A trio of things to read, pray upon, and contemplate:

First, should be a glaring, crystal clear message of how far and how quickly the Church has declined and lost its way in only 40, 50 short years, and how appeasement, and following the world rather than the Word & God, and seeking to please men, women, and children rather than God has led to the great apostasy, the great falling away which has come prior to the last days of this earth.

I have not been in a real church that sings REAL hymns in many, many years. The hymns A.W. Tozer writes of in the first contemplation below are not the insipid, polluted watered down uninspired mantras set to rock music in almost every church in the nation of decline, rot, being lost, and taking the path of the great apostasy rather than the path towards Jehovah Elyon and Yeshua, the Son of God:

1.) Theology Set to Music

by A.W. Tozer

Just as the book of Psalms is a lyric commentary on the Old Testament, set to the music of warm personal devotion, so our great Christian hymns form a joyous commentary on the New Testament.

While no instructed Christian would claim for any hymn the same degree of inspiration that belongs to the Psalms, the worshiping singing soul is easily persuaded that many hymns possess an inward radiance that is a little more than human. If not inspired in the full and final sense, they are yet warm with the breath of the Spirit and sweet with the fragrance of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces.

In the hymns all the basic doctrines of the Christian faith are celebrated. Were the Scriptures to be destroyed or made inaccessible to the Church, it would not be too difficult to extract from our hymns a complete body of Bible doctrine. This would, of course, lack the authority of the inspired Word, but it might well serve in a dark hour to keep alive the faith of our fathers. As long as the Church can sing her great hymns she cannot be defeated; for hymns are theology set to music.

Hymns do not create truth, nor even reveal it; they celebrate it. They are the response of the trusting heart to a truth revealed or a fact accomplished. God does it and man sings it. God speaks and a hymn is the musical echo of His voice.

Verse

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:19–20

Thought

Those hymns that have lasted over the years are, for the most part, theologically sound. Some of the contemporary choruses are as well. Others, however, emphasize rhythm and amplification often lacking biblically accurate content. We still need the message of solid church hymns.

Prayer

O Lord, thank You for those hymns through which You have spoken to my heart over the years.

Audio Sermons

(1 Peter – Part 11): Wherefore, Gird Up Your Minds and be Sober by A.W. Tozer

(1 Peter – Part 12): As Obedient Children by A.W. Tozer

(1 Peter – Part 13): On Fashioning Ourselves as Christians by A.W. Tozer

2.) A Watchman For Israel And The Apostle Of Grace

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

“…I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at My mouth, and warn them from Me” (Ezekiel.33:7).

The Prophet Ezekiel was appointed by God as a “watchman” over the house of Israel. He was held responsible to warn the wicked from their way, for while God must deal justly with sin, He had declared: “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Verse 11).

If Ezekiel failed to warn the wicked they would die in their sins, but their blood would be required at his hand. If he faithfully warned them, however, and they refused to heed the warning, they would die in their sins, but he would be absolved of all responsibility (See Verses 8 and 9).

Would some Christian reader remind us that we are living under another dispensation and that our message is one of grace? True enough, but this does not diminish, it increases our responsibility toward the lost.

“For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” (I Corinthians 14:8).

If we believers carelessly allow the lost to go to Christ-less graves, are we not morally responsible for their doom? Will we not be held accountable at the Judgment Seat of Christ? (See II Corinthians 5:10,11). This is why we find Paul reminding the Ephesian elders that he had not ceased to “warn” men “night and day with tears” (Acts 20:31).

As the apostle looked back over his ministry among the Ephesians he could say: “I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men” (Verse 26). And this had been so of his ministry in general. Indeed, it was now his desire that whatever the cost, he “might finish his course with joy, and the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (Verse 24).

May Ezekiel, and the Apostle Paul, that great warrior for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be memorials to us — of our great responsibility toward the lost!

3.) Claiming our Rights

by Vance Havner

I appeal unto Caesar. Acts 25:11

We are to render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and there are times when we may appeal unto Caesar. Not claiming our own rights does not mean that we should not avail ourselves of certain privileges as citizens and otherwise. Paul did not court martyrdom, and he defended himself ably on trial. He used all his standing as a Roman citizen and employed every means to get fair treatment.

When persecuted in one city we are to flee to another. We may honor God more by living than by dying. A supine acceptance of circumstances that could be, and ought to be, changed is not a mark of piety. We are not always to remain quiet and expect God to intervene when He has given us common sense to ask for normal rights to which we are entitled. Christians are not to go to law with each other, and for the sake of our testimony it is better at times to suffer ourselves to be defrauded. But the cause of the Gospel is often advancd, as it was with Paul in our text, by asserting our claim to certain rights. Some may have thought it nobler if Paul had let things take their course, without speaking up for himself. God did not think so, for He wanted Paul to go to Rome.

There is a time to appeal unto Caesar.

A Trio (with audio)