Tried With Fire

These lines have been going through my head. Is this good news or what? We praise the risen Savior who is able to present us Without an ounce of blame, with zero doubt or shame 1 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Jude 24-25 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him . In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ,according to the purpose of his will, Ephesians 1:3-5 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and a...

Penelope Judd from Shai Linne's Storiez :

Lyrics here .

Listening to this album and praising the triune God...

As I read John 18-21 today in preparation for Easter, these verses stood out to me in a new way: 'Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover ." John 18:28 I found it very interesting that the Jews were so careful to not defile themselves so they could eat the Passover, but they were rejecting the Lamb of God. All that the Passover was pointing to was about to be fulfilled, and they completely missed it. But before I could do any finger pointing, I recalled the words from Shai Linne's song "Were You There": "The way we treat the Lord of glory is debased and it’s foul Ashamed, I bow because I see my face in the crowd" As I considered what the Lord Jesus suffered on my behalf, I don't want to take it for granted or lose the sense of my sinfulness and complete lack of...

I received this offer in the mail from a local card store. Not only do I get 20% off my purchase, but I get a free gift - this wonderful birthday angel pin. Apparently this "angel" has the ability to grant my birthday wishes and make them all come true. Four things came to mind: 1. Aren't we supposed to worship and trust God, not angels? 2. Do people really like and believe this stuff? It seems like there's a whole industry cranking out tacky, cutesy, unbiblical angel paraphernalia. 3. This post by Dan Phillips - "Artists' angels look as if they're about to say "Please, may I have another chocolate?" Real angels usually have to start out with saying, "Dude, dude — try not to die!" 4. This line from Angelz from Shai Linne's Solus Christus Project - "and I don't resemble chubby babies with wings That's a lying replica" Maybe I'll use the 20% off coupon, but I think I'll pass on the "angel".

From my notes on Pastor Ryan's sermon on Hebrews 10:26-31: - Those who are Christ's will not lose their salvation. - This describes those who outwardly accept the Gospel but inwardly are devoid of the Gospel. - If the Gospel of grace has taken hold of us, it will change us. - Sinning deliberately is a setting aside of the Gospel. "I am not going to change. I am not going to embrace what Christ says I need to embrace." By denying the Gospel, we stand in open judgment. - If you reject Christ, you are rejecting the only true sacrifice for sin . There is no other sacrifice. There is no other sacrifice that will avail. - It is a rejection of the Son, rejection of His work, rejection of His Spirit. Pastor Ryan used the example from Zechariah 3 of Joshua standing before the Angel of the Lord with Satan accusing him. The Angel of the Lord removes his filthy garments and clothes him in clean garments. Pastor Ryan said that a rejection of Christ would be as if we were stan...

I struggle with this. Particularly when it seems that justice is not being served in my situation. If it doesn't come out of my mouth, it certainly is in my heart. Why do I, why do we, think this way? I think it's because we think that we deserve something. We deserve justice. We deserve to be treated right. If we are wronged, the perpertrator should be held accountable. But what if that doesn't happen? What happened to Joseph? What happened to Isaiah and Jeremiah? But more importantly, what happened to Jesus? Christ teaches the soul this, so that, as in the presence of God on a real sight of itself, it can say: 'Lord, I am nothing, Lord, I deserve nothing, Lord, I can do nothing, I can receive nothing, and can make use of nothing, I am worse than nothing, and if I come to nothing and perish I will be no loss at all and therefore is it such a great thing for me to be cut short here?' A man who is little in his own eyes will account every affliction as little, a...

Here is a rap of redemptive history by Shai Linne to wrap up the work week. Chorus: It's the greatest story ever told A God pursues foes whose hearts turned cold The greatest story ever told Restoring all that the enemy stole The greatest story ever told The glory of Christ is the goal, behold The greatest story ever told It's the greatest...

There is a very popular book based on an obscure prayer in Chronicles. The premise is to repeat this prayer and God will bless you and give you what you want. Given it's popularity, I wonder why there isn't a best seller on Philippians 3. "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead." And what about Acts 5: 41? "Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that the...

I have been thinking about the role of the Trinity in the atonement. Part of it is from listening to Mission Accomplished and High Priest by Shai Linne. Part of it is reading Leviticus and Hebrews with the parallel of the high priest and Jesus, our Great High Priest. Part of it is the whole Shack craze which appears to be muddying the doctrine of the Trinity, promoting Patripassianism, and denying substitutionary atonement. Interestingly, Patripassianism and Sabellianism/Modalism were brought up in a recent Sunday school class on early heresies in church history. So nothing is really new under the sun. I was always taught the Trinity but I feel very ignorant about the implications of the doctrine to the rest of Christianity. For example, if you believe that the Father suffered on the cross, than who was atonement being made to? This confuses what the atonement really is. So having an accurate Biblical view of the Trinity can be a safeguard against other errors. A mental picture I ha...

