The Apostle Paul Considered Himself a Faithful Jew

Speaking of his people to the Roman Governor Felix he said, "But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets...."
Here

Jesus of the Scars

“Jesus of the Scars” by Edward Shillito

 If we have never sought, we seek Thee now;
Thine eyes burn through the dark, our only stars;
We must have sight of thorn-pricks on Thy brow,
We must have Thee, O Jesus of the Scars.  

 The heavens frighten us; they are too calm;
In all the universe we have no place.
Our wounds are hurting us; where is the balm?
Lord Jesus, by Thy Scars, we claim Thy grace.

If, when the doors are shut, Thou drawest near,
Only reveal those hands, that side of Thine;
We know to-day what wounds are, have no fear,
Show us Thy Scars, we know the countersign.

The other gods were strong; but Thou wast weak;
They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;
But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak,
And not a god has wounds, but Thou alone.

 

Why sleepless?

 I'll rise at midnight... (Psalm 119:62)

Not to stew and fret that I'm not getting eight hours of sleep. No to thank and praise the LORD.

Go ahead and sing about it (used any common meter CM tune like Amazing Grace etc.):

Psalm 119

 61 The wicked wrapped me 'round with cords; your law I did not slight.

62 I'll rise at midnight, thanking you for all your judgments right.

63 I'm with those who your precepts keep and all those fearing you.
64 Your mercy fills the earth, O LORD; teach me your laws to do.

Should we sing the And or the Or ?

This was sung recently and I was moved by it. But I kept hearing:

"Than to be the king of a vast domain
OR be held in sin's dread sway."

And I was think to be a king is not sinful or opposed to Jesus the King of kings. Shouldn't it be AND?
I looked it up in 10 hymnals and one and only one had AND. And I am happy, I was not the only person to find the OR a problem.

.......

1 I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
   I'd rather be His than have riches untold;
   I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands.
   I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hand

[Refrain:]

Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin's dread sway.
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.

2 I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause;
   I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause;
   I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame.
   I'd rather be true to His holy name

[Refrain]

3 He's fairer than lilies of rarest bloom;
   He's sweeter than honey from out the comb;
   He's all that my hungering spirit needs.
   I'd rather have Jesus and let Him lead

[Refrain]

John Piper on Sin

"...there are no truly good works in those who are not yet justified. They don’t exist, and have never existed since the fall. The question for the unbeliever is not, Can you do enough good works to outweigh your bad works? The question is, can you do one good work and contribute that as part of the basis of your acceptance with God? And the answer is no. “No one does good. Not even one” (Romans 3:12)."

Mr. Trump, deal with Abortion in the UN

"...Trump has yet to put a dent in the UN bureaucracy’s work to promote abortion....

If Republican administrations were nearly as tough and consistent on abortion as they are on the Palestinian question, abortion would have been kicked out of UN policy long ago."

Snipped from:

https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2019/01/48360/

first amendment -- Ronald Reagan

The meaning has not changed in the last thirty years or two hundred. for the press or religious values.

“To those who cite the First Amendment as reason for excluding God from more and more of our institutions and every-day life, may I just say: The First Amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values; it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny.” — Ronald Reagan, March 15, 1982, in an address to the Alabama State Legislature