Theology matters. Truth matters. Understanding what God has so graciously Revealed about Himself is by far, the utmost honor. We believe in a God who may be approached personally, by His grace and through personal trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. This sense of nearness ought to grow as we study the Scriptures with passion. Pastors, we must always stress to our people that theology matters. Last night God used me to explain to our people that if left alone they are all Jesus hating sons of Satan, totally depraved perverts and snakes who embody the very the word "hypocrite". Every one of us. From that point we proceeded to explain the plan of Salvation...that when we describe Jesus as "Savior", "Deliverer" and "Redeemer" that we REALLY mean it. Those words are very accurate descriptions. Keep in mind...I'm preaching to unchurched people who are either unconverted (until, by grace alone, last night!!!) or newborns in the faith.

But after we taught and preached on the doctrine of Total Depravity and then Perseverance of the Saints (and the other three Reformed doctrines commonly associated less directly), we were all overwhelmed by the presence of Holiness and Power which filled that room. The eyes of two opened and were saved, right there in our midst! People were rejoicing all over the place as we sang about Salvation! I didn't work out with Loire before hand what to sing...the Lord put those songs together. And the richness of phrases like "there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood LOOSE ALL THEIR GUILTY STAINS!" suddenly penetrated and people got it! What a time!

This is a song we are going to be learning in the next few weeks. It's a nice song, but it is my prayer that our people understand what we mean by "Holy" when speaking of Jesus. "Heaven's Mercy Seat", "Who was and is and is to come" and "King of Kings" are all DEEP concepts and once understood will certainly create and incredible experience of worship with this emotionally charged song. But the song is just a cool song unless we take time, real time...and passion...to explain the implications...then watch out! This is my new favorite song right now and I can't wait for our church to better grasp the doctrine first, then learn the beat!