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Good Enough for Him!

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments 
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10a

Often we hear people say that this verse means that the beauties of Heaven are beyond our wildest imaginations. But if we read on, we see that the Apostle Paul is teaching that all of God’s promises are beyond our understanding, until He reveals them to us by faith. There are thousands of promises in the Bible, but today let’s just take a look at one

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. John 19:30 NKJV

Whether we realize it or not we all face challenges today. Our friends, neighbors, coworkers and even family members all have expectations that we try hard to meet. “What have you done for me lately?” is too often the measure of their acceptance and the sad reality of how they value us. Now their expectations are not all bad. After all, we who are fathers, ought to provide for our families, as good neighbors we need to keep our lawn mowed, and coworkers have a right to expect that we do our job. But when we apply that kind of thinking to our relationship with God, everything falls apart, because none of us has the ability to please Him. The Bible tells us that all of us have sinned and missed the mark (God’s reasonable expectations). Our total failure at pleasing God is why the gospel of Jesus Christ is more than just good news, it is better than anything we have imagined even in our wildest dreams! And it is only at the cross that we, through repentance and by faith discover His amazing gift of grace. It is finished forever and in Jesus Christ, God has given us all we will ever need to be good enough for Him!

As He Died to Make Men Holy

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This past Sunday, we closed out the July 4th weekend with the classic songs, The Battle Hymn of the Republic and God Bless America. This weekend about 80% of our crowd came in from the memory care wing, and even though they don’t remember everything the way they once did, they do know all the words to these hymns. They sing with such joy that their voices give joy and hope to everyone who hears. They remind me of Bartimaeus who If there was anyone who should have given up hope, it would have been him. He was a blind beggar and, no one would have recommended this guy to be a motivational speaker on hope. First off, his hope of a career, a family and a comfortable lifestyle were unreachable in the society of his day. On top of that, he must have had neither friends nor family, so He simply sat alone by the side of the street begging. Yet despite all that was stacked against him, Bartimaeus had hope in one thing: the mercy of Jesus. He was sure that if he could get Jesus to listen, that there was still hope. So Bartimaeus began to shout out above the noise of the crowd, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Soon the unhelpful bunch of folks around Bartimaeus told him to shut up and sit down. “Have you met any of them lately? Maybe you hoped they would be the ones to help out, but instead, these were the ones telling you to give up. You’re too old, too young, too weak, too stupid, and on and on. Oh, they might even be a bit more kind than Bartimaeus’ buddies, but in essence they are thinking the same thing, “Why doesn’t this fellow just give it up. There is no hope for him!” But don’t throw up your hands and walk away. Our God is the God of ALL HOPE and just as Bartimaeus was about to discover, He hasn’t ignored your cry for help. Jesus is listening. Jesus is calling you and wants to fill you with all hope if you will simply throw off all your doubts and fears and come. He is waiting for you today!

When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 
Mark 10:47 NIV

Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs

/ pastorpete51 / 9 Comments 
Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Ephesians 5:19 KJV

In this verse, Paul writes about psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, as if they were three friends. Sadly, in our modern age we have chopped these neatly up and then stored them on separate shelves in our pantry. But what a great joy it can be for those of us who call ourselves poets to attempt a reunion and invite all three to our kitchen table.

For example, when we use the word “Psalm,” most of us think only of the one hundred and fifty of them written in the Bible. But the Greek word, simply means a verse of any sort that is accompanied by stringed instruments. Stranger still, the phrase “spiritual song” was not a song as we know it, but more of a rhythmic chant, (a bit closer to what we call a poem). Last of all, the word hymn, meant a musical celebration, and was what Jesus sang with His disciples before they went out from the Last Supper. It might surprise you to learn that many of the hymns we sing today were not initially written as songs. Just to give one example, “How Great Thou Art” by Carl Boberg, was originally written in Swedish as a ten-stanza poem, titled “O Store Gud.” Somewhere along the way it was paired with a folk melody and then later translated into Russian. After that Russian version began to become popular in Ukraine, it was heard by a British missionary, named Stuart Hine. Stuart loved the song so much that he translated the first two of the verses into English, and then added the third and fourth verses which we sing today.

I won’t go into detail, but similar stories lie behind, well known songs such as “My Jesus I Love Thee” “Jesus Loves Me” and “I’d Rather Have Jesus.” One precious memory I have as a nursing home chaplain is of my friend Davonne – now singing with Jesus. Anytime our song service, if I would ask to sing only the first, second and last verse. Davonne would exclaim, “NO Pastor Peter! That song has a story and if we skip any of the verses, we will be missing part of it!” So, maybe it will help you the next time you are laboring away trying to tell a story with a poem, to close your eyes, then imagine the melody of your favorite hymn playing in the background and let it set a rhythm to your words and make a melody in your heart!