May 31 Bama Park Mission, Lake Martin Baptist Church
June 1 and 2 1st Baptist Church Covington La
June 3 1st Baptist Church Alexander City, 6th Street Baptist Church
June 4 Hueytown Baptist Church
June 5 interview Alabama Baptist
June 6 New Salem Baptist Church
June 7 1st Baptist Church Dadeville, Wayside Baptist Church
June 8th Pastors Association Meeting, Beulah Baptist Church
June 9th Pastors Luncheon 1st Baptist Church Alexander City
June 10th TV Station Interview, Orr Street baptist Church
June 11
June 12
June 13 Zion Hill VBS, Old Providence VBS
June 14 New Beginning Baptist Church, Hillabee Baptist Church
June 15
June 16
June 17 Lake Martin VBS
June 18
June 19
June 20
June 21 Bama Park Mission
June 22-24 Southern Baptist Convention
June 8, 2009
Steve’s SBC Itinerary
June 8, 2009
Steve’s SBC Itinerary
May 31 Bama Park Mission, Lake Martin Baptist Church
June 1 and 2 1st Baptist Church Covington La
June 3 1st Baptist Church Alexander City, 6th Street Baptist Church
June 4 Hueytown Baptist Church
June 5 interview Alabama Baptist
June 6 New Salem Baptist Church
June 7 1st Baptist Church Dadeville, Wayside Baptist Church
June 8th Pastors Association Meeting, Beulah Baptist Church
June 9th Pastors Luncheon 1st Baptist Church Alexander City
June 10th TV Station Interview, Orr Street baptist Church
June 11
June 12
June 13 Zion Hill VBS, Old Providence VBS
June 14 New Beginning Baptist Church, Hillabee Baptist Church
June 15
June 16
June 17 Lake Martin VBS
June 18
June 19
June 20
June 21 Bama Park Mission
June 22-24 Southern Baptist Convention
May 3, 2009
2 Timothy 4:1-8 How To Finish Well
1. I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:
2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
I guess in a worldly way we were all somewhat gratified by the agreement of the CEO of Macquarie Bank to take a pay cut this year.
2006 “Macquarie Bank Ltd bosses remain the highest paid in Australia, taking home a massive $143 million in total last financial year with chief executive Allan Moss himself receiving $21.2 million.”
SYDNEY, May 1, 2009 (AFP) – The chief executive of Australia’s largest investment bank, Macquarie Group, has taken a 99 percent pay cut after its annual profit plunged by more than half, the bank revealed Friday. The move came as the bank, once dubbed the “millionaire’s factory,” posted a massive 52 percent drop in profit to 871 million Australian dollars (947 million Singapore dollars), Macquarie’s first profit drop in 17 years. Chief Executive Nicholas Moore saw his full year remuneration for fiscal year to March 2009 drop to 290,756 Australian dollars (210,885 US) from 26.75 million the previous year, figures released by the bank showed.
He reduced his wage to a mere $200,000, because he hadn’t performed well in investing for the bank. At least we could see he was concerned to do what was right, now that his wage was under the scrutiny of the nation as we face economic meltdown and recession.
Your life will be under scrutiny.
The apostle Paul is facing death. He is facing appearing before the Judgement seat of Christ. He ahs to consider what is really important right now in the light of stepping into eternity.
The apostle Paul has in the previous few chapters told us about the terrible days of apostasy that would come upon the world before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. His statements about the moral declension in the church and the false teachings that would abound have seriously come to pass in our day with greater magnitude than any other time in history.
Today the Western church , protestant churches, are at a crossroads.
There has been a rise in secularism and atheism in our Australian society.
The church has never fared worse in Australia than it is right now.
Paul has already told us that there is only one solution, the Word of God. You and I need the Word of God.
We need the Word of God because It alone points us to true salvation.
2 Timothy 3:15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
We need the Word of God because It alone establishes us as Christians.
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,
We need the Word of God because It alone completes us and makes us adequate for all of life’s trials.
17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Now Paul is going to tell us how important it is to do what is important. How do you know what is important? The bottom line is that in a world that is saling to hell we must do the important thing. We must finish well!
1. Finish Well By Doing What Counts.
When people file out after church, they sometimes say things to their pastors that they probably didn’t intend to come out that way. Here are a few that pastors have heard:
“Pastor, you always manage to find something to fill up the time.”
“I don’t care what they say, I like your sermons.”
“If I’d known you were going to be good today, I’d have brought a neighbour.”
“We shouldn’t make you preach so often.”
“Pastor, every week you’re better than next week.”
Preaching has fallen on hard times. Even many pastors do not believe in the relevancy of preaching in our TV age, where people have developed shorter attention spans. They contend that we ought to abandon doctrinal sermons in favour of more emotional forms of communication, such as drama and storytelling.
I’ll be the first to admit that a lot of preachers are boring and irrelevant. Listening to their sermons is a lot like P. G. Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster described listening to a violin solo: “It was loud in spots and less loud in other spots, and it had that quality which I have noticed in all violin solos, of seeming to last much longer than it actually did.”
J. I. Packer who wrote (A Quest for Godliness [Crossway Books], p. 282), “We shall never perform a more important task than preaching. If we are not willing to give time to sermon preparation, we are not fit to preach, and have no business in the ministry at all.” He argues (p. 281) that “the well-being of the church today depends in large measure on a revival of preaching in the Puritan vein. He says (p. 283), “… to the Puritan, faithful preaching was the basic ingredient in faithful pastoring.”
Preaching the Word and hearing the Word are essential for God’s people.
These words are important enough as they stand, but they take on more weight when you realize that they are Paul’s final charge to his beloved son in the faith, Timothy. Paul could not have emphasized the essential nature of preaching any more strongly: “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word ….” (2 Tim. 4:1-2a).
It follows, of course, that if preaching the Word is so important, then hearing the Word preached is also top priority, because a man does not preach to himself. It also reminds us that in many ways we are all involved in this precious work , and we all are preachers.
The famous preacher, Dr. Campbell Morgan, has four sons, all preachers. The story is told that, on one occasion, the whole of the family was at home when a friend called. They made room for him in the circle round the fireside. There at one end was the Doctor himself; at the other, Mrs. Morgan; in between, the four sons, and the friend. Presently, in the course of the conversation, the visitor turned to one of the sons and said, “Howard, who is the best preacher in your family?” All eyes turned in the Doctor’s direction, for it would certainly be he that would get the crown! But Howard surprised them all by looking to the opposite corner, and saying, as if there could be no second opinion, “Why, Mother, of course!” She was the one member of the family that wasn’t a preacher, and she was the best preacher of them all!
Why preach?
The Word should be preached because of the serious issues at stake.
The word translated “solemnly charge” (1 Tim. 5:21; 2 Tim. 2:14) has a legal nuance: Paul is calling Timothy in front of God’s judicial bench and charging him under oath with the awesome task of proclaiming God’s Word to those who also will someday stand in front of that bench for judgment by Christ Jesus who will return to reign over all.
There is the serious issue of Judgement.
The verb “is” (before “to judge”) literally means, “is about to.” It imparts the urgency of the task. The day is soon coming when Christ will return. He came the first time as the suffering Savior to redeem us from our sins. But the second time He will come as the Sovereign King, to put down all rebellion and to judge the living and the dead. That includes you may be hovering somewhere between those two realms. Although as believers in Christ, we will not face condemnation, we all will stand before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10).
This means that life is a serious matter. Every human being must someday stand before the living God to give an account of his or her life. The Word of God tells us how to live so that we will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master.” Preaching is important because of the seriousness of this fact.
Christ will appear and set up His kingdom. The word “appear” was used of the Emperor’s visit to a province or town. Just before his visit, things were put in perfect order. The garbage was cleaned up, the streets were swept and the buildings were scrubbed clean for his appearing.
There is the serious issue of Scripture.
Scripture gives us “the wisdom that leads to salvation” and equips us for every good work (3:15-17). Scripture reveals to us “everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3). If a man doesn’t explain and apply Scripture, his preaching may be entertaining and inspirational; but it will lack life-changing power.
There is the Serious Issue Of Salvation.
Romans 10: 9 if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 Now the Scripture says, No one who believes on Him will be put to shame, 12 for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. 13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
14 But how can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How welcome are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things!
Picture a paramedic unit on call, ready to save someone’s life. Souls are perishing without Christ. Christians are straying from the fold. Proclaim God’s Word whenever and wherever you can!
To do this, a preacher must make an appeal to the reason of the hearers: “Reprove.” The word is a legal term that means to present your case in such a manner as to convince your opponent of his wrong. A preacher must not simply give an emotional harangue. He must present his case in a logically convincing manner from the Word so that his hearers are persuaded that what it is saying is right even when their behavior is wrong. The Holy Spirit’s task is to reprove (= convict) the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). He does this largely through Spirit-filled biblical preaching.
Second, a preacher must make an appeal to the conscience of the hearers: “Rebuke.” This moral aspect of preaching says, “You are wrong; you need to repent!” We tend not to like that sort of thing, but it is desperately needed in our day of watered-down, feel good Christianity. William Barclay was right when he wrote (The Daily Study Bible [Westminster Press], p. 207): “Any teacher … whose teaching tends to make men think less of sin is a menace to Christianity and to mankind.”
Third, a preacher must make an appeal to the will and emotions of the hearers: “Exhort.” The word has the nuance of encouraging someone to right behavior. Some people need rebuke and some need encouragement. If you encourage those who need rebuking, you assist them to go on sinning. But if you rebuke those who need encouragement, you’ll discourage them. Someone has said that the preacher’s job is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. Only the Holy Spirit can take the Word and apply it individually to a congregation made up of all sorts of needs.
There is the Serious Issue Of Deception
Paul warns Timothy that the time will come when people in the church is the implication) will not endure sound doctrine, but rather, wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate (lit., “heap up”) teachers in accordance to their own desires. They will find teachers who tell them what they want to hear, not what they need to hear.
“Sound doctrine” is one of Paul’s frequent themes in the pastoral epistles (1 Tim. 1:10 whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching ; 2 Tim. 4:3; Titus 1:9 holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.
2:1 But you must speak what is consistent with sound teaching.
“sound words” in 1 Tim. 6:3; 2 Tim. 1:13 Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
“Sound” means healthy (we derive our word “hygienic” from it). Sound teaching results in healthy Christian living. Note that such healthy teaching is set in contrast to what people like and thus it must be “endured”! This implies that, like health food, it doesn’t always feel good at the moment, because it confronts our selfish desires, but in the long run it yields healthy Christianity.
In 4:4, Paul says that people will turn aside from the truth to myths—the religious ideas of men as opposed to God’s revelation in the Word.
2. Finish Well By Presenting Something Complete.
5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
“But you …” (3:10, 14). It is a pointed reminder that a man of God must go against the flow, even, at times, against the “Christian” flow.
First, “Be sober” (literally, “Don’t be drunk”). When people get intoxicated with the latest winds of false doctrine, you’re the designated driver. Keep your head about you and continue preaching the truth.
Don’t let your ministry become incomplete through indolence.
Second, “Endure hardship.” If you preach the truth of God’s Word, you will catch flak. Harry Ironside said that he occasionally received letters from people in his congregation (invariably people he didn’t know personally) who would say, “I don’t like your preaching; and I don’t think you had any right to expose me in the way you did. I don’t know who has been talking to you about me.” And they always closed by saying, “It’s not true.” His comment was, “If you throw a stone into a pack of dogs and one of them yelps, you know who got hit.”
Daniel Niles, once shared-a story about a young missionary couple who labored long and hard for in the midst of a rather primitive tribe in the New Hebrides Islands.
For months and even years there were no visible results until…finally, one day, one family became Christians. Now it seemed that the future of their whole ministry to that tribe rested on the future of that one family. But what should happen? The child in that very family contracted a horrible disease.
As you can imagine, the parents prayed desperately for the recovery of that child. They brought him to the missionaries and the missionaries prayed as never before that God would hold back this enemy and show these superstitious people the power of prayer and the Christian faith.
But, nevertheless, the child died. And the missionaries were devastated. They went on with their work as before, but the future success of that mission work just didn’t seem very hopeful. They feared that their ministry to that people would just collapse.
But 3 months later, the leader of the tribe came to the missionary hut and said, “We, too, want to become Christians.” The missionaries were overfilled with joy, but surprised, really, and wondered, “Why?” “What would lead this chief and his tribe to make this wonderful decision?”
So they asked him. And this is what he said, “We, too, want to have a God that makes us strong to face death. We have never seen death faced the way you and the parents of that boy faced it. We want that strength too.”
This morning I told you of the Joseph Tson. This evening think about the first American Foreign Missionary was Adoniram Judson in the late 1700’s. He was a missionary in Burma which is today called Myanmar. He was imprisoned and put in shackles until there were grotesque scars on his wrists and hands. Later, he went before the King to get permission to preach in a certain place. The King said, “I am willing for a dozen preachers to go, but not you. Not with those hands! My people are not such fools as to take note of your preaching, but they will take notice of those scarred hands”. On of the early church Fathers said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
Don’t let your ministry become incomplete through cowardice.
Third, “Do the work of an evangelist.” Don’t get sidetracked by those in the church who criticize you, but keep going after lost people. Evangelism is the cutting edge of the church’s ministry.
There is nothing more important than seeing a soul saved.
Don’t let your ministry become incomplete through foolishness.
We can get all hung up on things that don’t count. We can get hung up on what the council should or shouldn’t give us. And we can forget the unsaved guests who came to church and not talk to them.
We can get hung up on the secondaries and neglect the primary.
Finally, “Fulfil your ministry.” Paul is saying, “Don’t leave the ministry and go into an easier line of work just because you run into opposition. Fulfil your mission as a preacher of God’s truth! Follow me in fighting the good fight so that you will finish the course” (4:7). John Calvin explains, “The more extraordinary the eagerness of wicked men to despise the doctrine of Christ, the more zealous should godly ministers be to defend it, and the more strenuous should be their efforts to preserve it entire; and not only so, but also by their diligence to ward off the attacks of Satan” (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], p. 255). Stephen Olford, a godly preacher whose father was a missionary, was once about to speak at the English Keswick Convention I understand, when he was called off the platform by an emergency phone call. His mother was on the line and she told him that his father was dying. Stephen told her that he would go back to the meeting and explain the situation. They could make do with someone else, and he would come immediately. But his mother said, “No, your father doesn’t want you to do that. He said, ‘Tell the boy to preach the Word.’”
Preaching the Word and hearing the Word are essential for God’s people.
3. Finish Well By Persevering For The Crown.
Once we know what is important, we should not get discouraged from persevering towards the end of the goal. So often we feel like quitting.
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest if you mut–but don’t you quit.
Life is strange with its twists and turns, As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up, though the pace seems slow You might succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than It seems to a faint and falters man,
Often the struggler has given up, When he might have captured the victor’s cup
And he learned too late, when night slipped down, How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out The silver tint to the clouds of doubt
And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit. It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit!
The man who once most wisely said, Be sure you’re right, then go ahead,
Might as well have added this, to wit: Be sure you’re wrong before you quit.
6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
He pictures death as a religious rite.
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and
He pictures death as a release.
the time of my departure is at hand.
He pictures death as a contest.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
And the thing that makes him persevere is the thought of a wreath at the end of it.
8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
It’s the runner’s wreath.
It’s the boxer’s wreath.
Will there be a wreath, a crown for you?
