Newspaper Article 3

It has taken me a few weeks to get this up, but here is my third article I wrote for the newspaper. It got a bit long...oops...

Week Three: Who Are You Living For?

            In I Samuel 6, we see the account of King David returning the Ark of the Covenant to Israel. Though his first attempt ended in failure (due to a lack of regard for the instructions God had given on how to move the Ark), eventually we see David succeed in his task. I love the story of David’s second attempt. This time he follows the correct procedure for moving the Ark. With everything in place, David and the rest of the moving party start down the road. After six paces David calls a halt and orders a bull and a fatted calf to be sacrificed to God. The group continues in this way the entire journey, stopping every six paces to offer sacrifices to God. Not only this, but as they near the city, David is unable to restrain himself. He sheds his robe and begins to dance in worship before God. David’s wife witnesses his public display and despises him in her heart. When he returns to his rooms later that day, she confronts him about what she considers an embarrassing way for the King to behave in front of the common folk. Look at his response to her in verses 21-22:

So David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel; therefore I will celebrate before the LORD. ²² I will be more lightly esteemed than this and will be humble in my own eyes…

          

        David’s response to her accusations of impropriety is that he was acting before God and God alone. Not only that, but he was willing to humble himself even more if needed. I have shared this glimpse of David’s live with you for two reasons. First, you might have taken me up on my challenge from last week to speak up about your love for God in front of your family or friends. If you were met with less than open hearts and minds, you might feel something like David did when Michal reprimanded him. I want to encourage you to remember who you live for. Like David, we live to serve the Lord God in heaven. Even if we feel like we’ve accomplished nothing when we shared our love for God with others, we can remember that God is pleased with us every time we share Him.

            The second reason I want to share this story is to encourage you. Maybe you read my last article and wanted to stand up for your faith but just couldn’t do it – you couldn’t put yourself out there like that. Guess what? You can try again. The first time David went to move the Ark, he failed.  I’m sure he walked away feeling down and discouraged. However, he did not stop thinking about how to get the Ark back. When he was reminded about the Ark, he got up and decided to try again. This time he came with a plan. Maybe you felt inadequate to share your faith with your family yesterday, but don’t let that stop you from planning another opportunity to do so (Christmas is coming you know).  Even David (the man after God’s own heart) felt inadequate and failed occasionally, but he didn’t give up. Give thanks that God allows second chances. Enjoy your leftovers and be encouraged that you can still try again tomorrow if you didn’t make it today.

Review for Seraph Seal

   Interesting book to say the least. An end times novel that seems similar to the Davinci Code in style. Lots of clues to follow to an end destination. Lots of characters and stories and speculation.Enough espionage and natural disasters for anyone.

   In general this was nothing more than interesting. It has too many characters and story-lines to follow. I never truly felt engaged with any of the characters because the book jumped back and forth between the stories so often, and there were so many stories to follow. While I like a good imaginative tale, this one felt like it wanted me to think it was real, or could be real. However, much of it was simply too far-fetched for my tastes. If you like intrigue novels, end times imaginings, or davnici code style stories then you might truly enjoy this book. However, it wasn't my cup of tea. I did not find it inspiring, more just interesting. It has taken me many months to finish reading it.

This review is for a book I was given by Thomas Nelson for the purpose of review.

Newspaper Article 2

The second of four articles being written for the local paper.

Week 2: Thanksgiving and a Tradition of Faith

   I know I said last week that Thanksgiving had to be about more than just Family and Turkey. However, Thanksgiving does tend to center around the family. So how can the family aspect of Thanksgiving lead us to worship? (Praying that your crazy uncle Herbert won’t be able to come to dinner this year doesn’t count.)

   What kind of traditions do you have at your house on Thanksgiving? At mine, we have several…my brother makes the pumpkin pie, I make the chocolate layered dessert, and my sister usually makes a chocolate meringue pie. Don’t ask me how these assignments were made, but they were and now when we all get together, that is the plan. One other tradition we have is that when we gather around the table to eat, we start the meal with a prayer and then go around the table and each person shares something that they are thankful for. I’m sure many of you have a similar tradition.

   My family has lots of traditions during the holidays, but there’s something that I appreciate more than our holiday traditions. My family has passed a tradition of faith in Jesus Christ down to me. My family lived these verses out in our home.  

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

   Like any other tradition, we can choose to not follow our parents lead when it comes to faith in God. I love and appreciate my parents for teaching me the ways of God and helping myself and my siblings come to a point where we chose to follow Christ. Because of the life of faith that they passed down to us, I know that the whole of my family will be in heaven when we die.

   What about you? Was your house like this growing up? Did your parents impress upon you the commandments of God? Did they lead you to love God? If so maybe the simplest act of worship you can offer this year is to thank God first for saving you, second for placing you in a family that loves Him, and third thank your family for being obedient to God’s word.

   Are you growing a house like this for yourself? If not, why not begin? This holiday season, if you love the Lord God, why not share that with your family? We have a day set aside within our year to spend with family and love each other. Why not point our families towards the One who loves unconditionally and who sent His Son to die for each of us? Why not start a tradition of faith for your family? You don’t have to be the oldest in the house to begin a tradition; you simply have to be willing to share the love of Christ with those whom you love. Imagine the blessings you could have to celebrate and be thankful for next year if you spent this year sharing with those closest to you about the One who will “never leave you, nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

Newspaper Article

Sorry for the long absence. So...recently I was asked to write a series of articles for our local newspaper. The basic theme is Worship in relation to Thanksgiving. So I thought I'd post them here since I don't think many who might read this get the Liberal paper.

