The practice of making New Year’s resolutions can be traced back to 2^nd Century B.C Rome. Today, the most common resolutions include quitting smoking, losing weight, and getting physically fit.

Puritan Jonathan Edwards made resolutions throughout his life that are still remembered and admired today, three centuries later. If you are still in search of resolutions for 2009, try some of Edwards on for size:

1. Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.

2. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, but what tends to the glory of God.

3. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

4. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

5. Resolved, never to do any thing out of revenge.

6. Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone.

7. Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.

Christmas commemorates a divine event and a divine person—the miraculous birth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Unlike most of our holidays, Christmas is not a celebration of an event strictly from human history that commemorates a human achievement or recognizes a national milestone. An authentic celebration of Christmas honors the most wonderful of divine accomplishments. It recognizes that the eternal, sovereign God came to earth as a human being to live a righteous life among His people and then to die as a perfect sacrifice to deliver from the wrath of God all who repent and believe. (From: God in the Manger by John MacArthur)

It has been said that Christmas is the “Most wonderful time of the year.” This may be true if it points us to the other most wonderful day in history, the day that an empty tomb defeated death.

Christmas commemorates a divine event and a divine person—the miraculous birth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Unlike most of our holidays, Christmas is not a celebration of an event strictly from human history that commemorates a human achievement or recognizes a national milestone. An authentic celebration of Christmas honors the most wonderful of divine accomplishments. It recognizes that the eternal, sovereign God came to earth as a human being to live a righteous life among His people and then to die as a perfect sacrifice to deliver from the wrath of God all who repent and believe. (From: God in the Manger by John MacArthur)

It has been said that Christmas is the “Most wonderful time of the year.” This may be true if it points us to the other most wonderful day in history, the day that an empty tomb defeated death.

1Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

26Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.(ESV)

In the 24 verses in between there are reminders of all that God has done to be thankful for: from creating the world, to bringing Israel out of slavery in Egypt, to leading them into the wilderness, to giving them victory over their enemies as they came into the Promised Land, all of these blessings mentioned in the Psalm are followed by the phrase, “His steadfast love endures forever.” The strong implication of this Psalm is that God shows his love by what he has done. For further evidence of this, see John 3;16.

The Hebrew word Hesed, is the word that the ESV derives “steadfast love” from. It occurs in each and every verse in Psalm 136. 26 separate times. It declares a fact that we can be eternally thankful for. God’s love is a constant we can depend on. Hesed-Steadfast love is:

Not merely love, but loyal love; not merely kindness, but dependable kindness; not merely affection, but affection that has committed itself … love gives itself in covenant and gladly promises devoted love in that covenant; the covenant partner then rests in the security of that promise and may appeal to it’ (Dale Ralph Davis, I Samuel, p. 207)

Jesus repeats this pattern many times in His earthly ministry. He did not have to do it this way. He had the authority to proclaim truth to people and keep a safe distance between Himself and their problems. Christ’s example in serving and investing in the lives of people is one Christians should follow today. We live in a time where people want to know that you care about them before they listen to what you have to say. This is not always easy or comfortable, but well worth the investment.

For most of us, the primary cost of reaching others is that it entangles us in the concerns and activities of their lives it encroaches upon our independence. It adds details to our overloaded schedules. Simply stated, it complicates our already complicated lives.

But so does getting married. And having children. And buying a house. And for that matter, becoming a Christian. Think about it. All of these areas require time, effort, learning, some risk and, without question, a fair share of money. Most of the things that are important complicate our lives. But are they worth it? Of course they are!

Ask any new mother whether her baby requires time and energy, and she’ll probably dare you to try to keeping pace with her for just one day and night. When she’s not feeding, holding, or bathing her baby, you’ll probably find her reading books about parenting, because the learning process never ends. And don’t even bring up the subject of money! She will drag out bills to show you the high cost of everything from formula, to pajamas with feet, to Pampers.

But then inquire whether; in light of all of these costs, she regrets having the baby. “Are you crazy?” she’d ask. “Having this baby has been one of the highlights of my life.”(From Becoming a Contagious Chirstian, by Bill Hybels, page 37-38.)

Being passionate is not a bad thing. It is how we are wired. We are driven and inspired by passion. We need to fight the urge to settle into a type “spiritual despondency,” or apathy. The secret is not to eliminate passion, but to be passionate about the things that God is passionate about. Only then can our passions bring joy to our lives. Here is an excerpt from an awesome book, I have bee reading.