I am thinking today of that beautiful land I shall reach when the sun goeth down;
When through wonderful grace by my Savior I stand, Will there be any stars in my crown?
Refrain Will there be any stars, any stars in my crown When at evening the sun goeth down?
When I wake with the blest in the mansions of rest Will there be any stars in my crown?
In the strength of the Lord let me labor and pray, Let me watch as a winner of souls,
That bright stars may be mine in the glorious day, When His praise like the sea billow rolls.
O what joy it will be when His face I behold, Living gems at his feet to lay down!
It would sweeten my bliss in the city of gold, Should there be any stars in my crown.
Will there be any stars, any stars in my crown When at evening the sun goeth down?
When I wake with the blest in the mansions of rest Will there be any stars in my crown?
I EXPECT you know your Pilgrim’s Progress, and will recall that after Pilgrim has passed through the Wicket Gate, and has thus really become a Christian, the very first thing that happens to him is a visit to Interpreter’s House. There is so much for him to learn if he is successfully to pursue his journey. And, again, what is the very first thing that is there shown him? He is taken into a room to look upon a picture that hangs on the wall – it is a picture of a preacher. As if John Bunyan would impress upon the new convert that, while he is to become many things, his first responsibility is to be, in some sense, a preacher. Call the presentment up to mind – “eyes lifted to Heaven; the best of books in his hand; the law of truth written upon his lips; the world was behind his back; it stood as if it pleaded with men; and a crown of gold did hang over his head.”
April 24, 2009
My Christian Blogs – a Marvelous Online Resource
Tony Kummer has developed a great blog portal called “My Christian Blogs.” I hope you’ll go by this one-stop site. Very handy—and it links to some good stuff! It will greatly help you in your Christian walk.
April 23, 2009
Baptist Hymnal 1991
2 Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
3 Worthy of worship, worthy of praise, worthy of honor and glory
4 To God be the glory, Great things He hath done; So loved He the world that He gave us His Son
5 All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice
6 Immortal, invisible, God only wise, In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
7 Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love; Hearts unfold like flow’rs
8 A mighty fortress is our God, A bulwark never failing; Our helper He amid the flood
9 Holy, holy, holy is the Lord; Holy is the Lord God almighty!
10 O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,
11 My God, how wonderful You are, Your majesty how bright;
12 Great Is the Lord, He is holy and just; By His power we trust in His love.
13 From all that dwell below the skies, Let the Creator’s praise arise;
14 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation! O my soul, praise Him
15 Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
16 O worship the King, all glorious above, And gratefully sing His wonderful love;
18 Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
19 We praise You, O God, our Redeemer, Creator, In grateful devotion our tribute we bring.
20 We sing praise to God who reigns above, The God of all creation, The God of pow’r,
21 O my soul, bless God the Father; All within me bless His name;
22 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
23 God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He’s so good to me!
24 ‘Tis the grandest theme thro’ the ages rung; ‘Tis the grandest theme for a mortal tongue;
25 There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, Like the wideness of the sea;
27 All creatures of our God and King, Lift up your voice and with us sing
28 Let all the world in every corner sing: My God and King!
29 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth.
30 Stand up and bless the Lord, All people of His choice;
31 Praise Him, praise Him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love;
32 Praise, my soul, the King of heaven, To His feet thy tribute bring;
33 Praise the Lord who reigns above, And keeps His court below;
34 The God of Abraham praise, All praised be His name, Who was, and is, and is to be,
35 I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath; And when my voice is lost in death,
36 Praise the lord! ye heav’ns, adore Him; Praise Him angels, in the height;
37 Alleluia, Alleluia! The majesty and glory of Your name. Alleluia, Alleluia!
38 O sing a song to God, a song of celebration;
39 Rejoice, ye pure in heart, Rejoice, give thanks and sing Beneath the standard of your God,
40 Heavenly hosts in ceaseless worship “Holy, holy, holy” cry;
42 I sing the mighty power of God That made the mountains rise, That spread the flowing seas
43 This is my Father’s world, And to my list’ning ears, All nature sings, and round me rings
44 For the beauty of the earth, For the glory of the skies, For the love which from our birth
45 Ev’rything was made by God, ev’rything you see. Ev’rything was made by God for you and me.
46 All things bright and beautiful, All things great and small, All things wise and wonderful;
47 God, who stretched the spangled heavens Infinite in time and place,
48 Morning has broken Like the first morning, Blackbird has spoken Like the first bird.
49 Many and great, O God, are Thy works, Maker of earth and sky.
50 God, who made the earth, The air, the sky, the sea, Who gave the light its birth, Careth for me
51 Creator God, creating still, By will and word and deed,
52 He leadeth me! O blessed tho’t! O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
53 In His time (in His time), In His time (in His time); He makes all things beautiful
54 Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
55 Children of the heavenly Father Safely in His bosom gather;
56 Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak,
57 If you will only let God guide you, And hope in Him thro’ all your ways,
58 Like a river glorious Is God’s perfect peace, Over all victorious In its bright increase;
59 In the lightning flash across the sky His mighty pow’r I see,
60 Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art:
61 Savior, like a shepherd lead us, Much we need Thy tender care;
62 All the way my Savior leads me; What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
63 Abide with me: fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide:
64 Be not dismayed whate’er betide, God will take care of you;
65 Just when I need Him, Jesus is near, Just when I falter, just when I fear;
66 Day by day and with each passing moment, Strength I find to meet my trials here;
67 Come, ye disconsolate, whatever ye languish, Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel;
68 My Shepherd will supply my need; Jehovah is His name;
69 Eternal Father, strong to save, Whose arm doth bind the restless wave, Who bids the mighty
70 How great our God’s majestic Name! His glory fills the earth and sky.
71 And God will raise you up on eagle’s wings, Bear you on the breath of dawn,
72 I will not be afraid; I will look upward, And travel onward, And not be afraid.
73 God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;
74 O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come,
76 O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here,
77 Come, Thou long-expected Jesus, Born to set Thy people free; From our sins and fears release us
78 Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming From tender stem hath sprung! Of Jesse’s lineage coming
79 Blessed be the God of Israel, The everliving Lord, Who comes in pow’r to save His own,
80 Let all mortal flesh keep silence, And with fear and trembling stand; Ponder nothing earthly
81 Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord: Unnumbered blessings give my spirit voice;
82 Emmanuel, Emmanuel, His name is called Emmanuel;
83 Arise, your light is come! The Spirit’s call obey; Show forth the glory of your God
85 The first Nowell the angel did say, Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
86 O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
87 Joy to the world! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let ev’ry heart prepare Him
88 Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth and mercy mild,
89 O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!
90 Carols sing to the King, Jesus Christ our Savior; Born this day, angels say,
91 Silent night, holy night, All is calm, all is bright Round yon virgin mother and child!
93 It came upon the midnight clear, That glorious song of old, From angels bending near the earth,
94 Angels, from the realms of glory, Wing your flight o’er all the earth; Ye who sang creation’s
95 Go, tell it on the mountain, Over the hills and ev’rywhere;
96 Good Christian men, rejoice With heart and soul and voice! Give ye heed to what we say:
97 Hark to the story angels are telling Of the birth of Jesus,
98 I heard the bells on Christmas day Their old familiar carols play, And wild and sweet the words
100 Angels we have heard on high, Sweetly singing o’er the plains: And the mountains in reply,
101 Gentle Mary Laid Her Child Lowly in a manger; There He lay, the undefiled,
102 In a little village of Bethlehem, There lay a Child one day,
103 Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head;
104 See, to us a Child is born– Glory breaks on Christmas morn!
105 Child in the manger, Infant of Mary; Outcast and stranger, Lord of all;
106 Infant holy, infant lowly, For His bed a cattle stall; Oxen lowing, Little knowing Christ the
107 Oh, come, little children, oh come, one and all,
108 While by the sheep we watched at night, Glad tidings brought an angel bright.
109 Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, Love divine;
110 That Boy-Child of Mary was born in a stable, a manger His cradle in Bethlehem.
111 Sing we now of Christmas, Noel, sing we here! Hear our grateful praises to the Babe so dear.
112 He is born, the holy Child; Play the oboe and bagpipes merrily!
113 We three kings of Orient are: Bearing gifts we traverse afar– Field and fountain, moor and
114 Break forth, O beauteous heavenly light, And usher in the morning;
115 Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Bow down before Him, His glory proclaim;
116 Our Savior’s infant cries were heard, And met by human love,
117 As with gladness men of old Did the guiding star behold;
118 What Child is this, who, laid to rest On Mary’s lap, is sleeping? Whom angels greet
120 O sing a song of Bethlehem, Of shepherds watching there, And of the news that came to them
121 Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown, When Thou camest to earth for me;
122 Tell me the story of Jesus, Write on my heart ev’ry word;
123 Jesus, Thy boundless love to me No thought can reach, no tongue declare;
124 Who is He in yonder stall, At whose feet the shepherds fall?
126 All glory, laud, and honor, To Thee, Redeemer, King, To whom the lips of children Made sweet
127 The King of glory comes, the nation rejoices. Open the gates before Him,
128 Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates, Behold the King of glory waits;
129 Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear; Things I would ask Him to tell me if He were here:
130 Hosanna, loud hosanna, the little children sang; Thro’ pillared court and temple,
132 Would you be free from your burden of sin? There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
133 The blood that Jesus shed for me, ‘Way back on Calvary;
134 I hear the Savior say, “Thy strength indeed is small, Child of weakness, watch and pray,
135 What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus; What can make me whole again?
136 Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing pow’r? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
137 O sacred Head, now wounded, With grief and shame weighed down, Now scornfully surrounded
138 Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me
139 Alas, and did my Savior bleed, And did my Sov’reign die? Would He devote that sacred head
140 Down at the cross where my Savior died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried,
141 On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, The emblem of suff’ring and shame;
142 There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners plunged beneath
143 What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
144 When I survey the wondrous cross, On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count
145 Alas, and did my Savior bleed, And did my Sov’reign die? Would He devote that sacred head for
146 O how He loves you and me. O how He loves you and me; He gave His life,
147 And can it be that I should gain An int’rest in the Savior’s blood? Died He for me,
148 ‘Tis finished! The Messiah dies, Cut off for sins, but not His own.
149 Up Calv’ry’s mountain, one dreadful morn, Walked Christ my Savior, weary and worn;
150 Go to dark Gethsemane, You who feel the tempter’s pow’r;
151 I must needs go home by the way of the cross, There’s no other way but this;
152 Christmas has its cradle, where a Baby cried;
153 How can I say thanks for the things You have done for me– Things so undeserved, Yet You give
154 A purple robe, a crown of thorn, A reed in His right hand;
155 I know a fount where sins are washed away, I know a place where night is turned to day;
156 Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
157 Worthy is the Lamb, who died in awesome grief;
159 Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia! Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
160 Low in the grave He lay, Jesus, my Savior! Waiting the coming day, Jesus, my Lord!
161 Crown Him with many crowns, The Lamb upon His throne; Hark! How the heav’nly anthem drowns
162 They rolled a stone before the door, As in the grave He lay;
163 Thine is the glory, Risen, conq’ring Son; Endless is the vict’ry Thou o’er death hath won.
164 The day of resurrection! Earth, tell it out abroad;
165 Hail the day that sees Him rise, Alleluia! To His throne beyond the skies. Alleluia!
166 He is risen! He is risen! Tell it out with joyful voice:
167 Christ is risen, Christ is living, dry your tears, be unafraid!
168 We welcome glad Easter when Jesus arose, And won a great victory over His foes.
169 Look, ye saints! the sight is glorious: See the Man of Sorrows now;
170 Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks to the risen Lord. Alleluia, alleluia! Give praise to His name.
171 Sound aloud the trumpet! “Alleluia” sing!
172 The strife Is o’er, the battle done; The victory of life is won;
173 Christ Is alive! Let Christians sing. The cross stands empty to the sky.
174 There is strength in the name of the Lord; There is pow’r in the name of the Lord;
175 “Man of Sorrows,” what a name For the Son of God who came Ruined sinners to reclaim!
176 Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature, O Thou of God and man the Son;
177 Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; There’s just something about that name! Master, Savior, Jesus, Like
178 Emptied of His glory, God became a man, To walk on earth in ridicule and shame.
179 Here, O Lord, Your servants gather, hand we link with hand;
180 Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to Thy bosom fly,
181 There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus, No, not one! No, not one!
182 What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear!
183 I’ve found a friend, O such a friend! Christ loved me e’er I knew Him;
184 Jesus is all the world to me, My life, my joy, my all; He is my strength from day to day,
185 Jesus! what a friend for sinners! Jesus! Lover of my soul;
186 Jesus, my Lord and Savior, Jesus, my faithful friend!
187 I come to the garden alone While the dew is still on the roses; And the voice I hear,
188 The great Physician now is near, The sympathizing Jesus;
189 I have found a friend in Jesus, He’s ev’rything to me,
190 Jesus, my friend, is great; Jesus, my friend, is true;
191 I know that my Redeemer liveth, And on the earth again shall stand; I know eternal life He
192 Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King; (x3) Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We’re going to
193 One day when heaven was filled with His praises, One day when sin was as black as could be,
194 O the King is coming, the King is coming! I just heard the trumpets sounding, And now His face
195 Jesus is coming to earth again, What if it were today?
196 The sky shall unfold, preparing His entrance; The stars shall applaud Him w/thunders of praise.
197 Rejoice, the Lord is King: Your Lord and King adore!
198 At the name of Jesus, Ev’ry knee shall bow, Ev’ry tongue confess Him King of glory now;
199 Lo, He comes with clouds descending, Once for favored sinners slain;
200 All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall,
201 All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall,
202 All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall, Bring forth the royal diadem,
203 His name is Wonderful, His name is Wonderful, His name is Wonderful, Jesus, my Lord;
204 Blessed Savior, we adore Thee, We Thy love and grace proclaim; Thou art mighty, Thou art holy,
205 Jesus is the sweetest name I know, And He’s just the same as His lovely name,
206 O for a thousand tongues to sing, Blessed be the name of the Lord! The glories of my God and
207 Name of all majesty, fathomless mystery, King of the ages by angels adored;
208 Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heav’n, to earth come down;
209 Great Redeemer, we adore Thee, God of mercy, love and grace;
210 My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine; For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;
211 I love Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee, my Lord; I Love Thee, my Savior, I love Thee, my God.
212 I love You, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship You. O my soul, rejoice!
213 We will glorify the King of Kings, We will glorify the Lamb;
214 Sing hallelujah to the Lord, Sing hallelujah to the Lord.
215 Majesty, worship His majesty. Unto Jesus be all glory, honor, and praise. Majesty, kingdom
216 O for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer’s praise,
217 There is a name I love to hear, I love to sing it’s worth; It sounds as music in my ear,
218 ‘Tis the church triumphant singing, Worthy the Lamb!
