You Alone Can Rescue

Genesis 4:26 - "...And at that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord."

So much to unpack here... what hope! what faith! Before the covenants to Abraham, before the law to Moses, before the judges and before the kings, "people began to call upon the name of the Lord."

What does this look like? What does it mean for us? Scott had somethings to say about last Sunday: here.

I asked myself this last week and now I ask you, what do you think "call upon the name of the Lord" sounds like? We'd each have a different answer. The bible gives us many Psalms of how King David and other psalmists called upon the name of the Lord. In the context of Genesis, there are a few things that pointed me to the new song You Alone Can Rescue. To call upon His name is to recognize that He is greater than I. That we need Him. In Genesis 3, we see that the fruit of death ("for in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die..." Gen 2:17) is consumed. Separation from God, aka death, now exists. In Genesis 4, we are introduced to physical death (Cain killing Abel). Without the Lord's provision and intervention, we shall surely die. Last week, when dwelling on this and "calling upon the name of the Lord," I routinely came to this:

(partial first verse)

Who, O Lord, could save themselves?

Their own soul could heal?

(chorus)

You alone can rescue

You alone can save

You alone can lift us from the grave

You came down to find us

Led us out of death

To You alone belongs the highest praise

(bridge)

We lift up our eyes

Lift up our eyes

You're the giver of life.

With tremendous grace, the Lord came down to gather His lost sheep, us, to Himself. As Paul details in Romans 5, sin came to world through one man, but also through one man, Jesus Christ, came abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness.

(second verse)

You, O Lord, have made a way

The great divide You healed

For when our hearts were far away

Your love went further still

Yes, Your love goes further still

Check out the song on iTunes (open iTunes Store).

...To Him alone truly belongs the highest praise. Amen? Amen.

Rock Bible Church - 11-7-2010

How's your evening?

I tried to plan a relaxing evening and so far, so good. These nights are so important. I've found that with engineering, worship leading, the girlfriend, some kind of social life, etc. I need to be intentional about taking some time to relax, reflect, and replenish. Writing here is great way for me to relax, but moreso to reflect, particularly on worship at RBC. Replenishing generally comes from two places: 1) talking with Lindsey or my close college friends (who are also worship leaders) about God, worship, anything or 2) Reading the Bible and/or other books that simultaneously encourage and challenge me to better lead my heart and the RBC congregation in praise of the Lord. Recently, these books have been:

Worship Matters - Bob Kauflin: www.worshipmatters.com

Doctrine - Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears: www.relit.org

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We (band) had planned and even practiced for this Sunday, but Devin (drummer) was in a bike accident at 1pm that afternoon. His leg was pretty beat up and swolen; drumming wasnt an option. I spoke with him today and thankfully, his leg has already healed so much! Praise the Lord.

This past Sunday's set was a black and white of old and new. Hosanna and Wholly Yours are both relatively new songs (last 5 years), while Come Thou Fount, Doxology, and Jesus Paid It all are "oldies but goodies"... emphasis on goodies. I wrote about Wholly Yours here (last week) and I that description is applicable to this week. Hosanna was the opening song for Rock Bible Church back on 10/10/10. He is the God who saves us; "Hosanna" means "Save, I pray!". With a discussion on the introduction of sin and our disobedience of the Lord, it's important to elevate our Savior as exactly that - Savior.

I could dedicate an entire post to the truth in Come Thou Fount, but I'll try to keep it simple here. First verse (partial):

Come thou fount of every blessing

Tune my hear to sing Thy grace

Streams of mercy, never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise...

The Lord blesses. He is worthy of praise. This verse highlights some of his (most defining, in my opinion) attributes: grace, mercy, and love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer,

Hither by Thy help I've come

And I hope by Thy good pleasure

Safely to arrive at home

Jesus sought me when a stranger...

