BUNSW Baptist Pastors Forum

WARNING CD EAARTH is a CON!

2011-11-18T14:32:00.001+11:00

If you receive an invitation to receive CD EAARTH’s Bible materials, it is a CON!!

Core Group discipleship

2011-09-15T11:47:00.001+10:00

Try this website for free discipleship resources http://coregroups.org/core3strand.html

C3 Discipleship Process

Jesus did it. Wesley did it. You can too.

Jesus' 3-Strand Discipleship

The most effective manner to train and equip people for any skill is by providing effective models and opportunities to practice the skill itself. Jesus used a show, tell, release, and supervise model of training. Jesus ministered to the multitudes (crowd), the 12 (cell), and the inner circle of 3 (core). After calling the disciples, He took them along with Him, teaching and healing the sick as He went. Then, after He thought the disciples had seen and learned enough to try for themselves, He commissioned, empowered, instructed, and sent them out to do the same things. This discipleship process should be no different for those desiring to bring others into a complete understanding and walk in Christ-likeness.

John Wesley’s 3-Strand Discipleship

In 1743 John Wesley created a 3-strand discipleship model, a company of people having the form and seeking the power of godliness, united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they might help each other to work out their own salvation. The 3 groups were called societies (crowd), classes (cell), and bands (core).

C3 Discipleship Process

The C3 discipleship process can be integrated into any church using all 3 strands or by launching stand-alone Core Groups. It can be used by any Christian church as a roadmap and adapted to fit any church expression or in small groups or for individual study. In addition to the process, we also provide free resources to assist you in equipping the saints.

Strand 1: Crowd

Size: 50+ people; this is typically the large gathering of people for corporate worship
Purpose: To bring about a change in knowledge
Focus: celebration - worship.

Wesley's society or crowd group included those in a geographical area, much like a typical, congregational meeting in today’s church. These large groups of people met once a week to pray, sing, study scripture, and to watch over one another in love. However, as is true of today's corporate church gathering, there was little or no provision made at this level for personal response or feedback.

Strand 2: Cell

Size: 5-16 people
Purpose: To bring about behavioral change; conduct
Focus: community - fellowship.

Wesley's class or cell group was the most basic group structure of the society. The class was composed of 12-20 members, both sexes, mixed by age, social standing and spiritual readiness, under the direction of a trained leader. It was not a gathering for academic learning. They met weekly in the evening for mutual confession of sin and accountability for growing in holiness. This group provided the structure to more closely inspect the condition of the flock, to help them through trials and temptations, and to bring further understanding in practical terms to the messages they had heard preached in the public society meeting. Membership in a class meeting was non-negotiable. If you wanted to continue in the society you had to be in a class. In 1742 in one society in London there were 426 members, divided into 65 classes. Eighteen months later that same society had 2,200 members, all of whom were in classes. Every week each class member was expected to speak openly and honestly on the true state of his or her soul. This strand closely resembles today's cell groups, small groups, life groups, etc.

Strand 3: Core

Size: 3 or 4 people
Purpose: To bring about a change of direction, heart and position; knowledge, character and conduct
Focus: committment - discipleship.

Wesley's band or Core was made up of 4 members, all the same sex, age, and marital status. This was a voluntary group of people who professed a clear Christian commitment, who desired to grow in love, holiness, and purity of motive. The environment was one of ruthless honesty and frank openness. There were specific rules about punctuality and order within the meeting. He introduced accountability questions which everyone answered openly and honestly in the meeting each week. Bands became the training ground for future leaders. This group held to extreme confidentiality in a “safe place”, mutual submission where matters of indifference were yielded to the released leader, and godly stewardship. This was the group that could intensively pursue goals and vision together. There is a strong case to be made for churches to review, adapt and integrate a 3-Strand Discipleship Process into their expression. It begins with the Bible, is supported by sociological evidence, makes sense from an organizational standpoint, and has been proven successful for thousands of years.

Biblical Evidence

"One standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer; three is even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

Biblical Evidence for 3-Strand Discipleship

Scripture paints a clear picture of a God who not only lives in community but embraces and seeks after it. First, with Adam (Gen.1:26), then with the people of Israel (Deut.6:4) and finally in the Godhead itself (John 1:1-3). There is power in a cord of three and this concept runs throughout God's Word. Since God Himself lives and works in community, and we are made in the likeness of God, then we too are created to live in and for community. To be human is to hunger for community.
Additionally, Jesus and the disciples modeled a closely knit community. Christ Himself came to provide community and live with us (Mth. 1:23) and then He called a small group of disciples to live and walk with Him (Mark 3:7-10,13-14). Jesus knew that the multitudes had great needs, but chose to minister to the twelve and especially the three (Peter, James and John). By walking with and training a few, He ultimately transformed many lives.
This cord of three strands is Christ’s highest dream for His Church. It is seen in His prayer for us that we may be one as He and the Father and Holy Spirit are one (John 17:11). Additionally, Christ sees our unity and community as our message to the world that He came and that He is love, and if we, the Church, fail at community, we fail our mission (John 17:21, 23).

Relational Evidence for 3-Strand Discipleship

There is relational evidence that God created us to crave relationships and community:
• God wants us to seek a relationship with Him (Acts 17:24-27)
• God wants us to have relationships with others (Genesis 2:18)
• God reveals His emotions to us (Ephesians 4:30; Zephaniah 3:17)
• God intervenes when we can’t communicate (Romans 8:26-27)
There is also blessing that comes from community:
• Strength for storms of life (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)
• Wisdom for making good decisions (Proverbs 15:22)
• Confidentiality and accountability for spiritual health (Proverbs 27:17)
• There is strength, reliability and assurance in community (Proverbs 18:24)

Structural Evidence for 3-Strand Discipleship

As churches are planted to accomplish God’s work in the world, organization becomes a necessity to ensure community. The Core Discipleship process and groups are a way to ensure that this done in a life-giving manner by “doing life together” - everyone is cared for and no one cares for too many (not more than four). Just as is true in a natural family, the Core Discipleship Process enhances spiritual parenting to ensure that no one stands alone, struggles alone, serves alone, develops alone, seeks alone, or grows up alone.
The Core Discipleship Process and groups are a God-ordained way to provide infrastructure within any church to assure the development of disciples (Matthew 28:18-20), where the workload is shared (Exodus 18:9-22), where everyone receives care (Acts 6:1) and where leadership can be determined, equipped and repeated (Titus 1:5).
Finally, the Core Discipleship Process provides a structure for “mutual membership” to promote unity in the body (Ephesians 4:1-6, 11-16), a sense of belonging to one another (Romans 7:2-4) and a place to edify, bless, grow, serve and challenge each other through the exercise of each person's spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 12:12-27).

Next: The Core Discipleship Process: The Master's Discipleship Plan

Church: 3-Strand Discipleship Process

Strand 1: Crowd

Size: 50+ people; typically large gathering
Population: Mixed gender
Purpose: To bring about a change in knowledge
Focus: Celebration/worship

Strand 2: Cells (Life, Home, or Small Groups)

Size: 5-16 people; typically in homes
Population: Mixed gender usually
Purpose: To bring about behavioral change; conduct
Focus: Community/fellowship

Strand 3: Core Groups

Size: 3 or 4 people
Population: Same gender (see process)
Purpose: To bring about a change of direction, heart and position; knowledge, character and conduct
Focus: Commitment/discipleship - intentional, relational, reproducible

Core Groups specifically embrace the Great Commandment and the Great Commission by focusing on the imperative to make disciples found in the Great Commission as they are taught to "...observe all that I commanded you"(Mth. 28:20). This is accomplished as we build life-long relationships in the context of safe and confidential groups of no more than four disciples, men with men and women with women. Core Groups are not accountability groups or smaller, small groups. Core Groups develop students and adults who commit their lives to Jesus Christ and are willing to follow Him as presented in the pages of God's Word. From the very beginning, Core members are held accountable to begin praying for two to come to Christ and for someone they are called to disciple.

Core Key Values

There are 5 key values emphasized within a Core Group: Matthew 22:37-40(Great Commandment); Matthew 28:19-20 (Great Commission); Acts 2:42;Ephesians 4:11-16, and 2 Timothy 2:2.

1. Love: Great Commandment

The first foundational value of a Core Group is the pursuit of the Great Commandment - our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationship with others (Mth. 22:37-40).

2. Christ-likeness: Great Commission

The second foundational value is the pursuit of Christ-likeness as we observe the Great Commission (Mth. 28:18-20). It is our desire to be genuinely conformed to the character of Jesus. We believe God’s vision for man is to make us in the image of Christ (Gen. 1:26; Rom. 8:29). We believe that all spiritual progress is the result of God’s grace. We believe that humility is the pathway to Christ-likeness. In seeking to truly become like Christ, we remember His command to, “Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Mth. 11:29).

3. Devoted: Acts 2:42

The third foundational value of Core is a commitment to the four fundamental devotions of the church as recorded in Acts 2:42: devoted to God's Word, fellowship, communion, and prayer. It is learning to be a doer of the Word.

4. Equipped: Ephesians 4:11-16

A Core Group outfits the saints for the work of ministry - the privilege and enterprise of each member of the body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-16).

5. Faithful: 2 Timothy 2:2

A Core Group is facilitated by a more spiritually mature person who prayerfully selects others whose faithfulness and gift have been evidenced (‘faithful men, teach’) as presented by Jesus (Luke 6:12,13) and by Paul (2 Timothy 2:2): "And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." Discipleship as "spiritual parenting" is a life-long process and those we prayerfully select are those we will invest a significant portion of our lives.

Discipleship And The Great Commission

From Matthew 28:19-20 we learn: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (bold mine).
The Great Commission has three participles: "go," "baptizing," and "teaching” and one imperative verb, a command: "make disciples." The main idea is to make disciples. The participles tell us how to do that: we make disciples by going, baptizing, and teaching. So the goal of a Core Discipleship Group is to make disciples, teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded.
There appears to be a lack of consensus regarding the Biblical definition of discipleship as it appears in the Gospels and the Epistles (theology and methodology). It appears from Scripture that the main verb, 'make disciples,' does not really explain the means of discipleship, but its goal. To make disciples according to Jesus' Great Commission is accomplished by going (first participle), initiating people into the life of discipleship by 'baptizing' (second participle), and achieved by 'teaching' (third participle) which is the continuous obligation of the church in the life of a new convert as they develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as both Savior AND Lord. Teaching then is the process of getting the person to know Him in a life-long, deeper, and more intimate way. Scripture is an absolute essential element in the process of Holy Spirit-inspired, transformation of knowledge, conduct, and character. Discipleship is the corporate responsibility of the church. Discipleship is a life-long process, beginning at the point of salvation, and participated in by a variety of individuals within the church, each as the Lord directs, from his or her own unique gift set and way.
Making disciples does not refer to some formal structured program intended only for the super-spiritual. It is God’s imperative for every believer in His church. It involves the initiation and the instruction of every believer into an ever deepening relationship with Jesus Christ. It seeks to make every person a follower of Christ.

The Promise

The last phrase of Matthew 28:20 contains an incredible promise: "And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." In context, this verse is primarily talking about making disciples. What Jesus is saying is that when we make disciples according to His plan and process, He will be with us. When Jesus sees a disciple making church, He gets involved there. When He sees disciples going out to make new disciples, then baptizing and teaching them, He is very present. According to Romans 12:1-2; Romans 8:29, God wants disciples to be conformed to Christ's image, and according to His Commission, He promises to help us make disciples to accomplish His plan.

Sanctification Chart

2011-08-31T22:01:00.001+10:00

Person	Method	Bible	Application
God the Father	*Recreated heart*	Ezekiel 36, Eph 4:24
		Jer 31:33 I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.
	*Raised from spiritual death to new life*	Eph 2:1-5
	*Change heart and mind granting repentance*	2 Tim 2:25 God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.	Phil 2: 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
	*Chastising and perfecting trials*	Romans 8:28,29	Heb 12:1-18 participate willingly in God’s discipline

God the Son	*Union in death* Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.	Romans 6	So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Rom 6:11
	*Union in resurrection*	1Peter 1:3
	*Motivation to Love*	1 John 4:19
God the Spirit	*Regeneration/Spiritual life*	2Cor 5:17,
	*Renewal*	Titus 3:5 Rom 8: 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
	*Indwelling*	“to enlighten the eyes of the understanding” (Eph 1:18), that we may know the things freely given to us of God (1Cor 2:12)
	*Fruit of the Spirit*	Gal 5:22,23
	*Filling With Spirit*	Eph 5:18
	*Strengthened*	Eph 3:16-19
The Believer	*Renewing the mind*	Romans 12:2	Col 3: 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
	*Taught by fellow believers*	Ephesians 4:11-16
	*Serving the people of God*	Heb 10:24,25
	*Bible*	John 17:17 “Sanctify them through thy truth,” Col 3:10	2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
	*Apply Scripture to heart* Rom 8: 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.	Phil 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.	Submission, confidence, self-denial, patience, and meekness, as well as faith, hope, and love, are called forth, or put to the test, more or less effectually every day the believer passes on earth.
	*Conversion, Repentance and obedient Discipleship*	Rom 1:5 to bring about the obedience of faith	Mark 8:34, And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
	*Abiding in Christ*	John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
	*Put off the old man and put on the new man*	Col 3:1-17

Please contribute any thoughts which you see to be absent.

McCheyne plan.

2011-08-20T16:14:00.001+10:00

Bible Reading Plan -- 4 Chapters A Day

English Standard Version

Read the ESV New Testament and Psalms twice and the rest of the Bible once in a year, reading about four chapters each day.

