A People for His Name

Two New Stanzas for “Thank You, Lord”

April 26, 2014

The Lord is continuing to direct me to write new lyrics for Christian songs. This morning, I wrote two new stanzas for the chorus, “Thank You, Lord.”

These new stanzas supplement the message of the original stanza and provide additional lyrics that we can use to thank the Lord for giving us so great a salvation. May the Lord use these stanzas greatly to glorify Himself!

Thank You, Lord

1. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul,
Thank you, Lord, for making me whole;
Thank you, Lord, for giving to me
Thy great salvation so rich and free.

2. Thank you, Lord, for op-‘ning my eyes,
Thank you, Lord, for making me wise;
Thank you, Lord, for setting me free
From Satan’s pow’r that had blinded me.

3. Thank you, Lord, for pardoning me,
Thank you, Lord, for grace that is free;
Thank you, Lord, for granting to me
Precious repentance and faith in Thee.

You may use the new stanzas of this song in a ministry context provided you do not change any of the words and you provide copyright information to anyone whom you distribute it. Please contact me for any other use of these stanzas.

In Guitar Music, Music

Two New Stanzas for “He Is Lord”

April 23, 2014

Based on Philippians 2:11, stanza one of the song “He is Lord” extols Jesus Christ as Lord.

I have written two new stanzas that extol Him as King and as Judge, respectively. Together, these three stanzas trumpet the glory of Jesus Christ as the One who has been exalted by God the Father to be the Lord of all!

He Is Lord

1. He is Lord, He is Lord!
He is ris-en from the dead, and He is Lord!
Ev-‘ry knee shall bow, ev-‘ry tongue confess
That Je-sus Christ is Lord!

2. He is King, He is King!
He is rul-ing from His throne, and He is King!
Ev-‘ry knee shall bow, ev-‘ry soul give praise
To Je-sus Christ, the King!

3. He is Judge, He is Judge!
He is seat-ed up on high, and He is Judge!
Ev-‘ry knee shall bow, ev-‘ry one shall hon-
or Je-sus Christ as Judge!

You may use the new stanzas of this song in a ministry context provided you do not change any of the words and you provide copyright information to anyone whom you distribute it. Please contact me for any other use of these stanzas.

In Guitar Music, Music

Do You Appreciate Peter Properly as the Blessed Disciple That He Was?

April 21, 2014

Overall, my perspective over the years has been that many believers consistently emphasize negative aspects of Peter’s life at the expense of a number of key good things that Scripture reveals about him. To help change this unwarranted emphasis, this post presents four points about Peter that show that he was a uniquely blessed disciple of Jesus Christ.

God the Father Uniquely Favored Peter

In Caesarea, Peter made his famous confession of Jesus as the Christ (Matt 16:13-20). Jesus responded by declaring that the Father had uniquely favored him to enable him to do so:

Mat 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

¹⁷ And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

In spite of all Peter’s failings, the Father chose to bless Peter in a special way with glorious revelation about His Son!

Jesus Uniquely Favored Peter

Not only did the Father specially favor Peter on that occasion, but Jesus did so as well. Jesus promised that He would build His church upon the rock of Peter’s confession of Him as the Christ (Matt. 16:18). In addition, He gave to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 16:19)!

Certainly, Jesus knew Peter through and through, including how he would shortly thereafter be an offense to Jesus Himself (Matt. 16:22-23). In fact, even Jesus’ full knowledge of how Peter would yet fail Him grievously in the future (Matt. 26:34, 75; Luke 22:31) did not lead Him to withdraw the special calling that He had given to Peter.

The Holy Spirit Uniquely Highlights His Selection of Peter

While Peter was thinking about a miraculous vision that he had seen (Acts 10:17-19a), the Holy Spirit spoke directly to him:

Act 10:19 While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.

²⁰ Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I [Gk. egw, emphatic personal pronoun] have sent them.

Remarkably, the Spirit emphatically asserted (using an emphatic personal pronoun) that He had sent the men who came to summon Peter to come speak words to Cornelius and his household by which they all would be saved (Acts 11:14).

This is the only evangelistic account in Scripture that the Spirit directly declares that He purposed that a specific disciple would be the one who would preach the gospel on a specific occasion.