219 Majestic sweetness sits enthroned Upon the Savior’s brow;
220 Lift Him up, lift Him up, Lift Him up and praise His name.
221 When morning gilds the skies, My heart awaking cries,
222 I’ve come to tell, I’ve come to tell, O Savior divine,
223 Alleluia (x8), He is God’s Son (x8), He’s my Savior (x8), I will praise Him (x8).
224 We are standing on holy ground, And I know that there are angels all around.
225 Jesus, the very thought of Thee With sweetness fills my breast;
226 O praise the gracious pow’r That tumbles walls of fear,
227 Praise Him! praise Him! Jesus our blessed Redeemer!
228 Oh, how good Is Christ the Lord! On the cross He died for me.
229 All praise to Thee, for Thou, O King divine, Didst yield the glory that of right was Thine,
230 Jesus, how I love You! Jesus, how I love You! For Your goodness and Your grace,
231 Come, Christians, join to sing Alleluia! Amen!
232 Praise the Lord, the King of Glory, Gracious Son of God is He;
233 Behold the Lamb, behold the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.
234 King of kings and Lord of lords, glory, hallelujah!
235 Songs of praise the angels sang, Heav’n with alleluias rang,
236 Bless that wonderful name of Jesus, Bless that wonderful name of Jesus,
238 Holy Spirit, breathe on me, Until my heart is clean; Let sunshine fill its inmost part,
239 Come, Holy Spirit, come; I have need of Your healing grace.
240 O holy Dove of God descending, You are the love that knows no ending,
241 Breathe on Me, Breath of God, Fill me with life anew,
242 Lord, as of old at Pentecost Thou didst Thy pow’r display, With cleansing, purifying flame,
243 There’s a sweet, sweet spirit in this place, And I know that it’s the spirit of the Lord.
244 Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me; Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.
245 Spirit of God, descend upon my heart; Wean it from earth; thro’ all its pulses move;
247 Come, Thou Almighty King, Help us Thy name to sing, Help us to praise: Father, all glorious,
248 God, our Father, we adore Thee! We, Thy children, bless Thy name! Chosen in the Christ before
249 Father, we love You, we worship and adore You, Glorify Thy name in all the earth.
250 Father, Father, You are Jehovah! Father, Father, You are our God!
251 Of the Father’s love begotten, Ere the worlds began to be,
252 Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning,
253 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below;
254 Holy, holy, holy, holy, Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!
256 Father, I adore You; Lay my life before You, How I love You! Jesus, I adore You, Lay my life
257 Praise the Father, God of justice; Sinners tremble at His voice,
258 O God, Almighty Father, Creator of all things, The heavens stand in wonder,
260 Holy Bible, Book divine, Precious treasure, thou art mine: Mine to tell me whence I came;
261 Sing them over again to me, Wonderful words of life; Let me more of their beauty see,
262 Word of God, across the ages Comes the message to our life; Source of hope forever present
263 Break Thou the bread of life, Dear Lord to me, As Thou didst break the loaves Beside the sea;
264 Holy Bible, Book of love, Tell me of our God above. He who made me loves me still,
265 The Word of God is alive, It lives in the world today;
267 Dear Lord and Father of mankind, Forgive our foolish ways;
268 The love of Christ who died for me Is more than mind can know;
269 There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;
270 No, not despairingly Come I to Thee, No, not distrustingly Bend I the knee:
272 I lay my sins on Jesus, The spotless Lamb of God; He bears them all, and frees us From the
273 God forgave my sin in Jesus’ name, I’ve been born again in Jesus’ name;
275 All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him,
276 O Jesus, I have promised To serve Thee to the end; Be Thou forever near me,
277 Take my life, and let it be, Consecrated, Lord to Thee; Take my hands and let them move
278 Make me a captive, Lord, And then I shall be free;
279 O Master, let me walk with Thee In lowly paths of service free;
280 Jesus, keep me near the cross, There a precious fountain, Free to all, a healing stream,
281 Speak to my heart, Lord Jesus, Speak that my soul may hear; Speak to my heart, Lord Jesus,
282 Living for Jesus a life that is true, Striving to please Him in all that I do;
283 Take my life, and let it be, Consecrated, Lord to Thee;
285 “Take up thy cross and follow Me,” I heard my Master say; “I gave My life to ransom thee,
286 I saw the cross of Jesus, When burdened with my sin; I sought the cross of Jesus,
287 Take my life, lead me, Lord, Take my life, lead me, Lord, Make my life useful to Thee.
288 I can hear my Savior calling, (x3) “Take thy cross and follow, follow Me.”
289 My Lord, I did not choose You, for that could never be;
290 I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice, And it told Thy love to me;
291 Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand, The shadow of a mighty rock Within a
292 O Love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee;
293 Jesus calls us o’er the tumult Of our life’s wild restless sea; Day by day His sweet voice
294 Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Thou art the potter, I am the clay!
295 There is a place of quiet rest, Near to the heart of God; A place where sin cannot molest,
296 Jesus is Savior and Lord of my life, My hope, my glory, my all;
297 Search me, O God, and know my heart today;
298 My life, my love I give to Thee, Thou Lamb of God who died for me; O may I ever faithful be,
299 Eternal God, may we be free from false pretense and foolish pride;
300 Without Him, I could do nothing, Without Him, I’d surely fail; Without Him I would be drifting
301 I am resolved no longer to linger, Charmed by the world’s delight; Things that are higher,
302 I hear Thy welcome voice, That calls me, Lord, to Thee,
303 Just as I am, without one plea But that Thy blood was shed for me,
305 I have decided to follow Jesus; (x3) No turning back, (x2)
306 Depth of mercy! can there be Mercy still reserved for me?
307 Just as I am, without one plea But that Thy blood was shed for me,
308 Pass me not, O gentle Savior, Hear my humble cry;
309 I’ve wandered far away from God, Now I’m coming home; The paths of sin too long I’ve trod,
310 Out of my bondage, sorrow, and night, Jesus I come, Jesus I come; Into Thy freedom,
311 If you are tired of the load of your sin, Let Jesus come into your heart; If you desire a new
312 Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, Calling for you and for me; See on the portals He’s
313 “Come, let us reason together,” that’s what God says.
314 “Whosoever heareth,” shout, shout the sound!
315 The cross upon which Jesus died Is a shelter in which we can hide; And its grace so free
316 Jesus is tenderly calling thee home, Calling today, calling today; Why from the sunshine of
317 Come ev’ry soul by sin oppressed, There’s mercy with the Lord, And He will surely give you rest
318 Have you failed in your plan of your storm-tossed life? Place your hand in the nail-scarred
319 Bring your sin to Him and confess. Bring your sin to Him and confess.
320 O soul, are you troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There’s light for a look at the
321 The Savior is waiting to enter your heart, Why don’t you let Him come in?
322 A ruler once came to Jesus by night To ask Him the way of salvation and light;
323 Come, ye sinners, poor and needy, Weak and wounded, sick and sore; Jesus ready stands to save
324 Have you been to the cross where the Lord Jesus suffered? Have you been to Calvary?
325 Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole; I want Thee forever to ransom my soul; Break down
326 All on the altar, dear Jesus, Master, I hear Thee call;
328 Wonderful grace of Jesus, Greater than all my sin; How shall my tongue describe it,
329 Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,
330 Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me!
332 Free from the law, O happy condition, Jesus hath bled and there is remission; Cursed by the law
333 What a fellowship, what a joy divine, Leaning on the everlasting arms; What a blessedness,
334 Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation,
335 Standing on the promises of Christ my King, Thro’ eternal ages let His praises ring;
336 Loved with everlasting love, Led by grace that love to know;
337 I know not why God’s wondrous grace To me He hath made known,Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
338 How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
339 Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul;
340 A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, A wonderful Savior to me; He hideth my soul in the cleft
341 Forgiven, I’ve been forgiven; God has looked beyond my sin,
342 Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee;
343 Holy, God is holy. Holy, God is holy. Bless His name and praise Him forever. Holy is His name.
344 Jesus loves me! This I know, For the Bible tells me so; Little ones to Him belong;
345 Jesus, my Lord, will love me forever, From Him no pow’r of evil can sever,
346 He’s got the whole world in His hands.
348 In heav’nly love abiding, No change my heart shall fear;
350 The church’s one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord; She is His n ew creation, By Spirit and
351 Built on the Rock the church doth stand, Even when steeples are falling;
352 Faith of our fathers! living still In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword; Oh, how our hearts
353 Our God has built with living stones, A church that lives as well;
354 I love Thy kingdom, Lord, The house of Thine abode, The church our blest Redeemer saved
355 For all the saints who from their labors rest, Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
356 Christ is made the sure foundation, Christ the head and cornerstone,
357 The first day of the week His own, in sad despair,
358 This is the day the Lord has made, He calls the hours His own;
359 This is the day, this is the day that the Lord hath made, that the Lord hath made.
360 Easter people, raise your voices, Sounds of heav’n in earth should ring.
361 We have come into His house and gathered in His name to worship Him.
362 Baptized in water, Sealed by the Spirit, Cleansed by the blood of Christ, our King;
363 Jesus, our Lord and King, To You our praises rise;
364 Come, Holy Spirit, Dove divine, On these baptismal waters shine,
365 In remembrance of Me, eat this bread. In remembrance of Me, drink this wine.
366 Let us break bread together on our knees, (x2) When I fall on my knees, With my face to the
367 As we gather around the table of our Lord, We recall His humble birth in Bethlehem,
368 Here, at Your table, Lord, This sacred hour, O let us feel You near, In loving power; Calling
369 As He gathered at His table Those who longed to know the way, Christ proclaimed a holy myst’ry.
370 This is a day of new beginnings, Time to remember and move on,
371 I come with joy to meet my Lord, Forgiven, loved, and free,
372 According to Thy gracious Word In meek humility,
373 We worship round this table spread, Pondering Your love with cup and bread.
374 Your supper, Lord, before us spread, The cup beside the broken bread,
375 A parting hymn we sing Around Your table, Lord; Again our grateful tribute bring,
376 We meet within this holy place Apart from noise and strife,
377 Jesus, at Your holy table, May our hearts united be. Bind us with Your grace and presence
378 Christian hearts, in love united, Seek alone in Jesus rest;
379 Brethren, we have met to worship And adore the Lord our God; Will you pray with all your power,
380 The fam’ly of God is born from above, A special bond drawn together by love;
382 God, the Father of Your people, You have called us to be one;
383 We are God’s people, the chosen of the Lord, Born of His Spirit, established by His Word;
384 We are one in the bond of love; (x2) We have joined our spirit with the Spirit of God; We are
385 In Christ there is no East or West, In Him no South or North;
386 I’m so glad I’m a part of the fam’ly of God– I’ve been washed in the fountain,
387 Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love; The fellowship of kindred minds
388 Our God has made us one– In Him our hearts unite.
389 To worship, work, and witness, The Good News spread abroad,
390 We are called to be God’s people, Showing by our lives His grace,
391 Lord, Thy church on earth is seeking Thy renewal from above;
392 Stir Your church, O God, our Father, Move thro’out its life today;
393 There’s a Spirit in the air, Tell the Christians ev’rywhere:
395 God of grace and God of glory, On Thy people pour Thy pow’r;
396 When the Church of Jesus Shuts its outer door,
397 With boldness in your speech, conviction in your singing,
398 Glorious things of Thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God;
399 Believers all, we bear the name Of Christ, our living Lord;
400 Rise up, O men of God! Have done with lesser things;
401 Break out, O Church of God, Break thro’ the wall of pride.
402 The church of Christ in ev’ry age Beset by change, but Spirit led,
405 Have faith in God when your pathway is lonely, He sees and knows all the way you have trod;
406 My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
407 God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus; He came to love, heal, and forgive;
408 This is the threefold truth on which our faith depends, And with this joyful cry worship begins
409 O the deep, deep love of Jesus, Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
410 When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll;
411 ‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His word; Just to rest upon His promise,
412 My faith has found a resting place, Not in device nor creed; I trust the Everliving One,
413 Encamped along the hills of light, Ye Christian soldiers, rise And press the battle ere the
414 O Christ, our hope, our heart’s desire, Redemption’s only spring,
415 Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine; Living with Jesus a new life divine;
416 My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine! Now hear me while I pray,
417 Simply trusting ev’ry day, Trusting thro’ a stormy way; Even when my faith is small,
418 I’ve got peace like a river, (x3) in my soul; I’ve got peace like a river, (x3) in my soul,
420 I will trust in the Lord, I will trust in the Lord, I will trust in the Lord ’til I die.
421 I am happy today and the sun shines bright, The clouds have been rolled away;
422 A pilgrim was I, and a wand’ring, In the cold night of sin I did roam,
423 Though I may speak with bravest fire, And have the gift to all inspire,
424 Walking in sunlight, all of my journey; Over the mountains, thro’ the deep vale;
425 There’s within my heart a melody; Jesus whispers sweet and low,
426 I heard an old, old story, how a Savior came from glory, How He gave His life on Calvary
427 For He alone Is worthy, For He alone Is worthy,
428 Ring the bells of heaven! There is joy today, For a soul returning from the wild!
429 Who can cheer the heart like Jesus, By His presence all divine? True and tender, pure and
430 There is sunshine in my soul today, More glorious and bright Than glows in any earthly sky,
431 There’s a glad new song ringing in my heart, Such as angels would sing above,
432 To me, (to me,) it’s so wonderful, (so wonderful,)
433 Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say, Rejoice. (x3)
434 There is never a day so dreary, There is never a night so long (so long),
435 When in our music God is glorified, And adoration leaves no room for pride,
436 I am so happy in Christ today, That I go singing along my way; Yes, I’m so happy to know and
437 Greater is He that is in me, Greater is He that is in me,
438 O what a wonderful, wonderful day– Day I will never forget; After I’d wandered in darkness
439 O happy day that fixed my choice, On Thee, my Savior and my God!
440 There is joy, there is joy, There is joy in the presence of the Lord.
441 What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought Since Jesus came into my heart!
442 Of all the Spirit’s gifts to me, I pray that I may never cease
443 This joy that I have, the world didn’t give it to me.
444 I wandered in the shades of night, Till Jesus came to me,
445 Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, That calls me from a world of care
446 Take time to be holy, Speak oft with thy Lord; Abide in Him always, And feed on His Word:
447 When we walk with the Lord In the light of His Word What a glory He sheds on our way!
448 I am weak but Thou art strong; Jesus keep me from all wrong; I’ll be satisfied as long
449 All praise to You, my God, this night, For all the blessings of the light.
450 I need Thee ev’ry hour, Most gracious Lord; No tender voice like Thine Can peace afford.
451 Are you weary, are you heavy hearted? Tell it to Jesus, Tell it to Jesus;
452 So precious is Jesus, my Savior, my King, His praise all the day long with rapture I sing;
453 How sweet the name of Jesus sounds In a believer’s ear! It soothes his sorrows,
454 God, our Father, You have led us To this moment in this place.
455 I must tell Jesus all of my trials; I cannot bear these burdens alone; In my distress He kindly
456 Precious Lord, take my hand, Lead me on, let me stand– I am tired, I am weak, I am worn;
457 In my life, Lord, be glorified, be glorified, In my life, Lord, be glorified today.
458 Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee! E’en tho’ it be a cross That raiseth me;
459 Dear Lord, lead me day by day; Make me steadfast, wise, and strong;
460 When I pray soft and low, When I pray, this I know,
461 Savior, teach me day by day Love’s sweet lesson to obey;
462 Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on
463 All day long I’ve been with Jesus, It has been a glorious day.
464 Thou, my everlasting portion, More than friend or life to me; All along my pilgrim journey,
465 I want Jesus to walk with me. I want Jesus to walk with me. All along my pilgrim journey,
466 Coming now to Thee, O Christ my Lord, Trusting only in Thy precious word,
467 There shall be showers of blessing: This is the promise of love;
468 Send a revival, O Christ my Lord, Let it go over the land and the sea, Send it according to Thy
469 We praise Thee, O God! For the Son of Thy love, For Jesus who died and is now gone above.
470 Once to every man and nation Comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth and falsehood,
471 Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow Thee; Destitute, despised, forsaken,
472 I am satisfied with Jesus, He has done so much for me: He has suffered to redeem me,
473 More love to Thee, O Christ, More love to Thee! Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee;
474 We are climbing Jacob’s ladder, We are climbing Jacob’s ladder,
475 Must Jesus bear the cross alone, And all the world go free? No, there’s a cross for ev’ry one,
476 Be strong in the Lord, and be of good courage; Your mighty Defender is always the same.
477 Jesus’ hands were kind hands, doing good to all, Healing pain and sickness,
478 Seek ye first the kingdom of God, And His righteousness, And all these things shall be added
479 In my walk, you can see me trying. In my walk, you can see me trying.
480 Immortal love, forever full, Forever flowing free,
481 Am I a soldier of the cross, A foll’wer of the Lamb? And shall I fear to own His cause,
482 I have heard the voice of Jesus Calling clearly, “Follow Me”;
483 Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling, “Come, follow Me!” And we see where Thy footprints
484 I’m pressing on the upward way, New heights I’m gaining ev’ry day; Still praying as I onward
485 Stand up, stand up for Jesus, Ye soldiers of the cross;
486 Master, Thou callest, I gladly obey; Only direct me, and I’ll find Thy way.
487 Stand up, stand up for Jesus, Ye soldiers of the cross;
488 I’m just a child and I haven’t got much, But whatever I have, I give it to You.
489 Lord, I want to be a Christian In my heart, in my heart,
490 King of my life, I crown Thee now, Thine shall the glory be; Lest I forget Thy thorn-crowned
491 Make room within my heart, O God, That You may form in me
492 Purer in heart, O God, Help me to be; May I devote my life Wholly to Thee: Watch Thou my
493 Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before!
