Hymns

Preparing for the AI Storm

/ pastorpete51 / 7 Comments 
Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations. Joel 2:1-2 ESV

There is a storm coming called artificial intelligence, the likes of which we have never seen. It is hard for us to even imagine the power of this new force that is no longer coming, it is here and growing more powerful daily. Whether on the topic of medicine, or national defense, AI is viewed as a tool to be used, and an uncommon urgency seems to have gripped our society to develop it as fast as possible. It makes me wonder if anyone stopped to ask why, and what will be the outcome of turning those segments of our society over to this brand-new force. We are either at the point now or soon will be that some AI model somewhere will know the names and personal information of virtually every single person on our planet. They will or are in the process of consuming all our works of literature, art, and theater. Every star, every discovery, every medicine will be part of its database. Even every state secret, every weapon system, and the internal structure of every unit in our military is only just beyond its reach but only for now. How should we prepare? How should we as Christians think about how AI will affect us and the work of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? There has never been an adversary like the one we are facing. Yet, no matter what lies ahead, we need to remember that there is still no one like our God. There will never be any power greater than His. If He is on our side, who can be against us? So, let’s prepare, but not fear, plan but not panic and keep walking by faith because with the strength that only Jesus gives, He has promised that we will not faint! This week we sang, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” The message that Helen Lemmel wrote about trusting God in confusing and difficult circumstances is never more true than now. When we don’t know what to do next, who to trust or where to turn, we must turn our eyes of faith towards Jesus, and then “The things that are of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace!”

Our Hope of Heaven

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Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides Thee. 
Psalm 73:25 KJV

Hoping for heaven has sometimes been given a bad rap, because many of the old hymns and sermons of yesteryear focused exclusively on heavenly bliss, while ignoring the importance of our time on earth. But the Bible says that neither our greatest victories nor our worst failures can compare with what lies ahead for us in heaven. It reminds me of when our boys were teenagers. In shop class they made themselves wooden plaques with their names carved on them to hang over the doorways to their rooms. Though no one had any doubts as to whose room was whose, they simply felt they needed to stake out their own personal territory. In the same way God has staked out a territory in heaven for everyone who has put their hope in Jesus Christ. God has personally engraved our names over the doorways of our rooms. So don’t worry. There is nothing wrong with a joyful longing to be together forever with Jesus in the place He has prepared for us. We need to be able to say, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides Thee.” Then our hope of heaven can strengthen our hearts in the storms that come our way today and lighten our load so we can carry the burdens of others. This hope comes from God and will shine through any dark night and will light our paths all the way to our Heavenly home!

The Fairest of Ten Thousand

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments 
My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. Song of Solomon 5:10 KJV

Singing “The Lily of the Valley” this Sunday, brought back memories from fifty years ago, of the occasional Sunday night when we would pile in the car with friends and head off to visit the Blue Bluck Pentecostal Church. Though it was a little church out in the middle of nowhere, we would find it packed to capacity every weekend. The “worship team” consisted of the pastor, playing bass fiddle, accompanied by three guitars as well as piano. When the people sang, “Lily of the Valley”, they would clap and stamp their feet. In that little church with its wooden floors the energy would cause the floorboards to roll beneath us in waves. But of all the memories, what stands out most was of one older gentleman, who would get so excited during the singing that between stanzas he would shout out, “O glory! Hallelujah!”. His voice practically shook the rafters and had me jumping out of my skin every time he did it. Now, we may be far too proper for such an outburst in our church today, but I don’t think Jesus minded a bit. In fact, if we have truly put all our faith in Jesus, then on the day that we sweep up to glory to see His blessed face, I will bet my bottom dollar that, “O glory! Hallelujah!” will be one of the most timid expressions of our worship! Try to imagine that we will see those Seraphim and Cherubim, that Isaiah told us about crying “Holy! Holy! Holy!” so powerfully that the threshold of God’s throne room will be shaken. Then Abraham, Issac, Jacob, along with Peter, John, James and Paul will fall on their faces and cast their crowns before the feet of Jesus in worship and God’s glory will fill the place. Then, for a certainty, we will know the depths of the truth behind the lavish words of praise in this old hymn. We will be reminded of how He never forsook us, that He fed us with His manna all along the way and that His presence remained a wall of fire protecting us and that His mighty hand led us safely all the way.