The Book of Acts Uniquely Emphasizes the Gospel Ministry of Peter

The book of Acts recounts how the Church was born (Acts 1-2) and how the disciples proceeded to evangelize the world thereafter (Acts 3-28). Of the lengthy accounts of apostolic gospel ministry that the Spirit provides us with in Acts, the records of Peter’s ministry in Jerusalem (Acts 2) and in Caesarea (Acts 10:1-48; 11:1-18; 15:7-9) are the two that are highlighted both by their being the two longest accounts and by their being the two most important accounts.

Furthermore, the inspired record of the Jerusalem Council proceedings uniquely emphasizes the gospel ministry of Peter in a way that sets his ministry in Caesarea apart from all other evangelistic accounts. To understand this unique emphasis, we must closely consider the following facets of what transpired in Jerusalem at that time.

First, Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders to resolve an all-important question—did the Gentiles have to be circumcised in order to be saved (Acts 15:1-2)? Although Paul and Barnabas did contribute heavily to the proceedings of the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:4, 12), Scripture provides only a one-verse summary of their ministry to Gentiles (Acts 15:12) in reporting what they contributed to the actual proceedings of the Council.

By striking contrast, the Jerusalem Council report highlights Peter’s ministry in Caesarea by providing five verses concerning his ministry and its implications (Acts 15:7-11). Remarkably, Peter’s ministry on that occasion is the only specific evangelistic encounter mentioned in the entire record of the Jerusalem Council proceedings.

This comparison shows that the inspired record of the Jerusalem Council features an explicit emphasis on Petrine gospel ministry while only providing a summary statement about Pauline ministry to Gentiles!

Second, James authoritatively settled the issues at hand by again referring to God’s use of Peter in Caesarea and how what took place on that occasion was in fulfillment of the words of the prophets (Acts 15:13-21). In this way, we see that the Jerusalem Council account clearly presents a unique emphasis on Petrine gospel ministry.

Conclusion

The four points discussed above show that Peter was a disciple who was uniquely favored by the Father, Son, and the Spirit! Moreover, the inspired records in the book of Acts (of apostolic evangelism and of apostolic determinations concerning how Gentiles are saved) show that Peter was a uniquely important God-chosen minister of the gospel.

Based on the biblical data, we should take care not to emphasize negative aspects of the Scriptural record about the apostle Peter at the expense of much glorious revelation concerning how he was a uniquely blessed disciple of Christ. Let us appreciate Peter properly as the blessed disciple that he was!

In Evangelism, Exhortation, Gospel, Interpretation, Theology

“The Eyes of the Lord”

April 18, 2014

“The Wheels on the Bus” is a fun traditional song for young kids to sing. The song uses only two basic guitar chords (G and D) and has an easy to learn melody, making it another good song for any beginning guitarist to use to perfect his playing the chords and the melody notes in treble clef.

Sung to the same tune, my new song “The Eyes of the Lord”¹ teaches young children solid biblical truth about the universal reality that the Lord sees everything and everyone all the time everywhere (2 Chron. 16:9 Prov. 15:3; Zech. 4:10; Heb. 4:13). Moreover, He examines all that is done (Ps. 11:4; Prov. 5:21), and His gaze is on the just in a special way to favor them (Ps. 34:15; 1 Pet. 3:12).

The Eyes of the Lord

1. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro,
to and fro, to and fro,
the eyes of the Lord run to and fro,
all through the earth.

2. The eyes of the Lord see all that’s done,
all that’s done, all that’s done,
the eyes of the Lord see all that’s done,
all through the earth.

3. The eyes of the Lord try ev’ryone,
ev’ryone, ev’ryone,
the eyes of the Lord try ev’ryone,
all through the earth.

4. The eyes of the Lord are on the just,
on the just, on the just,
the eyes of the Lord are on the just,
all through the earth.

You may use this song in a ministry context provided you do not change any of the words and you provide copyright information to anyone whom you distribute it. Please contact me for any other use of the song.

