__________________________________________________
Watching the surf cover up my toes
Breathing the salt air from the coast.
Ten years old with my eyes pressed closed.
Life is a church.
Remembering first love’s tender kiss.
Mourning the loss of my innocence,
The bittersweet taste of it on my lips.
Life is a church.
These are the sacraments.
This is the altar.
Love is the spirit
Making the blue planet turn.
Life is a church.
Chorus
Watching my baby being born
Written all over you, pain and joy
Holding your hand, it’s a little boy.
Chorus
Ashes to ashes, earth to earth.
The preacher throws in the first handful of dirt.
My little boy asks me, “does goodbye always hurt?”
Chorus
-David Phelps
________________________________________
Life happens all around us every day. Do we make the mistake of thinking we're trapped in a logical life of cause and effect or do we recognize that EVERYTHING that happens is a reflection of things happening in the REAL world; the SPIRITUAL realm?
__________________________________________________
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Let The Worshippers Arise
__________________________________________________
Revelation 4:8-11, 5:9-14, 7:9-12 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."
And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."
Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."
My intent is not to teach you how to worship, but rather to challenge each of us to worship. Upon self-examination I’ve come to realize that worship, true heart-expression worship is sadly lacking in my life. With that realization comes a myriad of other confessions which are intimately connected with that thought: I’ve lost my sense of awe of who God is; the respect for God’s word in my life has waned; my heart has become complacent in its awareness of His presence, etc. Are these things the cause of my lack of worship or the effect of it? Who can know, and who needs to differentiate to that extent? I know, without doubt, that a heart worshipping God and these life expressions are so diametrically connected that where one exists the other must also exist.
What is worship? How is it defined and/or explained? The Webster’s definition is ‘to give obeisance to’. The complicated thing about worship is this, everything that IS worship can also NOT be worship. Let me explain, as we saw in the above quoted passage the elders fell on their faces before the throne of God but falling on our face before God is not necessarily giving obeisance to Him. We also saw that the angels, the elders, the ‘living creatures’ and the multitude each took their turn singing (and sometimes simultaneously sang) the accolades of God, however vocal praise and the enumeration of His blessings is not necessarily worship. Have you ever sung a ‘worship song’ with your mind a million miles away giving solution to some great conflict? Have you ever bowed your head in prayer while your heart was screaming its dissatisfaction with the situation? Have you assumed a humble prayer posture while in your imagination you were doing house or yard work? Clearly true worship is beyond anything physical we can or will do. Worship is an attitude of the heart.
In a series of private conversations regarding worship this definition was expressed: to do something that unquestionably directs attention to God, who He is, and what He has done. Anything that magnifies God and minimizes me is worship. I’ll add this small edit – Anything that INTENTIONALLY magnifies God and minimizes me. Singing God’s accolades can accomplish that. Verbally expressing our appreciation of God’s character and faithfulness can accomplish that. Assuming a prostrate position in His presence can accomplish that. ‘Worship songs’; holy hands lifted in prayer in honor of Him; even simple obedience to the most menial of tasks can be worship if the heart attitude is that of minimizing the worshipper and magnifying the worshipped! Contrariwise, though, these things can all become rote exercise if the heart is disconnected from the action, or inward focused. Worship is the automatic response of a heart that has seen God’s glory!
Isaiah had an experience, in the year that King Uzziah died, that caused him to worship. He states that [he] saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him…and the house was filled with smoke. Isaiah 6:1, 4 Isaiah saw God’s glory. No man can remain indifferent after experiencing God’s glory. It’s almost arguable that man is obligated, required to worship when once God has revealed His glory to him; as if worship is almost an involuntary response to seeing God’s glory. God has said, 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.' Isaiah 45:23b Paul has reiterated the thought in Philippians 2:10-11 …at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
In response to this awareness the question isn’t ‘will you worship’ but rather ‘have you seen God’s glory’. Have you; have I, seen God ‘high and lifted up’? If I have then why is my ‘worship’ experience so mundane? If God’s glory has been revealed to me genuinely, should my heart response not be one of awe and reverence? Indeed it should and indeed it will!
Consider Gideon. Gideon is a coward. Gideon is a whiner. Notice what Gideon says to the angel of the Lord when the angel claims God’s presence with Israel, ‘And Gideon said to him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.’ Judges 6:13 Yet all it took was one small display of the power of God and Gideon transformed from a whiner to a worshipper. Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face." But the LORD said to him, "Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die." Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it, Jehovah (Yahweh) Shalom. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites. Judges 6:21-24 One small display of the power available from God and Gideon is ready to worship. One glimpse of the glory of God and Isaiah is in confession mode.