How to Frighten a Preacher

2011-05-04T14:11:00.001+10:00

Joe McKeever

"Pastor, some of our members are concerned."

That gets his attention, believe me.

You can say all you want about how the minister is God-called and God-protected and that sort of thing, but he would not be human if he did not want the people he's serving to be supportive and responsive. After all, since he's sent to help them, he will want some kind of evidence he's accomplishing his purpose, otherwise, he feels that he has either failed them or God. Or both.

He is vulnerable as a result.

What makes him more vulnerable to negative influences from the congregation is that he has a family to feed and look after the same way you do if you work at the post office, drive a delivery truck, teach school, or extract teeth. The fact that he needs this job means he opens himself up to pressure from his constituents.

As a result, he reacts--at least emotionally--when he hears some of these lines that have been used on preachers since the beginning of the church.

"I know we ought to be reaching all these people and it's good they're being saved, but I miss our church the way it used to be."

Yesterday, the church I visited had 140 in two services. When the pastor came, 3 or 4 years ago, they had 40. In the last 3 Sundays, he has baptized 11 people. Before the benediction, the pastor called on me for (ahem) a few words. I said, "My friends, I am thrilled at the growth your church is having. These are wonderful days in this church. But I need to caution you about something. The devil will not take this lying down. He will raise up people to criticize and oppose, and he'll do it from within the congregation."

I said, "Sooner or later, you will hear someone say, 'I wish our church was the way it used to be.' When that happens, do not wait for the pastor to address it. That's your job. You turn to them and say, 'Are you out of your mind?!'" They laughed, but I hope they got the point.

"I'm not being spiritually fed by your sermons."

This is a common ruse that accomplishes two things: it puts the preacher down while leaving the impression the critic is super spiritual with a taste for the red meat of the Word. And may I say, such criticism is almost always off base.

I once had a chairman of deacons say, "Preacher, they say you're not preaching the Word." I said, "Mike, I just got through preaching through the Gospel of Matthew. What did they mean by that?" He said, "I don't know." I said, "Please go back and ask them." That was the last I heard of it.

"Pastor, some of us have been talking and we feel there is a malaise in the church."

The answer to this one--those are the exact words I once heard from a group of nay-sayers in my congregation--is a simple one: "Yes there is, and you're it."

Why do people think they can spend their days criticizing the pastor and undercutting him, and then fire him because "there is a malaise within the congregation." There ought to be one; they made it! (Webster defines 'malaise' as an unfocused feeling of general unease or discomfort. Yep. That's exactly what a constant barrage of criticism and non-support builds within a church body.)

"Preacher, we were here a long time before you and we'll be here after you leave. Don't tell us what to do with our church."

This ungodly approach is usually directed toward the pastor of a small church, particularly a first-timer who doesn't know any better. But its cousin lurks in the hallways and classrooms of the larger churches where members-with-seniority-and-clout (MWSAC) resent the changes the pastor is bringing in.

"Pastor, some of us think it's time for new leadership."

This one is also a camouflage for the real reason they are attacking you, pastor. They have no answer for what you preach and the way you are leading. They want you out and the best they can come up with is this nebulous, foggy, smoky reasoning.

The answer to it is, "You're right. I think you've been chairman of deacons long enough, don't you?"

"Pastor, there's a delegation of deacons here to see you. Now."

Nothing strikes terror into the pastor's soul like this one. He knows the boom is about to be lowered. Even if he stands up to them and carries the day and keeps his job, the fact of the confrontation itself will leave him shattered and unnerved for the rest of the day. No one enjoys this.

My hunch is that fully half those in the pastoring business despise confrontation. They feel called as healers and blessers. They will put up with a lazy staffer, a critical member, or a rebellious leader far longer than they should simply because they hate to call someone on the carpet and have to deal with the consequences. Maybe they'll move to another church, they think to themselves.

But the worst confrontation of all to a pastor is when they themselves are the subject of the meeting.

What makes it worse is if the preacher has served any length of time, he knows he has failed some people, he has preached some lousy sermons along the way, and he has left undone work he should have pulled off. In other words, he knows he is not guiltless.

Anyone who has been married for three years or more has grounds for divorce. That's my philosophy. What it means is that if one were keeping account of every slight, every put-down, every harsh word, he/she could convince some judge somewhere of grounds for divorce for incompatibility.

In a sense, a pastorate is like a marriage. The only way to make it work past the honeymoon stage is for both sides to agree for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.

The spouse or the church leader who is committed to the mate or the preacher so long as everything goes well will soon be headed to the divorce courts.

There is no way to say this loud enough or sufficiently forcibly: Every pastorate that endures--that is, every church that keeps a pastor for any length of time--has to make up its mind to weather the storms that blow through from time to time.

What are the storms pastors endure and which blow through every congregation periodically?

Criticism. Disaffection. Mass exodus, with members taking their tithes. Sinful rebellion against godly leadership. Worldly philosophies. Carnal failures.

Here's are questions that ought to be discussed in every church committee meeting:

What would it take for me to leave this church?

How committed am I to seeing this church's mission through to completion?

Do I really believe God calls pastors to churches and that He alone decides when one should leave?

Am I part of my pastor's support team or one of those who make it difficult for him to do the work God sent him here to accomplish?

I've left unaddressed something the premise of this article assumes: that preachers are frightened at the idea of losing their churches. The answer to that is severalfold....

1) Let the preacher look to the Lord as His employer and not to man. (II Corinthians 4:5)

2) Let the preacher understand, too, that the leadership of his church are mortal, have clay feet, and can make serious errors. In other words, he can be fired and his ministry severely wounded by church members.

3) When that happens, his responsibility is to shake the dust off his feet and go on to the next assignment. If he grows embittered, it's a sign he had his eyes on men and not on the Lord.

4) A pastor will spend his entire ministry walking that line between taking great joy in his congregation but looking only to the Lord for his affirmation and guidance. Sometimes he will veer from one side to the other, but both are essential. Paul called the Philippians "my joy and my crown" (Phil. 4:1), and yet he knew the only crown that mattered would be one from the Lord (II Timothy 4:8).

Frightening words to preachers? Nothing will give him a heart attack more than walking up to him five minutes before the morning service and saying, "Uh, pastor, I thought you'd want to know. The pastor-search committee from First Church Bigtown is here today. All twelve of them."

Oh my. Watch him sweat now.

Thinkers, Feelers and other animals from Charles Lowery

2011-04-30T19:45:00.001+10:00

My wife and I periodically take a personality inventory in which one can score either as a thinker or as a feeler. It shows whether you make decisions with your head or your heart. Thinkers and feelers gravitate to different kinds of occupations. A pastor, a doctor, and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers. The engineer asked, “What’s with these guys? We’ve been waiting for fifteen minutes.” The doctor agreed, “I don’t know, but this is ridiculous.” The pastor noted, “Hey, here comes the groundskeeper. Let’s have a word with him.” The pastor called out to the groundskeeper, “Say, George, what’s with the group ahead of us?” George said, “They are rather slow, aren’t they? That’s a group of blind firefighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime.” The group was silent for a moment. The pastor sympathized, “That’s so sad. I think I’ll say a special prayer for them tonight.” The doctor added, “That’s a good idea. In fact, I’m going to contact my ophthalmologist buddy and see if there is anything we can do for these guys.” The engineer suggested, “Well, in the meantime, why can’t these guys play at night?” I think you know what category the engineer fell into.
The majority of men score in the thinking category while the majority of women score in the feeling category. In my marriage, it’s just the opposite. I don’t know if I think like a woman or Penny feels like a man. But it affects our relationship. The first time I was sick, I wanted some serious comfort. I wanted sympathy, understanding, breakfast in bed with Snickers and ice cream, and a little bit of encouragement. She said, “You’re not that sick. Take a shower and go to work. You’ll feel better later.” Once I woke up with a backache, moaning and looking for some comfort. Penny said, “Get on the floor and do the exercises you are supposed to be doing. You’ll feel better.” I felt like the man who had a critical heart problem. The doctor called his wife in by herself and said, “Your husband is in bad shape. He will die unless you cook healthy foods for him, rub his neck, and meet his every need so that he can relax and not worry about anything.” When they were alone her husband asked what the doctor had said. The wife replied, “He said that you’re going to die.”
Thinkers are like that. They don’t gift-wrap things. One fellow that had one too many was stumbling home through a cemetery late one frosty night. He fell into an open grave. Pretty soon another inebriated type came along and heard the first fellow yelling from the hole in the ground, “Help. I’m cold. I’m cold.” The second fellow peered into the open grave and said, “Well, no wonder. You kicked all your dirt off.”
Inebriated thinkers are still thinkers. They have the ability to depersonalize things. Their humor is even different. They like jokes like the one about the war camp. The prison camp leader said, “Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news. First the good news: There is a change of underwear in the shower for everyone. But now the bad news: Smith you change with Jones, Jones you change with Smith…” You get the idea. If you are a thinker you are probably laughing. If you are a feeler, you are saying, “Yuck! How could he say that?”
I knew an administrator who was a thinker. People said he would fire his own mother. He replied, “No. I would never have hired her in the first place.” Thinkers would rather be right than be liked. They don’t worry about presentation; they just give you the cold, hard facts. Feelers gift-wrap everything.
Being liked is important to feelers. They are concerned with people’s feelings; they understand people and want to help. Unfortunately, this means they have a tough time saying no. They are the ones at the family reunion trying to keep everyone happy, especially after some thinker just insulted everyone at the table.
So why do feelers get into trouble? Because in trying to take care of the whole world, they end up resenting the world. Feelers have to remember what you learn on the airplane. In times of trouble, first put the oxygen mask over your own face and then help your children. You can’t take care of others if you don’t first take care of yourself.
How should I make decisions? With my heart or with my head? Use both. Don’t you know that they are connected? God connected them with a word. The word is love. Speak the truth in love. A gentle heart and a firm mind can get along when connected by love. Love connects a lot of opposites. It’s kept my wife and me connected for a long time. She has even softened up to my sick spells. As a matter of fact she goes overboard. When she says, “Does my little boy have a runny nose?” It takes a little joy out of my ice cream. But her heart is right. And for a thinker, that’s progress. So I respond, “Yes,” and I also add, “Your little boy has a headache, too, which a Snickers would really help.” So when heart and head are in competition, remember the love connection.

Share Him

2011-04-25T12:12:00.001+10:00

(The powerpoint in pdf format may be found here in the downloadable media player http://stevegrose.tripod.com/)

Him...

Saving faith is both simple and complex. Faith is as simple as a drowning man reaching for a rope, a child taking a step or a sinner looking to Jesus Christ. Faith is simple belief. On the other hand, saving faith is complex, setting in motion all the judicial machinery of heaven. The ultimate purpose of God is activated by faith; but eternal consequences are not received as easily as an impulsive purchase at the discount store. To be saved, a person must have proper knowledge, proper emotion and proper decision of the will in response to God who calls, convicts and converts.

“Faith” is one of those common words that is difficult to define specifically. Some have suggested that the concept of faith is actually beyond the ability of any human being to define. But we can recognize certain aspects of faith that make the idea more understandable. Leon Morris suggests:

Faith is clearly one of the most important concepts in the whole New Testament. Everywhere it is required and its importance insisted upon. Faith means abandoning all trust in one’s own resources. Faith means casting oneself unreservedly on the mercy of God. Faith means laying hold on the promises of God for daily strength. Faith implies complete reliance on God and full obedience to God.

Faith is part of a person’s response to God in the salvation experience. The Heidelberg Catechism reflects the belief of Martin Luther: “The Holy Spirit works in me by the Gospel....”

(Faith) is not merely a certain knowledge, whereby I receive as true what God has revealed to us in His Word, but also a cordial trust, which the Holy Ghost works in me by the Gospel, that not only to others, but to me also, the forgiveness of sin, and everlasting righteousness and life are given by God out of pure grace, and only for the sake of Christ’s merit.

Faith begins by knowing God and His plan. Intellectual faith has never saved anyone, but intellectual knowledge is the foundation for saving faith. It is the proper response to saving faith. Intellectual faith is measured by what a person knows about the historical facts of Christianity. It is not a matter of the emotions or the will, but simple knowledge of God.

Intellectual faith is the basis for volitional faith. In the first step, the person believes in the existence of God, that the Bible is God’s Word, that Jesus shed His blood on the cross for the sins of humankind and that God will save those who call upon Him. This knowledge is not ultimate faith, but is the beginning.

There is a place for a person’s intellect in faith. Someone once defined faith as “believing what ain’t so.” He was wrong. Saving faith is not a blind leap in the dark. It is based upon objective truth. As Morris notes:

The verb pisteuo is often followed by “that,” indicating that faith is concerned with facts. This is important, as Jesus made clear to the Jews, “for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24). But it is not all-important. James tells us that the devils believe “that there is one God,” but this “faith” does not profit them (Jas. 2:19).3

New Testament Words Describing Evangelism

Witnessing martureo Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Talking laleo Acts 4:1 And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them,

Evangelizing euangelizo Acts 8:4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

Announcing kerusso Acts 8:5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.

HCSB Acts 8:4 So those who were scattered went on their way proclaiming the message of good news.
5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and preached the Messiah to them

Confusing suncheo Acts 9:22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

Explaining dianoigo Acts 17: 2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.

Demonstrating paratithemai Acts 17:3

Preaching katangello Acts 17:3

Persuading peitho Acts 17:4 2 Cor. 5:11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.

Teaching didasko Matt. 28:20 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Discipling matheteuo Matt. 28:19

Reasoning dialegomai Acts 18:4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

Discussing suzeteo Acts 6:9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.

