope you will join us in singing and worshipping our great God this Sunday at 8:30 or 9:45.

"Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Lord of all to Thee we raise.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! This our song of grateful praise."

All of these pictures are from my yard!

Worship Music for Sunday, October 16, 2011

The apostle Paul said (I Cor. 14:14)
I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also;
I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also.

I have typed out some of what I was thinking as I planned the music for this week's worship. Praying and singing in the spirit is iimportant, but it is also important to pray and sing with your mind. I think your worship is deeper and can have more meaning when you have reasoning and understanding behind what you do.

October 16, 2011 AM


There are a a LOT of songs with the title "Blessed Be the Name."
And with good reason. The psalmist said,


Psalm 113:2 NAS


Blessed be the name of the LORD From this time forth and forever .

Miriam Webster gives this definition of "blessed"
1a : held in reverence :
 b : honored in worship :
We'll begin our services Sunday singing two "blessed" songs
Blessed Be the Name – "O for a thousand tongues to sing..."
Did you know that when Charles Wesley wrote those words he wasn't saying a thousand people should sing God's praise. He was saying he wished that he himself had a thousand tongues to proclaim God's praise.
Blessed Be Your Name – "Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful..."

It's probably easier to sing "Blessed be the Name of the Lord" when things are going wonderfully. The true test of faith is if we can sing those same words when life has brought many troubles our way.

Matt Redman wrote this song using the words of Job in the bridge (the part of the song after the chorus)
Job 1:21 NAS


He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD."

As we gather together Sunday some of us will have had a nice easy "sunshiny" kind of week. But others of us will have had a week of sorrow or troubles. But together we will all be able to sing "Blessed be the Lord" as we sing with hearts of love and faith.
The choir anthem is a great follow up to these songs because it declares our faith in God. "I believe God. I believe His word is true for I've seen what He can do when I call upon His name."
Choir Anthem – I Believe God

Fellowship song – He Has Made Me Glad – "I will enter His courts with thanksgiving in my heart..."
After the "welcome" time we'll sing about God's wonderful Word.

Break Thou the Bread of Life – The last line of the first verse says, "My spirit pants for Thee, O living Word."

I hope that describes us as we gather together Sunday.

I love the last verse of this beautiful hymn.
"O send Thy Spirit, Lord, Now unto me,
That He may touch mine eyes, And make me see:
Show me the truth concealed Within Thy Word,
And in Thy Book revealed I see Thee, Lord."
Ancient Words –
Word of God Speak – We'll just sing the chorus -
"Word of God speak; Would You fall down like rain washing my eyes to see Your majesty?
To be still and know that You're in this place; Please let me stay and rest in Your holiness.
Word of God, speak."
Special Music – Paula McElroy

Message – Dr. Larry D. Robertson

Invitation song – Change My Heart, O God
Offertory – Bro. Lyndel with band – Great Is the Lord Almighty
Baptisms – both services

Music for Sunday, October 9

I've missed several weeks of posting what we're singing on Sunday. Maybe this will get me back into posting Sunday's music each week.

This week we'll begin our service singing some songs about the second coming.
Sing to the King
Soon and Very Soon
I'll Fly Away

The choir will sing How Great Is the Love

Then we'll sing...
'Tis So Sweet
Resting in Your Love
Offering

Of course the thing that makes congregational music the best is when we all come wanting to express our praise and love to the Lord. The condition of our hearts is much more important than the song selections. But hopefully these songs will give you reason to celebrate in the hope of Christ's return and then give you opportunity to express your love and give testimony to God's goodness.

I'm resting in Your love,
Trusting in Your grace.
Through the questions in my life
I long to see Your face.
In weakness You are strong,
Lord, live Your life through me.
All my hope is placed in You
I'm resting in Your love.

Does God Hate ..... Westboro?

Bless their hearts. The Westboro folks have come to Clarksville. They want to protest at the funerals of the five "Bikers Who Care" who died this week. This isn't Westboro's usual place. They usually protest at military funerals. They carry colorful signs with very hateful messages. Today they even "tweeted" directly to my Senior Pastor and told him some rather hateful things and where they thought they were sending him because they disagreed with some of the things he said - I guess about them.

So I am risking getting some hateful posts or e-mails since I am talking about them in this post. But, of course, my eternal destiny isn't up to some crazy people from Kansas (who obviously have too much time and money on their hands since they fly all over the country to make a nuisance of themselves).

First, let me point out that I don't use the word "Baptist" when describing them. They use it in their title, but they are not Baptists. Historical Baptist theology is nothing like the hate they spew. I also won't use the word "church" to describe them because what they do has nothing to do with the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, anyway, the Westboro folks like to tell everyone who God hates and they like to tell anyone who questions them where they should go (and I don't mean down to Sonic for some sweet tea). So surely God hates them for doing all of the things that they do.

The Apostle John had a lot to say about God and love. The most famous quote from John is John 3:16
Here it is in the Holman Christian Standard Translation.
"For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."

Yes. God loves hateful, terrible people. He loves murderous dictators, those who persecute the church, those who make hateful fools of themselves at funerals, mean people, ugly people, big kids, little kids, kids who climb on rocks, fat kids, skinny kids, even kids with chicken pox (oops, sorry, a childhood commercial just popped in my head.)

But what about the Westboro crowd? My prayer is that they come to know Jesus for who He really is - that they see the truth of John 3:16 in their own lives.

John makes it rather clear who the true followers of Jesus are. Take some time and read all that John had to say about love by reading the entire book of 1 John. Here is a little of what he said found in chapter 4.

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And we have this command from Him: the one who loves God must also love his brother.

These words are for us too. It's EASY to hate the people from Westboro because of what they do. It's not so easy to love them. The only way to do that is to look at them through God's eyes. 1 John 4:9-10 "God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another."