Kings

Have you watched the NBC show “Kings” yet this year? It started on March 8th. I watched the last half hour of the 2 hour season premiere and I was intrigued, but I wanted to watch the whole episode before I would make any opinion about the show. So the next day I watched it online, and wow, I was totally intrigued. For those of you who don’t know what the show is about, it is a fictional story of what it would be like if the U.S. was ran by kings. It takes place in Gilboa, and the capitol of Gilboa is Shiloh. The characters include King Silas Benjamin, Princess Michelle Benjamin, Prince Jack Benjamin, Reverend Ephram Samuels, David Shepherd, and General Linus Abner just to name a few. Some of these names may sound somewhat familiar. All of these characters have a counterpart in the Biblical story of King David. King Silas – King Saul, Princess Michelle – Michal (Saul’s daughter), Prince Jack – Jonathan (Saul’s son), Reverend Samuels – Samuel the Priest, David Shepherd – King David (who was a shepherd), General Abner – Abner (Commander of Saul’s army). Now the similarities don’t stop there. David’s dad was killed 20 years prior, but his mom’s name is . . . Jessie. David’s dad in the Bible is Jessie. In the first episode Rev. Samuels touched David’s forehead like he was anointing him. He also told King Silas that God has rejected him as King and is seeking a man after His own heart. Then the kicker. Gilboa is at war with Gath. The army of Gath has a class of tanks that they call . . . Goliath. David in the first episode went hand to tank and won.
I have watched all the episodes so far and there continues to be a lot of parallels between the Bible and the show. I looked up Kings on Wikipedia and found that the creator of Kings, Michael Green, wanted to make a TV show that took an old story that hasn’t been tossed around too much in the entertainment industry and keep to the original “script” but totally modernize the story.
I am looking forward to seeing how the show unravels, especially how David will take the throne.

Artist of the Week

Artist: Matthew West
Album: Something To Say
Song: The Motions

In April of 2007 Matthew West started to notice that his vocal range was not what it used to be. He went for a vocal check up and the doctor told him that there was some hemorrhaging on his vocal chords due to some polyps. The only solution to the bleeding was a surgery that could end his vocal career. Not only would it threaten his career, the doctor told him that after the surgery he would have to have complete vocal rest for two months. That meant no talking whatsoever for two months, not even to his wife or little girl. Matthew went ahead with the surgery and made a full recovery. Through the trial of the silent two months he drew closer to God and was able to write a new album.

Matthew West has been writing songs and making albums for 12 years. He is a very talented song writer as well as a musician. West has a broad style of singing. The genre of his songs can range from hip-hop to pop to alternative. This is proof of his talent, because no matter what style, his songs sound great. His new album Something To Say is no exception. The song The Motions is a lyrical masterpiece tuned to amazing music. I know that this song will strike a cord inside of everyone who listens to it.

The song is about going through a low and tough time. A time in life where you feel nothing at all. That includes your relationship with God. There can be some dark and lonely times in our lives when we don’t feel close to God. It is important to remember that our relationship with Christ is not based on emotions or feelings. It is based on His grace and love for us. In return we are to praise God with all of our lives. We are to worship and love Him through our lives. In this song West is crying out to God to give him a desire to give his all to God. He doesn’t want to look back on his life and realize that he didn’t give it his all, that he just went through the “motions”.
We all can get caught up in the “motions”, doing things because we are supposed to. What joy does it bring God when we follow his commands out of a ritualistic duty instead of doing them out of love for Him? We all need to make the chorus of this song a prayer for each day of our lives. “Father God, I don’t want to live my life today doing things out of tradition and duty. I want to live for You because of what You did for me and the passion You have given me. I don’t want to live a hum drum life for You; I want to give you all.”

Enjoy! You can click on Artist of the Week to see a Matthew West’s The Motions music video.

This might hurt, it's not safe
But I know that I've gotta make a change
I don't care if I break,
At least I'll be feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

No regrets, not this time
I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love make me whole
I think I'm finally feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of this life

'Cause I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
[ Matthew West Lyrics are found on www.songlyrics.com ]
instead of going through the motions?"

take me all the way (take me all the way)
take me all the way ('cause I don't wanna go through the motions)
take me all the way (I know I'm finally feeling something real)
take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

take me all the way (take me all the way)
take me all the way (I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go)
take me all the way (through the motions)
take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions

