King of My Heart was written by Sarah McMillan and speaks of the place the Lord has in our life, and repeats some wonderful truths about Him.
Let the King of my heart Be the mountain where I run
God’s Word tells us that He is the King of Kings (Revelation 17.14), a strong tower of refuge for those who run to Him (Genesis 15.1, Psalm 3.3, 5.11, Proverbs 30.5, 2 Thessalonians 3.3, and many more!).
The fountain I drink from Oh, He is my song
Jesus Himself said that He is the fountain of living water (John 4.10, 7.37-39).
Let the King of my heart Be the shadow where I hide
Psalm 91.1 tells us of the shadow where we hide,
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most Highwill abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
The ransom for my life Oh, He is my song
God’s Word tells us that Jesus was not only the ransom for our life, but for the lives of the entire world (1 John 2.2). He died to pay the price for your sin, and through faith in Him you are forgiven (John 3.16).
The chorus then repeats a wonderful truth – that God is good (1 Chronicles 16.34, Psalm 31.19-20, Nahum 1.7, Matthew 19.7).
You are good, good, ohh
Finally, what a wonderful truth this is to take into today,
You’re never gonna let Never gonna let me down
God will never let us down, He has provided all we need for a life of fulfilment and Godliness (2 Peter 1.3), and He always fulfils His promises to us (2 Peter 3.9, John 17.17).
Enjoy singing the praises of our great and good God today!
Lloyd-Jones makes an interesting point when saying that if all the Christian life entailed was accepting salvation and going to heaven then the New Testament letters would never have been needed, and there would be no real need for the church.
His point is that we all struggle with life and will continue to struggle with life regardless of whether we have professed Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Being a believer is no guarantee that life will be smooth sailing.
He goes on to say that if you have never had trouble in your life, never battled through anything, are you really a believer? His point is that upon becoming a Christian, there will be things in our lives that we want to let go of, get rid of, or just plain run away from.
15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.
1 Timothy 1.15-16
There will be things we all want to get rid of in our lives, some may take more time than others and this is ok. We know from the full counsel of Scripture that the forgiveness that Jesus offers is total and complete, and it is in this truth that we need to rest.
Maybe there is something in your life that you look back on and cannot understand how you could be forgiven for.
This one sin can really get people down. They look at the testimony of others and say ‘Praise God, what a transformation!‘, but struggle to understand that they are also forgiven from all of their past.
When we differentiate between sin (this one is worse than that one), we fail to take God at His Word. We fail to understand that Jesus died for the sins of the entire world, including the one sin that you feel you will never be forgiven.
When an angel appeared to Joseph to reassure him he said this,
…“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Matthew 1.20-21
The shed blood of Jesus covers all sins, and you are completely forgiven. The angel didn’t say “…he will save his people from some sin, but not that one sin you committed…”
Lloyd-Jones summarises well, and this is a great thought for us to take into today,
“You and I must never look at our past lives; we must never look at any sin in our past life in any way except that which leads us to praise God and to magnify His grace in Christ Jesus. I challenge you to do that. If you look at your past and are depressed by it, if as a result you are feeling miserable as a Christian, you must do what Paul did…He glories in grace and says the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”
26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.37 For,
“Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
What kind of people should we be?
Why should keep going to church (vv.19-25)?
What does being part of a body help us become?
We should be the kind of people for whom there will never come a time when we might give in to the temptation to declare that the whole thing was worthless (vv.26-31).
We should be the kind of people who refuse to remove ourselves from right relationship with God through a steadfast faith in the faithfulness of Jesus.
We should be the kind of people who remember what happened to us when we first gave our lives to Him (vv.32-38).
We should be the kind of people who remember the former days when after we were enlightened how we put up with and triumphed over everything that the world, the flesh, and the devil could throw at us.
We should be the kind of people who live by faith and do not shrink back (v.39).
Faith is what matters–God’s faithfulness to us, and our answering that with faith in Him.
Last week I was invited to teach at a conference for pastors and Bible college students in South Asia.
Right before my session, the worship leader stood up and told this story…
About 150 years ago, there was a great revival in Wales. As a result of this, many missionaries came to north-east India to spread the Gospel. The region known as Assam was comprised of hundreds of tribes who were primitive and aggressive head-hunters
Into these hostile and aggressive communities, came a group of missionaries from the American Baptist Missions spreading the message of love, peace and hope in Jesus Christ. Naturally, they were not welcomed. One missionary succeeded in converting a man, his wife, and two children. This man’s faith proved contagious and many villagers began to accept Christianity.
Angry, the village chief summoned all the villagers. He then called the family who had first converted to renounce their faith in public or face execution. Moved by the Holy Spirit, the man instantly composed a song which became famous down the years. He sang:
“I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
No turning back, no turning back.”
Enraged at the refusal of the man, the chief ordered his archers to arrow down the two children. As both boys lay twitching on the floor, the chief asked, “Will you deny your faith? You have lost both your children. You will lose your wife too.”
But the man sang these words in reply:
“Though no one joins me, still I will follow.
Though no one joins me, still I will follow.
