Thanks Kelley for finding these links for us! :)
Everyone check out the two links and text below... Do you know Him?
Note from Kelley Kirby:
Some of us were wondering about the actual preacher whose words were so well performed for us during Saturday night’s talent show. Well, the answer is Dr. S.M. Lockridge. He went home to our Lord in 2000, but leaves his powerful voice behind to remind us of the God we serve. There are two links attached. I have discovered that sometimes there is editing at the end of the sermon (I have indicated the edited portion by italicizing and enclosing it in brackets). Therefore, the first link is edited but does contain the video we saw in church. The second link is unedited and provides audio. I love listening to it every time…enjoy!
http://www.fpclp.com/sermonvideo.htm
http://www.theiowaharvest.com/harvestholler/archives/000030.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"My King"
By Dr. S.M. Lockridge
The Bible says my King is a seven-way king....He's the King of the Jews; that's a racial king....He's the King of Israel; that's a national King....He's the King of Righteousness....He's the King of the Ages.....He's the King of Heaven....He's the King of Glory....He's the King of kings, and He's the Lord of lords. That's my King. Well....I wonder, do you know Him?.... David said, "The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork. My King is a sovereign King. No means of measure can define His limitless love. No far seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of His shoreless supply. No barrier can hinder Him from pouring out His blessings. He's enduringly strong....He's entirely sincere....He's eternally steadfast....He's immortally graceful....He's imperially powerful....He's impartially merciful....... Do you know Him?
He's the greatest phenomenon that ever crossed the horizon of this world. He's God's Son....He's a sinner's Saviour....He's the centerpiece of civilization....He stands in the solitude of Himself....He's august....He's unique....He's unparalleled....He's unprecedented....He's the loftiest idea in literature....He's the highest personality in philosophy....He's the supreme problem in higher criticism....He's the fundamental doctrine of true theology....He's the cardinal necessity for spiritual religion....He's the miracle of the age.... He's the superlative of everything good that you choose to call Him....He's the only one qualified to be an all sufficient Saviour...... I wonder if you know Him today?
He supplies strength for the weak....He's available for the tempted and the tried....He sympathizes and He saves....He strengthens and sustains....He guards and He guides....He heals the sick....He cleanses lepers....He forgives sinners....He discharges debtors....He delivers captives....He defends the feeble....He blesses the young....He serves the unfortunate....He regards the aged....He rewards the diligent....and He beautifies the meek....... I wonder if you know Him?
Well, my King....is the King....He's the key to knowledge....He's the wellspring to wisdom....He's the doorway of deliverance....He's the pathway of peace....He's the roadway of righteousness ....He's the highway of holiness....He's the gateway of glory....... Do you know Him?
Well....His office is manifold....His promise is sure....His light is matchless....His goodness is limitless....His mercy is everlasting....His love never changes....His word is enough....His grace is sufficient....His reign is righteous....and His yoke is easy, and his burden is light. I wish I could describe Him to you, but He's indescribable....He's incomprehensible....He's invincible....He's irresistible.
Well, you can't get Him out of your mind....You can't get Him off of your hand....You can't out live Him, and you can't live without Him....The Pharisees couldn't stand Him, but they found out they couldn't stop Him....Pilate couldn't find any fault in Him....The witnesses couldn't get their testimonies to agree....Herod couldn't kill Him....Death couldn't handle Him, and the grave couldn't hold Him. Yea!!!, That’s my King. Yeah.
(He always has been and He always will be. I’m talking about He had no predecessor and He’ll have no successor. There’s nobody before Him and there’ll be nobody after Him. You can’t impeach Him and He’s not going to resign. That’s my King! That’s my King! Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Well, all the power belongs to my King. We’re around here talking about black power and white power and green power, but it’s God’s power. Thine is the power. Yeah. And the glory. We try to get prestige and honour and glory for ourselves, but the glory is all His. Yes.)
Thine is the Kingdom and the power and glory, forever and ever and ever and ever. How long is that? And ever and ever and ever and ever. And when you get through with all of the evers, then, Amen.
Monday, January 30, 2006
Saturday, January 28, 2006
"The Valley of Vision"
Lord, You are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow and so as the Puritans once prayed, this also is my prayer today...
LORD, HIGH AND HOLY, MEEK AND LOWLY,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee
in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold
thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from
deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter
thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.
- The Valley of Vision - A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions
LORD, HIGH AND HOLY, MEEK AND LOWLY,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee
in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold
thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from
deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter
thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.