494 “Take up your cross,” the Savior said, “If you would My disciple be;
495 “Serve the Lord with gladness” in our works and ways, Come before His presence with our songs
496 Burn in me, Fire of God, Burn till my heart is pure;
497 The Master hath come, and He calls us to follow The track of the footprints He leaves on our
498 O God, we ask for strength to lead A gentle, caring life,
499 Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus, to reach out and touch Him, and say that we love him
500 God, who touches earth with beauty, Make me lovely, too;
501 Jesu, Jesu, fill us with Your love,
502 Open my eyes, that I may see Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me; Place in my hands
504 God, give us Christian homes! Homes where the Bible is loved and taught,
505 Happy the home when God is there And love fills ev’ry one,
506 O God, to those who here profess Their vows of lifelong love,
507 Would You bless our homes and families, Source of life who calls us here;
508 Lord, for the gift of children We come to give You praise;
509 Your love, O God, has called us here, For all love finds its source in You,
510 O Lord, may church and home combine To teach Thy perfect way,
511 Lord, make our homes so loving In such a joyful way;
512 O perfect Love, all human thought transcending,
514 Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, Sing His mercy and His grace: In the mansions bright and
515 There’s a land that is fairer than day, And by faith we can see it afar;
516 When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more, And the morning breaks
517 Jerusalem, my happy home, When shall I come to thee?
518 Shall we gather at the river, Where bright angel have trod; With its crystal tide forever
519 Face to face with Christ, my Savior, Face to face– what will it be, When with rapture I behold
520 When all my labors and trials are o’er, And I am safe on that beautiful shore, Just to be near
521 On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand And cast a wishful eye To Canaan’s fair and happy land,
522 Trials dark on ev’ry hand, and we cannot understand All the ways that God would lead us to that
523 How lovely is Thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts, to me!
524 Come, we that love the Lord, And let our joys be known; Join in a song with sweet accord,
525 Come, we that love the Lord, And let our joys be known;
527 Jerusalem, the golden, With milk and honey blest! Beneath thy contemplation
528 When my life-work is ended, and I cross the swelling tide, When the bright and glorious morning
529 “Forever with the Lord!” Amen, so let it be!
531 Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
532 I have come from the darkness to the light of the Lord;
533 I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today; I know that He is living, whatever men may say
534 Only believe, only believe; All things are possible, only believe;
535 I will sing the wondrous story Of the Christ who died for me.
536 There is a Savior, What joys express! His eyes are mercy, His Word is rest;
537 I will sing the wondrous story Of the Christ who died for me,
538 Ask ye what great thing I know That delights and stirs me so? What the high regard I win?
539 All my life I had a longing For a drink from some clear spring That I hoped would quench the
540 I’ve found a friend who is all to me, His love is ever true; I love to tell how He lifted me,
541 Deep in my heart there’s a gladness; Jesus has saved me from sin! Praise to His name,
542 In loving-kindness Jesus came, My soul in mercy to reclaim,
543 I have a song I love to sing, Since I have been redeemed, Of my Redeemer, Savior, King,
544 Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
545 Of the themes that men have known, One supremely stands alone;
546 I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, Very deeply stained within,
547 I stand amazed in the presence Of Jesus the Nazarene, And wonder how He could love me, A sinner
548 For God so loved the world He gave His only Son,
549 Creator of the universe, of cosmic wind and storm;
550 I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold; I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
551 I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto Me and rest;
552 My Savior is the Lord and King, He has control of ev’rything,
553 I’ll tell the world that I’m a Christian– I’m not ashamed His name to bear;
554 In the cross of Christ I glory, Tow’ring o’er the wrecks of time,
555 My Father is rich in houses and lands, He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands!
557 People need the Lord, people need the Lord; At the end of broken dreams, He’s the open door.
559 Rescue the perishing, Care for the dying, Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
560 Lead me to some soul today, O teach me, Lord, just what to say;
561 One by one, one by one, Reaching neighbors, reaching nations one by one.
562 When Christ was lifted from the earth His arms stretched out above
563 Sinners Jesus will receive: Sound this word of grace to all Who the heav’nly pathway leave,
564 Is your life a channel of blessing? Is the love of God flowing thro’ you? Are you telling the
565 So send I you, by grace made strong to triumph O’er hosts of hell, o’er darkness, death and sin
566 Christ was born in a distant land, Tell the good news, tell the good news, Lived on earth for
567 The love of God is broader than earth’s vast expanse,
568 Lord, speak to me, that I may speak In living echoes of Thy tone;
569 Out in the highways and byways of life, Many are weary and sad; Many are weary and sad;
570 Lord, lay some soul upon my heart, And love that soul thro’ me; And may I bravely do my part
571 While passing through this world of sin, And others your life shall view, Be clean and pure
572 I love to tell the story Of unseen things above, Of Jesus and His glory, Of Jesus and His love:
573 Set my soul afire, Lord, for Thy holy Word, Burn it deep within me, let Thy voice be heard;
574 Soldiers of Christ, in truth arrayed, A world in ruins needs your aid:
575 I will sing of my Redeemer And His wondrous love to me; On the cruel cross He suffered
576 Take the name of Jesus with you, Child of sorrow and of woe; It will joy and comfort give you,
577 ‘Tis the old ship of Zion, ‘Tis the old ship of Zion,
578 Tune your hearts that all may hear Love’s sweet story bright and clear;
579 Lord, the light of Your love is shining, In the midst of the darkness shining;
580 O God of love, enable me To look around and see
581 We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Spread the tidings all around:
582 O God of might, O Son of light, O Holy Spirit sweet,
583 O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling, To tell to all the world that God is Light;
584 We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves! Spread the tidings all around, Jesus saves!
585 Tell it! Tell it out with gladness, God’s good news to ev’ry man,
586 We’ve a story to tell to the nations, That shall turn their hearts to the right,
587 Jesus shall reign where’er the sun Does its successive journeys run;
588 Send forth Your Word, O God of light! Thro’out the world break thro’ sin’s night;
589 Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim, And publish abroad His wonderful name;
590 God, Our Author and Creator, In whose life we find our own,
591 Hark, the voice of Jesus calling, “Who will go and work today? Fields are white, and harvests
592 Jesus loves the little children, All the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white
593 The whole world is singing, Singing together the children raise
594 Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim, Till all the world adore His sacred name.
595 There’s a call comes ringing o’er the restless waves, “Send the light! Send the light!”
596 Go forth and tell! O Church of God, awake!
597 Here am I, send me. Here am I, Lord, send me. Unto Thee willingly, yielded I come.
599 We praise You with our minds, O Lord, Kept sharp to think Your thought;
600 More about Jesus would I know, More of His grace to others show; More of His saving fullness
601 Teach me, O Lord, I pray, Your precious truth divine;
602 Jesus was a loving teacher, Helping people day by day
603 My singing is a prayer, O Lord, A prayer of thanks and praise;
604 Come, all Christians, be committed To the service of the Lord.
605 Because I have been given much, I, too, must give;
606 I gave My life for thee, My precious blood I shed,
607 Savior, Thy dying love Thou gavest me, Nor should I aught withhold, Dear Lord, from Thee:
608 O land of rest, for thee I sigh! When will the moment come When I shall lay my armor by And
609 We give Thee but Thine own, Whate’er the gift may be; And all that we have is Thine alone,
610 What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
611 Let your heart be broken For a world in need –
613 We are trav’lers on a journey, Fellow pilgrims on the road; We are here to help each other
614 Fill the earth with music, Sound aloud His praise.
615 To the work! To the work! We are servants of God,
616 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, All your money, talents, time, and love;
618 God, whose purpose Is to kindle: Now ignite us with Your fire;
619 O God of love, O King of peace, Make wars thro’out the world to cease;
621 Lead on, O King Eternal, the day of march has come; Henceforth in fields of conquest
622 Holy, holy, Lord, God Almighty; Your glory fills the earth, Lord God of hosts.
623 O day of God, draw nigh In beauty and in pow’r,
624 Lord, who across the ages Called Thy people to be free,
625 We stand united in the truth Which God bestows on all:
626 We bind ourselves in freedom’s chains; Thy cross has set us free.
627 Lift ev’ry voice and sing till earth and heaven ring,
628 No prison wall can hold, No temple veil can hide
629 God of our fathers, whose almighty hand Leads forth in beauty all the starry band
630 O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties
631 We utter our cry: that peace may prevail, That earth will survive, and faith must not fail.
633 Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where
634 My country, ’tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing:
635 O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last
636 We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing, He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
637 Come, ye thankful people, come, Raise the song of harvest home! All is safely gathered in
638 Now thank we all our God With heart and hands and voices, Who wondrous things hath done,
639 As men of old their first fruits brought, Of orchard, flock, and field,
640 Let all things now living A song of thanksgiving To God the Creator tirumphantly raise,
641 Sing to the Lord of harvest, Sing songs of love and praise;
642 Our life and its sustaining breath and life that’s promised after death
643 For the fruit of all creation, Thanks be to God. For His gifts to ev’ry nation, Thanks be
644 When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost
645 Praise and thanksgiving let ev’ryone bring
646 O God of prophets, known of old, Bless this, Your chosen one.
647 Christ, we do all adore Thee, and we do praise Thee forever; (x2)
648 May God’s grace go before you. May His love enfold you.
649 God’s Son has made me free.
655 Grace, love, and peace abide, now, with you:
656 Almighty Father, hear our prayer, And bless all souls that wait before Thee. Amen.
657 Go out in peace, go out in joy;
660 Go now in peace, go now in peace;
661 May the grace of Christ, our Savior, and the love God, our Father,
662 The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord lift His countenanace upon you, And give you peace,
663 Grace to you, grace to you. God’s great grace to you.
664 Grace to you and peace from God the Father,
April 23, 2009
Baptist Hymnal 1991
2
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Worthy of worship, worthy of praise, worthy of honor and glory
To God be the glory, Great things He hath done; So loved He the world that He gave us His Son
All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice
Immortal, invisible, God only wise, In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love; Hearts unfold like flow’rs
A mighty fortress is our God, A bulwark never failing; Our helper He amid the flood
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord; Holy is the Lord God almighty!
O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,
My God, how wonderful You are, Your majesty how bright;
Great Is the Lord, He is holy and just; By His power we trust in His love.
From all that dwell below the skies, Let the Creator’s praise arise;
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation! O my soul, praise Him
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
O worship the King, all glorious above, And gratefully sing His wonderful love;
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
We praise You, O God, our Redeemer, Creator, In grateful devotion our tribute we bring.
We sing praise to God who reigns above, The God of all creation, The God of pow’r,
O my soul, bless God the Father; All within me bless His name;
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He’s so good to me!
‘Tis the grandest theme thro’ the ages rung; ‘Tis the grandest theme for a mortal tongue;
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, Like the wideness of the sea;
All creatures of our God and King, Lift up your voice and with us sing
Let all the world in every corner sing: My God and King!
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth.
Stand up and bless the Lord, All people of His choice;
Praise Him, praise Him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love;
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven, To His feet thy tribute bring;
Praise the Lord who reigns above, And keeps His court below;
The God of Abraham praise, All praised be His name, Who was, and is, and is to be,
I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath; And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise the lord! ye heav’ns, adore Him; Praise Him angels, in the height;
Alleluia, Alleluia! The majesty and glory of Your name. Alleluia, Alleluia!
O sing a song to God, a song of celebration;
Rejoice, ye pure in heart, Rejoice, give thanks and sing Beneath the standard of your God,
Heavenly hosts in ceaseless worship “Holy, holy, holy” cry;
I sing the mighty power of God That made the mountains rise, That spread the flowing seas
This is my Father’s world, And to my list’ning ears, All nature sings, and round me rings
For the beauty of the earth, For the glory of the skies, For the love which from our birth
Ev’rything was made by God, ev’rything you see. Ev’rything was made by God for you and me.
All things bright and beautiful, All things great and small, All things wise and wonderful;
God, who stretched the spangled heavens Infinite in time and place,
Morning has broken Like the first morning, Blackbird has spoken Like the first bird.
Many and great, O God, are Thy works, Maker of earth and sky.
God, who made the earth, The air, the sky, the sea, Who gave the light its birth, Careth for me
Creator God, creating still, By will and word and deed,
He leadeth me! O blessed tho’t! O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
In His time (in His time), In His time (in His time); He makes all things beautiful
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Children of the heavenly Father Safely in His bosom gather;
Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak,
If you will only let God guide you, And hope in Him thro’ all your ways,
Like a river glorious Is God’s perfect peace, Over all victorious In its bright increase;
In the lightning flash across the sky His mighty pow’r I see,
Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art:
Savior, like a shepherd lead us, Much we need Thy tender care;
All the way my Savior leads me; What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Abide with me: fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide:
Be not dismayed whate’er betide, God will take care of you;
Just when I need Him, Jesus is near, Just when I falter, just when I fear;
Day by day and with each passing moment, Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Come, ye disconsolate, whatever ye languish, Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel;
My Shepherd will supply my need; Jehovah is His name;
Eternal Father, strong to save, Whose arm doth bind the restless wave, Who bids the mighty
How great our God’s majestic Name! His glory fills the earth and sky.
And God will raise you up on eagle’s wings, Bear you on the breath of dawn,
I will not be afraid; I will look upward, And travel onward, And not be afraid.
God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;
O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come,
O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here,
Come, Thou long-expected Jesus, Born to set Thy people free; From our sins and fears release us
Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming From tender stem hath sprung! Of Jesse’s lineage coming
Blessed be the God of Israel, The everliving Lord, Who comes in pow’r to save His own,
Let all mortal flesh keep silence, And with fear and trembling stand; Ponder nothing earthly
Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord: Unnumbered blessings give my spirit voice;
Emmanuel, Emmanuel, His name is called Emmanuel;
Arise, your light is come! The Spirit’s call obey; Show forth the glory of your God
The first Nowell the angel did say, Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
Joy to the world! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let ev’ry heart prepare Him
Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth and mercy mild,
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!
