Newsboys, August 2002

The Newsboys are one of the most influential contemporary Christian bands. They have had a unique style and ability to keep it serious yet fun. Their creative style and lyrics have changed the landscape of Christian music. This is a recording of the band from what I would call their peak period. The members have changed significantly since this time, with at least three of the five core members leaving and being replaced. The name Newsboys is like a peddler of newspapers spreading the news. In this case it is the "good news" of the gospel message, in a new and unique style.

I love the lyrics that put the born again experience in a new light

Shine:
Dull as dirt
You can't assert the kind of light
That might persuade
A strict dictator to retire
Fire the army
Teach the poor origami
The truth is in
The proof is when
You hear your heart start asking,
"What's my motivation?"

And try as you may, there isn't a way
To explain the kind of change
That would make an Eskimo renounce fur
That would make a vegetarian barbecue hamster
Unless you can trace this about-face
To a certain sign...

[Chorus]
Shine
Make 'em wonder what you've got
Make 'em wish that they were not
On the outside looking bored
Shine
Let it shine before all men
Let'em see good works, and then
Let 'em glorify the Lord

Out of the shaker and onto the plate
It isn't Karma
It sure ain't fate
That would make a Deadhead sell his van
That would make a schizophrenic turn in his crayons
Oprah freaks
And science seeks a rationale
That shall excuse
This strange behavior

When you let it shine
You will inspire
The kind of entire turnaround
That would make a bouncer take ballet
(even bouncers who aren't happy)
But out of the glare
With nowhere to turn
You ain't gonna learn it on "What's My Line?"

It's funny because I'm that Deadhead in the song that had a complete transformation.


Newsboys
Flevo Festival
Liempde, Netherlands
August 2002
Radio Broadcast?


Setlist:
01. Giving It Over
02. Who?
03. Love, Liberty Disco
04. Cornelius
05. Million Pieces (Kissin' Your Cares Goodbye)
06. God Is Watching Over You / Entertaining Angels
07. Oh Lord You're Beautiful / Joy
08. John Woo
09. Praise God /

Lord (I Don't Know)
10. We Want To

Glorify You God
11. Shine
12. Breakfast
13. It Is You

Mp3/320k
Download Link
http://www.mediafire.com/?se49w7344c1c34m 

Show The Glory To All

Show The Glory To All

In the Old Testament the priests were the ones who could come close to God. They were the only ones that could bring sacrifices for others and enter the holy places of the temple. After Jesus came all who believe in Jesus have the opportunity to come close to God and to show others God’s glory. The Bible says that today those who believe in and follow Jesus are a "Holy Priesthood" (1 Peter 2:5)

If we look at how the Old Testament priests were prepared we can see a picture of how we the priests of today can get prepared to come close to God. The priests were to be consecrated, consecrated means to be set apart as holy to be devoted to serve God. If we want to show others God’s glory we too should be set apart or different than the rest of the world and devoted to serve God. A picture of how this is done can seen in Leviticus 8.

In Leviticus 8:6 Moses washed Aaron and his sons with water. We too need a bath. All of us are dirty from sin but no amount of bathing with water will do the job. Only the blood of Jesus can wash us of our sin. So the first and most important step is to accept the sacrifice of Jesus for your sin and ask Him to be the Lord of your life.

The next step was to put on special clothes as seen in Leviticus 8:7. We too need special clothes. Special clothes are seen in Ephesians 6:11 “put on the whole armor of God”. The armor of God is the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, helmet of salvation, shield of faith, and shoes that are the gospel of peace. Psalm 132:9 says “Let your priests be clothed with righteousness”.

Moses was to then anoint them with oil. This anointing with oil speaks of the Holy Spirit. We need the anointing of the Holy Spirit to help consecrate us or set us apart from the world. Without the help of the “Helper” or Holy Spirit we cannot do this in our own power. The Holy Spirit is the thing that enables us to stand up to temptation, and gives us the right words to say, helps us love in a unique way, and is the only thing that will make us different than the rest of the world as we interact with others.

