Psalms

Let All the Peoples Praise You

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God’s blessing is a means to the end of God’s way of being known among all nations. How are we using the gifts of God to fulfill the commission of God? Our world is out of balance because we don’t want God at the center. God’s blessings are a means to the end of God’s way being known among all …

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Psalms [Vol. 2] – Series Overview

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I cannot wait to begin our summer series on June 7th – Psalms [Vol. 2]. Here is the rundown of the series. Reasoning The psalms teach us how to speak to God. We all need help learning how to do that better. Psalms cover every range of human emotions. During these days, we have a lot of emotions we need to process. This …

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What Hindrance Is Keeping Your Family from Jesus?

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You want your family to follow Jesus. I’m right there with you. But each person has unique challenges to getting an adequate view. As you think about your family today, what greatest hindrances block their connection to Jesus? Doubt – Maybe your family member has intellectual blockades that oppose the idea that God is with him or her. Guilt – …

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My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Christ?

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In Psalm 22, David wrote a worship song that also served as a remarkably comprehensive prophecy of Jesus’ death upon the cross. While the precision to detail is astounding, God’s commitment to our salvation is even more remarkable. Psalm 22 22 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?    Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?2 O …

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What Are the Top 10 Psalms?

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In times of joy or fear, the Book of Psalms is a great place to read, study, memorize, recite, and pray. They help teach us how to speak back to God. Have you ever wondered out of the 150 psalms which ones are the most popular? According to trends provided by Google analytics, these are the top 10 searched psalms: …

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You are Entirely Unique

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You are entirely unique. God didn’t use a template to form you. Your Creator designed every part of your good desires and every one of your noble opportunities. As you read Psalm 139 below, make a mental note of words or phrases that speak to the uniqueness of how God created you. 13 For you formed my inward parts;    you knitted me together …

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God Is Better Than Food and Booze

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Plenty of things can provide temporal happiness, but only one can bring eternal joy. David had been through so many difficult times in his life; he knew the power of God’s rescuing ability. Whenever he remembered God’s activity in his life, he reoriented his joy was to the proper place. Read Psalm 4:1-8 and notice the progression of David’s delight. …

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Psalms [Vol. 1]

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The Psalms teach us how to speak to one as glorious as God. As we study these ancient prayers and songs, we learn the right posture with which to approach God.

Psalms [Vol. 1] – Series Overview

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For the summer of 2019, our sermon series will be Psalms [Vol. 1]. Here are some of the reasons we are doing a series on the psalms during the summer: The psalms teach us how to speak to God. The psalms cover every range of human emotions. This huge section of Scripture is often overlooked in preaching and teaching. Since …

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Is Prayer Your Steering Wheel or Your Spare Tire?

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Is prayer your first attempt or your last-ditched effort? Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch Christian who not only survived the Holocaust but also rescued many Jews during this horrific time in history. Her famous quote is a wonderful question to ask today: “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” This question seeks to understand if is prayer …

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10 Things You Might Not Know About the Psalms

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Let’s go a little deeper into the makeup of this wonderful portion of the Bible known as the Psalms. The following info is gathered from Holman Old Testament Commentary: Psalms 1-75. Here are 10 things you might not know about the Psalms: The Book of Psalms is the original hymnbook. Psalm comes from a Greek word meaning “the plucking of strings” indicating …

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Pray Through Psalm 20

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Praying through the psalms is a process that keeps your prayer life fresh and your prayer requests specific.  Using God’s Word, you can articulate your prayers keeping in line with God’s will.  As you read, you take a phrase and flesh out ways to pray that scriptural truth. The method I use to pray through a daily psalm is to …

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Unless the LORD Builds the House

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Psalm 127 3/4 of those raised in the church are no longer in the church after their freshman year of college. With 16 million Southern Baptists, we will decrease to 4 million in 1 generation. In order just to maintain status quo, each Southern Baptist must reach 3 people for Christ. It currently takes 43 Southern Baptists to reach 1 …

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Olly Olly Oxen Free

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We each need reminding that God is our safe place of refuge when challenges rise. If you are in despair today, never forget that God is bigger than your anxieties.

