Remembering All You Are (New Song)

Michael E. Wood

July 26, 2014

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Luke 22:19-20

Partaking of the Lord’s Table is not only a command given by Christ to the church until He comes, it is likewise a privilege. On an individual basis, we are admonished that if we would draw close to God then He will draw close to us. How much more true, as we gather together as a body of believers to proclaim our Lord’s death until He comes.

On that day when you had borne

Our sins amidst those shouts of scorn

The wrath of God came crashing down upon You.

And yet in anguish bearing pain,

You looked beyond that cross of shame;

For judgment brought forth peace there. Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Bless, Lord Jesus, as we feast

Upon the bread, both great and least,

Remembering all You are and honor due You.

For what we need, You did provide,

The righteousness in which we hide,

Til all we are is like You. Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Your blood now cleanses every stain.

Your Spirit sent, brings every gain

To grow in grace and humbly bow before You.

Receiving all through what You teach,

The words You gave until we reach

That place prepared to see You. Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

On that day we’re glorified

With every nation, tongue, and tribe

Our praise perfected will bring honor through You

Unto the Father of the host,

Empowered by the Holy Ghost,

Eternal for all time then. Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Clothed Now I with Righteousness

Michael E. Wood

March 30, 2014

Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus says the Lord: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” Isaiah 52:1-3

One of the ways of which we awake and shake ourselves is by learning to preach the gospel to ourselves on a regular basis. The boldness to approach the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need comes from God the Father, through Christ the Son, as we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to see with ever increasing clarity that we have been clothed with the righteousness of Christ and thereby empowered to glorify Him both now and forevermore. Amen!

He heard my cry for mercy

When undone in my distress.

Twas His grace that taught me

I was lost in sin and nakedness.

In need of clothing, I could

Not obtain by works I do,

And yet He bid me come and buy

Through Christ who paid my due.

So clothed now I with righteousness

Though wretched yet within,

I now approach with confidence

He will save to this end;

That Christ alone be magnified

And glorified at last

When all will see, from east to west

Our sins through Him were cast.

Oh, Happy Day

Michael E. Wood

March 30, 2014

Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
  Psalm 66:16

What a wonderful thing it is to be able to look back on the day that we as individuals were brought into a saving relationship with Christ by the Spirit of the living God. As adopted children of God the Father, ransomed from the slave market of sin, we grow in our understanding of what He has done for our souls and rejoice in the opportunities He gives to articulate those truths to others whether it be by spoken word or written word. Our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed the Savior of the world and especially to those that believe.

In songs of praise I lift my voice

And join with all who have by choice

Cried out to Him who has revealed

Our pardon through the cross was sealed.

Oh, Happy Day, when God the Son

Arose to show what God had done,

As Father when by His decree

The blood of Christ would ransom me.

The Spirit came and opened eyes

By grace through faith to see the Prize

Of Christ, our Hope, to earth was sent;

God’s love in us is now present.

Oh, more than words could ever tell

That God in us has come to dwell,

Whose faithfulness and love shall keep,

His called and chosen, human sheep.

So help us, Father, now to gain

The ground You give to thus proclaim

The glory that in You is found

To be the joy for which we’re bound!

I AM HE!

Michael E. Wood

June 2, 2014

 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”  John 4:23-26

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.  John 5:24-25

How often do we who have the privilege to read the scriptures in our own language miss out on the fact that as we read, God speaks to us through Christ by the Spirit?  We can become so immersed in reading as an accomplishment of a particular goal that we have set for ourselves and miss the sweetness of the communion, or the wisdom that we could be given, or the understanding for correction needed, or the blessed assurance that we have indeed heard Him for whom all praise is due.

While reading the passage where Jesus was confronting the woman at the well, my heart was stirred afresh in the realization that the words of eternal life of which He spoke to her, He likewise spoke to me. He has borne my judgment and has brought me from death into life.

Have you heard from Him today?

I speak to you from heaven

By the Spirit that I give

Who immersed you in the love

Of God the Father now to live

As a child whom He adopted

When we brought you forth to birth

As a part of the eternal plan

Prepared before the earth;

In the counsel now revealed in truth

Through Holy Scripture taught

By the Spirit who is in you

And my blood by which you’re brought

Into union with the body

As the virgin bride to be

When the consummation comes

And all will know that I AM HE!

Happy Anniversary, ‘Wifey’!

May 18, 2014

Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Amos 3:3

Four years now and nothing I’d change

As God has seen fit our life to arrange

As a platform for love which comes from the heart

Of Christ who is pure and has made us a part

Of His body as one o’er which He does sing

And walks in our midst by grace now to bring

The honor that’s due, Oh, Father above.

There’s no One like You that together we love.

I Love You Dianna Lynne Wood!!!!

Thank you for walking together with me,

To the praise of His glory,

Michael

The Bread of The Presence

Michael E. Wood

May 13, 2014

So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.         1 Samuel 21:6

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:9-11

Do you remember that old saying, “You are what you eat”?  As members of the body of Christ we have each been given the privilege of partaking of the bread of the presence of Christ through the Word of His grace that we might become more like Him from one degree of glory to another until we are with Him and like Him in glory

The bread of the presence of Christ we partake

Who strengthens our hearts and our minds to forsake

The sin which remains so that Like Him we’ll be

When with Him in glory His face we will see.

No sin will be seen then as all God forgot

When Christ in our place crushed that serpents own plot

To rob and to steal and to kill and destroy

The glory that God only wise can employ

When all He will bring to that consummate end

Revealing in splendor the Son He did send

Whose greatness and power then fully displayed

Will fill all our joy then forever amazed.

So feast on Him there in the Word of His grace

As He quickens our step in His patience of pace

For He knows of our weakness to stumble and fall

Yet He answers in mercy when on Him we call.

The Sure Foundation

Michael E. Wood

May 12, 2014

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 2 Peter 1:1-2

“Now this is surely a message for us at the present time. The first thing we have to do is make certain of the foundations. We need not to labour this point. We all must be ready to agree that the main effect of the various movements in the realm of thought and in the realm of religion (alas!) during the last hundred years has been to query and to question the foundation. The trouble still in the church is a matter of foundations.” October 6, 1946, from a message preached by DM Lloyd Jones in Westminster Chapel, London.

While contemplating thoughts that came to mind upon beginning a new book of expository sermons on 2 Peter I was reminded that we need to preach the gospel to ourselves every day.

The gospel call is what I know

And need to hear most, every day.

For Jesus set His love within

My heart, to speak along the way.

The narrow gate, He brought me in

By blessed holy union

And through His blood I now enjoy

The Father’s sweet communion.

The Holy Spirit leadeth me

And shows to me my teachers,

Confirming truth by scriptures

As they’re taught by His own preachers

Appointed and anointed

To instruct by wisdom given

To live each day by faith in Him

Who in me is now livin’.

How subtly our enemy

Attacks the sure foundation

On which we have been built

Upon in each new generation.

But Christ who has accomplished

Our salvation to the end

Will glorify Himself

In each new battle that we win.

So courage take, by righteousness

Through Christ within the veil

As we as bones and flesh of His

Are strengthened to prevail

O’er all that is now present

In this worldly evil haze

Till all the glory of His light

Shines through all of our days.