From humble beginnings in which they all came
To colossal buildings in Jesus name
Built from sweat and hard earn funds
Never look back to where they’ve come from
On top of the mountain and off the road
Temporary sign leads to humble abode
From so very few to a whole lot more
Prestige and power and faith on the door
Behind closed doors they sharpen the ax
Around a table that's built for attacks
Stacks of papers of qualified people
2000 or more under one lonely steeple
Unqualified they shout then make a mad dash
Without one prayer papers go in the trash
Loosen their tie and get down to business
Only the qualified can serve as our witness
I’m welcome to come and welcome to sing
Bow to the throne and worship the King
But for jobs in the faith they come to the few
2000 or more who’ve sat in your pew
Never mind my heart and my call from God
Forget the past and where they have trod
Join the elite but no idea how
Keep me away from the old fatted cow
Pastor once held the name that doctor replaced
So what’s in a name when it’s filled with disgrace
How did you become the decider of all
2000 or more to many from small
So stand at the gate and lift the door high
Promises spoken toward faith in the sky
God keep me away for I might fall to the ground
And land in the molt that keeps humble bound
From unknown beginnings to name full of fame
Unqualified people barred from the game
No faith or promise could ever restore
The humble beginnings of 2000 or more
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
The Nature of God
In this blog we will look at the nature of God and its meaning. First of all what do we mean or what are we referring to when we talk about the nature of God? In short God's nature means His characteristics, His attributes and His qualities. First let’s do a little word search. Characteristic means a distinguishing trait, quality, or property. Attribute means an accidental quality, although I believe that God’s attribute is by no accident. And quality means a degree of excellence. All three definitions revolve or center on quality. Look at quality again, a degree of excellence. So what is the excellence of God? Excellence means good. What is the “good” of God?
Being a children’s pastor I really want to focus on the goodness of Gods nature as if I were speaking to children. We’ve all heard growing up the little prayer, “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food.” I could discuss many characteristics of Gods nature but as I said, this blog will focus on Gods goodness. His nature is good.
When being asked who is God, we could easily say, “I don’t know, no one really knows.” Perhaps that's how it should be but that will not suffice with children. God is totally beyond comprehension and giving some sort of explanation who He is can be very difficult. Let’s face it; there is no way we can know everything about God. So we should be up front and honest when talking to kids about what we do and what we do not know.
So how do I know that God’s nature is good? I really need look no further than His word, the Bible. From the beginning of the world God shows His goodness through His creation. In Genesis chapter one God speaks after each formation and verbally states it is good. The light was good, the dry land, and the gathering of the waters was good, the vegetation, plants yielding seed, and trees bearing fruit was good and on it goes. Each day was good. God not only created the heavens and the earth but verbally wants us to know that through His goodness good was done.
Psalm 100 is a prayer of thanksgiving. We are often thankful for the things that are good. Rarely are we thankful for the things that are bad. Most of the time we are thankful for material things. “I’m thankful for that new skateboard or playstation.” But as we grow and learn we understand that we are thankful for things that will never fade away. We are thankful for love, health, life, friends, and family and so on.
In Psalms 100:5 it says, “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Nothing thrills me more than to know that the nature of God is love and love is good. Also through Gods goodness is His faithfulness. It’s really hard at times to find a friend who is faithful, but God our forever friend is always faithful. And as we see in scripture His faithfulness will continue through all generations. That means that God will be faithful to me, my children, their children and on it goes, through all generations. God’s love and faithfulness is good. That’s His nature.
If love is good then nothing shows Gods love and goodness more than Jesus Christ the Son of God. God loves us so much that He sent His Son to this earth to be a sacrifice for all. Romans 5:6-8 says, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Because God is good, His nature is good and His love for us is good, He sent His Son. No doubt it was hard for Him to do, but that’s His nature.
While exploring the word of God, His goodness, His nature and excellence are easy to see. The nature of God, the excellence of God jumps from page to page. He gave us nothing less. Anything less is not of God. God not only demonstrated His love for us through the sacrifice of His Son but His goodness abounds around us everyday. The quality, the excellence of life, the faithfulness of it all is simply overwhelming. So what is the nature of God? Look around and see. The nature of God is good.
