After he sinned, Adam was afraid of God (Gen. 3:10), but Jesus delighted in the fear of the Lord (Is. 11:3)!  So what's the difference?  

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (1 Jn. 4:18)

If God has already put the punishment for our sins onto Jesus, then why should we fear him?

The fear of the Lord is to be so awestruck by how powerful, beautiful, majestic, holy and pure God is that we fear being anything that is incompatible with Him; not because we dread His punishment, but because we are so enraptured by His splendor and omnipotence that we only desire to be like Him: we abhor anything that is opposed to Him and turn away from everything that is contrary to His goodness and glory.

The fear of the Lord is an amazing gateway to intimacy with God. 

"The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant." (Ps. 25:14)

I invite you to journey with me.

“Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecc. 12:13)

In this episode I share some original songs. 

Colossians 3:16 says, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."  Let's give it whirl....  Thanks for listening!

(lyrics)

Where I Belong (Under the Cross)

When the torrents pound down on my life

When there is no relief in sight

When my sorrows are too much to bear

When my heart is weighed down with cares

There is one place

Only one place

I know I can go

Under the cross

Under Your gaze

Under Your love

Under Your grace

That’s where I’m safe

That’s where I’m strong

That’s where I belong

You have been a shelter to me

A safe place a sanctuary

You stand around me and guard my life

You uphold me in the downpours of life

There is one Lord

Only one Lord

Who won’t let me go

Under the cross

Under Your gaze

Under Your love

Under Your grace

That’s where I’m safe

That’s where I’m strong

That’s where I belong

When the sorrows seem to much to bear

You uphold me You uphold me

When the trials of life seem so unfair

You console me You console me

Under the cross

Under Your gaze

Under Your love

Under Your grace

That’s where I’m safe

That’s where I’m strong

That’s where I belong

Desert In Bloom (Isaiah 35)

KP: “You know my grandma always said, ‘If you’re digging a hole that you don’t want to be in, first thing you got to do is stop digging.’”

Steady shaking knees and strengthen feeble hands

Say to fearful hearts hiding in the land

“He is coming!”  “He is coming!

The ransomed will come back dripping in glory

Their joy will overtake them their sorrows gonna flee

They’ll be singing, they’ll be singing

See the parched land bloom

A hurting people like the sun at noon

So open blind eyes and unplug deaf ears

The mute are gonna shout the lame jump like a deer

It is freeing, it is freeing

The burning sand a pool streams in the desert flow

In the barren haunts papyrus starts to grow

It is healing, it is healing

See the parched land bloom

A hurting people like the sun at noon

See the parched land bloom

A hurting people like the sun at noon

You ain’t never seen a people like this before

Ain’t never seen a people with so much soul

They know how to rock and they know how to roll

They know how to rock and they know how to roll

Steady shaking knees and strengthen feeble hands

Say to fearful hearts hiding in the land

“He is coming!”  “He is coming!

The ransomed will come back dripping in glory

Their joy will overtake them their sorrows gonna flee

They’ll be singing, they’ll be singing

Singing like the stars shining like the sun

Feel the earth quake baby here He comes

Righteous gonna laugh wicked gonna run

Can you feel it?  Here He comes!

So Much Hope (Hands to the Sky)

When clouds surround my head

When darkness closes in

I will choose to laugh

Cause I know I’m gonna win

You showed Your love

You shed Your blood

Went to the cross for me

Now I’m alive

Hidden in Christ

So why should I worry

I got my hands to the sky

The whole world wondering why

I got a smile on my face

When they all wanna cry

I got my hands in the air

And no I don’t care

If everyone around me

Wants to stop and stare

Your love broke through my shame

Your truth broke every chain

In Adam I was dead

Now in Christ I reign

You showed Your love

You shed Your blood

Went to the cross for me

I got so much, so much hope

I got so much, so much hope

I got so much, so much hope

Pull up pull up

Light beam in all the place

Push out push out

Darkness flee out from the place

Worship is not meant for a special hour at a special place when we're wearing special clothes and doing special ceremonies; it is to be woven into the fabric of our lives all of the time!  Unlimited access to holy places in heaven is what Hebrews 9-10 describes as our "regulations for worship."

Enjoying the radical nature of New Covenant worship is our inheritance as children of God.  The world and the devil would like it very much if we confine our worship to singing on Sunday morning.  God invites to something much more marvelous, much more magnificent and much more consequential!

A few weeks ago the Manthanos//Kairos (XICF student ministry) led the singing at XICF's Sunday morning gathering  (xicf.org).  We had a great time!

