God is listening

What is the difference between worship music and non-worship music? Think about it for a second or two. What makes singing to God different than singing a fun song?..... of the many differences we could probably list one of the main differences I would like to point out is that while singing worship music we are singing to God. In a sense we are speaking to God through prayer in a melody. I mentioned this idea once to an Archeologist friend of mine and he suggested that of all the uses of worship only about two percent of them involved singing. I'm not sure about all that but in my own limited research I could only find about four different places in the Bible where worship was associated with singing or music (Daniel 3, 2 Chronicles 29, Psalm 66, and Psalm 95). There are probably more but in my short research that is what I found on a quick search.

So then I tried to see how many times prayer was associated with worship. It was too numerous to really list. To name a few though we see in Genesis 24 that while searching for a wife for Isaac the servant (26) "The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD." Also in Exodus 12 while the people are receiving instructions about the Passover which is about to come it says in verse 27 that the people "...bowed their heads and worship." And there are many more passages like this.

Now you might be asking why would I tell you all of this. It's not because I don't think we should sing songs to worship. On the contrary I think singing songs is an excellent way to worship God. Sometimes I think about our music leaders as prayer leaders. Having these people lead our music/prayer is one way to keep me from being selfish in my prayers. I'll sing prayers about God's attributes and other important topics that I might forget on my own. But the reason I am telling you this is because we are going to talk about prayer through a worship song of David's.

Before we do I want to look at a prayer many of us our familiar with. As many of you have guessed we are going to look at the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6. Many of us have heard excellent teachings on the Lord's prayer. Many of us have learned acronyms which help us know how to pray. I'm not going to say any of these are bad but rather I am going to look at more simplistic way to look at prayer. We're going to break prayer into two main parts. Both of the points will start with the letter "H" so if you're into that sort of thing you'll get a kick out of this.

The first part will be "Honor" and the second part will be "Honesty"

Matthew 6:9-10

In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
¹⁰ Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

In this passage Jesus shows respect and honor to the One he is praying too. Jesus does this by properly identifying who he is speaking to, that is who is worthy to speak to. Here Jesus identifies God as our father in heaven, whose name is Holy, whose kingdom is coming, and whose will is being done. This is one way to honor God. The first part of Jesus' prayer he honors God.

In the second part we see Jesus' honest request.

Matthew 6:11-13

¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
¹³ And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Again Jesus is demonstrating prayer to his disciples and Jesus is honestly assessing their needs. So he essentially says they need their daily provision, they need to be forgiven, they need to forgive, and they need to be protected. There are other elements of prayer but this is one way to look at prayer. Honor and Honesty.

Now our main text is going to be 2 Samuel chapter 22. In this passage we are going to see a similar pattern of Honor and Honesty, but we will also get a picture of God's reasoning.

2 Samuel 22:2-6

² And he said:

“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;

³ The God of my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation,
My stronghold and my refuge;
My Savior, You save me from violence.

⁴ I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.

⁵ “When the waves of death surrounded me,
The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

⁶ The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.

⁷ In my distress I called upon the LORD,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry entered His ears.

In the passage we just read we see that David is following a similar pattern as Jesus did in the Lord's prayer. In verses 2-4 we see David honor God by describing his relationship with God. One thing I must point out is the personal nature of David's honor God. "My Lord, my rock, my fortress, my shield, my savior, etc.." There was no other religion in the Ancient Near East which had a personal God like David did. Traditionally religions in the Ancient Near East worked by a series of protocols. If I sacrifice X then the deity will do Y. Even in modern day Islam you do not know where you are standing with Allah until judgment day. But not our God! Our God is different! Our God is personal and cares about us.

So in verses 2-4 we see David honor God. In verses 5-6 and probably verse 7 we see David's honesty. In 5-6 we see David's honest request. This might be slightly difficult to get out. In 5 and 6 we see David's condition. He is a tragic situation and he feels overwhelmed. Particularly he feels the floods of ungodliness and the waves of death. Essentially he says "I face death and I am afraid!" Four times he says in different ways "I face death." How many times have we or do we feel this way? How many times do we feel like we are facing death and are afraid. Sometimes it might be over something that is actually fearful and involves death and other times it might be something as simple as sharing our faith. Often in the church we talk about joy and forget to talk about the real aspect of fear and dread. We are children of light living in dark world. It makes sense that we will sometimes be afraid and overwhelmed. The scriptures repetitively tell us to "Fear Not." It does this because we often fear. We must not forget that fear is real... but we must also not forget that God will not leave us in our fear as we see in verse 7.

