Waitsfield Church

Archive for July, 2010

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus… (Hebrews 10:19)

The holy places do not inspire confidence or swagger. A person who understands his sinfulness doesn’t confidently stroll into the holy places of God.

When the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai he told the people of Israel, “Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death” (Exodus 19:12)

Nadab and Abihu were consumed by holy fire when they offered unauthorized fire to the Lord (Lev. 10). Uzzah was struck dead when reached out to catch the Ark of the Covenant from falling (2 Sam. 6).

When Isaiah caught a glimpse of the Holy One upon his throne, he called out for divine judgment to fall upon him. (Isaiah 6)

The high priest, and only the high priest, entered the most holy place in the temple on time per year, and he did so with the utmost care.

Entering the holy places should fill a sinful man or woman with dread, not confidence.

But now, through Jesus Christ, we have confidence to enter the holy places. We have confidence to stand in the presence of the God who is described as a consuming fire. We have confidence to draw near and make our requests and petitions of the Most High God. We can enter the presence of God with thanksgiving, rather than dread.

Confidence is the last thing that we should take into the holy places. But through the gospel, we go confidently into the places where angels fear to tread.

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I always enjoy hearing Louis Armstrong sing “What A Wonderful World”

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shakin’ hands, sayin’ “How do you do?”
They’re really saying “I love you”

I hear babies cryin’, I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world

Oh yeah!

And I think to myself, what a wonderful God…what a wonderful God.

“Creation was…a love song from the Creator to mankind. In a thousand fields of study, God had coded the music of His creation. One hears the music of God testifying to the beauty of God not only through musical notes, but through genes, and chemicals, and all the mysterious workings of nature.”–Strachan and Sweeney, Jonathan Edwards on Beauty

I want to praise God more and more.  When I hear cardinals and crickets and croaking frogs.  When I see fireflies’ phosphorescent trails.  When I see the sunset back lighting purple clouds.

How does God’s creation move you to praise him?

photo by Per Ola Wiberg ~ Powi

Source: Mark Altrogge

Who’s the hardened sinner in your life? You don’t really need to think about it.

It’s the son or daughter that you’ve been praying for for years. It’s the neighbor who gets wasted every Friday night. It’s your old college buddy who is now so rich that he doesn’t need God. It’s your mom, who at the age of 70 doesn’t appear to be changing any time soon. It’s the name that has been on your prayer list for the last decade.

It can be discouraging to pray for someone, share the gospel with them, love them, serve them, and not see any fruit. After a while we stop wondering when God will save them and start wondering if God can save them.

I think the Apostle Paul was meant to give us faith for the salvation of hardened sinners. In 1 Timothy 1:12-13, Paul writes:

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.

Pre-Christian Paul made most sinners look like saints.

He was a blasphemer. He had a vendetta against Christians. He was insolent, arrogant, bloodthirsty, and angry. How many people imagined this guy getting saved?

But when Jesus decides to save someone, nothing can stop Him. Paul was on his way to collect, arrest, and possibly kill as many Christians as possible. Instead, he finds himself laying on the ground hearing the voice of Jesus. This is irresistible, powerful, eye-opening, heart-rending grace. Paul was a great sinner, Jesus was a greater Savior.

God can save your hardened son in a split-second. He can break down the walls of a drunken neighbor and melt the heart of a bitter mother. Don’t stop praying. Don’t stop asking.

God saved Paul, He saved you, and He can save the hardened sinner in your life.

–

Originally published in October, 2009

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Source: Stephen Altrogge

Last Tuesday night The Discovery Channel’s reality show, Deadliest Catch, documented the passing of Phil Harris, captain of the Alaskan crab fishing boat, the Cornelia Marie.

He suffered a massive stroke while his crew was offloading his boat in January and died in early February at age 53 while still in the hospital.

With the consent of his family, the reality show kept their cameras rolling throughout his ordeal, right up till the end.  There were a couple touching scenes with his sons, especially when he told them he loved them.

The Discovery Channel did a tasteful job though it seemed crass to me at first.  But a couple days before the episode I read these verses:

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. (Ecclesiastes 7:2-4)

Initially these verses caught me off guard.  Why is it better to mourn than feast?  Who likes funerals or intensive care units?  Why is sorrow better than laughter and how does sadness make the heart glad?

The answer is that we can grow wise by contemplating death – “the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning.”

In our culture, we’re shielded from death.  We shove it to the backs of our minds.  We’d rather party. But parties don’t make us wise.  Funerals are opportunities to see that death “is the end of all mankind” and we who are “living will take it to heart.”  Intensive care units can remind us of the life to come.

Seeing death should help us contemplate our own death, think about eternity and live wisely.

By “sadness of face the heart is made glad” when we put our hope in Jesus, not in this world.

I feel sad for Phil’s family.  But I’m glad they allowed the cameras to keep rolling.  I’m glad they showed the hospital scenes with all the tubes and machines and his final conversations with his sons.  I hope it helps me grow more wise.  It reminded me that my own life is a vapor, and someday I’ll be with the Lord.

I don’t want to miss opportunities to glorify Christ, and to tell my wife, children and grandchildren I love them.

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Source: Mark Altrogge

Beginning today, every Friday (if we remember) we hope to give you a simple songwriting tip.  Since we primarily write worship songs, many of the tips will be geared in that direction, but we also hope to have suggestions that will help any songwriter.

Tip #1: Focus on an aspect of God’s character or deeds

Bob Kauflin defines worship in this way: Worship is our whole-hearted response to God’s self-revelation in ways which please him and which he alone makes possible.

The first question I ask myself when attempting to write a worship song is “What has God revealed about his character or his deeds that I want to write a song about?”  When I say God’s character I mean his attributes – e.g. his sovereignty, love, faithfulness, goodness, unchanging nature, etc.

Observe how David focused on God’s character and deeds in Psalm 145:3-7

Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom. (character)
One generation will commend your works to another;
they will tell of your mighty acts.  (deeds)
They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, (character)
and I will meditate on your wonderful works.  (deeds)
They will tell of the power of your awesome works,
and I will proclaim your great deeds.  (deeds)
They will celebrate your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your righteousness. (character)

In these seven verses David mentions God’s unfathomable greatness, his awesome works, his glorious splendor and majesty, his abundant goodness and righteousness.  Each of these could be the subject for a song.

Start with God.  Pick an attribute or aspect of his character and focus on that.

Please give us any suggestions you have for future posts on songwriting, in case we run out of ideas in 2 weeks.  Thanks!

photo by garryknight

Source: Mark Altrogge