Come Praise and Glorify

Come praise and glorify our God
The Father of our Lord
In Christ, He has in heavenly realms
His blessings on us poured
For pure and blameless in His sight
He destined us to be
And now we've been adopted through
His Son eternally

To the praise of Your glory
To the praise of Your mercy and grace
To the praise of Your glory
You are the God Who saves

Come praise and glorify our God
Who gives His grace in Christ
In Him, our sins are washed away
Redeemed through sacrifice
In Him, God has made known to us
The mystery of His will
That Christ should be the head of all
His purpose to fulfill

Come praise and glorify our God
For we've believed the Word
And through our faith we have a seal
The Spirit of the Lord
The Spirit guarantees our hope
Until redemption's done
Until we join in endless praise
To God, the Three in One

"In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory." - Ephesians 1:11-12 (NIV)

Who is sufficient for these things?

"If you are sufficient for your task, it's too small." - John Piper on Twitter, 15 Mar 13

Trust in the LORD

"Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him." - Psalm 37:3-7a (NIV)

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." - Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

"Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal." - Isaiah 26:4 (NIV)

What is love?

"God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." - 1 John 4:16b (NIV)

"And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love." - 2 John 6 (NIV)

"Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God." - 3 John 11 (NIV)

ESV Reading for 2 Jan

"And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation." - Luke 1:50 (ESV)

Don't Waste Your Life

For me as a boy, one of the most gripping illustrations my fiery father used was the story of a man converted in old age. The church had prayed for this man for decades. He was hard and resistant. But this time, for some reason, he showed up when my father was preaching. At the end of the service, during a hymn, to everyone's amazement he came and took my father's hand. They sat down together on the front pew of the church as the people were dismissed. God opened his heart to the Gospel of Christ, and he was saved from his sins and given eternal life.

But that did not stop him from sobbing and saying, as the tears ran down his wrinkled face - and what an impact it made on me to hear my father say this through his own tears - "I've wasted it! I've wasted it!"

This was the story that gripped me more than all the stories of young people who died in car wrecks before they were converted - the story of an old man weeping that he had wasted his life. In those early years God awakened in me a fear and a passion not to waste my life. The thought of coming to my old age and saying through tears, "I've wasted it! I've wasted it!" was a fearful and horrible thought to me.

- John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." - Psalm 90:12 (NIV)

Only one life
'Twill soon be past
Only what's done
For Christ will last

Another Year is Dawning

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." - Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV)

Another year is dawning
Dear Father, let it be
In working or in waiting
Another year with Thee

Another year of progress
Another year of praise
Another year of proving
Thy presence all the days

A Whisper of Hope

"In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin from prison on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honour higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king's table. Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived." - 2 Kings 25:27-30 (NIV)

As Pastor Andrew pointed out in this week's sermon, 2 Kings could have ended with v26. But it ends with v27-30, a whisper of hope :)

"After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah* was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ." - Matthew 1:12-17 (NIV) 

*That is, Jehoiachin(!)

Joy has dawned upon the world
Promised from creation
God's salvation now unfurled
Hope for every nation

Not with fanfares from above
Not with scenes of glory
But a humble gift of love
Jesus, born of Mary

Trust in the LORD

"Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked? When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future." - Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 (NIV)

And so,

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." - Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

No Greater Joy

"But why should the pretended pleasure of sin allure you, when you know that unspeakably more real pleasure will arise from the mortification than can arise from the commission of sin? Will you prefer the gratification of some unhallowed passion, with the deadly poison which it will leave behind, to that sacred pleasure which arises from fearing and obeying God, complying with the dictates of conscience, and maintaining inward peace?" - John Flavel, Keeping the Heart

"There is a greater pleasure than the empty promise of sin. It is "that sacred pleasure", as Flavel calls it. It is the life of fearing and obeying God, of believing the truth that God Himself is enough, satisfying our deepest desires." - Jonathan Parnell, Joy Comes to the Rescue

"Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing." - Psalm 34:8-10 (NIV)