Before I get too far I must say that I love this passage. It does not say that David simply prayed to God. It does not even say that David boldly called out to God. Rather it says that in his distress he called upon the Lord and his cry went out to God. Sometimes this is how we must pray. Sometimes we must pray to God in our fear as we ask for courage. Sometimes in our distress we must cry out to God for a rescuing because we need it. Sometimes we need to tell God that we are broken. So here we see the honesty of David's response.

So how did God respond to this honoring and honesty request? In verse seven it says "He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry entered His ears." Now again before we get too far ahead of ourselves I must point out something else. In this passage where it says "Heard" it is not a passive sort of listening. The image here is not that God was sitting in his throne and this cry happen to make it to his ear. The image here is that God was actively waiting and listening for David to cry to him. How often do we have this misunderstanding? How often while we are praying do we act as if we are asking God to do something he doesn't want to do? How often do we act as if we are more loving than God? When I pray for my wife I have to remind myself sometimes that God is her father and loves her more than I can. I am not twisting his arm begging for a favor but rather asking somebody who wants to help her to go ahead and help her.

After David honored God and honestly sent up his plea how did God respond?

2 Samuel 22:7-19

⁸ “Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.

⁹ Smoke went up from His nostrils,
And devouring fire from His mouth;
Coals were kindled by it.

¹⁰ He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With darkness under His feet.

¹¹ He rode upon a cherub, and flew;
And He was seen upon the wings of the wind.

¹² He made darkness canopies around Him,
Dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

¹³ From the brightness before Him
Coals of fire were kindled.

¹⁴ “The LORD thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice.

¹⁵ He sent out arrows and scattered them;
Lightning bolts, and He vanquished them.

¹⁶ Then the channels of the sea were seen,
The foundations of the world were uncovered,
At the rebuke of the LORD,
At the blast of the breath of His nostrils.

¹⁷ “He sent from above, He took me,
He drew me out of many waters.

¹⁸ He delivered me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me;
For they were too strong for me.

¹⁹ They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
But the LORD was my support.

Is it fair to say that God made a scene? Smoke, and fire, and shaking, and darkness, .... it sounds kind of scary. Even in verse 10 where it says "He bowed the heavens and came down" the word for bowed is better understood as ripped through. God ripped through heaven to come as quickly as he could. In verse 16 it says that "The channel of the sea were seen" this is a stark contrast to verses 5-6 where David is giving us his condition. David was saying that he was facing the "waves of death" and the "floods of ungodliness" but now we read that the channel of the sea were seen. These waves of death and floods of ungodliness are gone. This is not the easy happy go lucky God we often hear caricaturized. Rather this is a fierce and terrifying God. Even in verse 8 we are told that when God heard David's plea he was Angry.

But in this passage we see God's response but what was God's reasoning behind this. Why did God get angry. Why did God rip through heaven? Why did God come down to rescue David. Well we're told here in verse 20.

2 Samuel 22:20

²⁰ He also brought me out into a broad place;
He delivered me because He delighted in me.

"He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me."

Because God delighted in me. Think about it for a second. The God of heaven and earth delighted in David and I submit to you that he delights in all his children. It's quite amazing. How could God delight in us? Even David was an adulterer and a murder but yet God delighted in him? He was a filthy sinner how is it possible that God delighted in him? It's possible because through Jesus Christ we are made righteous before God. If we had time to go through another 30 verses I would demonstrate to you that Jesus Christ is why David was rescued. I would encourage you to do this on your own but suffice it to say that David trusted in the work that Christ was coming to do. We can do the same.

If this is your first time hearing that Jesus rescues people, then I have even better news. You also could be rescued. If you are alone and afraid or have doubts and questions about where you will spend eternity then call out to God and ask him to save you. If you have more questions, ask! Many would love to help you. I would love to help you. We are going to tell you how Jesus died on the cross for your sins and how you can be saved.

Rom 10:9-10 says "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." It's that simple. Simply confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved.

