cling to the crucified

from horatius bonar's lyra consalationis

"Cling to the Mighty One, Cling in thy grief
Cling to the Holy One, He gives relief
Cling to the Gracious One, Cling in thy pain
Cling to the Faithful One, He will sustain

Cling to the crucified, Jesus the Lamb who died
Cling to the crucified, Jesus the King
Cling to the crucified, Jesus the Lamb who died
Cling to the crucified, Jesus the King

Cling to the Living One, Cling in thy woe
Cling to the Loving One, Through all below
Cling to the Pardoning One, He speaketh peace
Cling to the Healing One, Anguish will cease

Cling to the Bleeding One, Cling to His side
Cling to the Rising One, In Him abide
Cling to the Coming One, Hope shall arise
Cling to the Reigning One, Joy lights thine eyes"

for those who are interested...

from the camp forms:

CAMP BIBLE MEMORY MATERIAL

We will be memorizing and quizzing over the book of John from the following passages:
6:25-59 (I AM the Bread of Life)
8:12-30 (I AM the Light of the World)
8:48-59 (Before Abraham was born I AM)
9:1-12 (I AM the Light of the World)
10:1-21 (I AM the Gate, the Good Shepherd)
11:17-44 (I AM the Resurrection and the Life)
14:1-31 (I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life)
15:1-17 (I AM the True Vine)
18:1-11 (I AM He)
(New International Version, Copyright 1984).
Please feel free to start studying in advance to be prepared!

delighting in God's glory

"as it is desirable in itself that God's glory should be known, so when known it seems equally reasonable it should be esteemed and delighted in, answerably to its dignity. there is no more reason to esteem it a suitable thing, that there should be an idea in the understanding corresponding unto the glorious object, than that there should be a corresponding affection in the will. if the perfection itself be excellent, the knowledge of it is excellent, and so is the esteem and love of it excellent. and as it is fit that God should love and esteem his own excellence, it is also fit that he should value and esteem the love of his excellency. and if it becomes a being highly to value himself, it is fit that he should love to have himself valued and esteemed. if the idea of God's perfection in the understanding be valuable, then the love of the heart seems to be more especially valuable, as moral beauty especially consists in the disposition and affection of the heart."

jonathan edwards, the end for which God created the world

on revival

"the greatest problem confronting us in the Church today is that the vast majority of professing Christians are not convinced of the reality and the desirableness of revivals.... an evangelistic campaign is the Church deciding to do something with respect to those who are outside. a revival is not the church deciding to do something and doing it. it is something that is DONE to the Church...the whole essence of a revival is that it is something that happens to the Church, to the people inside. and they are affected and moved and tremendous things happen.... first and foremost, (they become aware of) the glory and the holiness of God... and that leads inevitably to a deep and a terrible sense of sin, and an 'aweful' feeling of guilt.... then they are given a clear view of the love of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, especially of His death upon the cross.... they begin to get a concern for the members of their own family.... there is a constraint that is driving them. they talk about it to people...and they begin to pray for them.... others who are outside begin to join the meetings and to say, 'what is this?' so they come in, and they go through the same experience."

martyn lloyd-jones, revival

on prayer

speaking of how Jeremiah begins his prayer in Jeremiah 32:16-25:

"This prayer is rich in its praise of the attributes of God. Jeremiah worships God for His omnipotence and omniscience, for His love and justice. His prayer is informed by his doctrine of God.

The same ought to be true of the prayers of every Christian. You must have a theology before you can have a prayer life. Knowing the character of God precedes having intimacy with Him through prayer. Too many prayers are superficial in their grasp of the character of God. Instead, they ought to be saturated with the praise of His glorious attributes."

Philip Ryken, Courage to Stand: Jeremiah's Message for Post-Christian Times

why it's GOOD news.

"The background of the good news of the gospel is the bad news about the sinfulness of sin and the certainty of sin's judgment...

Sin is essentially the resolve - the mad, utterly blameworthy, but nonetheless, utterly firm resolve - to play God and fight the real God. Sinners resolve to treat themselves as the center of the universe and so they keep God at bay on the outer circumference of their lives - or so they think. They won't allow the Creator to rule over them as he wills to do. If they appeal to God at all, they ask God to act according to their will and for their convenience like a servant who gets them out of trouble and bestows on them good gifts. They never serve him from the heart and only resent the claim to dominion that he makes... sin wills the fundamental abolition of God. Sin wills that God should not be there. Sin plays God, sin fights God, and sin wishes that God didn't exist at all...

God cannot help recoiling from that attitude in man that expresses itself in fighting him, defying him, and willing him out of existence. You cannot wonder that he hates the abominations which sin produces. God is holy. Sin is uncleanness in his eyes and he hates it... God is just. This means God does everything right and deals rightly with everyone. God expresses his justice by dealing with sin as sin ought to be dealt with... The just God will deal with sin as sin deserves..."

j.i. packer

as part of the answer to the question of "whether or not the atonement (at the cost of His Son) was necessary" in the book atonement

try saying that 5 times fast

eyjafjallajokull - yeah, that's the name of the volcano that erupted in iceland. with a name like that, it MUST be a bad one.