Tag: scripture

I Carry the Banner

James HoganLeave a comment

Praise the LORD!
For it is good and pleasant to sing praises to our God;
for it is pleasant and praise is becoming.
The LORD builds up Jerusalem;
He gathers the outcasts of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
He counts the number of the stars;
He gives names to all of them.

Great is our Lord and abundant in strength;
His understanding is infinite.
The LORD supports the afflicted;
He brings down the wicked to the ground.

Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving;
Sing praises to our God on the lyre,
who covers the heavens with clouds,
who provides rain for the earth,
who makes grass to grow on the mountains.
He gives to the beast its food
and to the young ravens which cry.
He does not delight in the strength of the horse;
He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man.

The LORD favors those who fear Him,
those who wait for His lovingkindness.

Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!

-Psalm 147:1-12

Awesomeness. Praise the Lord.

Unveiled

James HoganLeave a comment

So I usually don’t write on a Sunday morning, but my computer is on, and I felt a particular urge to write this passage down…been much enjoying it these past few days, so much so that I can’t progress to the next(admittedly awesome!) chapter in Hebrews. Hebrews 10, so beautiful. And so while I finish my coffee, let me just share some of the sweetness contained therein:

Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the
same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered
one sacrifice for sins for all time, ‘sat down at the right hand of God’,
waiting from that time onward ‘until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.’
For by one offering He has perfected those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also
testifies for us; for after saying,

‘This is the covenant that I will
make with them after those days,
says the LORD:
I will put my laws upon their heart,
and on their mind I will write them,’

He then says,

‘And their sins and their lawless deeds
I will remember no more.’

Now where there is forgiveness of these things,
there is no longer any offering for sin.

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by
the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us
through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest
over the house of God,
let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience
and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,
for He who promised is faithful;
and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good
deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some,
but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:11-25

A bit long(my apologies!), but I had to write it all. Really, you need to read all of Hebrews to get the full beauty of it. But that might be a bit much to write this morning. Now, with this resting in my mind and graven on my heart, I am off to church to worship God.

Peace, my dear friends.

Three to the Power of Three

James HoganLeave a comment

Hello my friends!!! I shan’t write too much now, for the hour is late. But I thought I’m required to write a few words, for today I celebrate my twenty seventh birthday. Yes, truly!! And though now I am slightly sleepy, I wanted to chronicle the day. (Shall I chronicle the year? I shudder at the thought!)

But enough rambling. Today’s been beautiful, mostly because it hasn’t been about me. I had a perfectly awesome time at church this morning, worshiping God along with my dear church family. Some quality songs were sung in adoration and praise to God(“All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name”, “Be Thou My Vision”, “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less”…and “Bless the Lord, Oh my soul…”). A beautiful sermon was preached on the primacy and importance and clarity and power of God’s Word. And then got to eat lunch and talk with lots of people…I have been given many good friends. I am oh so grateful for the goodness of the Lord to me.

And afterwards, Chase was insistent that I come over to his house for Halo goodness! And I couldn’t really say no, so the afternoon was spent in epic Halo battling with Chase and others!! I must say, I think I almost hit my limit for Halo in one day! But it was awesome…I may have even placed second a few times. (No one touches Chase. No one) We ordered pizza for dinner and it was fantastic just being with people.

And then I drove home, talked to Mom and Dad for a bit on the phone(may have been third time of the day I got to talk to Dad!!) and just had lovely chat…again – I am blessed beyond measure for being given parents such as they. Truly.

And now I sit here and reflect(slightly sleepily, I confess!) on the day and the year and on all that God my Father has given me. I think of a year ago, in which I spent my birthday in Aberdeen with dear friends, friends who I treasure. Friends who I miss. I still think back on that brunch at Ruth and Zara’s with fondness, of the time I spent with John and Chris and Jo and Alec and Pip and Ruth and Zara…and we talked and we laughed and it was beautiful. How I was blessed.

And now, I’m living in Houston, and while I do indeed miss my friends, I am here now for a reason, and God has blessed me much here. He has given me friends and true brothers and sisters here, and I cannot doubt my God’s faithfulness to me. Never never. I spent today in the company of such dear people. I have been given much.

