Gay couples celebrates victory in Argentina. They are now given same rights enjoyed by their heterosexual counterparts including adopting children after the country legalised same-sex marriage last Thursday, 15 July 2010.
The unprecedented legislation passed despite intense opposition by the Roman Catholic Church. Argentina is known to be predominantly Catholic nation. The vote is 33 to 27 with three abstentions. With this, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to legally recognise gay marriage. While same-sex civil unions are recognised in Buenos Aires, parts of Mexico and Brazil and in Uruguay, no other Latin American country prior to Argentina had allowed gay and lesbian couples to marry.
Christianity is not a doctrine, not truth as truth, but the knowledge of a Person; it is knowing the Lord Jesus. You cannot be educated into being a Christian. —T. Austin-Sparks
A funny church sign says: ” There are some questions that can’t be answered by Google!” With enough curiousity, I typed in “Jesus” in Google Search and bingo! There are about 175,000,000 results in 0.15 seconds! The top 5 results is from Wikipedia, a funny titled website called “Jesus Dress Up“, a question-captioned site called “Who is Jesus-Really?,” Youtube videos, and The Jesus Film Project.
With the advance technology that we are in nowadays, we process a lot of information. Good or bad. True or not true. Relevant or irrelevant. But who is Jesus really? With 175 millions hits in Google, where a lot us rely for quick information, Jesus is undeniably one of the most popular Person throughout our history. In fact He is very controversial. A lot of people likes to talk about God or “god” but some seems to shy away or avoid conversations about Jesus. In fact a funny anecdote depicts that even people who are religious fails to identify Jesus.
A Bektashi dervish apporached a certain bishop and said: ‘I have heard of a young man who harangues crowds, advocating their breaking the law, claims supernatural connections, performs “miracles” and contradicts himself….” ‘Enough!’ said the bishop. ‘he shall be tried, charged with blasphemy and upsetting public.If he does not recant, he may be put to death as a heretic and corrupter. Just tell me his name, and I shall arrange the rest!’
‘I wish you could realize how impressed I am by your competence,’ said the Bektashi. ‘His name is Jesus.’(1)
Funny but it’s true. Isn’t it? Religious people tends to know more about their traditions, customs, rituals, and creeds but not the God, the Saviour, and the Lord Jesus Christ. More so with non-believers, agnostics, and atheiests who bombard Jesus with mockery and lies.
Jesus came from Heaven to Earth not to establish a religion but a relationship. The Gospel of John in Chapter 14 verses 1-6 we read: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions;[a] if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.[b] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
To me, this is profound. Jesus is the way, Jesus is the truth, and Jesus is the life.
Chris Tomlin were at the Youth Specialties convention when his band was asked to to back up a guy named Matt Maher who originally wrote and composed this song.
What is “Grace”? For most Christians, we define “grace” as God’s unmerited favor. It is kindness from God that we don’t deserve. An unconditional gift! There is nothing we have done, nor can ever do to earn this favor. “In Christian theology it is defined as a state of sanctification by God; the state of one who is under such divine influence; a virtue coming from God; a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine favor.(1)”
The famous acronym for GRACE is this: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
This is the exact message of Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Our salvation is by the grace of God through Jesus Christ for Jesus is “The Way” and no other.
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10)
“The word stillcomes from a Hebrew word meaning to “let go” or “release.” The meaning would be best understood to say “cause yourself to become restrained or to let go.” In other words, we need to come to a place where we are willing to submit ourselves to God and acknowledging that He is in sovereign control.”(1). We need to understand that God is the Fountain of power, wisdom, justice, goodness, and truth. Being Still according to Adam Clarke also means that we cease from provocations of the Divine justice; cease from murmuring against the dispensations of his providence; cease from your labor for a season, that ye may deeply reflect on the severity and goodness of God – severity to those who are brought down and destroyed; goodness to you who are raised up and exalted: – cease from sin and rebellion against your God; let that disgrace you no more, that we may no more be brought into distress and desolation.
This worship song Still From the Album Ultimate Worship: Hillsong by Hillsong Live is very inspirational. Yes, we run into a flood; we fight against the tides of life; and we encounter thunders in our lives but God said, “Be Still!”
