I’m going to start posting my journaling on Sundays to my blog. Most of the time I use Journalr (and occasionally fall back to my paper journal), which is free, so if you think you’d like to try journaling online, sign up.
Today’s reading is from 1 Samuel 17.
45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
The above is David’s response to Goliath as they prepare to battle one on one. It’s verse 47 I find interesting. “All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves”.
David is standing toe to toe with an enemy that’s quite possibly, literally, twice his size. He has the entire Israelite army behind him, and the entire Philistine army sprawled ahead of him. The constant yells and screams of warriors ready to do battle, armor and weapons clanging, mayhem…
And yet, David knows that it’s not by sword or spear that God’s people are saved. It’s by the grace of God. It’s by his enduring love. It won’t be because David’s good with a sword or shield or sling. It won’t be because there are more (or fewer) Israelite warriors. It will be by God’s generous hand.
Lord, thank you for today’s humbling reminder. You are not made more famous by our doings. You are not made more famous by talent, or aggressiveness, or luck, or temperment, but by who you are, God. You are the Creator God of the universe. I seek your will, Father, and want to do only what you want me to do. Thank you God.
[tags]david, goliath, samuel, bible, life journaling, grace, philistines, shawnw[/tags]
Well, another Easter in the bag. Not sure of our count in both the 9 and 11 a.m. services today, but turnout seemed to be pretty good for both. This year’s theme was Come Awake, with Vince delivering the teaching, and our musical worship set culminating with David Crowder Band‘s Come Awake.
We also had some guys from ArtReach doing live painting during the latter half of the worship set (my pop was one of the guys painting, and I’m told he was like a kid up there). The image in this post is their finished product.
Today’s worship set (for both gatherings, obviously) looked like this:
I think this year’s song selection was spot on, and it didn’t hurt that we already knew last summer that we were focusing on Come Awake (even though the actual final song set wasn’t completed until a couple weeks before Easter).
All in all, I think it was a fine morning, and a great way to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.
He is risen!
[tags]jesus, easter, resurrection, come awake, exchangemcc, mccth, vince mcfarland, scot longyear, shawnw[/tags]
Today is Good Friday, the day we celebrate the crucifixion of Christ on the cross. He died for our sins, a sin sacrifice, and that sacrifice was an atonement we could never achieve on our own.
Christ was brutalized for you and I. Beaten severely, a crown of thorns forced onto his head, his hands and feet nailed to a cross, then that cross was erected and Christ agonized for hours, suffocating and bleeding from his extensive wounds, before dying.
His death ensured that, one day, we could be with God in heaven forever. Christ was our sacrificial lamb, earning us a place at the table of God we do not deserve.
Thank you Jesus.
Thank you.
[tags]good friday, jesus christ, salvation, sacrifice, crucify, crucifixion, resurrection, easter, shawnw[/tags]
This goes out to all action movie fans out there. If this trailer does not get you excited about seeing Bruce Willis as John McClane, riding the rocket one more time in Die Hard 4 (or Die Hard 4.0, or Live Free or Die Hard, or whatever they’re calling it), then you have no pulse.
[tags]die hard 4, bruce willis, movies, shawnw[/tags]
We had our first full band practice tonight in preparation for Easter this Sunday. We didn’t have the choir with us (they’re practicing separately) but check out this lineup for Sunday:
Little ‘ole me will be doing some singin’ and rockin the electronic loops and turntable.
Perhaps you heard Scot say that this year might not be as good as last year (listen to this past Sunday’s teaching for more deets)… well, consider him wrong. We had a couple moments during practice tonight that were, as they say, dy-no-mite!
But, that’s not the best part. We had to delay practice for a few minutes (we normally start at 8pm) because of a baptism. Easter. Probably the biggest day of the year for the Christian church. Our next to last practice… someone wants to get baptized? Like… isn’t that why we do what we do?
Easter at Maryland Community Church is 9am and 11am, be sure and check us out.
[tags]easter, scotlive, maryland community church, terre haute, shawnw[/tags]