And I think of the most precious gift of all, that God has blessed me with salvation through His one and only Son. Who died and shed His blood for the forgiveness of my sins. And who was raised to life on the third day, triumphantly, eternally! I died with Christ. And I have been raised with Him. And so I have been given much. I have been given everything. How can I but love? How can I but offer my being – my very heart – to the One who is Lord of all, God of heaven and earth. I am known by Him. He is my Shepherd. And I follow Him. He knows me. And He loves me. And it is beautiful.

Now to Him who is able
to do exceeding abundantly
beyond all that we ask
or think, according
to the power that works
within us, to Him
be the glory in the
church and in Christ
Jesus to all generations
forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21

Green Pastures

James HoganLeave a comment

Hello again, my friends! I have just returned from evening service. Spent a fantastic few hours, there – very worthwhile, very glad I went! Singing praises to God(Amazing grace – how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!) and then hearing Daniel share from 2 Chronicles. Firstly, 2 Chronicles needs to be studied more often, because there are so many rich truths about the nature of God contained therein. Secondly – hearing about the life of Manasseh tonight was simply magnificent. The most wicked king that e’er ruled the land of Judah. He worshiped false gods and sacrificed his children to demons and committed heinous blasphemies in the temple of God…and yet God did not give Manasseh what he deserved. He granted Manasseh the opportunity to cry out and repent to God. He gave Manasseh mercy. Thank God. So anyways – I could go on, but I will not. It was a truly encouraging message – reminding me of the greatness of the God I serve. So – after coming home, talked with Maryanne for a bit(hi Maryanne!! *waves*) – we always have fun conversations! Now, I’ve put my sheets in the wash(hm, might be a late bedtime tonight oops), made my lunch(roast beef and swiss and horseradish mustard on onion rolls, thank you very much) and now I’ve decided it’s time to write. I still need to eat dinner(leftover meatloaf and green bean casserole!), but that can wait. My fingers have not had proper exercise in far too long. It is time to write.

And you can see that’s clearly true, as I’ve written a very awkwardly long paragraph and haven’t really said anything of substance yet. My apologies.

Moving on – I haven’t written anything substantial in near on a month, I think. A lot has happened in this past month. Because I don’t quite think I have the stamina to write a book, you won’t get the details. But let me…summarize.

One of the best things about this past month(and really – this year!) was getting to go to Ligonier Conference with Dad!! I haven’t been in quite some time(I think last time was either ’08 or ’09 with Mom). So me and Dad decided to go this year – I flew in to Tampa on Wednesday night, then Thursday we drove up to Orlando. The theme of the conference was “Overcoming the World” – and it was simply fantastic. A lot of great preachers(Al Mohler, Sinclair Ferguson, Voddie Bauchum, Steve Lawson…et al) spoke the truth of God, and we were all deeply encouraged. This world is indeed deeply opposed to God, and the culture in which we live is rapidly becoming ever more entrenched in open war against the things of God. So being encouraged by these men of God, by hearing them preach from the Word and exhorting us to continue to keep up the good fight…just a pure joy. And being able to sing songs of praise to God and being surrounded by thousands of fellow followers of Christ – exhilarating! Sometimes we can think that there is no one yet faithful to God, no one who yet cares for the things of God. Yet God reserves His remnant, who have not bowed the knee to the blasphemous gods of this world. We are not alone – we have fellow brothers and sisters – the church of God – yet in this world. And we have the Spirit that God has given us, to encourage and strengthen us, each and every day. We are not alone. And then, probably the best part of the conference was just to hang out with Dad! Being able to talk with him and sit together listening to God’s Word and lie out on the banks of a pond in the sunshine, luxuriating in the goodness of God…wonderful. Truly. It was a most special few days. And of course, had to buy a few books when I was there! I tried to restrict myself to only buying a couple, but I ended up buying five. Oops. Every time I walked into the book room, found myself buying another! I already read one these past few weeks – The Evangelistic Zeal of George Whitefield, by Steve Lawson. Utterly fantastic. One of his sermons was on George Whitefield – encouraging and convicting! To hear about a man who God so richly blessed – I ask that God would grant me only a tenth of the Spirit that He granted Whitefield! If you don’t know much about Whitefield, I would urge you to read about his life and be encouraged.