Being a children’s pastor I really want to focus on the goodness of Gods nature as if I were speaking to children. We’ve all heard growing up the little prayer, “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food.” I could discuss many characteristics of Gods nature but as I said, this blog will focus on Gods goodness. His nature is good.
When being asked who is God, we could easily say, “I don’t know, no one really knows.” Perhaps that's how it should be but that will not suffice with children. God is totally beyond comprehension and giving some sort of explanation who He is can be very difficult. Let’s face it; there is no way we can know everything about God. So we should be up front and honest when talking to kids about what we do and what we do not know.
So how do I know that God’s nature is good? I really need look no further than His word, the Bible. From the beginning of the world God shows His goodness through His creation. In Genesis chapter one God speaks after each formation and verbally states it is good. The light was good, the dry land, and the gathering of the waters was good, the vegetation, plants yielding seed, and trees bearing fruit was good and on it goes. Each day was good. God not only created the heavens and the earth but verbally wants us to know that through His goodness good was done.
Psalm 100 is a prayer of thanksgiving. We are often thankful for the things that are good. Rarely are we thankful for the things that are bad. Most of the time we are thankful for material things. “I’m thankful for that new skateboard or playstation.” But as we grow and learn we understand that we are thankful for things that will never fade away. We are thankful for love, health, life, friends, and family and so on.
In Psalms 100:5 it says, “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Nothing thrills me more than to know that the nature of God is love and love is good. Also through Gods goodness is His faithfulness. It’s really hard at times to find a friend who is faithful, but God our forever friend is always faithful. And as we see in scripture His faithfulness will continue through all generations. That means that God will be faithful to me, my children, their children and on it goes, through all generations. God’s love and faithfulness is good. That’s His nature.
If love is good then nothing shows Gods love and goodness more than Jesus Christ the Son of God. God loves us so much that He sent His Son to this earth to be a sacrifice for all. Romans 5:6-8 says, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Because God is good, His nature is good and His love for us is good, He sent His Son. No doubt it was hard for Him to do, but that’s His nature.
While exploring the word of God, His goodness, His nature and excellence are easy to see. The nature of God, the excellence of God jumps from page to page. He gave us nothing less. Anything less is not of God. God not only demonstrated His love for us through the sacrifice of His Son but His goodness abounds around us everyday. The quality, the excellence of life, the faithfulness of it all is simply overwhelming. So what is the nature of God? Look around and see. The nature of God is good.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Life Book of Youth
What lies in wait in a young person’s soul?
To create a world so dark and so cold
Lessons from the life book of youth
Teaching lies and blindfolding truth
Searching for ways to stray from the fold
Rejecting their youth, disrespecting the old
Anger and hate spews from the tongue
Sisters and brothers grabbing a gun
Slicing and dicing blood running red
Nightmares are real, wishing for dead
Invisible parents hiding from blame
Shinny new blade to cut out the pain
Drugging it up to hide all the hurt
Running from clean, diving for dirt
Line by line, flame by flame
Six feet under is fifteen of fame
Looking for sex behind the closed door
Mouse click away to the world of hardcore
Staring at pictures and three minute clips
Worldly pleasures at finger tips
Exposing themselves in the name of cool
Young and old men wiping the drool
Looks for attention in the way they are shaped
Leads to false promises and possible rape
A cry for attention, a cry for a prayer
No one is listening or shows that they care
No use pretending or hiding from truth
Table of contents, the life book of youth
To create a world so dark and so cold
Lessons from the life book of youth
Teaching lies and blindfolding truth
Searching for ways to stray from the fold
Rejecting their youth, disrespecting the old
Anger and hate spews from the tongue
Sisters and brothers grabbing a gun
Slicing and dicing blood running red
Nightmares are real, wishing for dead
Invisible parents hiding from blame
Shinny new blade to cut out the pain
Drugging it up to hide all the hurt
Running from clean, diving for dirt
Line by line, flame by flame
Six feet under is fifteen of fame
Looking for sex behind the closed door
Mouse click away to the world of hardcore
Staring at pictures and three minute clips
Worldly pleasures at finger tips
Exposing themselves in the name of cool
Young and old men wiping the drool
Looks for attention in the way they are shaped
Leads to false promises and possible rape
A cry for attention, a cry for a prayer
No one is listening or shows that they care
No use pretending or hiding from truth
Table of contents, the life book of youth
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
May I Help You?
