Tag: Cross

Following Jesus

Mathew 16:24

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me

A few months ago in our devotional period after Songster practice I based my thoughts on the song “I’ll follow Thee”

Bandmaster Richard Philips who plays the piano for The International Staff Songsters has a CD out with the original tune of ‘I’ll Follow Thee,

1.
I heard a voice so gently calling:See the source image
Take up thy cross and follow me.
A tempest on my heart was falling,
A living cross this was to be;
I struggled sore, I struggled vainly,
No other light my eyes could see.
Chorus
I’ll follow thee, of life the giver,
I’ll follow thee, suffering redeemer,
I’ll follow thee, deny thee never,
By thy grace I’ll follow thee.

2.
I heard his voice unto me saying:
Take up thy cross and follow me.
My heart is thine, now thee obeying,
Speak all thy will, dear Lord, to me.
Make weakness strength, thy power now give me,
And from this hour I’ll follow thee.

We are told in Mathew 16:24 that in order to be a follower of Jesus we must take up thy cross and it goes on to tell us in verse 2 that if we follow him he will give us strength and power.

Obedience

John 14:23

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

Yet again I was listening to a song of the same title on you tube last night which prompted me to write this blog.

It’s a song that invites us to listen and to respond to Jesus’s calling as he not only knocks at the door of our hearts and in doing so we may feel his presence, Help us to realise what you want us to be.See the source image

Here is the words for you to follow:

Lord I hear you knocking Hear your voice appealing Open the door of your heart Let me enter in and Take a centre of your life Controlling every part Come follow me on the way of the cross This is the moment you must start

Chorus: Lord I respond to your claims on my life With obedience to that you will ask

Lord, knowing you in the way of the cross This will be my task Lord I know you’re prompting Know your spirit surging Be my desire for today Make my will your choice and Meet no other voice That calls to walk another way Come follow me on the way of the cross This is the moment to obey

Lord, knowing you in the way of the cross This will be my task Lord I know your presence Be your call to service Be what you want me to be Serve and to your brothers Give your life for others As I do at Calvary Come follow me on the way of the cross This is the moment to be free

Chorus: Lord I respond to your claims on my life With obedience to that you will ask Lord, knowing you in the way of the cross This will be my task Your cross, my task

Jesus, our Forever Friend

John 15:12-15

12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

The first time I heard this song I got to admit I liked it, the laughable thing about it was it took me a few times to listen to it for the words to register with me.

Why I didn’t catch on the first time Heaven only knows. This is a brilliant testimony and invitation to get to know Christ

 

Everybody needs a little help sometime
No one stands alone
Makes no difference if you’re just a child like me
Or a king upon a throne
For there are no exceptionsSee the source image
We all stand in the line
Everybody needs a friend
Let me tell you of mine
——-
Chorus:
He’s my forever friend
My leave-me-never friend
From darkest night to rainbow’s end
He’s my forever friend
——-
Even when I turn away He cares for me
His love no one can shake
Even as I walk away He’s by my side
With every breath I take
And sometimes I forget Him
My halo fails to shine
Sometimes I’m not His friend
But He is always mine
——-
Repeat chorus:
If you still don’t know the one I’m talking of
I think it’s time you knew
Long ago and far away upon a cross
My friend died for you
So if you’d like to meet Him
And don’t know what to do
Ask my friend into you heart
And He’ll be your friend too

 

Hard Hearts

The song “When My Heart Was So Hard” is a hymn written by Herbert H. Booth. It was first published in 1900 and is often associated with the Salvation Army1. The song reflects Booth’s personal journey and spiritual transformation. The lyrics describe a heart that was once hardened and resistant to salvation, but through a profound experience at the cross, the author found redemption and light1.

The hymn is a powerful reminder of the impact of faith and the possibility of personal change and renewal. It’s a beautiful piece that has resonated with many people over the years.

Following Jesus

Jesus Predicts His Death

21From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
23Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.25For whoever wants to save their life26. will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.26What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?27For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

General’s Gowans and Larsson  wrote many a fine tunes for their musicals I’ll not turn back is one of my many favourite devotional songs my wife also chose it when she became a member of our Church The focus of the song being on the Chorus,

I’ll not turn back, whatever it may cost,Image result for Salvation army homelessI’m called to live, to love and save the lost,
I’ll not turn back, whatever it may cost,.
I’m called to live, to love and save the lost.

In the second verse we are reminded that when one door closes another will open and tells us how the word of God will never be contained, we are told that narrow minds and prison bars will not frustrate his love.

The final verse speaks for itself as it it talks about suffering  just because we want bear our masters name.

Christ Humbles himself

Philippians 2 New International Version

Imitating Christ’s Humility

2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature[a] God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

On every hill our Saviour dies, And not on Calvary’s height alone, His sorrow darkens all our skies, His griefs for all our wrongs atone.

Present he is in all our woes, Upon a worldwide cross is hung, And with exceeding bitter throes, His world embracing heart is wrung.

In us invested is,
God cannot pass a suppliant by;
For heard of God's eternities
Our prayers repeat the Saviour's cry.
And for the sake of that dear name
With which all hope of good is given,
Our heavenly load of sin and shame
The Father clears and cries: Forgiven!

Following the Lord

Image result for Following the lord

Luke 18 New International Version

The Rich and the Kingdom of God

18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honour your father and mother.’[a]”

21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

26 Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”

27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

28 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”

29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Is God calling you?

2 Peter 1 New International Version

1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Confirming One’s Calling and Election

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters,[a] make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live, I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

I will stand
I will stand, all other ground is sinking sand
All other ground, all other ground
Is sinking sand, is sinking sand
So I’ll stand

Calvary

John 19:15 – 27

 New International Version 

15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion of Jesus

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”Image result for Calvary

22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,

“They divided my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.”[a]

So this is what the soldiers did.

25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[b] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary

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

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away
Where His glory forever I’ll share

Do you remember you’re Conversion?

Acts 9 New International Version 

Saul’s Conversion

9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”Image result for saul's conversion

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptised, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

O what a wonderful, wonderful day – day I will never forget;
After I’d wandered in darkness away, Jesus my Saviour I met.
O what a tender, compassionate friend – He met the need of my heart;
Shadows dispelling, With joy I am telling, He made all the darkness depart.

Chorus:
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul,
When at the cross the Saviour made me whole;
My sins were washed away –
And my night was turned to day –
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul!

Born of the Spirit with life from above into God’s fam’ly divine,
Justified fully thru Calvary’s love, O what a standing is mine!
And the transaction so quickly was made when as a sinner I came,
Took of the offer of grace He did proffer – He saved me, O praise His dear name!

Now I’ve a hope that will surely endure after the passing of time;
I have a future in heaven for sure, there in those mansions sublime.
And it’s because of that wonderful day when at the cross I believed;
Riches eternal and blessings supernal from His precious hand I received.

The words to the above song ‘Heaven came down’ is a brilliant and fitting song for someone who has just been converted. Below is a video of Salvation Army timbrelists doing a display to the march ‘Heaven Came Down’