Truth For The Heart
“So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified. “They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in […]
Read MoreO sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down, Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, Thine only crown; O sacred Head, what glory, what bliss till now was Thine! Yet, though despised and gory, I joy to call Thee mine. What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered, was all for sinners’ gain; Mine, mine was […]
Read More– For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9 – The lyrics of “Thou Who Wast Rich Beyond All Splendour” were written in China by Frank Houghton, an Englishman. […]
Read MoreGod rest ye merry, gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay, Remember Christ our Saviour Was born on Christmas day, To save us all from Satan’s power When we were gone astray: O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, O tidings of comfort and joy! The angel to Zacharias: And an angel of the Lord […]
Read More“Joy to the World” is one of my favorite Christmas carols. The words are based on Psalm 98, and it is one of the more than 600 hymns written by Isaac Watts (1674-1748).1 Watts wrote the hymn not about the First Advent of Christ, however, but about His Second. “Joy to the World” was in […]
Read MoreI first heard Mary, Did You Know? sung by a small ensemble at the water’s edge of a town harbor during an outdoor Christmas celebration over ten years ago. The lyrics and music throughout the song call you to meet and to know the Lord Jesus. The song’s bridge contains the words that caught me then and […]
Read More“I Wonder As I Wander” is an American Christmas carol with words and melody by John Jacob Niles. He based it on a few snatches of song he heard on July 16, 1933, in the small Appalachian town of Murphy, North Carolina: “A girl had stepped out to the edge of the little platform attached […]
Read MoreThe libretto of Messiah is taken from numerous books of the Bible: Job, Psalms, Isaiah, Lamentations, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Matthew, Luke, John, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, Hebrews and Revelation. If you’re not familiar with the passages selected by Jennens, you can read them at the above link. The first five verses of Isaiah […]
Read MoreMany people know that Handel wrote the music for Messiah. But what about, Charles Jennens, the man who chose the Bible passages for its libretto? Messiah was born of a personal tragedy. In his 2010 commencement address, For the Mouth of the Lord Hath Spoken It, Dr. Al Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, […]
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Kindling for Candles 