Declaring gnorizo 1 Cor. 15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel

Winning kerdaino 1 Pet. 3:1 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,

Proving sumbibazo Acts 9:22

These words remind us that Faith has a knowledge element of which people need to be persuaded of the truthfulness and of the trustworthiness or faithworthiness of those facts.

We share Facts about Him

The gospel 1 Corinthians 15: 1 Now brothers, I want to clarify for you the gospel I proclaimed to you; you received it and have taken your stand on it. 2 You are also saved by it, if you hold to the message I proclaimed to you—unless you believed to no purpose. 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then He appeared to over 500 brothers at one time, most of whom remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one abnormally born, He also appeared to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by God’s grace I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not ineffective. However, I worked more than any of them, yet not I, but God’s grace that was with me. 11 Therefore, whether it is I or they, so we preach and so you have believed.

Everywhere you look in Scripture, you see the writer pointing toward Christ.

In Luke 24:27, after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to two forlorn followers and began teaching them the secret to Scripture. "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." The Old Testament points toward Jesus Christ. Every story and every event leads directly to the Savior.

In John 5:39, the Lord Jesus told His followers to "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me." Of course, the New Testament had not yet been written, so Jesus is telling His disciples to explore the Old Testament writings, because they all point toward Him.

As you read through God's Word, see how it points you to Jesus.

• Christ is the Seed of woman and in Genesis 3:15 we are told He will one day crush Satan.
• In Exodus we find the story of the Passover Lamb, and Christ is the sacrificial Lamb given for us.
• In Leviticus we read of the high priests making sacrifices for the people, and Christ has become our High Priest, making the perfect sacrifice to atone for our sins.
• In Deuteronomy Moses prophesied of a prophet who would come that would be greater than Himself. Jesus is that Great Prophet.
• In the book of Joshua, Joshua met the Captain of the Lord's host. That man is Jesus Christ.
• In Judges, the leaders were judges who delivered God's people, each of them typifying the Lord Jesus.
• Boaz, the kinsman who redeemed Ruth's inheritance, is a picture of Christ.
• David, the anointed one, pictures Jesus and Jesus is described as being the Son of David.
• In 2 Samuel when the king is being enthroned, the entire scene is descriptive of the Lord Jesus.
• The books of Kings speak of the glory of God filling the temple and the Chronicles describe the glorious coming king, both referring to Jesus, the King of Kings.
• Ezra depicts Jesus as the Lord of our fathers.
• Job says clearly that the Redeemer is coming!
• Esther offers a picture of Christ interceding for His people.
• Christ appears time after time in the Psalms, including when David describes Him as "the Shepherd."
• Isaiah details His glorious birth.
• Jeremiah reveals that He will be acquainted with sorrows.
• Joel describes Him as the Hope of His people.
• Amos tells us that Jesus is the judge of all nations.
• Obadiah warns of the coming eternal kingdom.
• Jonah offers a picture of Jesus being dead for three days, then coming back to life to preach repentance.
• Zephaniah says that He will be the king over Israel.
• Zachariah is the prophet who speaks of Jesus riding on a colt.
• Malachi is the one who calls Him the Son of Righteousness.

Can you see it? The entire Old Testament points toward Jesus as Savior, and if you miss that, you've missed the entire point of the Scriptures. Jesus is the Messiah and the fulfillment of prophecy.

All of the Bible is about Jesus Christ and His blood redemption, and you will find this scarlet thread throughout the Word of God.

The Prophesy of the Blood

From the very beginning of human history, it is revealed. When Adam and Eve sinned, God shed innocent blood in order to make them clothes from animal skins (Genesis 3:21). This is a picture of the covering of righteousness that we receive when the Lord Jesus Christ died for us.

In Genesis four we read that Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. They instinctively wanted to worship God. Cain sacrificed the fruit of the ground. Abel had already learned that God demanded blood, so he brought a lamb. God accepted the blood of Abel's lamb, but He did not accept Cain's offering. Why? Because "without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin" (Hebrews 9:22).

And God told Abraham to sacrifice his long-awaited son Isaac (Genesis 22). Just before Abraham plunged the dagger into the quivering heart of his son, an angel stopped him. Abraham saw a ram caught in a thicket. Isaac was set free, but an innocent animal's blood was shed instead.

Then, God wanted to deliver His people from bondage in the land of Egypt. On the night of the Passover, God instructed each house to slay a lamb and put the blood on their door. God said in Exodus 12:13, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you."

And in the tabernacle and later in the temple, thousands upon thousands of sheep, oxen, and turtle doves were killed and their blood spilt as sacrifices for sin.

And finally, the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross. His death was the fulfillment of all the prophecy and promises. Revelation 13:8 proclaims that He was slain before the foundation of the world. He came to die; He planned to die; He lived to die; and He was born to die.

Blood is throughout Scripture, but what does Christ's blood mean to us?

The Power of the Blood

His blood redeems us. There was a price against us that we could not pay, but the blood of Jesus redeemed us. First Peter 1:18-19 says, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things ... But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."

His blood brings us into fellowship with God. According to Ephesians 2:13, "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Without the blood of Christ, man is a long way from God.

His blood makes peace with God. Man, by nature, is at war with God; and we can only come to God on His peace terms—the blood atonement. The Bible says in Colossians 1:20, "And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself ..."

His blood cleanses. Not only does it remove the punishment of sin, it removes the pollution. I don't care what sin you've committed; "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin (1 John 1:7).

His blood gives power over the devil. It's the blood that Satan fears. Revelation 12:11 says, "And they overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb ..." The devil doesn't want you to learn about the blood. He hates it!

Before this planet was ever swung into space, God had determined in His heart that He would send His Son to die upon the cross. How wonderful it is to trace the scarlet thread of the blood of Christ woven throughout the Bible! How much more wonderful to experience its redemption personally. Praise God for the blood of His Lamb!

He was the conqueror of Death

Isa 25: 6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. 7 And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. . . For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1 Corinthians 15:20-22, 25-26

We Share Faith in Him

The Gospel of John uses the word “believe” 98 times and ties faith to the object of belief. We are exhorted to “believe in Jesus Christ.” As a result, the important aspect of belief is what you believe, not just the measure of your belief. Therefore, to have saving faith, people must believe that God will punish sin (Rom. 6:23), and that Christ has made a provision for their salvation (Rom. 5:8). People must believe these truths, which means they accept them intellectually; but mere intellectual assent to biblical truth is not enough to save.

The characteristic construction for saving faith is that the verb pisteuo is followed by the preposition eis. Literally, this means “to believe into.” It denotes a faith that, so to speak, takes people out of themselves, and puts them into Christ (cf. the expression frequently used of a Christian, being “in Christ”). This experience may also be referred to by the term “faith-union with Christ.” It denotes not simply a belief that carries an intellectual assent, but one wherein believers cleave to the Savior with all their hearts. Those who believe in this sense abide in Christ and Christ in them (John 15:4). Faith is not accepting certain things as true, but trusting a Person; and that Person is Christ.

When the Philippian jailer asked, “What must I do to be saved?” he was told, “Believe.” Faith involves an act of the will on the part of the believer in that the believer surrenders to the will of God. In one sense, no person can ever surrender fully to Christ as Lord and Savior because humankind still has a sin nature. Yet, if people refuse consciously to surrender some part of their wills to Christ, they are not exercising faith.

A person becomes a Christian by faith. “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). When the Philippian jailer was troubled about his salvation, he was exhorted to exercise belief—the verb expression of faith. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31). When Nicodemus failed to understand how he could enter into a relationship with God, Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Apart from faith, personal salvation is impossible.

Personal salvation is experienced by the inner person. Because humans are composed of intellect, emotion and will, faith comes through a proper exercise of these three aspects of personality.

Our faith must be grounded on correct knowledge. People cannot put their trust in something they do not know about, nor can they honestly trust something that is proven false to them. People must first know the gospel, which means they have an intellectual knowledge of salvation. But this knowledge alone will not save them.

The Bible seems to make a distinction between “believe that” and “believe in.” In the first place, people can believe that their teams will win or believe that their jobs are superior. The beliefs are opinion, but are not deep conviction (i.e., based on the object of their faith—Jesus Christ). When people “believe in,” the beliefs are based on carefully weighing the evidence. When we say “believe in,” we are speaking of a moral expression or a moral experience.

Our faith will have an emotional expression. Knowledge about God is the foundation of saving faith, but such faith will extend to the individual’s emotional responses as well. Solomon wrote, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding” (Prov. 3:5).

Your faith must be a volitional response. A third aspect of saving faith is an expression of volitional faith. People are saved as a result of an act of their wills whereby they rely on Christ as proclaimed in the gospel. Paul told the Roman Christians, “You obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered” (Rom. 6:17). When people accept Jesus Christ as their Savior (John 1:12), it is a conscious act whereby they invite Him into their hearts (Eph. 3:16).

What is it to become a Christian?

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Faith in him ….

Receiving Him Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

John 1:10-13 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

1 John 5:11-13 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

John 6: 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

We Share Faith From Him

1 Corinthians 1: 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

SPLASH Showing People Love And Sharing Him SPLASH 2 LOVE

2011-04-25T12:11:00.001+10:00

(The powerpoint in pdf format may be found here in the downloadable media player http://stevegrose.tripod.com/)

“What do you want in life?” is one of our most basic and important questions. Some of us really don’t know. It isn’t that we are unwilling to try, it’s that we don’t know what we’re after. Some of us spend all of our lives chasing after money, career, power, relationships, sex or health in the hope that if we get what we’re chasing it will turn out to be what we really want. Our list is long but one “want” tops all lists. We all want love. Paul wrote about “Faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Mercedes Benz created a television ad showing one of their cars crashing into a concrete wall. The point is that they have a design that absorbs energy and saves lives in otherwise fatal car crashes. In the ad someone asks a Mercedes representative why the company doesn't use patent law to protect their design from being copied by other auto companies. He answers, "Because some things in life are too important not to share."
That's the way it is with the very good news of Jesus Christ. It's too important not to share.

There is one thing that no other religion, no other philosophy can offer that Christians can offer. And that is LOVE! Romans 5:5.. God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

When children were asked what love is they gave some interesting and touching answers:
© “When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”
© “When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth.”
© “Love is when someone hurts you, and you get so mad, but you don’t yell at them because you know it would hurt their feelings.”
© “Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is okay.”
© “Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.”
© “Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.”
© “Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.”
© “Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.”
© “You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”

Jesus started out with a handful of followers. Today there are about two billion people around the world who call themselves Christians. How do you think that happened? The answer is obvious – Christians convinced unbelievers to follow Jesus. That's what Christians do. We tell others about God. We explain the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We send missionaries. We evangelize. To be a Christian is to act in ways that produce more Christians.

Evangelism is not about prospects, it is about people!

See People first! The question is not “what can they do for us?” but rather, “what Christ can do for them!”

JESUS SEES THE NEED AND POTENTIAL OF EVERYONE.

The Roman historian Tacitus wrote: "I am entering upon the history of a period rich in disaster, gloomy with wars, rent with seditions; nay savage in its very hours of peace. Four emperors perished by the sword; there were three civil wars; there were more with foreigners, and some had the character of both at once ... Rome wasted by fires; its oldest temples burned; the very capitol set in flames by Roman hands; the defilement of sacred rites; adultery in high places; the sea crowded with exiles; island rocks drenched with murder; yet wilder was the frenzy in Rome; nobility, wealth, the refusal of office, its acceptance, everything was a crime, and virtue was the surest way to ruin. Nor were the rewards of the informers less odious than their deeds. One found his spoils in a priesthood or a consulate; another in a provincial governorship, another behind the throne. All was one delirium of hate and terror; slaves were bribed to betray their masters, freedmen their patrons; and he who had no foe was betrayed by his friend." (Tacitus: Histories I, 2)

BUT THERE was something counter cultural about the Christians. Tertullian's "Apology", Chapter 39.7 (circa 200AD)

"Look," they say, "how they love one another" (for they themselves hate one another); "and how they are ready to die for each other" (for they themselves are readier to kill each other).

“In the period following the Apostolic Age, there was an exuberant caring and sharing on the part of Christians that was unique in antiquity. Julian the apostate, an enemy of Christianity, admitted that “the godless Galileans fed not only their (poor) but ours also.” Tertullian wrote that the Christians’ deeds of love were so noble that the pagan world confessed in astonishment, “See how they love one another.’ Exactly what is it that these Christians did which elicited such a response from their enemies?
“There was, first of all, an exceptional freedom to care for the needs of one another in the believing community. The Didache admonished Christians: ‘Thou shalt not turn away from him that is in want, but thou shalt share all things with thy brother, and shalt not say that they are thine own.’ By A.D. 250 Christians in Rome were caring for some fifteen hundred needy people. In fact, their generosity was so profuse that Ignatius could say that they were ‘leading in love,’ and Bishop Dionysus of Corinth could note that they were sending ‘supplies to many churches in every city. . . . ‘ We gain a helpful glimpse into the caring Christian community from I Clement, ‘Let everyone be subject to his neighbor. . . . Let the rich man provide for the wants of the poor; and let the poor man bless God, because He hath given him one by whom his needs may be supplied.’ Tertullian catalogued a long list of groups that were cared for by the Christian believers. . . .
“Christians also provided for those who lost their jobs because of their faith in Christ. It was assumed, for example, that an actor who became a Christian, and had to give up his profession because of its involvement in pagan mythology, would be cared for by the church. . . .

