by John Baw on July 25, 2009
by John Baw on July 24, 2009
WOW, If there ever was a song that resonated with where I find myself today it is this one ….. What voice am I going to listen to today? What giants am I up against? What will I decide?
Voice Of Truth Lyrics
Artist(Band): Casting Crowns
Link for lyrics
Oh,what I would do to have
the kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I’m in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown
Where Jesus is,
And he’s holding out his hand
But the waves are calling out my name
and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I’ve tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
time and time again
“Boy, you’ll never win,
you’ll never win.”
But the Voice of truth tells me a different story
the Voice of truth says “do not be afraid!”
and the Voice of truth says “this is for My glory”
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth
Oh, what I would do
to have the kind of strength it takes
To stand before a giant
with just a sling and a stone
Surrounded by the sound
of a thousand warriors
shaking in their armor
Wishing they’d have had the strength to stand
But the giant’s calling out
my name and he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times
I’ve tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me
time and time again
“Boy you’ll never win,
you’ll never win.”
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
the Voice of truth says “do not be afraid!”
and the Voice of truth says “this is for My glory”
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth
But the stone was just the right size
to put the giant on the ground
and the waves they don’t seem so high
from on top of them looking down
I will soar with the wings of eagles
when I stop and listen to the sound of Jesus
singing over me
But the Voice of truth tells me a different story
The Voice of truth says “do not be afraid!”
And the Voice of truth says “this is for my glory”
Out of all the voices calling out to me (calling out to me)
I will choose to listen and believe (I will choose to listen and believe)
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth
I will listen and believe
I will listen and believe the Voice of truth
I will listen and believe
‘Cause Jesus you are the Voice of truth
And I will listen to you.. oh you are the Voice of truth
by John Baw on July 21, 2009
Hailed as a modern version of C.S.Lewis’ “Mere Christianity”, NT Wright’s work strikes me, not so much as an apologetic of the Christian faith (although it could indeed be that) but as a gift to the Church to help her be the Church. The central theme of the book is that there are four fundamental longings of the human heart, which Wright describes as “echoes of a voice”: a longing of justice, a quest for spirituality, a need for relationship, and a delight in beauty. These four echoes resonate hauntingly within human hearts and are “strange signposts pointing beyond the landscape of our contemporary culture and into the unknown” we hear these echoes, but not the voice…. we seem to grasp them… but alas they slip away! – At the end of this road we find that those signposts point us to this one speaker whose voice we heard only as faint haunting echoes…..Jesus. In Jesus we find our longing for justice fulfilled, our quest for spirituality satisfied, our need for relationship completed and our delight in beauty realized.
If these four “echoes” are its central theme, Wright addresses these within a framework of different views of Heaven (he calls them “options”). Option 1 is the pantheistic image of everything on earth carrying the divine. Option 2 is the root of the deist and gnostic image of heaven being a very beautiful place very far away and separated from this cruel and dark world – with the divine sometimes intervening in human affairs. Option 3 is the Judeo-Christian view of Heaven being different to Earth but near, indeed overlapping and intersecting it at specific times and in specific places. It is amazing how much of the first two options have inadvertently crept into Christian thought and theology, providing for very unhelpful attitudes, thoughts and positions. This Option-3 framework sets the tone and tempo for much of Wright’s ensuing work. It is critical for the reader to grasp this if the book is going to make a lasting impact on him or her.
It is this big vision of Heaven being a real place that intersects and overlaps Earth, and God’s ultimate purpose of joining these two together to be one, that in my opinion makes for a great work by this theological heavyweight. It is within this framework, in my opinion, that the tenets of the Christian message and mission start to make remarkable sense: God is indeed intending to put the world to rights (justice) and remarkably has already begun to do this, firstly in the resurrection of Jesus (an advance signpost and prototype of the general “Resurrection” at the end of the age), and secondly in the ongoing work and mission of the Church.
In Part-2 of this blog post we shall cover the specific instances where Heaven meets Earth in the life of the Church!
by John Baw on July 18, 2009
by John Baw on July 11, 2009
by John Baw on July 4, 2009
by John Baw on July 2, 2009
I was flicking channels the other day and landed on a really cheesy Mexican soap-opera channel called “TL Novelas” – where an ‘experienced’ actress was being interviewed. For a split second – literally the time it would take me to click and surf on to a “man channel” (Sky News, CNN, National Geographic, History Channel, Discovery channel, etc)- I heard her mention 3 words that she said were critical for success in acting:
Passion….Patience….Discipline.
Those words struck me. I think that those three words are vital for success in ANY field or endeavor!!!!! That is what your destiny is waiting for – the alignment of your passion, patience, and discipline. Many today are dreaming about success and making their dreams a reality, but they lack the combination, or alignment, of these three factors.
How about you? What steps are YOU taking today to align these three elements, so crucial to your success?
No athlete makes it to the games on gifting alone – but on the powerful combination of gifting and discipline” – (Pastor Bill Johnson)