Hello. My name is Jeremy Harris, and I am relatively new here in Liberal. I am the Worship and Community Pastor at First Southern Baptist Church, and have been here for almost 7 months. I’m married and have two children (ages 3 and 1) who keep me on my toes.

When my Pastor asked me if I would be interested in writing a series of articles for the newspaper I said yes immediately. Not because I think I am an amazing writer (I’m not), but because I want to take any opportunity to share with others the love of Jesus, and what He means to me. So starting today I will be writing a four part series on “Thanksgiving and Worship.”

Week 1: More than Family and Turkey

            Why do we have a national holiday set aside for thankfulness? Why do we close our banks, businesses, and government offices for the day (or a couple of days?) Is it truly for the purpose of being thankful? Obviously we are glad for the paid time off and the chance to see family, but is there anything more to the day?

 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
   his love endures forever. 1 Chron. 16:34

He is good. He is right in all He does. We can trust that. His love endures forever. This love that caused God to send His Son to die is directed towards you and me. We have been offered a way to freedom rather than condemnation. Should this not cause us to thank Him each and every day?

 I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart;
   I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. Psalm 9:1

            Whether we remember God’s deeds as recorded in the Bible, or simply remember the way He has acted for our own good in our lives, it should lead us to give thanks.

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:16-17

            Do you have anything good in your life? Do you have a place to live, food to eat, family around you? Do you have a job, a car, some money in the bank? Did you wake up this morning? Is the sun still giving light and warmth to the world? How could we not be thankful?

            This Thanksgiving, let us not forget that God had provided us with all we need and more. He has blessed us in so many ways. Not only that, but He has blessed my life in more ways than I have room to enumerate within this article. When I choose to thank Him for all he has blessed me with, I worship Him. It might sound simply, but look in the Psalms and see how many times Israel’s worship leaders used the words “Give thanks.” I pray that as we approach the Thanksgiving Holiday that each of us will examine our lives and look for the blessings we have been given. Then let’s worship together by thanking the Father of heavenly lights who has given us every good and perfect gift. God Bless.

Another look at a Worship Artist

I told you I'd be posting more of these. This one is a bit different. The artist I want to highlight today is named Lecrae. He is a christian rapper. I listen to so many of his songs and I can't help but believe that he is being used of God to lead others to worship. I know most that read this are not big rap fans, so here is something that should be enjoyable for all.

A Great Day!

Have you ever noticed that some days are just good? Today was one of those days.
   I got to do lots of cooking today (which doesn't sound like fun to some people, but I enjoy it.) Tried a new recipe for biscuits this morning that did not turn out well. The sausage eggs made up for them though. Homemade pizza for lunch that was excellent. Now if only I knew how to "make" pepperoni it could be completely homemade. Crust and sauce both turned out nicely. Someone should tell pizza hut that plain jane breakfast sausage is a way better pizza topping than Italian sausage. Thanks tasteofhome.com for some great recipes.
   After lunch I got to take a nice long nap! I don't remember the last time I wanted to nap so badly. After my nap Addie (who skipped her nap) and I made chocolate chip cookies from scratch to put in welcome boxes for the students living in the dorms at SCCC here in town. Tried a new recipe that was quite tasty. Still not quite what I am looking for in the perfect chocolate chip cookie, but good none-the-less. Anyone have a good recipe for cookies that aren't so thin once they bake? Not fluffy like cake but thicker. I also whipped up a batch of homemade strawberry ice cream that has convinced my wife that I should stop making chocolate ice cream. Finally, we finished the food extravaganza with a chicken stir-fry. Zucchini, carrots, sweet onions, chicken, and kikkoman's stir-fry sauce served with white rice. Awesome!
   So there you have it, what does it take for Jeremy to have a great day? Let him take a nap and cook for you. A little bit of computer time is fun as well. What makes a day great for you? Have you stopped to thank God for the great days? How about the mediocre ones? I working on doing that more in my life. Thank You Lord for giving us today. Stay tuned for more worship posts, and thankful thoughts. God bless and good night.

Worship Artists again...

So I am continuing my previous post regarding Worship Artists/Songs. This is in response to the following conversation...

Pastor Jack: So I was disappointed in your blog post Jeremy.
Me: Really why?
Pastor Jack: You didn't get outside the box at all. I was looking forward to hearing about some new obscure band or song I've never heard of.
Me: I guess that's true...that's simply the music I've been listening to lately...

So I started thinking about what worship music I enjoyed that was a bit more outside the box (I still maintain that Charlie Hall is a bit outside of the everyday box of many people.) What I realized is that there are several options I could share in this thought stream. So as a way of getting outside the box, I will be sharing some video links to songs that I love which are worshipful and either sound a bit different from what you expect, or are from artists that are less well known. I will probably only share one per post. I hope you enjoy.

The first offering is from EverybodyDuck. These guys had some radio hits in the 90's and released a CD in 2009. However, My favorite offering from them is a little known CD recorded between their early success and their most recent release. The production value is very low when compared to guys like Chris Tomlin and David Crowder Band, but I highly recommend the CD "Seized by the Power of a Great Affection." It has some awesome worship songs.