But their joyful sharing was not confined to Christians. . . . Bishop John Chrysostom witnessed: ‘ Every day the Church here feeds 3,000 people. besides this, the church daily helps provide food and clothes for prisoners, the hospitalized, pilgrims, cripples, churchmen and others. When epidemics broke out in Carthage and Alexandria, Christians rushed to aid all in need. . . . In fact, it was the way that in times of plague, when everyone else fled the city, that Christians became identified as the ones who would stay behind at the risk of their own loves to care for the sick and to take in those discarded by the road to die.
These Christians genuinely believed that God was the owner and giver of all good gifts. Their generosity was an imitation of God’s generosity. They were free from anxiety because they knew that tomorrow was in God’s hands. They lived in simplicity. Perhaps no one has capture the exuberant spirit of simple caring and sharing better than the Christian philosopher Aristides, whose words (written in A.D. 125) are so moving that they are best quoted in full:

They walk in all humility and kindness, and falsehood is not found among them, and they love one another. They despise not the widow, and grieve not the orphan. He that hath distributeth liberally to him that hath not. If they see a stranger, they bring him under their roof, and rejoice over him as if he were their own brother: for they call themselves brethren, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit of God; but when one of their poor passes away from the world, and any of them see him, they he provides for his burial according to his ability; and if they hear that any of their number is imprisoned or oppressed for the name of their Messiah, all of them provide for his needs. . . . And if there is among them a man that is needy and poor, and they have not an abundance of necessaries, they fast two or three days that they may supply the needy with their necessary food.”

Why did Christianity conquer the pagan world? Because God is love. And those who love are born of God and know God!

The reason we all have a deep need for love is because we were all created that way by God.
The Bible says, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Love is essential to who God is and what God does. God loves and God wants us to love him.
God created humans in his likeness and that included both the capacity for love and the desire for love. As fish were created for water and birds were created for air, so humans were created for love.
Whenever we lack love there is something missing in our lives. We feel hollow, incomplete and inadequate. We know something is missing even if we can’t quite point to what it is.

The Bible begins with a loving God creating a loving couple and putting them in a safe place called the Garden of Eden. It was a place without worries, threats, diseases or death. It was a place where Adam and Eve could be themselves and totally enjoy the love and goodness of God.

Eden was lost to sin and tragic choices. Ever since, we humans have had a deep yearning to go back—to be safe, to be whole, to be ourselves, to be secure in the love of God and one another. Some of us search for the satisfaction of this basic need in all the wrong places and in all the wrong ways. We make life worse rather than better. We just want to love and be loved. Deep inside we all want to be safe, appreciated, valued, touched and respected. Love validates us as persons. It is powerful, transforming and affirming to be loved by someone else and to give our love to someone else. It is no wonder that we want love! To satisfy our desire for love we need to understand how love works.

Home and Away. “I am not sure I know what love is.. I thought I had found it in God, but God has abandoned me. “

1. The Definition Of Love

Love..

— God is love. 1 John 4:7-9, 16

— “All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

In His farewell address Jesus indicates that love will characterize His disciples. John 13:34-35

1 John 4: 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

When We Love We are walking in the Light of God 1 John 2: 9 The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother is in the darkness until now. 10 The one who loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

When We Love We are walking in the Life of God 1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.

When We Love We are walking in the Love of God 1 John 4:7,11,12

2. The Demonstration Of God’s Love 1 John 4:9,10

1 John 3:16 This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers.

— The penetrating question – “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?” Luke 6:32

1John 4:14 And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.

1 John 2:2 He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.

Former President Jimmy Carter wrote a book called Sources of Strength. In it he tells the story of a Cuban pastor named Eloy Cruz. The focus of his ministry has been the poorest of immigrants from Puerto Rico to the United States. Carter asked him the secret of his success. With modesty and embarrassment he replied, "Senor Jimmy, we only need to have two loves in life. For God, and for the person who happens to be in front of us at anytime."

— Jesus treated an outcast woman at the well with respect and tenderness. He touched a leper. He wept over the death of His friend Lazarus and the unbelief of his friends. He went home with a tax collector and allowed a fallen woman to wash His feet with tears.

3. The Demand Of God’s Love

We Are To Love unconditionally

Romans 5:6-10 For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us! 9 Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, [then how]much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life!

When the woman taken in adultery was brought to Him, He turned all attention away from her nakedness, restoring her dignity. He then requires that she abandon sin

We Are To Love Sacrificially

1 John 3:16-18 This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need but shuts off his compassion from him—how can God’s love reside in him? 18 Little children, we must not love in word or speech, but in deed and truth;

How love works: You may already be a really good Christian lover. Or you may just be getting started. You may have lots of ideas of who to love and how to love and don't need much help. Either way, I'd like us to practice right here right now.

• Smile Our first exercise is smiling. A simple smile is an act of love that can wonderfully bless another person's life. There was an old sage farmer in Tamworth who used to greet the new settlers as they arrived to the region. One wagon pulled up, the driver asked the old farmer “Is this a friendly town?” He would ask back “was the last town you lived in a friendly town?” The driver responded “Well no it was a very unfriendly town” “Well you probably find this town similar.” The next day another wagon load pulled up. “Is this a friendly town?” He would ask back “was the last town you lived in a friendly town?” The driver responded “Well yes it was a very friendly town” “Well you probably find this town similar.” He who would have friends must show himself friendly! So says the Proverb. Your smile is important!

Try it with the police officer if you're stopped on your way home. Try it at work. Even try it on the phone. Show Christian love with an intentional smile.

• Give Next we're going to practice giving because giving to others is a fabulous way to love them.

Giving can be habit forming once you get started. You give all kinds of things to benefit others. Jesus said it's actually more blessed to give than to receive. Those who love like Christians get hooked. Giving becomes an addiction.

• Forgive Exercise #3 is to forgive. For this you'll have to come up with your own action. Think of someone who recently offended, hurt, neglected, angered or otherwise antagonized you and decide to let it go. Just release any resentment and move on. Don't start with anything big. If a crime was committed against you, save forgiveness for another time. Right now, begin with the small stuff–like the person who took your golden heart and didn't give one back to you; or, the person who wouldn't smile back no matter how hard you smiled.

Paul Yonggi Cho is founding pastor of the largest church in the world. It is in Seoul, Korea and, last I heard, has around 750,000 members.
      Cho travels the world as a speaker but told God he never wanted to go to Japan. The Japanese had done horrible things to the Korean people and to Cho's family during World War II. When he received an invitation to speak to 1,000 pastors in Japan he reluctantly accepted knowing that it was the right thing to do. When he stood to speak he blurted out words that he hadn't prepared: "I hate you. I hate you. I hate you." And then he publicly wept. Not a very good expression of Christian love.
      One by one the Japanese pastors stood and walked up to the front where they knelt in front of Cho and asked for his forgiveness. It changed his heart until he said, "I love you. I love you. I love you."
You need to forgive.
• Encourage Exercise #4 is to encourage. Encouragement is one of the very best expressions of Christian love because we are all so hungry to be encouraged. Dan Baber posted encouragement for sale on eBay. He asked people to bid on getting an e-mail from Dan's mom, Sue Hamilton, that he promised would "make you feel like you are the most special person in the world." How many of you think that people would pay money for an encouraging e-mail?   Bids started at $1. There were 42,711 hits resulting in 92 cash bids with the winning bid at $610. People want to be encouraged. People need to be encouraged. Here's the challenge: send an e-mail this week that the recipient will not delete. Send a note in the mail that will be saved for years. Leave an encouraging voice mail that will be saved for a long time. Go up to someone and just do whatever you can to encourage as an expression of Christian love.

Jesus said, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

On March 15, 2004, an announcement was made that five Southern Baptist missionaries in Iraq had been killed. One of them was Karen Watson who had written a letter to the pastors of her home church to be opened and read in case of her death. Near the end of her letter she wrote:
Care more than some think is wise. Risk more than some think is safe.
Dream more than some think is practical. Expect more than some think is possible.

We Are To Love Personally

1 John 4: 19 We love because He first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And we have this command from Him: the one who loves God must also love his brother.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Very early on Monday morning, July 29, 2002, nine coal miners were rescued from 240 feet under the earth where they were trapped for 77 hours (Somerset, PA). It was the first time in 30 years where there was such a successful rescue. During their three full days under ground they were in cramped quarters with cold rising water that sometimes was up to their noses. They shared one sandwich between them. They wrote goodbye notes to their families. They thought they were going to die—and they decided they would all die together so that their bodies was be found tied to each other.
At one of the emotional low points in their ordeal, 43-year-old Randy Fogle started to shiver and experienced tightness in his chest. The other nine feared he was suffering from hypothermia. They all surrounded him and took turns hugging him. They hugged each other. Blaine Mayhugh, 31, said, “When we were cold we would snuggle.”2 I doubt that these Pennsylvania coal miners whispered to each other in the dark, “I love you!” but they did love each other—with actions more than with words.

Love bears all hurts, wounds, sins and disappointments. Love believes the best about people, is never cynical, is never suspicious -- in spite of the way it is being wounded. And when love’s believing is betrayed, love turns to hope because God is still God and He can do anything. And even when hope grows thin and all hope seems lost, love endures. It endures deep hurt that seems so final, never losing the triumphant confidence that God who gives His children peace is still on the throne. Love cares too much to give up.

If we are to love the lost we need a similar miracle to take place in our lives in this time of moral degradation as took place in some people’s lives in the 18^th Century. England was degraded spiritually. The churches had stopped preaching the gospel and were keen on preaching about anything but the gospel; they’d talk about politics, sports and anything else. But heart religion.. knowing Christ? Loving God? This was absent from the so called Christian pulpit. But God did a miracle in England in those days. He spoke to one or two folks. One put it into words that we sing: “Love Divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heaven, to earth come down, Fix in us Thy humble dwelling, All Thy faithful mercies crown.

“Jesus, Thou art all compassion, Pure unbounded love Thou art; Visit us with Thy salvation, Enter every trembling heart.” C. Wesley.

Encouraging Words From Tom Elliff

2011-04-25T12:09:00.001+10:00

We worship and serve a living Savior! That fact in itself distinguishes Christianity from all other world religions. Never has a message been so desperately needed in a lost and hurting world. And never should believers be more ready to share the simple truth of the Gospel than right now.

This afternoon, I’ve been thinking about the challenging days before us. Reading John’s account of that first evening following the resurrection has filled me with such encouragement and hope. What the Lord provided for those trembling disciples hiding in the upper room, He provides for you and me today. These are theresults of the resurrection. I need each one desperately and imagine that you need them as well. Take a moment to reflect on John 20: 19-23, and meditate of the provisions of our resurrected Lord.

1. Distinct Peace (19). Christ’s first words to the fearful disciples was a promise of peace. “Peace be with you,” said the Lord as He suddenly appeared among them. And that message has become the hallmark of the Christian faith. It is in Christ that we find peace with God, an abiding peace that enables us to then share God’s love with a troubled world. Our world is reeling with unrest right now, an unrest that troubles the heart of anyone who does not know Christ. But to know Christ is to rest in Him and to experience a peace that surpasses all understanding. The living Christ provides a vital, distinct peace.

2. Definite Proof (20). The disciples must have been aghast at this sudden appearance of Christ. They had heard rumors of the resurrection. Mary had spoken of His appearance, as had two men who had just returned from Emmaus. Peter and John had spoken of the empty tomb. But now, here He was among them. To assuage their doubts and strengthen their faith, Jesus showed them both His hands and His side.John is writing as an actual eye witness to this event, a witness that is firmly attested by many others. We serve a real Redeemer, not a mere figment of human imagination.

3. Deliberate Purpose (21). “As the Father has sent me, I also send you.” Though this is an uncomfortable equation, there can be no doubt as to our purpose here on earth. Christ co-missions us! We are to live in aggressive cooperation with God’s great plan for the redemption of lost mankind by being bearers of the message of Christ. Everything I do is to be measured by this plumb line: Is this in some way a means of fulfilling the Lord’s great commission to us? That single purpose should guide the thoughts and energies of my life. That is the very essence of Christ-likeness.

4. Divine Power (22). “Receive the Holy Spirit,” commanded the Lord as He breathed of them. From Pentecost forward, the Holy Spirit has been God’s great gift to every true believer. We are, in fact, the very temple of God’s Spirit, Who when allowed absolute reign in our lives, powerfully reveals Christ through us to a lost and dying world. We are not powerless in the fulfilling of our mission! As we surrender to the Lordship of Christ, the Holy Spirit fills our lives, enabling us to be Christ-like. Now that is power from on High.

It is no mere coincidence that this first meeting between the resurrected Lord and His followers is recorded for us. I, for one, needed to reflect on this record of that first meeting with the resurrected Lord. And maybe you did as well.

He is risen…indeed!

SHOW PEOPLE LOVE AND SHARE HIM

2011-03-31T15:43:00.000+11:00

SPLASH 1 Matthew 9:35-38

SHOW PEOPLE LOVE AND SHARE HIM

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Why are you so passionate about your faith?
Why won’t you let me believe what I want to believe and let it be?
Why won’t you give a little, and stop saying Jesus is the only way?
Why are you so persistent about sharing your faith?

I can actually answer all of these questions with the same reply, “The cause of God is too valuable!”

Some would say, “There are a lot of good causes in life, but you don’t find those involved in them being as zealous as some Christians.” That’s true, because there is no other cause as valuable as God’s cause. I want to spend the next several minutes explaining why God’s cause is more valuable than any other cause in life.

It Saves! The first reason why God’s cause is so valuable is that it is the only cause that saves. The Bible says in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Then, Romans 6:23 explains the consequences of just one sin saying, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Realizing that we have all sinned and can’t save ourselves, God came in the person of Jesus Christ to rescue us from our fall and pay the price for our sins. Jesus knew this was His cause, for in Luke 19:10 He said He had come to “Seek and to save that which is lost.”