¹The_Eyes_of_the_Lord provides the melody notes, words, and guitar chords for the song in the key of G. Listen to the melody:

In Guitar Music, Music

The Use of “Elision” in Spanish Hymnody

April 17, 2014

Spanish hymns have an interesting feature that I call “elision.” When a word ends with a vowel and the next word begins with a vowel, the last syllable of a word and the first syllable of the next word are often combined into one syllable.

For example, although “Pen-san-do en ti” has five syllables, through elision this phrase spans only four notes instead of five [“Pen- san- (do en) ti”] in this example:

On beat 3 of measure one in this example, “-do” and “en” are elided.

The following chart shows what vowels are elided with other vowels in songs in Himnos Majestuos: Revised Edition. The integer part of each entry denotes the number of the hymn and the decimal tells in which system the example occurs.

The rows give the first of the two vowels that elide while the columns give the second vowel.

For example, the top left cell of this table has this entry: 1.1; 255.1. This notation means that “a” elides with “a” in hymn #1 in the first system and in hymn #255 in the first system.

Using this table should especially help people who are not native Spanish speakers (like me) know what vowels or combinations of vowels often elide in Spanish hymns.

In Music, Spanish

Spanish Bible Reading Report 4.12.14

April 12, 2014

After 102 days in 2014, I am only a couple chapters behind (304 chapters completed instead of 306 [for reading 3 chapters a day]) in my Bible reading for the year in the Reina Valera:

Books completed – Genesis; Proverbs; Ecclesiastes; Galatians; 1 & 2 Thessalonians; James; Jude (113 total chapters)
Other reading – Exodus 1-12; Psalms 1-102; Isaiah 1-50; Matthew 1-17; John 1-5; Acts 10, 15; 1 Cor. 13-15 (191 total chapters)
Chapters read – OT – 257; NT – 47; Total – 304

I praise the Lord for His grace in getting this far in this project!

In Bible reading, Spanish

Learning from a Surprising Problem in the Life of David Brainerd

April 11, 2014

Reading in a short biography of Jonathan Edwards, I was surprised to learn that David Brainerd, of whom I have never heard anything negative said, got into serious trouble when he was a student at Yale because he openly criticized the spiritual state of his superiors:

Far worse, some local traveling preachers, and even some Yale students, were saying the same thing. Just before the commencement the Yale trustees passed a regulation saying that “if any student of this college shall directly or indirectly say, that the rector, either of the trustees or tutors are hypocrites, carnal or unconverted men, he shall for the first offence make public confession in the hall, and for the second offence be expelled.” One of the main targets was an intensely spiritual and outspoken student named David Brainerd. Eventually Yale expelled Brainerd after he was overheard to remark that one of the tutors “had no more grace than a chair.”

. . . Even if students like David Brainerd went too far in criticizing their superiors, Edwards admired their deep spiritual intensity.

—George M. Marsden, A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards, 70

May we all learn from Brainerd’s failures in this regard and pray earnestly and regularly, “Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips” (Ps. 141:3).

In Exhortation, Quotes

A Wonderful Promise of God Concerning Healthcare!

April 7, 2014

With so many friends of mine going through very serious health troubles right now, my mind went tonight to the wonderful promise of God concerning healthcare that is given in this passage:

Psa 41:1 <To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.> Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.

² The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.

³ The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.

Charles Spurgeon provides these glorious comments on the marvelous promise made here for those who habitually care for others in need:

Verse 3. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing. The everlasting arms shall stay up his soul as friendly hands and downy pillows stay up the body of the sick. How tender and sympathising is this image; how near it brings our God to our infirmities and sicknesses! Whoever heard this of the old heathen Jove, or of the gods of India or China? This is language peculiar to the God of Israel; he it is who deigns to become nurse and attendant upon good men. If he smites with one hand he sustains with the other. Oh, it is blessed fainting when one falls upon the Lord’s own bosom, and is borne up thereby! Grace is the best of restoratives; divine love is the noblest stimulant for a languishing patient; it makes the soul strong as a giant, even when the aching bones are breaking through the skin. No physician like the Lord, no tonic like his promise, no wine like his love. Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. What, doth the Lord turn bed maker to his sick children? Herein is love indeed. Who would not consider the poor if such be the promised reward? A bed soon grows hard when the body is weary with tossing to and fro upon it, but grace gives patience, and God’s smile gives peace, and the bed is made soft because the man’s heart is content; the pillows are downy because the head is peaceful. Note that the Lord will make all his bed, from head to foot. What considerate and indefatigable kindness! Our dear and ever blessed Lord Jesus, though in all respects an inheritor of this promise, for our sakes condescended to forego the blessing, and died on a cross and not upon a bed; yet, even there, he was after awhile upheld and cheered by the Lord his God, so that he died in triumph.