- The Valley of Vision - A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions
Friday, January 27, 2006
Biblical Counseling vs. Christian Psychology
This past fall I took an evening course on Biblical Counseling at the College of Biblical Studies here in Houston, and it completely ROCKED my perspective on the church's role in counseling.
Since most of us are involved in some form of discipleship or may have sought or have a need to seek counseling at some point in life, I wanted to share a bit of my learnings through this blog. I will probably continue to post on this topic periodically as it has become a key topic of study for me, but I wanted to initially set the foundation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fundamentally, when you think about counseling, there are three major schools of thought.
1) Psychological Counseling - combines human observations with human wisdom to construct a system of counsel to help man deal with his problems and issues of life. Generally practiced by non-believers and Christians who accept psychological theories as an avenue to help people.
2) Integration Counseling - combines human observation, human wisdom, and the Bible to construct a system of counsel to help man deal with his problems and issues of life. Sometimes called "Christian Counseling." Often practiced by Christians who believe the bible should be supplemented with psychological theories in order to help people.
3) Biblical Counseling - Uses the Bible to construct a system of counsel to help man deal with his problems and issues of life. Generally practiced by Christians who believe that the Bible has all we need to provide solutions to life's problems and to help man function as God intended in all aspects.
Now, after the very first class last fall, I was thoroughly convinced that "Biblical Counseling" is the only option that is consistently supported by the whole of scripture. I've listed the key points in support of this below.
Why promote Biblical Counseling above the others?
1) We are warned in scripture not to trust human wisdom for principles of living, understanding of human attitudes, motives, behaviors, and our solution for man's inner problems. (Psalm 1:1-2, Colossians 2:8)
2) We are warned in scripture not to trust our own wisdom because we can be deceived by our own wisdom. (Proverbs 3:5-6, 14:12, 16:2, 25, 21:2, Jeremiah 17:9)
3) We are instructed in scripture that God's wisdom is superior to man's wisdom. Therefore, man's wisdom should not be added to God's wisdom as solutions to man's inner problems. (1 Cor 1:21, 25, 2:2-5, 3:20, Isaiah 55:8-11)
4) We are instructed in scripture that God's wisdom is sufficient to counsel the inner person. (Psalm 119:24, 99, 100, Hebrews 4:12, Psalm 19:7-11)
When you think about it, of course, this seems fairly straight forward. After all, I would venture to say that most believers would agree with the points above, but our faith in this is tested when the rubber meets the road in our churches and seminaries in the area of counseling.
I'll offer a few facts for your consideration and comment...
Very few seminaries are offering programs in purely biblical counseling, most programs are focused on preparing their students for state-licensure which demands an integrationist curriculum. In fact, Southern Seminary is the first of the SBC seminaries taking this step with a new program this fall, raising quite a bit of debate from proponents in both biblical and integrationist camps.
In a large percentage of our churches, in particular our larger churches, counseling is provided by state-licensed therapists who have been trained in integration counseling methods. Now this is not to say that all licensed therapists are unbiblical in the counseling they are providing, but are we assured that the counsel being given in our own churches is based on a biblically supported framework for helping those they are reaching, or have our well-intentioned counselers defaulted to psychological/behavioral techniques of therapy in their desire to "help" those they are counseling.
If so, what is the danger? My professor from this past fall offered this perspective, "Bad theology leads to bad counseling. We haven't gotten deep enough in our knowledge of scripture to help people with their deep problems. Is our goal for people to "feel" better or to "be" better?
John MacArthur and Wayne Mack offer their thoughts on the same topic in an article titled, "Is there any difference between biblical counseling and Christian psychology or Christian counseling?"
For further study, this is an excellent link for more information on Biblical Counseling Resources.
Since most of us are involved in some form of discipleship or may have sought or have a need to seek counseling at some point in life, I wanted to share a bit of my learnings through this blog. I will probably continue to post on this topic periodically as it has become a key topic of study for me, but I wanted to initially set the foundation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fundamentally, when you think about counseling, there are three major schools of thought.
1) Psychological Counseling - combines human observations with human wisdom to construct a system of counsel to help man deal with his problems and issues of life. Generally practiced by non-believers and Christians who accept psychological theories as an avenue to help people.
2) Integration Counseling - combines human observation, human wisdom, and the Bible to construct a system of counsel to help man deal with his problems and issues of life. Sometimes called "Christian Counseling." Often practiced by Christians who believe the bible should be supplemented with psychological theories in order to help people.