After this clothing was on the priests, Moses was to consecrate the priest with blood. He was to place it on their ear, hand, and toe. The blood represents to us the blood of Jesus that cleans us. You may say I thought accepting Jesus (step one) made me clean so what’s this additional cleaning? After we take a bath or shower periodically through the day we get our hands dirty and need to wash our hands. We don’t need a full bath again just our hands. Just like this as saved Christians we come into contact with the imperfect world we get some dirt on us and need a touch up cleaning. We don’t need a full bath again just a touch up. Jesus said in John 13:10 “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet”.

We need to have help from Jesus to clean up our ears, or what we hear or listen to. What type of music do we listen to? Is it full of sexual content? What kinds of people are we listening to? Do they speak the truth or do we listen to sources of information that pollute us? Do we surround ourselves with people who speak language that is not pure? If so we need to be cleansed of this stuff.

We need Jesus to help clean what we do with our hands or how and what we work on. Is the work we do something that brings glory to God? Or are we handling something that should be left untouched? When we use our hands to go online do we go to sites that Jesus would be ashamed of? If our work and what we touch with our hands is not clean we need Jesus blood to wash our hands of it.

And last we need Jesus to help us clean up our walk. We all sometimes go off the path and stray into temptation. We need to walk close with Him and go where God sends us. When we get too far from Jesus the “light” it is hard to see what we are stepping in. So our feet get dirty and we track what we have stepped into where ever we go. Jesus was willing to clean the feet of his disciples and He is willing to wash yours. Only the blood of Jesus can clean up our walk.

In the next step the priests were to remain in the tabernacle seven days. The tabernacle is where God’s presence was. They were to spend time close to God. We too need to spend time close to God. We need to take time to read the bible. This is Gods word and through it we hear God’s voice and desires for us. We need to pray and meditate with God in this way God gets to hear our deepest desires and gets to know us better. Seven is the number of perfection or completion. We need to do this until His work in us is perfected or completed. In other words we need to always do this because we will always have some room for improvement.

Then they were to make offerings or sacrifices of sheep and cows for themselves and for others. This culture placed a great value on these animals. So the sacrifice was something of value to them. We too are to sacrifice something of value to us for ourselves and for others. This sacrifice could be money with a tithe to a church. The sacrifice could be time, or some activity we love to do. It may be giving up some time with friends or time talking on the phone to our friends and instead going out and serving others. It may be giving up time playing video games or watching TV so you can have time to read the bible or pray for others needs. We need to give up something for God that has value to us. Giving up something that does not have value is not a sacrifice.

The fact is that what ever we give up seems to have value now. When we give up this stuff we often find that it is of little true value. Paul said he gave up a life where he had a high position and after saw it was all just garbage.

When they sacrificed animals they placed it on the alter and it was consumed by fire. This was a “sweet smell to the Lord”. In this sacrifice the flesh was consumed. It says in Romans 12:1, 2 we are to “present our bodies as living sacrifices”. Romans 8:8 says “those who are in the flesh cannot please God”. We need to sacrifice our selfish lusts of the flesh and let it be consumed and this will be sweet to God. The end of yourself is the beginning of God.

When all this was done Moses and Aaron blessed the people. It says in Leviticus 9:23 Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. I think this is really cool. All the people saw it!
So how does this apply to us? We too need to set our selves apart from worldly things and then bless others. When we do this then those who can't see Jesus for who He is can get a glimpse of His glory reflected by us in the way we love, sacrifice, and care for others like He did.
So do you have a friend that doesn't know Jesus and can't see the truth in the Gospel message? And you are wondering why they don't get it. Well maybe it's because you are a poor image of Christ. After all we are to be the "body of Christ" as it says in 1 Corinthians 12:27. And what they see in your walk and your behavior is how Christ is being pictured for them.

Gospel Sunday at Telluride, 6-25-89

Well it's Sunday so I thought I would give you a little Gospel Bluegrass. This is from the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 1989.