—Treasury of David, http://www.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps041.htm

Matthew Henry also brings out the tremendous promise that God gives here:

The good-will of a God that loves us is sufficient to secure us from the ill-will of all that hate us, men and devils; and that good-will we may promise ourselves an interest in if we have considered the poor and helped to relieve and rescue them. {2.} Particularly in sickness (v. 3): The Lord will strengthen him, both in body and mind, upon the bed of languishing, on which he had long lain sick, and he will make all his bed-a very condescending expression, alluding to the care of those that nurse and tend sick people, especially of mothers for their children when they are sick, which is to make their beds easy for them; and that bed must needs be well made which God himself has the making of. He will make all his bed from head to foot, so that no part shall be uneasy; he will turn his bed (so the word is), to shake it up and make it very easy; or he will turn it into a bed of health. Note, God has promised his people that he will strengthen them, and make them easy, under their bodily pains and sicknesses. He has not promised that they shall never be sick, nor that they shall not lie long languishing, nor that their sickness shall not be unto death; but he has promised to enable them to bear their affliction with patience, and cheerfully to wait the issue. The soul shall by his grace be made to dwell at ease when the body lies in pain.

—Comments on Ps. 41 in Matthew Henry Notes

Both of these illustrious men of God bring out the blessed healthcare promise in Psalm 41:3 that God will be the Divine Nurse in times of debilitating illness for those who have themselves graciously and sacrificially considered others in their times of deep need (including physical sickness) and helped care for them. Although God does not promise here that He will heal such people when they become seriously ill, He does promise to care for them at such times in a marvelous way that no other nurse or healthcare provider ever could or would!

Brethren, let us make much of this glorious healthcare promise!

In Exhortation, Health

The Evangelistic Importance of a Striking Correlation between John 4:4-42 and 1 Corinthians 14:23-25

April 4, 2014

John 4:4-42 and 1 Corinthians 14:23-25 record evangelistic encounters in two widely differing settings: Jesus’ evangelizing a sinful woman in Samaria versus an unbelieving person who enters a local church and receives prophesying from a congregation of worshiping believers. Despite their differing settings, these passages reveal a striking correlation that illumines a key element of genuine salvation.

John 4:4-42

Jesus conversed about living water with a Samaritan woman who came to draw water from the well where He was sitting (John 4:5-14). The woman responded by saying to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw” (John 4:15).

Instead of immediately giving her that gift of God (John 4:10) when she seemed eager to receive it, Jesus supernaturally confronted her with her sinfulness by telling her how she was currently living in sin (John 4:16-18). Recognizing that He had exposed sinful details of her life that she would have thought that He would have had no way of knowing about her, the woman related that she perceived that He was a prophet (John 4:19).

Through His exposing her secret sinfulness and His further dealings with her (John 4:20-27), the woman became convinced that He was the Christ whom she knew would come and tell them “all things” (John 4:25). Leaving Him and going into the city, she testified to men repeatedly that she had encountered the Christ who told her all things that she had ever done (John 4:29, 39).

By correlating these three statements (John 4:25, 29, 39), we see clearly that her persistent testimony to that specific truth shows that His supernaturally convincing her of the sinfulness of secret aspects of her life was a crucial facet of her coming to genuine faith in Him. In particular, the final statement about her testifying to that truth shows that many others also came to believe because of her testimony to that truth (John 4:39).

1 Corinthians 14:23-25

In the only New Testament passage that explicitly recounts worship taking place in a local church (1 Cor. 14:23-25), Paul provides strikingly similar revelation to what was crucial in Jesus’ evangelism of the Samaritan woman:

1Co 14:23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?

²⁴ But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:

²⁵ And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.

