“I will sing to the Lord ’til I die”

This morning I heard a sweet Christian song that I thought was a spiritual. It turns out it was written in the 20th century, but it certainly had the sound of a spiritual.

Before and during slaves sang spirituals. Often times they had at least two levels. One was the yearning to be free. At times the word freedom was used. Sometimes the theme was a little big veiled such as in “Go Down Moses” with the words “Let my people go!”

And of course the spirituals included worship of God.

The song I heard concluded with “I will sing to the Lord until I die.”

I checked and the song is called “I will trust in the Lord until I die.” It was written by Reverend C. L. Franklin, pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit. He was also a Civil Rights’ activist, so the verse that says “I will stay on the battlefield until I die” may well be referring to that involvement.

I could not find the phrase “I will sing to the Lord until I die.” The last verse sums up each of the verses of Rev. Franklin’s song: “I’m goin’ to watch, fight, and pray until I die.” The first verse is “I’m going to trust the Lord until I die.”

Rev. Franklin was said to have a “million dollar voice.” He had several children, one of whom inherited his singing ability. You can hear her sing her father’s song on YouTube. Growing up in Detroit as she did she was a founding participant of the MoTown sound. She was and always be “The Queen of Soul.”

None other than Aretha Franklin.

And now you know… the rest of the story!

“The Fruit of the Spirit”

As I mentioned in my previous post I likened the fruit of the Spirit to a bunch of grapes–individual grapes attached to one small vine. If we have the Holy Spirit within us (along with God the Father and God the Son), He helps us exhibit/show all the fruit.

It won’t work if you try to play whack-a-mole: working on one or two of the fruit while neglecting the others. It just doesn’t work that way. We can’t live them out by will-power. It must be the Holy Spirit working in and through us.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23

“Give me patience… right now!”

Recently I was thinking about patience. A couple friends were delayed getting into another country. They texted they were learning patience.

I have had three delays for a procedure this year. Will it happen in September? We’ll see.

This morning I was looking forward to posting several blogs after a few week delay due to other valid demands on my time. Then I received an important phone call. I got to my office and wound up needing to work on a phone matter for a family member. That took me an hour and a half or so. The two company representatives were friendly and did a great job and I was glad to do it, but it was more delay.

Then I tried to get into the admin part of this site to start catching up on my blog posts. Buy I couldn’t get in. What I had for user name and password didn’t work the two times I tried it.

Give me patience, and give it to me now!

When I got back from a couple hours in Bakersfield, I tried again. Definition of insanity. I had one try left for today. I checked another area and discovered that my user id was different than I thought.

So I got in on the last chance for the day! Here I am! Not very patient. Francis of Assissi said, “Show me how much patience a man has when others are doing the exact opposite of what he wants–he has that much patience and no more!”

And then there is the fruit of the Spirit. It is like a bunch of grapes. The bunch is singular but there are different grapes on it. That is why the Apostle Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit– the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23

The Power of Forgiveness

Have you ever asked someone for forgiveness? Has someone ever asked you for forgiveness? Either way, asking and giving forgiveness is a profound gift from God. Once you have asked forgiveness, you have done your part. It is much more beautiful if the other person forgives you, but you have no control over that. God is pleased with your doing the difficult and right thing.

Forgiveness originates in the heart of God. “For God so love the world that He gave His only Son…” The cross is where we find forgiveness full and free for our sins, if we but confess to God our sins and that we are sinners.

While on earth, Jesus never spoke the words, “I forgive you,” but we see powerful examples of forgiveness. To the woman caught in adultery (what about the man caught in adultery?), Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn you. God and sin no more. Both grace and forgiveness as well as a call to follow God in her life.

To the ostracized woman at the well (who had had four husbands and was currently living unmarried with a man), Jesus lovingly yet firmly guides her through to the fact that He provides living water and that He is the Christ/the Messiah. How does she respond? She races to the town where she is an outcast and declares, “He knows all about me [and still loves and forgives me]. Could this be the Messiah?” The entire town goes to meet Jesus and they decide for themselves to follow Him as the Messiah.

Paul explains forgiveness in Romans 4:7. “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.”

And back to Jesus, He hits us between the eyes with the qualification for our being forgiven by God. “Forgive us our sins AS we forgives others.”

Yes, forgiveness full and free comes from the cross, but we are to keep short accounts by forgiving one another. When we do–whether asking for or receiving forgiveness–we feel like, “Wow! I feel whole, the way God intended! I AM whole. I am experiencing God’s shalom, peace.

“Mercy and Grace”

Mercy is defined as “not getting what you deserve,” that is each of us deserves going to hell. Grace is defined as “getting what you don’t deserve,” which means forgiveness, abundant life, and eternal life.

Jesus never uses the words mercy or grace in the Gospels. He shows. Later, Paul would tell. Jesus shows it with many people, including women. He tells one woman, “Neither do I judge you, go and sin no more.” So Jesus showed mercy to the women but also held her accountability. He did not say, “Go and do whatever you want.”