Following the Ligonier Conference, me and Dad came back to Tampa on Saturday – where I spent the night. Then Sunday, got to be at Hope Bible for church. It was a special service, since we had a baptism, and it was decided that we’d have a few testimonies of God’s grace beforehand. Gary spoke, and I as well. Gary spoke on what God had been teaching him in his morning quiet times – as always when Gary speaks, most encouraging and God-glorifying! Then, Dad had asked me to share as well, and thus I did. It did feel a bit strange, standing in the pulpit and sharing with the church. Especially since it’s a church I’ve been in since I was eleven! But, God gave grace and blessed my words, as I shared how God has blessed me these past few years. God is so good to me, how can I not proclaim to the great assembly(or maybe somewhat-smallish assembly) the great acts of God in my life?? I shall pay my vows to the LORD, oh may it be in the presence of all His people!! (Psalm 116)

So yes, those few days in the end of March – they were a great gift of God to me, indeed.

Now I come to the last section of this update. This is the part I’ve been putting off and not wanting to write. What I’m about to write is the reason I’ve not really updated in so long. But I shall not let my fingers falter now. I shan’t go into details, but the week following my visit to Tampa, Gary Galligan went home to be with Jesus. It was a sudden shocking thing. It’s been an extremely difficult and trying and emotional past few weeks – for Hope Bible, for everyone back in Tampa and for me. Yet some of the last words Gary said – as he spoke in front of church the Sunday I was there – no one knows the day that is to be His last. And truly – Precious in the slight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones. (Psalm 116) I won’t talk about Gary too much, but to say he was a man that served God. He was a man that loved God. And he was a man that longed to know Christ more. And now Gary is with Jesus, forever. Hallelujah!!! Gary is truly a man that there can be no doubt these words were said to him as he entered the presence of God, “Well done, my good and faithful servant – enter into the joy of your Master.” So I don’t often ask for much as I write, but if you read these words, pray for the church. Pray for my family and for Dad, who has labored alongside Gary for many years and will now sorely miss his co-pastor and friend. Pray for Janet, for her continuing comfort and joy. And truly, as much as we sorrow because we miss him – we also rejoice. Always. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord!!

And my words fail me. So let me just share the beauty of God’s Word(which never fails):

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God,
the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
and to Jesus,
the Mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood,
which speaks better than the blood of Abel…

Hallelujah. Glory be to God. Amen.

Fresh Fallen Snow

James HoganLeave a comment

I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear and will trust in the LORD.

How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust,
and has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done,
and your thoughts toward us; there is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count.

Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired;
my ears You have opened;
burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.
Then I said, “Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me.
I delight to do your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.”

I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation;
behold, I will not restrain my lips, O LORD, You know.
I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.

You, O LORD, will not withhold Your compassion from me;
Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.
For evils beyond number have surrounded me;
my iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see;
they are more numerous than the hairs of my head,
and my heart has failed me.

Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me;
Make haste, O LORD, to help me.
Let those be ashamed and humiliated together who seek my life to destroy it;
Let those be turned back and dishonored who delight in my hurt.
Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, aha!”
Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let those who love your salvation say continually,
“The LORD be magnified!”

Since I am afflicted and needy,
let the Lord be mindful of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
do not delay, O my God.

-Psalm 40

Great and Terrible

James HoganLeave a comment

Good evening my friends! And Happy Friday!!

I’m sitting on my comfy couch this Friday evening, content and at peace. Content because I have a delicious dinner in the oven and a warm flat and clothes to keep the cold at bay. At peace because, despite what swirls around and within me, I am a child of my Father God. And it is well with my soul.

After that opening salvo, I shall attempt to write just a bit more this night. But first, while I gather my thoughts, I’ll describe my dinner! For I truly am looking forward to it. Lemon rosemary chicken, complete with squash and potatoes. It’s really not as fancy as it sounds, but it does smell delicious. And now with dinner out of the way – let’s get to the heart of the matter!

