{"id":12603,"date":"2017-01-11T14:04:19","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T19:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=12603"},"modified":"2017-01-11T14:04:19","modified_gmt":"2017-01-11T19:04:19","slug":"worship-wednesday-jesus-chris-tomlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=12603","title":{"rendered":"Worship Wednesday &#8211; Jesus &#8211; Chris Tomlin"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_12609\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12609\" style=\"width: 2000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Blog-Women-talking-Jeff-Block.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12609\" src=\"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Blog-Women-talking-Jeff-Block.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Blog-Women-talking-Jeff-Block.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Blog-Women-talking-Jeff-Block-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Blog-Women-talking-Jeff-Block-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Blog-Women-talking-Jeff-Block-1024x512.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12609\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Photo Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/jeffblock.com\/2016\/01\/05\/satisfaction-guaranteed\/\" target=\"_blank\">Jeff Block<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>We had already been friends for years&#8230;never running out of things to say. Laughter poured as freely as the coffee we shared.<\/p>\n<p>The days that our conversation turned more serious were tender and hang in my memory.<strong> We did not agree on this one thing that was as much a part of who we were as probably anything else in life.<\/strong> <strong>We didn&#8217;t agree about Jesus&#8230;who he was or who he meant to be in our lives.<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/BLog-Women-Friends-Huffington-Post.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12613\" src=\"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/BLog-Women-Friends-Huffington-Post.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/BLog-Women-Friends-Huffington-Post.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/BLog-Women-Friends-Huffington-Post-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/BLog-Women-Friends-Huffington-Post-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/BLog-Women-Friends-Huffington-Post-1024x512.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><\/a>Photo Credit: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/helene-tragos-stelian\/what-single-women-want-married-friends-to-know_b_7911772.html\" target=\"_blank\">Huffington Post<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Then she asked me, &#8220;Why can&#8217;t you just believe as I believe?&#8221; She asked it in such a longing, loving, non-judgmental way&#8230; I knew she thought me terribly wrong in how I believed&#8230;she may have felt the same from me. Our love for each other restrained our conversation.<\/p>\n<p>I thought about that question long and hard&#8230;and then I wrote a letter to my dear friend. Our friendship has endured our differences&#8230;and will in this life. I thought of her this morning and the letter. Maybe other friends are struggling with the question, &#8220;Who is Jesus? What do I do with Jesus?&#8221; Or maybe you&#8217;ve been asked to consider a religion or ideology that considers Jesus just a man&#8230;or even a fairy tale. Here is how I responded&#8230;once&#8230;to a dear dear friend.<\/p>\n<p><em>Dearest Friend,<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/BLog-Writing-a-letter-Safraz-Ali.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12611\" src=\"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/BLog-Writing-a-letter-Safraz-Ali.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"585\" height=\"390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/BLog-Writing-a-letter-Safraz-Ali.jpg 585w, https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/BLog-Writing-a-letter-Safraz-Ali-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 585px) 100vw, 585px\" \/><\/a>Photo Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/safrazali.wordpress.com\/2014\/10\/11\/letter-writing-a-lost-art\/\" target=\"_blank\">Safraz Ali<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>You\u2019ve asked me why can\u2019t I follow your way.\u00a0 I know you spoke that from your heart, and you know I love you for it.\u00a0 You also know how much I love you as you love me.\u00a0 Since our conversation, your question has weighed heavily on my mind, and I want to try to give that question the answer you deserve.\u00a0 Thank you for loving me enough to risk asking that question.\u00a0 Now, I hope you will hear my love through this answer.\u00a0 We think very differently on these things, but I don\u2019t think I will be telling you anything that we haven\u2019t already talked about. What I write below is the answer to your question, \u201cWhy?\u201d\u00a0 And it\u2019s written with all my love.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>My greatest desire is to know God and to surrender to Him in all areas of my life.\u00a0 It\u2019s been the pursuit of my life.\u00a0 Following man-made religions is not enough.\u00a0 My hope is to follow Him as He reveals Himself to me, both through His Word and by His Holy Spirit.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>As I understand your question, to follow your way would require me to leave the way I now follow. That would be impossible for me.\u00a0<\/strong> I wasn\u2019t born Christian.\u00a0 I became a believer as I understood His revelation, and it\u2019s a relationship with God that I would never or could never sever.\u00a0 To remove a portion of Who I believe He\u2019s expressed Himself to be both to and for His creation would be unforgivable.\u00a0 He has come near to us, and I am thankful to know Him, as One both Holy and Humble.\u00a0 I would be sad to believe in a God whose holiness and judgments separate Him far from His people.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>To have to face the burden of a life of sin would be more than I could bear. Because I believe by His Word that He has forgiven me and continues to forgive me, as I confess my sins, repent of them, and live for Him.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>To live with the uncertainty of not knowing whether I would spend eternity with God or in Hell would be very painful. His Word tells me that I can know \u2013 not because of my good works but because of His good work for my sake.\u00a0 <strong>I take great comfort and joy in knowing that I will be in the presence of God forever.\u00a0<\/strong> It is also a great comfort to know I will see my Mom and Dad again, and others who have gone before me, confident in God\u2019s promises to them through His Word.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>To have to deny the sinless life of Jesus, the Messiah, to deny His teaching, His life, His death on the cross, and His resurrection.<\/strong> To deny any of that would be the greatest dishonor to God that I could ever commit in life. I would never be willing to deny this, and if this is required to follow your way, then I am helpless to go that way.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>I could not require my children to follow any religion. I do prefer for them to be believers in God by way of the Messiah, and I would be broken-hearted if they denied God in their lives.\u00a0 It is up to God how He moves in a person\u2019s life.\u00a0 I cannot demand it, no matter how much I would wish it a certain way.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Last, but not least, is that to follow your way, I would have to give up parts of the Bible. I can\u2019t do that.\u00a0 It would be great sin, unforgivable, for me to deny any part of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 I believe every word is true.\u00a0 I know you think I am deceived.\u00a0 All I know, is that there was a time in my life that I wasn\u2019t a Christian, and it was a dark time for me.\u00a0 God revealed Himself to me through His Word, through the person of Jesus, through the example of others whose lives had been changed by God, and through the movement of His Holy Spirit in my life.\u00a0 Now, I know the experience of a changed life.\u00a0 I am free, because His Truth has set me free.\u00a0 It would be impossible for me to leave His Guide for my life.\u00a0 <strong>This person that you know and love is that person, only because I am walking in the Light of His Word<\/strong>.\u00a0 We all struggle with the presence of sin, but we can have victory through His Word and by His Power.\u00a0 Since I believe what He says about His own Word, I cannot leave His Word, any more than I can stop breathing.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>As I write this, my heart aches, because, of course, I would love for us to be on the Way together.\u00a0 I have answered your question.\u00a0 Maybe, you\u2019ll answer the same question for me sometime.\u00a0 No matter what, if you let me, I will love you all the days of my life.\u00a0 You are my friend, my sister, and my daughter.\u00a0 You are one of the greatest gifts the Lord has given me, and I am so grateful.\u00a0 Sometimes His gifts require a price.\u00a0 He gave Himself for us, that we may be with Him forever.\u00a0 My hope is that our friendship won\u2019t require a price.\u00a0 I never want us to be apart\u2026although we\u2019re not exactly traveling on the same path.