As we close I would plead with you to give your life to Jesus if you never have and for those of us who have given our lives to Jesus I would encourage you to have faith when we prayer. Pray to God with honor and honesty. You are not asking God to do something he doesn't already want to do. Please pray.

Gospel Compilation from Arizona Mission Trip

Update

I haven’t updated this in awhile, though I have been doing the work. I’ll probably come through during the summer and fix some of this up.

Recently though I have been reading some articles related to Exodus and found some interesting things. I found one article relating the Lord’s Supper to Communion. One article was about the necessity of Genesis prior to Exodus. A few like that. Later I’ll come back and share more information about them.

You are as counter-culture as you want to be

I read this in the Southwestern Journal of Theology and it really made me think. So I just wanted to share this.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Southwestern Journal of Theology. Volume 49. No. 1. Fall 2006
Russell D. Moore
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Louisville, KY.
theology@sbts.edu

Southern Baptist Sexual Revolutionaries: Cultural Accommodations, Spiritual Conflict, and the Baptist Vision of the Family.

Page 23

"We have become the people that Jesus warned us about. Southern Baptists want to more and more distance ourselves from our blue-collar, economically impoverished roots, and more wish to be seen as affluent, suburban, and politically influential. But this comes with a cost. The reason we have made peace with the sexual revolution is because we are captive to the love of money. Southern Baptist men and women want to live with the same standard of living as the culture around them and, as the Spirit warns, we will grind our churches and our families to pieces to get there (Jas 4:1-4). Why does the seemingly godly deacon in a conservative Southern Baptist church in North Georgia drive his pregnant teenage daughter to Atlanta undercover of darkness to obtain an abortion? Because, however he votes his “values,” when his crisis hits, he wants his daughter to have a “normal” life. He is “pro-life” with, as on feminist leader put it three exceptions: rape, incest, and my situation.

Why do Southern Baptist parents, contra Paul’s admonition in 1 Corinthians 7, encourage their young adult children to delay marriage years past the time it takes to discern whether this union would be of the Lord? Why do we smiling tell them to wait until they can “afford” it? It is because, to our shame, we deem fornication a less awful reality than financial ruin. Why do Southern Baptist pastors speak bluntly about homosexuality and X-rated movies, but never address the question of whether institutionalized day-care is good for children, or for parents? It is because pastors know that couples would say that they could never afford to live on the provision on the husband alone. And they are right, if living means living in the neighborhoods in which they now live, with the technologies they now have. Christian pastors know that no godly woman will say on her death bed, “If only I had put children in daycare so that I could have pursued my career.” But do Southern Baptist pastors ever ask whether it might be better to live in a one-bedroom apartment or a trailer park than to follow this American dream? Rarely, because it seems so inconceivable to us that it doesn’t even seem like an option. When confronted with the challenge of a counter-cultural, family-affirming—but economically less acquisitive—life, too often we see what are inerrant Bibles define as the joyful life, and then we walk away saddened like another rich young ruler before us who wanted eternal life but wanted his possessions more (Luke 18:18-30).

Two ladies off to work

So I watched two women today go off to work. My wife and my neighbor’s wife (I think). It really made my mind start working. I am so grateful for all the people, often women, throughout history who have been given no glory for all the work they have done.

Christianity sometimes receives a bad reputation for disregarding women. These commonly come from people outside the church. I think people outside the church critique Christianity for this because they don’t understand how much we actually value and love those whose glory is not shown. They don’t understand how the only thing that can make certain actions and behaviors better is to have them done in secret. Giving a gift is one thing, giving a gift in secret is far better.

As I thought about these two women going to work I thought about all their sacrifices that I don’t notice. My wife sacrifices so much so that I can go to school and so that we can serve God. It truly inspires me. And if I ever become anything great, which is not likely, it will only be because of God. And God has chosen to use my wife to help me. I could not do ministry work without her…. Heck I can’t imagine trying to live without her. I know God is all I need but I am so thankful that he uses these people, again often women, who won’t receive as much credit as they deserve to help the rest of us survive.