I just finished reading Malachi(and thus the Old Testament) a few minutes ago, and it’s such a delightful book to read. Truly. And maybe delightful is an odd word to use, yet I can’t think of a better. Just reading the words of God, pondering His coming. Thinking of the return of my Lord – the bringer of wrath and the purveyor of justice – the Lord who cares for the downcast and the humble man – and who despises the arrogant and the unjust. Our God will return, one day. And it shall be most awesome. And I truly long for that day, when there is no more pain or suffering or injustice. I long for that day when all the earth cries out – Glory to the Lord! – and all the nations bow before the King of Kings. What a day will that be. Yet who may abide the day of His coming? Those whom the Lord loves. Who can stand when He appears? Those whom the Lord delights in, because He has chosen them as His own and purified them as purest gold by the blood of His son. For our Lord is like a refiner’s fire – holy is the Lord!

Pardon the above paragraph – I fear it’s a bit disjointed, but thus are my thoughts this night. Also – reading Malachi reminded me of how much I enjoy listening to Handel’s Messiah. There are few – if any – pieces of music that bring as much glory to the Lord as that one. Praise the Lord, my friends. Praise the Lord – all the earth!!

And now my dinner is almost ready, which – I suppose – means this entry should be coming to a close. Just think on the Lord Jesus this night. Think of His beauty. Bask in His love. Fall to your knees and pray to Him. No matter what this world throws at us, no matter how our emotions rage – we are children of the living God. We are known. We are loved. Hallelujah!!

Peace, my friends. Peace and love.

Hallelujah

James HoganLeave a comment

A simply magnificent and heart-warming and passion-stirring Psalm to read this morning:

The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice;
the the many islands be glad.
Clouds and thick darkness surround Him;
righteousness and justice are
the foundation of His throne.
Fire goes before Him and burns
up His adversaries round about.
His lightnings lit up the world;
the earth saw and trembled.
The mountains melted like wax
at the presence of the LORD,
at the presence of the LORD
of the whole earth.
The heavens declare His righteousness,
and all the peoples have seen His glory.

Let all those be ashamed who
serve graven images,
who boast themselves of idols;
worship Him, all you gods.
Zion heard this and was glad,
and the daughters of Judah have rejoiced
because of Your judgments, O LORD.
For You are the LORD Most High
over all the earth;
You are exalted far above all gods.

Hate evil, you who love the LORD,
Who preserves the souls
of His godly ones;
He delivers them from
the hand of the wicked.
Light is sown like seed
for the righteous
and gladness for
the upright in heart.

Be glad in the LORD,
you righteous ones,
and give thanks to
His holy name.

Psalm 97. Beauty. Beauty and love. Praise the Lord.

Violetta

James HoganLeave a comment

Happy Saturday!! I’m here at Beans Cafe – already had my breakfast an hour ago or so, and now I have my Earl Grey sitting in front of me and I thought – no better time to write a bit! I wanted to begin this morning by something I’ve been reading – thought it was simply wonderful and I couldn’t not share. I’ve been reading in Acts lately. This is such a fantastic book, one that I always enjoy reading, because the power and Spirit of God is working mightily in the early church – and seeing how God works through His people is something to behold. So encouraging. And so I come to Acts chapter ten today. This is one of the first recorded instances of a Jew preaching to a Gentile audience. Shocking!! So God calls Peter to go and share His gospel with Cornelius. Peter obeys God. Peter goes to the house of a non-Jew, and there – he preaches the Word of God. This is truly remarkable. It’s a bit hard to convey how earth-shattering this moment is. But for a Jew who had considered Gentiles to be implacable enemies of God and totally undeserving of any grace, the fact that Peter would share the gospel of God with ones such as these…this account is stunning. Let me just share Peter’s words, because I think they are far better than any words I could say! From Acts 10, verse 34 on –

Opening his mouth, Peter said:
“I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality,
but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is
welcome to Him. The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching
peace through Jesus Christ(He is Lord of all) – you yourselves know
the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the
baptism which John proclaimed. You know of Jesus of Nazareth,
how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He
went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for
God was with Him. We are witnesses of all the things He did both
in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by
hanging Him up on a cross. God raised Him up on the third day and granted
that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were
chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He
arose from the dead. And He ordered us to preach to the people, and
solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as
Judge of the living and the dead. Of Him all the prophets bear witness that
through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”

And this is the gospel of God. Love it. And just the fact that this inaugurates the preaching of the gospel of God to all peoples makes it even more awesome. Right after Peter says the above words, the Spirit falls upon all who were listening to His message and they believed and were baptised and were rejoicing and praising God. Hallelujah!

