Hello OCBC family,

 Tomorrow will be the anniversary of the death of Bernard of Clairvaux, a French monk, who was very famous for his piety.  He died on August 21, 1153.

He was the son of Tecelin of Clairvaux, a knight and vassal of the Duke of Burgundy.  Bernard was educated at Chatillon, where he was distinguished by his studious and meditative habits.  In 1113, he entered the monastery of Citeaux, and served the church by founding 163 monasteries around Europe.

Bernard was a man of exceptional piety and spiritual vitality.  Martin Luther, 400 years later, called him, “the best monk that ever lived, whom I admire beyond all the rest put together.”

Bernard was not just a theologian but a musician, and he is the author of the oldest hymn that we have in our hymnal, “Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee.”

It was originally written in Latin and I want to share with you some of the lyrics:

Jesu, dulcis memoria,
dans vera cordis gaudia:
sed super mel et omnia
ejus dulcis praesentia.
Nil canitur suavius,
nil auditur jucundius,
nil cogitatur dulcius,
quam Jesus Dei Filius.

Edward Caswall translated the hymn to English in 1849:

Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast!
Yet sweeter far Thy face to see
And in Thy Presence rest.
No voice can sing, no heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find,
A sweeter sound than Jesus' Name,
The Saviour of mankind.
O hope of every contrite heart!
O joy of all the meek!
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!
But what to those who find? Ah! This
Nor tongue nor pen can show
The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.
Jesus! Our only hope be Thou,
As Thou our prize shalt be;
In Thee be all our glory now,
And through eternity. Amen.

In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,

 Two days ago was the anniversary of the death of Augustus Toplady, August 11, 1778.

He was born on November 4, 1740, at Farnham, about 20 miles southwest of Windsor, England, and he became a Christian in 1755.

At first, Toplady was taken with John Wesley's teachings, but by 1758, he had become an extreme Calvinist and had harsh words for Methodist theology. Passionate for the Lord, he prayed, "God keep me from being a mere scholar."

Toplady received his degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from Trinity College. Ordained as a deacon in 1762, he was licensed to the curacy of Blagdon the same year. Two years later he was ordained as a priest, and until 1766 served as curate at Farleigh, Hungerford. For the next two years he held the benefice of Harpford with Venn-Ottery, and for two years after that, of Broad Hembury. During 1775, he took a leave to minister to the French Calvinist Reformed Church in Orange Street, London.

His first published work was Poems on Sacred Subjects, Dublin, 1759.

Toplady suffered from tuberculosis. As his death neared, he sensed God's presence. "O what a day of sunshine this has been to me! I have not words to express it. It is unutterable. O my friends, how good is God!" The day he died, he was calling, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!" He told his friends that he could not live much longer for no mortal man could live after seeing the glories of God that he had seen.

He died before he turned thirty-eight years old, but in his short life he wrote an immortal hymn, a favorite one for many, “Rock of Ages.”

Today, just a few people read Toplady’s books or sermons, but hundreds sing the beautiful words of “Rock of Ages.”

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee;
let the water and the blood,
from thy wounded side which flowed,
be of sin the double cure;
save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labors of my hands
can fulfill thy law's commands;
could my zeal no respite know,
could my tears forever flow,
all for sin could not atone;
thou must save, and thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress;
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
when mine eyes shall close in death,
when I soar to worlds unknown,
see thee on thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee.

In His service,

Israel

Hello OCBC family,

 Yesterday, during my devotional time, I was reading the famous passage in Exodus 17, where Israel defeated Amalek.  It is very interesting  because Moses, Aaron, and Hur were watching the battle from the top of the hill, and the passage said “whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.”  Moses was old and Aaron and Hur helped him with his hands, thus Israel won the battle.  But this is the part that I like the most; in verse 15 we can read “And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD Is My Banner”.  Then I asked myself why Moses called God “My Banner”?  I think I have the answer.  A banner is a symbol, for a country, for an organization, or even for a sports team, saying that under these colors this group of people belongs to this country, organization, or sports team.  When we call the Lord "our Banner", we are saying that we belong to Him.  You know that I am an American citizen, but I am still holding my Ecuadorian citizenship as well, which means I belong to two countries.  When I go to Houston to the Ecuadorian consulate, I can see Ecuador’s flag, and I say I belong to that country; but when I was overseas a few years ago in Ecuador, I was able to celebrate the 4th of July over there, and I said “I belong to America.”  But, thanks be to God, I can say that through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for my sins, I belong to God and His kingdom, and He is my Banner.

The old hymn says:

"This world is not my home I'm just passing through

My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue

The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door

And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

O Lord you know I have no friend like you

If Heaven's not my home then Lord what will I do?

The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door

And I can't feel at home in this world anymore."

In His service,

Israel