I sang this song for years (many as a member of a congregation (a congregette?) and a little over a year as a worship leader) without know what "...raise my Ebenezer" meant. I eventually stumbled upon it's meaning in 1 Samuel 7, where Samuel erects an "Ebenezer" (meaning: Stone of help) to remind himself and the people of Israel that it was the Lord who helped them to this place. Likewise, we too must remind ourselves that Christ sought us when strangers to God, and that it is by His ultimate stream of mercy, death on a cross, we are considered righteous and enabled to return to community with God.

...Let thy goodness, like a fetter

Bind my wandering heart to Thee

Prone to wander Lord I feel it

Prone to leave the God I love

Here's my heart Lord...

What great confession: "Lord, I am prone to wander." Do we admit this to the Lord? To ourselves? Sometimes I wish could fetter, aka "bind" or "fasten", my heart to Lord. Since this physically cannot happen, we need to ground and root our hearts in ways the Lord has provided for us. Isaiah 40 tells us that strength will rise for those "who wait on the Lord". Moses, before he passed away, told the people of Israel to write "Love the Lord your God..." on the doorposts and on your hands and to teach it diligently! Those are two examples. ...I say it like I have it down, I certainly do not. I need these words as much or more than the next.

(ok i tried to keep it short, emphasis on try.) As you can see, I really dig Come Thou Fount; it's safe to say we'll be singing it again.

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Without totally dragging on, I'll stop here. Maybe (read: most likely) a little more later this week to touch on Doxology and Jesus Paid It All.

Rock Bible Church - 10-31-2010

Hello!

It's been a bit of a busy week, but I wanted to take a moment and talk a bit about the songs from this past Sunday.

Holy Is The Lord by Chris Tomlin - His anthem is rising up from our lips and our hearts: "Holy Is the Lord, God almighty". The earth, His creation, is full of His glory!

Forever by Chris Tomlin - The Lord is faithful. Psalm 136 lists many of the ways the Lord was good to the people of Israel and after each one, they proclaim "His love endures forever" (depending on the translation). I recognize that this song (and Holy Is the Lord) are sung often by churches around the country and I don't want to overplay them, but there is a powerful reason these songs are so common. They are so straight to the point with praise of the Lord and His kindness and holiness. (Related to this: I wrote earlier (here) about the need for these songs and for more metaphorical, imagery driven songs.)

Wholly Yours by David Crowder - I try not to say this about every song, but this one is truly one of my favorites. Great chorus, so honest and so praise-ful! "You are holy, holy / All heaven cries "holy, holy God!" / You are holy, holy / I want to be holy like You are." The last line may seem a little odd or out of place, but the bridge drives it home. Consider the bridge an extension of the chorus like this: "I want to be holy like You are. But the harder I try, the more clearly can I, see the depth of our fall and the weight of it all. So this might could be the most impossible thing: your grandness is me, making me clean!" What a great confession! "Lord, I try so hard to be holy like You, but I always find myself more fallen and more burdened. I truly could never reach You by my own works or strength. But what grace and kindness: You see my sin, yet love me! You see my sin, yet You have made my heart Your dwelling place, perfecting it - making it holy. Glory, glory, halleluiah...." Amen.

The Solid Rock - Hebrews chapter 6 begins to detail that Christ is the perfect High Priest. He is "anchor of the soul" (Hebrews 6:19). That on our behalf, as a high priest does but once and for all, Christ entered the Holy of Holies behind the veil - where the presence of God dwelt. In addition to this great biblical truth, this song also touches on the vision and heart that the Lord gave Scott when steering him to start Rock Bible Church. In Matthew 7:24-27, Christ talks about the importance of a firm foundation on the solid rock verses a weak foundation of sand. Christ is our solid rock and all other ground is sinking sand. Amen. (again).

Center by Charlie Hall - Colossians 1:17 says that Christ holds all things together. This is right after Paul says that all things were made by, for and through Christ. This song is a great prayer to Lord, that we might fix our eyes upon Him and place Him, rightfully, at the center of our lives. I hope that as we sing to the Lord the words of this song, that we internalize them as well. Be encouraged that "everything was made in Him". Be strengthened that he "holds everything together"!

....I hope you're able to join us this Sunday as we explore Genesis 3. 5pm at Centerpointe.

Blessings!