Though no one joins me, still I will follow.
No turning back, no turning back.”
The chief was beside himself with fury and ordered his wife to be arrowed down. In a moment she joined her two children in death. Now he asked for the last time, “I will give you one more opportunity to deny your faith and live.”In the face of death the man sang the final memorable lines:
“The cross before me, the world behind me.
The cross before me, the world behind me.
The cross before me, the world behind me.
No turning back, no turning back.”
He was shot dead like the rest of his family. But with their deaths, a miracle took place. The chief who had ordered the killings was moved by the faith of the man. He wondered, “Why should this man, his wife and two children die for a Man who lived in a far-away land on another continent some 2,000 years ago? There must be some remarkable power behind the family’s faith, and I too want to taste that faith.”
In a spontaneous confession of faith, he declared, “I too belong to Jesus Christ!” When the crowd heard this from the mouth of their chief, the whole village accepted Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
The song is based on the last words of Nokseng, a man from Garo tribe of Assam (now Meghalaya and some in Assam), India. It is today the song of the Garo people.
Source: Dr. P.P. Job in ‘Why God Why’
There was a stunned silence in the room.
Everybody knew this song, but very few people know the story to it.
The worship team then led us all in this song, and it was hauntingly beautiful. For us to be in the region where this took place, and having all made that same confession, was so powerful. There was barely a dry eye in the house.
Today there is no need for a challenging personal question, or a point to ponder, or a prayer of confession. Just read that story again, and listen to this song…
6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.
Timothy’s job as the pastor of this new church in Ephesus is to instruct, to teach, and to model, by putting these things before the brothers and sisters. ‘These things‘ would appear to be the Word of God and prayer (v.5) and the sum of Paul’s instruction so far (2.1-4.5).
The pastor, then, needs to be in the Word if he is to teach the Word.
The pastor, then, needs to be in the Word if he is to model the word by his ways.
The pastor, then, needs to be in the Word.
But, is the pastor the only person in church that needs to put these things before the brothers? Is the pastor the only person who needs to model the words of faith and the good doctrine?
This is really a call to everyone who has submitted and committed to the Jesus-following life. All of us are called, by our words and ways, to put these things before the brothers and sisters.
David Guzik writes,
It is also important to say that instruction should be understood in a broad sense, not only as classroom-style teaching or Sunday preaching. Jesus instructed His disciples, but with His presence, His life, and His practice as well as with His words.
Surly there can be no greater reward for ministering in this manner than being called a good servant of Christ Jesus. We long to hear the words of Matthew 25.23,
‘Well done, good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.
Enter into the joy of your master.’
Let us go today and resolve to put these things before the brothers, being trained in the words of faith and of the good doctrine.
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
Paul here gives Timothy a warning of the kinds of false teaching that will sadly come into the church. This kind of stuff is, also sadly, still present in our twenty-first century Christianity, and is therefore something we need to be ready to identify and take a stand against.
The deceitful spirits and teaching of demons comes in many shapes and forms, but Paul here says that they generally come through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared…False teaching then comes from those with an agenda, their conscience having being seared to the truth, they seek to exploit you for their own gain (more on that in chapter 6). Their lifestyle will not match their words, there will be a big disconnect between words and works in those whose conscience has been seared.
Often this will result in you being told that you must adhere to their personal brand of legalism; reject this, don’t do that, do this (vv.2-3). They don’t understand that the heart of the matter of Godly living is a matter of the heart (vv.4-5, Acts 10.9-16, Genesis 9.3 cf. 1 Corinthians 8), and that by legalistically instructing others on what to do and not do rather than simply show them to Jesus, they have become a modern-day Pharisee.
Friends, do not be caught out by false teachers with an agenda. Weigh everything you hear against the full counsel of the Word of God (Acts 17.11), test everything to see if it exalts the Lord Jesus (1 John 4.1-3), and thereby take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.
Today is the eleventh of November, Remembrance Day.
Perhaps this day has a different name where you are from, but essentially today is the day we pause to remember the sacrifice of those who gave their lives in World War One, and in other armed conflicts since.
World War One finished one hundred and one years ago today, at the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month – 11a.m, November 11th, 1918.
“The first two-minute silence in Britain was held on 11 November 1919, when King George V asked the public to observe a silence at 11am. This was one year after the end of World War One. He made the request so “the thoughts of everyone may be concentrated on reverent remembrance of the glorious dead”.” (BBC).
We look back and remember the ultimate price paid by those brave men and women of the armed services, and those who were not in the military but part of the effort, with thanks.
As they willingly gave their lives to defend their countries, and others, from tyranny, oppression, terrorism, injustice, and all manner of evils so we as believers in the Lord Jesus have a Saviour who willingly gave His life to deliver us from evil.
Greater love has no one than this,
that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 15.13
Let us pause and pray at 11am today to remember those who gave their lives so we can enjoy so many of the freedoms we do, and, let us pause and pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, the Prince of peace, that this horrible and seemingly endless cycle of people needing to take up arms in order to wage war against each other will be broken, either miraculously before His coming or as a direct result of it.
