GOD'S HANDIWORK

Snippet

The worker must work for the glory of his handiwork, not simply for pay; the thinker must think for truth, not for fame.” — W.E.B. Du Bois

Scripture

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters Colossians 3:23 NIV

Song

Help Me Find It Sidewalk Prophets

http://youtu.be/CsjZ94K7UQs

I don’t know where to go from here

It all used to seem so clear

I’m finding I can’t do this on my own

I don’t know where to go from here

As long as I know that You are near

I’m done fighting

I’m finally letting go

I will trust in You

You’ve never failed before

I will trust in You

[Chorus:]

If there’s a road I should walk

Help me find it

If I need to be still

Give me peace for the moment

Whatever Your will

Whatever Your will

Can you help me find it

Can you help me find it

I’m giving You fear and You give faith

I giving you doubt

You give me grace

For every step I’ve never been alone

Even when it hurts, You’ll have Your way

Even in the valley I will say

With every breath

You’ve never let me go

I will wait for You

You’ve never failed before

I will wait for You

[Chorus]

I lift my empty hands (come fill me up again)

Have Your way my King (I give my all to You)

I lift my eyes again (Was blind but now I see)

‘Cause You are all I need

[Chorus]

Sentence Prayer

Father, I abandon myself into your hands, do with me what you will.  For whatever you may do, I thank you. I am ready for all, I accept all, let only your will be done in me, as in all your creature.”  Charles De Foucauld

EULOGY

Snippet

Some people hate funerals. I find them comforting. They hit the pause button on life and remind us that it has an end. Every eulogy reminds me to deepen my dash, that place on the tombstone between our birth and our death. Regina Brett

Scripture

A good name is better than fine perfume,

    and the day of death better than the day of birth.

 It is better to go to a house of mourning

    than to go to a house of feasting,

for death is the destiny of everyone;

    the living should take this to heart.

 Frustration is better than laughter,

    because a sad face is good for the heart.  Ecclesiastes 7:1-3

Song

                  Beautiful Eulogy -                 Beautiful Eulogy

http://youtu.be/eGbfJb3qbSg

There used to be a time when we were fine living life with

no particular religious bend. Pretending to be our own Gods

inventing our own system of belief so as to not depend on

anything other than our own self governing consent. Defending

an impending doom with no perceived need to concede

or repent. Presuming our innocence in a sense dissent. The

sting of death was only the inevitable end of everything

we could never rightly understand or comprehend. We used

to fear the unknown until God made himself known and atoned

mending the relationship between God and men. Giving his

life as a ransom for many when he died and ascended and in

that one event the certainty of eternal death was circumvented.

Making a way for the day when history stops and

time suspends. Spending eternity in fellowship that never

ends. We see the greatest expression of God's love extended

in the moment when those who were once enemies instead became

God's friends.

Chorus:

And when it is my time to go, go ahead and take me home

I know I'll be with You, I know I'll be with You

When it is my time to go, go ahead and take me home

Nowhere that I'd rather go

I wanna be with You

Verse 2:

How sweet the Gospel sounds to ears like mine. Well acquainted

with pain and strained relationships. Friendships

that suffer from long distances, or even worse they get

severed from something more severe. And He still hasn't

wiped away all my tears yet. My cheeks get wet every now

and then. Even when I give my best, I know I fall short.

I get scared when the balls in my court. Focussed on, my

performance, wretched and poor. It makes the message more

real when I preach it. I'm not there yet so I'm reaching,

reaching for a goal, to stand before my King and be speechless.

Then, never again, will I question if his grace is

sufficient to cover my sin. Cause death is gone, and all

the effects of, evil and wrong will be conquered when His

kingdom comes. So this is my hope and my prayer. The air

that I'll breath in eternity with lungs that never fail

me. If it pleases my Lord, and only by Your grace, use my

life till it's poured out for Your sake. Until then I'll

remain where You have me, with joy when I feel unhappy. And

a peace that surpasses all my understanding, my life is in

the hands of Your love everlasting.

Sentence Prayer

Father, thank you for Eulogies that reminds us it is appointed for each man to die and face the judgement.  Praise be to you who in 

Jesus made a way to be both Just and a Justifier in Christ.

Jesus, thank you for you death and resurrection that becomes a promise to all of faith.  Jesus, praise to the Lamp of God the sinless perfect sacrifice.

Holy Spirit, thank you for your patient crucifixion of our flesh, to resurrect the image of Jesus her on earth.  Holy Spirit, praise to the fire of God that has chosen to purify me, to be his temple.  Amen  R.M.

SHAKE

Snippet

Can my creed be recognized by my deed?

