One Rainy Sunday

On a rainy Sunday, June 6, 1982, while attending the Billy Graham crusade by the urging of my two sisters, I “felt my Lord’s atoning blood, close to my soul applied. Me, me, He loved, the Son of God, for me, for me He died.”* Thus began my new life in the Christian faith. For the previous 20 years of my life, being in an unconverted state, I grew up thinking myself to be a good kid. And by all accounts of those around me, I was. That’s right. Compared to those around me, I was a good kid.I was raised as a (nominal) Roman Catholic, being baptized as an infant and in time, receiving my first holy communion, confirmation and the coveted Pope Pius XII award by the time I was 13 years old. Perhaps I could more accurately be classified as a “practical atheist”, for my religious convictions had little association with the life I was living. The two, in my mind, were for occasions of their own. Me, myself and I owned 6 days and 23 hours of the week. Religion possessed a mere hour on Sunday mornings, if that. Besides all that, my reigning philosophy about religion was to pick any religion, then be the best person you can be and you’ll make it to heaven. In those days it never entered my mind that if you can make it to heaven by being a good person, then Jesus Christ died in vain! Not until that rainy day in June, as I sat in my seat listening to the preaching of Billy Graham, did it dawn on my soul that before God I am not so good. That’s right. Compared to the Holy and Righteous God how could I ever stand with my head held high? For the first time in my life I was measured up against One of Infinite Goodness, Holiness and Justice and immediately my badness was shown for what it really is…sin. Under the weight of this realization my heart was crushed. For the very first time in my entire life I realized that I was sinful to the very core of my being, as I tasted it and knew this was true of me as I was now standing before Almighty God and not anyone else. Previous to that evening I would admit to my sisters that “Yea, yea I’m a sinner, you’re a sinner, we’re all sinners”, but I never tasted the reality of it. You see, that night, as I sat in my seat, long before any choruses of “Just As I AM” were sung or any decisions were made, God revealed something to me, something of my sin before a Holy God. And I was granted to see myself as God truly sees me…and it was heavy! Well, while under this burden of conviction of sin and heaviness of heart, the preacher continued. God, in His sheer mercy, then revealed to me that even as sin-sick as I am, Jesus Christ loved me and gave Himself for me, took away my sin, forgave me, in order to bring me back to God! For the first time in my entire life this reality dawned upon my understanding and my soul! Such love melted my heart, with tears streaming down my face for hours afterward! Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who lived a sinless life, took on Himself the wrath of God due me, died on a cross, in my place, for my sin, rose from the grave three days later to give me new life…real life…Life by, in and for God!…And on top of all that, beyond my greatest imagination, all this taking place while sitting next to my Dad, who was undergoing the very same conviction of sin and tasting for the first time the love of God in Jesus Christ too! Spiritual twins undergoing the new birth! Wow! What rarities: converted in a memorable point in time, side by side with my father and now possessing an audio copy of that particular message preached by Billy Graham on that rainy Sunday in June, 1982.Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift (2 Corinthians 9:15)! * “And Can It Be”, Charles Wesley, 1738

A Rare and Beautiful Word for Our Day

For the full text / audio/ or video go here:

By The Grace of God...

Solely and completely by the raw grace of God I am a Christian. One justified, sanctified, glorified and brought back to God (that is, saved) by God’s grace alone, through faith alone in the doing, dying and rising of Jesus Christ alone, to the glory of God alone!

“My sin…not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more!”

ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!

Perhaps even more miraculous is the calling of God to be an under shepherd of and spokesperson for Jesus! In the spirit of Mephibosheth I too ask: “what would you have with a dead dog like me”(2 Sam 9)?

On Sunday, October 5, 2008, the members of Haverhill Community Church unanimously voted to call me to serve them as their Pastor...and with humble gratitude to God - I am just blown away - I wholeheartedly accept God's call and look forward to the days, weeks, months and years ahead to see, savor and share Jesus Christ together and to placard Him before our community!

To God be the glory for great things He has done!

To Be Ordained!...

I am truly humbled...and thrilled to announce that the Ordination Council of Haverhill Community Church has unanimously affirmed God's call on my life to ministry...and will be conducting an Ordination Service this Sunday evening - 9/28/2008 @ 6PM at
Haverhill Community Church.
Please join us in person...and if not, in prayer, to celebrate our Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ!
17 Newcomb St.
Haverhill, MA 01830
map

any questions, please e or call.

Much grace and peace of Jesus,

Danny

An Ordination Examination...