Do you realize that Jesus had several opportunities to give up the cause? Before He ever started, Satan tried to stop Him by tempting Him to go another direction. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, the people laid palm branches before Him and were ready to crown Him king, but He valued God’s cause over their crown. On the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus prayed to God wanting to avoid the cross, but understanding His sacrifice was the only way we could be saved, He stayed with God’s cause.

Then after His resurrection, Jesus did something spiritually significant. He took the cause God had given Him and passed it on to His followers. In John 20:21, Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” Jesus said a lot in that short statement. He said, “The Father sent Me to seek and to save that which is lost, and He sent Me to sacrifice Myself that the lost might be saved. Now … that cause is yours.” And for the cause, like Christ, you must be willing to be sent, willing to be spent, for you carry with you the only means of salvation. Acts 4:12 makes this clear saying,

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

I believe more would understand our passion to share Christ, if Christ were the cure for cancer. People would understand why we race to the hospitals, homes, and hospice centers. We carry the only cure that will save their lives – if Christ were the cure for cancer.

Yet, Jesus didn’t come to save us from cancer, but to save us from our sins. His death and resurrection didn’t produce a physical antidote, but a spiritual one. A physical antidote may keep you alive for a while, but Jesus gives you life now and forever.

Therefore, try to understand why we would go across the street to a neighbor, across the hall to a co-worker, across town to a friend, and across the world to a completely different culture. Jesus has given us the same cause God gave Him. We carry the only cure for the soul – salvation through Jesus Christ. That’s why God’s cause is the greatest cause of all. It’s the only cause that saves.

It Simplifies! Another value of God’s cause is that it simplifies life. Before ascending into heaven Jesus tells His followers in Matthew 28:18-20, 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The cause Jesus passes on to His followers is clear. We are to “go and make disciples of all nations.”

It Fulfills! In John 4, Jesus is tired and hungry so He stops at a well while His disciples go get food. A woman comes to the well. When Jesus tries to talk with her, it’s apparent that life has left her bitter. Jesus, who knows all, tells her that she has had five husbands and is now living with a man and that life has left her empty. When He tells her that He’s the Messiah, she surrenders her life to Him and runs to tell others what has happened. As she’s running from Jesus, His disciples walk up to Him to ask if He wants something to eat. Listen to what Jesus says in verses 31-34. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”

It’s as though Jesus is saying, “I may have been tired and hungry before, but I’m fulfilled now.” Nothing can compare to the fulfillment of fulfilling God’s cause by meeting a need.

Everyone can experience this on a smaller scale. Depression causes one’s eyes, emotions and energy to be turned inward. One way to change depression is to change the individual’s focus. Tell them to look for someone else in need and help them. It’s surprising how meeting a need in someone else fulfills a need in you. This was evident during both World War 1 and World War 2 when many of those suffering depression found the current crisis enough to help them lift their eyes from themselves to the crisis. Psychiatric wards emptied. If this happens on a small scale, consider what happens on a spiritual scale. Consider the fulfillment you have when you help someone resolve the greatest need in his or her life – establishing a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The fulfillment is indescribable, not only because you met such a great need, but because you did it working beside an awesome God. Jesus expresses this truth in John 5:17, 19-20. 17 Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” 19 Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.”

It Lasts! There’s one last aspect of God’s cause that makes it valuable. Much of what you do working by God’s side on God’s cause will last. Jesus made this clear in John 15:16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last.” Some have given their lives to building a financial empire. Yet not one has lasted. Others have dedicated themselves to great works so their names are attached to a building somewhere. Though some of the buildings have stood for a long time, none will last forever. In fact, there is only one effort that will produce fruit that lasts forever. It’s fruit produced by working on God’s cause.

The Compassion of Jesus Motivates Us Over The Slowness Of the Heart

For many months, everywhere Jesus went, He was followed by large crowds. If He got in a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee, they would either follow in other boats or run around the shore and meet Him on the other side. They followed Him from town to town and even house to house. Jesus, rather than becoming angry with them saw their real needs. Their needs went way beyond a crippled body, blind eyes, deaf ears, and paralysis. He saw that as a result of their sin, they were spiritually blind and had spirits that were dead to God. The text says that He was moved with compassion for them. This Greek word translated “compassion” is a strong word. It is actually from the word for intestines or bowels. When this word is used figuratively (as it is here), it refers to the seat of strong emotions. We usually use the heart as the seat of our emotions, but the Jews centred the emotions in the stomach. As you know, intense emotions affect our stomach and intestinal tract. When we are emotionally torn up, we can’t eat and our stomach churns. We say, “This thing just ripped my guts out”. That was where the word for compassion came from. We know that emotional distress over time can cause or certainly make worse things like ulcers and colitis. We also see His compassion in Matthew 14:14 (NKJV) “And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.” Throughout the history of Christianity, we see that those who were greatly used by God were men and women of deep compassion. We see the compassion of the Apostle Paul in his gut wrenching words about his fellow Jews who had rejected their Messiah. Romans 9:1-3 (NKJV) “1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh”. Again he says in Romans 10:1 (NKJV) “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.” The great British Pastor of London of the 1870’s Charles Spurgeon was deeply motivated with this same compassion as he worked with hurting and lost people. “I long for your salvation most vehemently. I would say anything and say it any way, if I could but win you to immediate faith in the Lord Jesus. The desire is so strong upon me that should I not succeed on this occasion, I will try again. And if, unhappily, I should fail again, I will continue at the work as long as you live and I am able to reach you. I will go before God in secret, lay your case before Him, and beg Him to interpose. We cannot let you be damned! It is dreadful. We cannot stand by and see you lost”. On another occasion he said, “Love your fellowmen, and cry about them if you cannot bring them to Christ. If you cannot save them, you can weep over them. If you cannot give them a drop of cold water in hell, you can give them your hearts tears while they are still in this body”. This compassion that characterized our Lord and all of His servants mightily used by Him is unique to Christianity.

The Puritan writer Thomas Watson said, “We may force our Lord to punish us, but we will never have to force Him to love us”. His love and compassion toward us is the only explanation for the cross and the suffering of Christ in our place. If this compassionate Christ dwells in you, your life will reflect that same type of compassion. 2 Peter 3:8-9 (NKJV) “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ” Ezekiel 18: 23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?

The Compassion of Jesus Motivates Us over the State Of The Hordes

Do you see them as the Lord sees them?

We see the Left outs of society, those who are just overlooked, the ill, the aged, the neglected, the poor. The Lord Jesus spent most of his ministry with these folks in the poor society surrounding the Sea of Galilee. They were the unlearned!

We see the Drop outs of society, like the prostitute of Luke 7 who wiped the Lord’s feet with her hair!

We see the Locked outs such as Levi the tax collector and Zaccheus the tax collector who the Lord called out of his tree to eat with at his table.

We see the Opt outs. We see the Lord reaching out to people like the woman at the well (of John 4). On her 4 and half husband. She was so ostracized that the only time she could draw water was in the midday heat, where the Lord determined to meet her at lunch time.

What did Jesus see as He looked at the multitudes that dogged Him everywhere he went? Did He see a bunch of self-centred people who were just following Him for the personal benefits they might receive? Well, He certainly knew what was in the heart of men. Did He see them as a bother and a drain on His time? No, He saw down deep to their real need. They were weary and scattered like sheep with no shepherd. Let’s look at some key words and phrases here.

* “weary” – This word means to be harassed or distressed. It is the idea of being mangled by wild beasts (A. T. Robertson). Other translations translate it distressed or harassed.

* “scattered” – This word has the idea of being thrown down prostrate and utterly helpless. Other translations say downcast, helpless, worn out, and fainting.

* “like sheep having no shepherd” – The shepherds (religious leaders) sought their own power and did not care for the people. The shepherds who should have been leading them beside the still waters, making them lie down in green pastures, and leading them in the paths of righteousness were neglecting them, using them, putting heavy loads of legalism on them, and scattering them. The failure of religious leaders is often pictured in the Old Testament as shepherds who are not leading the sheep. An example would be Ezekiel 34:2-4 (NKJV) 2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3 You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.’”

Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicksunder her wings, yet you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will never see Me again until you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Luke 19: 41 As He approached and saw the city, He wept over it, 42 saying, “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come on you when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44 They will crush you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

The Compassion of Jesus Motivates Us Over The Situation with the Harvest (V37)

Over the years, I have changed my view as to what is meant by the harvest. The traditional interpretation is that it the mass of lost people that need to be “harvested with the presentation of the gospel”. That could be, but as I look at the context and compare Scripture with Scripture, I believe that the harvest is the judgment that is surely coming. The picture of the judgment as a harvest is an oft used one in the Old Testament. Here are just a few examples: Isaiah 17:10-11 (NKJV) “10 Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, And have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold, Therefore you will plant pleasant plants And set out foreign seedlings; 11 In the day you will make your plant to grow, And in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; But the harvest will be a heap of ruins In the day of grief and desperate sorrow.” Joel 3:12-14 is speaking of the judgment of God and we read in Joel 3:12-14 (NKJV) 12 "Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the winepress is full, The vats overflow-- For their wickedness is great." 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” We see this analogy continued into the New Testament. In the parable of the wheat and tares Jesus said in Matthew 13:30 (NKJV) “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.'" When Jesus later explains that parable, He clearly says that it is referring to judgment (v40-43). We see the analogy of the harvest as judgment in Revelation 14:14-16 (NKJV) “14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." 16 So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.” The context here is clearly the judgment of God. When Jesus said that the harvest was great, He was referring to the great number headed for a final irrevocable judgment. While we realize that God is sovereign in salvation, He has chosen the means of our sharing the gospel (which is the power f God unto salvation according to Romans 1:16) as the means of people being saved and escaping from judgment. We are not emotionless bystanders. We are to be passionate about those headed for the harvest, the judgment. We are to be consumed with getting the gospel to them. Again, to quote Spurgeon, who certainly believed that God was the One who did the saving in His sovereignty, saw that we are to be filled with passion and compassion for the lost. He said, “If sinners will be [condemned], at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for” [Quote Book P67]. We don’t coldly present the gospel just out of obedience and then check that off of our list. There is a heart filled with compassion that sees an awful harvest of judgment coming and the horrors of hell serve to intensify our compassion. Yes, our highest motive in sharing the gospel is the glory of God, but it is not without compassion on those who are lost.

I love what Adrian Rogers once said, Life is too short. Eternity is too long. Souls are too precious. The gospel is too wonderful For us to sleep through it all.

I love Amy Carmichael’s parable of the daisy chains.

The tom-toms thumped straight on all night, and the darkness shuddered round me like a living, feeling thing. I could not go to sleep, so I lay awake and looked; and I saw, as it seemed, this:

That I stood on a grassy patch, and at my feet a ravine broke straight down into infinite space. I looked, but saw no bottom; only cloud shapes, black and furiously coiled, and great shadow-shrouded hollows, and unfathomable depths. Back I drew, dizzy at the depth.

Then I saw forms of people moving toward the edge. There was a woman with a baby in her arms and another little child holding on to her dress. She was on the very edge. She lifted her foot for the next step... Then, to my horror, I saw that she was blind. Before I could say anything she was over, and the children with her. Their cries pierced the air as they fell into the inky blackness of the ravine!

Then I saw more streams of people flowing from all quarters. All were blind, stone blind; all walked straight toward the edge. There were shrieks as they suddenly knew themselves falling, and a tossing up of helpless arms, catching, clutching at empty air. But some went over quietly, and fell without a sound.

Then I wondered, with a wonder that was sheer agony, why no one stopped them at the edge. I could not. I was glued to the ground, and I couldn't even yell; though I strained and tried, only a whisper would come out.

Then I saw that along the edge there were sentries set at intervals.

But the intervals were too large; there were wide, unguarded gaps between. And over these gaps the people fell in their blindness, unwarned; and the green grass seemed blood-red to me, and the ravine yawned like the mouth of hell.

Then I saw, like a little picture of peace, a group of people under some trees with their backs turned towards the ravine. They were making daisy chains. Sometimes when a piercing shriek cut the quiet air and reached them, it disturbed them and they thought it was a rather crude noise. And if one of their group started up and wanted to go and do something to help, then all the others would pull that one down. "Why should you get so excited about it? You must wait for a definite call to go! You haven't finished your daisy chain yet. It would be really selfish," they said, "to leave us to finish the work alone."

There was another group. It was made up of people whose great desire was to get more sentries out; but they found that very few wanted to go, and sometimes there were no sentries for miles and miles along the edge.

Once a girl stood alone in her place, waving the people back; but her mother and other relations called, and reminded her that her furlough was due; she must not break the rules. And being tired and needing a change, she had to go and rest for awhile; but no one was sent to guard her gap, and over and over the people fell, like a waterfall of souls. Once a child grabbed at a tuft of grass that grew at the very edge of the ravine; it clung convulsively, and it called - but nobody seemed to hear. Then the roots of the grass gave way, and with a cry the child went over, its two little hands still holding tight to the torn-off bunch of grass. And the girl who longed to be back in her gap thought she heard the little one cry, and she sprang up and wanted to go; at which her friends reproved her, reminding her that no one is necessary anywhere; "The gap would be well taken care of!", they said. And then they sang a hymn.

Then through the hymn came another sound like the pain of a million broken hearts wrung out in one full drop, one sob. And a horror of great darkness was upon me, for I knew that it was "The Cry of the Blood".

Then a voice thundered. It was the voice of the Lord, and He said, "What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground."

