Pastors - having a tough time getting inspired for Sunday's sermon? Join me for a few minutes in Revelation 10, one of the most powerful places I know for the authority of Scripture and the gut-churning call to preaching. While we may steward something as valuable as Orion in 'Men in Black', we also have a voice to declare what it is!
Devotional - Oct 23, 2020
Music Today:Scott Blackwell - 'My King' When your sermon gets mixed for the dance floor, you know you're making an impact. S.M. Lockridge has an excerpt from his sermon 'That's My King' (likely completely extemporaneous here) that has been sampled several times since Blackwell put this together, but his version is still the
Olivier Messiaen - 'Quartet for the End of Time', Movement VII.'Tangle of Rainbows, for the Angel who announces the end of time'This was written in a German POW camp (Messiaen a captured French soldier) and premiered in the dead of winter at the camp in 1941, with German officers and Allied prisoners alike in attendance. It was composed for the instruments and musicians available: Piano, clarinet, violin, and a cello with three strings. The inspiration for one of the most tender, yet chilling works in 20th Century classical music is Revelation 10. If you listen to the end of movement 7, you'll hear where the composer of a certain theme for Hitchcock's 'Psycho' likely got his inspiration. (This movement runs from 37:17 to 44:42 in the clip)
Devils and Demons. Just a creature in red with horns that whispers to you when the dessert menu comes around? Revelation 9 gives a VERY different picture - but also a remedy, if we're willing to receive it.
Devotional - Oct 20, 2020
Music Today: 'Man of the Tombs' by Bob Bennett. Southern California soft rock may seem like the wrong genre for today, but Bennett does an amazing job of capturing the pain and the grip of demonic oppression, taking on the character of Legion in Mark 5:1-20. 'Shame and shamelessness equally there/Like the random toss of a coin in the air'. I had the opportunity to see this place on a trip to Israel a couple of years ago - truly amazing.
Are you interested in getting God - and heaven's - complete attention? Do you wonder if there's any hope in the face of natural disasters, global warming, and the general chaos of 2020? Join me for a few minutes in Revelation 8, and the 'backward masking' of creation. (And yes, I'm in the dark - but that's a pretty good analogy for where we are in prayer sometimes - and hopefully the biblical story behind me becomes a little clearer.)
Music Today: 'C.S. Lewis Song' by Brooke FraserOne of the best songs I know for facing the heart ripping sadness of this chapter. "If I find in myself desires nothing in this world can satisfyI can only conclude that I was not made for hereIf the flesh that I fight is at best only light and momentary,Then of course I'll feel nude when to where I'm destined I'm compared"
Marvin Gaye: 'Mercy Mercy Me' (The Ecology)Rolling Stone's latest ranking of Rock and Pop Albums ranked 'What's Going On' as #1. This song is certainly a big reason why. 'If I knew Christ was coming back tomorrow, I would still plant my apple tree today.' - Martin Luther
