D.S. al Coda: Go to the Sign of the Cross, Then proceed to the End

With just a quick bit of goggling it appears that there are over 300,000 protestant churches in America.   Seems like a lot, but each one of those churches would need 1,000 members to make every American a church member, and almost 2/3rds of all those churches have only 7-99 members each.     In South Carolina there are 11,685 phonebook listings for churches.   But here’s the shocker:   there are almost 800 different churches in driving distance for those of us in Lexington to choose from! Needless to say, these churches are all very unique and can only be somewhat loosely grouped according to denominational or theological categories.   So, what determines where you will go to church?   First, you must answer this question:   What is the difference between “a church” and “The Church?” Here’s the answer in a nutshell: People determine the membership and location of “a church.”   But only God determines the membership of The Church and its current location is “scattered.”   (B

Tonight the Sr. Adult Choir of LBC was suppose to go into Broad River Correctional facility and minister through music and serve a dinner for 250 inmates.  Our anticipation has been mounting as we made all the necessary preparations to get into the prison with food, music, and the gospel.  When we got there and processed all of the food through security we were informed that there was a lock-down in the dorm we were to serve due to some kind of possible threat of a disturbance or some breech by an inmate or inmates.  The dinner and program was cancelled.  We were very disappointed and perplexed and wondered how this could be!  What were we going to do with all of this food! We ended up going back to the church with the volunteers and ate some of the food and then had a choir rehearsal, worshipped and prayed for the prisoners.  We were thrilled that we were able to donate all of the food to 2 places:  Samaritan's Well women's shelter and the Chris Meyers Children's Pla

Today is a very rare day .  It is the first time in history that Thanskgiving (the 4th Thursday of November) and the first day of Hanukkah have occurred at the same time.  (But prior to 1942 when FDR moved Thanksgiving from the 5th Thursday to the 4th Thursday it happened in 1888.)  Just how rare is this?  This has never happened before—and it won’t happen again until the year 79,811. How did this calendrical anomaly come about? Jonathan Mizrahi , who holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland, provides a thorough explanation: The Jewish calendar is very slowly getting out of sync with the solar calendar, at a rate of 4 days per 1,000 years (not bad for a many-centuries-old calendar!). This means that while presently Hanukkah can be as early as 11/28, over the years the calendar will drift forward, such that the earliest Hanukkah will be is 11/29. The last time Hanukkah falls on 11/28 is 2146 (which happens to be a Monday). Therefore, 2013 is the only time Hanukka

America marks it's first Thanksgiving Day by the Pilgrims who left Plymouth, England in 1620 and came to what is now Massachusetts.  They were "separatists" whose convictions would not let them live under the dictates of the Church of England which basically was Roman Catholicism.   These people first tried to settle in the Netherlands for twelve years, but feared losing their identity in that culture.  So they made the huge decision to move far away to the New World where they could at least be in an English colony, but also have the freedom to live out their faith more closely like the early church Believers which earned them the name "Puritans" for their desire to purify the Church. They never made it to the English colony of Virginia and settle in Cape Cod.  They came with 102 people and within the first year 50 had died.  Indians in the area agreed to a treaty of mutual aid and respect and proved to be a tremendous help to their survival.  On December 13

I am a member of a hate group. The group that I belong to has an intense hatred for what the forces of darkness, led by the one we know as Satan, have done to destroy people's lives, enslave them and hold them in bondage. I hate what has happened to so many people whose lives have been wrecked by their own addictions or the addictions of others whether they be drugs, alcohol, or pornography.  I hate the fact that millions upon millions of babies have been killed before they were born (Certainly no one loves this fact, but far too many are not bothered at all by this fact, and not enough of us hate it!).   And my hatred is not just turned outward because I hate it when I see things in my own life that are selfish or otherwise displeasing to God. And I confess that I am seeking to recruit others to join me in this hate group who will also detest all that the Devil does to enslave and destroy every person on this planet. I hate these things because Jesus Christ has put a gr

Children have an excitement for praising God!   They praise God when the sing in our worship services.   They praise God when they sing their little hearts out in children’s choir programs.   What explains this desire they have to praise God even when they are very young?   Psalm 8:2 provides the answer, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.”   This Word of God teaches that God has ordained from all eternity that children praise Him with their mouths. Let us remember how this applies to our lives.   First, this shows the importance of bringing our children to worship as soon as possible.   On the one hand, we don’t want them to be a distraction to others, but on the other hand we want to teach them at a young age to worship.   We want this because God has ordained that these children praise Him. Second, this Word of God reminds us that the focus of our homes should be

