Update of "We've Not Forgotten"

http://west7thcofc.com/Jeremy/11-05-31-17-05-30.wav

Hey everyone, here's the latest audio recording of the song which adds a bridge and third verse.

New Song

Hey Everybody,

I'm excited as I just got my first song copyrighted. It's called "We've Not Forgotten," and it's a follow-up to Darryl Worley's song "Have You Forgotten?" You can listen to it by clicking on the title of the blog entry. Tell me what you think. I'm in the process right now of trying to contact a music publisher about picking up the song.

Jeremy T. Butt

Is It Real?

Being around older people a lot, I hear some of the funniest things. One of them came on Sunday night while preaching at the Bridge. After services were over I had finished serving communion to one of the ladies when she wanted to ask a personal question if I would give an honest answer. My mind began wondering what she wanted to know that was so personal, but I figured it was concerning my preaching. After telling her that she could ask me, she proceeded to ask me if my hair was real. I thought that was one of the funniest things I'd ever had asked about me in my life. I told her of course it was real. Then she said "can I touch it?" That was even funnier than the original question. I bent down and she tugged on my hair (I guess she thought it was a toupee or some other kind of hair piece). She said "you have beautiful hair!" After laughing I said "thank you!" I don't know that anyone has ever asked that about me before. However, does it make you wonder if anyone wants to question us if our lives as Christians are real?

Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their hypocrisy in Matthew 25, and John tells us in 1 John 2:4 that if we say we know the Lord but don't keep His commandments we are a liar. We need to live our lives in such a way that people know we are Christians and that we are living for the Lord each day (Matthew 5:16). People should not have to ask us if our lives are real, for it should be evident by the way we live.

A hairpiece or any other kind of "fake" hair serves a purpose, but fake spirituality serves no purpose. What are you doing with your life to make sure people know your Christianity is real. I know what I have as a Christian is real, but how would I react if someone questions that? Can I show them? I sure could show the lady at the Bridge that my hair was real, so I better be able to back up the truthfulness of my Christianity. Is it real?

Remove the Filth

Remember the character from the Peanuts comic strip named PigPen? He walked around everywhere surrounded by a cloud of dust because he stayed filthy. If we were to try to come in the house when we were younger our mothers might be heard saying "take those filthy clothes off before you come in this house!" They did not want filthy garments in their clean house; they didn't belong. We would have to remove those filthy clothes before it was acceptable to them.

Isn't sin like that? Ever since the first sin in the garden of Eden we became dirty in the eyes of God. Before we could be acceptable in His sight we had to do something about our sin. There is an example of someone standing before God who is filthy and in need of changing their garments. Read Zechariah 3:1-5. Satan as the accuser tries to point out our sins that separate us from God, thus symbolized in this story as the filthy garments. Thanks be to God that the power of the accuser is not as great as Heaven's Oxy Clean. The Lord knew just how to make us clean in His sight.

For those of us since the death of Christ the way to be considered clean in the sight of God is through the blood of His Son. Have you been washed in the blood of the Lamb by being immersed into Christ? (Acts 2:38; Rom. 6:3-4; 1 Pet. 3:21) If you haven't obeyed the gospel and you're at the age where you know your sins have hurt God (2 Cor. 7:9) you're still standing before God in filthy garments with Satan accusing you night and day. Are you like those in the church at Sardis who had soiled their garments or are you like the others in Sardis who are walking with the Lord in white? (Rev. 3) The choice is yours as to whether or not you wash your robes and make them white in the blood of the lamb (Rev. 7:14). If your garments are filthy, change your clothes to remove the filth!