Phillipians 3:4-11
4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!
5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.
7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.
For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
We were talking about the Apostle Paul this past Sunday and reflecting on how the Bible would be different without him and his writings. It was because of Andrew that Paul was brought into a caring, discipling "church" so that he could become what God intended him to be. My thoughts went to this passage.
Paul could boast in so many things. He was a Jew among Jews. He had kept all the laws since his youth. But none of that compared to the priceless gift of Christ. It was all Paul could really glory in. The painful, sacrificial death of Christ was the only thing this great man of God could glory in. It was this and only this that made him acceptable to the Father. God didn't care who Paul was or what he had done or how many commandments he had kept and for how long. All God cared about was the blood of His Son. That is was took Paul from enemy status to friend status.
I guess I could do some boasting also. I could tell you all the things I have accomplished. I could tell you how many years of my life have been spent in service to God. I could tell you how many hours I dedicate praticing, preparing my heart, seeeking the face of God. I could paint a pretty sacrificial picture of myself. I could impress people. I can definately entertain them. God has given me a wonderful gift to be able to worship God and express my love for Him through music. Because of the years of perfecting my craft I can sit down and play pretty much anything at a moments notice and make it seem like I've practiced for hours. I have spent countless hours preparing for the spontenaity that God requires of me.
I could tell you sad stories about my childhood and how my father failed me and what a tyrant my mother was. How I would spend hours in my room praticing piano as an escape from the abuse of the household.
I could boast about how I started playing piano at age 13 and moved on to organ and then singing, then directing choirs and finally to worship leading.
Yes, I could paint a pretty picture of myself.
But, you know what? All that is nothing!!!
You heard me. Nothing!!
Nothing I can do on my own amounts to anything. God doesn't need me to complete His work or to cause His people to worship Him. He has chosen to use me, in spite of me. And as wonderful as it is to praise Him and lead His people in worship, He really doesn't need me to do it. His word says that He can cause the rocks and hills to cry out to Him in praise.
I can't take credit for anything I can do. I have practiced long and hard. It has taken years for me to develope my talents into what I do now. But had He not directed my life and had a direct hand in everything about my life I would have turned out to be a totally different person with totally different interests.
I say a very big Amen! with Paul.
"Yes, everything is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord".
I could choose to sing for another but why would I, how could I keep from singing and playing for one Who has done so much for me?
I turn 48 in a couple of days. I always seem to get down around my birthday. I always reflect on the failures of the past. I am not where I intended to be at age 48. I have dreamed a lot and a lot of those dreams have not been recognized. There have been lots of decisions made that have proved to be detrimental to the dreams I had. But my dreams are not God's dreams. They are mine. When I stand at the keyboard on Sunday morning and worship the God I love so very much, I don't focus on my failures. Sure, I wonder how such a holy God could desire friendship with such a sinful man, but mostly what I feel is that all my dreams have been realized. My entire family, with exception of Micah, is to my right, sharing the "stage" with me. What could be more fulfilling than that? To have the woman I love more than life and the children we have brought into this world together sharing in the passion of our hearts is more wonderful than any stupid dream I have.
There have been lots of ups and downs and lots of things I could feel sorry for myself about or feel regret about. I don't regret my family. Sure, life would have been easier if I would have never married. Perhaps I would be somewhere further down the road in the entertainment business. Maybe I would be writing songs that are sung by my idols, Mac Powell or Bebo Norman or Chris Tomlin. Maybe I would be 50 pounds lighter and run 5 miles everyday.
But nothing gives me more pleasure than hearing my church sing one of my songs or hearing one of my kids singing one of my songs while walking around the house. Nothing makes me feel more at peace with my life than knowing that I have been entrusted with raising a litter of worshippers.
Even with all this wonderfulness, nothing compares to the priceless gift of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
Blessings
Allen
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Brokenhearted
Psalm 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.
This past weekend was Prom time for my little Hannah. All the preparations were made to make her as beautiful as possible. She really didn't need the help in that department but still it was like preparing a bride for her wedding. I won't go into a lot of detail but the long and short of it is that after all the preparations and excitement the night ended up being a disaster.
Her boyfriend left her alone most of the night and treated her like dirt. Didn't even sit with her at dinner. He spent the whole night with his friends.
After Prom Hannah went to spend the night with a group of girls and was due to come home sometime Sunday. She called at 3AM crying and wanted us to come pick her up. Her mom and I got in the car and drove out to the boonies to pick her up. She was a mess, emotionally.
Sunday was a very hard day for all of us. My little girl has had her first break up. Yes, she and Jordan, who we had begun to love like a son have broken up. The reasons and the justification for him treating her so badly is not important. Sunday I was mad and wanted to do evil things with a knife and his genitals. Today I am sad. Hannah has gone from being a heap of quivering humanity to being steaming mad. God help him! Hannah is on a rampage and wants answers.
