Feb 04
Quote of the Week Cancer, Gospel, Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler, Suffering No Comments
The human experience commonly shared is suffering … If he [Matt Chandler] suffers well, that might be the most important sermon he’s ever preached.
– Mark Driscoll, on Matt Chandler’s Brain Cancer
Nov 20
Sermon Poems Blood, Christ, Death, Grace, Suffering No Comments
Sermon Poetry, 8 November 2009
Sermon Text – John 18:1-13
Preacher – Pastor Mike Tardive
Kind Jesus, Your people are suffering life
With sadness and sickness and poverty strong
They’re crying with voices of weakness and sorrow
With quavering lips they are singing their song
You’ve given us cups with a drink hard to swallow
We haven’t the strength to survive Sovereign Will
We’re crying with voices of frailty and mourning
Come calm with Your mercy and make our hearts still
We suffer as people who worship our Savior
We follow our Jesus, our Suffering Lord
He drank from His chalice, prepared by the Father
Fulfilling the Scriptures, God’s beautiful Word
Our Father is Sovereign, with Providence Holy
His will is accomplished, no matter how sad
So as Jesus swallowed, our sins were forgiven
We’re bathed in His blood, and our mourning is glad
We’re washed in His mercy, we’re cleansed by His blood
Through death are we living, through blood made alive
In Him is salvation, we’ve access to Yahweh
Once sinners of darkness, now Children of Light
Sep 16
Quote of the Week, Quotes God's Grace, God's Sovereignty, Pain, Providence, Sadness, Suffering 1 Comment
“In the end, I have learned that the anchor to my faith is the resurrection of Christ. Christ is not Lord because he rescues people from cancer, saves the depressed, or brings dogs back to life. He is Lord because Christ is risen. It is that simple. I will have many other anchors and so will you. But none of them compares to the anchor that is the resurrection of Christ. Hold on to those other anchors loosely, knowing that God is involved and can be praised in all things, but not necessarily in our interpretation of all things.”
Aug 16
Sermon Poems Grace, Jesus, Patience, Perseverance, Revelation, Suffering No Comments
Preacher – Jarrett Downs
Sermon Title – “The Deeds and Hopes of Persevering Saints”
Sermon Text – “Revelation 3:7-13
Jesus, I’m selfish with Your Word
I’m selfish with Your Truth
I think I can hoard Your Love
I’m loving myself, not loving my neighbor
Ignoring Your Power to Move
Forgive my arrogance
Please save me from my sinfulness:
Ignoring the broken and meek
I want to share you with liberality
When bruised, to love my enemies
Lord Christ, when I’m before You, I’m broken and weak
Jesus, I’m hated in this world
They laugh at my weakness
Deriding the son that You Love
Lord Christ by Your Grace, I’m loving my neighbor
Expecting Your power to move
Forgive them their arrogance
Save them from their sinfulness:
Ignoring the broken and meek
Please help me share You with liberality
When killed, to love my enemies
Lord Christ when I’m before You, I’m broken and weak
Jesus, I’m worshipping You
Relying on Your promises
Staying faithful as best I can
Lord Christ by Your Grace, Your Words I will follow
Upheld by Your tender hands
Preserve me to persevere
To stay faithful to the end
Although I am broken and weak
Please strengthen me to worship You
To hold onto Your Word of Truth
Lord Christ I am before You, I’m broken and meek
Jesus, I’m waiting for the end
When I’ll Your glory see
With quickened and eternal eyes
Lord Christ, by Your grace, my race will be finished
And then I will enter Your rest
My eyes are wet with gratitude
To Christ who saved me to new life
My brokenness is fully healed
A laurel crown around my head
A whitened robe around my frame
Lord Christ I am before You, once sinner now saved
Jul 23
Art and Culture, My Writings, Poetry Bible, Faith, God, God's Glory, God's Grace, God's Sovereignty, Jesus, Suffering No Comments
When waves come crashing, smashing down onto the sandy shore
When winds come ripping, slashing in and blow a little more
When homes are thrown and torn in two and some are left to stand
When lives are changed for good or ill, we know we’re in God’s Hands
When little boys get very sick, so that they might soon die
When parents see their children ill, and watch their young ones cry
When tests are done, and bad news comes, with surgeries galore
When hope seems lost, and death seems near, we know we serve our Lord
When dearest friends go through life’s throws and find it hard to stand
When Christian sons and daughters true are weak in God’s strong Hand
When our good God does see it fit to give and take away
The solemn cry “Blessed be His Name” is what our hearts must say
When life goes up and then comes down, when side by side it flies
When all the future once so sure just seems to up and die
When we don’t know what life next holds, when nothing is real sure
When we despair and question God, we see the One Who’s Pure
When God’s Good Will just seems so vague, and it is hard to trust
When we lose faith and hope seems lost, into His arms we’re thrust
For God protects and holds His own, the Children of the Lamb
The Unknown has now been made Known, because God is I AM
We do not need to know what comes today or in the morn
We trust in Christ who loves His sheep, He has His Grace well shown
We do not need to fret the things that in this life seem hard
For all are in our God’s Strong Hands, His Grace He does impart
So when we want to doubt and fret about all things unknown
We must remember that we serve the God Who’s on His Throne
He Rules and Reigns, and knows all things, for He’s our Sovereign Lord
We know the Unknown is made Known, His Grace is on us poured
Jul 19
Poetry, Sermon Poems Jesus, Persecution, Poetry, Revelation, Suffering No Comments
Preacher: Jarrett Downs
Title: “The Church in Smyrna: Suffering Like a Believer”
Text: Revelation 2:8-11
Jesus I am hurting, I am slandered
I am beaten and bruised and close to death
Jesus I’m hated, they shun me
They see me as a nasty threat
They lie about my actions
They throw me into prisons
They hate my frame as they hate your name
Jesus show Your child Your Love
Jesus, why must I go through suffering
Why must life be so painful
Jesus, it’s hard, I’m ever hated
Give me strength to be faithful
I’ve lost all that I once held dear
My body quakes, I’m full of tears
They bruise my face, reject your Grace
Jesus show Your child Your Love
Child, come remember my suffering
Come take Your Cross and follow
Child, I know it’s hard, they hated me too
But see me now on my throne
I’m the first and last, Your life’s in my hands
I love you dear, come trust in Your Lamb
You’re rich, not poor, what do you live for?
Child I died to show You Love
Jesus, please forgive Your child frail
I’m weak and need Your Love
Jesus, although they hate me, in You I’m loved
Oh King, who rules from above
Although I die, in You I live
Your Grace to me you freely give
I’m loved in You, what can man do?
Jesus I die safe in Your Love
Jesus I die safe in Your Love
Feb 04
My Writings, Poetry, Songs God's Love, Grace, Jesus, Mercy, Suffering 1 Comment
The mercy of Jesus, mysterious thing The love of our Savior makes us want to sing His praises loud, He is God He brings to His children the trials of life He teaches us patience, our Lord loves His Bride And cares for her, He is God
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Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity (The Pastoral series, #2) by Eugene H. Peterson |
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A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor |
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Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy |
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Choosing the Good: Christian Ethics in a Complex World by Dennis P. Hollinger |
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Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches by Russell D. Moore |
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The Course of Irish History, 3rd Edition by T.W. Moody |
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Mere Churchianity: Finding Your Way Back to Jesus-Shaped Spirituality by Michael Spencer |
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The Sea by John Banville |
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