Sublime

He was asked to give a few words. Instead, he chose to lead the crowd in a rendition of an old Isaac Watts hymn to communicate more memorably the reason he was leaving fame and ease to preach Christ in a distant land,

Biblically rich content in songs, sung by people who look like they mean what they are saying, helps teach the gospel as something that is credible and powerful rather than cultural and optional.

We are drawn to God by the beauty of the heart of Jesus. When sinners and sufferers come to Christ, Edwards says in another sermon, “the person that they find is exceeding excellent and lovely.”

Cyprian cites St. Paul, saying that Christians are to really grieve—but to do so bathed in hope (1 Thess 4:13).85 Christians did not see grief as a useless thing to be suppressed at all costs.

Take a moment to draw attention to a word or phrase that you could explain.

In Matthew 6:32, Jesus reminds us that we have a heavenly Father who knows exactly what we need. There is comfort and confrontation in Jesus’s words. The confrontation is this: the reason Jesus reminds us that we have a Father who has a clear understanding of our true needs is because we don’t have such an understanding.

Evan Roberts was one of the Welsh Revival preachers at the beginning of the twentieth century. He believed in the great importance of singing in spiritual awakening, and in the Christian life. When a Londoner once asked him if he thought the Revival could ever reach the British capital, Roberts is said to have smiled and asked, “Can you sing?”