The goal of the Christian journey cannot be the elimination of desire and passion since the Scriptures teach that God created us in His image and likeness, and a part of this reflection of God is a heart designed for passionate living. It has never been God’s intention to move us toward apathetic living. He desires that we live passionate lives in Him. Rather than eliminate our passions, He intends to overwhelm them with new passions. The furnace of our passions is our character, and while evil character burns hot for destructive passions that consume and destroy, the character of God ignites passion for what is good and true. Our quest is to have God’s character formed in us so that His passions might burn in us. (Erwin McManus Uprising. A Revolution of the Soul.)

A loved one could express their love for us through a Shakespearean sonnet, but would we reject their own words because of Shakespeare’s amazing way with words? Or would we simply value their sincere words even though they are new and their own?

WHOSE TRADITION? WHOSE MUSIC?
Any proponent of “historic” corporate worship will have to answer the question, “Whose history?” Much of what is called “traditional” worship is very rooted in northern European culture. Strict historic worship advocates may bind it(worship) too heavily to a past culture. Do we really want to assume that the sixteenth-century northern European approach to emotional expression and music (incarnate in the Reformation tradition) was completely biblically informed and must be preserved?

—Timothy J. Keller, “Reformed Worship in the Global City,” chapter four of WORSHIP BY THE BOOK, edited by D. A. Carson. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002, p. 196. ISBN 0-310-21625-7.

It is easy for words to become almost meaningless when there is such an escalation of superlatives. In his amazing book, “Crazy Love,” Francis Chan addresses this issue in relation to praising and describing God.

To say that God is holy is to say that He is set apart, distinct from us. And because of His set apart-ness, there is no way we can ever fathom all of who He is. To the Jews, saying something three times demonstrated perfection, so to call God “Holy, Holy, Holy” is to say that He is perfectly set apart, with nothing and no one to compare Him to. That is what it means to be “holy.”

Many Spirit-filled authors have exhausted the thesaurus in order to describe God with the glory He deserves. His perfect holiness, by definition, assures us that our words can’t contain Him. Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?

There is nothing we can do to overstate God’s greatness. Words do not even come close.

But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. Acts 6:1

What I find amazing about this chapter is that we are told that the number of believers greatly increased at this time in Jerusalem. But do we see the church celebrating the victories and praising God for the incredible increase in the number of believers.? No, we are told that the Greeks complained about the Hebrew speaking people. If the church in Acts, in the face of phenomenal success, found people who spoke different languages complaining against each other, what hope does the church have today? The only hope we have in anything, Jesus.

Jesus prayed to God the Father for Believers to be united.

I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. John 17:21-23

In this passage, Jesus is not talking about worldly unity, where everything is accepted as truth, thus eliminating “truth.” If all is true then nothing is true. Jesus was speaking of the “perfect unity,” that can only come through faith in Jesus Christ. Thabiti Anyabwile said that “Christ’s blood creates a different, closer lineage. “(T4G conference 2008) What unites us is so much stronger than petty differences in how we look or what language we speak.

Grunge- a style of music and fashion popularized in the early 1990′s in the Pacific Northwest. Grunge fashion (or anti-fashion as some called it) was characterized by plaid fannel shirts, stonewashed blue jeans.

Let’s see Pacific Northwest, flannel shirts, blue jeans, and scraggly beards.  I thought this style was called Lumberjack!

Emo- meaning being comfortable with oneself. Its a more direct way of altering the feelings one has without words, just emotion.

……………..crickets chirping…….more crickets……….I think I will leave this one alone. The point is that labeling music, fashion, or anything that depends on interpretation, is tricky business.

In church circles, over the past decade or two, the term “blended worship” has risen to almost unimaginable popularity. Almost everyone in the Christian church has heard or used this term. To me, “blended worship” is as useful a phrase, as emo or grunge. Even though MANY people use it, I am not sure what it means. What is it a blend of? When I have challenged people to explain what the term meant, the typical answer is something like,,”you know, hymns and praise songs.” Excellent!! A starting point. Ok, now all that is needed is a definition of each of these song types. After that is done, we can look into the nuts and bolts of this  ”blended worship” thing.

St Augustine defined a Hymn very simply, cantus est cum laude Dei. Which means, loosely translated, “a song that praises God.” If I weave my rudimentary understanding of the term “blended worship,” with St Augustine’s definition of Hymn, I can easily describe what “blended worship” is. Apparently, “blended worship” is a mixture of praise songs and praise songs. I hope this has been helpful to you.

In this case, as with the Lumberjack versus grunge debate, the definitions have only made things more confusing. Since so many people have uttered the phrase, “blended worship,” a further look into what people mean, or think they mean, by the phrase seems like an important endeavor. What are the real or imagined distinctions between praise songs(Hymns) and praise songs? What is the conversation really about? Stay tuned.