Alan Jackson performed the classic hymn The Old Rugged Cross written by an American hymn composer and preacher named George Bennard. It such a beautiful performance by one of the legends of Country Music!
The lyrics of The Old Rugged Cross are testament of how powerful the truth about our faith in Christ as evidenced by the cross. Here are some lines that really spells the message of the cross:
“In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, A wondrous beauty I see, For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died, To pardon and sanctify me.“
Alan Jackson Old Rugged Cross Live
“To some, the image of a pale body glimmering on a dark night whispers of defeat. What good is a God who does not control his Son’s suffering? But another sound can be heard: the shout of a God crying out to human beings, “I LOVE YOU.” Love was compressed for all history in that lonely figure on the cross, who said that he could call down angels at any moment on a rescue mission, but chose not to – because of us. At Calvary, God accepted his own unbreakable terms of justice.Any discussion of how pain and suffering fit into God’s scheme ultimately leads back to the cross. ”- Philip Yancey
About Alan Jackson Alan Jackson was born in the small town of Newnan, Georgia, on October 17, 1958. He grew up singing gospel music, both in church and at home with his family, and as a teenager he performed locally as part of a country duo. He left school to work and married his high-school sweetheart, Denise, who worked as an airline stewardess. In 1989, Jackson became the first artist signed to Arista’s new country division. Jackson’s debut album, Here in the Real World, was issued in 1990 and became a platinum-selling hit on the strength of four Top Five hits: the title cut, “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow,” “Wanted,” and the first of many chart-toppers, “I’d Love You All Over Again.” He shot to full-fledged superstardom with the follow-up, 1991’s Don’t Rock the Jukebox, whose title track was an inescapable number one smash that year.
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Tags: Alan Jackson, Gospel Songs, Gospel Country Music, Gospel Hymn, Hymn
Watch this conversation between Ray Comfort and a young man. It made me realize how important for every Christian to be bold and speak The Truth to the perishing world. This took me to the Word of God in Romans 10:14-15: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Let our light so shine and do what God commanded us to do and that is: win souls for Christ.
VIDEO: “I Don’t Think Hell Is That Bad”
“I am not going to Heaven because I have preached to great crowds or read the Bible many times. I’m going to Heaven just like the thief on the cross who said in that last moment: ‘Lord, remember me.’” – Billy Graham
To be a soul winner is the happiest thing in this world. And with every soul you bring to Jesus Christ, you seem to get a new heaven here upon earth. – Charles Spurgeon
Tags: Evangelism, witnessing, soul winning, street evangelism
A number of former homosexuals and transgendered people gathered recently outside the U.S. Congress to say sexual identity can be changed, and their changed lives are proof. Watch Video below.
WATCH VIDEO: Former LGBTQers Testimonies
Former LGBTQers Testimonies
LUIS RUIZ FROM ORLANDO, FLORIDA: “For a long time, I was very broken and hurt. I found out that I was HIV positive because I was promiscuous. My generation would say a ‘ho.’ While I was searching for men, sleeping around a lot, I didn’t realize that there was a man looking for me.” “And His name is Jesus. I was able to find a church where they loved me. And they taught me that my identity is not my behavior. My identity was not who I thought it was. But it was a child of God. So I stand here to say that I was a homosexual, a former ‘ho.’ And now I am a child of God.”
ANGEL COLON, A MASS SHOOTING SURVIVOR: “My name is Angel Colon. I am a former homosexual. I am a survivor of the Pulse Nightclub shooting on June 12, 2016. I was shot six times, sustained a shattered femur and suffered nerve damage. A day I will never forget — a big turning point in my life. Even in the midst of chaos, I prayed and prophesied over my life that I would survive and live free. And here I am today, standing here with no pain, here in the Capitol with my Changed family. Many think I’ve made my decision to leave the LGBT community lifestyle because of the shooting. But I was desiring change way before June 12, 2016. Going through this horrible tragedy made me make the biggest decision in my life, which I’m very happy with. I made this decision a year after the Pulse nightclub shooting — finding what was the most important thing in my life, which was finding my true identity. Which was in Christ. And today I stand here in the Capitol, sharing to the world that change is possible. Yes, I am known as a Pulse survivor, but I really want to be known as living proof that God does transform lives.”