Have you worshipped God today?  This past Sunday we saw a great little sermon bumper called "Everyone Worships Something"        It is so true that "We were made to worship" like the song says.  In trying to define worship, I suppose we could say that we will worship that to which we have given the greatest part of our lives.  But in reality we probably give a large part of our lives to a lot of different things in varying degrees and in different seasons of the year or in different seasons of our lives.  (Like, right now it's football season, and there is a lot of what looks like worship going on every Saturday in stadiums across the nation!)   But what if we said that the definition of true worship is your response to just that one thing that has captured your heart and permeates every part of your life to the point that you would be willing to die for?  What or Who do you worship?  By now you know the "correct" answer is Jesus.  But y

Today is September 4, but at sundown it became Tishri 1 and is the special day called Yom Terurah or the Feast of Trumpets in Leviticus 23:23-25   And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,   Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.   Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord . So?  With all that is going on in the world today and the US considering a military strike in Syria, why should I care what the Bible says about some obsolete Jewish festival? If you are a lover of the Word of God who believes that every word of scripture is there for a reason and is completely trustworthy, then you must at least be curious about the Feasts of the Lord which are clearly defined for us in the book of Leviticus.   When the Bible says that we are to observe and remember this day by blowing the shofar, I have c

Sometimes we need to step back and get a fresh perspective on what we are doing and why.  First of all, remember who we are and where we came from: God has always had a people.  He created us.  He made a promise to Abraham that he would be the father of a great people that would be the people of His choice.  We are his spiritual offspring.  God gave us His law (His instructions) in stone on Mt. Sinai on the Day of Pentecost, and then 1500 years later He gave His Holy Spirit to write His law on our hearts after He made a way for us to be in a relationship with Himself forever by coming to us in the person of Jesus Christ who became our sin-bearer on the cross.  And we enter into all of this reality by way of a mysterious commodity called faith. Secondly, reaffirm who's in charge: All of the correcting, shaping and molding of God's people through the ages has been done by YHWH Himself.  He is the Hebrews 12:2 "Author and Finisher of our faith".  At His command and

My vacation at Cherry Grove this month was awesome!  I always write a song as part of my vacation bucket list, so this year's offering is called "Shouldn't We". Signs in the heavens declare, “The Day of the Lord is at hand”. When the King of kings, the Prince of Peace, will rule every tribe, every land! But forces of darkness surround us; so we fall to our knees and cry out! Knowing the day is approaching when Messiah will come with a shout! So, shouldn’t we all be singing?    And shouldn’t we sing the same song? We’re already at the finale, but you can still sing along! Shouldn’t we tell every nation, “There is forgiveness for all”? Shouldn’t we plead for His mercy because we’ve broken His laws? Shouldn’t we all be singing?   And shouldn’t we sing the same song? The time of rehearsing is ending; Wake up for it will not be long!   Shouldn’t we cry, shouldn’t we weep, Sorry for what we have done? Shouldn’t we plead for His Spirit to come and wake

The short answer to this question is: "Because YHWH said to!"  Psalm 122:6: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.  Some may say, "Well, I guess I had better pray for the peace of Jerusalem because I sure do want to be prosperous!"  But let's go a little deeper into this thing about praying for the peace of Jerusalem.  What is "the peace of Jerusalem?"  The original word "peace" here is " shalom" which means completeness, soundness, welfare, or peace.  Jerusalem is the epicenter of unrest in the Middle East.  It is the focal point for prophecies about the Second Coming of Yeshua.  It is the location of Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, and it will be the location of His return.  Peace will only come to Jerusalem when Messiah returns to judge the earth and win the Battle of Armageddon.  So, praying for the peace of Jerusalem is equivalent to praying for Jesus to come again to set up

Solitary confinement in the psychiatric ward of a state prison is one of the lowest places on earth you can find yourself.  But in the words of Corrie Ten Boom, " There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still".  That is what Phil Stallings, Nancy Rae Martin and I experienced tonight at Kirkland prison as we sought to minister the love of God into that dark place.  What we saw were men reaching out their arms of faith and crying out to God like drowning me would reach out for a life-jacket.  Here was the message: 1. His Eye is on the Sparrow - God loves you and knows where you are right now and cares about you.  He can set you free! 2. Near the Cross -This is the place where you can meet the Savior, Jesus Christ, and receive His forgiveness for your sins. 3. Listen - If you will listen you will hear God's voice calling out your name.  If you will listen, it's a still small voice no one can explain.  But if you listen and obey that voice you'

The Church has many songs about going to heaven, walking streets of gold, and seeing Jesus face to face.   And we know that we can find forgiveness and receive eternal life beyond the grave by trusting Jesus as our Savior.   But what else does God offer to us if we will keep His covenant and walk in daily obedience to Him?    Leviticus 26:3-12 gives us some of God’s promises:   If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rain so that the land will yield its produce.   I shall also grant peace in the land , so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble.   I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm My covenant with you.   Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you , and My soul will not reject you .   I will also walk among you and be your God , and you shall be My people .     In this passage it sure sounds like God is very interested in blessing how we live on this earth a