My girls have not done the normal "date everything in pants" thing. We have raised them to take dating very seriously. We have set very high standards for them because we believe that God set high standards. We do not cheapen the courtship process. Sure, we expect broken hearts but we also expect our girls to be treated with dignity and respect. Their parents have not always modeled love and compassion and respect but when the layers are peeled away, we love each other deeply. I love her more than I ever thought possible and sometimes I just want to grab her ravage her in public. I refrain of course.
I want guys to desire my daughters. To only think of them when they are together. To only think of them when they are apart.
I am trying to put aside the amount of money spent for this event for it all to end so badly. Anson and Nicole bought her dress while they were in New York and we spent grocery money to get her nails done and Ashley did her hair and makeup. When she stepped out of the car people stopped and gasped. One little girl ran up to her and hugged her and asked her if she was Cinderella. She was drop-dead gorgeous and I was so very proud to be her father.
The emotions are running wild in our house right now. We spent our first night watching "Dancing With the Stars" without Jordan and I was a little sad. We all feel like we've lost a member of our family.
Part of me wants to beat him until he bleeds, the other part of me wants to invite him back and have him eat dinner with us again. He had, in a very short time, become a part of our family.
I saw him as possibly someone who would be in our family for a long time. Possibly a son-in-law. Regardless whether it was by marriage or not, he was to be a member of our family. We often joked about if he and Hannah broke up that Jordan would still come to our house to see us. I guess we will see.
Maybe the time will come when both of my girls and their husbands will sit in our living room and watch "Dancing With The Stars" or possibly watch reruns of Ashley on "American Idol" but right now we are nursing broken hearts and it's hard to see the happy part of the journey. We have to lean on the God Who promises that he will "heal our broken hearts" and allow Him to "bandage our wounds". As I gazed at the pictures taken on Sautday I find myself amazed at the beautiful young woman Hannah has become. And she's not just pretty on the outside, she's pretty inside too. I can't help but think of the time we were in Kroger at Halloween time. We turned around and Hannah was gone. All the sudden we hear "yook, ya'll, I found me a witch!" He she came down the middle of Kroger with the biggest cardboard witch I had ever seen. All we could see was her fingers and her little feet from behind the thing. That's Hannah. She always picks up more than she should. Most people would say, "This is too big" or "It's too heavy". Not Hannah. She'll pick it up and in her stuborn but sweet way, carry it to the destination. She doesn't give up and she doesn't settle. Some young man out there will probably learn the hard way that she is "spirited". I plan to warn them but it won't do any good. She'll flash those beautiful blue eyes and laugh that heavy laugh and he'll be caught. Caught in Hannah's rope.
Take care Jordan. You will be sorely missed. I don't feel like killing you today. Be Grateful!
Blessings
Allen
He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.
This past weekend was Prom time for my little Hannah. All the preparations were made to make her as beautiful as possible. She really didn't need the help in that department but still it was like preparing a bride for her wedding. I won't go into a lot of detail but the long and short of it is that after all the preparations and excitement the night ended up being a disaster.
Her boyfriend left her alone most of the night and treated her like dirt. Didn't even sit with her at dinner. He spent the whole night with his friends.
After Prom Hannah went to spend the night with a group of girls and was due to come home sometime Sunday. She called at 3AM crying and wanted us to come pick her up. Her mom and I got in the car and drove out to the boonies to pick her up. She was a mess, emotionally.
Sunday was a very hard day for all of us. My little girl has had her first break up. Yes, she and Jordan, who we had begun to love like a son have broken up. The reasons and the justification for him treating her so badly is not important. Sunday I was mad and wanted to do evil things with a knife and his genitals. Today I am sad. Hannah has gone from being a heap of quivering humanity to being steaming mad. God help him! Hannah is on a rampage and wants answers.
My girls have not done the normal "date everything in pants" thing. We have raised them to take dating very seriously. We have set very high standards for them because we believe that God set high standards. We do not cheapen the courtship process. Sure, we expect broken hearts but we also expect our girls to be treated with dignity and respect. Their parents have not always modeled love and compassion and respect but when the layers are peeled away, we love each other deeply. I love her more than I ever thought possible and sometimes I just want to grab her ravage her in public. I refrain of course.
I want guys to desire my daughters. To only think of them when they are together. To only think of them when they are apart.
I am trying to put aside the amount of money spent for this event for it all to end so badly. Anson and Nicole bought her dress while they were in New York and we spent grocery money to get her nails done and Ashley did her hair and makeup. When she stepped out of the car people stopped and gasped. One little girl ran up to her and hugged her and asked her if she was Cinderella. She was drop-dead gorgeous and I was so very proud to be her father.
The emotions are running wild in our house right now. We spent our first night watching "Dancing With the Stars" without Jordan and I was a little sad. We all feel like we've lost a member of our family.
Part of me wants to beat him until he bleeds, the other part of me wants to invite him back and have him eat dinner with us again. He had, in a very short time, become a part of our family.