In this episode I share some of my exhortation to those young song-leaders.  I hope it will encourage you, regardless of your involvement (or lack of involvement) in singing at church meetings!  ;)

There is no price too high to pay to have a moment of giving God all of our attention and basking in His goodness.  "Serve the Lord with gladness!  Come into his presence with singing!" (Ps. 100:2)  Music is supremely useful for this purpose: it can help focus our souls on the majesty of God.  Music can make us aware of God's nearness, His majesty, His gloriousness.  It is one of the finest gifts of God to humanity. 

Leading others in times of singing to God is an incredible honor.  Though I am still learning how to steward those moments, I know that an easy mistake is to miss enjoying God in the moment myself.  Learning how to facilitate those moments and be in the moment ourselves is "the heart and the art" of leading music in the church.

The atom bomb had its genesis in someone's imagination- as did every other invention.  The ability to see something that doesn't exist yet (to imagine it) is so powerful it can hardly be overstated. 

Much human suffering has been wrought at the hands of people with corrupt imaginations, but with a God-informed imagination (vision) we have hope!  We can picture things the way He would like them to be and we can be part of seeing His will be done on earth!

In this episode I encourage you to let the Word of God inform your imagination.  Let your eyes of faith be opened as you surrender your ability to fantasize to the Holy Spirit!

Is. 26:3; Gen. 6:5; Ps. 139:16; Eph. 2:10; Mk. 6:41; Ez. 13:3; 2 Cor. 10:5; Heb. 11:1

In this episode I comment on Jordan Peterson’s mischaracterization of the story of Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler as well as the idea “Who dares say he believes in God?” (s02e15 of The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast).

There’s too much information (and misinformation) out there to waste time responding to everything we disagree with.  However, because I enjoy listening to JP and because I think many people might potentially identify with what he is saying here, I thought it would be worthwhile to offer a response.

Are we willing to call Jesus “good”?  That is, are we willing to call Jesus God?  This was the issue for the rich young ruler.  It is still the issue; both for JP and for all of us.

At the end of the podcast we look at some other passages of Scripture: Jn. 1:1; Jn. 1:14; 1 Tim 3:16; Mt. 1:23; Is. 9:6; Acts 20:28; Col. 2:9; Ro. 9:5; Titus 2:13; Hb. 1:8: Jn. 17:3; Mt. 4:10; Mt. 14:33; Jn. 20:28; Jn. 10:30; Jn 10:33; Jn. 8.58; Mk. 2:5-12; Mt. 26:64; Ro. 3:23; Ps. 51:5; Ro. 5:12; Ga. 1:6-7; 2 Cor. 5:21; Acts 4:12.

In this episode we lean hard on Eugene Peterson to help us understand Paul’s epistle (letter) to the Galatians!

The letters in the New Testament are much easier to understand when read as a whole rather than bit by bit.  These were real letters written to real people: people with no Bibles, podcasts or Christian bookstores.  If we can put ourselves in their shoes we can better understand these letters and we can also learn the lessons that they were being exhorted to learn!

I hope this episode will not only help you understand the book of Galatians, but also equip you to defend the joy of your salvation from those who would try and pervert the Gospel with a performance-based relationship with God.

In this episode I read poems from the collection The Christian Book of Mystical Verse: A Collection of Poems, Hymns and Prayers (edited by A.W. Tozer).

"Eternal Power" Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

"Lord of All Being" Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)

"Majesty Divine" Frederick William Faber (1814-1863)

"Would Jesus Have the Sinner Die?" by Charles Wesley (1707-1767)

"Song of Assurance" by Johann Andreas Rothe (1688-1758), tr. John Wesley (1703-1791)

Jesus doesn't rebuke His disciples for wanting to be great; instead He gives them a roadmap for how to achieve greatness.

The recipe for greatness in God’s kingdom:

Find someone to serve and don’t worry about getting any credit for it. 

To transcend one's own desires and willingly suffer for the sake of others is the example of our Lord and the path to true greatness.

Mk. 9:33-37

Phil. 2:3...

1 Cor 2:16

Ro. 12:10

Eph. 4:13

1 Cor. 12:28....

Col. 1:24

Jn. 13

This world wants us to conform to its standards- including its standard of beauty.  How we perceive ourselves physically (our body image) is a direct result of how we think!  Should we accept the world’s guidelines of what’s beautiful, handsome and attractive or should we question the criteria thrust upon us?

Ro. 12:1-2

Eph. 4:17

1 Pe. 3:3-34

Pr. 31:30

1 Sam. 16:6-7

Lk. 16:15

1 Tim. 4:8

Ps. 139:14

Gen. 1:26-27

1 Thes. 1:4

Eph. 2:10

Ph. 3:3

Ps. 147:10-11

2 Cor. 5:16

Ro. 8:5, 12-13