A woman he talked to at a well during the middle of the day. She had at least strikes against her: she was a woman (that was the case in those days), she was a Samaritan (in those days the Jews and Samaritans were the Hatfields and the McCoys of their time), and she was an outcast in her own village (that was why she was at the well by herself in the heat of the day). Jesus gently, yet firmly, guides her into truth. The amazing thing is that she understands the grace and love of Jesus. She races back to the town where people don’t want to talk with her and says, “This man knows all about me (and yet he still loves me). Can He be the Messiah?” This woman became an Evangelist to the people who hated her. The entire village walks out to see Jesus, looking like a field of wheat in their clothes. They come to Jesus and come to know him.

John 1:14 tells us that Jesus pitched His tent (lived) among humans and was full of grace and truth. He showed mercy and truth. He spoke forgiveness, mercy and grace without using those words.

The 8th Commandment and the Other 9, Part 2

Here is the second part of the outline showing how each of the other 10 commandments are affected by number 8–“Thou Shalt Not Steal.”

A Commandment between You and God.  Exodus 20:8-11

  1.  “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” 
  2. You steal from yourself if you do not keep the Sabbath holy.
  3. Isaiah 58:13 and 14; Mark 2:27 and 28 (“the Sabbath was made for man”;
  4.  Jesus is “the Lord of the Sabbath”).  Common sense.
  5. Three main things to do on the Sabbath:  worship, service, rest.
  6. Pharaoh gave no day of rest.

A Commandment between You and Your Parents

  •  “Honor your father and your mother.”  Exodus 20:12
  • The first commandment with a reward.  Ephesians 6:2
  • Stealing the honor and care of your parents.  Luke 7:9-13

5 Commandments between You and Others

  • “You shall not murder.”  Exodus20:13
  • Stealing someone’s life
  • The first recorded murder in the Bible.  Genesis 4:1-9
  • Jesus on thought-life.  Matthew 5:21-25
  • “You shall not commit adultery.”         Exodus 20:14
  • Stealing from your marriage vows and your spouse.
  • Jesus on thought-life. Matthew 5:27-30
  •  “You shall not steal.”  Exodus 20:15
  • That’s what this message is all about!
  •  “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”  Exodus 20:16
  • Stealing reputation and possible freedom of another, or even death.
  • Two false witnesses lead to Naboth being killed.1 Kings 2:13
  • Jesus experienced people breaking this commandment. Mark 14:53-65
  • “You shall not covet.” Exodus 20:17. Very similar to stealing.
  • James on coveting.  James 4:1-3.  A good Brethren passage!

CONCLUSION

          What are you building on?  Matthew 7:24-28; Ephesians 4:14-16

          What are Jesus’ commandments?  Love God and love your neighbor (Luke 10:27).  Love your enemies (Luke 6:35).  Love each other (John 13:34).

          We need the power of the Holy Spirit within us.

How the 8th Commandment Interacts with the other 9

Recently I gave two messages on the Eighth Commandment–“Thou Shalt Not Steal.” The first one was on July 4th and talked about stealing in America–by King George, with slavery, and the unborn. In these blogs I will share the outline of the second one that shows how the 8th commandment interacts with and informs the other 9 commandments.

SERMON SERIES: “THOU SHALT NOT STEAL!”

Today’s Message: “How the Eighth Commandment Interacts with the Other Nine Commandments”

Exodus 20:11-21; Mark 7:9-12

INTRODUCTION

          Last week—“Theft in America:  Stealing the Pursuit of Happiness, Liberty and Life”

          Today– “How the Eighth Commandment Interacts with the Other Nine Commandments”

          Exodus 20:1 “And God spoke all these words.”  Every word of the Bible is God’s word.

                   Jesus on the authority of the Old Testament:  Matthew 5:17-20

                   Jesus on the authority of the entire Bible: 2 Timothy 3:14-17

          The Law of Israel says nothing about a human king because the law is given directly

                   By the King of kings!

HOW THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT INFORMS THE OTHER NINE COMMANDMENTS

Commandments One through Three are about God.  Exodus 20:3-7

Ultimately, you cannot steal from God, but you attempt to do so if you do not follow these three commandments.

  1.  “You shall have no other Gods before me.”
  2. “You shall not make for yourself an idol…”
  3. “Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord God in vain.”

Wherever you pricked Titus Coan, He “Bled Bible.”

As I did my research and wrote about Titus Coan, I kept coming across Bible verse after verse in his journals, letters, and other writings. Most of the time I recognized them. But some times I checked what might be a verse, a paraphrase or an allusion to a verse. And there it was! Often, the verses I did not recognize were from the last part of the first part of the Bible–the Old Testament–in a section called “The Minor Prophets” (minor only because of the shorter length of the books). Many verses I had read over the years but they did not stick–but they did with Titus! You could say about him as people did about John Bunyan (the author of “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” that he “bled Bible”!