\u00a0 <strong>My prayer will always be that we reach Home together\u2026.and I know you pray the same for me.\u00a0 Only God can answer both our prayers&#8230;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cEbQswNB6Wc\" target=\"_blank\">Worship<\/a> with me.<\/p>\n<div>There is a truth older than the ages<br \/>\nThere is a promise of things yet to come<br \/>\nThere is one, born for our salvation<br \/>\nJesus<\/div>\n<div>There is a light that overwhelms the darkness<br \/>\nThere is a kingdom that forever reigns<br \/>\nThere is freedom from the chains that bind us<br \/>\nJesus, JesusWho walks on the waters<br \/>\nWho speaks to the sea<br \/>\nWho stands in the fire beside me<br \/>\nHe roars like a lion<br \/>\nHe bled as the lamb<br \/>\nHe carries my healing in his hands<br \/>\nJesus<\/div>\n<div>There is a name I call in times of trouble<br \/>\nThere is a song that comforts in the night<br \/>\nThere is a voice that calms the storm that rages<br \/>\nHe is Jesus, Jesus<\/div>\n<div>Who walks on the waters<br \/>\nWho speaks to the sea<br \/>\nWho stands in the fire beside me<br \/>\nHe roars like a lion<br \/>\nHe bled as the lamb<br \/>\nHe carries my healing in his hands<br \/>\nJesus<\/div>\n<div>Messiah, my Saviour<br \/>\nThere is power in Your name<br \/>\nYou&#8217;re my rock and, my redeemer<br \/>\nThere is power in Your name<br \/>\nIn Your name<\/div>\n<div>You walk on the waters<br \/>\nYou speak to the sea<br \/>\nYou stand in the fire beside me<br \/>\nYou roar like a lion<br \/>\nYou bled as the lamb<br \/>\nYou carry my healing in Your hands<\/div>\n<div>God, you walk on the waters<br \/>\nYou speak to the sea<br \/>\nYou stand in the fire beside me<br \/>\nYou roar like a lion<br \/>\nYou bled as the lamb<br \/>\nYou carry my healing in Your hands<br \/>\nJesus<\/div>\n<div>There is no one like you<br \/>\nJesus<br \/>\nThere is no one like you*<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0*<a href=\"http:\/\/www.azlyrics.com\/lyrics\/christomlin\/jesus.html\" target=\"_blank\">Lyrics to Jesus &#8211; Songwriters: Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash<\/a><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hhN3jJCgpjg\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube Video &#8211; <em>Jesus<\/em> &#8211; by Chris Tomlin &#8211; with prayer and praise video clips submitted especially for this video<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VU5qQHbgucM\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube Video &#8211; <em>Who Is Jesus?<\/em> &#8211; Explore God<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FjDPkDEGPqk\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube Video &#8211; <em>Is Jesus Really God?<\/em> &#8211; Explore God<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube Video &#8211; <em>Why I Hate Religion But Love Jesus<\/em> &#8211; Spoken Word &#8211; Jefferson Bethke<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=K48-Li7lIfA\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube Video &#8211; <em>The Gospel In Four Minutes<\/em> &#8211; Pipeline generation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We had already been friends for years&#8230;never running out of things to say. Laughter poured as freely as the coffee we shared. The days that our conversation turned more serious were tender and hang in my memory. We did not agree on this one thing that was as much a part of who we were &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=12603\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Worship Wednesday &#8211; Jesus &#8211; Chris Tomlin<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1447,1705,1148,3750,910,599,33,18,795,761,789,1456,610,1002,47,946],"tags":[328,3711,3729,1834,1835,1200,4122,71,4002,4123,49,360],"class_list":["post-12603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-conversations","category-critical-thinking","category-explore-god","category-gospel","category-heaven","category-inspired","category-jesus","category-love-2","category-redeeming-restoring","category-relationships","category-steadfast-love","category-thanksgiving-or-gratefulness","category-transformational","category-wednesday-worship","category-worship","tag-chris-tomlin","tag-ed-cash","tag-explore-god","tag-jefferson-bethke","tag-jesus","tag-messiah","tag-pipeline-generation","tag-savior","tag-spoken-word","tag-the-gospel-in-four-minutes","tag-worship","tag-worship-wednesday"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauPAB-3hh","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12603"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12620,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12603\/revisions\/12620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}