Fast Tempo

David cries out in exultation - give thanks to the Lord, call on His name. We are to make known among all peoples what he has done! We rejoice with David and follow his advice to "sing to Him, sing praise to Him"

Nehemiah 9 describes quite a worship service as the exiles returning to rebuild Jerusalem gave their attention and hearts to God. Culminating their week-long feast to the LORD, they started with a quarter of the day in study of the Law, then confessed their sin and attested to God's glory. The priests told everybody to "stand up and praise the LORD your God." From there we have a resounding list of His creative majesty in general, followed by a remembrance of His goodness towards them in particular. That's a great example we could follow!

We can respond to God's claim on our lives (it is he who made us and we are his), with joyful, ecstatic praise and adulation! This psalm reminds us of four praise acts - Shout for joy, worship with gladness, come before him, and know that he is God.

This is the passage that inspired this ministry, and remains its central theme. We memorize scripture because it prepares us, protects us from sins of ignorance - with our lips we retell the story to glorify God and refresh our minds.

Isaiah's original wording implies that everybody should indeed know, and have heard, of the majesty of the LORD! And what a wonderful message - because God is the very ultimate in unfailing strength, He has it to offer to us who are weak and tired. Do you trust in the vigor of youth, or are you discouraged because it seems to have left you? We're reminded that our source of strength from God is far superior - it'll never fail!

As our celebration of resurrection Sunday comes and goes, let's never let go of the amazement and wonder that must have been going through the women's minds at what they saw and heard at Jesus' tomb: an angel, who went on to explain to them that Jesus has risen from the dead! The foundation of our faith, and the greatest blessing of all ages, is in Christ's resurrection power. And it's worth remembering all throughout the year as we take joy in Him!

Jesus commands us to love each other. Here and in many other passages, Jesus tells us what this looks like: elsewhere we read that we are to love not as the world loves; to love all people, not just our friends; to love the person in need; and that love fulfills the old testament law and commandments - and it's what sets apart us as His. Here Jesus spells out the extent of such love: we should love as He loved us. That's the greatest love of all - that one would lay down his life for his friends. Jesus showed us the way, and under the power of the Holy Spirit we too can love others sacrificially and completely.

We're reminded of just how secure we are in God's powerful love and justification for His children. How can any adversary stand if God is with us? And who or what could ever separate us from the love of Christ? Paul ends this passage with a crescendo of seven trials we might otherwise fear, culminating with the sword (death). Can any of these things happen to us apart from the love of Christ? The answer is a resounding "no!" We are conquerors through Him who loves us!

Jesus said it first - the spirit of unity and love is what marks us as believers. Here Paul offers a prayer and a blessing that we take to heart, that the God of encouragement will give us that spirit as we follow Christ Jesus.

It's so important to remember that, as Christians, our sins have been hung on the cross through Christ. Not only our sins, but our old sin nature is, as far as our relationship with God is concerned, dead. To live the victorious Christian life, we must now relinquish our mastery of our own selves. We joyfully give that to Christ, so that He may live through us!

Just as children adore their parents and desire to be just like them, it's natural for us when we have a healthy relationship with Christ, to become imitators of God.

This long passage, a "ballad" of Christ's sacrificial journey from Heaven to the cross for our sake, sums up his supremacy and our need to imitate his humility. What an uplifting look at our Lord and master, the one to whom every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess.

Paul's statement that "I can do everything through him who gives me strength" is so important, and so often misunderstood unless we also delve into the context of verse 12. Here he confirms the fact that he - and we o can be placed in any circumstances and still receive the strength needed to do God's will.

Paul urges us to set our minds on things above because we've been raised with Christ - raised to heavenly treasures, not the old decaying earthly things: "for you've died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." To think on anything less shortchanges ourselves and our relationship with God. This song emphasizes the victory and excitement that should accompany our commitment!

Paul's famous exhortation to correctly handle the word of truth: We are like artisans, who must become intimately familiar with the material that is our occupation. As Christians our occupation is to correctly handle and apply God's word.

Paul presents a "hall of faith" in Hebrews chapter 11. His purpose? We should see from this that there's a great cloud of witnesses (examples of) how the life of faith can be run. These people persevered by casting aside all hindrances, looking to the reward during their trials. And we should look to the ultimate example, the author and perfecter of the life of faith, our Lord Jesus Christ.

John's prophetic vision of all sorts of heavenly beings giving praise to God and Jesus (the Lamb) is immense - thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand - numbers too large to visualize, all singing praise to His glory. This passage helps us remember the glory due Jesus' name.