GOSPEL SUNDAY
Telluride Bluegrass Festival
Telluride CO
6-25-1989
Soundboard

Total Time:70:13.22
01 Intro
02 Walkin’ to Jerusalem Just Like John
03 Were You There?
04 In the Garden
05 Jesus on the Mainline
06 Dark as a Dungeon
07 Keep on the Sunny Side
08 All On A Rising Day
09 Motherless Child
10 Man at the Well
11 intros
12 Tears of God
13 Amazing Grace ^
14 Will The Circle Be Unbroken (with Tim and Molly O’Brien)
15 applause
16 I Saw the Light


The Players:
Maura O’Connell
John Cowan
Chris Daniels
Pat Flynn
Jonell Mosser
Peter Rowan
Dan Sadowski
Russell Smith
Randy Saunders
Victor Wooten
^ Tim & Molly O’Brien

Mp3/320k
Download Link
http://www.filefactory.com/file/wrk9i9tkqf1/n/Gospel_Sunday_Telluride_89_mp3_rar

Give The Gift Of Living Water

Living Water

In John 4 Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well and said to her. "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you give me a drink. You would have asked of Him and He would have given you living water". Again in John 7:37-38 Jesus is talking about "Living Water", He says "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water." So what is this "living water" that Jesus talks about? Well the next sentence, John 7:39 tells us, This He spoke concerning the Holy Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive. So let me give you a context of what Jesus said this on these two events. In the first event Jesus is talking to a woman, one on one, telling her that if you drink of this well water you will be physically satisfied for a time but the body will continue to thirst. In other words the things of the world will only satisfy for a short time. But if you believe in me you will find a drink of salvation that bring everlasting life. It is spoken of in Isaiah 12:3 "Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." What Jesus is talking about if you believe in Him you will be saved and receive the Holy Spirit in you.

Now in John 7 Jesus is in a large crowd during the last day of the feast of Tabernacles and he talks again of living water. To understand this event we need to understand what was taking place on that day at the feast of Tabernacles. The Tabernacles feast or celebration was held every year to remember the time the Israelites spent in the desert and followed God. Tabernacles are small temporary structures like tents. The Israelites would come into Jerusalem from all over to celebrate and they would put up these small tent like structures and stay in them for a week. Each day the priests of the temple would go down to the pool of Siloam with a clay vessel and get water and bring it back to the temple and pour it out on the ground as a drink offering to commemorate or remember when God in the desert gave them water out of the rock as seen in Exodus 17. But what of that rock in the desert? Well Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:4 "All drank of the same spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ."

So on the last day of the feast of Tabernacles they did something different. On the last day the high priest would take a golden vessel down to the pool of Siloam (sent one) and fill it up and then he would march up to the temple with it and enter through the south or "water" gate. The Water Gate had special eschatological significance because it was identified by some rabbis as the south gate of Ezekiel’s Temple through which the water of life would flow to all the land as seen in the prophecy of Ezek 47:1-5(more on that latter). Then the high priest would pour out the water in front of the alter, and the high priest would read this verse from Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground: I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring. Now this last day of the feast is called the Hoshannah (save now) Rabbah. This last day speaks of the future and the prophecy of the coming Messiah. Now the high priest would lead them in a prayer for the coming of Messiah. So in this context as people are praying for the coming sent one who is going pour out the spirit Jesus stood up in the crowd with thousands there gathered in the city and said "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water." Wow! As they prayed for Him to come Jesus proclaimed that he was among them, the "Sent One" had arrived. So at first he told an individual (woman at the well) that she would have living water in her. But here Jesus speaks of a river flowing out of us. This is seen in the prophecy of Ezekiel 47. Here Ezekiel saw a river flowing out of the temple coming out from under the altar and it became a wide river that flows and brings life. This is the spirit flowing out of us The temple equates our body. And the source is the altar or sacrifice. And as Ezekiel walks the water gets deeper and deeper. Just like as we get farther in our walk the spirit gets to flow more and soon it is a stream in which we can no longer touch bottom and it flows and takes us. So there is a picture of two parts to the filling of the Holy Spirit. The first is so we no longer thirst, so we have the drink of salvation. But the second is when the Spirit flows out and gives life to others. When all we do is hold the water it stagnates with time. But when we let it flow out to others we can receive more and it becomes a flowing river. So ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit and then look to give the gift to others.