This coming Saturday I will be meeting with the leadership of Haverhill Community Church, along with a dozen pastors, for the examination of my call to Christian ministry. I appreciate you prayers for this ordination council.
I am humbled, encouraged and frightened...all at the same time!

with much love and joy in Jesus!
Danny

PS: My friend Paul sent this to me and brought me great (and humbling encouragement)

In Honor of Tethered Preaching
September 17, 2008By John Piper
Read this article on our website.

The Bible tethers us to reality. We are not free to think and speak whatever might enter our minds or what might be pleasing to any given audience—except God.
By personal calling and Scripture, I am bound to the word of God and to the preaching of what the Bible says. There are few things that burden me more or refresh me more than saying what I see in the Bible. I love to see what God says in the Bible. I love to savor it. And I love to say it.
I believe with all my heart that this is the way God has appointed for me not to waste my life. His word is true. The Bible is the only completely true book in the world. It is inspired by God. Rightly understood and followed, it will lead us to everlasting joy with him. There is no greater book or greater truth.
The implications of this for preaching are immense. John Calvin, with the other Reformers, rescued the Scriptures from their subordination to tradition in the medieval church. The Reformation, let us thank God, was the recovery of the unique and supreme authority of Scripture over church authority.
Commenting on John 17:20, Calvin wrote,
Woe to the Papists who have no other rule of faith than the tradition of the Church. As for us, let us remember that the Son of God, who alone can and ought to pronounce in this matter, approves of no other faith but that which comes from the doctrine of the Apostles, of which we find no certain testimony except in their writings. (Commentary on John)
Calvin’s preaching inspires me to press on with this great and glorious task of heralding the word of God. I feel what he says when he writes to Cardinal Sadoleto:
O Lord, you have enlightened me with the brightness of your Spirit. You have put your Word as a lamp to my feet. The clouds which before now veiled your glory have been dispelled by it, and the blessings of your Anointed have shone clearly upon my eyes. What I have learnt from your mouth (that is to say, from your Word) I will distribute faithfully to your church. (“Letter to Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto,” quoted in J. H. Merle D’Augigne, Let Christ Be Magnified, Banner of Truth, 2007, p. 13).
For Calvin, preaching was tethered to the Bible. That is why he preached through books of the Bible so relentlessly. In honor of tethered preaching, I would like to suggest the difference I hear between preaching tethered to the word of God and preaching that ranges free and leans toward entertainment.
The difference between an entertainment-oriented preacher and a Bible-oriented preacher is the manifest connection of the preacher’s words to the Bible as what authorizes what he says.
The entertainment-oriented preacher gives the impression that he is not tethered to an authoritative book in what he says. What he says doesn’t seem to be shaped and constrained by an authority outside himself. He gives the impression that what he says has significance for reasons other than that it manifestly expresses the meaning and significance of the Bible. So he seems untethered to objective authority.
The entertainment-oriented preacher seems to be at ease talking about many things that are not drawn out of the Bible. In his message, he seems to enjoy more talking about other things than what the Bible teaches. His words seem to have a self-standing worth as interesting or fun. They are entertaining. But they don’t give the impression that this man stands as the representative of God before God’s people to deliver God’s message.
The Bible-oriented preacher, on the other hand, does see himself that way—“I am God’s representative sent to God’s people to deliver a message from God.” He knows that the only way a man can dare to assume such a position is with a trembling sense of unworthy servanthood under the authority of the Bible. He knows that the only way he can deliver God’s message to God’s people is by rooting it in and saturating it with God’s own revelation in the Bible.
The Bible-oriented preacher wants the congregation to know that his words, if they have any abiding worth, are in accord with God’s words. He wants this to be obvious to them. That is part of his humility and his authority. Therefore, he constantly tries to show the people that his ideas are coming from the Bible. He is hesitant to go too far toward points that are not demonstrable from the Bible.
His stories and illustrations are constrained and reined in by his hesitancy to lead the consciousness of his hearers away from the sense that this message is based on and expressive of what the Bible says. A sense of submission to the Bible and a sense that the Bible alone has words of true and lasting significance for our people mark the Bible-oriented preacher, but not the entertainment-oriented preacher.
People leave the preaching of the Bible-oriented preacher with a sense that the Bible is supremely authoritative and important and wonderfully good news. They feel less entertained than struck at the greatness of God and the weighty power of his word.
Lord, tether us to your mighty word. Cause me and all preachers to show the people that our word is powerless and insignificant in comparison with yours. Grant us to stand before our people as messengers sent with God’s message to God’s people in God’s name by God’s Spirit. Grant us to tremble at this responsibility. Protect us from trifling with this holy moment before your people.
Pastor John

SoulFest 2008 reflections

Thoroughly enjoyed the time up in Gunstock for Soulfest 08.
Met some humble, wonderful, Jesus-enthralled people there - from those I met at the seminar I presented, to those working hard behind the scenes, to those performing onstage! Just a sweet time for Cyndie, our girls and I! Thanks honey(s) for your support!