This passage shows that true worship of God by an unbelieving sinner who comes into a local church results from God’s making manifest “the secrets of his heart” (1 Cor. 14:25) and convincing him of his sinfulness (1 Cor. 14:24) through the collective ministry of all who minister to him in that service (see The Consummation of Public Worship for a fuller explanation of this passage).

Discussion

Both John 4:4-42 and 1 Corinthians 14:23-25 teach us about the importance of a sinner having his secret sins exposed supernaturally. To understand further the evangelistic importance of this striking correlation between these two passages, we need to correlate them with key Pauline teaching about his gospel ministry:

In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel (Rom. 2:16).

A careful handling of Romans 2:16 shows that Paul is teaching that a key truth that he testified as part of his gospel was that God “in the day” would judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ (see this post for a detailed explanation concerning this vital point).

We learn from this statement that Paul evangelized sinners by telling that them that God will one day judge their secret sins and that He will do so through Jesus Christ. Paul thus evangelized sinners with testimony that closely correlates with the Samaritan woman’s testimony to others that Jesus as the Christ had exposed her secret sinfulness and convinced her of that sinfulness by telling her all things that she had ever done.

Furthermore, because Paul tells us that part of his gospel testimony was to tell people about how God will one day judge their secrets through Jesus Christ, we are justified in inferring that this truth was one of the truths that was prophesied to the unbeliever who came into the local church service recorded in 1 Corinthians 14:23-25.

Conclusion

John 4:4-42 and 1 Corinthians 14:23-25 correlate strongly with each other and with Romans 2:16 to reveal the vital evangelistic importance of testifying to sinners that God will one day judge their secrets through Jesus Christ. We who evangelize sinners in our day should testify to this key gospel truth and allow God to use it to expose to them their secrets and to convince them of their sinfulness.

Doing so, we will provide them with vital testimony that God will use to bring those who repent and believe to fall on their faces and worship Him!

In Evangelism, Gospel, Interpretation, Theology

Victory in Jesus

April 1, 2014

Whereas Adam, Eve, and the children of Israel in the wilderness failed when they were tempted in the dietary realm of their lives, praise God our Lord was victorious when He was similarly tempted. Though He “had fasted forty days and forty nights,” still He did not give in to the devil’s temptation of Him to meet His legitimate physical need for food in an ungodly manner (Matt. 4:2-4). Our Lord won His victory through His use of quoting Scripture to the wicked one to overcome him.

We, too, must depend upon the Word of God to give us victory in the dietary realm, as well as in all other realms. We must stop looking to the world and its wisdom for answers to problems in the health/fitness realm, as well as in all other realms of our lives.

We especially should not look to secular dietary authorities for help in being godly in our eating and activity practices. In spite of all the knowledge and multitudes of plans the world has, the incidence of obesity is increasing in the US. Though multitudes know they should be physically active, how many are as faithful as they could be?

Praise God that we have what the world does not have to be successful—we have been given “all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3).

If you’re having struggles in the dietary realm, you should consider memorizing Proverbs 30:7-9 and praying through that passage each day, asking the Lord to give you victory by His Spirit:

“Two things have I required [asked] of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient [Heb. of my allowance] for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”

In brief, when we pray this prayer, it will be an acknowledgment by us that the Lord must provide for us the proper amount of food each day. Too much or too little food will lead us into wickedness. (Secular experts say that eating smaller portions is a key to effective weight management, but they are unable to give any lasting help in how to deny self to do so).

Only His strength is sufficient to give us victory over the flesh—no amount of self-discipline will be sufficient. As He gave the children of Israel just enough manna in the wilderness for their daily needs (Exod. 16:18), so will He “give us day by day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3), when we ask Him.

It is only as we depend on Jesus that we will be triumphant through our Lord who “gave [H]imself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world” (Gal. 1:4)!

In Health

Share this:

Share this:

God the Father Uniquely Favored Peter

Jesus Uniquely Favored Peter

The Holy Spirit Uniquely Highlights His Selection of Peter

The Book of Acts Uniquely Emphasizes the Gospel Ministry of Peter

Conclusion

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

John 4:4-42

1 Corinthians 14:23-25

Discussion

Conclusion

Share this:

Share this: