20080414

Musical Monday

Today's selection has come to me as a result of me being reminded just how gracious my Lord has been to me. Despite my sin. Despite my seemingly constant struggle (often with the same sins) over and over, God has shown incredible patience, mercy, kindness, and grace towards me. I don't think I can ever grow tired of marveling at His mercy and kindness.



Haven't You Been Good
By Steve Earl
This song is from the I Stand In Awe album.

Lyrics

Thank You for the cross
Thank You, Lord, for drawing me
Out of millions lost
Thank You, Lord, for saving me
Haven’t You been good?
Haven’t You been so good?

Glory to Your name
Glory to Your holy name
Thankfulness and praise
For grace and mercy never changing
Haven’t You been good
Haven’t You been so good to me?

Favor on my life
Always watching over me
My darkness turned to light
And heaven’s arms enfolding me
Haven't You been good?
Haven't You been so good?


© 1998 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP).
Click here for a sample




Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) has been a consistent source of grace to me. Recently I was approached to join a group called "SGM Survivors" by a member of the forum (discussion board). After reviewing their forum, and several posts there, I have decided I am not really in agreement with most of those who post there. I cannot (nor will I try to) vouch for all of SGM. I do not know either the people who have experienced such wrongs, nor those who have 'allegedly' (to borrow a news term) inflicted such abuses. I do know that no church is perfect - and that includes the group of churches affiliated through SGM, but I do know that this family of churches have been a consistent source of God's grace in my life. I will not cease my endorsement or encouragement of those (few) who seek my advice.

No one church is perfect for everyone. No one church has a perfect understanding of God. No single, or group of, man is perfect and above the occasional sin. But when someone can produce such songs and preaching as I have experienced there - they will have my attention. As such, even there my mind is tempered by what I read in scripture, and the realization that I am still talking to/with/about a human being.

Without the cross all our works is like dust. It is for naught. But because God condescended to humble Himself and reveal Himself to me, and not only reveal Himself but to restore my relationship with Him, I can call Him Lord and Savior.
Verse for today:
Zechariah 7 : 8-10, ESV
And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

thanks for this post - I love this song. It is so simple, yet so profound. Because of the cross, there is favor on my life. He who drew me is continuously watching over me. He drew my soul from darkness into light, so I can trust His hand as He leads through physical darkness as well. Through His salvation, I am now His child in His arms. Yes, I can confidently say He has truly been good.

I would just like to say that I appreciate what I have read about your stand on the "church" issue. Any group of people includes 100% sinners; therefore, I would agree with the statement that there is no perfect church. But the Bible is very clear that God works through church bodies as a means of grace in our lives - as I have repeatedly experienced through mine.

I will pray that God continues to give you grace and lead you to the church body He wants you to be a part of. There is no perfect church, there is no perfect answer, but there IS a perfect God who is leading, guiding and in control of each step you are taking.

samurai said...

Amen - well said. 8)

Anonymous said...

lovely lyrics! I love good music with meaningful words.

thank you for your encouraging comments and prayers for my sister! we are very excited, of course. she has had years of infertility struggles, but this is the crowning reward. :)

PJ said...

Dittos to Emily. God is able above all. He left the church in human hands knowing those hands were fragile and subject to sin and error.

Love the song.

Susan said...

Haven't heard this song. I love this post. I agree with many people here about the church being in "human hands".

Blessings,

Susan

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I am one of the moderators of the SGMSurvivors site which was linked to in this article.

Just to clarify, nobody from our site sought to recruit this blog's author to join. We do not approach people in such a fashion. I was utterly stunned when, after I put up a fairly bland assessment of our relatively pleasant Sovereign Grace experience, people flooded my Wordpress blog with comments. I have never solicited people to "join" our website.

Thank you for allowing me to clarify that we did not invite the blog's author to comment on our site.

Blessings!
Kris

samurai said...

Kris and fellow readers who come upon this blog entries and comments,

After reviewing various entries and comments on my blog I have found that I was mistaken. I had not been invited to join by a member of 'SGM Survivors' forum's moderators. Nor had they requested that I comment on their forum, or the discussions there. I was in error, and I will endeavor to edit the entry above to correct this discrepancy.

I had been invited by a forum member who (I think) believed that my blog entries relating to issues I am having in my current local church where issues I was having in a SGM church. This is not the case. Because of various references to SGM throughout my blog and links I can see how this could occur.

My comments regarding 'SGM Survivors' were not solicited and they are of my own opinion. I do not wish to slander this group of users, I am merely expressing my disagreement with the overall perception I had of the site and the general 'tone' I sensed while I visited there. The forum moderators, of which I only ever interacted with was Kris, were at all times helpful and considerate. I was not made to feel somehow inferior or dishonest while there.

From the size of SGM in general, and the size of some of their local churches, it is invariable that some are going to have bad experiences and disagreements over several areas. 'SGM Survivors' is such a group and they gather to discuss such things.

Kris, I apologize if I misrepresented you, or your forum in any way. It was not intentional. I used the word 'if' because it was not my intention, and after re-reading my post I am not sure how I did - but because you felt the need to post such a reply it must have at least come across as such. For that I am sorry.

May God richly bless you, your family, and most importantly those whom He gathers in your forum, and may His name be glorified above all things.

your brother in Christ,

John
aka 'samurai' & 's4G'

Anonymous said...

QUOTE: "I had been invited by a forum member who (I think) believed that my blog entries relating to issues I am having in my current local church where issues I was having in a SGM church. This is not the case. Because of various references to SGM throughout my blog and links I can see how this could occur." ENDQUOTE

Hi, I'm the forum member who invited you. And yes, I did misunderstand your blog entries and thought you were talking about having issues in a SGM church, so I thought you might be like the forum. Nothing more, nothing less.
Since I missed that there was a problem until just a few minutes ago when I saw your post on the forum, I never saw your unamended post. I truly meant no harm and was just inviting you in friendship when I ran across your blog randomly. Sorry to have caused any trouble. :(
(I still think it is SO dear how you call your wife "my beloved". :)

Ellie