3) Biblical Counseling - Uses the Bible to construct a system of counsel to help man deal with his problems and issues of life. Generally practiced by Christians who believe that the Bible has all we need to provide solutions to life's problems and to help man function as God intended in all aspects.
Now, after the very first class last fall, I was thoroughly convinced that "Biblical Counseling" is the only option that is consistently supported by the whole of scripture. I've listed the key points in support of this below.
Why promote Biblical Counseling above the others?
1) We are warned in scripture not to trust human wisdom for principles of living, understanding of human attitudes, motives, behaviors, and our solution for man's inner problems. (Psalm 1:1-2, Colossians 2:8)
2) We are warned in scripture not to trust our own wisdom because we can be deceived by our own wisdom. (Proverbs 3:5-6, 14:12, 16:2, 25, 21:2, Jeremiah 17:9)
3) We are instructed in scripture that God's wisdom is superior to man's wisdom. Therefore, man's wisdom should not be added to God's wisdom as solutions to man's inner problems. (1 Cor 1:21, 25, 2:2-5, 3:20, Isaiah 55:8-11)
4) We are instructed in scripture that God's wisdom is sufficient to counsel the inner person. (Psalm 119:24, 99, 100, Hebrews 4:12, Psalm 19:7-11)
When you think about it, of course, this seems fairly straight forward. After all, I would venture to say that most believers would agree with the points above, but our faith in this is tested when the rubber meets the road in our churches and seminaries in the area of counseling.
I'll offer a few facts for your consideration and comment...
Very few seminaries are offering programs in purely biblical counseling, most programs are focused on preparing their students for state-licensure which demands an integrationist curriculum. In fact, Southern Seminary is the first of the SBC seminaries taking this step with a new program this fall, raising quite a bit of debate from proponents in both biblical and integrationist camps.
In a large percentage of our churches, in particular our larger churches, counseling is provided by state-licensed therapists who have been trained in integration counseling methods. Now this is not to say that all licensed therapists are unbiblical in the counseling they are providing, but are we assured that the counsel being given in our own churches is based on a biblically supported framework for helping those they are reaching, or have our well-intentioned counselers defaulted to psychological/behavioral techniques of therapy in their desire to "help" those they are counseling.
If so, what is the danger? My professor from this past fall offered this perspective, "Bad theology leads to bad counseling. We haven't gotten deep enough in our knowledge of scripture to help people with their deep problems. Is our goal for people to "feel" better or to "be" better?
John MacArthur and Wayne Mack offer their thoughts on the same topic in an article titled, "Is there any difference between biblical counseling and Christian psychology or Christian counseling?"
For further study, this is an excellent link for more information on Biblical Counseling Resources.
Confessions of Reading A.D.D.
I thought this was an interesting post by Al Mohler about his Thoughts on Reading Books. I too can never remember a time when I didn't love to read. During the summers growing up, my mother would always take us to the local library where we would bring home stacks of books for the week. Today, I still have stacks of books everywhere, in bookcases, baskets, on my nightstand, etc... But here in lies my problem, I have extreme A.D.D. when it comes to reading. There are so many things that I find interesting. So often, I will read something in one book that will cause me to ask a question that I will want to look up or research in another book, and so the tangled web begins where I find myself in the middle of 8-10 books at a time.
Secretly, I love it, because it challenges me to integrate the thoughts of the authors I'm reading, compare the similarities and recognize the differences, and decide where I stand. But often, I'm envious of those who can say definitively, "I'm reading through xxx, right now!" Or those who can add the "What I'm reading now" section to their blog, without readers mistakenly thinking that they have stumbled into amazon.com.
I've learned to be more disciplined over the years by allowing myself a little wandering during my reading, but refocusing to my original book or passage of reading much more quickly. I agree with several of Dr. Mohler's suggestions - it has helped to have a plan for my reading, and it has also helped to be reading something with another person or through a small group study because of the built-in accountability. I don't think I will ever completely change my ways, but I'm ok with that.
Secretly, I love it, because it challenges me to integrate the thoughts of the authors I'm reading, compare the similarities and recognize the differences, and decide where I stand. But often, I'm envious of those who can say definitively, "I'm reading through xxx, right now!" Or those who can add the "What I'm reading now" section to their blog, without readers mistakenly thinking that they have stumbled into amazon.com.
