Oct
24
While we in the means are found
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I judge a hymnal on “The Newton Scale.” When I look at an unfamiliar hymnal, the first thing I do is thumb my way to the index to see how many (and which) hymns by John Newton are contained therein. It’s a pretty good indicator of the kind of piety the editors want to encourage. Newton’s hymns are, well, let me borrow the words of Kenny Bania, “That’s gold, Jerry! Gold!” Among Newton’s best are:
- Amazing Grace
- Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder
- Day of Judgment! Day of Wonders!
- How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds
- Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken
- Approach My Soul, the Mercy Seat
- Safely Through Another Week
The old Gadsby Hymnal has many Newton compositions. Certainly, some of these are not of the same calibre as the aforementioned classics (Does anyone remember Harlem Shuffle by the Rolling Stones, for example?). But below is a mighty good one from Newton. It is a prayer for the Spirit’s power to be unleashed in the ordinary means of grace, with 1 Corinthians 12:6-11 and 1:5 as a heading:
1 O thou, at whose almighty word
The glorious light from darkness sprung,
Thy quickening influence afford,
And clothe with power the preacher’s tongue.
2 ‘Tis thine to teach him how to speak;
‘Tis thine to give the hearing ear;
‘Tis thine the stubborn heart to break
And make the careless sinner fear.
3 ‘Tis also thine, Almighty Lord,
To cheer the poor, desponding heart;
To speak the soul-reviving word
And bid the mourner’s fears depart.
4 Thus, while we in the means are found,
We still on thee alone depend
To make the gospel’s joyful sound
Effectual to the promised end.
Thank you, John Newton.
May
30
Near enough to heal, strong enough to save
Filed Under Apologetics, Christmas, Evangelism, Islam | Leave a Comment
What question could a kind, gentle American seminary professor ask to get himself run 
out of the famous Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem? Let me suggest you to take few minutes to read a short piece by Dr. Reggie Kidd, Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, entitled ‘The Deity of Jesus–So What?’ , and you will find more than an interesting encounter with Islam, but a rich discussion of the beauty, sweetness and necessity of eternal God taking on human flesh. Dr. Kidd (he would prefer you call him Reggie–with a hard ‘g’) reflects on the question, ‘What difference does it make that Jesus is not just man (though certainly that), but also God?’ Or to personalize the question a bit: ‘What has Jesus done for us that no human could do?’
May
8
Tomb of Herod the Great found?
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According to Haaretz.com, archaeologists from Hebrew University in Jerusalem have discovered the tomb site of Herod the Great–the Herod whom Rome allowed to ‘rule’ the province of Judaea from 74 BC to ~4 BC. This is the same Herod who appears in Matthew and Luke’s narratives of the birth of Jesus and instigator of the infant massacre at Bethlehem. Herod the Great is also famous for his ambitious expansion of the Temple in Jerusalem.
As for the tomb discovery, Professor Ehud Netzer has been digging since 1972 around a site known as Herodium, about 7 miles outside of Jerusalem and destroyed by the Romans in AD 71, acting on the belief that first-century Jewish historian Josephus was reliable in his detailed account of the funeral and burial of Herod. But it was not until this spring that his team found the ruins of a distinctively lavish (albeit empty) sarcophagus at Herodium.
Two additional interesting notes about Herod the Great:
- His ancestors were Edomites and not Jews. In his grandfather’s time, the Maccabeans conquered Idumea (home of the remnant of the Edomites) and compelled them to convert to Judaism. Although Herod surely would have seen himself as Jewish, conservative, observant Jews in his day would likely have viewed him as more Hellenistic than Jewish.
- You might scratch your head at the fact that Herod’s death is listed as ~4 BC. But wasn’t Jesus born in 1 AD? Not so fast, my friend. Our current numbering system for years was adopted in Western Europe in 8th century and was based on work by a 6th century monk named Dionysus Exiguus, who lived in Rome. Dionysus miscalculated a few things, and our best guesses are that Jesus was born between 6 BC and 4 BC.
Dec
22
I’ll be on vacation all next week, so this will be my last post until next year.
I wanted to give a hearty thanks to our God who brought the Holland family to Kosciusko. This will be our first Christmas as members of your church family and we couldn’t be more thrilled.
So, until we gather again to boast in the lavish blessing of our Lord, have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
Dec
19
Handel-ing Christmas - Part 5
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Today we’ll look at the texts from the Messiah’s Part II, numbers 40-44, highlighting Psalm 2:1-4, 9 and Revelation 11:15.
Psalm 2:1-4, 9 “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”
Revelation 11:15 “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.’”
Make no doubt about it, the incarnation of our Lord, was the beginning of the world-wide conquest of Kingdom of God. We are very familiar with the type of war that has evolved over the past few decades. Instead of masses of troops sent in to a battle front, now, small well trained units are inserted undetected. This is the incarnation. The King has come and he has come veiled. He has come as the most unlikely conquering hero, a Jewish infant born in a stable to an unwed mother and her carpenter fiance’. However, look at the verse quoted above about this simple boy. He is the mighty God. He will reign forever and ever. He will be victorious.
Sometimes we approach Christmas with kid-gloves on. We view it as a time of sweet sympathy for “cute baby Jesus.” Don’t be lured into this anemic view of our Lord. The conqueror had come. The most terrifying soldier ever known had entered into the world to do battle with sin, misery, and death. The incarnation is fundamentally militant. Instead of approaching Christmas like we approach a home video we instead should fall down as the shepherds did in awe-filled fear, knowing that the Sovereign Ruler of the world had come. He is worthy of our praise!
Dec
15
Handel-ing Christmas - Part 4
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Isaiah 9:2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. (Handel’s Messiah, Part 1, No. 11)
A very profitable study for any student of the Bible would be to consider the light imagery in reference to Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, Jesus is associated with light while sin is associated with death. As we approach December 25 and the consideration of the incarnation of our Lord, take time to think on Jesus as the “light of the world”. Consider the cry of our hearts struggling over sin and how often we utter words like, “It just feels like I’m in the dark!” It is difficult to find a truer statement of our struggle with sin. It is the light of Jesus and the light of the gospel that dispels the darkness of sin. It is a beautiful bit of God given imagery for us to consider our incarnate Lord as the light that has come into the world.