Lessons From an Easy Baby

God has bestowed many blessings upon my wife and me. One of the most amazing and terrifying blessings to me was becoming a father. Our son Asher is almost 8 months old now. It has been a fun and adventurous 8 months. It was about 10 months ago when I was doing a study on Psalm 1 that the name Asher popped out to me. Psalm 1:1 says “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.” The Hebrew word for Blessed comes from Asher, which means Blessed or Happy. We know that God has blessed us with our happy son Asher. He is the smiliest baby I have ever seen. He is happy and easy going almost all the time. We knew that when he first smiled when he was not even a week old that it was a real smile, not just a face he was making. When I heard him first laugh around a month old, that really blessed me. He is happy and doesn’t get fussy unless he is hungry, sleepy, or has woken up and can’t seem to go back to sleep. He just wants to let us know that he needs food or sleep. There have been only a handful of times where he fussed or cried for no aparent reason. I have heard many “horror” stories of babies crying throughout the night or not napping and various other things where the moms are pulling out their hair trying to figure out what their babies need. I am so thankful that Asher is who he is and I think that as I was studying Psalm 1, God purposefully showed me the root of Blessed because He knew everything about Asher long before my wife or I were even born. How Asher acts with my wife and I is a perfect picture of how we should act with our Heavenly Father. 1 Peter 2:2 says "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation." Peter is telling us that we need to be like a baby and long for the milk so we can grow closer to Him. Asher tells us his needs, like sleep or milk, and that is how he is able to grow. We shouldn’t be distracted by all the wants of our live, we should focus on what we truly need. The way we grow closer to God is by giving Him our needs. He is willing to provide for us, all we have to do is cry out to Him just as Asher cries out to us when he needs something. We must have that need to hunger and thirst for God so we can grow closer to Him and become the person of God that we are intended to be.

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep . . .

My Daddy spent many hours working on a special project for me. Most of the work he did for me while I was still in Mommy’s tummy. He built me a beautiful walnut sleigh crib. I am so thankful that my Daddy built me my bed. It is so nice to wake up every morning to see the beautiful gift my Daddy has given me. For the past couple months Daddy has been building another crib. No, I am not going to have a brother or sister (although that would be fun), but rather I am going to have my very first cousin! Daddy’s brother and sister in law are expecting a baby boy any day now. My daddy has spent many hours in the basement working on this new crib for my soon to be cousin Talon. Daddy told me recently that he has been unable to work on the crib as much as he would like because his shop is right under my room. Since Mommy puts me to bed around 8:00, Daddy can’t spend his evenings working on the crib like he did on mine. Daddy told me that the adjustments that he and mommy have had to make since I came along are well worth it. Every day my parents tell me how much they love me and I return it by smiling at them with my biggest smile I can make and give a few giggles.

The reason I am telling you all of this is because of my other Daddy. I have two Fathers, an earthly father and a Heavenly Father. My earthly father provides me a place to sleep. My heavenly Father not only provides me a place to sleep but also provides me with all that I need. My parents give me the necessities: shelter, food, drink, diapers, clothes, and toys, and most importantly love. My Heavenly Father has given me my parents, which have given me my shelter, food, drink, diapers, clothes, toys, and love. But He also gives me His love. His love is much bigger than my parents love for me. He loves me so much that He actually has given His Son for me. He sent His son to die on the cross so that one day I can be with Him in Heaven for eternity. As I said earlier, my parents love me so much that they pray over me each night that one day I can understand better what I am writing here and that I can have a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. That is how I know my parents love me. They could buy things for me all the time, but their true love for me is shown through their desire to see me grow up as a man of God. I am thankful for them, which is why I smile and giggle whenever I see them.

Artist of the Week

Artist: Unhindered
Album: Unhindered Live Worship Experience
Song: Father Will You Come

It seems that they are a lot of new worship songs that are coming out. A lot of different Christian bands are making worship albums and worship leaders such as Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and many others are always making new great stuff. One of my favorite worship bands is Unhindered, they aren't to well known, but they are awesome. I first heard them at Acquire The Fire in 2007 in Kansas City, and it was amazing. I saw them again at ATF in Kansas City this year, and it was even better than the first. My favorite song that they sing is Father Will You Come. One thing that I will always remember when I hear this song is when I was at ATF watching and listening to 4,000 teens pouring their hearts out to God through song. If you would like to see a video of this song, click on Artist of the Week. Here are the lyrics. I hope you enjoy this song as much as I do!

There's a love, forgetting my failures.
There's a hope, that's setting me free.
There's a light, defeating my darkness.

And there's redemption calling,
And causing all to sing

[Chorus]
Father will You come and open up our eyes.
Fill us with Your love, renew us with Your life.
Consume us with Your Majesty, consume of with your majesty
Yeah...

(Spoken) God we worship You tonight, consume us right now in this moment Lord.

There's a peace, that's calming my waters.
There's a joy, that's setting me free.
He's the light defeating my darkness.

