But let all who
take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.
For you bless the righteous, O LORD;
you cover him with favor as with a shield.
(Psalm 5: 11-12 ESV)
For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
but the LORD made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and joy are in his place.
Ascribe to the LORD, O clans of the peoples,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
1 Chronicles 16:26-28 (English Standard Version)
Dr. Lawrence White on an old "Issues Etc." (8/13/09)
We are not called to do something that Scripture commands us to do based on whether or not we think it's going to be successful - we're supposed to do it because we're told to do it!
We're not called to be effective, we're called to be faithful...do what we're told and GOD will be effective.
Interesting thoughts.
Data from Rasmussen Reports national telephone surveys shows that 15.0% of Democrats in the workforce are currently unemployed and looking for a job. Among adults not affiliated with either major party, that number is 15.6% while just 9.9% of Republicans are in the same situation.
from Rasmussen Reports.
tags: politics, unemployment
~~~
Leonid over Mono Lake: someday maybe I'll get there.
~~~
A Russian priest gunned down in church
from ABC News.
~~~
Heh...
Climategate.
~~~
The Manhattan Proclamtion (yea and nay)
~~~
Junk Food Produces Weak Christians
Indeed.
~~~
How to kill an idea (anybody in corporate America will get this.
~~~
Sarah Palin
Posted using ShareThis
(I've cut and pasted the article under the fold - because I think that they'll rotate the article off the page eventually and I want to keep this one around...
Why? I love anything and everything that keeps me pointed to Christ and His finished work on the cross. When I am centered there, when Christ is on the cross, there is no room for my works, my righteousness, my goodness (or lack thereof)
Alleluia! Sing to Jesus
By: William C. Dix, 1837-98
Alleluia! Sing to Jesus;
His the scepter, His the throne;
Alleluia! His the triumph,
His the victory alone.
Hark! The songs of peaceful Zion
Thunder like a mighty flood:
"Jesus out of every nation
Has redeemed us by His blood."
Alleluia! Not as orphans
Are we left in sorrow now;
Alleluia! He is near us:
Faith believes, nor questions how.
Though the cloud from sight received Him
When the forty days were over,
Shall our hearts forget His promise:
"I am with you ever-more"?
Alleluia! Bread of heaven,
Here on earth our food, our stay;
Alleluia! Here the sinful
Flee to You from day to day.
Intercessor, Friend of sinners,
Earth’s Redeemer, hear our plea
Where the songs of all the sinless
Sweep across the crystal sea.
Alleluia! King eternal,
Lord omnipotent we own;
Alleluia! Born of Mary,
Earth Your foot-stool, heaven Your throne.
As within the veil You entered,
Robed in flesh, our great high priest,
Here on earth both priest and victim
In the eucharistic feast.
Alleluia! Sing to Jesus;
His the scepter, His the throne;
Alleluia! His the triumph,
His the victory alone.
Hark! The songs of peaceful Zion
Thunder like a mighty flood:
"Jesus out of every nation
Has redeemed us by His blood."
Issues, Etc.
White Horse Inn
I don't generally "do" Thanksgiving Day. This year I'm really not.
Tom and I are at home, we got take-out rib tips and we're getting ready for a movie marathon (Transformer 2 and the new Star Trek movie)
But I am thankful.
I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up
and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;
you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pitSing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.As for me, I said in my prosperity,
"I shall never be moved."
By your favor, O LORD,
you made my mountain stand strong;
you hid your face;
I wa dismayed.To you, O LORD, I cry,
and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
"What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me!
O LORD, be my helper!"You have turned for me my mourning int dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever! (Psalm 30 ESV)
The Parables of Jesus: Entering, Growing, Living, and Finishing in God's Kingdom
If you ask, "Why did Jesus teach in parables?" most people will answer: "to make it easier to understand."
When the disciples asked Jesus why He taught in parables, He answered, "
This is why I speak to them in parables:
"Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
" 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.'But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. (Matt 13:13-17 ESV)
According to Jesus, He used parables not to make it easier to understand, but to make it more difficult to understand!
Why? Johnson puts forward the thought that parables were perfect for Jesus' "purposes in election".
He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. (v.11)
I think the verse that follows contradicts the imposition of the doctrine of election into this passage, though.
Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. (v.12)
I think this verse says that (even if there is no doctrine of election and we all start out with the same ability), those who have even a little bit of understanding will be given more...and those who refuse to listen to the Word will have even what they started with taken away.
But the point remains that Jesus used parables to illuminate the truth to some...and to veil it to others.