Thank you Dan for the invite. Thanks JVT for the finess of your friendship skills and introduction to many talented folks backstage.

I was truly humbled and honored to be a Mephibosheth-like spokesman for King Jesus!
Your love, O Lord, is intensly, majestically amazing!

You can check out the mp3 of the seminar:

When The Holy and The Profane Collide: The Legacy of True Love

and

Behold The Kindness and Severity of God

"Preach The Word..."

SoulFest 2008

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
(2 Timothy 4:1-5)

Please pray for all of us who attend that we will be deeply affected by the Spirit of God as the gospel - the doing, dying and rising of Jesus Christ, The God-Man- is proclaimed once again.

Click on my name for the seminar description/days/times:

"When The Holy and The Profane Collide"

The Legacy of True Love

Bottom Line: God is Holy...we are not...by nature we are objects of His just wrath...

what in the world are you gonna do about that one!?

Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else than the life, death and resurrection of Jesus will save you, keep you and bring you back to God for time and eternity!

Other than the love of God in Jesus(alone) for you...eternal wrath and just damnation is your lot!

27 Years Into Eternity...

Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

Romans 13.11

This is the actual picture from the 1982 Billy Graham Crusade at Nickerson Field of Boston University.

My Dad & I sat in the stands just between the the dorms on the upper section.

This day, 27 years ago, God was pleased to grant us both the gift of hearing and seeing the good news of Jesus Christ!

O' Happy Day!

And here's the program handed out that evening...

All glory, honor, praise, adoration, joy, jubilation, thanksgiving, love, worship...and then some...

be unto the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible...The Only Wise God,

through Jesus Christ, Our Lord!

Hidden...In Plain Sight!

This experiment by the Washington Post reminded me of this truth:

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said,

“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”

Genesis 28.16

or

For what can be known about God is plain to them (me), because God has shown it to them (me). For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they (I) are (am) without excuse. For although they(I) knew God, they(I) did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they(I) became futile in their(my) thinking, and their(my) foolish heart(s) were(was) darkened.

Romans 1.19-21

In this experiment, onetime child prodigy, Joshua Bell, who has arrived as an internationally acclaimed virtuoso, plays incognito in s subway station. He was in town to perform at the Library of Congress and to visit the library's vaults to examine an unusual treasure: an 18th-century violin that once belonged to the great Austrian-born virtuoso and composer Fritz Kreisler.

Watch, in amazement, as he is hidden...in plain sight! Incredible, how we can miss sheer beauty, impecible magnificence all around us...even our God!

Stop and smell (God's) roses...and be led to see, savor and share His beauty, especially His glory in His Son, Jesus Christ, who loved you and dies for you. Do you know this about Him?

here is the entire Washington Post article (with videos)

Haverhill Community Church

The Lord has recently opened a door of ministry with the folks of Haverhill Community Church, here in the big city of Haverhill. Thus far, we have met some precious people and no shortage of potential to further the Kingdom of God, in the knowledge of Christ. I appreciate the vision of this fellowship to reach out to the homeless in tanglible ways, opening the doors each Sunday morning for coffee, juice and muffins to some 30-40 folks...Simply Christ-like and beautiful. Ditto with impacting area nursing homes with the aroma of Jesus through prayer, word and deed.
For the month of May, I will be revisiting the opening book of the Bible with a 4 part series entitled: "The 1,2,3's of Genesis: The Ingredients of the Christian Faith" as we survey the
first 3 chapters of the Bible (10:30 AM). If you are so moved, please pray for us that we would see, savor and share Jesus Christ...in ways we have never seen...and more than we could ever ask or imagine! As a son of Mephibosheth, I am truly humbled and honored to proclaim Jesus Christ...His doing, dying and rising from the dead!

For location, find it here
all times are here
recent audio messages are here

Amazing Grace: Jesus Died To Save Sinners...

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
(Isaiah 53:4-6)

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous,

that he might bring us to God...
(1 Peter 3:18)

And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."
(Revelation 5:9-10)

Turn this up...

Calling All Skeptics...

The Veritas Forum has posted 4 superb videos/audios of Pastor Tim Keller, displaying great mercy to those who doubt (Jude 22)

These are listed on the right panel of the website.
Got a skeptic friend? Know doubters? Consider passing this along...