Carols sing to the King, Jesus Christ our Savior; Born this day, angels say,
Silent night, holy night, All is calm, all is bright Round yon virgin mother and child!
It came upon the midnight clear, That glorious song of old, From angels bending near the earth,
Angels, from the realms of glory, Wing your flight o’er all the earth; Ye who sang creation’s
Go, tell it on the mountain, Over the hills and ev’rywhere;
Good Christian men, rejoice With heart and soul and voice! Give ye heed to what we say:
Hark to the story angels are telling Of the birth of Jesus,
I heard the bells on Christmas day Their old familiar carols play, And wild and sweet the words
Angels we have heard on high, Sweetly singing o’er the plains: And the mountains in reply,
Gentle Mary Laid Her Child Lowly in a manger; There He lay, the undefiled,
In a little village of Bethlehem, There lay a Child one day,
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head;
See, to us a Child is born– Glory breaks on Christmas morn!
Child in the manger, Infant of Mary; Outcast and stranger, Lord of all;
Infant holy, infant lowly, For His bed a cattle stall; Oxen lowing, Little knowing Christ the
Oh, come, little children, oh come, one and all,
While by the sheep we watched at night, Glad tidings brought an angel bright.
Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, Love divine;
That Boy-Child of Mary was born in a stable, a manger His cradle in Bethlehem.
Sing we now of Christmas, Noel, sing we here! Hear our grateful praises to the Babe so dear.
He is born, the holy Child; Play the oboe and bagpipes merrily!
We three kings of Orient are: Bearing gifts we traverse afar– Field and fountain, moor and
Break forth, O beauteous heavenly light, And usher in the morning;
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Bow down before Him, His glory proclaim;
Our Savior’s infant cries were heard, And met by human love,
As with gladness men of old Did the guiding star behold;
What Child is this, who, laid to rest On Mary’s lap, is sleeping? Whom angels greet
O sing a song of Bethlehem, Of shepherds watching there, And of the news that came to them
Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown, When Thou camest to earth for me;
Tell me the story of Jesus, Write on my heart ev’ry word;
Jesus, Thy boundless love to me No thought can reach, no tongue declare;
Who is He in yonder stall, At whose feet the shepherds fall?
All glory, laud, and honor, To Thee, Redeemer, King, To whom the lips of children Made sweet
The King of glory comes, the nation rejoices. Open the gates before Him,
Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates, Behold the King of glory waits;
Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear; Things I would ask Him to tell me if He were here:
Hosanna, loud hosanna, the little children sang; Thro’ pillared court and temple,
Would you be free from your burden of sin? There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
The blood that Jesus shed for me, ‘Way back on Calvary;
I hear the Savior say, “Thy strength indeed is small, Child of weakness, watch and pray,
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus; What can make me whole again?
Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing pow’r? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
O sacred Head, now wounded, With grief and shame weighed down, Now scornfully surrounded
Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me
Alas, and did my Savior bleed, And did my Sov’reign die? Would He devote that sacred head
Down at the cross where my Savior died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried,
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, The emblem of suff’ring and shame;
There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners plunged beneath
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
When I survey the wondrous cross, On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count
Alas, and did my Savior bleed, And did my Sov’reign die? Would He devote that sacred head for
O how He loves you and me. O how He loves you and me; He gave His life,
And can it be that I should gain An int’rest in the Savior’s blood? Died He for me,
‘Tis finished! The Messiah dies, Cut off for sins, but not His own.
Up Calv’ry’s mountain, one dreadful morn, Walked Christ my Savior, weary and worn;
Go to dark Gethsemane, You who feel the tempter’s pow’r;
I must needs go home by the way of the cross, There’s no other way but this;
Christmas has its cradle, where a Baby cried;
How can I say thanks for the things You have done for me– Things so undeserved, Yet You give
A purple robe, a crown of thorn, A reed in His right hand;
I know a fount where sins are washed away, I know a place where night is turned to day;
Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Worthy is the Lamb, who died in awesome grief;
Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia! Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Low in the grave He lay, Jesus, my Savior! Waiting the coming day, Jesus, my Lord!
Crown Him with many crowns, The Lamb upon His throne; Hark! How the heav’nly anthem drowns
They rolled a stone before the door, As in the grave He lay;
Thine is the glory, Risen, conq’ring Son; Endless is the vict’ry Thou o’er death hath won.
The day of resurrection! Earth, tell it out abroad;
Hail the day that sees Him rise, Alleluia! To His throne beyond the skies. Alleluia!
He is risen! He is risen! Tell it out with joyful voice:
Christ is risen, Christ is living, dry your tears, be unafraid!
We welcome glad Easter when Jesus arose, And won a great victory over His foes.
Look, ye saints! the sight is glorious: See the Man of Sorrows now;
Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks to the risen Lord. Alleluia, alleluia! Give praise to His name.
Sound aloud the trumpet! “Alleluia” sing!
The strife Is o’er, the battle done; The victory of life is won;
Christ Is alive! Let Christians sing. The cross stands empty to the sky.
There is strength in the name of the Lord; There is pow’r in the name of the Lord;
“Man of Sorrows,” what a name For the Son of God who came Ruined sinners to reclaim!
Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature, O Thou of God and man the Son;
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; There’s just something about that name! Master, Savior, Jesus, Like
Emptied of His glory, God became a man, To walk on earth in ridicule and shame.
Here, O Lord, Your servants gather, hand we link with hand;
Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to Thy bosom fly,
There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus, No, not one! No, not one!
What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear!
I’ve found a friend, O such a friend! Christ loved me e’er I knew Him;
Jesus is all the world to me, My life, my joy, my all; He is my strength from day to day,
Jesus! what a friend for sinners! Jesus! Lover of my soul;
Jesus, my Lord and Savior, Jesus, my faithful friend!
I come to the garden alone While the dew is still on the roses; And the voice I hear,
The great Physician now is near, The sympathizing Jesus;
I have found a friend in Jesus, He’s ev’rything to me,
Jesus, my friend, is great; Jesus, my friend, is true;
I know that my Redeemer liveth, And on the earth again shall stand; I know eternal life He
Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King; (x3) Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We’re going to
One day when heaven was filled with His praises, One day when sin was as black as could be,
O the King is coming, the King is coming! I just heard the trumpets sounding, And now His face
Jesus is coming to earth again, What if it were today?
The sky shall unfold, preparing His entrance; The stars shall applaud Him w/thunders of praise.
Rejoice, the Lord is King: Your Lord and King adore!
At the name of Jesus, Ev’ry knee shall bow, Ev’ry tongue confess Him King of glory now;
Lo, He comes with clouds descending, Once for favored sinners slain;
All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall,
All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall,
All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall, Bring forth the royal diadem,
His name is Wonderful, His name is Wonderful, His name is Wonderful, Jesus, my Lord;
Blessed Savior, we adore Thee, We Thy love and grace proclaim; Thou art mighty, Thou art holy,
Jesus is the sweetest name I know, And He’s just the same as His lovely name,
O for a thousand tongues to sing, Blessed be the name of the Lord! The glories of my God and
Name of all majesty, fathomless mystery, King of the ages by angels adored;
Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heav’n, to earth come down;
Great Redeemer, we adore Thee, God of mercy, love and grace;
My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine; For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;
I love Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee, my Lord; I Love Thee, my Savior, I love Thee, my God.
I love You, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship You. O my soul, rejoice!
We will glorify the King of Kings, We will glorify the Lamb;
Sing hallelujah to the Lord, Sing hallelujah to the Lord.
Majesty, worship His majesty. Unto Jesus be all glory, honor, and praise. Majesty, kingdom
O for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer’s praise,
There is a name I love to hear, I love to sing it’s worth; It sounds as music in my ear,
‘Tis the church triumphant singing, Worthy the Lamb!
Majestic sweetness sits enthroned Upon the Savior’s brow;
Lift Him up, lift Him up, Lift Him up and praise His name.
When morning gilds the skies, My heart awaking cries,
I’ve come to tell, I’ve come to tell, O Savior divine,
Alleluia (x8), He is God’s Son (x8), He’s my Savior (x8), I will praise Him (x8).
We are standing on holy ground, And I know that there are angels all around.
Jesus, the very thought of Thee With sweetness fills my breast;
O praise the gracious pow’r That tumbles walls of fear,
Praise Him! praise Him! Jesus our blessed Redeemer!
Oh, how good Is Christ the Lord! On the cross He died for me.
All praise to Thee, for Thou, O King divine, Didst yield the glory that of right was Thine,
Jesus, how I love You! Jesus, how I love You! For Your goodness and Your grace,
Come, Christians, join to sing Alleluia! Amen!
Praise the Lord, the King of Glory, Gracious Son of God is He;
Behold the Lamb, behold the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.
King of kings and Lord of lords, glory, hallelujah!
Songs of praise the angels sang, Heav’n with alleluias rang,
Bless that wonderful name of Jesus, Bless that wonderful name of Jesus,
Holy Spirit, breathe on me, Until my heart is clean; Let sunshine fill its inmost part,
Come, Holy Spirit, come; I have need of Your healing grace.
O holy Dove of God descending, You are the love that knows no ending,
Breathe on Me, Breath of God, Fill me with life anew,
Lord, as of old at Pentecost Thou didst Thy pow’r display, With cleansing, purifying flame,
There’s a sweet, sweet spirit in this place, And I know that it’s the spirit of the Lord.
Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me; Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.
Spirit of God, descend upon my heart; Wean it from earth; thro’ all its pulses move;
Come, Thou Almighty King, Help us Thy name to sing, Help us to praise: Father, all glorious,
God, our Father, we adore Thee! We, Thy children, bless Thy name! Chosen in the Christ before
Father, we love You, we worship and adore You, Glorify Thy name in all the earth.
Father, Father, You are Jehovah! Father, Father, You are our God!
Of the Father’s love begotten, Ere the worlds began to be,
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning,
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Holy, holy, holy, holy, Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!
Father, I adore You; Lay my life before You, How I love You! Jesus, I adore You, Lay my life
Praise the Father, God of justice; Sinners tremble at His voice,
O God, Almighty Father, Creator of all things, The heavens stand in wonder,
Holy Bible, Book divine, Precious treasure, thou art mine: Mine to tell me whence I came;
Sing them over again to me, Wonderful words of life; Let me more of their beauty see,
Word of God, across the ages Comes the message to our life; Source of hope forever present
Break Thou the bread of life, Dear Lord to me, As Thou didst break the loaves Beside the sea;
Holy Bible, Book of love, Tell me of our God above. He who made me loves me still,
The Word of God is alive, It lives in the world today;
Dear Lord and Father of mankind, Forgive our foolish ways;
The love of Christ who died for me Is more than mind can know;
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;
No, not despairingly Come I to Thee, No, not distrustingly Bend I the knee:
I lay my sins on Jesus, The spotless Lamb of God; He bears them all, and frees us From the
God forgave my sin in Jesus’ name, I’ve been born again in Jesus’ name;
All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him,
O Jesus, I have promised To serve Thee to the end; Be Thou forever near me,
Take my life, and let it be, Consecrated, Lord to Thee; Take my hands and let them move
Make me a captive, Lord, And then I shall be free;
O Master, let me walk with Thee In lowly paths of service free;
Jesus, keep me near the cross, There a precious fountain, Free to all, a healing stream,
Speak to my heart, Lord Jesus, Speak that my soul may hear; Speak to my heart, Lord Jesus,
Living for Jesus a life that is true, Striving to please Him in all that I do;
Take my life, and let it be, Consecrated, Lord to Thee;
“Take up thy cross and follow Me,” I heard my Master say; “I gave My life to ransom thee,
I saw the cross of Jesus, When burdened with my sin; I sought the cross of Jesus,
Take my life, lead me, Lord, Take my life, lead me, Lord, Make my life useful to Thee.
I can hear my Savior calling, (x3) “Take thy cross and follow, follow Me.”
My Lord, I did not choose You, for that could never be;
I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice, And it told Thy love to me;
Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand, The shadow of a mighty rock Within a
O Love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee;
Jesus calls us o’er the tumult Of our life’s wild restless sea; Day by day His sweet voice
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Thou art the potter, I am the clay!
There is a place of quiet rest, Near to the heart of God; A place where sin cannot molest,
Jesus is Savior and Lord of my life, My hope, my glory, my all;
Search me, O God, and know my heart today;
My life, my love I give to Thee, Thou Lamb of God who died for me; O may I ever faithful be,
Eternal God, may we be free from false pretense and foolish pride;
Without Him, I could do nothing, Without Him, I’d surely fail; Without Him I would be drifting
I am resolved no longer to linger, Charmed by the world’s delight; Things that are higher,
I hear Thy welcome voice, That calls me, Lord, to Thee,
Just as I am, without one plea But that Thy blood was shed for me,
I have decided to follow Jesus; (x3) No turning back, (x2)
Depth of mercy! can there be Mercy still reserved for me?
Just as I am, without one plea But that Thy blood was shed for me,
Pass me not, O gentle Savior, Hear my humble cry;
I’ve wandered far away from God, Now I’m coming home; The paths of sin too long I’ve trod,
Out of my bondage, sorrow, and night, Jesus I come, Jesus I come; Into Thy freedom,
If you are tired of the load of your sin, Let Jesus come into your heart; If you desire a new
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, Calling for you and for me; See on the portals He’s
“Come, let us reason together,” that’s what God says.
“Whosoever heareth,” shout, shout the sound!
The cross upon which Jesus died Is a shelter in which we can hide; And its grace so free
Jesus is tenderly calling thee home, Calling today, calling today; Why from the sunshine of
Come ev’ry soul by sin oppressed, There’s mercy with the Lord, And He will surely give you rest
Have you failed in your plan of your storm-tossed life? Place your hand in the nail-scarred
Bring your sin to Him and confess. Bring your sin to Him and confess.
O soul, are you troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There’s light for a look at the
The Savior is waiting to enter your heart, Why don’t you let Him come in?
A ruler once came to Jesus by night To ask Him the way of salvation and light;
Come, ye sinners, poor and needy, Weak and wounded, sick and sore; Jesus ready stands to save
Have you been to the cross where the Lord Jesus suffered? Have you been to Calvary?
Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole; I want Thee forever to ransom my soul; Break down
All on the altar, dear Jesus, Master, I hear Thee call;
Wonderful grace of Jesus, Greater than all my sin; How shall my tongue describe it,
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me!
Free from the law, O happy condition, Jesus hath bled and there is remission; Cursed by the law
What a fellowship, what a joy divine, Leaning on the everlasting arms; What a blessedness,
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation,
Standing on the promises of Christ my King, Thro’ eternal ages let His praises ring;
Loved with everlasting love, Led by grace that love to know;
I know not why God’s wondrous grace To me He hath made known,Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul;
A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, A wonderful Savior to me; He hideth my soul in the cleft
Forgiven, I’ve been forgiven; God has looked beyond my sin,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee;
Holy, God is holy. Holy, God is holy. Bless His name and praise Him forever. Holy is His name.
Jesus loves me! This I know, For the Bible tells me so; Little ones to Him belong;
Jesus, my Lord, will love me forever, From Him no pow’r of evil can sever,
He’s got the whole world in His hands.