Running Ragged

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Psalm 127 is attributed to Solomon.  Known for his wisdom, this worship song is his reminder of the need for God to be central in every home.  It’s a reminder to all parents that children are indeed a gift hand-wrapped by God. Unless the LORD builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the LORD watches over a …

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Unity Qualifies Us for Ministry

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With 150 psalms in Israel’s hymnbook, it is easy to imagine that the majority of them focus on the object of our worship.  While that is true to some extent, many of the psalms also describe the method of our worship or the character of our worship.  Psalm 133 is a short psalm that describes an integral component of our …

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Broken Bones

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In the “Unashamed” Fuge 2016 series, I preached a message entitled “Broken Bones” on Night 2.  The sermon comes from 2 Samuel 11 & Psalm 51.  It speaks of David’s rampant sin being confronted and the brokenness that followed. Main Points Sin can start with being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Sin can only be covered temporarily …

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When Bitterness Hinders Prayers

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Did you know that Scripture teaches that God refuses to hear certain prayers? If I had been aware of malice in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. However, God has listened; He has paid attention to the sound of my prayer.  -Psalm 66:18-19   This verse has an interesting connotation.  What is the difference between having malice in …

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92% of Down Syndrome Babies Are Aborted

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What does Psalm 139 tell us about the unborn?  What about those children with disabilities?  David Platt provides answers for these questions in this short soundbite from a sermon.

You Learn to Pray by Praying

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Psalm 15 describes characteristics of a godly person.  It contains qualities to which we should aspire and other qualities to which we should avoid.  In the passage below, reflect on the qualities that grab your attention. Psalm 15:1 Lord, who can dwell in Your tent? Who can live on Your holy mountain? 2 The one who lives honestly, practices righteousness, and …

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Unless the LORD Builds the House

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Psalm 127 is what commentators call a “song of ascents.”  As the people of God would ascend the hill into Jerusalem and ascend the stairs into the place of worship, the priests would sing this song over the worshipers upon their journey: Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.  Unless the LORD watches over …

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Enter His Gates [Storytellers]

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“Enter His Gates” was written for “The Word” project to cover the Psalms and the organization of worship for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. “The Word” is a project by North Side Worship telling the grand narrative of the Bible.  It is available at North Side (May 3, 2015) and iTunes (May 5, 2015). This song is actually a few years old around …

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Do As I Say (When You Don’t Need to Do What I Did)

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One of your children’s most beloved books in your home might soon be your high school yearbook.  Your children know you as a responsible (or somewhat responsible) adult fully equipped with bills, a job, and a minivan, yet before they ever knew you, a lot of your life had already been lived.  Seeing your extracurricular activities, fashion statements, and funny …

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Guide the Next Generation

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One of the highlights of Family Camp was taking my children on their very first canoe ride.  I had the three children (ages 6, 6, and 2), while Amanda and Tammy were in another canoe.  You might think I was brave, but I think it would have more dangerous being in the canoe with Amanda and Tammy with how jumpy and …

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You Can’t Wear Swimmies Forever

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We have some summer goals for our family.  One of those goals was to take the swimmies off for our boys and get them swimming on their own. I am happy to say that they have passed swimming tests and are excited about the water.  Mom, on the other hand, is a nervous wreck! It has caused us to keep constant …

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The Dangerous Progression in Relationships

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Today, I got the privilege to speak at RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards).  Housed at Erskine College, high school students from around SC are selected for a week of training in servant leadership.  I have gotten to speak the last few years and have been asked to talk about the role of one’s relationships as it relates to leadership. OG, …

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Search Me

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My wife and I both lead a discipleship group at our church.  While we love doing things as couples, and our groups do that, we have found a lot of men and women who will get more real with each other if the group is not co-ed.  Many of the guys in my group have wives in Amanda’s group.  We …

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A Quiver Full

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“Like arrows in the hand of a warrior or the children of one’s youth” (Psalm 127:4). On the battlefield, arrows can hit targets beyond the archer’s physical reach.  The analogy from Ps. 127:4 reveals that in our lives, our children can do more for the Kingdom of God than we can if we love them according to God’s instructions. Think …

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Thank You, Daddy

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When Amanda went away for 2 days for a conference, I had the privilege of watching all 3 bambinos by myself.  In addition to some planned fun, cutting down a couple of trees, I also tried to maintain the house as clean as my wife’s preferred standards.  That involved making the children work for food.  Gloria has gotten real messy …

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The Good Life

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Special day, today. We focused on how to experience the good life.  How to have peace on earth. To begin the services, we played a little Trans Siberian Orchestra and told the story of the cello player in Bosnia where the melody originally came from. After the Allens did a great job welcoming us into worship, we did a worship …

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The Need for Parental Affirmation

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In this stage of parenting, I hear one phrase as much if not more than all other phrases: “Dad, look at what I did.” Even if it is Baby Gloria babbling at me and pointing to something she knocked over, my children desire for me to recognize their accomplishments.  I am constantly being called to look at pictures drawn, letters …

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“Did You Pay for the Beach?”

