Tag: frailty

Made for Glory

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July 29, 2023

6:30 am

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Music for Worship, Worship Song

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Misty Mountains

Life is filled with many perplexing realities. It seems all too brief. It is tainted by sin. It is marred with suffering. Along with joy, there is sorrow. Contentment is ever being challenged with longing.

We know that God is good and always does good. He created both time and space as a canvas to display His glory.  He made the heavens and the earth and declared them to be “very good” (Genesis 1:31). He crafted the world with beauty and wonder. 

Yet, as we look at the world around us, we see trials and troubles. We experience sorrow and pain. We know that God is not the author of sin, but why would He allow sin and suffering to enter His “very good” creation? How could the presence of evil (and its final defeat) possibly bring about, in God’s design and purpose, the fullness of His glory and our greatest good? 

This hymn wrestles with such questions and points toward a vital truth. This world is not all there is. This life is fleeting. We were made for much more. We were made for glory.

Listen and download a recording of “Made for Glory” from Bandcamp:

Made for Glory

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes;
there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.
There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” 
(Revelation 21:4).

We journey through this life
As pilgrims here on earth;
Some live for years, some weeks or days,
Some never see their birth.
But when our journey ends,
Our moments, days, or years
Will all seem like a vapor when
God wipes away our tears.

How short the time we have,
How briefly we exist.
Compared to all eternity,
This life’s a fleeting mist.
For glory we were made
An everlasting soul,
Not just the time this life affords
With bodies that grow old.

Why is our time so short
And stained with sin and strife?
How could a loving God allow
Such suff’ring in this life?
In kindness God keeps short
Our sorrows in this place,
Yet through our pain and suffering
We come to know His grace

As time moves quickly on,
We must not waste a day,
But bring our broken, sinful lives
To Christ without delay.
In Him each day find rest,
Refreshment for the soul.
For through His suff’ring we are healed,
Forgiven, and made whole.

Though heartaches overwhelm
And fill our souls with grief,
Remember we are sojourners,
Our journey will be brief.
In glory one day soon
We will look back and say:
Our faithful God has brought us home,
Our tears He’s wiped away

Yes, one day we will be
In glory and can say:
Our faithful God, He’s brought us home,
Our tears He’s wiped away.

Words ©2022 Kenneth A Puls
Music: Public Domain

Download the lyrics and free sheet music for this song.

More Hymns and Songs by Ken Puls

The Theology of Time

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January 1, 2021

12:05 pm

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Bible Study

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Mechanical Clock

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

Today marks a new beginning—New Year’s Day. All around the world people are bringing in the New Year with hopes and prayers—celebrations and resolutions. The day is a significant and yearly milestone that allows us the opportunity to stop, look back, and reassess where we have been, as well as look forward and anticipate what lies ahead. It is a special day on the calendar that closes one chapter and opens the next.

But why do we observe such days? Why do we pay so much attention to the passing of time: days and months and years—anniversaries and birthdays—celebrations and holidays? 

Our lives are driven by time. We are ever chasing after time, running out of time, and filling up time.  Our days are mapped out with schedules, appointments, and deadlines. But how should we, as followers of Christ, concern ourselves with time? Does God’s Word have anything to say about how we spend our days and months and years?

God, as we shall see, has much to say about time. 

God Himself is concerned with time. He created it and ordained it for His purposes. He appoints time and works in time, for His own glory and for our good. And He is intent that we pay attention to time and use it wisely in ways that honor Him and serve His Kingdom.

Ecclesiastes 3 begins: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

In God’s design, everything in His creation, every matter under heaven—all things existing under His rule and authority—has been given a time. And that includes us. We are here for a purpose—living in this place, at this time, here in this day.

So why did God create time? What purpose does it serve in His creation? How does it do us good and bring Him glory? 

In this study I want to look briefly at how time serves both God and man in God’s creation.

God created time for our good and for His own glory.

I have three main points—three ways in which time serves God to make Him known, and serves us, to help us know God in His attributes and works.

I. Time displays the sovereignty of God and the subjection of man.

II. Time displays the eternality of God and the frailty of man.

III. Time displays the mercy of God and the need of man.

Continue reading this Bible Study

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Behold Your God, Believe His Word!

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December 14, 2017

6:22 am

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Sermons

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Isaiah 40 Bible

A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
And all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades
When the breath of the LORD blows on it;
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God will stand forever.
(Isaiah 40:6–8)

Isaiah reminds us that God always is faithful to His Word.

Our experiences in this life are temporary—including both joys and trials; but God’s Word endures forever. We are like the grass that withers and the flower that fades—but God and His Word are not. Darkness and difficulties may come, or prosperity and ease—but regardless of circumstances, regardless of how well or how badly things appear to be going, God will always accomplish all He has purposed. His Word is true and faithful. For Judah, devastation and exile are looming, BUT there is hope, there is comfort, there is a SAVIOR. Christ will come, because “the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.”

Read more from this sermon on Isaiah 40 entitled “Behold Our God, Believe His Word”

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Fragile Jars of Clay

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September 26, 2016

6:24 am

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Hymn, Music for Worship

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Treasure in Jars of Clay

This past week I enjoyed attending and leading the music at the Southern Baptist Founders Conference Southwest at Heritage Baptist Church in Mansfield, Texas. While at the conference I had the opportunity to finish writing a hymn. The idea for the hymn came earlier this year in a sermon series through the book of 2 Corinthians entitled “Gospel Power in Human Weakness” preached by Dr. Tom Ascol at Grace Baptist Church, Cape Coral, Florida.

As the church we are called to go and proclaim to the world the hope we have in Jesus. But we live in a world of darkness, blind and in bondage to sin. We face powerful foes and seemingly overwhelming odds against us. How can we press on in ministry and mission?

Paul offers encouragement and an answer to that question:

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus ‘sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us (2 Corinthians 4:5-7).

Though we are weak and frail—fragile jars of clay, God has placed in us the treasure of the gospel that He might display His sovereign, “surpassing power” to save.

Fragile Jars of Clay

1. A mission lies before us
To go and to proclaim
The hope we have in Jesus,
The glory of His name
The faint and weak He’s chosen
His power to display
By placing gospel treasure
In fragile jars of clay.

2. With such a task before us,
How can we stand and fight
Against the powers of evil
That rage at all that’s right?
God strengthens us with armor;
Calls us to wield His Word.
We boldly preach His gospel;
The outcome is assured.

3. So great the work before us
To shine the gospel light
Into a world in darkness,
Unto the dead of night.
But God has saving power
To give the blind their sight,
For He dispels the darkness
And says, “Let there be light!”

4. The labor hard before us,
The battle rages long.
Alone we cannot bear it;
Our foes are much too strong.
But God has chosen weakness,
The feeble and the frail.
He lifts us up in power
To conquer and prevail.

5. This mission now before us,
We gladly will obey,
Though we be unassuming,
Frail, fragile jars of clay.
For great the precious treasure
Our God has placed within,
His pow’r alone can save us,
The battle He must win.

Words ©2016 Ken Puls
Download a lyric sheet and free sheet music for this hymn, including an arrangement of the tune LLANGLOFFAN for classical guitar.