In heav’nly love abiding, No change my heart shall fear;
The church’s one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord; She is His n ew creation, By Spirit and
Built on the Rock the church doth stand, Even when steeples are falling;
Faith of our fathers! living still In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword; Oh, how our hearts
Our God has built with living stones, A church that lives as well;
I love Thy kingdom, Lord, The house of Thine abode, The church our blest Redeemer saved
For all the saints who from their labors rest, Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Christ is made the sure foundation, Christ the head and cornerstone,
The first day of the week His own, in sad despair,
This is the day the Lord has made, He calls the hours His own;
This is the day, this is the day that the Lord hath made, that the Lord hath made.
Easter people, raise your voices, Sounds of heav’n in earth should ring.
We have come into His house and gathered in His name to worship Him.
Baptized in water, Sealed by the Spirit, Cleansed by the blood of Christ, our King;
Jesus, our Lord and King, To You our praises rise;
Come, Holy Spirit, Dove divine, On these baptismal waters shine,
In remembrance of Me, eat this bread. In remembrance of Me, drink this wine.
Let us break bread together on our knees, (x2) When I fall on my knees, With my face to the
As we gather around the table of our Lord, We recall His humble birth in Bethlehem,
Here, at Your table, Lord, This sacred hour, O let us feel You near, In loving power; Calling
As He gathered at His table Those who longed to know the way, Christ proclaimed a holy myst’ry.
This is a day of new beginnings, Time to remember and move on,
I come with joy to meet my Lord, Forgiven, loved, and free,
According to Thy gracious Word In meek humility,
We worship round this table spread, Pondering Your love with cup and bread.
Your supper, Lord, before us spread, The cup beside the broken bread,
A parting hymn we sing Around Your table, Lord; Again our grateful tribute bring,
We meet within this holy place Apart from noise and strife,
Jesus, at Your holy table, May our hearts united be. Bind us with Your grace and presence
Christian hearts, in love united, Seek alone in Jesus rest;
Brethren, we have met to worship And adore the Lord our God; Will you pray with all your power,
The fam’ly of God is born from above, A special bond drawn together by love;
God, the Father of Your people, You have called us to be one;
We are God’s people, the chosen of the Lord, Born of His Spirit, established by His Word;
We are one in the bond of love; (x2) We have joined our spirit with the Spirit of God; We are
In Christ there is no East or West, In Him no South or North;
I’m so glad I’m a part of the fam’ly of God– I’ve been washed in the fountain,
Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love; The fellowship of kindred minds
Our God has made us one– In Him our hearts unite.
To worship, work, and witness, The Good News spread abroad,
We are called to be God’s people, Showing by our lives His grace,
Lord, Thy church on earth is seeking Thy renewal from above;
Stir Your church, O God, our Father, Move thro’out its life today;
There’s a Spirit in the air, Tell the Christians ev’rywhere:
God of grace and God of glory, On Thy people pour Thy pow’r;
When the Church of Jesus Shuts its outer door,
With boldness in your speech, conviction in your singing,
Glorious things of Thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God;
Believers all, we bear the name Of Christ, our living Lord;
Rise up, O men of God! Have done with lesser things;
Break out, O Church of God, Break thro’ the wall of pride.
The church of Christ in ev’ry age Beset by change, but Spirit led,
Have faith in God when your pathway is lonely, He sees and knows all the way you have trod;
My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus; He came to love, heal, and forgive;
This is the threefold truth on which our faith depends, And with this joyful cry worship begins
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll;
‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His word; Just to rest upon His promise,
My faith has found a resting place, Not in device nor creed; I trust the Everliving One,
Encamped along the hills of light, Ye Christian soldiers, rise And press the battle ere the
O Christ, our hope, our heart’s desire, Redemption’s only spring,
Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine; Living with Jesus a new life divine;
My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine! Now hear me while I pray,
Simply trusting ev’ry day, Trusting thro’ a stormy way; Even when my faith is small,
I’ve got peace like a river, (x3) in my soul; I’ve got peace like a river, (x3) in my soul,
I will trust in the Lord, I will trust in the Lord, I will trust in the Lord ’til I die.
I am happy today and the sun shines bright, The clouds have been rolled away;
A pilgrim was I, and a wand’ring, In the cold night of sin I did roam,
Though I may speak with bravest fire, And have the gift to all inspire,
Walking in sunlight, all of my journey; Over the mountains, thro’ the deep vale;
There’s within my heart a melody; Jesus whispers sweet and low,
I heard an old, old story, how a Savior came from glory, How He gave His life on Calvary
For He alone Is worthy, For He alone Is worthy,
Ring the bells of heaven! There is joy today, For a soul returning from the wild!
Who can cheer the heart like Jesus, By His presence all divine? True and tender, pure and
There is sunshine in my soul today, More glorious and bright Than glows in any earthly sky,
There’s a glad new song ringing in my heart, Such as angels would sing above,
To me, (to me,) it’s so wonderful, (so wonderful,)
Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say, Rejoice. (x3)
There is never a day so dreary, There is never a night so long (so long),
When in our music God is glorified, And adoration leaves no room for pride,
I am so happy in Christ today, That I go singing along my way; Yes, I’m so happy to know and
Greater is He that is in me, Greater is He that is in me,
O what a wonderful, wonderful day– Day I will never forget; After I’d wandered in darkness
O happy day that fixed my choice, On Thee, my Savior and my God!
There is joy, there is joy, There is joy in the presence of the Lord.
What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought Since Jesus came into my heart!
Of all the Spirit’s gifts to me, I pray that I may never cease
This joy that I have, the world didn’t give it to me.
I wandered in the shades of night, Till Jesus came to me,
Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, That calls me from a world of care
Take time to be holy, Speak oft with thy Lord; Abide in Him always, And feed on His Word:
When we walk with the Lord In the light of His Word What a glory He sheds on our way!
I am weak but Thou art strong; Jesus keep me from all wrong; I’ll be satisfied as long
All praise to You, my God, this night, For all the blessings of the light.
I need Thee ev’ry hour, Most gracious Lord; No tender voice like Thine Can peace afford.
Are you weary, are you heavy hearted? Tell it to Jesus, Tell it to Jesus;
So precious is Jesus, my Savior, my King, His praise all the day long with rapture I sing;
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds In a believer’s ear! It soothes his sorrows,
God, our Father, You have led us To this moment in this place.
I must tell Jesus all of my trials; I cannot bear these burdens alone; In my distress He kindly
Precious Lord, take my hand, Lead me on, let me stand– I am tired, I am weak, I am worn;
In my life, Lord, be glorified, be glorified, In my life, Lord, be glorified today.
Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee! E’en tho’ it be a cross That raiseth me;
Dear Lord, lead me day by day; Make me steadfast, wise, and strong;
When I pray soft and low, When I pray, this I know,
Savior, teach me day by day Love’s sweet lesson to obey;
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on
All day long I’ve been with Jesus, It has been a glorious day.
Thou, my everlasting portion, More than friend or life to me; All along my pilgrim journey,
I want Jesus to walk with me. I want Jesus to walk with me. All along my pilgrim journey,
Coming now to Thee, O Christ my Lord, Trusting only in Thy precious word,
There shall be showers of blessing: This is the promise of love;
Send a revival, O Christ my Lord, Let it go over the land and the sea, Send it according to Thy
We praise Thee, O God! For the Son of Thy love, For Jesus who died and is now gone above.
Once to every man and nation Comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth and falsehood,
Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow Thee; Destitute, despised, forsaken,
I am satisfied with Jesus, He has done so much for me: He has suffered to redeem me,
More love to Thee, O Christ, More love to Thee! Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee;
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder, We are climbing Jacob’s ladder,
Must Jesus bear the cross alone, And all the world go free? No, there’s a cross for ev’ry one,
Be strong in the Lord, and be of good courage; Your mighty Defender is always the same.
Jesus’ hands were kind hands, doing good to all, Healing pain and sickness,
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, And His righteousness, And all these things shall be added
In my walk, you can see me trying. In my walk, you can see me trying.
Immortal love, forever full, Forever flowing free,
Am I a soldier of the cross, A foll’wer of the Lamb? And shall I fear to own His cause,
I have heard the voice of Jesus Calling clearly, “Follow Me”;
Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling, “Come, follow Me!” And we see where Thy footprints
I’m pressing on the upward way, New heights I’m gaining ev’ry day; Still praying as I onward
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, Ye soldiers of the cross;
Master, Thou callest, I gladly obey; Only direct me, and I’ll find Thy way.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, Ye soldiers of the cross;
I’m just a child and I haven’t got much, But whatever I have, I give it to You.
Lord, I want to be a Christian In my heart, in my heart,
King of my life, I crown Thee now, Thine shall the glory be; Lest I forget Thy thorn-crowned
Make room within my heart, O God, That You may form in me
Purer in heart, O God, Help me to be; May I devote my life Wholly to Thee: Watch Thou my
Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before!
“Take up your cross,” the Savior said, “If you would My disciple be;
“Serve the Lord with gladness” in our works and ways, Come before His presence with our songs
Burn in me, Fire of God, Burn till my heart is pure;
The Master hath come, and He calls us to follow The track of the footprints He leaves on our
O God, we ask for strength to lead A gentle, caring life,
Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus, to reach out and touch Him, and say that we love him
God, who touches earth with beauty, Make me lovely, too;
Jesu, Jesu, fill us with Your love,
Open my eyes, that I may see Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me; Place in my hands
God, give us Christian homes! Homes where the Bible is loved and taught,
Happy the home when God is there And love fills ev’ry one,
O God, to those who here profess Their vows of lifelong love,
Would You bless our homes and families, Source of life who calls us here;
Lord, for the gift of children We come to give You praise;
Your love, O God, has called us here, For all love finds its source in You,
O Lord, may church and home combine To teach Thy perfect way,
Lord, make our homes so loving In such a joyful way;
O perfect Love, all human thought transcending,
Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, Sing His mercy and His grace: In the mansions bright and
There’s a land that is fairer than day, And by faith we can see it afar;
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more, And the morning breaks
Jerusalem, my happy home, When shall I come to thee?
Shall we gather at the river, Where bright angel have trod; With its crystal tide forever
Face to face with Christ, my Savior, Face to face– what will it be, When with rapture I behold
When all my labors and trials are o’er, And I am safe on that beautiful shore, Just to be near
On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand And cast a wishful eye To Canaan’s fair and happy land,
Trials dark on ev’ry hand, and we cannot understand All the ways that God would lead us to that
How lovely is Thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts, to me!
Come, we that love the Lord, And let our joys be known; Join in a song with sweet accord,
Come, we that love the Lord, And let our joys be known;
Jerusalem, the golden, With milk and honey blest! Beneath thy contemplation
When my life-work is ended, and I cross the swelling tide, When the bright and glorious morning
“Forever with the Lord!” Amen, so let it be!
Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
I have come from the darkness to the light of the Lord;
I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today; I know that He is living, whatever men may say
Only believe, only believe; All things are possible, only believe;
I will sing the wondrous story Of the Christ who died for me.
There is a Savior, What joys express! His eyes are mercy, His Word is rest;
I will sing the wondrous story Of the Christ who died for me,
Ask ye what great thing I know That delights and stirs me so? What the high regard I win?
All my life I had a longing For a drink from some clear spring That I hoped would quench the
I’ve found a friend who is all to me, His love is ever true; I love to tell how He lifted me,
Deep in my heart there’s a gladness; Jesus has saved me from sin! Praise to His name,
In loving-kindness Jesus came, My soul in mercy to reclaim,
I have a song I love to sing, Since I have been redeemed, Of my Redeemer, Savior, King,
Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Of the themes that men have known, One supremely stands alone;
I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, Very deeply stained within,
I stand amazed in the presence Of Jesus the Nazarene, And wonder how He could love me, A sinner
For God so loved the world He gave His only Son,
Creator of the universe, of cosmic wind and storm;
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold; I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto Me and rest;
My Savior is the Lord and King, He has control of ev’rything,
I’ll tell the world that I’m a Christian– I’m not ashamed His name to bear;
In the cross of Christ I glory, Tow’ring o’er the wrecks of time,
My Father is rich in houses and lands, He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands!
People need the Lord, people need the Lord; At the end of broken dreams, He’s the open door.
Rescue the perishing, Care for the dying, Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Lead me to some soul today, O teach me, Lord, just what to say;
One by one, one by one, Reaching neighbors, reaching nations one by one.
When Christ was lifted from the earth His arms stretched out above
Sinners Jesus will receive: Sound this word of grace to all Who the heav’nly pathway leave,
Is your life a channel of blessing? Is the love of God flowing thro’ you? Are you telling the
So send I you, by grace made strong to triumph O’er hosts of hell, o’er darkness, death and sin
Christ was born in a distant land, Tell the good news, tell the good news, Lived on earth for
The love of God is broader than earth’s vast expanse,
Lord, speak to me, that I may speak In living echoes of Thy tone;
Out in the highways and byways of life, Many are weary and sad; Many are weary and sad;
Lord, lay some soul upon my heart, And love that soul thro’ me; And may I bravely do my part
While passing through this world of sin, And others your life shall view, Be clean and pure
I love to tell the story Of unseen things above, Of Jesus and His glory, Of Jesus and His love:
Set my soul afire, Lord, for Thy holy Word, Burn it deep within me, let Thy voice be heard;
Soldiers of Christ, in truth arrayed, A world in ruins needs your aid:
I will sing of my Redeemer And His wondrous love to me; On the cruel cross He suffered
Take the name of Jesus with you, Child of sorrow and of woe; It will joy and comfort give you,
‘Tis the old ship of Zion, ‘Tis the old ship of Zion,
Tune your hearts that all may hear Love’s sweet story bright and clear;
Lord, the light of Your love is shining, In the midst of the darkness shining;
O God of love, enable me To look around and see
We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Spread the tidings all around:
O God of might, O Son of light, O Holy Spirit sweet,
O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling, To tell to all the world that God is Light;
We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves! Spread the tidings all around, Jesus saves!
Tell it! Tell it out with gladness, God’s good news to ev’ry man,
We’ve a story to tell to the nations, That shall turn their hearts to the right,
Jesus shall reign where’er the sun Does its successive journeys run;
Send forth Your Word, O God of light! Thro’out the world break thro’ sin’s night;
Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim, And publish abroad His wonderful name;
God, Our Author and Creator, In whose life we find our own,
Hark, the voice of Jesus calling, “Who will go and work today? Fields are white, and harvests
Jesus loves the little children, All the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white
The whole world is singing, Singing together the children raise
Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim, Till all the world adore His sacred name.
There’s a call comes ringing o’er the restless waves, “Send the light! Send the light!”
Go forth and tell! O Church of God, awake!
Here am I, send me. Here am I, Lord, send me. Unto Thee willingly, yielded I come.
We praise You with our minds, O Lord, Kept sharp to think Your thought;
More about Jesus would I know, More of His grace to others show; More of His saving fullness
Teach me, O Lord, I pray, Your precious truth divine;
Jesus was a loving teacher, Helping people day by day
My singing is a prayer, O Lord, A prayer of thanks and praise;
Come, all Christians, be committed To the service of the Lord.
Because I have been given much, I, too, must give;
I gave My life for thee, My precious blood I shed,
Savior, Thy dying love Thou gavest me, Nor should I aught withhold, Dear Lord, from Thee:
O land of rest, for thee I sigh! When will the moment come When I shall lay my armor by And
We give Thee but Thine own, Whate’er the gift may be; And all that we have is Thine alone,
What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
Let your heart be broken For a world in need –
We are trav’lers on a journey, Fellow pilgrims on the road; We are here to help each other
Fill the earth with music, Sound aloud His praise.
