Your Glory and Power and Worth!

Michael E. Wood

December 29, 2013

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Luke 12:32-34 (ESV)

And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 

1 Peter 1:17-19 (KJV)

While in the process of preparing for ministry at Atria I had stopped to read a portion of scripture from Luke 9-12 to Dianna. A few moments later while pondering the passages for the upcoming message about “Making the Best Use of Your Time”; these words came to mind as a prayer in the preparation.

Oh LORD, You have saved me

And made me Your own.

Oh, send the supply

Of Your grace from the throne

Of mercy, refreshing

And waking my heart

Through which You may use

For Your truth to impart

To those You prepare

As the ground for the seed

And water them often

As You see each need.

And lead in the way

As You deem for each best

To strengthen by faith

Till we enter the rest

Which comes at the end

Of our sojourn on earth

To show forth Your glory

And power and worth!

Our Father, Ever Dear!

Michael E. Wood

November 15, 2013

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
2 Corinthians 2:14-17

Quite often, my precious wife Dianna will ask me if I am ready to preach just prior to the time I am scheduled to preach. More often than not my answer is, “I never feel ready.” Now while that statement may not be altogether true, I do find that with my current schedule in teaching and preaching several times a week I feel so very inadequate and ill-prepared when I think of the incomprehensible responsibility of proclaiming the Excellencies of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And yet I am encouraged by the promises God has given through the written word that it is indeed He who makes those whom He has called to this task sufficient as ministers of the good news of the grace He gives from day to day and enables us by His Spirit to be the conduits through which He speaks.

While in the process of preparation for a Bible study at the Terraces in Roseville, California, a flood of passages came to mind to bring emphasis and weight to the particular text we would be looking at for the day. In this process I was given the confidence that these passages came to mind as a free gift of the grace of God and that He would use them to magnify Himself during our time for the day, and then the following words came to mind.

I often marvel at the grace

You give to seek You in the face

Of Christ whose glory we behold

By faith in scripture You unfold

Because He came and bled and died

As You in Him are glorified

While by the Spirit we are changed

Fulfilling all You have arranged

Till all shall see Him then on high

And bow the knee to glorify

Your matchless Name by which You own

All praise and glory on the throne

From which You rule o’er every thing

And shall forever as we sing

New songs of praise with all who fear

You, as our Father, ever dear!

His Excellence Declared

Michael E. Wood

May 7, 2013

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 2 Corinthians 3:5

While in the process of sermon preparation I feel the weight of the responsibility of the task at hand and when confronted by the magnitude of the glory of God in the things of which He speaks through His Word I am reminded that our sufficiency comes from God. I am likewise reminded by the Holy Spirit of remaining sin and pride within myself which humbles me to think that I have been given such a privilege and through feeling my own weakness and inadequacies understand my need for dependence upon our Father to give that which is best to the praise of His glory through the person of His Son.

My thoughts I cannot form alone

But grace from You divine

Comes flowing like the sap of life;

Abiding in the Vine,

As from Your Word, You teach me

By Your Spirit now in fear

That I may draw the closer

By Your love which is so dear.

So help me learn to please You

By my thoughts and actions here

Which manifests Your glory

By Your smile with every tear

That’s shed when I yet view afresh

The condescending blows

Of wrath endured for all my sins

By Christ alone who knows

The magnitude of love You have

For every single child

You bring to birth to demonstrate

His worth as undefiled.

Oh help me now fresh courage take

That others may behold

The power of the cross of Christ

The proof of Him as told

From lips of weakness and of clay;

His excellence declared

By life and words while speaking forth

Your glory He has shared!

Preach Through Word and Song

Michael E. Wood

March 16, 2013

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, Acts 16:25

Do we segregate our worship of God in song to appointed times of corporate gatherings alone? Do we fail to realize, that through our praise to Him through singing regardless of our circumstances or surroundings may be the very thing of which God will use to speak to the hearts of others, administering comfort to believers and pricking the conscience of unbelievers?

No, we are not all wired the same way but let us learn a lesson from Paul and Silas. Our worship of God through song regardless of circumstances or surroundings could very well have an eternal impact on the souls of men and women, as He opens opportunities for the gospel through our praise to Him.

Thy Word we preach through word and song;

Expressions of true hearts that long

To know You, Lord and make You known

As You fill us from glory’s throne-

With rapturous thoughts exceeding all

What we may think, to heed the call

You make to raise us from the dead

To worship You, Oh Christ, our Head.

Oh dictate by Your Spirit, moving

Men to know Your wondrous mind

And join us by communing through

The matchless grace in You we find-

To unify the body of

Your glory through every age

To worship You in holiness

On that grander, purer stage

Of which You have appointed

And remind to keep in view

Till all will see and know

The beauty found alone in You! 

The Son Now Casts the Shadows

Michael E. Wood

September 18-19, 2012

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:5-8

What began as a simple thought concerning the goodness and pleasure of God to give us that which we have need of to serve Him with joy, was expanded upon while contemplating how He might work in the lives of others.

When I visit those whom the Lord has appointed to my care in the assisted living facilities, there are times when I know well in advance what I will be sharing from His word and believe it to be that which He has in mind.  There are other times that I have no idea until I get there. And then there are times that He gives to me that which will be the focus shortly before I head out.

God is faithful to bring His Word to bear by His Spirit. Some times I can be distracted by focusing more on what I perceive to be the duties that I have been called to rather than the One who has not only called but prepares my heart and sends me forth.

The first stanza of the following poem is an expression of that line of thought and was written on the 18^th of September.   On the 19^th, as I sat out on our balcony with the sun rising in the early morning, I noticed how the shadow of the leaves of a large oak could be seen on the screen directly in my view. Suddenly the shadows began to move and the rest of the poem flowed from there as the Spirit of the Lord brought the passage from John 3 to mind in preparation for the visit that I would be making in a short time.