The tom-toms still beat heavily, the darkness still shuddered and shivered about me; I heard the yells of the devil-dancers and weird, wild shrieks of the devil-possessed just outside the gate.

What does it matter, after all? It has gone on for years; it will go on for years. Why make such a fuss about it? God forgive us!

God arouse us! Shame us out of our callousness! Shame us out of our sin!

The Compassion of Jesus Motivates Us Over The Solution For The Harvest (V38)

The workers are those who know the Saviour who are commanded to go into the highways and hedges and among the weary scattered sheep and see people escape from the judgment to come. Notice the characteristic of the kind of workers that we are to pray for. They are not self appointed, but sent out by the Lord. “Sent out” is better translated “thrust out”. It is a compelling call. This ought to be one of the main focuses of our prayer. Pray that God would thrust out workers into the fields before the final harvest of judgment comes. This is not just a prayer for missionaries and Pastors though it includes them. This is that God would thrust out the whole church into the fields where a harvest is coming.

Will you pray? When Hudson Taylor arrived in Shanghai, China, in 1854, the city was under attack from rebels. The Chinese regarded Westerners as "foreign devils" and did not allow them into the interior of the country. Taylor had failed to finish medical training, knew no Chinese and was the first missionary in a new, non-denominational society. Undeterred, he studied the language and culture and defied the government by taking the gospel inland. He also adopted Chinese dress and customs so more people would listen to his message. By prayer he raised up hundreds of missionaries to work in China in sacrificial roles through the then China Inland Mission. He would pray and God would send. he would pray and the Lord would supply the funds for these folks. Will you pray?

Worldview, Authority, Audience and Approach

2011-02-06T22:07:00.001+11:00

1 Peter 3:14 Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

A worldview is a set of presuppositions
(assumptions which may be true, partially
true or entirely false) which we hold
(consciously or subconsciously, consistently
or inconsistently) about the basic makeup of
our world….They are generally unquestioned
by each of us, rarely, if ever, mentioned by
our friends, and only brought to mind when
we are challenged by a foreigner from
another ideological universe. James Sire,
The Universe Next Door, 16, 17

“Worldview”

A set of presuppositions (assumptions)
that govern how a person understands
reality –a framework for understanding
yourself and your world

–Everyone has one
–Usually unquestioned

Sources of Authority

•Revelation
•Reason (modernism)

The idea emerged that by a method of
systematic doubt, the human mind—or Reason
(often capitalized)—could attain to godlike
objectivity and certainty…. Descartes helped to
establish a form of rationalism that treated
Reason not merely as the human ability to
think rationally but as an infallible and
autonomous source of truth. Reason came to
be seen as a storehouse of truths independent
of any religion or philosophy. Total Truth,
Nancy Pearcey, 39

Sources of Authority

•Revelation
•Reason (modernism)

“We ought never to allow ourselves to be
persuaded of the truth of anything unless on
the evidence of our reason.” Rene Descartes

Epistemology

•Spock is always logical
and objective.
•Never acts upon
feeling, because that
would be “illogical.”

“Physical laws simply
cannot be ignored.
Existence cannot be
without them.”

“Pain is a thing of the
mind. The mind can be
controlled.”

The Ideal Modern
Man:

Mr. Spock

Sources of Authority

•Revelation
•Reason (modernism)
•Experience (postmodernism)

“There are no hard distinctions between
what is real and what is unreal, nor between
what is true and what is false. A thing is not
necessarily either true or false; it can be
both true and false.” Harold Pinter

Secularism And the Western Mind

•Hume's Empiricism
•David Hume (1711-1776) believed
that all knowledge is derived from
our sensations, referring to vision,
hearing, feeling, smelling, and
tasting. Experience alone is the key
to understanding one's
environment. Hume elevated
experience as the measure of truth
and held that ideas or thoughts
could be valid only if they have
their roots in experience.

Sources of Faith

“The truth of the Christian faith
surpasses the capacity of reason.”
–Thomas Aquinas

Sources of Authority

•Revelation
•Reason (modernism)
•Experience (postmodernism)

“It is up to you to give [life] a meaning,
and value is nothing but the meaning
that you choose.”
Jean-Paul Sartre

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

•His basic conclusion was that the mind
had certain innate categories, such as
space and time, by which the sensory
data could be organized and arranged,
and which thus made knowledge
possible.
•Concepts like causality and necessity
are now part of the mind's makeup and
help us to explain our world. But Kant's
categories of the mind only help to
organize and arrange the sensory data;
they are of no help in thinking about the
metaphysical world.

Sources of Authority

•Revelation
•Reason (modernism)
•Experience (postmodernism)

“It's a lot like religion. You pick and
choose what works for you.”

Johnny Depp

Postmodern Epistemology

•Data is the “perfect” modern human.
•Despite his “perfection,” Data

1.Wants to be human.
2.Rebels against logic.
3.Attempts to develop emotions and feelings

The Ideal Modern Man Mocked: Data

Sources of Authority

•Revelation
•Reason (modernism)
•Experience (postmodernism)

“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father but through Me.”
Jesus Christ

Sources of Authority
•Revelation
•Reason (modernism)
•Experience (postmodernism)

“

“there is salvation in no one else; for there is
no other name under heaven that has been
given among men by which we must be
saved.” Peter (Ac 4:12)

Sources of Authority

“Religious exclusivity is not just narrow –it.s
dangerous. Religion has led to untold strife,
division, and conflict. It may be the greatest
enemy of peace in the world. If Christians
continue to insist that they have „the truth. –
and if other religions do this as well –the
world will never know peace. ”
20-something

How to Respond

1.Revere Christ, not Man

Sources of Faith
“Tradition is the living faith of those now dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of those now living.”

–Jarislav Pelikan

Spiritual Experience

Robinson's (1977) study at the Religious
Experience Research unit in Oxford
discovered and reported that spiritual
experiences are common to a significant
number of people.

Zohar and Marshall (2000) in Western
societies between 30% and 40% of the
population have had experiences.

Hart (2003) up to 80% of participants

Groome (1998) has argued that spirituality is a
human universal, and is therefore ontological in
nature.

Sources of Faith

“All truth is given by revelation,
either general or special, and it
must be received by reason. Reason
is the God-given means for
discovering the truth that God
discloses, whether in his world or his
Word. While God wants to reach the
heart with truth, he does not bypass
the mind.” –Jonathan Edwards

How to Respond

1.Revere Christ, not Man
2.Prepare to share your hope
–Master the Gospel
•Jesus is the eternal Son of God
•Jesus lived a sinless life
•Jesus died for our sins
•Jesus rose victorious from the dead
•Jesus freely gives us life

Proclaiming Christ to a Postmodern World
•Fear God, not man
•Be prepared
–Master the gospel
–Master your story
–Master your audience

Master Your Audience

•uncover the underlying
dominant epistemologies
•Rationalism?
•Empiricism?
•Community influenced?
•Conscience?
•Scripture?

Master Your Method

•Classical apologetics?

•Evidentialism?

•Reformed apologetics?

•Fideism?

Aspects of faith seem to be anchored to some primary self-attesting “foundations” that suspend our web of belief as they act as anchor points for faith.

these anchor points include

Reason,

Revelation

Conscience

Community

Miraculous experiences

The Source of These Presuppositions
In regeneration man is renewed "according to the
image of Him who created him" in knowledge,
righteousness and holiness (Col. 3:10 & Eph. 4:24).
Thus man as a rational and spiritual creature upon
whose heart is written the law of God reflects the
Person of God.
Man is a creature of language, and God is a God who
speaks.
God experiences personal relationships within the
Triune Godhead, and man is a social creature who
exists both in diversity as individuals and in unity as a
race. This social aspect of man is most basically
expressed in the marriage relationship: ". . . God said,
Let US make man in OUR image, . . . So God created
man in His own image; . . . male and female He
created them."

There are many other innate predispositions and
abilities and instincts and conceptions that are the
stamp of the divine image upon the very core of our
being. The French mathematician, scientist and
theologian Pascal said, "We know the truth not only
through our reason but also through our heart... The
heart has its reasons of which reason knows
nothing."2The image of God is complex, and people are
different. "What will touch and arouse the
divine image in that particular person?"
The good apologist develops the art of probing
human hearts to answer that first question.

Year 7 is Interested in these Questions

Will God forgive everyone?
Who made God?
When is Jesus coming back to Earth?
How do we know that the Bible isn’t a hoax?
What happens when we die?
Am I going to Heaven?
Why do we go to Heaven?
Has Science proved God exists?
Is God real?
When we go to Heaven is it like Earth?
When you die is there an afterlife?

Year 8 is Interested in these Questions

How to fully believe in God

How do we know what Heaven looks like?
Where is Hell and what do you do there?
Who made God? Are there aliens?
If you know you’re gonna make mistakes (because like
everyone does and you’re lying not to), can you still be
forgiven?
If you ask God for his forgiveness and you accidentally
betray him again by sinning or whatever, how many times can you ask for His forgiveness?
Why did God make annoying things like flies, wasps etc.?

Year 9 is Interested in these Questions
Why do we have to die?
How was the universe started?
Are there aliens?
How was the world created?
Why does God give people cancer?
What is the meaning of life?

Why are people born with disabilities?
How did everything form before God?
If we are with God when we are alive then why do we have to die?
If God was good why does He take people away?
Did God have anything to do with the making of the
universe or Earth?

Sample Of Students in SRE•Year 9 and 10 are
more interested in the Why of beliefs… issues
of comparative religions and relativism than in the rationality of belief.
•Years 11 and 12 may demonstrate a greater
regard for the REASONS WHY people believe, if
Piaget and Kohlberg have anything to say.

•Year 7 More interested in WHAT the Bible teaches.
•Year 8 more interested in what may be Experienced and the testimonies of others.

Do these basic beliefs correspond with some character types? Should our apologetic approach be dictated by the corresponding character types?

Christians are often seen as being antagonistic and abusive when we use our knowledge to try and change someone else’s worldview.

Do you meet them on common ground, admitting that their common ground is the right worldview?

Rationalists: Argument

Empiricists: Evidences

Traditionalists: Their community’s authority.

Do you challenge their belief structure directly and attack their worldview?

Do you meet them on your ground?
Scripture?

Your experiences or testimony?

1 Peter 3:15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect

Most folk are struggling with the burdens of life.

it is hard to put life together.

Few people can think abstractly adequately to follow a rational argument through that demonstrates God’s existence.

Most folk struggling with the burdens of life are living hopeless meaningless lives with confusion over the ultimate realities in life, death and eternity.

The Lord Jesus said

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34,35.

You can give your friends a reason for the hope.

Farewell To Pastor Steve Grose

2010-07-28T22:16:00.001+10:00

Sunday August 1st signals the conclusion of Pastor Steve Grose’s ministry at the Newcastle Baptist Tabernacle. Steve will be commencing supervision of chaplains and SRE teachers in Sydney’s West.

The farewell for Pastor Steve and Lorelle will be held on Sunday afternoon after church at the Tabernacle with a luncheon, and a 2:30 pm concert by the NGMM choir.

Do you do church this way? Why?

2010-07-09T10:06:00.001+10:00

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

hymns

2010-07-08T12:53:00.001+10:00

596 A Charge to Keep I Have

632 A Child of the King

654 A Christian Home

402 A Communion Hymn for Christmas

757 A Greater Song

758 A Love So Amazing

656 A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

684 A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

759 A New Anointing

616 A New Name in Glory

410 A Parting Hymn We Sing

10 Abba Father

88 Abide with Me

760 Above All

675 According to Thy Gracious Word

761 Across the Lands

762 Again I Say Rejoice

54 Agnus Dei

228 Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed

763 Alive Forever, Amen

764 All About You

11 All Creatures of Our God and King

685 All Creatures of Our God and King

222 All Glory, Laud, and Honor

686 All Glory, Laud, and Honor

295 All Hail King Jesus

314 All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name (CORONATION)

687 All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name (CORONATION)

311 All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name (DIADEM)

688 All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name (DIADEM)

140 All Heaven Declares

204 All Is Well

765 All over the World

40 All People That on Earth Do Dwell

466 All Praise to Thee

551 All That Thrills My Soul

131 All the Earth Will Sing Your Praises

474 All the Way My Savior Leads Me

766 All Things Are Possible

492 All Who Are Thirsty

276 Alleluia

272 Alleluia! Alleluia!

676 Alleluia! Sing to Jesus

4 Almighty

372 Am I a Soldier of the Cross

117 Amazed

767 Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)