Scripture

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. Ephesians 5:1,2 MESS

Song

Mercy Me Shake

http://youtu.be/YJFA5Bitv7w

I just can't believe

Where my life was at

All that I know is that my heart was broken

And I don't ever wanna go back

Ain't no explanation

How I saw the light

He found me and set me free

And it brought me back to life

Blame it on the transformation

Changed down to the core

His love is real

And I can't sit still

Cause my name's not shamed no more

Great God Almighty, gonna change this

Great God Almighty, He gonna change me

You gotta shake, shake, shake

Like you're changed, changed, changed

Brand new looks so good on you

So shake like you've been changed

Come on and shake, shake, shake like you changed

Shake, shake, shake like you changed

Maybe He came to you

When everything seemed fine

Or maybe your world was upside down and hit you right between

the eyes

No matter when it happened

At 7 or 95

Move your feet 'cause you are free

And you've never been more alive

You gotta shake, shake, shake

Like you're changed, changed, changed

Brand new looks so good on you

So shake like you've been changed

Come on and shake, shake, shake

Like you're changed, changed, changed

Brand new looks so good on you

So shake like you've been changed

Come on and shake, shake, shake like you changed

Shake, shake, shake like you changed

Shake, shake

Great God Almighty, gonna change me

Great God Almighty, He gonna change me

Great God Almighty, gonna change me

Great God Almighty, He gonna change me

No matter when it happened

At 7 or 95

Move your feet, 'cause you are free

And you've never been more alive

You gotta shake, shake, shake

Like you're changed, changed, changed

Brand new looks so good on you

So shake like you've been changed

You gotta shake, shake, shake

Like you're changed, changed, changed

Brand new looks so good on you

So shake like you've been changed

Come on and shake, shake, shake

Like you're changed, changed, changed

Brand new looks so good on you

So shake like you've been changed

Come on and shake, shake, shake like you changed

Shake, shake, shake like you changed

Shake, shake

Great God Almighty, gonna change me

Great God Almighty, He gonna change me

Sentence Prayer

Holy Spirit

Shake off my complacency

Make me ready for the new your about to do

Take yesterday’s Sins away

Resurrect me into the image of God’s love.

Amen and Amen!

A.dore God for the plan of our transformation

C.onfess the places of sin you have camped out in

T.hank God for the mustard seeds of change you are                 able to see

S. upplication pray for those you know who have no                  yet tasted God’s love!

BREAD

Snippet

“The idolatry the exists in a man's heart always wants to lead him away from his Savior and back to self-reliance no matter how pitiful that self-reliance is or how many times it has betrayed him.” ― Matt Chandler, The Explicit Gospel

Scripture

So that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  Deuteronomy 8:3 HCSB

Song

Grace Under Fire

By Layton Howerton

http://youtu.be/MhokL7f_0dQ

There was a soldier, a mighty prayer warrior

Who went into battle on his face first

He was up against a wall down in Jericho

When the Lord appeared and said

My instructions follow

You've got to have ...

Grace under fire, grace under fire

If you're gonna be of any use

When all hell breaks loose

You've got to have ...

Grace under fire

There was a man nailed to a tree

Willingly for you and me

There were people standing by, who started to cry

He saved others

Let him save himself, let him try

He had ...

Grace under fire, grace under fire

If you're gonna be any of any use

When your neck's in the noose

You've got to have ...

Grace under fire

There was a church, that would not surrender

For they were wise, to the great pre-tender

They did not sleep, nor did they slumber

For they had received a victorious power

To have ...

Grace under fire, grace under fire

If you're gonna be any of any use

When you're under abuse

You've got to have ...

Grace under fire, grace under fire

If you're gonna be any of any use

If you want to see the chains break loose

You've got to have ...

Grace under fire

Sentence Prayer

O Lord, Help Me!  Weak and Anxious as I am.  I Am, like the impure woman.  If I could touch the hem of your robe.  I would be made well. Strengthen me in my weakness, just as you strengthened your servant who was just as fearful, saying Let me and my grace be enough for you.  Amen

(Amish Prayers Beverly Lewis Bethany House Bloomington MN 2011 Pg 89)

BE ENCOURAGED!

