Season 8, Episode 6, The World and God

Poetry of Christian Faith

76-8-6, SHOW NOTES & COPYRIGHTS, (Scheduled 9/29/2022)

Today we are going to read poems about and discuss man’s rebellion against God; what it has done and what we can do about it.

BROKEN HEARTED (God’s Rhyme, pg. 141)

A chosen people led to a land promised by God,

And in another land God chosen by the people.

I. The Promised Land

After the fall of man sin prevailed.

There were times when sin was hailed.

Amid that sin in which the world regaled

Lived a people, God's chosen ones.

Throughout their history in Old Testament times,

Through prosperity and captivity, perils and dangers,

Whether living a promise or amidst strangers,

They were at times distracted from looking toward the manger.

Though they had the Law,

All around they saw

The perversions of idols

As their faith became idle.

If they could only have seen

God at the end of the prophesies.

Knowing what it would mean,

Would they have forsaken idolatry?

the rebellion

the forgiveness

again and again

and over again

God's chosen people since the time in the Garden

Sinned and mocked their Father Creator,

Then the sacrifice of a spotless lamb of wool

To forgive the sins of their hearts so full.

year after year

tear after tear

a new sacrifice

for the after life

After so many years and so many tears

The ultimate sacrifice had to be made,

Sorrow upon sorrow

Left no time to borrow.

Discussion:

II. God As Man

So . . .

God, through Jesus, by human birth became man,

To become one of His own creation,

To live in this world as one of us

So He could complete His saving plan.

Jesus, one with God, humbled Himself,

The ultimate and eternal sacrifice,

To pay the price, not by earthly deeds or self,

But by His precious shed blood.

Not a sacrifice to be repeated year after year,

Jesus died for sins from the time of the Garden,

Now and until the end of days

So we may stand before God without fear.

Discussion:

III, The Days Anew

Then as an hour in a day

Of a thousand years,

A people persecuted for their faith

Left where they could no longer stay.

Their ocean voyage a second journey to the promised land.

Believing they were fulfilling what God had planned;

As Israel became the first Jerusalem,

America was to become as a new Jerusalem. *

God prevailed

a people thrived

the land was hailed

for those deprived

now able to worship

to pray to God

without the kingship

commands of man

but the world interrupted

and lives were corrupted

idols revered

God not feared

As in ages before. though a revival or two

Man still ate from the tree of strife..

They were so many more than a few

Never, not ever, foreseeing their life.

Discussion:

IV, Yesterday And Today

The chosen ones, worshiping false gods,

Sacrificed their children on altars of sin;

Hundreds, thousands, breathing now dead.

Hoping ... , forgetting ... , denying God.

Now today, a people who chose God

Are taking their children, those unborn,

And, though not understanding the sacrifice,

Are killing their children at the altar of Satan.

There are those today who believe we are falling

Again - failing and flailing as we turn,

Not just our backs, but our hearts, from God;

As those before us, so do we burn.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow

Worshiping all but what is right,

Seeking, then reeking, lying in sin,

Rebelling openly and eagerly in His sight.

For seventy years in Old Testament times

Jerusalem besieged, taken captive by Babylon.

Today, the new Jerusalem can look to the future

To destruction by the rise of the new Babylon.

Discussion:

V. The Broken Hearted

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

The weight of the sins of the world, past present, and yet to come,

How unbearable that must have been

Accepting the just punishment for our sin!

And does God cry,

"My children, my children, why have you forsaken me?"

I have loved you, I have always loved you, even in your rebellion,

Even in your sinful nature I have sacrificed

A part of Myself to cleanse you of your sins.

How does one heal the heart of God?

We who believe must show others,

our sisters, our brothers,

the love of God, the saving grace of Jesus

so that in finding everlasting life

before the end of their earthly existence

they will see His face.

(* Not the "new Jerusalem" of Revelation, but like the Jerusalem of Israel in a new land where the people would live by Godly principles. (read "The Mystery of The Shemitah" by Jonathan Cahn.)

12/30/14 tcarter

Reflection:

Everything I had written and was feeling on this day is here. What do we do to God! What do I do to God!!

Discussion:

I have thought about using this poem since we started this podcast. When I prayed for God to lead me to today’s poems, this was the first one I was led to. I just have to read the news to know that we Christians must be aware of man’s past and God’s future plan. Never forget, He is in control.

AFTER READING HABAKKUK (God Still Rhymes, pg. 90)

God will punish those who oppose him,

Those who worship false idols as gods,

Gods of wood, silver and gold,

Those who oppress his holy people.

But at the same time the people of God

Will also suffer at the hands of their oppressors,

Those who do not believe that he is

The God of Heaven above, the earth

And the universe around us,

The God who breathed life into the first man Adam.