104 Amazing Grace! How Sweet the Sound

689 Amazing Grace! How Sweet the Sound

168 Amazing Love (My Lord, What Love Is This)

641 America, the Beautiful

62 Ancient of Days

344 Ancient Words

250 And Can It Be

690 And Can It Be

184 Angels We Have Heard on High

691 Angels We Have Heard on High

179 Angels, from the Realms of Glory

692 Angels, from the Realms of Glory

635 Another Year Is Dawning

229 Are You Washed in the Blood

768 Arise

769 Arms of Love

401 As He Gathered at His Table

554 As the Deer

667 As We Go

193 As with Gladness Men of Old

282 Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know

245 At Calvary

255 At the Cross

693 At the Cross

770 At the Foot of the Cross

316 At the Name of Jesus (BERRY)

309 At the Name of Jesus (WYE VALLEY)

771 At Your Mercy Seat

208 Away in a Manger (CRADLE SONG)

205 Away in a Manger (MUELLER)

694 Away in a Manger (MUELLER)

63 Awesome God

772 Awesome God

38 Awesome in this Place

398 Baptized in Water

645 Battle Hymn of the Republic

19 Be Exalted, O God

773 Be Exalted, O God

774 Be Glorified

775 Be Lifted Up

457 Be Still and Know

514 Be Still, My Soul

504 Be Strong in the Lord

427 Be the Centre

83 Be Thou My Vision

695 Be Thou My Vision

319 Be unto Your Name

128 Beautiful One

776 Beautiful Savior

777 Beauty of the Lord

449 Because He Lives

975 Because of Your Love

519 Because We Believe

448 Before the Throne of God Above

778 Before the Throne of God Above

779 Befriended

262 Behold the Lamb

238 Beneath the Cross of Jesus

696 Beneath the Cross of Jesus

77 Better Is One Day

781 Better than Life

390 Bind Us Together

151 Bless His Holy Name

782 Bless His Name

8 Bless the Lord, O My Soul

783 Blessed

446 Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine

697 Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine

37 Blessed Be the Lord God Almighty

784 Blessed Be the Lord God Almighty

310 Blessed Be the Name

785 Blessed Be the Name of the Lord (MARINO and NELSON)

321 Blessed Be the Name of the Lord (MOEN)

26 Blessed Be Your Name

258 Blessed Redeemer

389 Blest Be the Tie

786 Bow Down

505 Bow the Knee

210 Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light

407 Break Thou the Bread of Life

787 Break Through

481 Breathe

332 Breathe on Me

334 Breathe on Me, Breath of God

698 Breathe on Me, Breath of God

386 Brethren, We Have Met to Worship

699 Brethren, We Have Met to Worship

244 Calvary Covers It All

275 Celebrate Jesus

529 Change My Heart, O God

788 Change My Heart, O God

189 Child in the Manger

123 Children of the Heavenly Father

273 Christ Arose

354 Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation

471 Christ Receiveth Sinful Men

270 Christ the Lord Is Risen Today

937 Christ the Lord Is Risen Today

674 Christ, We Do All Adore Thee

479 Close to Thee

789 Closer to You

790 Come and Behold Him

584 Come into His Presence

411 Come Just as You Are

791 Come Just as You Are

406 Come to the Table

371 Come, All Christians, Be Committed

32 Come, Christians, Join to Sing

700 Come, Christians, Join to Sing

794 Come, Christians, Join to Sing

397 Come, Holy Spirit, Dove Divine

7 Come, Let Us Worship and Bow Down

30 Come, Now Is the Time to Worship

336 Come, Thou Almighty King

701 Come, Thou Almighty King

98 Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (NETTLETON)

702 Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (NETTLETON)

95 Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (WARRENTON)

176 Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

420 Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy

703 Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy

636 Come, Ye Thankful People, Come

792 Consuming Fire

585 Count Your Blessings

793 Cover the Earth

257 Cross of Jesus, Cross of Sorrow

301 Crown Him King of Kings

304 Crown Him with Many Crowns

704 Crown Him with Many Crowns

526 Cry of My Heart

517 Day by Day

289 Days of Elijah

546 Dear Lord and Father of Mankind

795 Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?

252 Down at the Cross

668 Doxology (OLD HUNDREDTH)

796 Doxology (WALKER)

482 Draw Me Close

797 Draw Me Nearer

798 Dwell

677 Dwelling in Beulah Land

799 Eagle's Wings

201 Emmanuel

800 Emmanuel

801 Empty Me

114 Enough

643 Eternal Father, Strong to Save

121 Everlasting God

802 Evermore

804 Every Move I Make

803 Everyday

805 Everyone (Praises)

806 Everything

807 Everything That Has Breath

612 Face to Face with Christ, My Savior

808 Facedown

47 Fairest Lord Jesus

705 Fairest Lord Jesus

809 Faith

521 Faith Is the Victory

594 Faith of Our Fathers

810 Famous One

566 Father, I Adore You

811 Fields of Grace

631 Fill My Cup, Lord

812 Fill This Place with Praise

813 Filled with Your Glory

598 Find Us Faithful

510 Firm Foundation

550 Footsteps of Jesus

595 For All the Saints

672 For All These Things

814 For All You've Done

638 For the Beauty of the Earth

706 For the Beauty of the Earth

815 For the Cross

99 Forever

472 Free from the Law, O Happy Condition

816 Freedom

817 Freedom Reigns

627 Freely, Freely

483 Friend of God

41 From All That Dwell Below the Skies

212 Gentle Mary Laid Her Child

486 Give Me Jesus

576 Give Thanks

583 Give Thanks to God

590 Give Us Clean Hands

18 Glorify Thy Name

819 Glorious (HOUGHTON, MUNIZZI and MUNIZZI)

818 Glorious (REEVES and TOMLIN)

308 Glorious Is Thy Name

376 Glorious Is Thy Name, Most Holy

55 Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken

820 Glory

670 Glory Be to the Father (GREATOREX)

669 Glory Be to the Father (MEINEKE)

266 Glory to the Lamb

182 Go, Tell It on the Mountain

341 God Has Spoken by His Prophets

821 God Is Great

80 God Leads Us Along

664 God Moves in a Mysterious Way

42 God of Every Generation (HYFRYDOL)

780 God of Every Generation (MARINO and NELSON)

115 God of Grace and God of Glory

642 God of Our Fathers

51 God of Wonders

467 God So Loved the World

85 God Will Make a Way

90 God Will Take Care of You

653 God, Give Us Christian Homes

337 God, Our Father, We Adore Thee

183 Good Christian Men, Rejoice

648 Good Shepherd, Take This Little Child

822 Good to Me

112 Grace Alone

823 Grace Flows Down

105 Grace Greater than Our Sin

824 Grace Like Rain

20 Great and Mighty

825 Great in Power

61 Great Is the Lord

349 Great Is the Lord Almighty!

826 Great Is the Lord Almighty!

96 Great Is Thy Faithfulness

707 Great Is Thy Faithfulness

827 Great Is Your Faithfulness

82 Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah

100 Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing)