Snippet

For those who feel that their lives are a grave disappointment to God, it requires enormous trust and reckless, raging confidence to accept the love of Christ, which knows no shadow or alteration or change.  When Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavey burdened,"  he assumed we would grow weary, discouraged, and disheartened along the way.  These words are a touching testimony to the genuine humanness of Jesus.  He had no romantic notion of the cost of discipleship.  He knew that physical pain, the loss of loved ones, failure, loneliness, rejection, abandonment, and betrayal would sap our spirits, that the day would come when faith would no longer offer any assurance, and drive or comfort, that prayer would lack any sense of reality or progress, that one day we would echo the cry of Teresa of Avila, "Lord,  if this is the way you treat your friends, it is no wonder you have so few."   (Reflections for Ragamuffins Brennan Manning Pg. 63

Scripture

May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. 2 Thessalonians 3:5

Song

Love the Lord Lincoln Brewster

http://youtu.be/U8mr839-TVs

Love the Lord Your God with all your heart

With all your soul

With all your mind and with all your strength

Love the Lord Your God with all your heart

With all your soul

With all your mind and with all your strength

With all your heart with all your soul

With all your mind with all your strength

Love the Lord Your God with all your heart

With all your soul

With all your mind and with all your strength

I will serve You Lord with all my heart with all my soul

With all my mind and with all my strength

I will serve You Lord with all my heart with all my soul

With all my mind and with all my strength

With all my heart with all my soul

With all my mind with all my strength

I will serve You Lord with all my heart with all my soul

With all my mind and with all my strength

I will love You

I will praise You

I will serve You

I will trust You

With all my heart with all my soul

With all my mind with all my strength

With all my heart with all my soul

With all my mind with all my strength

I will love You Lord with all my heart with all my soul

With all my mind and with all my strength

Sentence Prayer

John Wesley’s Prayer

I am no longer my own but yours,

Put me to what you will

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal

And now glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

You are mine and I am yours. So be it.

And this covenant now made on earth, let it be satisfied in heaven.

Amen

STILLNESS

Snippet

You have to let the place happen to you. . . the loneliness, the silence,  the poverty, the futility, indeed the silliness of your life. Dakota Kathleen Norris  Pg 218

Scripture

Immediately the Spirit *impelled Him to go out into the wilderness. 13 And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him. Mark 1:12,13 NASB

Song

Heaven is Waiting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbf5DH0HYb0

I don't need no woman to kiss me.

And I don't need no man to stand by my side.

I don't need to slake my thirst with whiskey.

Don't need to shuffle cards to pass the time.

'Cause the stars are bright and silvery.

And with the dry ache of a lone coyote's whine,

My Savior's calling, and I'm listening.

Time to saddle up my pony and ride.

'Cause heaven is waiting

Just past the horizon.

Just over the mesas.

Across the great divide.

And faith is blazing

This trail that I ride on up this mountain

I'm prayin' I have the strength to climb

I ain't looking for no seven golden cities,

But I know there's a fortune somewhere to find.

There's a peace that I hear whisperin' through the pinyons

And a love that's taller than the ponderosa pines.

And heaven is waiting

Just past the horizon.

Just over the mesas.

Across the great divide.

And faith is blazing

This trail that I ride on up this mountain

I'm prayin' I have the strength to climb

So don't ask for no lengthy explanation

When there ain't no reason quite wild enough.

No words could be as tender.

It's greater than the fears that we imagine.

More than the warmth that we remember.

It's always just beyond the pass

And I must go

'Cause heaven is waiting

Just past the horizon.

Just over the mesas.

Across the great divide.

And faith is blazing

This trail that I ride on up this mountain

I'm prayin' I have the strength to climb

Oh, heaven is waiting

Oh, heaven is waiting

Heaven is waiting

Sentence Prayer

Be Still and Know I am God Amen

POOR & POWERLESS

Snippet

At a certain point, I just felt, you know, God is not looking for alms, God is looking for action.” ― Bono

Scripture

Now will I arise, says the Lord, because the poor are oppressed, because of the groans of the needy; I will set him in safety and in the salvation for which he pants. Psalms 12:5 AMP

Song

All the Poor and Powerless by All Sons and Daughters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6fheuBf0Pk

All the poor and powerless

All the lost and lonely

All the thieves will come confess

And know that you are holy

And know that you are holy

And all will sing out hallelujah

And we will cry out hallelujah

And all will sing out hellelujah

And we will cry out hallelujah

All the hearts who are content

And all who feel unworthy

All that hurt with nothing left

Will know that you are holy

Will know that you are holy

And all will sing out hallelujah

And we

will cry out hallelujah

And all will sing out hallelujah

And we will cry out hallelujah

Shout it

Go on and scream it from the mountains

Go on and tell it to the masses

That He is God

And we will sing out hallelujah

And we will cry out hallelujah

And we will sing out hallelujah

Sentence Prayer

Father;

Make us worthy; to serve our fellow men throughout the world.

Who live and die in poverty and hunger.

Give them through our hands, this day,  their daily bread

And by our understanding love give peace and joy.

Amen  

(Dawn to Dark R.Douglas Jones The House Studio Kansas City Kansas 2012 pg 107)