1-11-16 Live to Serve

For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Mark 10:45 KJV

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To be an imitation of the Lord

You must become a servant through and through,

To give love with no thought of a reward,

To minister to all, this must you do.

Christ gave His life a ransom for your soul,

Was beaten, bled and died for all your sin.

He did this for He dared assume the role

A servant with the key to let you in.

Can you do any less than minister

To everyone around you all the time?

Let Christ become your Lord so deep and pure;

He’ll then begin His work through you sublime.

Christ came not to be served, but came to serve.

Work with Him serving others – don’t conserve.

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REMEMBER: Treat everyone as if you would treat Jesus.

12-29-15 Knowing

All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

Matthew 11:27 KJV

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The fullness of the Father’s in the Son;

The power and the glory, love and grace.

All things that are delivered of the One

Belong to both eternal in each case.

The mind can’t comprehend or hope to know

The language of the heart that’s spirit born.

You must go to the cross, you must let go,

You must be broken, beaten, crushed and torn.

When you make Christ your Lord you’re dead to sin;

Until that time the door to Heaven’s sealed.

Give all you are to Jesus to begin

To understand this mystery revealed.

To know your Father you must know His Son;

To know the Son you both must be as one.

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REMEMBER: Surrender your will, relinquish your heart, yield yourself to Christ right now.

10-14-15 Fear Only One

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 10:28 KJV

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If your great love of Jesus irritates

All they can do is drag you through the mud.

No need to fear the guns or knives of hate,

For they can only slay your flesh and blood.

No matter if you’re tortured, beaten, burned,

The most that can be done is transient.

Your soul’s immortal state cannot be turned;

One million years to it is time well spent.

Yet fear instead the One who holds your soul,

Deciding you should face eternal hell.

Your God created you in His control

And He decides the place where you will dwell.

Fear God if you are wicked; now repent!

Believe His Son, the Savior whom He sent.

10-8-15 Name Above All

² For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

³ He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53:2-5 KJV

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No good can come from Nazareth, they said,

The lowly son of Joseph, carpenter.

He had no place to lay his weary head,

A man of sorrows, none we would prefer.

Despised and unesteemed, our grief he bore;

We hid our face from him and still we do.

He took the wrath of God as none before,

Was wounded for our sins, his blood soaked through.

Afflicted, bruised and beaten, he was hung

Upon a rugged cross between two thieves.

He died there with our names upon his tongue

And lives within all those who still believes.

His name will resonate forever more;

If you but think of Him, your heart will soar.

9-25-15 The Perfect Example

²¹ For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

²² Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:

²³ Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:

²⁴ Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

²⁵ For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

1 Peter 2:21-25 KJV

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There is no greater love than Christ has shown,

The perfect model for a perfect life,

Who chose to leave His bright celestial throne

To come and save His sheep through pain and strife.

He had no sin Himself but came for ours,

Enduring all the wrath of God and man,

Who could have freed Himself with awesome powers

But chose to bring salvation as His plan,

And all the torment that our Lord endured,

Reviled, threatened, beaten, crucified,

He did for you so you could be secured.

He loved you so He suffered, bled and died.

O friend, I know He thought of you that day

As He was hanging on the cross that way!

7-6-15 On Obedience

⁵¹ And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear.

⁵² Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

⁵³ Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

Matthew 26:51-53 KJV

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The sacrificial Lamb, obedient,

Stood ready to be given up for you,

Could call for legioned angels to be sent

To save Him from the death that would ensue.

But no, this was not time to wield a sword;

The days of ‘eye for eye’ had passed away.

Christ came to yield His life, our sovereign Lord;

The pure unspotted Lamb would have His day.

The sins of all the world would soon be borne

Upon the shoulders of the Lamb of God,

Then beaten, bloody, His whole body torn

Was bound for victory with love to laud.

The sword was put away as so much dross

And in its stead was glory on the cross.

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sonnet #407

5-16-15 Unspeakable

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

2 Corinthians 9:15 KJV

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Of all the gifts that God so freely gives,

There’s none to match the one on Calvary.

The sacrifice of Christ our heart relives,

And breaks it every time, too much to see.

He willingly went forth with you in mind;

His body torn and beaten horribly.

A crown of thorns upon His head was twined;

He bore it all for you so humbly.

Then, O, upon the cross they hung our Lord

Upon the cross that’s meant for you and me!

He took our sins upon His own accord

And suffered there – my Lord! – unspeakably.

God sacrificed His Son upon the cross,

A gift so great my tongue is at a loss.

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sonnet #362

2-25-14 Father, Forgive Them

When Jesus had been beaten, scorned and mocked

Then hung upon the cruel and rugged cross,

He saw the crowd and soldiers as they flocked,

Those naive to this implicated loss.

Some did not know the evil they performed

To crucify the perfect Lamb of God;

So ignorant the prophesies performed,

They did what they were told with just a nod,

And even on the cross compassion swelled

Within the Savior’s faintly beating heart;

He called His Father where in Heaven dwelled:

Forgive them, they are unaware their part.

Such love that Jesus had unto the end

To intercede as our eternal Friend.

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Then said Jesus,

Father,

forgive them;

for they know not what they do.

And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

Luke 23:34 KJV