And now that I’ve written the above, I’m not sure what else I can write, but I suppose I can let you know that yes – I’m still settling in to Houston life! Me and Alex hit up the opera last night and well…it was quite good. Just because I don’t want to plagiarise myself – I’ll excerpt a review I wrote on another forum:

La Traviata dir. Enrique Carreon-Robledo. So, my first few weeks back in Houston, and I was able to get a ticket to see my very first opera! Background info – I’ve always said I never like opera, mostly because my only exposure to it has been random video clips or music on my iTunes that I’ve just..never found enjoyable. So I said yes to my friend’s invite, but went in expecting not to like this. Instead…the only word I could think of to describe it at the time – magnificent.

I didn’t know the story ahead of time, and so watched it with my heart in my mouth, wondering what was going to happen – and how it would end. The venue was a small theatre(probably less than 200 people, but we were at full capacity), and somehow me and my friend had scored front row tickets. Not quite ideal, since the translation screen was a bit hard to see from our angle, but in actuality, this was perfect. Being front row(touching the stage with my feet!!), I felt part of the performance – totally enthralled by it. I didn’t always know the exact words they were saying, but it didn’t even matter. All of the talent was simply top-notch. I was stunned by how good the performance was – Violetta was simply amazing – and I was in love with the way her voice spiraled and dueled with the orchestra. Magnificent.

I really shouldn’t make this review any longer, but just know that my opinion of the opera has been changed. I think I’m going to have to see more. I also really loved the intimate nature of the venue – afterwards, some of the cast came down to greet us – I really should have gone up and thanked them for their performance, but was too shy! As Americans are wont to do, we gave a standing ovation as well. I thought it was deserved.

So there you go – magnificent. Beautiful. I really should make a point to go to more fine art performances, whether it be music or theater. My problem is, I never like to go to things like this alone, but I simply will have to find people to come with me!! Anyways, it was great fun being with Alex again, and enjoying a fine performance…I can’t complain, even if it was a late Friday night!

And I don’t think I wrote about last weekend – I spent Saturday night last week at Abby and Claire and Charlotte’s house! It was grand – they threw a “Welcome back to America” party – slash game night. Really, just a good excuse for a party. I actually didn’t know half the people there, but that wasn’t a bad thing. I also saw again some people I haven’t seen in over three years! So we played lots of games(Signs, Balderdash, etc…) and laughed heaps, and enjoyed quality time together. I have good friends, what can I say? God is good to me. Always.

And tonight I’ll be going to the Jacobs for dinner! Will be awesome – was so great seeing them this past Sunday – and I’ve not been to their house in over three years! So looking forward to a good evening there(I’m quite positive there will be some ping-pong played, definitely ready for that!).

I could definitely write more, but I have suspicions this post is quite long enough as it is. Enjoy and God bless you all, my friends. Just know that despite my sometimes sighs as I think back on my time in Scotland and my dear friends there, I have no doubt that God is with me and leading me in every step I take. His Word is indeed a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. He takes me by the hand when I stumble and leads me in paths everlasting. So I have no fear, no worries. Well actually, I do at times when my flesh is weak and feeble, but then my Lord reminds me that He is the one who holds my hand. Even youths may grow tired and weary, but those who wait on the Lord will gain new strength and will mount up on wings like eagles…y’all, like eagles! So let us – like eagles – soar on the wings of the dawn and look to the heavens, where Jesus sits at the right hand of God Himself. When we fret and sigh at the miseries of this world, look to Jesus and remember that He is Lord and He is God. Worship Him, and all else fades away like the early-morning fog into the grey of the sea with the rising of the sun…

Peace, my friends.