I think about the Gospel, the Good News that God came down to earth to save us from our sins and offers this forgiveness to all people, and how it has been passed down from age to age. Then I start thinking about how the saints who helped preserve and spread the gospel. Then I start thinking about how all those Saints we are grateful for (for their service to the gospel) probably had someone (male or female) in their lives (who didn’t receive as much credit as they deserved) who helped them receive and spread the gospel. I mean take someone like Martine Luther who helped spread the gospel throughout Germany. There was probably someone in his life whose glory is in secret which inspired Luther to serve. I’m not saying Luther is perfect or his mentor is perfect but I thank God for them both. Think about somebody like Saint Patrick or Billy Graham or John Piper, not that I’m trying to put them all on par with each other or saying their theology is 100%. What I’m saying is that all these influential people most likely had someone who inspired them that we’ll never know about this side of heaven. And I am Thankful for them.

My wife inspires me; but there are others who have inspired me. I’ve been blessed to have had professors who have mentored me (if they knew it or not), friends who’ve mentored me (if they knew it or not), even my oldest brother has been a sort of mentor.

I know I’m sort of rambling and going off on tangents but those are my thoughts. After my wife left for work I saw my neighbor’s wife (who I’ve only said “Hi” to once) leave for work. And I thought about how much my wife’s influence on me is probably similar to how much my neighbor’s wife influences him. And all the work I ever do and my neighbor ever does will at least in part be because of their support, love, and sacrifices. The world may not see how much I love my wife or how much I value her above myself. They may view me and say that I have a disregard for women because of certain beliefs I hold. But they do not see. Their eyes are covered.

The truth is that I need my wife and do not think higher of anybody above my wife (except for the Lord). She is the most sacred thing in my life (except for the Lord and his work). I see her go to work and/or just watch her work hard around the house for our lives and I admire her greatly. I watch what she does and I learn from her. And I believe I am not the only person who does this. I believe these things I mentioned are basic teachings of the faith. Not just for females either. There are many influential men who have inspired many people that will never receive their credit this side of heaven.

I am thankful for them. People cannot do this on their own. I did not come up with the gospel. I receive it by hearing through preaching and believing through faith. People older in the faith came along (if in person or by writings and works) and helped me fine tune my understanding. They helped me understand God a little better so I can listen for is voice a little easier.

I am grateful. And one day I hope to do the same for those who come after me until Christ returns.

Just some thoughts

This won’t be my usual scripture directly related post. This is just some thoughts on my heart.

I thank God for the unique differences he has given each church. I use to believe that the amount of different denominations (including non-denominations) were such a bad terrible thing. I thought that God would be upset that we’ve separated so much; however, especially as of late, I have come to rethink that idea.

People are so different. You would expect there expression in worship to be different or rather how could you expect there expression of love for God in worship to be the same. Now I am not one of those people who believe there are multiple ways to heaven. I don’t think that at all. I believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. I probably believe in more dogma than even I realize and certainly more than your average American does.

However I praise God for the diversity among the saints. I’m not even talking about the diversity among an American church and an African church. I’m talking about the diversity in America churches alone. I attend a rather conservative church where the average age for its members is probably 89, and that’s only because my wife and I dramatically lower the average. Even though our (my wife and I) demographics have been extremely different than most the congregation we’ve found great ways to serve the church and they have certainly blessed our socks off. With that said I don’t know many people who would feel comfortable in that church.

I just thank God so much for the variety among the different churches. You have outreach churches which would probably terrify most of the congregation I worship with and likewise a member from an outreach church might be terrified to be in my church worshipping. But we are all brothers and sisters of the faith.

In heaven we’ll all be equal and worshiping the same God. See down here you have some people who feel more holy because they’ve been Christian forever and know all the “Christian terms” and sayings. Then you have other people who feel more holy because they have these really awesome testimonies (the term bragimony comes to mind). Then you have people who don’t feel particularly holy because they haven’t been to terrible, certainly made some big mistakes, but nothing to write a book about. Then you have those who also don’t feel too holy because they never have a clue and are just happy to be saved. Then you have those Christians who are simply trying to figure out what is going on (spiritually speaking), through church, Bible Study, and whatever they can get their hands on whom get condemned by other Christians who are intimidated.

With all that said, when we get to heaven we will all be equal. We will all clearly understand the depravity of our sins and be hit with the sudden realization of how unworthy and unmerited our salvation was. We will see Jesus Christ and stand in complete awe of how gracious and merciful he has been to us.

John 1:14

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

BTW

So I decided to go back to the orignal intent of this blog and just jot ideas down instead of trying to write full sermons or whatever. Thanks