To the work! To the work! We are servants of God,
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, All your money, talents, time, and love;
God, whose purpose Is to kindle: Now ignite us with Your fire;
O God of love, O King of peace, Make wars thro’out the world to cease;
Lead on, O King Eternal, the day of march has come; Henceforth in fields of conquest
Holy, holy, Lord, God Almighty; Your glory fills the earth, Lord God of hosts.
O day of God, draw nigh In beauty and in pow’r,
Lord, who across the ages Called Thy people to be free,
We stand united in the truth Which God bestows on all:
We bind ourselves in freedom’s chains; Thy cross has set us free.
Lift ev’ry voice and sing till earth and heaven ring,
No prison wall can hold, No temple veil can hide
God of our fathers, whose almighty hand Leads forth in beauty all the starry band
O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties
We utter our cry: that peace may prevail, That earth will survive, and faith must not fail.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where
My country, ’tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing:
O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last
We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing, He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
Come, ye thankful people, come, Raise the song of harvest home! All is safely gathered in
Now thank we all our God With heart and hands and voices, Who wondrous things hath done,
As men of old their first fruits brought, Of orchard, flock, and field,
Let all things now living A song of thanksgiving To God the Creator tirumphantly raise,
Sing to the Lord of harvest, Sing songs of love and praise;
Our life and its sustaining breath and life that’s promised after death
For the fruit of all creation, Thanks be to God. For His gifts to ev’ry nation, Thanks be
When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost
Praise and thanksgiving let ev’ryone bring
O God of prophets, known of old, Bless this, Your chosen one.
Christ, we do all adore Thee, and we do praise Thee forever; (x2)
May God’s grace go before you. May His love enfold you.
Grace, love, and peace abide, now, with you:
Almighty Father, hear our prayer, And bless all souls that wait before Thee. Amen.
Go out in peace, go out in joy;
Go now in peace, go now in peace;
May the grace of Christ, our Savior, and the love God, our Father,
The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord lift His countenanace upon you, And give you peace,
Grace to you, grace to you. God’s great grace to you.
Grace to you and peace from God the Father,
March 21, 2009
MATTHEW 9:1-13 FORGIVEN!
So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own town.
2 Just then some men brought to Him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Have courage, son, your sins are forgiven.”
3 At this, some of the • scribes said among themselves, “He’s blaspheming!”
4 But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts?
5 For which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
6 But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He told the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”
7 And he got up and went home.
8 When the crowds saw this, they were awestruck and gave glory to God who had given such authority to men.
9 As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” So he got up and followed Him.
10 While He was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came as guests to eat with Jesus and His disciples.
11 When the • Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 But when He heard this, He said, “Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do.
13 Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Jesus had been pressed by the crowds in Capernaum, so He and the disciples had gone across the Sea of Galilee to the “country of the Gergesenes [or 'Gadarenes']” (v.28). After casting the demons out of the men who lived in the tombs, Jesus “got into a boat” and then he “crossed over” the Sea of Galilee back to the Western shore.
He came “to His own city,” that is His adopted headquarters in Capernaum. Jesus’ hometown, Nazareth had rejected Him. In fact they would have thrown Him off a cliff it He had not escaped. Most likely while in Capernaum, He stayed at Peter’s house.
1. You Need To be Forgiven
There is generally today in Christianity a planned, calculated de-emphasis on personal sin. One well known Preacher said that he doesn’t preach about sin because people already know that they are sinners and don’t want to come to church and be reminded of it. I could not more vehemently disagree with him. The problem is that people don’t know what sinners they are. We have so emphasized self esteem that people esteem themselves too highly.
David Seamands tells the story of the alchemist who sold villagers a special powder that he claimed would turn water into gold provided that when they mixed it, they never thought of red monkeys. Well, of course, no one ever got the gold, because you can’t tell yourself to stop thinking about red monkeys or you’ll just keep thinking about red monkeys. It doesn’t work to say, “Well, I’m just not going to think about those things. I’m going to put all of that out of my mind.”
D. L. Moody, the great American evangelist, once said, “If a man is stealing nuts and bolts from a railway track, and, in order to change him, you send him to college, at the end of his education, he will steal the whole railway track.” — Ravi Zacharias, “The Lostness of Humankind,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 118.
While no one claims perfection, most believe that they are just as good (if not a little better) than others and that’s probably good enough for God. Until we have our eyes opened to see the depth of our sin, we are not going to see our desperate need for Christ and His forgiveness. Most people are so filled with pride and love of themselves that they are strutting to hell thinking that they are too good to be condemned.
When Peter saw Jesus, he also saw the sinfulness of his own soul and said in Luke 5:8b (NKJV) “…Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” Looking back at his life before Christ, Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:15 (NKJV) “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” Toward the end of the book of Job, God revealed to Job a true picture of himself and Job said in Job 42:6 (NKJV) “Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.” There are many instances in Scripture where people came into the manifest presence of God and were petrified because they saw the depths of their own sin. I believe that it is the role of the Holy Spirit to pull the blinders off of our eyes so that we can see our spiritual poverty, but the main means by which He causes us who were blind to see is to hear what the Scriptures say about sin and its consequences.
Modern evangelism seems to focus only on the principles of Jesus (Jesus All About Life campaign) and neglects our sinfulness and the need for forgiveness from the bondage and slavery of sin. The joy of forgiven sin is impossible apart from a deep conviction of our bondage to and saturation with sin and the horrible consequences that sin brings.
Donald Baillie rightly says: “A great many persons in the world today have something like a repressed moral-failure complex. They do not confess their sins to God or man, but they have an uneasy dissatisfaction with themselves and with what they have made of their moral opportunity.”
Guilt always possesses the power to shatter personality. George McLeod says that nearly half the hospital beds occupied in Great Britain on any day of the year are occupied by mental cases. Of these, half are there because of an overloaded sense of guilt. The superintendent of a mental institution said recently he could release half of his patients if someone could assure them that their guilt would be taken away.
Guilt paralyzes the body. There are many modern counterparts to the stricken man brought to Jesus. By the pronouncement of the word “forgiveness, by the removal of the crippling sense of guilt, he was made whole. Perhaps some men and women, lying helplessly in bed, sitting imprisoned in a wheelchair, would rise up and walk if only, only the forgiveness of God could be believed and accepted.
Guilt paralyzes the human spirit. Joy and guilt cannot exist together. Guilt destroys creativity, so clouding the sky that there is little mood to fashion something new. Guilt removes God from our side, and without God life becomes scarcely worth living.
Guilt paralyzes marriage. I have been staggered over recent years at the power of guilt rising from mishandled sex life before and after marriage. I have seen homes breaking down because years later guilt for premarital unchastity lingers.
But the difficulty is that hich Jeremiah warned of so many years ago. Jer 6:14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
So often instead of discovering true forgiveness from God, people try and heal the wound lightly. They try and forgive themselves, instead of seeking the forgiveness of God.
Man’s inability to forgive himself is demonstrated in the strange novel by Albert Camus called The Fall, The central character in the story is a Parisian lawyer, self-assured, respected, secure in his self-esteem. Then one night, walking home late across a bridge over the Seine, something happens which he was never able to forget, It was his “fall.” “I had already gone some fifty yards” he said, “when I heard the sound of a body striking the water. I heard a cry, repeated several times which was going downstream; then it suddenly ceased. I wanted to run and yet didn’t stir. Then slowly under the rain I went away. I informed no one. The next day and the days following, I didn’t read the papers.”
Always thereafter the memory of that incident haunted him. Years later, still bearing his inner sense of guilt he said: “0 young woman, throw yourself in the water again so that I may a second time have the chance of saving both of us. It’s too late now, it will always be too late.”
How do we move from hearing the voice of conscience to receiving the word of forgiveness? How do we reach the point where, having confessed our sin, we “accept our acceptance,” to use Paul Tillich’s notable phrase? How do we become certain of the pardon of God? Jesus was able to help the paralyzed man, from guilt through forgiveness to healing, because he was able with authority to pronounce those words: “Your sins are forgiven.” This is the secret of the story, the power of Jesus to bring about the miracle of forgiveness.
2. He Can Forgive
Horatius Bonar wrote:
Not what these hands have done Can save this guilty soul;
Not what this toiling flesh has borne Can make my spirit whole.
Thy love to me, 0 God Not mine, 0 Lord, to Thee,
Can rid me of this dark unrest, And set my spirit free.
There is only one place in all the world where we become absolutely convinced our sins can be and are forgiven. It is in the presence of Jesus.
I. He Releases the Sinner (V1-8) Aphiemi
Man’s greatest problem is not economical, political, educational, socially, physically, or psychological – it is spiritual, SIN! The most fundamental truth of the Bible is that man is a sinner and that he will never find real joy until he knows the joy of sins forgiven.
What is destroying humanity man can not fix, it is something that only God can fix. This is why all of man’s attempts to solve our problems will prove weak at best, and futile at worse, only God can solve the true problem of humanity. Everything else that man does is like only putting bandaids on deep wounds.
The weight of sin is enormous, and the effects of it keep people from knowing the freedom that God has for us.
It was the custom of ancient conquerors to prevent the escape of their prisoners by tying a dead body to their backs. With such gruesome burdens, these poor wretches could not run away. Paul may have had this in mind; so some think Romans 7:24 should read: “Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this dead body?”
Never have more people gone to counsellors, and yet never have there been times of greater depression and emotional struggles. There is only ONE “wonderful counselor, prince of peace, everlasting father” that can truly remove the onerous curse of sin.
If what the world needed most was emotional healing God would have sent a Psychologist, if what the world needed most was physical healing God would have sent a doctor, if what the world needed most was a healthy government God would have sent a politician, if what the world needed most was financial God would have sent an economist; but since the world’s greatest need is forgiveness, God sent a SAVIOUR!
From Mark and Luke’s account we find that they didn’t just carry him in on a stretcher and sit him before Jesus. The crowd was so large that they went to the roof of the house where Jesus was speaking and made a hole in the roof over where Jesus was standing and lowered him down just in front of Jesus. The paralyzed man showed faith by asking his friends to bring him to Jesus and the friends showed faith by risking rebuke and rejection to do whatever it took to get their friend to Jesus. When you boil it down, faith is when we look to Jesus as the One sufficient for the meeting of every need. The prevalent view during New Testament times was that disease and affliction was the direct result of someone’s sin. We know (with the whole of God’s word) that while all affliction, pain, and suffering are the result of the presence of sin in the world, they are not necessarily brought on by a specific sin of the person enduring the suffering. This paralyzed man no doubt believed that his suffering was because of his sin (and it could have been); he suffered in addition to his paralysis the crushing weight of the guilt of his sin. The paralysed man was correct in believing that his priority need was forgiveness. His faith is manifested in the fact that he went to Jesus as the source not only of his physical healing, but also the source of the supply to his greatest need – forgiveness.
Notice the Forgiveness (V2b) – Even though it cannot be seen in the physical realm, when Jesus spoke these words, a miracle took place. This crippled man’s sins were forgiven! The word, “forgiven” in the Scriptures means to be sent away. David described it in Psalms 103:12 (NKJV) “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Our sins separate us from God, but to be forgiven is to be separated from our sins and reconciled to God.
To reemphasize what I said earlier, our love for God is dependent on understanding the depths of our sin. If we have a low view of sin, we don’t see that we have been forgiven very much and we love God very little. When we see how our sin is not compared with others and that we were sinful down to the core of our being – our nature, then we stand amazed at such forgiveness that would send it all away. Jesus said in Luke 7:47 (HCSB) “Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.”
I have talked with people – perhaps you have too – that knew they had sinned and were aware of the greatness of the ’sin-debt’ they owe to God. They knew that there wasn’t anything they could do to pay back that debt. But what was so sad was that, when they were told about the forgiveness available to them through Jesus Christ, they still wouldn’t place their trust in Him. Often, they’d say, “You just don’t understand. What I have done is just too sinful. God could never forgive me. I’m just too bad.” Perhaps there is someone here this morning who thinks that way.
If you are thinking that way – and even if you think that way as a professing Christian – it’s because you are still thinking that the only way you can get rid of your debt of sin is by paying it off yourself. And the fact is that you can’t. You are bankrupt – as bankrupt and as incapable as that poor paralyzed man on the bed.
But the good news – the news that is taught us clearly in this morning’s passage – is that you don’t have to pay that debt back yourself. You have a Friend who is authorized to forgive your debt. And what’s more, He is willing to forgive it. Jesus paid the whole debt of your sin by dying on the cross in your place; and God the Father has fully accepted the payment of Jesus His Son for all of your sins. All that you need to do is come to Him in faith, just like a spiritual “paralytic” – unable to help yourself – and place your trust in what Jesus did for you. You must stop believing that you must “do”; and trust confidently instead that it has already been “done”.
II. He Announces the Sinner Released!
The Accusation (V3) In chapter 9, the religious leaders would accuse Jesus of: Blasphemy and Spending time with tax collectors and sinners
Here in verse 3, they accuse Him of blasphemy because He forgave this crippled man’s sins and only God has the power and authority to forgive sin. There are many skeptics and unbelievers today who say that Jesus never claimed to be God. He did here in this incident, because the Scribes were correct that only God can ultimately forgive sin. Jesus knew that in this claim, He was claiming to be God. Since they refused to accept the deity of Christ, the only other option was to accuse Him of blasphemy.
The Answer (V4-5) Jesus may have emphasized the word “say” in verse 5. In other words, saying something is always easier than doing it. He was setting them up for what He was about to do.
The Act (V6-7) Again, in the minds of these Scribes, a healing could not take place until sins were forgiven by God. Let me quote some Rabbis (not in Scripture) that these Scribes would have no doubt been familiar with: “No sick person is cured from sickness until all his sins have been forgiven him” (Rabbi Chija ben Abba). “The sick does not rise from his sickness until his sins are forgiven” (Rabbi Alexander). Jesus has power over sin and this miracle proved it!
The Acknowledgement (V8) The people did not fully understand the deity of Jesus, but they knew that a miracle had taken place and that Jesus was powerful. They gave glory to God knowing that this kind of power was associated only with God.
I recently read a story by a woman who said that as a girl she was poor. She said, “I grew up in a cold water flat, but I married a man who had money. And he took me up to a place where I had flowers, and I had gardens, and I had grass. It was wonderful. And we had children. “Then suddenly I became physically sick. I went to the hospital, and the doctors ran all sorts of tests. One night the doctor came into my room, and with a long look on his face, said, ‘I’m sorry to tell you this. Your liver has stopped working.’ “I said, ‘Doctor, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Are you telling me that I am dying?’ And he said, ‘I, I can’t tell you any more than that. Your liver has stopped working. We’ve done everything we can to start it.’ And he walked out. “I knew I was dying. I was so weak, I had to feel my way along the corridor down to the chapel of the hospital. I wanted to tell God off. I wanted to tell God, ‘You are a shyster! You’ve been passing yourself off as a loving God for two thousand years, but every time anyone begins to get happy you pull the rug out from under them.’ I wanted this to be a face-to-face telling off of God. “And just as I got into the center aisle of the chapel, I tripped, I swooned, I fainted. And I looked up, and there stenciled along the step into the sanctuary, where the altar is, I saw these words: LORD, BE MERCIFUL TO ME A SINNER. I know God spoke to me that night. I know he did.” She didn’t say how God communicated this to her, but what God said was, “You know what this is all about. It’s about the moment of surrender; it’s about bringing you to that moment when you will surrender everything to me. These doctors, they do the best they can. but they only treat. I’m the only one who can cure you.” And she said, “There with my head down on my folded arms in the center of the chapel, repeating, ‘Lord, be merciful to me a sinner,’ I surrendered to God. I found my way back to my hospital bed, weak as I was. “The next morning, after the doctor ran the blood tests and the urinalysis and so forth, he said, ‘Your liver has started working again. We don’t know why. We don’t know why it stopped, and we don’t know why it started up again.’ And I said in my heart, But I know. Oh but I know. God has brought me to the brink of disaster, just to get me to turn my life over to him.” — John Powell, “Prayer as Surrender,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 108.
