NEWS Reflections of the Great Life
Christine and I recently arranged 17 songs for the next Sweetbird record titled: "The Great Life." This forthcoming release is easily the most powerful and inspirational we will have produced through the Spirit.
As I noted in a previous blog post, there is a spiritual evolution to Sweetbird's music that coincides perfectly with how the Lord works through hearts (see "Sweetbird's Evolution: A Spiritual Perspective"). First there is death (Free Spirit Reflection), there is then burial (Soul Fire), then resurrection (Shine), and then life (The Great Life).
All of the Lord's people experience the same progression, which is as follows:
Death + Burial + Resurrection = Life
The Cross is central to Life. It is the place where we die (daily) and He lives. There is no life without the Cross. The Cross is the place where He increases and we decrease (John 3:30). We decrease to make more room for Him and His never-failing love.
Put simply, we die (via the Cross) to live.
Dying to live is one of the many paradoxes found in the Scriptures, but it's an eternal Truth. Unless we die - that is, until our egos/self are extinguished via the Cross, we cannot experience the Great Life.
Life is what the next Sweetbird record is all about, and that is as it should be from a spiritual perspective. During my morning meditation, I came across something from T. Austin-Sparks that hits the nail right on the head. Sparks' says:
"When we view and come into touch with the situation as it is today amongst the Lord's own people, and seek to diagnose the position, and to reach the point where we see and know what the need above all others is, I think we are not far from the truth when we say that the matter of preeminent importance is that of LIFE. Everything, I feel, can be gathered up into that. It governs all other matters. It touches all other situations. When all has been said and done in relation to Christ, and His work, in relation to doctrine, in relation to the Christian life, in relation to the whole work of God, the point upon which everything rests and revolves, and that which determines its practical and abiding value, is life. It is not, for instance, soundness of doctrine as something in itself that is the determining factor. It is not the Scriptures alone. It is not New Testament order in itself. It is not a matter of fuller truth, and it is not a matter of the work or service of the Lord. Ultimately it is a matter of life. The former are all important and indispensable, and they may all be the marks and the issues of life, but it is possible for every one of them to be present without the life, and therefore to be ineffective; it is possible, in a word, to have perfectly sound doctrine without life. It is possible to have the Scriptures; by that I mean a very comprehensive thorough-going knowledge of the written Word of God: it is possible to have a great deal of Bible teaching: it is possible to have much of what might be called "fuller truth": it is possible to have a perfect New Testament order; and finally, it is possible to have a tremendous amount of Christian activity or work for the Lord, and for it all to be lacking in real effectiveness, because without the life.
Mark you, the case is not one of presenting a choice between these things; for the life will require these things and will accompany them, or be accompanied by them. But it is possible to have all that side of things without the life, and therefore for this very complete outfit to be lacking in vitality, in Divine energy, spiritual dynamic, abiding effectiveness, undying fruit."
Ultimately, says Sparks, everything is a matter of life. You can do all the things many Christians do frequently, says Sparks, and not have life. That is tragic and true. There are hundreds of millions of people who label themselves as "Christians" roaming the earth today that have no life. That's right. NO LIFE! How do we know this to be the case? Quite simply, actually: There is little or no Spiritual fruit in their hearts.
Life is the vine that produces Spiritual fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Life produces abundant Spiritual fruit! And we know that with Spiritual fruit:
Against such things there is no law.
(Galatians 5:22-23).
May you fall on the stone, be broken and buried, and may you know the awesome power of His resurrection which produces Great Life and glorious Spirit fruit.
Agape,
Steve
As I noted in a previous blog post, there is a spiritual evolution to Sweetbird's music that coincides perfectly with how the Lord works through hearts (see "Sweetbird's Evolution: A Spiritual Perspective"). First there is death (Free Spirit Reflection), there is then burial (Soul Fire), then resurrection (Shine), and then life (The Great Life).
All of the Lord's people experience the same progression, which is as follows:
Death + Burial + Resurrection = Life
The Cross is central to Life. It is the place where we die (daily) and He lives. There is no life without the Cross. The Cross is the place where He increases and we decrease (John 3:30). We decrease to make more room for Him and His never-failing love.
Put simply, we die (via the Cross) to live.
Dying to live is one of the many paradoxes found in the Scriptures, but it's an eternal Truth. Unless we die - that is, until our egos/self are extinguished via the Cross, we cannot experience the Great Life.
Life is what the next Sweetbird record is all about, and that is as it should be from a spiritual perspective. During my morning meditation, I came across something from T. Austin-Sparks that hits the nail right on the head. Sparks' says:
"When we view and come into touch with the situation as it is today amongst the Lord's own people, and seek to diagnose the position, and to reach the point where we see and know what the need above all others is, I think we are not far from the truth when we say that the matter of preeminent importance is that of LIFE. Everything, I feel, can be gathered up into that. It governs all other matters. It touches all other situations. When all has been said and done in relation to Christ, and His work, in relation to doctrine, in relation to the Christian life, in relation to the whole work of God, the point upon which everything rests and revolves, and that which determines its practical and abiding value, is life. It is not, for instance, soundness of doctrine as something in itself that is the determining factor. It is not the Scriptures alone. It is not New Testament order in itself. It is not a matter of fuller truth, and it is not a matter of the work or service of the Lord. Ultimately it is a matter of life. The former are all important and indispensable, and they may all be the marks and the issues of life, but it is possible for every one of them to be present without the life, and therefore to be ineffective; it is possible, in a word, to have perfectly sound doctrine without life. It is possible to have the Scriptures; by that I mean a very comprehensive thorough-going knowledge of the written Word of God: it is possible to have a great deal of Bible teaching: it is possible to have much of what might be called "fuller truth": it is possible to have a perfect New Testament order; and finally, it is possible to have a tremendous amount of Christian activity or work for the Lord, and for it all to be lacking in real effectiveness, because without the life.
Mark you, the case is not one of presenting a choice between these things; for the life will require these things and will accompany them, or be accompanied by them. But it is possible to have all that side of things without the life, and therefore for this very complete outfit to be lacking in vitality, in Divine energy, spiritual dynamic, abiding effectiveness, undying fruit."
Ultimately, says Sparks, everything is a matter of life. You can do all the things many Christians do frequently, says Sparks, and not have life. That is tragic and true. There are hundreds of millions of people who label themselves as "Christians" roaming the earth today that have no life. That's right. NO LIFE! How do we know this to be the case? Quite simply, actually: There is little or no Spiritual fruit in their hearts.
Life is the vine that produces Spiritual fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Life produces abundant Spiritual fruit! And we know that with Spiritual fruit:
Against such things there is no law.
(Galatians 5:22-23).
May you fall on the stone, be broken and buried, and may you know the awesome power of His resurrection which produces Great Life and glorious Spirit fruit.
Agape,
Steve
posted by Steve at
9:53 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home