It is by his breath we find our strength

Through his Holy Spirit.

Because we live among unbelievers

We will suffer their hate for us

And their hate for God Almighty.

Through this suffering we pray

And through our prayer we come closer to God.

He hears our petitions, our fears.

He knows our weaknesses.

Becoming closer to God, by seeking him out,

We know his will for us and can stand firm

In strength, his love for us.

Knowing that in the end

When the battle no longer rages

We will be with him for eternity,

Not in the burning flames of Hell.

Though living in an adulterous world,

A world that forsakes the one

Whose image we were made in,

We do not reflect the failings of man.

We will grow in strength,

We will grow in faith,

We will grow in love.

We will not be the destruction of this world.

We will live to see the face of God

And forever be with him

Because he is our God,

The one and only God of the universe.

You may fight God, you may run from God,

But that path will lead you astray,

Lead you to where you may forever stay.

While there is time seek God, his ways are true.

Reflection on After Reading Habakkuk

Over a week or so I read the book of Habakkuk in the Old Testament. I wanted to reread the Minor Prophets since I knew so little about them. After my first reread I knew that I wanted to write about this book. It seemed like something that continuously happened throughout history. God’s chosen people defeated and suffering at the hands of worshipers of pagan idols. And there is Habakkuk asking God why evil prospered. Then God’s explanation and Habakkuk’s final prayer. Today we need to pray for God’s strength as we face a world that wants to marginalize Christians and God. Though it may seem that evil prospers, our prosperity for eternity has been secured by our faith in Jesus, his death on the cross as payment for our sins, all by the grace of God.

This may not be very poetic. After my second reading of Habakkuk, I tried to get up from my desk, but couldn’t. I knew why. So I wrote down the words that were given to me. That was all that mattered. Yes, I have tried to put the words into poetic form.

Discussion:

The next poem is one of the phone notes app poems I posted on Facebook. Hopefully it will help us look forward to our tomorrows.

ALWAYS AND FOREVER

Words to remember

Two yet the same

Like a burning ember

In the cold of night

The warmth of an embrace

Will always remain

In darkness He is the light

We shall have no fear

As His word we hear

As we reach out our hand

He does understand

Our human need

So He does feed

And nourish our soul

So we may reach the goal

Always and in all ways

Forever He will never

Abandon us

If we have Jesus (tcarter, 9/20/2022, 10:14 pm)

Discussion:

Our last poem is my hope for the church.

UNDER THE STEEPLE (God Still Rhymes, pg. 67)

Everyday people

under the steeple,

bells are ringing,

voices are singing

songs of praise

for the life

he did raise,

Jesus Christ,

our savior and Lord

whose life we savor.

We live in God’s favor

whose love we have stored

in each and every heart

as we wake

and then make

the promise of a new start.

In his grace forgiving

the life we were living

with Jesus we are raised,

In worship he is raised.

Our God is good,

he understood

our fear of belief.

He gives us relief

in the trouble

of life’s rubble.

He loves us.

this Jesus,

God’s only son,

his holy one.

His life sacrificed,

we have been made right,

we will never die

so we sing,

the bells ring

because we are his people

gathered under the steeple.

With the cross

There is no loss.

The lost have been found

making a joyful sound.

Discussion:

AS WE CLOSE IN PRAYER, MAY WE CONTINUE IN PRAYER

Dear Heavenly Father we come to you in prayer as we end today’s podcast. Dave and I thank You for Your leading us through the day and into tomorrow. We pray that today has been pleasing to You and honors Your glory.

We pray for our listeners and viewers; for their needs, healing and the salvation of those who have not yet accepted the gift of Your grace by faith.

We pray, Lord, for this world in which we live. Father, as Christians lead us to proclaiming the gospel where ever we are. May we do so in a loving way. Lead us to the truth of the days we are living in. We pray for the nation of Ukraine and its people; its leaders, those who have fled the country to find safety, those who are still trying to leave the country and those who are staying to fight the invading army of their enemy. May their faith and determination be an example to the entire world.

Dear Lord, prepare us and our listeners and viewers for the coming week. We pray that it is You we live for and You who leads us. As we walk with you this week, may it be Your hand clasped around our hand so we may feel the grasp of Your love.

We pray in the name of Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer.

Amen

4/3/2022

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Tim and Dave

"If you give Him the times As you live His word rhymes "

"We are the King’s kids and you’ll never get rid of us because we are His with Jesus."

If you give

Him the times

As you live

His word rhymes

And don’t forget, “We are the Kings kids and you will never get rid of us for we are His with Jesus.”

Living In God’s Rhyme ©2018 by Tim Carter

God Still Rhymes ©2019 by Tim Carter

God’s Rhyme ©2019 by Tim Carter