O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing (hymn #21) Shout to the Lord (link) Rock of Ages Cleft for Me (link) My Savior’s Love is Greater Still (link) The Solid Rock (hymn #526) God is our solid rock. Our mighty fortress and solid refuge. He is our protection from all that would assail us, whether forces…
In his book The Roots of Endurance (Invincible Perseverance in the Lives of John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce), John Piper relates the testimony of Charles Simeon, one of the founders of the Church Missionary Society in late 18th century.
How Great is Our God (link) Christ, Or Else I Die (link) Nothing But the Blood (link) When I Think About the Lord (link) Sing to the King (link) What has God done for you lately? For starters, he chose you, redeemed you, forgave you, loved you, adopted you, and sealed you with the promised…
Can you identify yourself in Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector? Have you ever felt crushed under the weight of your sin, like the tax collector? Perhaps even doubted that God’s mercy was deep enough to reach you? Or have you ever been impressed with your own efforts to please Him, like the Pharisee? Perhaps even doubted that you needed God’s mercy in the first place?
Our opening hymn was written in 1739 by Charles Wesley, originally titled “For the Anniversary Day of One’s Conversion.” The poem’s eighteen stanzas opened with the lines:
Glory to God, and praise, and love
Be ever, ever giv’n
By saints below and saints above
The church in earth and Heav’n
The next five stanzas set the theological context for the explosion of praise that would follow.