KATHYGRACE DUNCAN OF PORTLAND, OREGON: “My name is KathyGrace Duncan, I’m from Portland Oregon and I’m a former trans-man, former transgender. Before I went to kindergarten, at a very early age like three or four, I believed that I should have been a man. I felt that I should have been a man. Dysfunctional family situations: my dad was very emotionally and verbally abusive to my mom, which told me that women were hated, women were weak and they were vulnerable.” “I was then molested by a family member which went on for two years, also confirming that women were weak, vulnerable and hated. At age 18, I finally surrendered and went into the lifestyle, took hormones and changed my name. From there, I began to live as a man. Two weeks later, I got saved. However, because I didn’t hear from the Lord, I thought He was okay with my lifestyle.” “Four years later I was confronted by the church, and they asked me ‘Who are you? Who are you really?’ And at that point, I told the truth and said ‘I’m a woman living as a man.’ And the Holy Spirit blew into me. And I realized at that point I needed to go back to being the woman that He created me to be. The next day I started that journey out. Five years later — it took five years for the hormone effects to really wear off — and at that point, I crossed over and began to live fully as a woman. That was 26 years ago. And I have to say, I’m changed I’m free. I no longer struggle with the attraction to women.”
CHRISTOPHER SIMS, WAS TORTURED BY HIS PARENTS: “I’m a person who formerly had a same-sex attraction. When I was very young in New York City, my father – who is a pastor – raped me. And when I got to kindergarten, my mother and my father decided to take me out of school. And I was taken out of school for a total of eight years. And during that time, I was tortured by my mother. My mother was very hurt by men. So any sign of masculinity was a trigger and a threat to her. I can remember her beating me with a wire hanger until I was bloody and putting alcohol all over my body as I stood in front of a mirror. And I learned at that moment that I could not be masculine. I learned that I had to be effeminate. I had to emulate my sisters to avoid triggering her and so that I could survive.” “By the time I was 18, I had been living in Alaska for a year. I had been through foster care. That was a time where the things that I had suppressed began to manifest themselves through pornography addiction. By that time I had a restraining order. I was in anger management. I was in counseling for PTSD. And I had a measure of gender dysphoria. And it was also that year that a friend who was 18 decided to force me to go to church. I wanted nothing to do with church. But when I went to that church, I saw something in those people’s eyes that I had never seen before. I saw a God that my parents did not tell me about. Those people in that church – they didn’t hate me or anything. They loved me. I saw life inside of them and I wanted that freedom and that life. The love that I saw inside of their eyes convicted me of the error of my ways. And I remember for three weeks just telling God how sorry I was for all the wrong that I had done. And He said ‘Christopher, I love you.'”
I’m featuring today a well written devotional by Bob Gass. Please read below after my personal reflections. It’s a very timely message and conveys a short but clear message. Jesus is The Way. When I was still tied up with religion, John 14:6 seems to be unrecognizable and doesn’t do much impact on me. Not until I discover the message of the cross and what Christianity has to offer that this verse deeply impacted me and turn my life around. You see, man-made religion put people to captivity of various rules, traditions, and rituals to follow. These religions impressed upon people about a God that is far and beyond reach. Religion keeps looking and searching for God! It’s entirely the reverse of Christianity where God is looking for His lost sons and daughters. Christianity is about personal relationship to an all knowing, all powerful, and everliving, and loving God. Christianity kindles the passion to discover our Creator and a life that is focussed to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Every word of the Bible comes alive. A very famous evangelist said that “unless a man be born again, he will never understand the Bible.” That really make sense to me, that unless we study God’s Word, we will never understand the Kingdom of God. Today is the acceptable the day of the Lord! That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). Receive Jesus Christ, turn away from your sins and surrender your life to Him. Make Him your Lord and Saviour! and surely He will guide you all the days of your life. I say, that is your greatest miracle.