Some Weighty Messages...T4G '06 & '08

(Danny O with outstretched arms @ T4G '06)

7 Men Exulting in Jesus Christ!

...and the full messages from both '06 & '08 conferences

are here!

We Would See Jesus!

They approached Philip, and asked: "Sir, we want to see Jesus. Can you help us?"
(John 12:21)

"Behold, the Lamb of God!"
(John 1:36)





The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, 'These are the people of the LORD, and yet they had to go out of his land.' But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came. "Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.
(Ezekiel 36:16-32)

Stunning! The Christian and the Law

For me, THE most impacting thing I have read outside the pages of sacred Scripture has been these words from Martin Luther, found in his intro to Galatians. When I first read them I was stunned...and still am to this very day!:

"The greatest knowledge and the highest wisdom of Christians is not to know the law and to be ignorant of works, and of the whole active righteousness, especially when the conscience is wrestling with God. Contrary, among those who are not of God's people, the greatest wisdom is to know and to urge the law and the active righteousness. But it is a strange thing and unknown to the world to teach Christians to be ignorant of the law and to live before God as if there were no law; notwithstanding, except you be ignorant of the law and be assuredly persuaded in his heart there is now no law, nor wrath of God, but only grace and mercy for Christ's sake, you cannot be saved; for by the law comes the knowledge of sin. Conversely, works and the keeping of the law is strictly required in the world, as if there were no promise, or grace."

This has been coupled by the NT teaching that a Christian lives by faith...not by law-keeping! As Paul declares in Galatians:

But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. (Gal. 2.17-21)

So, I came across this most interesting web page and was very suprised by what I was reading...perhaps you tooo may never have thought of the New Testament in these terms...and in this broad of a scope! You gotta check out the links.

There are 1,050 commands in the New Testament for Christians to obey. Due to
repetitions we can classify them under about 800 headings. They cover every phase of
man's life in his relationship to God and his fellowmen, now and hereafter.

(got this from this post)

Here it is broken down by category.

The author says:

"Its funny that despite these hundreds and hundreds of instructions, so many modern preachers seem to think that there is something wrong with practical preaching that tells people how to live. There is no doubt in my mind that God has given us all these instructions for a reason. I believe that preaching that helps us understand exactly how we are to obey these instructions is the sort that will be of most help to us. Now of course any preaching that focusses only on the practical application is no use to us either, as we must understand the gospel that gives rise to these many commands. Too often Evangelical preaching is lopsided focussing either on how to live our lives OR on an a cut-down version of the gospel. Why cant we preach the WHOLE message of the New Testament?"

So you, Christian, remember that Christ died for Christians too! When you do not do what you should, or shouldn't...or with a self-glorifying motive...remember that you are saved...completely, freely and forever...by Another's doing and dying. Remember Jesus is your wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption! (1Cor. 1.30,31)

Remember the entire "GOOD NEWS" as foretold by Ezekiel:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. (Because of the cross of Jesus) And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Because of the resurrection of Jesus)!

(Ezekiel 11:16-25, Ezekiel 36:22-28, Jeremiah 32:36-41)

This will motivate you to actually live in ways you could never muster up by "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps"...or by looking within and "navel gazing"! This will promote true good works, rather than hinder them, as so many misunderstand...

THIS IS WHAT LIES BENEATH LIVING BY GRACE ALONE, THROUGH FAITH ALONE IN JESUS CHRIST ALONE! THIS IS THE "OBEDIENCE OF FAITH" THAT THE GOSPEL DECLARES IN ROMANS 1.5 & 16.26)

do we need the doing, dying and rising of Jesus or what!...from start to finish!

Happy 9 years!

In thankful celebration to God for blessing us on our 9th anniversary! I am grateful for the woman God has given me, her patience with me, and her undivided love. I love you Cyndie!

Reaching Out Without Selling Out: An Interview with Mark Driscoll

I've got a friend who pastors a local congregation and is on the verge of beginning a new, contemporary style service. I recommended that he and the team check out this interview on the White Horse Inn radio/web talk program. Featured is pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and spearhead of Acts 29 church planting network.
"Reaching Out Without Selling Out: An Interview with Mark Driscoll"
audio
text

Here's a nugget:

"The people have been marketed, they have been pitched, they have been sold, they have had their felt needs assuaged. What they haven’t had is anyone get up and open the Bible, tell them who God is, what he has done and call them to repentance in a very clear, forthright way that respects their intelligence."

