Worship Music

Worshiping God through Praise is an amazing thing and something to take with complete reverence. It is a fascinating subject and one that deserves our full attention. As I continue my wonderful study in Justification you can look for updates soon. I want to step back from that for a bit and talk about Worship Music. It just so happens to be the latest sermon series our Pastor is going through right now. You can listen to that message here...

http://www.mtmorriscommunitychurch.org/home/2259/2259/audio/Music%20in%20the%20Church.mp3

We are going through the book of Colossians verse by verse and this is such a fantastic subject. So many of todays "POP" Culture church services seem to be more bent on pleasing man in hopes that it please God by the effort rather than starting with what pleases God first and well ONLY. Once we see what it is that please God we should not wavier from that. Take the Biblical instruction and praise God in a way that He gets the glory.

Our churches get so up roared in what can be sung and what instruments can or cannot be used and we dont pay attention to the heart and the theology in the words. Contemporary churches seem to not want old wonderfully full hymnals and classic hymnal lovers dont want any contemporary biblical songs brought in. It is for God and both sides need to put there focus on Him with much prayer.

Here is an example of a very Biblical song that I think would not be brought into a church context and I agree it should not be. But for casual theological listening, this song is very edifying. Now it is a rap song and I will be the first to tell you that I am not into hip hop or rap or rock or metal Christian Music. I do think some of it is great but most of it falls very short. Please tell me what you think .

Well before I get more into the issue of Justification I want to update you on what has since happened with my Catholic Friend. He showed up to talk to me yesterday. He said that a leader of the church came up to him after mass and told him that what he brought up last week was very interesting and commented on the remarks I made about the necessity of the law and the inability to add work to justification. He asked him to tell it to him again and he again explained our conversation and told the guy that it is kind of strange because I take the Bible literally. The other man said he had been struggling with the point of the law and this helps clear things up for him. The other man told my friend that he would like to have more group talks about this subject. He was than told that I made the offer to come to the church and explain myself if desired. The leader (I don’t know the position) said that would be great but they both agreed that they needed to get the Priest Ok.

When he told me all this I was so blessed because I did not even imagine fruit like this would come to be. Then these two verses came to mind today.

Psalm 37:4†
Delight yourself in the LORD;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Matthew 6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

What an amazing promise. When you look at your life and in your prayer time you count all your blessing. You are content with all that you have and could not ask for more. The only thing you want is more of God and He blesses you with fruit and obedience and you begin to walk in His ways. You act according the riches you have in Christ and speak. For all I know that man in that Catholic Church might be getting saved. I don’t know. I just thank God that he gives more than we could ever ask and blesses us so much. How can we not tell people?

Infused or Imputed??

I have been witnessing over the past year with a man whom I love dearly. He is a devote catholic and he and I have shared opposing views with much interjection from his current Priest. I feel as if I know this priest and I can almost foresee every swing back he will have toward me as he looks for spiritual truth. Over the years we have discussed the Law and its proper use, mercy, Holiness, and works. I knew our time together was coming to an end due to his soon retirement. I wanted to make sure he understood our differences and was clear on what the result would be according to scripture if he held his current views. I am sure I could have lead him to 100 "sinner prayers" but thank God that never happened. I knew if anything would save him it would be the word of God and the power there of. So I have been just knuckles down on the issues of Justification and if it is infused or imputed. I knew already what Scripture taught but I did not understand how Catholicism can come to some misunderstanding of infused righteousness.

Currently I am reading a book by Jonathan Edwards on Justification by Faith alone and it has been such a blessing to me. After going through several Catholic blogs I am shocked at the constant contradictions within the blogs. They say that works is necessary for salvation but there verses are ripped out of context and then seeing quotes for justification apart from the law is by faith. I just dont get it.

When we parted ways, I asked him if he would be willing to read Romans Chapter 4 and he declined. I asked why? He said he trust what the priest and myself tell him. I told him that we both could be leading him to hell and unless he checks for himself he will never get saved. He said he will be fine and I said no you wont not based on your goodness and he drove away and said "bye Gary". Be in prayer for him this week if you could. In the mean time I want to start tomorrow with a overview of Romans 4 and its clear unmistakable explanation of Justification by FAITH ALONE.

God Bless

On vacation

Will be back Sunday afternoon. Thought I would drop this promo....