And there's redemption calling,
And causing all to sing

[Chorus]
We're singing
[Chorus]

(Spoken) right now lets lift our hands to the Lord, as we surrender our hearts, we surrender our lives to Him.
Let us join in with the angels tonight, let us join with the saints around the world.

Glory.
Honor.
And power.
Belong to you.
(X6)
(We give it to you God)
(Yes, Lord)
To you! to you!
And we're singing

[Chorus]
We're singing
[Chorus]

Consume us with Your Majesty
(X2)

Glory.
Honor.
And power.
Belong to You.
(X4)

Artist of the Week

Artist: Sanctus Real
Album: We Need Each Other
Song: Lay Down My Guns



I have to admit, when I first saw the title of this song I thought to myself, “I bet this is one of those silly anti-gun messages that some bands sing about.” But to my surprise, it is a really touching and powerful worship song. Before I go on, I need to give you some background about the song. As Sanctus Real was putting together this album, a song writer friend, Doug, sent them a file of lyrics, and on this file was the chorus “Lay down your guns, lift up your hands.” Matt Hammitt, the lead singer and song writer used this chorus, tweaked it a bit and wrote this amazing song. As you read through these lyrics, think about the war in Iraq, the things the soldiers have to go through on a daily basis. Some of them lose their friends over there, some even lose their own lives. This song is a tribute to the soldiers in Iraq, and also Hammitt is using the war in Iraq as a metaphor of our lives on earth. The last run through of the chorus says it best:
May this desert reach its end where my new life begins
And I'll abandon my defenses and live to love again
When I lay down my guns and lift my hands

While we are on this earth, we have to uphold our defenses, Satan is attacking us all the time, he is on the prowl. We lift up our guns to defend ourselves against the enemy. But when we leave this earth and finally reach Heaven, we can lay down our guns and we will eternally be in peace where we can lift our hands to worship the Lord.

Enjoy the song.


Well I just need a place to lay my head
Forget the chain that hangs around my neck
These guns are not as heavy as the hearts they defend
I can't wait to get back home where I can find some rest

When I lay down my guns and lift my hands
Surrender to Love and live again
May this desert reach its end where my new life begins
When I lay down my guns and lift my hands

And I have seen the devil in this place
And I lost myself when my friends found the grave
When you're this far from Heaven
It's hard to keep the faith
I'm barely holding on
I can't wait to

Lay down my guns and lift my hands
Surrender to Love and live again
May this desert reach its end where my new life begins
When I lay down my guns and lift my hands

And I'm laying down these burdens
Taking off the weights
And I can't count the miles that I've walked to find my way
To lay down these guns
How I need to lay down these guns

Lay down my guns and lift my hands
Surrender to Love and live again
May this desert reach its end where my new life begins
And I'll abandon my defenses and live to love again
When I lay down my guns and lift my hands

Lay down
Lay down
Lay down my guns

Bankrupt!

Every morning when I leave town as I go on to the highway, I see a little sign that says “Bankruptcy or Divorce from $500.” I understand that the economy is tough and times are hard, but seriously? With the new president, though we don’t really know what his plans are, we do hope the change is a good thing for the economy. Looking at the stimulus package in the house and senate, I am not so sure that change is good. But nevertheless, we must have faith. Faith is what keeps us going. I have faith that God will keep my family afloat through these rough economic times. I know this because the Bible tells me that God will provide. But I also know this from past circumstances. God has delivered us through many trials, some financial, some relational, and some spiritual. But God has delivered us, and we are thankful for that. But how can a person know that God will take of them? Well, you first have to declare bankruptcy. Yes, you heard me correctly, declare bankruptcy. You don’t need file chapter 7 bankruptcy or anything like that (save that $500!), rather, you need to declare your moral bankruptcy. You must admit to God that you have fallen short of His Glory and accept the gift of Life that Jesus gave us when He was upon the cross. When we do that we become unblemished to God. We are no longer bankrupt! There is no need for us to worry about being bankrupt again when we have the blood of the Lamb covering us. We are spotless before the Lord and we can come to His throne. Nothing can take that away from us. Christ refers to us numerous times as His bride. With Him, there is no chance of divorce (save another $500!). We are the bride of Christ who will be taken up to Heaven to spend eternity with Christ. The Christian band Sanctus Real has a song titled Eternal and the chorus of the song says this message the best. And in this marriage of our hearts, There is no death do us part, For You are eternal, And I am eternally Yours. We are eternally His. There is no lawyer who can draw up papers to nullify this marriage contract. With that said, there is nothing to fear because God will be beside us forever. There is nothing this world can do to change that. I will live my life here on earth to the fullest, doing what I can do to glorify God because I know one day I will come before His throne and worship Him. Nothing in this world can take that away. My appointed time is set, and there is nothing that can erase that from the docket.