I've learned to be more disciplined over the years by allowing myself a little wandering during my reading, but refocusing to my original book or passage of reading much more quickly. I agree with several of Dr. Mohler's suggestions - it has helped to have a plan for my reading, and it has also helped to be reading something with another person or through a small group study because of the built-in accountability. I don't think I will ever completely change my ways, but I'm ok with that.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Possessing nothing, yet possessing all things
I'm currently reading through A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God, and in it he touches on the nature of the human heart, both as it was originally created and as it is now fallen.
In the second chapter titled, "The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing", he writes, "There is within the human heart a tough, fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets things with a deep and fierce passion... The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God's gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution."
The truth of this struck me as I was reading this. Though we pursue God and desire Him above all else because He is most worthy of our praise, though we pray and worship Him, though we read His Word and renew our minds with verses calling us to seek first the kingdom of heaven; we still live in this body of flesh, struggling to put off wordly distractions, expectations, desires, and the sin that so easily entangles us.
From Tozer's perspective, this is because each of our hearts, the place in each of us that God desires to dwell, were created to possess Him alone, to have a passion for Him above all else, to be rooted into His firm foundation and no other.
As our pre-fallen hearts were originally formed by God's hand, Tozer explains, "In the deep heart of the man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come. Within him was God; without, a thousand gifts which God had showered upon him."
We have allowed these external gifts to replace God, and our heart's desire to possess makes idols of the things of this world, choking out God's goodness and power in our lives. And yet, He has shown us the way to be overcomers through Christ.
"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." Matt 16:24-25
Tozer answers, "The blessed ones who possess the kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing... Though free from all sense of possessing, they yet possess all things."
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matt 5:3
And as Jesus comforted his disciples who were also distracted with worry about the cares of the world, the Father also says to us, "Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you." Luke 12:31
What amazing grace! In God's mercy and goodness, despite our selfish hearts and the idols we put up in our lives, He still desires to dwell within us and to make His very presence known to us.
His passion is for us; He delights in us, and He promises our greatest satisfaction in Him as He becomes the single possession of our hearts.
How great is our God!
In the second chapter titled, "The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing", he writes, "There is within the human heart a tough, fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets things with a deep and fierce passion... The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God's gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution."
The truth of this struck me as I was reading this. Though we pursue God and desire Him above all else because He is most worthy of our praise, though we pray and worship Him, though we read His Word and renew our minds with verses calling us to seek first the kingdom of heaven; we still live in this body of flesh, struggling to put off wordly distractions, expectations, desires, and the sin that so easily entangles us.
From Tozer's perspective, this is because each of our hearts, the place in each of us that God desires to dwell, were created to possess Him alone, to have a passion for Him above all else, to be rooted into His firm foundation and no other.
As our pre-fallen hearts were originally formed by God's hand, Tozer explains, "In the deep heart of the man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come. Within him was God; without, a thousand gifts which God had showered upon him."
We have allowed these external gifts to replace God, and our heart's desire to possess makes idols of the things of this world, choking out God's goodness and power in our lives. And yet, He has shown us the way to be overcomers through Christ.
"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." Matt 16:24-25
Tozer answers, "The blessed ones who possess the kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing... Though free from all sense of possessing, they yet possess all things."
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matt 5:3
And as Jesus comforted his disciples who were also distracted with worry about the cares of the world, the Father also says to us, "Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you." Luke 12:31
What amazing grace! In God's mercy and goodness, despite our selfish hearts and the idols we put up in our lives, He still desires to dwell within us and to make His very presence known to us.
His passion is for us; He delights in us, and He promises our greatest satisfaction in Him as He becomes the single possession of our hearts.
How great is our God!
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Me and My Girls...
It is a long running joke at events with our friends that we take the same picture everywhere we go. Essentially, for every picture, you could just as easily insert a different backdrop for the traditional "Katie, Jessica, Tiffany" photo opp... Just check any of Stan's photo albums, and you'll see that it's true... We freely admit we do have the same picture of the three of us in all sorts of exotic locations - three different Colorado ski trips, New York, Florida, Mexico, weddings, wedding showers, more weddings, and at least two New Year's!! But honestly, can we help it that we are just that cute together? j/k :)
Anyway, here is the latest version from New Year's 2006... Maybe we'll publish a coffee table book someday with our collection and retire to an exotic island with our earnings... Don't worry, we'll be sure to send pictures! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