This ethos is reflected in his desire to be both Biblically faithful in content and culturally "there" in the outworking of the Christian life, emphasizing both the "exaltation" of Jesus as well as His "incarnation".
Give it a listen...comments welcome...

Joel Osteen Examined...

The Apostle Paul had his turn under the microscope ( Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17.11)...now it's Joel's turn...

His books are on the NY Times Bestseller list...selling like hotcakes...
Theirs (Lakewood Church) is the largest in the ole U.S. of A...
Who is this guy and is everything legit?

Check out this 60 minutes edition and today's discussion on
The White Horse Inn as they examine:
Joel Osteen: A Case Study in American Religion

Previously I highlighted a word from "Yesterday and Today"

This is from today:

"This is my Bible. I am what it says I am.I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert, my heart is receptive. I will never be the same.I am about to receive the incorruptible, indestructible, ever-living seed of the Word of God. I will never be the same. Never, never, never. I will never be the same. In Jesus’ name. Amen.” (From Joel Osteen & Lakewood Church)

and from yesterday:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth,and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,born of the Virgin Mary,suffered under Pontius Pilate,was crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into hell.The third day He arose again from the dead.He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy *catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.Amen.(Apostles Creed)

*The word "catholic" refers not to the Roman Catholic Church, but to the universal church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What has happened? Why?

Search this out for yourself...

God's Goodness to another Danny O (my nephew)

Jesus: Historical Figure or Myth?

From Dan Brown...to James Cameron...to the Jesus Seminar...skepticism about the Biblical record of Jesus abounds both outside the church (duh!) and more sadly, within. Could these nay-sayers be right? Was Jesus a myth created by the 4th century powers-that-be...in order to control the masses? Or, was Jesus a real, oxygen-breathing, fish-eating historical person? How do you know? Did you see Him? What evidence can you give for the historical claims of a real Jesus from Nazareth? What sensible reasoning can be given for His existence...because if He was not real...then no real dying for sin, no real rising from the dead...then the whole thing comes-a-tumblin-down! Then we are to be most pitied, for if Jesus didn't really exist, then He didn't really rise from the dead, so we are still in our sins. Best then to eat...drink...and be as merry as we can be!

But if there is sufficient evidence to present a plausible case...then Christianity is to be wholeheartedly adhered to by ALL human beings. The only options are to lie on the floor - drunk out of our gord...or lie on the floor - prostrate before God Almighty and His Son, King Jesus! We shall lie on the floor either way! No exceptions...for every knee shall bow...

So, as a result of some recent conversations with some doubting Thomas', I have spent some time researching some resources that can be of some help against the onslaught of A & E, Discovery, History channel skeptics who have devotes themselves to the destruction of faith in the historical Jesus of Nazareth, the God-Man, Lord, Savior, Wrath Bearer, The Way-Truth-Life and only forgiver of sin!

These resources may be of interest to those you know and the need they have to learn of what we believe and why we believe it.

The Person of Christ

Is What We Know of Jesus Wrong?

Is The New Testament Reliable?

Dr. Craig Blomberg on the Historical Jesus (video & mp3)

You Are Amazing, God!

Chris Tomlin - IndescribableFrom the album Arriving

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea,
Creation's revealing Your majesty.
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring,
Every creature unique in the song that it sings. All exclaiming...

(Chorus)
Indescribable, Uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God.
All powerful, Untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees and we humbly proclaim,
You are amazing God.

Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go,
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow?
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light,
Yet conceals it to give us the coolness of night?
None can fathom...

(Chorus)

Incomparable, Unchangeable,
You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same.
You are amazing God.

A Crumb From The Master's Table

Jesus said "man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God". (Matthew 4.4)
And Martin Luther echoed his Master's truth by stating:
"The word of God is the greatest, most necessary, most important thing in Christendom. Without the external Word we would not know one spirit from another...Let the man who would hear God speak, read Holy Scripture."

So I had an idea to create a video blog (A Crumb From The Master's Table) of 5 minute clips focusing on a particular passage, shot throughout the Merrimack Valley.
It is a challenge to concisely condense your thoughts on a text (let alone to walk in it...grace, faith, Lord!)...so I'm stringing a few crumbs together, along with some resources here and there to hopefully stimulate the study, application and sharing of the Word of the Living God.
Taste and see that the Lord is good! He is amazing!

Forgiven! Imagine that!

...you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. (Mat 1.21)

Imagine that...“Take heart, ...your sins are forgiven.” (Mat 9.2)

John Frederick has a sweet song called ..."IMAGINE"