My original thought had been to share a passage from the book of 1^st Peter as an encouragement to a dear saint in her later years, but upon arrival at the facility we found that another one of the residents came outside where we were meeting in the cool of the morning with a slight breeze blowing.  Ann smiled as I began to speak of the new birth and the way in which the Spirit of God works as the other resident sat nearby listening in.

How oft we in the quagmire of our duties lose the sight

Of the power and the glory and the beauty of Thy might

For when our focus stumbles in the things we think or do

We forget that freely given are the things that pleaseth You.

The Son now casts the shadows through His trees upon the ground

And sows the seeds of faith by grace that He alone be found

To be the only Savior sent from God to be believed.

He is the only answer to our sin and to our need.

Through shadows cast You show the movement of Your Spirit here

That we may know Your presence and then walk with godly fear

With hope in the assurance that by faith You will then use

Our lives a living sacrifice, that others may peruse

The mighty wonders of Your grace through which You will then save

All those whom You appointed by the Son of whom You gave

To take our place, as wrath was spent on him instead of us

That all may know that Christ is He who is all glorious!

“Without books a man may learn much by keeping his eyes open…Every flower is waiting to teach you…Sermons glisten in the morning on every blade of grass, and homilies fly by you as the sere leaves fall from every tree. A forest is a library, a cornfield is a volume of philosophy, the rock is a history, and the river at its base a poem. Go, thou who hast eyes opened, and find lessons of wisdom everywhere, in heaven above, in the earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth. Books are poor things compared with these.” C.H.Spurgeon,” Lectures to My Students”

Till All Will be Renewed

Michael E. Wood

July 29, 2012

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4

While contemplating the third petition of what is known as “The Lords Prayer”; “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”, it seemed only reasonable to focus on the things which are revealed to us by the Holy Spirit through the scriptures concerning those things which we will not only find in heaven but also those things which shall be done away.

Though death, mourning, crying and pain are realities that face each of us as children of God, we are likewise privileged to rest in the assurance of those realities that are found in Christ alone. Grace is given as each day requires and the hope of the glory of God through all eternity.

Now within this veil of tears

We walk with joy in strides

While comforts come that we may know

That Christ with us abides

And though we see not yet all things

To Him alone subdued,

We see Him now by grace through faith

Till all will be renewed.

Oh glory in the glory

That one day shall be revealed

When Christ will then display all those

Who in Him were concealed.

For by His blood He purchased

All before that were decreed

By God the Father through the Son;

The woman’s promised seed.

Then all will see Him as He is

As on the left and right

His glory will be fully shown

As Judge in awesome might!

His holiness and justice on

All those who are condemned.

His mercy and His grace on those

He saved though they had sinned.

For mercy met with justice

On the cross at Calvary.

God’s wrath and love then intermixed

To set the captives free

To glorify the splendor of

The precious Holy Name

Of God the Father and the Son

Forevermore the same!

A Preparatory Prayer

Michael E. Wood
January 12, 2012

Prior to looking to the written Word of God in preparation for this coming Lord’s day message at Atria, the following thoughts came in part yesterday in the first person form. Upon being awakened around 5:00a.m. this morning, additional verses came to mind along with the understanding that this prayer would be better suited for the corporate prayer of the body rather than the simple desire of an individual.

Here we have Your Word before us.
Show us what to think and feel,
That to others, Jesus only
By Your Spirit would be real!


For these moments pass so quickly,
Turning fast to days and years
And the Conqueror must conquer
All the present doubts and fears.


Christ alone, our only hope is
How we dwell secure and ask
That Your presence would be with us,
Precious Father in this task.


What we speak will only matter
If You do attend with power,
And conviction by Your Spirit
Must be present for each hour.


True affection is our heart cry
As You save from self and sin
Through the blood of Jesus only
By Your Spirit godless men.


And the body now You buildeth
By the Word You speak through grace
Till in heaven all assembled
Bow before Your smiling face.


So we cast our care upon You
That the focus of all praise
May be only to Your glory
As true hearts to You we raise.

O Shepherd of The One True Flock

Michael E. Wood
December 24, 2011

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.  John 10:7-16

While in the process of preparing for the last message to be preached at Atria in 2011, I was looking back through my files of poems from the preceding year for something to include in the message. The text from the week before was in reference to the birth of Christ in His coming as the Shepherd King, with the understanding that He came to save His people from their sins. Most of the following was written as a poem while closing out the year 2010.  While reading through, the music to “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night” came to mind, a closing verse was written, and thus this can be easily sung to the arrangement made famous by George F. Handel (1685-1759), in Weyman’s Melodia Sacra 1815.

O Shepherd, of the one true flock,
How sweet Your voice we hear.
For when the thief comes forth to steal,
Tis only You we fear.
Tis only You we fear.

As life abundant now You give
And lead us by Your hand,
That murderer can only do
Exactly what You planned.
Exactly what You planned.

For You have called us all by name,
And lead us forth with joy,
And though the devil take all things,
Our soul he’ll not destroy.
Our soul he’ll not destroy.

With pastures rich You now provide
For us with nothing lost.
For all we need, we find in You,
Who paid with blood, the cost!
Who paid with blood, the cost!

O Shepherd, You laid down Your life
For all Your Own, Your sheep,
That we may know, we are Your Own,
And all Your Own, You keep!
And all Your Own, You keep!

And thus our Father’s providence
In love for us ordained,
All things in life that He may bring
Forth faith, that is unfeigned.
True faith, that is unfeigned.

And for Your glory we proclaim
As those once lost in sin
All things that happen, only serve
The gospel without end.
The gospel without end.