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November 1999 New Horizons

Remembering God's Faithfulness

 

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Remembering God's Faithfulness

The OPC's "Official" Hymn?

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Remembering God's Faithfulness

Give thanks to Him; bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting, And His faithfulness to all generations (Ps. 100:4-5). Time: the older we get, the faster it seems to go by. Is it that time of the year again? When we were very young, it seemed to take forever for our birthday to arrive. But now, birthdays seem to blast by with ever increasing frequency. When we became young adults, we had the feeling that our whole life was just beginning to open up before us. The possibilities for the good that we thought we might do seemed boundless. Some years later, however, while we rejoice in the grace that has been shown to us each day in Christ Jesus, we also find ourselves confessing that, while by God's grace we have had some "good days" in our lifelong struggle with sin, we also have had many days when we wondered how the Lord could possibly love such miserable sinners as we are. Scripture tells us that God created all things—including time. One of the principal ... Read more

The OPC's "Official" Hymn?

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church does not have an official flag or flower or tree, as a state might have, but it seems to me that we do have, by unofficial consent, an "official" hymn. Through the years that I have been part of the OPC, I have sung "How Sweet and Awful [ or , Awesome] Is the Place" at many worship services and other meetings. This hymn is often sung at our general assemblies by a room full of men, many singing it from memory. Why does this hymn by Isaac Watts have such a special place in the life of our denomination? Corporate Salvation This is a hymn about the corporate experience of God's people. Far too many hymns emphasize only the individual's new, redeemed relationship to God. Isaac Watts reminds us that Christ loved the church (Eph. 5:25), by using phrases like "all our hearts and all our songs," "each of us cries," "that sweetly drew us in," "else we had still refused," "perished in our sin," "O our God," and " we long to see." Here is the church as a whole, ... Read more

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