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Friday Ramblings
- 01/26/07
- 19
Sovereign Grace Music is offering a free song written by Steve and Vikki Cook and sung by Vikki. It is from the Everlasting recording that was released in 1999. “I Bow Down” is a slow, meditative song that reflects on the holiness of God. Here is a sample of the lyrics:
You saved me the sinner
With crimson red You washed me
White as snow
How I love You Lord
You loved me the mocker
With kindness You won my
Heart forever
How I love You Lord
And as I behold this mercy
I’m undone
To download “I Bow Down,” click here and add the song to your shopping cart. During the checkout procedure, simply enter the promotional code FREEDOWNLOAD to bypass the credit card payment. Make sure that the total is now $0.00. Simply finalize the sale and you will be presented with a download link. This offer is only good until February 9.
There is also a new single available and another song written by the Cooks. “Beautiful Grace” moves at a slightly higher tempo and speaks of God’s grace.
Who could imagine
The life-giving beauty
That shines from Calvary
My eyes were opened
And my heart was won
When Your mercy conquered me
Lord, how could I flee from this love
Lord, why would I flee from this love
What beautiful grace, incredible hope
Lord, thank you for saving me
This beautiful grace will carry me home
Lord, thank you for saving me
For saving me
It is available here for 99 cents. Several other Sovereign Grace products have seen price reductions and are now priced at $10 per album.
If you enjoy the Sovereign Grace music, you may want to Sovereign Grace e-News. Almost every newsletter comes with news of a free song.
Overheard
Overheard this morning in the Challies household:
Son, age 6 - “Ah, it’s good to have a breakfast that sticks to your lungs.”
Dad - “I think you mean ‘stick to your ribs.’”
Son - “Oh, right, ribs.”
Dedication:
I spend my days sitting in a small office on the second floor of our home. I have a view across a park area to a row of townhouses facing ours. Every two weeks or so a pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses visits a neighbor who is never home. They show up like clockwork but never catch her in. A new family has moved in next to this family and they have begun to knock on that door as well. No one ever answers. It is somewhere around 25 degrees below zero today (with the wind chill) and they are out there knocking on doors. No one is answering. I admire their dedication. For some reason they never knock on my door anymore. Until today. I actually got to talk to a couple of them today. They wanted to talk about the importance of telling the truth. I guess politicians and children lie and they think it’s better for society if we all tell the truth. They wouldn’t admit to lying and couldn’t answer any of my questions about the eternal consequences of lying. But they really did want me to read their magazines. So I took them and will read about truth. They’ll come back, I suppose. Talking to these people is about as much fun as beating your head against the wall, but if I can get the gospel to them just once I’ll be pleased!
Book
I spent yesterday working on my book and intend to do the same today. It’s now at 110 pages and around 40,000 words (which doesn’t seem like a very good word/page ratio. I don’t think 40,000 words would likely translate to a book with more pages). I am enjoying writing more each time I do it and each time I write my confidence increases that this may actually be a book worth reading. As always, I would really appreciate your prayers today as I attempt to put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) and press towards the finish line.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
Releasing on April 1, The Next
Published in 2008, this book
This is a guide that calls men,
This review of the bestselling
New to the site? You can get
This is a guide written
Comments (19)
Good luck with the JW, indeed it is like beating your head into a wall. I spent a few months last year conversing with a very nice pair of women but ultimately it wasn’t leading any where but into frustration so I ended it and have resolved to simply praying for them.
“Good luck with the JW, indeed it is like beating your head into a wall.”
I define “success” when speaking to JWs or Mormons as letting them hear the gospel. Once I’ve done that, I figure my task is pretty well complete.
I Bow Down is one of those spiritual songs that really moves me. Especially when I sing it with my local church in corporate worship.Thanks.
I have learned to simply give my testimony with JW’s, and like you share the gospel of grace alone, through faith alone, by Christ alone, for the glory of God alone, according to the Holy Scriptures alone.
Our kids say the best things. No doubt about it.
One of the things I had to learn, and have labored to communicate to the congregation I serve is that, for us, success in evangelism is to present the gospel to someone. We cannot change hearts as that is something only God can do and must do for a person to believe.
I sometimes wonder if more of us really realized that success in evangelism is sharing the gospel in the most clear manner we can if we would do more of it.
Jim - I echo that. See here.
Tim,
I think it is great that you are trying to share the Gospel with them and that you care about their souls! It will take some time and patience to reach them, and as Americans we don’t like even small sacrifices like that.
I grew up Methodist knowing nothing about the Bible or Christ. In my senior year in highschool I got caught up in the Jehovah’s Witnesses system and then later was gloriously saved out of the Jehovah’s Witnesses system by reading John 1:1 and by many other acts of divine providence.
If you want to hear the audio to my testimony you can go here:http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonssource&sermonID=61206213841
In Christ,matt haney
About Jehovah’s Witnesses you say, “I admire their dedication.” And you say, “if I can get the gospel to them” Well, if this is your true desire, then why aren’t YOU out covering the world with the good news (Matthew 24:14; 28:19,20) just as Jesus did (and his disciples continue to do), knocking on doors to find them, just as they find you?