Where has our service gone?
Pride and integrity, where?
Concerned more about the bottom line
Or more about the bottom dollar
Answers by email and text
Or nothing at all!
Customer service flew the coop
Or the way of the dinosaur
Distance between a phone line
Brings new meaning to uncaring
Not my problem they smile
You work it out screams in silence
The days of “may I help you” are gone
Replaced with “what are you griping about now!”
Companies too big for their britches
“You need us we don’t need you!”
The days of Walt Disney are gone
Satisfaction comes from the things of the past
The complaint department is a recording
Allowing you to scream at the wall
No ones listening anymore
No one cares about the way you feel
The Disney philosophy is dead
Walt took it to the grave and no one cared!
Pride and integrity, where?
Concerned more about the bottom line
Or more about the bottom dollar
Answers by email and text
Or nothing at all!
Customer service flew the coop
Or the way of the dinosaur
Distance between a phone line
Brings new meaning to uncaring
Not my problem they smile
You work it out screams in silence
The days of “may I help you” are gone
Replaced with “what are you griping about now!”
Companies too big for their britches
“You need us we don’t need you!”
The days of Walt Disney are gone
Satisfaction comes from the things of the past
The complaint department is a recording
Allowing you to scream at the wall
No ones listening anymore
No one cares about the way you feel
The Disney philosophy is dead
Walt took it to the grave and no one cared!
Monday, September 10, 2007
The Window
Why does it all have to be so blue?
So dark, so dim, without a view
Wiping the window to make it clear
Makes it worse, makes it smear
Wondering what my eyes could see
If I could open the window and be set free
Painted shut and boarded up
Thoughts of escaping with no luck
Pain from nothing, empty pocket
Turn out the lights, power to socket
Reaching for the promised hope
Out at sea, a dot the floats
Knotted heart and bitter mind
S.O.S to human kind
Endless night the sunlight knocks
Can’t come in the windows locked
Peering out to God and man
Hoping for someone who can
Reach and bust the window pane
Escape the room, escape the rain
Why does it all have to be so blue?
So dark, so dim, so sad and true
Wiping the window to beg and see
Hoping, praying, rescue me
So dark, so dim, without a view
Wiping the window to make it clear
Makes it worse, makes it smear
Wondering what my eyes could see
If I could open the window and be set free
Painted shut and boarded up
Thoughts of escaping with no luck
Pain from nothing, empty pocket
Turn out the lights, power to socket
Reaching for the promised hope
Out at sea, a dot the floats
Knotted heart and bitter mind
S.O.S to human kind
Endless night the sunlight knocks
Can’t come in the windows locked
Peering out to God and man
Hoping for someone who can
Reach and bust the window pane
Escape the room, escape the rain
Why does it all have to be so blue?
So dark, so dim, so sad and true
Wiping the window to beg and see
Hoping, praying, rescue me
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Love Is The Cross
Love from a cut and wounded tree
Shaped in figure of a cross
Made to guide arms stretched out
Grew for purpose, human loss
Love from metal mined from ground
Shaped and molded heated glow
Made to keep arms stretched out
Dug for purpose, hammered slow
Love from hammer made by man
Shaped to swing and pounding things
Made to force arms stretched out
Forged for purpose, rhythm rings
Love from blood as trickled down
Shaped to mimic rain from sky
Made to take our sins away
Love for purpose, you and I
Shaped in figure of a cross
Made to guide arms stretched out
Grew for purpose, human loss
Love from metal mined from ground
Shaped and molded heated glow
Made to keep arms stretched out
Dug for purpose, hammered slow
Love from hammer made by man
Shaped to swing and pounding things
Made to force arms stretched out
Forged for purpose, rhythm rings
Love from blood as trickled down
Shaped to mimic rain from sky
Made to take our sins away
Love for purpose, you and I
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