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The Agnews piled in the minivan in the middle of September for a 4-day trip to the beach.  We had just finished a month where we had started homeschooling and I returned to teaching at Lander.  We had started back up our college group at the house.  We had also just finished a week of Gathering services in addition to …

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Mini-Masterpieces

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Before you can really love your child, you have to get to know your child.

Your child is unique.  That may be an understatement.  Your child is really unique.  God makes no carbon-copies.

When a child first arrives, all you know about him or her is the obvious – gender, hair color, eye color, size, etc.  Overtime, you begin to realize much more about this child.  Within months, you begin to notice personality traits.  Your child begins to reveal the things that make them laugh or the things that frighten them.  As they grow older, you will discover tendencies towards sin.  Getting to know your child is a discovery adventure for sure.

Before you can really love your child, you have to get to know your child.

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Children Are Gifts

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Unless God is in the business of building a home, the effort is in vain.  In Psalm 127, God reveals that the best reward a man can receive is not what his hands can provide, but only what God can give him – a child.

Sons are indeed a heritage from the LORD, children a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one’s youth.  Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them.  Such men will never be put to shame when they speak with [their] enemies at the city gate. -Psalm 127:3-5

Imagine it’s Christmas time.  You have given your child a gift that took a lot of your time and money.  After your child unwraps the gift, he or she begins to complain about having to care for the gift.  How do you feel concerning their attitude and what do you say and/or do as a result of their reaction?

How do you think God views it when parents complain about the gifts of children that He has given them?

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The Legacy of the Righteous

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If I think of a goal of parenthood, Psalm 112 sums it up perfectly:

Hallelujah!  Happy is the man who fears the LORD, taking great delight in His commands.

His descendants will be powerful in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.

This psalm explains the goal of a multigenerational legacy.  God desires that parents will fear the LORD in every way.  They will not only obey His commands, but they will enjoy doing so because His commands are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).

For the parent that accomplishes this, the desire is that his or her children will live mighty lives marked distinctly by holiness.

This destiny will not happen by accident.

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Children Are a Blessing – Not a Burden

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I’ve been really challenged as a parent as of late.  I’ve got three wonderful children who love to pile up in the backseat of my pickup truck, wrestle and tickle me, and talk with me (or jabber with me) about every little thing on their mind.

I know they are blessings.  I love them.  I would do anything for them.

But sometimes, I get really tired as a parent.  I get overwhelmed.  Some of that is due to the fact that they are children.  It’s their “fault” I’m tired, but a lot of the fault is mine.

It made me think about the joy I first felt when I heard I was going to become a father, and how, unfortunately, my perspective can shift overtime if I’m not careful.

Think about this:

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Never Seen the Righteous Forsaken

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“Men work. Men provide. And when those men are children of God who call on Him as their Father, they can be sure that God will always meet their needs” (From The Resolution, page 160).

Sometimes, even the hardest working man comes upon financial challenges. Families grow, bills increase, unexpected expenses occur, salaries shift, and yet in the middle of all of these circumstances, God provides.

Take a moment to read Psalm 37:25-29:

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“Psalm 117” & “Selah #2” – Storytellers

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“Praise the Lord, all the nations, exalt Him all peoples.  For His lovingkindess is great towards us, and the truth of the Lord is everlasting.  Praise the Lord.”  -Psalm 117

I wanted to share another story behind the song from one of the tracks off of our “Enter His Gates” album (You can get your copy of the album at the church or on iTunes).  Tracks 8-9 are the “Psalm 117” suite.  My torn up guitar got a beating on this track as we had a great time arranging and recording this song.

It’s titled “Psalm 117” because it is completely taken from Scripture.  All songs I write are based on Scripture, when it works, I like to just sing Scripture without any extra (how could I say it any better?!).

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For Liberty and Justice for All

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Today, the United States celebrates Independence Day.  To remember our freedom, we will keep our neighbors up all night by the shooting of fireworks and eating plenty of BBQ.  For liberty and justice for all.

While I am thankful for the liberty and justice that the US provides, there is a higher justice for which all believers should strive.

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“Psalm 150” – Storytellers

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We are so excited to share that you can now get your copy of “Enter His Gates” on iTunes today!  This project developed into a focus on psalms and other scripture passages of worship.  It contains 16 tracks, 3 of them are instrumental selahs, 2 of them recorded live at our church, some of them new arrangements of old tunes, and the intro track was begging to be something special.

I had this idea months ago about a way to introduce the entire album, but I put it on the backburner to see if we could get everything else done.  With a day left before deadline, I couldn’t get away from the thought and so we went with it, and we had to go for it very quickly (so quickly that unfortunately, Jamie Strutton isn’t given trumpet credits on the album notes, because it wasn’t recorded before the artwork was done).

So, let me explain to you the story behind “Psalm 150.”

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