“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

Anne Lamott writes, “Not only is everyone screwed up, but everyone screws up.”

Yup. That pretty much sums it up.

The reason why compassion, understanding, and forgiveness is a necessity is because we’re all screw ups. Not only that, the forecast for screwing up doesn’t have an end date. Everyone of us is going to keep screwing up.

Gee.

So, God tells us, “You guys want to do this church thing? You want to do this Christianity thing? You won’t make it without forgiveness. You will need to be forgiven, and you will need to keep forgiving.”

That we will mess things up is not a matter of if mess ups happen but a matter of when. It’s bound to happen. And without forgiveness and compassion, we have no hope of community.

That’s why God makes forgiveness a non-negotiable item for Christians. And there can’t be an end to forgiveness. It is to be an everlasting well of forgiveness. Jesus tells us, “Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them'” (Luke 17:4).

We’re all screw ups and that’s why we all need forgiveness.

“Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples” (Psalm 117:1).

Have you ever wondered why Christians sing? Why is singing a part of every worship service? What is it that we are doing when we sing hymns or praise songs during worship?

It’s not to set the mood.
It’s to get in the mood.
In fact, it has very little to do with us at all.

John Piper says, “Singing to God isn’t just a nice emotional trip to spice up a wonderful worship service. It is an attack against Satan!”

I love that.

You see, the reason why John Piper says that is found in two Old Testament passages that tells us about who Satan was before his fall. Did you know that Satan once was an angel in God’s court?

Isaiah 14:12-15: How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the Mount of Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to the realms of the dead, to the depths of the pit.

Satan became jealous of the praise God was receiving. Satan wanted to be like God. He wanted the same praises. In fact he wanted to be higher than God.

Ezekiel 28:17: Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings…All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.

Because of Satan’s jealousy of the praises of God, Satan was thrown out of heaven.

Do you know why we sing praise songs and hymns in worship? We sing praises because God is worthy of our praise, and because it is a great weapon we have against Satan.

So, the next time you sing at church, sing your heart out. Let God know how awesome he is, and know that that torments the devil more than anything else on earth.

Love it! Sing out loud! Let God know how awesome he is!

“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near” (Revelation 1:3).

A friend went flying in a single engine plane over the Puget Sound on a beautiful summer day. While flying around the sites, the pilot was explaining to him what the different instrument panels were saying, what the different controls did to the plane, and why the pilot was manipulating the engine speed and the controls during the flight.

While the pilot was explaining all this, all my friend heard was, “Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah,” as he looked out the window at the amazing views.

Then, the pilot said to my friend, “You’ve heard all the explanation. You take the control!”

Whoa! Time out!!! WHAT???

At which time, my friend told the pilot he would love to try flying the plane for a moment, but the pilot would have to go through all the explanations one more time because when the pilot went through the instructions the first time, he did not realize that his life would depend on it!

I tell you that story because I wonder when the last time you read the Bible as if your life depended on it. No, not just your life, but your eternity and the eternal destinies of everyone around you!

That’s why God tells us, “Blessed in the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it.”