I saw him as possibly someone who would be in our family for a long time. Possibly a son-in-law. Regardless whether it was by marriage or not, he was to be a member of our family. We often joked about if he and Hannah broke up that Jordan would still come to our house to see us. I guess we will see.
Maybe the time will come when both of my girls and their husbands will sit in our living room and watch "Dancing With The Stars" or possibly watch reruns of Ashley on "American Idol" but right now we are nursing broken hearts and it's hard to see the happy part of the journey. We have to lean on the God Who promises that he will "heal our broken hearts" and allow Him to "bandage our wounds". As I gazed at the pictures taken on Sautday I find myself amazed at the beautiful young woman Hannah has become. And she's not just pretty on the outside, she's pretty inside too. I can't help but think of the time we were in Kroger at Halloween time. We turned around and Hannah was gone. All the sudden we hear "yook, ya'll, I found me a witch!" He she came down the middle of Kroger with the biggest cardboard witch I had ever seen. All we could see was her fingers and her little feet from behind the thing. That's Hannah. She always picks up more than she should. Most people would say, "This is too big" or "It's too heavy". Not Hannah. She'll pick it up and in her stuborn but sweet way, carry it to the destination. She doesn't give up and she doesn't settle. Some young man out there will probably learn the hard way that she is "spirited". I plan to warn them but it won't do any good. She'll flash those beautiful blue eyes and laugh that heavy laugh and he'll be caught. Caught in Hannah's rope.
Take care Jordan. You will be sorely missed. I don't feel like killing you today. Be Grateful!
Blessings
Allen
Friday, May 9, 2008
Enemies Of God
Romans 1:18-32
18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
I was reading this scripture today because about a week ago I listened to a sermon by Paul Washer entitled "The Meaning of The Cross". I was struck by how much I thought I knew about Jesus and His purpose on the cross.
If someone would have asked me, "What has Jesus saved us from?" I would have answered, "From our sins". WRONG!
I am so surprised how many things that I have been taught all my life have been incorrect. I have always been taught that we are saved by repeating the sinner's prayer and that when we doubt our salvation then that is just the devil trying to discourage us. How many times have a doubted my salvation? Probably many times just today. Just the fact that I have doubts is an indication that I am a believer. We are told to examine ourselves. Look at the fruit in our lives. Ask ourselves, "How has my relationship with sin changed?"
And yet I find myself yet again, baffled by the truth of God's Word. I find that the foundations of my "faith" have been shaken.
I am not saved from my sin. If that were true then I would never sin and I would have also been saved from Christ who became sin for us.
I am saved from God. I was born an enemy of God. Not because of God but because I am me. I am born a human therfore I am born an enemy of God because my parent were born enemies of God and their ancestors all the way back to Adam were enemies of God. The cross does not save us from our sins, it saves us from God and His wrath. Because of Jesus and His sacrifice we are made "friends" of God. We no longer carry the sinful DNA of mankind. We carry the sinless DNA of Christ. I wish I had some great pictorial analogy or some great parable that would give you a better picture of what this means. I don't. I am without words to describe this indescribable action by Christ on our behalf.
Read the words of Romans 1 slowly.
Since we have come to faith in God through Jesus Christ we are no longer enemies of God. We are His friends.
Blessings
Allen
18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
I was reading this scripture today because about a week ago I listened to a sermon by Paul Washer entitled "The Meaning of The Cross". I was struck by how much I thought I knew about Jesus and His purpose on the cross.
If someone would have asked me, "What has Jesus saved us from?" I would have answered, "From our sins". WRONG!
I am so surprised how many things that I have been taught all my life have been incorrect. I have always been taught that we are saved by repeating the sinner's prayer and that when we doubt our salvation then that is just the devil trying to discourage us. How many times have a doubted my salvation? Probably many times just today. Just the fact that I have doubts is an indication that I am a believer. We are told to examine ourselves. Look at the fruit in our lives. Ask ourselves, "How has my relationship with sin changed?"
And yet I find myself yet again, baffled by the truth of God's Word. I find that the foundations of my "faith" have been shaken.
I am not saved from my sin. If that were true then I would never sin and I would have also been saved from Christ who became sin for us.
I am saved from God. I was born an enemy of God. Not because of God but because I am me. I am born a human therfore I am born an enemy of God because my parent were born enemies of God and their ancestors all the way back to Adam were enemies of God. The cross does not save us from our sins, it saves us from God and His wrath. Because of Jesus and His sacrifice we are made "friends" of God. We no longer carry the sinful DNA of mankind. We carry the sinless DNA of Christ. I wish I had some great pictorial analogy or some great parable that would give you a better picture of what this means. I don't. I am without words to describe this indescribable action by Christ on our behalf.
Read the words of Romans 1 slowly.
Since we have come to faith in God through Jesus Christ we are no longer enemies of God. We are His friends.
Blessings
Allen
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