The following is an article I just read by Don Chapman who is the arranger of all the "Hymncharts" that I love to use in worship sometimes.  I agree with his explanation of how pop music has affected the music of the church, but please read my comment at the bottom that I submitted to his article. How Church Choirs Are Changing by Don Chapman For literally hundreds of years, back to Bach, choirs led and performed church music in SATB four part harmony: Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass. This SATB format can be seen in your hymnal. If you’ve ever read my “HymnCharts manifesto” you know this was one of the first problems I discovered when I became a music director for the first time – praise bands (specifically guitars) can’t play SATB music because the chords usually change on just about every beat. Pop music has drastically changed the musical landscape of the Church in the past twenty years. Chord progressions propelled music in the past, rhythm propels today’s music. And

The worship of our God, the only true God, YHVH, the Great “I Am,” has almost 6,000 years of history which from its beginning God let us know how He desires to be worshipped.   One of the primary ways that God instigated for worship was the sacrifice.   There are a number of Hebrew words for “sacrifice”, but one word used to designate something that is to be sacrificed is the word “Korban” which literally means “to draw near”.   This gives us a clue as to the purpose of the sacrifice which is to be able to draw near to God and Him to draw near to us.   The altar of sacrifice is a meeting place, so to speak, between God and His people. Of course, the ultimate sacrifice became God’s very own Son, Jesus, through whom we truly can be near our God by the indwelling of His Spirit. But even though the animal sacrifice system and the Temple is not there now, there remains the principle of sacrifice in worship which will please God.   So what kind of sacrifice do you bring to worship?  

Marriage - a (1) : the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law . Using the primary Webster's definition of "marriage", a "same-sex marriage" is literally a "same sex union of two people of the opposite sex" which is an oxymoran. The following was posted on MSN today, February 28:   Obama administration to express support for gay marriage before Supreme Court By Pete Williams, Chief Justice Correspondent, NBC News   Administration officials say the Justice Department will urge the U.S. Supreme Court to allow same-sex marriage to resume in California, wading into the protracted legal battle over Proposition 8 and giving gay-rights advocates a new court ally. After first suggesting it would not get involved, the Obama administration will file a friend-of-the-court brief late today in support of the two gay couples who launched the fight over

Your God – my God, Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -- will come. He came with a flood just like he promised Noah that he would after Noah had just about been mocked and ridiculed to death. He let Noah and his family off the ark when they just about couldn’t stand all those animals anymore! He held back Abraham’s hand just as he was about to sacrifice Isaac in obedience. He parted the ... Red Sea just when it looked like the Israelites were cornered with no place to go. He scarfed up the water and the sacrifice with fire just when Elijah needed him to put the prophets of Baal in their place with the greatest flair. He clamped them lion’s jaws just when Daniel was just about to become the main course. He made the whale spit Jonah out at Ninevah after three days just to make a great parallel to the resurrection of Jesus 1,000 years or so later! He sent His Son into this world at just the right time as the prophets had foretold. He purposefully came four days aft

The worship of our God, the only true God, YHVH, the Great “I Am,” has almost 6,000 years of history which from its beginning God let us know how He desires to be worshipped.   One of the primary ways that God instigated for worship was the sacrifice.   There are a number of Hebrew words for “sacrifice”, but one word used to designate something that is to be sacrificed is the word “Korban” which literally means “to draw near”.   This gives us a clue as to the purpose of the sacrifice which is to be able to draw near to God and Him to draw near to us.   The altar of sacrifice is a meeting place, so to speak, between God and His people. Of course, the ultimate sacrifice became God’s very own Son, Jesus, through whom we truly can be near our God by the indwelling of His Spirit. But even though the animal sacrifice system and the Temple is not there now, there remains the principle of sacrifice in worship which will please God.   So what kind of sacrifice do you bring to worship?

Regi Stone is a singer/songwriter who shared a really great devotion at Music Atlanta on January 16.   He had 4 things to say about anyone who desires to be a worship leader: 1.   Choose to become a daily worshipper.   Worship is not something in a box you take down once a week, enjoy, offer to God and then put back on the shelf until the next week.   What if a man treated his relationship with his wife or kids like that?   How can we possibly have a real personal relationship with the God of our salvation on a once-a-week or emergency-only visitation basis?   It won’t happen. 2.   Follow thru #1   This may sound redundant, but how many know there is a difference between joining a fitness club and actually going to the gym and working out?   Once you make a choice to be a daily worshipper, the next step is to start doing it! 3.   Consume Scripture – We must hide God’s Word in our hearts.   Study it, memorize it, use it.   The Word is a sword and our weapon against Sa