F2 Am2 C/G G
C G/B Am
Hide me now,
F D/F# G
Under Your wings
C/E Fmaj7
Cover me,
Dm7 G
With in Your mighty hand
C F G C
When the oceans rise and thunders roar
C F G Am
I will soar with You, a bove the storm
F/A G/B Csus4 C
Father, You are King o ver the flood
F G Fmaj9
I will be still and know You are God
C G/B Am
Find rest my soul
F D/F# G
In Christ alone
C/E F
Know His power
Dm7 G
In quietness and trust
Tags: still by hillsong, still by hillsong worship. still by hillsong video, still by hillsong live
I’m looking for a topic to write on this blog today and I stumbled on a song in Youtube entitled “O Praise Him” by The David Crowder Band. I first heard about this band back in New Zealand when they performed at the annual Parachute Music Festival usually held in Mystery Creek, Hamilton, New Zealand. If you love the new breed of christian songs, you will surely like this band from Waco, Texas. This band began when David Crowder, from Texarkana, Texas, found out that almost half of the students of Baylor University, a christian university were not attending church. He and Chris Seay started University Baptist Church (Waco, Texas) in 1995 while he was still a student. Crowder led worship there and continued to do so throughout the year. The church’s congregation grew, as did the band’s lineup.
The chorus goes “O Praise Him! He is holy!” Wow, a huge reminder and that’s what I needed to hear today. There are time in our lives that we struggle and simply cruising along the busy-ness of our run-of-the-mill schedules. Psalms 50:23 tells us that “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; And to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.” When we praise, we express our gratitude for personal favors, to bring honor to His marvelous works, to glorify Him in everything we do. “All to Christ the King” as what this song telling us to do. God has put a new song into our mouth (Psalm 40). He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen.(Deutoronomy 10:21). “It is an eternal honor to any soul to be in the friendship of God. Why are people ashamed of being thought religious? Because they know nothing of religion. He who knows his Maker may glory in his God, for without him what has any soul but disgrace, pain, shame, and perdition? How strange is it that those who fear God should be ashamed to own it, while sinners boldly proclaim their relationship to Satan!”(Adam Clarke’s Bible commentary)
Turn your ear to heaven and hear the noise inside The sound of angels’ awe The sound of angel’s songs And all this for a King We could join and sing All to Christ the King
How constant, how divine This song of ours will rise Oh, how constant, how divine This love of ours will rise, will rise
O praise Him O praise Him He is holy He is holy, yeah
Turn your gaze to heaven and raise a joyous noise The sound of salvation comes The sound of rescued ones And all this for a King Angels join to sing All for Christ our King
Oh la la la la la la Oh la la la la la la Oh la la la la la la la la la
How infinite and sweet This love, so rescuing Oh, how infinitely sweet This great love that has redeemed As one, we sing
David Crowder Band’s new CD “Illuminate” hits the highest highs and never lets go of the excellence it portrayed in its original small release album. Those unfamiliar with DCB should know that its hallmark is creating modern worship music that rocks the house at the same time. Fused with techno-beats and returning heavy guitar sounds, the album is an excellent collection of songs that is worth getting. Sure-fire hits are: “O Praise Him”, “Revolutionary Love”, and “No One Like You.” In addition, David Crowder’s lyrics and one-of-a-kind voice never fail to inspire awe. Even more comprehensive and diverse in sound than their second album “Can You Hear Us?”, “Iluminate” has plenty of songs to keep you on the ledge between sheer worship and modern rock, enjoying every moment along the way. Matthew Y. Ho Kang “foodiephotog” (Glendale, CA United States)
I had never listened to David Crowder until I saw him perform at Creation East this summer
. I was blown away by his music. The lyrics are simply awesome. Since then I have purchased three of his cd’s including illumination. This is a fantastic cd. I especially like Revolutionary Love, and O praise Him. Buy this Cd. It is awesome. His book Praise Habit is also really good.
A funny church sign says: ” There are some questions that can’t be answered by Google!” With enough curiousity, I typed in “Jesus” in Google Search and bingo! There are about 175,000,000 results in 0.15 seconds! The top 5 results is from 
Lyrics
Album at Amazon.