One passing glance at the back side of God and Moses is so aglow that he has to veil his face so that people can look at him. Do you suppose Moses worshipped on that mountain? Exodus 34:8-9 says that when the goodness of God was seen by Moses that Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship. He said, ‘If now I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your possession. Moses worshipped. Moses saw how worthy God was of honor and how unworthy he and his people were of favor and Moses confessed it and worshipped. True worship of the true God creates a noticeable external difference; our countenance WILL change if we have worshipped. Moses’ did. So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him……When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take off the veil until he came out; and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded, the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone. So Moses would replace the veil over his face until he went in to speak with Him. Exodus 34:30, 33-35
What about David? David was a mumbling, fumbling idiot at times. Yet Samuel insinuates that God said David was a man after His own heart in 1 Samuel 13:14. How can this be? David was a wretch. I think that God could have that attitude toward David because David was a regular worshipper of God. Sure, David had a few hard knocks. David had some bumps and bruises. David even had some outright, undeniable sin. But in spite of ALL that, David worshipped. We could go on and on through the book of the Psalms elaborating on David’s worship of God. David was truly seeking God’s heart and as a result of that God saw that David’s heart was becoming more like His. What about you? Will you worship?
What keeps us from worshipping? With all this positive evidence in favor of worshipping, what could possibly keep us from it? One thing that could keep us from worshipping God is a lack of compassion from other believers. Notice in Matthew 15:22-23 that a Canaanite woman…came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us." What would you have done? I would have gone away and counted my losses, not this woman. While lack of compassion from other believers can tend to drive us FROM worship, it should have just the opposite affect. This woman knew that God loves to bless a worshipper so she did just that… she came and worshipped Him, saying, "Lord, help me." Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly. Matthew 15:25, 28
Another hindrance to our worship could be scoffers. Remember the man in John 9 that was born blind? Let’s take a peek at him and see if he thought that scoffers could keep him from worshipping. John 9:24-25 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner."
He answered, "Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” Remember what worship is, INTENTIONALLY magnifying God and minimizing me! This man’s attitude was simple; you can’t make me quit magnifying the man who gave me sight! Our attitude should parallel that, but how often when someone scoffs about our Savior do we sulk? Why do we allow another’s opinion of Him direct our actions? Could it be because we haven’t really seen His glory?
How often do we allow a ‘divine delay’ to interfere with our worship? Remember Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus? Remember how Jesus knew for three days that Lazarus was dying and yet he made absolutely no attempt to get there. Consequently Lazarus died and THEN (a little late now) Jesus heads off to see what’s going on. Mary was not going to allow a little delay interrupt her worship. Remember that as soon as she heard Jesus was there she ran out and fell at his feet and worshipped. (John 11:32) Why do we not do likewise? Why do we allow a little wait to interfere with our heart desire to magnify our Father?
Sin. Unconfessed sin will kill worship faster than anything. The problem is if there is unconfessed sin in our life we will continue in the motions of worship. In Isaiah 1:10-15 God enumerates all the things that he’s tired of them doing…sacrifices, offerings, new moon festivals, appointed feasts, Sabbaths, assemblies, incense. These things are all specific ingredients of worship which God had told them to do. However, these people were trying to pretend to worship God while living lives that didn’t coincide. They weren’t ‘after God’s heart’. Consequently, God says, ‘When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen’ Isaiah 1:15
What will keep you from worshipping? Will you allow one of these hindrances to interfere with your heart’s desire to honor and worship your Father, or will you use them as springboards to ‘magnify God and minimize you’? Will you beg God to reveal His glory and power in your life so that your heart will respond? Will you stand as one who is willing to worship God or will you remain seated with the millions of others? Remember, someday every knee will bow and every tongue will swear allegiance to God, why wait?
Sooner or later you will call Him Lord
Why not do it now?
Sooner or later you’ll stand in His presence
And on your knees you will bow.
Sooner or later your eyes will be opened
And then for yourself you will see.
Sooner or later the choice is yours
My friend, which will it be?
Let the worshippers arise!
__________________________________________________
Revelation 4:8-11, 5:9-14, 7:9-12 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."
And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."
Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."
My intent is not to teach you how to worship, but rather to challenge each of us to worship. Upon self-examination I’ve come to realize that worship, true heart-expression worship is sadly lacking in my life. With that realization comes a myriad of other confessions which are intimately connected with that thought: I’ve lost my sense of awe of who God is; the respect for God’s word in my life has waned; my heart has become complacent in its awareness of His presence, etc. Are these things the cause of my lack of worship or the effect of it? Who can know, and who needs to differentiate to that extent? I know, without doubt, that a heart worshipping God and these life expressions are so diametrically connected that where one exists the other must also exist.