828 Hallelujah for The Cross

829 Hallelujah to the Lamb

265 Hallelujah! Praise the Lamb

242 Hallelujah, What a Savior!

708 Hallelujah, What a Savior!

192 Hark! the Herald Angels Sing

709 Hark! the Herald Angels Sing

422 Hark, the Voice of Jesus Calling

508 Have Faith in God

544 Have Thine Own Way, Lord

710 Have Thine Own Way, Lord

256 Have You Been to Calvary

113 He Giveth More Grace

579 He Has Made Me Glad (I Will Enter His Gates)

461 He Hideth My Soul

630 He Included Me

830 He Is Able

190 He Is Born

296 He Is Exalted

831 He Is Exalted

94 He Is Here

118 He Is Jehovah

277 He Is Lord

565 He Is So Precious to Me

148 He Keeps Me Singing

44 He Knows My Name

81 He Leadeth Me! O Blessed Thought

269 He Lives

832 He Reigns

609 He the Pearly Gates Will Open

628 He Touched Me

833 He Will Come and Save You

834 Healing Rain

12 Hear Our Praises

835 Hear Us from Heaven

573 Heaven Came Down

489 Heavenly Sunlight

523 Here Am I, Send Me

130 Here I Am to Worship

440 Here I Am, Lord

836 Here Is Our King

403 Here, at Your Table, Lord

452 Hiding in Thee

837 High and Exalted

532 Higher Ground

93 His Eye Is on the Sparrow

318 His Name Is Life

315 His Name Is Wonderful

460 His Strength Is Perfect

838 History Maker

839 Holy

840 Holy and Anointed One

345 Holy Bible, Book Divine

71 Holy Ground (BEATTY)

72 Holy Ground (HOLY GROUND)

73 Holy Is He

67 Holy Is the Lord

841 Holy Moment

335 Holy Spirit, Rain Down

327 Holy Spirit, Thou Art Welcome

842 Holy, Holy (FELLINGHAM)

843 Holy, Holy (NELSON and MARINO)

74 Holy, Holy (OWENS)

68 Holy, Holy, Holy (NICAEA)

711 Holy, Holy, Holy (NICAEA)

844 Holy, Holy, Holy (OLIVER)

845 Holy, Holy, Holy Lord

846 Hope of the Nations

135 Hosanna

132 Hosanna (Praise Is Rising)

221 Hosanna, Loud Hosanna

847 How Can I Keep from Singing

101 How Deep the Father's Love for Us

456 How Firm a Foundation

712 How Firm a Foundation

848 How Good and Pleasant

849 How Great Are You, Lord

5 How Great Is Our God

202 How Great Our Joy

6 How Great Thou Art

52 How Majestic Is Your Name

323 How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds

850 Hungry

21 Hymn of Adoration

851 I Am Alive

852 I Am Free

520 I Am His, and He Is Mine

378 I Am Resolved

535 I Am Thine, O Lord

246 I Believe in a Hill Called Mount Calvary

853 I Believe in Jesus

116 I Could Sing of Your Love Forever

36 I Exalt Thee

174 I Gave My Life for Thee

442 I Give All to You

528 I Give You My Heart

434 I Have Decided to Follow Jesus

211 I Have Seen the Light

187 I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

352 I Know That My Redeemer Liveth

353 I Know Whom I Have Believed

593 I Lay My Sins on Jesus

854 I Lift My Eyes Up

278 I Live

563 I Love Thee

383 I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord

626 I Love to Tell the Story

395 I Love You with the Love of the Lord

555 I Love You, Lord

855 I Love Your Presence

424 I Must Tell Jesus

423 I Need Thee Every Hour

713 I Need Thee Every Hour

856 I Need You More

857 I Offer My Life

253 I Saw the Cross of Jesus

858 I See the Lord

17 I Sing Praises

859 I Sing Praises

48 I Sing the Mighty Power of God (ELLACOMBE)

714 I Sing the Mighty Power of God (ELLACOMBE)

49 I Sing the Mighty Power of God (FOREST GREEN)

237 I Stand Amazed in the Presence

715 I Stand Amazed in the Presence

78 I Stand in Awe

860 I Stand in Awe

433 I Surrender All

716 I Surrender All

396 I Thank the Lord for You

861 I Walk by Faith

862 I Want to Be Where You Are

14 I Will Bless the Lord

863 I Will Boast

498 I Will Call upon the Lord

572 I Will Celebrate (BALOCHE)

678 I Will Celebrate (DUVALL)

864 I Will Never Be (the Same Again)

865 I Will Not Forget You

866 I Will Offer Up My Life

377 I Will Serve Thee

281 I Will Sing of My Redeemer (HYFRYDOL)

285 I Will Sing of My Redeemer (MY REDEEMER)

625 I Will Sing of the Mercies

617 I Will Sing the Wondrous Story (HYFRYDOL)

633 I Will Sing the Wondrous Story (WONDROUS STORY)

16 I Worship You, Almighty God

530 I'd Rather Have Jesus

430 If My People Will Pray

610 If We Never Meet Again

601 I'll Fly Away

549 I'll Live for Him

368 I'll Tell the World That I'm a Christian

867 I'm Forever Grateful

868 I'm Not Ashamed

568 I'm So Glad, Jesus Lifted Me

56 Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

717 Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

580 In All Things Give Him Thanks

506 In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found)

718 In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found)

394 In Christ There Is No East or West

478 In His Presence

522 In His Time

165 In Loving-Kindness Jesus Came

451 In Moments like These

614 In My Heart There Rings a Melody

405 In Remembrance

247 In the Cross of Christ I Glory

476 In the Garden

325 In the Name of the Lord

75 In the Presence of Jehovah

869 In the Secret

605 In the Sweet By and By

157 In This Very Room

455 In Times like These

50 Indescribable

213 Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

418 Into My Heart

69 Isaiah 6:3

214 Isn't He?

188 It Came upon the Midnight Clear

447 It Is Well with My Soul

719 It Is Well with My Soul

870 It Is You

468 It Took a Miracle

618 I've Got Peace like a River

124 Jehovah Jireh

419 Jesus Calls Us O'er the Tumult

274 Jesus Christ Is Risen Today

475 Jesus Is All the World to Me

293 Jesus Is Coming Again

294 Jesus Is Lord of All

417 Jesus Is Tenderly Calling

620 Jesus Is the Song

307 Jesus Is the Sweetest Name I Know

652 Jesus Loves Me

651 Jesus Loves the Little Children

249 Jesus Paid It All

721 Jesus Paid It All

720 Jesus Paid It All

303 Jesus Shall Reign

722 Jesus Shall Reign

156 Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners

871 Jesus, All for Jesus

400 Jesus, at Your Holy Table

553 Jesus, Draw Me Close

477 Jesus, Draw Me Ever Nearer

439 Jesus, I Come

438 Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken

233 Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross

300 Jesus, Lord to Me

872 Jesus, Lover of My Soul (GRUL, EZZY and McPHERSON)

873 Jesus, Lover of My Soul (It's All about You)

167 Jesus, Lover of My Soul (MARTYN)

320 Jesus, Name Above All Names

173 Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee

166 Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me

147 Jesus, What a Wonder You Are

874 Jesus, You Alone

875 Jesus, You Are My Life

312 Jesus, Your Name

186 Joy Has Dawned

181 Joy to the World! The Lord Is Come

13 Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee

723 Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee

473 Just a Closer Walk with Thee

435 Just As I Am

724 Just As I Am

160 Just When I Need Him Most

876 Kindness

298 King of Kings

487 Knowing You (All I Once Held Dear)

260 Lamb of Glory

261 Lamb of God

877 Layin' It Down

251 Lead Me to Calvary

84 Lead Me, Lord (GOODINE)

86 Lead Me, Lord (LEAD ME, LORD)

659 Lead On, O King Eternal

725 Lead On, O King Eternal

453 Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

878 Leave Everything Behind

178 Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

15 Let All the World in Every Corner Sing

640 Let All Things Now Living

879 Let Everything That Has Breath

597 Let It Be Said of Us

880 Let It Be Said of Us

25 Let It Rise

416 Let Jesus Come into Your Heart

881 Let My Words Be Few

363 Let Others See Jesus in You

882 Let the Praises Ring

883 Let the Worshipers Arise

139 Let There Be Glory and Honor and Praises

39 Let There Be Praise

399 Let Us Break Bread Together

145 Let's Just Praise the Lord

885 Lifesong

351 Lift Every Voice and Sing

236 Lift High the Cross

53 Lift Up Your Heads

886 Light of the World

516 Like a River Glorious

726 Like a River Glorious

545 Living for Jesus

177 Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming

887 Lord Most High

542 Lord, Be Glorified

888 Lord, Have Mercy

537 Lord, Here Am I

347 Lord, I Lift Your Name on High

536 Lord, I Want to Be a Christian

634 Lord, I'm Coming Home

366 Lord, Lay Some Soul upon My Heart

884 Lord, Let Your Glory Fall

525 Lord, Reign in Me

494 Lord, Send a Revival

889 Lord, You Have My Heart

890 Lost in Wonder

172 Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

727 Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

106 Love Is the Theme

107 Love Lifted Me

562 Love the Lord

891 Love You So Much

120 Made Me Glad

892 Made to Worship

893 Majestic

144 Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned

297 Majesty

894 Majesty (Here I Am)

380 Make Me a Blessing

375 Make Me a Channel of Blessing

381 Make Me a Servant

388 Make Us One

895 Manna from Heaven

896 Marvelous Light

209 Mary, Did You Know?

897 Matchless

898 May the Words of My Mouth

899 Meet with Me

900 Mercy

59 Mighty Is Our God

240 Mighty Is the Power of the Cross

901 Mighty to Save

159 Moment by Moment

564 More About Jesus

559 More Love to Thee, O Christ

558 More Love, More Power

557 More Precious than Silver

45 Morning Has Broken

243 Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone

646 My Country, 'Tis of Thee

454 My Faith Has Found a Resting Place

509 My Faith Looks Up to Thee

902 My First Love

575 My Heart Is Filled with Thankfulness

552 My Jesus, I Love Thee

728 My Jesus, I Love Thee

518 My Life Is in You, Lord

87 My Lord Is Near Me All the Time

271 My Redeemer Lives

602 My Savior First of All

287 My Savior, My God

577 My Tribute

903 Name Above All Names

458 Near to the Heart of God

729 Near to the Heart of God

543 Nearer, My God, to Thee

164 No One Ever Cared for Me like Jesus

155 No One Understands like Jesus

324 No Other Name

152 No, Not One

904 Not to Us (JOHNSON)

905 Not to Us (TOMLIN and REEVES)

223 Nothing but the Blood

906 Nothing but the Blood

731 Nothing but the Blood

730 Nothing but the Blood

503 Now I Belong to Jesus

639 Now Thank We All Our God

647 O Canada!

663 O Church, Arise

199 O Come, All Ye Faithful

732 O Come, All Ye Faithful

175 O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

733 O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

136 O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing

734 O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing

122 O God, Our Help in Ages Past

574 O Happy Day That Fixed My Choice

194 O Holy Night!

501 O Jesus, I Have Promised

196 O Little Town of Bethlehem

735 O Little Town of Bethlehem

34 O Lord, You're Beautiful

110 O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

134 O Magnify the Lord

488 O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee

248 O Mighty Cross

907 O Praise Him

231 O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

736 O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

908 O Sacred King

216 O Sing a Song of Bethlehem

608 O That Will Be Glory

226 O the Blood of Jesus

737 O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus (EBENEZER)

679 O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus (EBENEZER)

171 O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus (HARRIS)

24 O Worship the King

738 O Worship the King

103 Offering

195 Oh, Come, Little Children

170 Oh, How He Loves You and Me

560 Oh, How I Love Jesus

76 Oh, the Glory of Your Presence

92 On Eagle's Wings

611 On Jordan's Stormy Banks

241 Once Again

538 Once to Every Man and Nation

288 One Day

909 One Pure and Holy Passion

200 One Small Child

910 Only a God like You

512 Only Believe

911 Only by Grace

465 Only Trust Him

912 Only You

660 Onward, Christian Soldiers

443 Open My Eyes, That I May See

426 Open Our Eyes, Lord

66 Open the Eyes of My heart

58 Our God Reigns

913 Our God Reigns

914 Our Only Desire

497 Out of Ashes

680 Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior

370 Pentecost Hymn

496 Pentecostal Power

359 People Need the Lord

915 Pour Out My Heart

916 Praise Adonai

149 Praise Him! Praise Him!

650 Praise Him, All Ye Little Children

33 Praise the Lord! Ye Heavens, Adore Him

322 Praise the Name of Jesus

1 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

739 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

146 Praise You

917 Praise You with the Dance

2 Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven

450 Precious Lord, Take My Hand

485 Psalm 42

591 Purer in Heart, O God

918 Purify My Heart

283 Redeemed

280 Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It

592 Refiner's Fire

586 Rejoice in the Lord Always

302 Rejoice, the Lord Is King

740 Rejoice, the Lord Is King

578 Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart

919 Rescue

357 Rescue the Perishing

493 Revive Us Again

741 Revive Us Again

613 Ring the Bells of Heaven

27 Rise Up and Praise Him

373 Rise Up, O Men of God

742 Rise Up, O Men of God

126 Rock of Ages

463 Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me

743 Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me

415 Room at the Cross

920 Salt and Light

92 Salvation Belongs to Our God

588 Sanctuary

621 Satisfied

622 Satisfied with Jesus

681 Save in the Cross of Jesus

469 Saved, Saved

161 Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us

744 Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us

922 See, What a Morning (Resurrection Hymn)

524 Seek Ye First

548 Seekers of Your Heart

490 Send a Great Revival

367 Send Me, O Lord, Send Me

364 Send the Light

382 Serve the Lord with Gladness

533 Set My Soul Afire

604 Shall We Gather at the River

358 Share His Love

89 Shine on Us

491 Shine, Jesus, Shine

133 Shout to the Lord

350 Shout to the North

206 Silent Night, Holy Night

745 Silent Night, Holy Night

284 Since I Have Been Redeemed

624 Since Jesus Came into My Heart

923 Sing for Joy

35 Sing Hallelujah (to the Lord)

129 Sing to the King

197 Sing We Now of Christmas

362 So Send I You

414 Softly and Tenderly

746 Softly and Tenderly

658 Soldiers of Christ, Arise

661 Soldiers of Christ, in Truth Arrayed

623 Something Beautiful

531 Something for Thee

365 Song for the Nations

599 Soon and Very Soon

428 Speak to My Heart

432 Speak, O Lord

331 Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart

682 Spirit of the Living God

924 Spirit of the Living God

330 Spirit of the Living God (McKinney arr)

329 Spirit Song

137 Stand Up and Bless the Lord

665 Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus (GEIBEL)

657 Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus (WEBB)

339 Standing on the Promises

480 Step by Step (with Forever We Will Sing)

459 Still

619 Sunshine in My Soul

91 Surely Goodness and Mercy

158 Surely the Presence (of the Lord Is in This Place)

444 Surrender

429 Sweet Hour of Prayer

925 Sweet Mercies

328 Sweet, Sweet Spirit

926 Sweeter

927 Sweetly Broken

589 Take My Life (Holiness)

534 Take My Life, and Let It Be Consecrated (HENDON)

747 Take My Life, and Let It Be Consecrated (HENDON)

541 Take My Life, and Let It Be Consecrated (YARBROUGH)

540 Take My Life, Lead Me, Lord

928 Take Our Praise

313 Take the Name of Jesus with You

587 Take Time to Be Holy

369 Tell It Out with Gladness

425 Tell It to Jesus

219 Tell Me the Stories of Jesus

220 Tell Me the Story of Jesus

360 Tell the Good News

929 Thank You for Saving Me

930 Thank You, Lord (BALOCHE and MOEN)

582 Thank You, Lord (SYKES and SYKES)

218 That's Why We Praise Him

306 The Banner of the Cross

662 The Battle Belongs to the Lord

191 The Birthday of a King

227 The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power

387 The Bond of Love

346 The Church's One Foundation

404 The Communion Hymn (Behold the Lamb)

393 The Family of God

655 The Family Prayer Song

180 The First Noel

931 The Glory of the Cross

527 The Greatest Thing

932 The Happy Song

127 The Heart of Worship

569 The Joy of the Lord

933 The King Has Come

291 The King Is Coming

267 The Lamb upon the Throne

153 The Lily of the Valley

374 The Longer I Serve Him

673 The Lord Bless You and Keep You

79 The Lord's My Shepherd, I'll Not Want

431 The Lord's Prayer

111 The Love of God

57 The Majesty and Glory of Your Name

421 The Master Hath Come

513 The Nail-Scarred Hand

934 The Noise We Make

230 The Old Rugged Cross

441 The Potter's Hand

232 The Power of the Cross (Oh, to See the Dawn)

935 The Power of Your Love

268 The Risen Christ

412 The Savior Is Waiting

384 The Servant Song

511 The Solid Rock

748 The Solid Rock

644 The Star-Spangled Banner

570 The Trees of the Field

606 The Way of the Cross Leads Home

936 The Whole Earth

108 The Wonder of It All

239 The Wonderful Cross

119 There Is a Balm in Gilead

224 There Is a Fountain

749 There Is a Fountain

279 There Is a Redeemer

286 There Is a Savior

938 There Is Joy in the Lord

939 There Is No Greater Joy

109 There Is None like You

225 There Is Power in the Blood

495 There Shall Be Showers of Blessing

185 There's a Song in the Air

317 There's Something About That Name

385 They'll Know We Are Christians

138 Thine Is the Glory

102 Think About His Love

649 This Child We Dedicate to Thee

46 This Is My Father's World

750 This Is My Father's World

408 This Is Our Freedom

571 This Is the Day

150 This Is the Day the Lord Has Made

355 This Is the Threefold Truth

23 Thou Art Worthy

43 Thou Art Worthy, Great Jehovah

217 Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne

629 Through It All

342 Thy Word

502 Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

751 Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

28 To God Be the Glory

752 To God Be the Glory

60 To Him Who Sits on the Throne

940 Touching Heaven, Changing Earth

941 Trading My Sorrows

942 Tremble

500 Trust and Obey

379 Trust, Try, and Prove Me

515 Trusting Jesus

413 Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus

753 Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus

943 Unashamed Love

944 Unchanging

945 Undignified

946 Unfailing Love

683 Until Then

947 Untitled Hymn (Come to Jesus)

299 Victory Chant

948 Victory Chant

499 Victory in Jesus

949 We Are Amazed

547 We Are an Offering

391 We Are Called to Be God's People

950 We Are the Body of Christ

31 We Bow Down

951 We Bow Down

581 We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise

65 We Declare Your Majesty

556 We Fall Down

637 We Gather Together

671 We Give Thee but Thine Own

666 We Have Come into His House

361 We Have Heard the Joyful Sound

952 We Lift You Up

97 We Look Behind at All You've Done

9 We Praise You, O God, Our Redeemer

292 We Shall Behold Him

215 We Three Kings of Orient Are

953 We Want to See Jesus Lifted High

954 We Want to See You

955 We Will Dance

22 We Will Glorify

956 We Will Glorify

462 We'll Work Till Jesus Comes

392 We're Marching to Zion

254 Were You There

356 We've a Story to Tell

607 What a Day That Will Be

154 What a Friend We Have in Jesus

64 What a Mighty God We Serve

207 What Can I Give Him?

198 What Child Is This

754 What Child Is This

290 What If It Were Today?

169 What Wondrous Love Is This

755 What Wondrous Love Is This

484 When I Look into Your Holiness

234 When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (HAMBURG)

756 When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (HAMBURG)

235 When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (O WALY WALY)

141 When Morning Gilds the Skies

615 When the Morning Comes

600 When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder

603 When We All Get to Heaven

436 Where He Leads Me

333 Where the Spirit of the Lord Is

437 Wherever He Leads I'll Go

203 While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks

464 Whiter than Snow

507 Who Can Satisfy My Soul like You?

957 Who Is There like You

958 Whole World in His Hands

959 Wholly Yours

561 Why Do I Sing About Jesus?

539 With All My Heart

470 Without Him

163 Wonderful Grace of Jesus

960 Wonderful Maker

338 Wonderful Words of Life

162 Wonderful, Merciful Savior

567 Wonderful, Wonderful Jesus

340 Word of God, Across the Ages

343 Word of God, Speak

263 Worthy Is the Lamb (WORTHY IS THE LAMB)

264 Worthy Is the Lamb (ZSCHECH)

3 Worthy of Worship

259 Worthy the Lamb That Was Slain

142 Worthy, You Are Worthy (MOEN)

961 Worthy, You Are Worthy (REDMAN)

348 Ye Servants of God

445 Yes, Lord, Yes

962 Yesterday, Today, and Forever

963 You Alone

964 You Always Take Care of Me

965 You Are God Alone (Not a God)

966 You Are Good

70 You Are Holy (Prince of Peace)

967 You Are Incredible

143 You Are My All in All

968 You Are My All in All

969 You Are My God

125 You Are My Hiding Place

305 You Are My King (Amazing Love)

970 You Are So Good to Me

971 You Never Let Go

972 You Said

973 Your Grace Is Enough

326 Your Name (BALOCHE and PACKIAM)

974 Your Name (BROMLEY)

409 Your Supper, Lord, Before Us Spread

29 You're Worthy of My Praise