Jesus Is The Way by Bob Gass The Word for Today Saturday, 26th December 2009
I am the way… John 14:6 NKJV
Judaism sees salvation as a judgement day decision based on morality. Hindus anticipate multiple reincarnations in the soul’s journey through the cosmos. Buddhism guides your life according to the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eight-fold Path. Muslims earn their way to Allah through the Five Pillars of Faith. Many philosophers deem life after death as hidden and unknown, ‘a great leap in the dark.’ Some people clump Christ with Moses, Mohammad, Confucius, and other spiritual leaders. ‘Jesus said… “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”‘ John 14:6 (NKJV).
Many object, ‘All roads lead to heaven.’ But how can they? Buddhists look toward Nirvana, achieved after no less than 547 reincarnations. Christians believe in one life, one death, and an eternity of enjoying God. Humanists don’t acknowledge a creator of life. Jesus claims to be the source of life. Spiritualists read your palms. Christians consult the Bible. Hindus perceive a plural and impersonal God. Christ-followers believe ‘there is only one God’ (1 Corinthians 8:4 NLT).
Every non-Christian religion says, ‘You can save you.’ Jesus says: ‘My death on the cross saves you.’ All roads don’t lead to London, all ships don’t sail to Australia, and all flights don’t land in Rome. Every path does not lead to God. Jesus blazed a stand-alone trail void of self-salvation. He cleared a one-of-a-kind passageway uncluttered by human effort. He offers us a unique invitation in which He works and we trust, He dies and we live, He invites and we believe. ‘”The work God wants you to do is this: Believe the One he sent”‘ (John 6:29 NCV).
Jesus is the Way! Jesus is the Truth! Jesus is the Life!
Why I Believe Jesus – Ravi Zacharias
Tags: Jesus, Jesus is the Way, Who is Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus Saves
FAREWELL MERLE HAGGARD. One of my favorite Country Music legend, Merle Haggard, died on 7 April 2016, at age of 79. He is the grizzled country music legend whose songs such as “Okie from Muskogee” and “Fightin’ Side of Me” that made him a voice for the workingman and the outsider. Additionally, Merle Haggard has been open about his Christian faith, and has sang various gospel songs including this song Jesus Christ. Haggard has a wonderfully distinctive singing voice, and is one of America’s greatest songwriters.
JESUS CHRIST
Jesus Christ was a man that traveled through the land
A carpenter true and brave
He said to the rich give your goods to the poor
And they laid Jesus Christ in the grave
He went to the sick and he went to the poor
And he went to the hungry and the lame
And he said that the meek would inherit the whole world
And they laid Jesus Christ in the grave
One day Jesus stopped at a rich man’s door
What must I do to be saved
Take all you own and give it to the poor
And they laid Jesus Christ in the grave
When the love of the poor shall one day turn to hate
When the patience of the workers give away
Would be better for the rich if they never been born
So they laid Jesus Christ in the grave
When Jesus came to town all the working folks around
Believed what he did say
But bankers and preachers nailed him to the cross
And they laid Jesus Christ in the grave
Well the people held their breath when they heard about his death
And everybody wondered why
Was the landlord and soldiers lawmen there had hired
That nailed Jesus Christ in the sky
We would lay Jesus Christ in the grave Lord Lord
We would lay Jesus Christ in the grave
And if Jesus preached today like he preached in Galilee
We would lay Jesus Christ in his grave.
Merle Haggard Jesus Christ Lyrics from http://www.sing365.com
DISCLAIMER: Copyright belongs to the owners and producers of this song. For education purposes only.
Merle Haggard, Merle Haggard Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Gospel Song, Country Song