“why aren’t YOU out covering the world with the good news (Matthew 24:14; 28:19,20) just as Jesus did (and his disciples continue to do), knocking on doors to find them, just as they find you?”
Because it’s -25 out there!
Tim, I assume you’re working on your book using that laptop you told us about a while ago. I hope you’re backing it up on CD or FTP periodically! What a discouragement it would be to lose all of it suddenly from a system crash or corruption!
110 pages/40K words? Tim, you HAVE to learn the high-school student trick of bloating the font size!
It’s a commentary on technology that my kids’ teachers now specify a font size when they make assignments (“write a two-page paper, double-spaced, 10-point font”)
——bill
I’m from a small chruch that I’ve been attending for about a year. Recently one of the leaders decided that if JW’s and Mormon’s can go out and knock on doors, then why aren’t we? So we recently started. Just me and him. We’re going to ask the rest of the leaders to join us.
Basically we will be doing one of three things when visiting people. 1) Sharing the gospel.2) Inviting to chruch (where the Gospel is preached)3) Asking for prayer requests.
We are also praying that the Lord would open up homes for us to come in and have bible studies for people. When you come back to someone’s home faithfully and share, it adds to your credibility.
Why aren’t we in the true Church doing more to win the lost? I mean if these people are really on the path to hell, then isn’t it just cruel and hateful for us not to share the Gospel or at least warn them of what the bible says?
We need to love people into the kingdom. (John 15:13). Are you ready to lay down your life that others may be saved? Are you taking up your cross daily? Let’s stop being self centered, and pull some people out of the path of destruction. Don’t forget what Revelation 21:8 says about the cowardly.
Be Encouraged!
-d
Ignoring the opinions of the overly pious, I don’t think I’d do any outdoor evangelism if it was -25 outside either Tim. I might ask them in for a cup of coffee or something to burn up some of their time… ;-)
Josh”…the word of God is not bound.”—2 Timothy 2:9
d,
“Be Encouraged!”
Thanks.
It’s great that you are praying to the Lord for your neighbors to open their homes to you having Bible studies.
And may the Lord open many hearts to hear the gospel as well.
“And with many other words he [Peter] testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” And those who gladly received his word … continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. … And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” Acts 2:40-47
Personally, I have gone door to door, but most people are not called to do this, in my opinion. In fact, I’m more of some one who disciples and encourages the saints, though we all surely need to share the love of Christ, and the gospel.
The pastors and teachers in any local church are gifts to the people from God to pray for the people and equip them for the work of ministry. Being examples to the flock of walking godly: Coram Deo.
And going door to door, or visiting nursing homes, or visiting hospitals, and all the many other places where the gospel can be preached will happen through the body of believers as the Holy Spirit moves.
May God bless your church with the fruit of the Spirit, and with a hunger for the deep things of the Scriptures, and also converts. Amen.
Be Encouraged!Don
I don’t know if you have seen this, or what you think of it, but I thought it was brilliant:
How To Witness To A Jehovah’s Witness
Josh,You struck a good chord: hospitality. I guess we are too afraid of inviting people into our houses (notice I said ‘we’), so maybe next time JW’s or whoever passes by we can have them over for lunch or dinner. Would it be too much to ask them ‘why do you want to make a proselyte out of me? why don’t you show me that you care for me by letting me serve you?”…(yes, it’ll burn their time a bit)
Michael - I’ve never read that article, but it was pretty well the technique I tried today. It didn’t work so well. I absolutely could not get the people to admit that people who lie are liars. And when I said that I am a liar and that this troubles my conscience before a holy God they said “You’re really hung up on this, aren’t you?”
Anyways, I took their magazine and will read about truth. Truth is such a great topic because it leads right to the cross. I’ll eagerly anticipate their return. Like I said, if I can just preach the gospel one time, I’ll be content.
my friday rambling: Tim, unlike most other blogs, you’ve never actually had to have a name for you site. Your blog morphed out of a family website named after yourself. Almost every other blog has a catchy or relevant title that encapsulates the author’s content or passion. IF you needed a title, what would you call this blog? Just curious!
Since Blake opened the door to questions about your blog… Tim, I would be curious about how much time a day (if you can quantify) you spend devoted to keeping your blog fresh. From your a la carte’s it appears that you have a healthy number of sites you visit. It also appears that you spend considerable time in preparation and thought for your more lengthy topics.
Just curious… I am new to the blog world. I have read your blog for about a year. I always enjoy it. And I am always impressed.
I followed your link to the ten amazing things about animals. You were right about the evolutionist mumbo jumbo. I particularly found amusing the assertion that the mole rat may have developed sight in the first place to detect predators.
One of the amazing thing to me about evolutionists is that they ascribe to the process of evolution the abilities of a creative force. One will catch them saying that evolution did this, or evolution accomplished that, as if evolution is an intelligent entity with a mind of its own, able to plan for the future. I have coined a phrase to describe this: “Evolutionary Theism”. Basically it means that Evolution has become their god, a personal creator/designer with intelligence, knowledge and foresight.
People who believe in it (and there are many) have just replaced one kind of faith with another.
Take Care