I was listening to Alone from Shai Linne's album Storiez last night. I lost it on the second verse. I was a faucet tap by the third. There is no question about the good that comes out of trials. But the pain of those trials are a reality as well. We're not anesthetized by God to become numb to the pain. If we were numb to the pain, we'd be numb to the joy as well. It seems like my life is a coming together of opposites. On the one hand, there is hurt and loneliness, and yet there is joy and fellowship in Christ. There's rejection, and yet I am accepted in the Beloved. Sometimes I feel very alone, but there is One who will never leave me nor forsake me. Can I take another step, but then grace is poured out to go on in joy. But if my life is the intersection of opposites, what was it like for Jesus Christ? God and man, perfect yet coming to seek sinners, holy and righteous yet made sin on my behalf, beloved of the Father yet stricken by God, always one with God yet cut o...

I've been thinking about hymns this week and my own convoluted musical journey. I always remember singing hymns as a child. Since I was raised in a Plymouth Brethren church, we sang lots of hymns. In college, I became enamored with short choruses and contemporary Christian music. I came back to hymns when I became a mom because I wanted my daughter to have the heritage of knowing and loving hymns. Nine years ago, I steered clear of choruses because I was leery of how they could be used to emotionally manipulate a congregation. What's ironic is that after my husband left, I started listening to Christian music again. What was I drawn to? The songs that evoked a strong emotional response . In my loss, I needed to feel that at least God loved me. Believe me, there were plenty of songs to fit the bill. Here's a song that I would listen to: The more I seek you, the more I find you The more I find you, the more I love you Chorus:I wanna sit at your feet drink from the cup ...

I have moved Holiness by J.C. Ryle from the back burner. I started reading it again on Monday evening when we lost power for 6 hours. It felt quite historically correct reading it by candlelight. Chapter 3 on Holiness seems to tie in well with the new sermon series on the Gospel and the Home. I'm still ruminating on The Glory of Christ by Owen. I am pondering John 1:18 and Owen's statement " Without Christ we would have known nothing truly about God for he would have been eternally invisible to us. We would never have seen God at any time, either in this life or the next ". Since this the case, what/who did Adam see in the garden, what/who did Abraham see when God told Him of His plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, what/who did Moses see on Sinai? Around the blogsphere: Brian at Recover the Gospel has posted a video interview of Shai Linne on communicating the gospel via the medium of hip hop. Check out the many resources available there. While We Sojourn i...

This album has been at the top of my play list. It's not easy listening. In fact, I find myself mentally flinching at some of the lyrics. Not because any of the lyrics are offensive but that the lyrics are so honest . Shai Linne does not mince words in describing the total depravity of man. Any thoughts that people are basically good get demolished by In Adam All Die . He doesn't mince words about the brutality of the cross, physically as well as Christ being made the sin bearer. I naturally want to shy away from such things. In fact, I haven't seen Mel Gibson's Passion of Christ for that very reason. It is an offense and offends our 21st century civilized sensibilities. It's no wonder that so-called theologians want to strip the cross of it's real meaning - the penal substitutionary atonement of our Savior. Through My Eyes captures the fear and agony of the thief on the cross. I think this is the hardest song for me to listen to. Perhaps because it ...

that I would be listening to Christian rap music. Not your typical listening material for a 40-something, homeschooling mom. I also admit that rap is not a genre that I would naturally be drawn to. But I had read about a brother named Shai Linne here and here . Also, my curiosity was piqued about anyone who would write a rap about Charles Spurgeon. Well last night, a brother and sister graciously gave us a copy of Shai Linne's The Atonement . We listened to some of it and were stunned by what we heard. After we listened to Were You There , I wanted to cry and repent for my lack of love for Christ in the face of all that He has done. There are songs about the cross that express some of the horror of the event that secured our salvation. Yes, the brutality of the crucifixion is portrayed but the cruelty is greater because the spotless Son of God willing endured God's wrath to bring glory to the Father and secure my redemption. Some of these songs are not easy to listen to bec...

These are two quotes that grabbed my attention. What we need is not “free will” but wills made free. From this post by John Samson at reformationtheology.com "You can listen to Greg Boyd and the open theists and frankly, I think you'll want to jump off a bridge to be worshipping a god who didn't know that was going to happen." Quote from Todd Friel of Way of the Master Radio on this program featuring Shai Linne's song Triune Praise