What is worship? How is it defined and/or explained? The Webster’s definition is ‘to give obeisance to’. The complicated thing about worship is this, everything that IS worship can also NOT be worship. Let me explain, as we saw in the above quoted passage the elders fell on their faces before the throne of God but falling on our face before God is not necessarily giving obeisance to Him. We also saw that the angels, the elders, the ‘living creatures’ and the multitude each took their turn singing (and sometimes simultaneously sang) the accolades of God, however vocal praise and the enumeration of His blessings is not necessarily worship. Have you ever sung a ‘worship song’ with your mind a million miles away giving solution to some great conflict? Have you ever bowed your head in prayer while your heart was screaming its dissatisfaction with the situation? Have you assumed a humble prayer posture while in your imagination you were doing house or yard work? Clearly true worship is beyond anything physical we can or will do. Worship is an attitude of the heart.
In a series of private conversations regarding worship this definition was expressed: to do something that unquestionably directs attention to God, who He is, and what He has done. Anything that magnifies God and minimizes me is worship. I’ll add this small edit – Anything that INTENTIONALLY magnifies God and minimizes me. Singing God’s accolades can accomplish that. Verbally expressing our appreciation of God’s character and faithfulness can accomplish that. Assuming a prostrate position in His presence can accomplish that. ‘Worship songs’; holy hands lifted in prayer in honor of Him; even simple obedience to the most menial of tasks can be worship if the heart attitude is that of minimizing the worshipper and magnifying the worshipped! Contrariwise, though, these things can all become rote exercise if the heart is disconnected from the action, or inward focused. Worship is the automatic response of a heart that has seen God’s glory!
Isaiah had an experience, in the year that King Uzziah died, that caused him to worship. He states that [he] saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him…and the house was filled with smoke. Isaiah 6:1, 4 Isaiah saw God’s glory. No man can remain indifferent after experiencing God’s glory. It’s almost arguable that man is obligated, required to worship when once God has revealed His glory to him; as if worship is almost an involuntary response to seeing God’s glory. God has said, 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.' Isaiah 45:23b Paul has reiterated the thought in Philippians 2:10-11 …at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
In response to this awareness the question isn’t ‘will you worship’ but rather ‘have you seen God’s glory’. Have you; have I, seen God ‘high and lifted up’? If I have then why is my ‘worship’ experience so mundane? If God’s glory has been revealed to me genuinely, should my heart response not be one of awe and reverence? Indeed it should and indeed it will!
Consider Gideon. Gideon is a coward. Gideon is a whiner. Notice what Gideon says to the angel of the Lord when the angel claims God’s presence with Israel, ‘And Gideon said to him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.’ Judges 6:13 Yet all it took was one small display of the power of God and Gideon transformed from a whiner to a worshipper. Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face." But the LORD said to him, "Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die." Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it, Jehovah (Yahweh) Shalom. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites. Judges 6:21-24 One small display of the power available from God and Gideon is ready to worship. One glimpse of the glory of God and Isaiah is in confession mode.
One passing glance at the back side of God and Moses is so aglow that he has to veil his face so that people can look at him. Do you suppose Moses worshipped on that mountain? Exodus 34:8-9 says that when the goodness of God was seen by Moses that Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship. He said, ‘If now I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your possession. Moses worshipped. Moses saw how worthy God was of honor and how unworthy he and his people were of favor and Moses confessed it and worshipped. True worship of the true God creates a noticeable external difference; our countenance WILL change if we have worshipped. Moses’ did. So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him……When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take off the veil until he came out; and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded, the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone. So Moses would replace the veil over his face until he went in to speak with Him. Exodus 34:30, 33-35
What about David? David was a mumbling, fumbling idiot at times. Yet Samuel insinuates that God said David was a man after His own heart in 1 Samuel 13:14. How can this be? David was a wretch. I think that God could have that attitude toward David because David was a regular worshipper of God. Sure, David had a few hard knocks. David had some bumps and bruises. David even had some outright, undeniable sin. But in spite of ALL that, David worshipped. We could go on and on through the book of the Psalms elaborating on David’s worship of God. David was truly seeking God’s heart and as a result of that God saw that David’s heart was becoming more like His. What about you? Will you worship?
