LS024b - From Death to Life II: The Silence of Sacrifice

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (KJV)

Hello everyone!

So, we've passed the point where Christ was crucified all those years ago, and we are now in-between His death and eventual resurrection.

Of course, knowing how the story ends, gives us hope that though we're stuck in our struggle today, there is hope for our future. Imagine how it must have been for those who loved Jesus and followed Him during His ministry. Their Saviour was dead and hope seemed to die with Him.

LS024a - From Death to Life I: The Nature of Sacrifice

Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

Matthew 27:50 (KJV)

Hello everyone!

Well, Easter is finally upon us and I wanted to take a look at the resurrection story to hopefully shine some more light on the reason for the hope that I have in Jesus.

This time I am going to be looking at the first of three days that changed history and therefore established God's fulfilment of the law as present and correct and paved the way for the new covenant through His Son; Jesus Christ.

Through this issue, I am going to look at sacrifice and what giving up actually looks like in the unbiased Kingdom. Secondly I will be looking at what we are to be doing during those times when it looks as if nothing is happening for us. Finally, there will be a post celebrating the finished work of Christ thus augmenting what I've previously raised on the subject.

Off the Scale #17 - The Witches' Chorus by Giuseppe Verdi

Hello everyone!

I discovered this particular choral piece earlier this year and, again, like with the last entry in this celebration of all things classical music, managed to find it on a 5 CD set.

Let's take a look at it...

Off the Scale #16 - Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copeland

Hello everyone!

Today, I'm picking quite a different choice from my collection as I only really discovered this one this year. I mean, it's likely that I heard it before then but could never have told you who it was by, just that I liked the whole arrangement.

Let's have a look...

LS023b - Your Reasonable Service II - For the Honour of God

Hello everybody!

I hope you enjoyed the first part of this two part series on service and how it's not as nasty as it's often perceived sometimes.

Onto part two...

LS023a - Your Reasonable Service I - For Others' Sake

Hello everyone!

I hope you have been enjoying the increased activity on my blog because I have been enjoying contributing to this blog a lot more. From looking at the finished work of Christ over two posts, to looking at our righteous state in Christ, I have been enjoying the uplift of content quality, as much as you, my dear readers have.

Today, I'm going to look at what service means to me so let's see what happens...

LS022 - I'm Free to Live (Or From the Voice of a Blogger)

Hello everyone!

I wanted to take advantage of this moment whilst I'm feeling the best I have done in a very long time so wanted to capture the moment before it dissipates.

As many of you know now, I'm on medication at the moment for anxiety and depression and, it has been riding me something rotten over these winter months. To push through, I have been trying to keep my focus ahead and on what Christ is leading me to instead of getting bogged down in negativity that often comes hand-in-hand with depression.

I'm hoping to take you all on a journey with me as I continue with by years long battle with the issues I've had. In short, they led me to a point last year where I felt forced to not only acknowledge that I have a problem, also to admit that it was time to start doing something about it...

LS021 - Righteous by Association

Hello everyone!

Now that we are into the third month of this quarter, I am finding it of great benefit to have made the changes that I have made. I believe, as I have talked about before, they are building for me a metaphorical house that I will be living in tomorrow. Yes it means I have to do a lot of groundwork at the moment, but it is all ground work that rests in the finished works of Jesus Christ at the cross.

Today, I want to take a look at what it means, to me, to be righteous by association.

Let's go...

Off the Scale #15 - In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg

Hello everyone!

Next up in my series of posts celebrating all things classical music, I have a personal favourite of mine that has been used countless times in adverts across the years, in particular advertising Alton Towers.

Let's take a look...

LS020 - As the Crimson Rain Fell

Hello everyone!

On Monday, I finished my Bible reading plan so have, apparently, finished reading the Bible over the last eight or so months... go me!

Anyways, today I wanted to take a look at how my focus has been impacted by the events that I've been through since 2018 started.

Let's go...

LS019 - Believing on a Foundation Sure

But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that is, the word of faith, which we preach: that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shall be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:8-10 (KJV)

Hello everyone!

We are into March now and I don't know about you but the excitement of this new year shows no signs of abating for me. Sure, I'm going through some difficult and trying times right now but keeping eternity in view, I know where I will end up when I pass from this life to the next.

Recently, I've been looking at the trustworthy nature of the word of God and how within it, there is the power to free ourselves from many a problem simply by setting our gaze unerringly upon the ever-present fact that God is here, with us, today. We've looked at how the words we speak can indicate the true condition of our hearts and we've looked at what happens when our focus starts to drift.

Today, I'm going to look at building upon that by saying that if you build your life on scriptural principles that I have been talking of then I believe and declare that you can see lasting change not just for yourself but for your whole world.

Are you ready to do this?

Let's go...

Off the Scale #14 - Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell by Benjamin Britten

Hello everyone!

We've left Valentine's well and truly behind now, so let me turn back to classical music and bring another of my favourite pieces of classical music forward for your consideration and enjoyment from Benjamin Britten.

I was lucky enough to pick this particular piece of music up as part of a CD containing a full rendition of Gustav Holst's "The Planets" for, I believe, 20p from a charity shop!

I'm hoping that, once you've listened to it, you'll understand why I had to have it after hearing it on Classic FM numerous times beforehand...

LS018b - Follow My Voice II - Hear My Words, Obey My Instruction

Hello everyone!

Following on from the last post looking at whose voice we are following, I want to take a closer look at what it means to have Jesus as our focus and His voice as our command post.

From day-to-day living there are hundreds if not thousands of voices that we can be listening to from what somebody put on social media to what the TV stations are telling us to wear, buy or do that we can let the voice of God get swamped out by trivialities...

LS018a - Follow My Voice I - What's That Sound I Hear?

Hello everyone!

I must say that since the "Beast from the East" and "Storm Emma" collided here in Oldham, they certainly have got along pretty well and show no signs of abating (even if I am writing this on Thursday!).

I've been enjoying blogging so much lately, that, as you can tell, I have stepped it up a notch so that all the content comes flooding out onto these pages... well, I was going to say "these pages", but that can't be correct given that it's on a screen!

As the wind howls whilst I write this, let me see if I can give you all some encouragement for your cold and snowy Friday...

LS017b - The Finished Work II - Royalty By Birth

Hello everyone!

Yesterday's post really opened some things up for me and I hope you too were suitably inspired by it.

Let's carry on from immediately where we left off by taking another look at the difference between being sin-conscious and God-conscious...