III. He Receives the Sinner (V9-10)
With the crippled man, we see Jesus forgiving sin and with the call of Matthew, we see that He receives forgiven sinners. Apart from knowledge of history and customs, it is hard to comprehend how amazing this passage really is.
Matthew Was Rejected by Others
From Mark and Luke’s account we see that Matthew was also called Levi and that he was a tax collector (publican). Matthew was a great sinner and everyone knew it. As a tax collector, he was doubtless one of the most hated men in Capernaum. Tax people in any culture are not likely to be named “man of the year”, but it was even worse in the Roman taxation system. People could buy franchises from the Roman government to collect taxes in a certain city or district. When a Jew got into the tax business, they were considered traitors to their nation. Nothing in the mind of a Jew was more despicable that a publican (tax collector). Rome required the publicans to collect so much money. Everything over the quota prescribed by Rome could be kept by the tax collector. To keep the tax machine well lubricated, the Roman government would nearly always stand behind their tax collectors. These men had almost unlimited authority in taking tax money from the people. They collected taxes from bridge tolls, road taxes, harbour dues, property taxes, and on and on. Publicans were so despised by Jews that they were barred from synagogues. Jewish tradition taught that it was impossible for a publican to repent. You can imagine the gasps in the crowd when Jesus told Matthew, “Follow Me”.
Matthew Was Accepted by Christ
The call “follow Me” is a call to salvation. There were no emotional appeals or human logic. It was a simple command. For His own sovereign reasons, Jesus chose Matthew and called Him to Himself. How do we know that this is the account of a genuine conversion and not just a following of curiosity? There are several reasons that we know that this was a true conversion.
He arose and followed Jesus – Saving faith obeys! He gets up and follows Jesus.
He left everything to follow Jesus. Matthew doesn’t mention this out of modesty since this is the same Matthew who the Holy Spirit used to write this gospel. Luke tells us in Luke 5:28 (NASB) “And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.” True salvation is not tacking Jesus onto your life. It is a turning from everything to follow Christ. Luke 14:33 (NKJV) “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”
He continued with the Lord. The perseverance of the saints is not a work that we do to keep our salvation; it is an evidence that our salvation is real. This truth is stated in the negative in 1 John 2:19 (NKJV) “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” From the gospels and from history and tradition, we see that Matthew continued faithful to the end.
He was burdened for his friends to come to know Jesus. Matthew had a party – a party with sinners to introduce them to Jesus. Verse 10 doesn’t make that as clear as Luke does in Luke 5:29 (NKJV) “Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.” This is a natural thing for those who have been forgiven, been released and been accepted by Christ; they desire that those they care about come to know Him, come to know that they too can be forgiven released and accepted by Christ. You don’t have to tell a true convert that they need to share Christ with their friends and family; that is a normal and natural desire for someone who has truly met Jesus. Matthew brings together a group of social and religious outcasts and Jesus meets with them. Matthew was a forgiven man now accepted by Christ as a disciple.
In a graveyard, a headstone.. one word “Forgiven!”
It was one word, but it said it all. And you? Are you forgiven? Are you released? Are you Accepted by Christ? Just come to Him. Receive Him as your Saviour and all this will be yours too.
March 21, 2009
2 Timothy 3:1-14 in the last days perilous times will come.
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.
10 But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance,11 persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra — what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
2 Tim.3:1 that the “last days” would be “perilous times.” The word “perilous” means “vicious, dangerous or savage.”
“The “last days”: “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days” (v. 1). “Mark this” means “pay attention to this”—it’s an imperative, a command. We must know what follows. Know what?
In the “last days” there will be “terrible” times, literally “grievous” or “dangerous” times. This is the word used of “violent” demoniacs (Matthew 8:28) and by Greek writers of an “ugly” wound. 2 Timothy 3:1 1This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. (KJV) 2 Timothy 3:1 You can be certain that in the last days there will be some very hard times. (Contemporary English Version) 2 Timothy 3:1 You should also know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. (The New Living Translation) 2 Timothy 3:1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. (NIV)
When will they come? What did Paul mean by the “last days?” It may surprise you to know that the Jews divided history into two categories: the “former” days before Messiah comes, and the “latter” or “last” days after he arrives. And so, in this era after Jesus’ advent, we are in the “last days.”
At Pentecost, Peter quoted Joel’s prophecy about the “last days” and said they were fulfilled with Jesus (Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28-32).
Hebrews 1:2: “…in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”
James 5:3: “You have hoarded wealth in the last days.”
1 Peter 1:20: “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”
1 John 2:18: “Dear children, this is the last hour….”
It may be that the “last days” refers to the Christian era. But it more likely does refer to the last days before the Lord’s return.
Paul ahs already dealt with this concept in 1 Tim 4:1 Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,
2 through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared. 3 They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods that God created to be received with gratitude by those who believe and know the truth.
He is saying, that just like the waves of the ocean with each wave bring the tide higher and higher, so there will be times of wickedness that bring the end, the last days, closer and closer.
1. There Is Peril In The Community
As we look around at world society today we are made more aware that through technologies we, mankind, have become increasingly more selfish and more manipulative as we seek to control our “environment” and the people within it.
We are told things are getting better and better…
In education… our kids know a lot more about specialist subjects and a lot less about living life fruitfully. There is a sense in which we are becoming depersonalised through the influences of education upon our society. Children resent their ignorant parents , “disobedient to their parents.”
Things are getting better and better in technology…we have a lot more complicated gadgets and a lot less time to communicate with our families and friends. Technology supposedly makes communication easier, but we are more distant and fragmented in our relationships.
Computers have made big advances. Instant communication everywhere. New technology creates new problems. Always does… we can envision unbelievable technological advances. But morally we are exhausted and bankrupted. People are living longer, are healthier, but are not happier.
Chaos and crisis seem all around us. And the chaos and crisis is actually us! Our own selfish desires have run us out of “control”, we are out of sorts with friends and families. In a nut shell it is as 2 Tim 3 states, “perilous times will come For men will be lovers of themselves,”
I had a little tea party this afternoon at three.
‘Twas very small, three guests in all, just I, myself and me.
Myself ate up the sandwiches, and I drank up the tea.
‘Twas also I who ate the pie, and passed the cake to me.
That is the way many people live — a self-centered existence. We live in a selfish world.
“At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At 40, we don’t care what they think of us. At 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking of us at all.” (Ann Landers, quoted in Signs of the Times, March, 1993, p.6).
Materialism… reductionism in science and education has meant that for many of us the only things that matter are the things we garner into our barns, as “lovers of money,”. We have become self centred.
We as westerners seek a constantly increasing standard of living, a much more luxurious lifestyle? It is because money is a way of indulging ourselves.
I believe these are the last days, because the sinfulness of mankind has been magnified through the false philosophy that now undermines our whole society and even our churches.
All nations have now become western through the undermining influence of scientism that has spread through our education systems. Values such as selfless sacrifice, love and kindness have become forgotten in our value-free world. Adolf Hitler pronounced that “who controls the youth, controls the future.” Liberal engineers of social change have made the claim that, given just one generation, they can radically alter a society. And they have proven their point.
The Long War Against God, Dr. Henry Morris states that: “Evolutionism and its corollary teachings in the schools have so undermined the Bible by discrediting its record of creation and divine purpose that the whole ‘Christian experience’ has likewise been completely discredited in the minds of young people. . .”
It would be impossible to fully assess the amount of damage that the teaching of evolution has left in its wake. Since man is just a random accident in the universe, then life itself is of no real value beyond the existential seeking of momentary pleasure. As someone rightly pointed out to me last week, a television documentary indicated that Church leaders are now the main propagators of this godless doctrine.
Dr. David Jeremiah, “Abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia are logical behaviors for those who have so easily disposed of the image of God in the eternal soul of man.”’ Evolution effectively takes God out of the picture and allows man to justify anything and everything that he deems is a means to his own.
We could hardly have sent a more devastating message to our children. Instead of teaching them that they were uniquely designed by a loving and compassionate Creator, in His image, with value and purpose, we set them adrift into a world of futility and meaninglessness.
Dr. Morris goes so far as to state that “evolutionary thought is basically responsible for the lethally ominous political developments and the chaotic moral and social disintegration that has been accelerating everywhere in recent decades.”
Dostoyevsky said that anything is permissible if there is no God. But anything is also permissible if everything (or everyone) is God.”
Perhaps this gives understanding to the vision in Daniel 2:42 and that the toes of the feet were part iron and part fired clay—part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will be brittle. 43 You saw the iron mixed with clay—the peoples will mix with one another but will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with fired clay.
Out of this grows another word: “proud.” The word is boastful, braggarts. That is an outcome of this loving of self. Proud, independent of God, Self sufficient, we can solve our problems, or so we think.
The word that immediately follows is, “arrogant.” Proud people are arrogant people. They have a secret contempt for others; they regard themselves as above them. This is the attitude frequently displayed in many churches and by many Christians today.
“Abusive” is the next term. This word describes people who use insulting, pejorative terms that put people down. This is the manifestation of an unhealthy, unwholesome, unchristian spirit, even within the Christian church.
2. There Is Peril In The Church
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.
“lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (v. 4). According to a recent Time magazine article, pornography online has increased 1800% since 1998. Nearly one in five movie rentals is a pornographic film. Hollywood produces 400 feature films a year; the porn industry makes 11,000.
There is the Problem Of Departure- Some today have departed from the faith and given heed to the wrong doctrine ( 1 Tim. 4:1).
There is the Problem Of Denial- So many have denied the Holy One, the Lord Jesus access to their lives (Acts 3:14). They may speak much of Christ but deny Him by their sinful living.
Some leaders of some Christian organisations and churches have had terrible falls in the last few years that have made Christianity a laughing stock. Pat Mesiti from Youth Alive, Planetshakers On August 21, 2008, Michael Guglielmucci, the composer of the track Healer from the album Saviour of the World and a former pastor of Planetshakers City Church, announced that, contrary to his earlier statements, he had not suffered from cancer during the previous two years. He also stated that close friends, family, and even his wife didn’t know. Planetshakers City Church pastors, as well as Hillsong Church (where Michael was serving in the music ministry)confirmed this. Kim Wheatley | August 21, 2008 Article from: The Advertiser “HE preached to thousands about his terminal illness and tugged at hearts with a hit song. The problem is the pastor wasn’t dying at all Michael Guglielmucci, who inspired hundreds of thousands of young Christians with his terminal cancer “battle”, has been exposed as a fraud. “
There is the Problem Of Deadness- It is sad that many will accept a “form of godliness” rather than want to see God’s power revealed in the salvation of precious souls. A form of godliness. Where th4ey heal the people’s wound lightly. Where they don’t really deal with sin. A form of godliness. Just respond to this commercial “You don’t have to be religious.. just nod towards the Lord Jesus and we’ll assume that you are saved!”
There is the Problem of Deception: “having a form of godliness but denying its power” (v. 5a). They are even in the church. 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.
Paul says, “Have nothing to do with them” (v. 5), literally, “turn away from these.” The Greek has the strongest possible condemnation in it—avoid them with horror. Do not be like them. Choose to be holy in an unholy day.
His injunction does not mean that we withdraw from attempting to influence the world. Salt is no good in the saltshaker, or light under the basket. I once saw a poster which pictured a ship at sea, sails billowing in the wind, speeding through white-capped storm-driven waves, and the caption: “Ships in the harbour are safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.”
Rather, he means that we are to change the world without allowing it to change us. A ship in the water is a good thing; water in the ship is a bad thing.
They dominate “weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires” (v. 6b). As a result, they are “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth” (v. 7). They are fascinated by the heresies advanced by these deceivers, and so unable to see the truth of God’s word.
Understand that Paul is by no means condemning all women here. Rather, he is dealing with a specific problem already in existence in Ephesus, where a specific group of women have been victimized by these deceivers. Because they are “loaded down with sins,” they are more easily swayed or influenced by evil desires.
It is possible and even likely that the apostle is specifically addressing former temple prostitutes. The shrine of Diana was there, the pagan goddess of fertility. Thousands of women were employed as temple prostitutes. The Christian church was willing to help them when no one else would, so that many came to Christ and their faith family. But they are still dealing with their sins and guilt, and are victims now of deceivers.
Whatever the historical context, the apostle is not describing women in general, or summarizing the larger biblical picture. How did Jesus relate to women?
Our Lord spoke to a Samaritan woman when no one else would (John 4).
He befriended an immoral woman no one else would welcome (Luke 7:36-50), decidedly not Mary Magdalene. He commended a widow’s offering at the Temple (Luke 21:1-4).
Paul mentions Jannes and Jambres, the names given by Jewish tradition to the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses. Like them, they “oppose the truth” and are “rejected” in the faith (v. 8). One day “their folly will be clear to everyone” (v. 9).
3. There Is A Personal Priority To Maintain
The solution? There is only one moral preservative for our world.
It is as we Christians teach and preach the Word of God that salt is brought into our world.
Look a the solution to these problems that the apostle Paul proposes.
2 Tim 3:13 Evil people and imposters will become worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing those from whom you learned, 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
The concept goes back as far as Genesis 18:19 when God said of Abraham, “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment. . . .” In Deuteronomy 4: 10, He states again “. . . and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.”
God says: “And ye shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up… That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them. . .” (Deut. 11:19-21).
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6).
Preach The Word With Power. 2 Tim 4:1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Preach The Word With Purpose. Why do we concentrate on preaching God’s Word here at the Tabernacle? Simply because it is ONLY the Word of God that counters the prevailing mentality of our culture. You need something more powerful than the prevailing cultural beliefs. You need something that will tie you to the true truth> And that is God’s Word.
March 20, 2009
School Holiday Program FREE Training Sessions
FREE 3 hour Training Session.
Holiday Programs can be one of the greatest opportunities we have to reach people in our community, especially children. We invite you to attend a free 3 hour session presented by a team from Lifeway, one of the largest developers of Holiday Program Curriculum.
During this session you will have the opportunity to not only learn about how simple it is to run a Holiday Program but experience it for yourself!
If you are just a little curious about Holiday Programs or keen and ready to get started we’d encourage to come along. As there is no charge for this session, it’s a great opportunity to bring a team from your church.
Refreshments will be provided during the session.
Cost
THIS IS A FREE SEMINAR
Date
Saturday 9th May
Time
9.00am to 12 noon
Venue
Merrylands Baptist Church
Location
Cnr Newman Street and Memorial Avenue
Merrylands, NSW
A team of six Texans is travelling with Ann Cretin of Lifeway to instruct us in VBS.
