Let us love and sing and wonder,
let us praise the Savior's name!
He has hushed the law's loud thunder,
he has quenched Mount Sinai's flame;
he has washed us with his blood,
he has brought us nigh to God.
Let us love the Lord who bought us,
pitied us when enemies,
called us by his grace, and taught us,
gave us ears and gave us eyes:
he has washed us with his blood,
he presents our souls to God.
Let us sing, though fierce temptation
threaten hard to bear us down!
For the Lord, our strong salvation,
holds in view the conqu'ror's crown;
he who washed us with his blood,
soon will bring us home to God.
Let us wonder; grace and justice
join, and point to mercy's store;
when through grace in Christ our trust is,
justice smiles, and asks no more:
he who washed us with his blood,
has secured our way to God.
Let us praise, and join the chorus
of the saints enthroned on high;
here they trusted him before us,
now their praises fill the sky:
"You have washed us with your blood;
You are worthy, Lamb of God!"
• • •
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Mark 14:26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Many men won't sing, but Jesus was a singer you know. So too his Apostles. The one time in the Bible where it notes that Jesus sang, he sang before he went to battle, the greatest battle of all.
At the Last Supper he gathered them together, he washed their feet, he fed them, he taught them, he prayed for them; then it says - listen to this! - before they went out to Gethsemane, where he knelt down and prayed with drops of blood, they sang a hymn.
They sang as they went out into the night. They went into battle singing. And we know what song they sang. They sang a Psalm, Psalm 118, the great Hallel. And it ends with these words, "Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar".
Lo! he comes with clouds descending,
once for favored sinners slain;
thousand, thousand saints attending
swell the triumph of his train.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
God appears on earth to reign.
Ev'ry eye shall now behold him,
robed in dreadful majesty;
those who set at naught and sold him,
pierced, and nailed him to the tree,
deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
shall the true Messiah see.
Now Redemption, long expected,
see in solemn pomp appear!
All his saints, by man rejected,
now shall meet him in the air.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
See the day of God appear!
I believe the faithful Church is resilient and will shed the ugly shell of the politicized perversion in which it has been parading around recently, emerging in renewed repentance, humility, service, community, and mission, rejecting false leaders who loved power more than Christ
I really do believe revival will come, but by 'revival' we can't mean more of what we've seen. It has to be a new and deeper work of grace in the house of the Lord that leads to a new and deeper life of service to those who are yet to be in the House of the Lord.
It has to entail a deep renunciation of seeking to use the powers of this age to usher in the age to come. It has to entail a thorough-going cleansing of the virus of pride that looks to build up platforms for celebrities instead of communities of the Body of Christ.
To once again turn the world upside down the Church will have to be turned inside-out. An end to a narcissistic celebrity culture ministry model that builds personal platforms instead of faithful communities is a must.
An outward-facing, serving posture in the world must be the constant reality of the reshaped church. A recovery of tradition, especially in liturgical form and sacramental practice, that provides pathways for the Faith to be passed across generations is a must.
An apostolic mindset is critical. Mission-mindedness has to be a hallmark of healthy churches, especially larger 'resource' churches that serve as Antioch-like sending bodies and Ephesus-like influencing bodies. While every church can plant another church - and should - these...