What keeps us from worshipping? With all this positive evidence in favor of worshipping, what could possibly keep us from it? One thing that could keep us from worshipping God is a lack of compassion from other believers. Notice in Matthew 15:22-23 that a Canaanite woman…came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us." What would you have done? I would have gone away and counted my losses, not this woman. While lack of compassion from other believers can tend to drive us FROM worship, it should have just the opposite affect. This woman knew that God loves to bless a worshipper so she did just that… she came and worshipped Him, saying, "Lord, help me." Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly. Matthew 15:25, 28
Another hindrance to our worship could be scoffers. Remember the man in John 9 that was born blind? Let’s take a peek at him and see if he thought that scoffers could keep him from worshipping. John 9:24-25 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner."
He answered, "Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” Remember what worship is, INTENTIONALLY magnifying God and minimizing me! This man’s attitude was simple; you can’t make me quit magnifying the man who gave me sight! Our attitude should parallel that, but how often when someone scoffs about our Savior do we sulk? Why do we allow another’s opinion of Him direct our actions? Could it be because we haven’t really seen His glory?
How often do we allow a ‘divine delay’ to interfere with our worship? Remember Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus? Remember how Jesus knew for three days that Lazarus was dying and yet he made absolutely no attempt to get there. Consequently Lazarus died and THEN (a little late now) Jesus heads off to see what’s going on. Mary was not going to allow a little delay interrupt her worship. Remember that as soon as she heard Jesus was there she ran out and fell at his feet and worshipped. (John 11:32) Why do we not do likewise? Why do we allow a little wait to interfere with our heart desire to magnify our Father?
Sin. Unconfessed sin will kill worship faster than anything. The problem is if there is unconfessed sin in our life we will continue in the motions of worship. In Isaiah 1:10-15 God enumerates all the things that he’s tired of them doing…sacrifices, offerings, new moon festivals, appointed feasts, Sabbaths, assemblies, incense. These things are all specific ingredients of worship which God had told them to do. However, these people were trying to pretend to worship God while living lives that didn’t coincide. They weren’t ‘after God’s heart’. Consequently, God says, ‘When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen’ Isaiah 1:15
What will keep you from worshipping? Will you allow one of these hindrances to interfere with your heart’s desire to honor and worship your Father, or will you use them as springboards to ‘magnify God and minimize you’? Will you beg God to reveal His glory and power in your life so that your heart will respond? Will you stand as one who is willing to worship God or will you remain seated with the millions of others? Remember, someday every knee will bow and every tongue will swear allegiance to God, why wait?
Sooner or later you will call Him Lord
Why not do it now?
Sooner or later you’ll stand in His presence
And on your knees you will bow.
Sooner or later your eyes will be opened
And then for yourself you will see.
Sooner or later the choice is yours
My friend, which will it be?
Let the worshippers arise!
__________________________________________________
Thursday, September 3, 2009
My Jesus
__________________________________________________
Which Jesus do you follow?
Which Jesus do you serve?
If Ephesians says to imitate Christ
Then why do you look so much like the world?
Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant
So which one do you want to be?
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand
Cause my Jesus bled and died for my sins
He spent His time with thieves and sluts and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the rich
So which one do you want to be?
Who is this that you follow
This picture of the American dream
If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side or fall down and worship at His holy feet
Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins
But the Word says He was battered and scarred
Or did you miss that part
Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him
Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and the least of these
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable
So which one do you want to be?
Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church
The blood and dirt on His feet would stain the carpet
But He reaches for the hurting and despised the proud
I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd
And I know that He can hear me if I cry out loud
I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!
Not a posterchild for American prosperity, but like my Jesus
You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity
I want to be like my Jesus but I'm not sure what that means to be like You Jesus
Cause You said to live like You, love like You but then You died for me
Can I be like You Jesus?
I want to be like my Jesus
-Todd Agnew
__________________________________________________
Which Jesus do you follow?
Which Jesus do you serve?
If Ephesians says to imitate Christ
Then why do you look so much like the world?
Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant
So which one do you want to be?
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand
Cause my Jesus bled and died for my sins
He spent His time with thieves and sluts and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the rich
So which one do you want to be?
Who is this that you follow
This picture of the American dream
If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side or fall down and worship at His holy feet
Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins
But the Word says He was battered and scarred
Or did you miss that part
Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him
Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and the least of these
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable
So which one do you want to be?
Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church
The blood and dirt on His feet would stain the carpet
But He reaches for the hurting and despised the proud
I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd
And I know that He can hear me if I cry out loud
I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!
Not a posterchild for American prosperity, but like my Jesus
You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity
I want to be like my Jesus but I'm not sure what that means to be like You Jesus
Cause You said to live like You, love like You but then You died for me
Can I be like You Jesus?
I want to be like my Jesus
-Todd Agnew
__________________________________________________
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