If this interested you here is a link to an incredible man who teaches this in a far superior and dynamic way than I can. So check it out http://www.joncourson.com/teaching/teachingsplay.asp?teaching=S514

So now that we have talked of a Spiritual drink and a sacrifice that starts the flow of the Spirit in your life. Here is a place to give in a sacrificial way, and to give a physical drink to those who don't even have that. Millions of people on the earth don't have clean water to drink. Over 4500 children will die today of water-related diseases, but and you can help. There is a non-profit organization called Charity Water.

Charity Water brings safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of public donations directly fund water projects. They have helped thousands and have already funded more than 3800 projects worldwide. So here is a link where you can be a part of it. After all Jesus said as you do to the least of these you do to Me. http://www.charitywater.org/

Sad Days In Arizona

Well I know it's hard to not know about the events that took place down south at a Tucson supermarket. The sensless shootings of a 9 years old girl, a congress woman, a judge, and many others. In all six people were killed and many others were wounded. All shot by one young man who has what appears to be mental illness of some kind.
Well I'm not going to place blame or try to say there is a solution to this kind of thing that can be found with ease. Freedoms come with problems. And I won't even attempt to talk about gun laws because there is no way to say that changing them would make any difference. I'll leave that debate to someone else as I'm sure people are already taking sides and using this event to push their agenda. What troubles me the most is a church that uses an event like this to push it's agenda and publicize it's extreem view. That church is called Westbro Baptist Church that has already made rediculous claims that this event is God's judgment. And that is saying it will protest at the funeral of the victims. Yep, it is the same bunch of religious extreemist that picket at soldiers funerals, and the same group that claims "God Hates Gays" along with a long line of God hates slogans they pump out.
Well God does not like certain behavior, and that is true. But God in the form of Jesus showed compasion for sinners and judged the prideful religious ones of His day. God in the form of Jesus stood in the way of the ones who wanted to stone the woman caught in the act of adultery. Jesus said in Luke 13:4 "Those eighteen on whom the tower in Silom fell and killed them, do you think they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?". What he is saying is that bad things happen to people and it has no bearing on their level of sin. Jesus In Matthew 7:24-27 talks of two people who built houses, one on the Rock that is the foundation of Jesus and one on sand (not on the foundation of Jesus). Jesus said that the rains came to both, and not just to the unbeliever. Storms and trouble in life will come to us all our ability to weather them is the only difference. Jesus specifically states in Matthew 7 to not judge others. In fact the only thing we are to judge is the fruit of those who claim to be prophets (followers of Jesus in this case). Jesus said in Matthew 7:15-20 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?". . . . . "Therefore by their fruits you will know them".
Well I would have to say that the fruit of the Westbro Baptist Church is questionable at best. The fruit of the spirit as stated in Galatians 5:22 is "Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, and faith". I see none of that in the actions of this group. Certainly saying that a 9 year olds death along with the death of believers as some of these were is God's judgment and choosing to use the funerals of these as a tool to make your point is not loving, joyfull, gentle, or good.
On that note let me say this. God is a God of love. God loves all people, for God so loved the world that he gave His Son. Not just part of the world. Suffering is alowed sometimes by God, but He can and does use it for good if we allow Him to. I pray that all the people who have been impacted by this great sad event can allow God into their circumstances so that He can transform what Satan wants to do for evil into something good. I pray that all the families of the victims can find comfort in Jesus and that they can in time find forgiveness toward the man that did this.
As for Westbro Baptist Church, I'll let God take care of that. Jesus said in Matthew 7:19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

Did The Death And Resurrection Of Jesus Really Happen?

Did The Death And Resurrection Of Jesus Really Happen?

