Happy Reformation Day-A Hymn for You to Celebrate With

My wonderful husband has written a hymn. He finished writing the lyrics this morning. So his hymn was written on Reformation Day. (not planned, but cool none the less) Without further ado I present it to you:

SALVATION IS FROM THE LORD
Lyrics by: Mark Gilliland

Eternal, infinite Father of lights
No one can withstand Your power and might
The heavens declare Your glory O Lord
Unchanging Sovereign forevermore

O Holy Father, separate from sin
Your ways are higher than mere mortal men
Justice and righteousness flow from Your throne
Praise Your great name You are worthy alone!

If You counted our sins, no one could stand
We’ve nothing to offer, just empty hands
Our hearts are deceitful, filthy within
No way to approach you, dead in our sins

Yet God sent His Son, in love to the earth
Holy and righteous, of infinite worth
Tempted in all ways, He was without sin
A Man of sorrows, esteemed not by men

For joy set before Him, endured the cross
He cried “It is finished”, paid the full cost
The Father was pleased to crush His dear Son
Then three days later, the vict’ry was won!

Seated in heaven, no slumber or sleep
Sent down the Spirit, to find His dear sheep
Gave them repentance, supplied them with faith
Praise His great name for that wonderful grace!

Forever in heaven, saints will fall down
Praising His holy name, casting their crowns
The Lamb eternally will be adored
For this great salvation is from the Lord!

The OUCH factor in Romans 12:1-2

Romans12 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

I have heard it said before that the problem with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar. True, but there is something else that gets me about these verses. Being a living sacrifice, being holy is our reasonable sacrifice. This is not something in there just for the super-devoted. It is not just for the missionaries and pastors. Being a living sacrifice is not just for those who feel the call to go above and beyond the "normal Christian walk" It is what is reasonable for All people who are Christians. Considering the fact that we are flawed and sinful creatures, that seems like such a lofty goal. How are we supposed to be holy and acceptable to GOD? He is holy, perfect, sinless, righteous.....the list could on and on. We are....well, we are not like God. We get tired so we get cranky. We have a bad day so we speak unkind words to people. But that is not making us holy. How do we do that? Do we join certain church that have "holy" somewhere in their title and have strict rules about things, even dress codes for outside of church? No. There may be people in that church who are trying to pursue holiness, but belonging to this church or that one does not in and of itself make someone holy.
Verse two lights the way for us-And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We are not supposed to follow the world for our way of life. We are supposed to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. But then, how does that happen? Do we become Christians one day then our minds are suddenly transformed? NO! We have to pray, we have to study our Bibles. Then as God reveals to us those things in our lives which are unacceptable to His will, we have to weed those things out. We have to learn to look at things through the filter of the Holy Spirit. Before we go places or do things we have to ask if Jesus would do the same in our position. Would God want to listen to the CD with us, or read the book with us, or play the video game with our kids? Would God watch that movie with us? We, as Christians, need to be careful with what we are filling our minds. If we are filling it good, holy things, there will be no room left for those things that God hates.

What Is the Chief End Of Man?

I have to confess a little something. I had never heard the word "catechism" until maybe a year ago. As a matter of fact, it was when I was flipping through my first Veritas Press Catalog. They had all these books about teaching your child the catechism. Which I had lived a long time without learning and never thought I was missing out so hey, why bother, right? Only, for some reason my mind kept creeping back to learning about it. So I started looking online at some reformed websites. They all recommend teaching the shorter catechism to children. There is even one called Child's First Catechism that you can teach to really young kids. Well, anyway, I like my set-up the way things are so I am just fine not adding something to it. Or, is there a little something missing? We open our school day each morning with Bible study. But are they really getting it? Do they truly understand the "big picture"? Am I thinking about it too much?
A month or so ago we had a long-range planning committee after church one night. Mark had to work that night, so guess who was there representing the youth: yours truly. Our pastor asked for us to think up goals for the new church year. I would really like to see our church grow. (not the normal Baptist kind of growth-nickels and noses. I mean really grow-spiritually. I would like to see us grow closer as a church family, that kind of thing) So I have really been thinking how to achieve those goals. Here is my master plan: get rid of our Sunday School Material. At least for a little while. Teach the adults and youth basic Biblical doctrine. I know that might sound kind of weird, but there are way too many people who don't know simple Bible truths. Even some (ok, most)of our teachers could use a refresher course. Have the children learn the catechism. Well, see my idea was originally to not tell anyone, just present it at the next meeting. Not knowing if Mark and the pastor would a.)like the basic concept or b.)mind that I was volunteering them to design the new material. Seeing as how I am also trying to work on my own self at getting closer to God, and a seeing how a submissive wife would not volunteer her dear hubby for something without first asking if is it okay, I thought it might be a good idea to talk to Marko about it. He somewhat liked it, but said, "You can't put that about the children learning the catechism" I said "Why not?" (ok, maybe I'm not that submissive!!) He said, "Well, that is like a Reformed-R-Us kind of thing, and we are just not a reformed church." Ah, point well made. He also suggested that I run the idea by the pastor before the meeting so that he has time to process it. (or reject it straight out)
So, that still leaves me with the feeling that I need to learn the catechism myself, and teach it to my children. So we started it last week. We are taking it slooowly One question per week. Our question last week was What is the chief end of man? Answer: Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. We even found a CD on Rhapsody of a guy singing the catechism. I have said for years that Samuel can learn anything if it is set to music. (not kidding, he can sing this)Well, by Tuesday he was in his room doing a puzzle and singing "What is the chief end of maaann? Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him fuurrever."
Can you really think of a better example of glorifying, or enjoying God?