The most important event of Christianity is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you can disprove this event then the whole belief system is invalid. Apostle Paul himself puts it this way in 1 Corinthians15:13-17, Paul wrote, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised and if
Christ has not been raised then our preaching is vain. Your faith also is vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God. . . . . and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless.” In fact Jesus himself said in John 12:27 it was for this very reason that He came. Jesus Himself predicted several time that he would not only die but would then be resurrected (brought back to life). We can see this in Matthew 16:12, again in Mark 9:9, also in John 2:19-22, and several other locations. In fact in Matthew 12:40 Jesus said this event was the one sign to prove His authenticity as who He claimed to be, “For as Jonah was three days in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son Of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
This must be an actual historical event that happened not some story to portray an idea for there to be validity. One of the first things that I tried to prove wrong when I doubted was the fact of historical evidence. First off was there really a trial by a man named Pontius Pilot? Was there even a guy named Pontius Pilot? Because it says in the Bible, that Pilot oversaw a trial relating to Jesus, so if you disprove Pilot’s existence then you can put doubt in the whole account. Over the years, many scholars had questioned even the existence of Pilot and the reason is there had been no archaeological confirmation that Pilot ever existed, there had only been literary references to Pilot. But then in 1961, in Caesarea, in Israel, the Mediterranean port, an archeologist by the name of Antonio Froya, found an inscription in the amphitheatre that was about two feet by three feet that said this, “Pontius Pilot prefect of Judea has presented the Tiberian to the Cesareans.”
So archaeology, confirmed the existence of Pilot, and the fact that he was the prefect of Judea, where Christ was.
Well that does not prove the event but does lead to the credibility of the characters involved. So if there was a man named Pilot and there was a man named Jesus did Jesus really go to trial and be crucified? There is a historian of the time named Josephus who tells of the event, but the best account of the event that is on record is the four different accounts seen in the New Testament. These accounts of the event come from four different people who were all witnesses or received eyewitness account from witnesses. And these accounts were written and circulated while there was eyewitness alive that could have questioned the credibility or accuracy of the accounts. In the past there have been questions about the date that these were written and the accuracy of the transcription over time. But if you honestly evaluate the evidence you will find there is no room for questioning this. Read these scholarly studies and you will find the truth. William F Albright who is considered the foremost biblical archaeologist said: “We can already say emphatically that there is no longer any solid basis for dating any book of the New Testament after about A.D. 80.” William F. Albright, Recent Discoveries In Bible Lands (New York Funk and Wagnall’s, 1955) 136. Sir Frederick Kenyon, one of the leading authorities on the reliability of ancient manuscripts wrote this, “The interval between the dates of the original composition and the earliest existent evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established”. Sir Frederick Kenyon, The Bible and Archaeology (New York: Harper and Row, 1940), 288-289. William F Ramsay a scholar who tried for years to undermine the reliability of the New Testament had to conclude: “Luke is a historian of the first rank. . . . This author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians.” William F Ramsay, The Bearing of Recent Discoveries on the Trustworthiness of The New Testament (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1915), 222. F. F. Bruce a professor of biblical criticism at the University of Manchester said this: “Had there been any tendency to depart from the facts in any material respect, the possible presence of hostile witnesses in the audience would have served as further corrective.” F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? Rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1977) 33. In fact the writing of the New Testament were presented and circulated in the very presence of antagonistic eyewitnesses of Christ who knew the events. And Paul who was once a detractor wrote that Jesus appeared alive to more than 500 of His followers at one time and the majority of these were alive and could confirm what he was writing.
Not only are the New Testament accounts reliable and accurately handed down to us. But if we look at the behavior of the witnesses it can tell us if they really believed that Jesus was who He said He was and was crucified and then rose from the dead. If we look at all eleven of the Apostles who remained after the resurrection and one convert Paul, how did they act? They all were in an antagonistic world that did not tolerate the belief in Jesus. The eleven had proven to be cowards and ran and hid during the trial and crucifixion. But something changed them from cowards to ones willing to face death. They all knew that to teach and proclaim this Jesus as God and that He rose from the dead to save the world would mean persecution or death. And Paul who persecuted and sought to kill believers suddenly changed into one of the most outspoken advocates. All 12 of these men continued to do it in the face of the danger. In fact eleven of the twelve were put to death for it and the one who wasn’t (John) was boiled in oil and lived. What kind of men would risk torture, imprisonment, and death to spread a lie? What men would go to their deaths to perpetrate a mere hoax? No one would. But they would because it was not a hoax it is the truth. And it is the most important truth that has ever been. Because it means that Jesus defeated death and He is who He claimed to be, the one and only begotten Son who God gave as gift for you and me so we can have eternal life. It is up to you to accept and receive the gift or refuse and risk that you may not have eternal life with the one who created you.