One Thirst

That the Fulbe May Know...

2009-12-26T17:45:00.001-08:00

A Straggler's Progress CD

2009-10-13T16:24:00.001-07:00

A Straggler's Progress ~ This is a new CD, recorded by Mark and some of his friends in October 2009. Mark wrote the majority of these songs while deployed to Iraq. The thrust behind the recording of these songs, was a mission trip Mark was planning on taking. He desired to use these songs as a ministry to those he went to serve on the trip.

In the near future, Mark will be writing the stories behind the writing of each of these songs.

Click here to listen and download the songs on this new CD.

Transition

2009-10-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

For the past two years, One Thirst has been a personal blog. I am now in a transition process of turning One Thirst (the blog) into the official blog of One Thirst Ministries, as opposed to my own personal blog.

My personal blog is now called "A Straggler's Progress" and is located at www.astragglersprogress.blogspot.com

Thanks for your prayers!

In His Hand,
Mark

A Stragglers Progress

2009-07-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

This is a new blog project of mine. Check it out and let me know what you think.

http://www.astragglersprogress.blogspot.com/

The Gospel According to Leviticus 14

2009-05-04T04:34:00.000-07:00

I confess that sometimes, I come to the book of Leviticus, not expecting much in the way of devotional value. One night, I was particularly tired, but decided to go ahead and continue reading through Leviticus. I was to read chapter 14. Before I read, I prayed, asking the Lord to show me the Gospel in Leviticus 14. What followed completely amazed me. God is so amazing that He declares the Gospel in the Old Testament cleansing of Lepers! These thoughts are what I deeply enjoyed in my reading of Leviticus 14. I would encourage you to read this Gospel Saturated Chapter.

******

Leviticus 14:1-4
1Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2"This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. Now he shall be brought to the priest, 3and the priest shall go out to the outside of the camp. Thus the priest shall look, and if the infection of leprosy has been healed in the leper, 4then the priest shall give orders to take two live clean birds and cedar wood and a scarlet string and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed.

First of all, notice two things: the leper was outside the camp and the Priest had to go outside the camp for the sake of the poor, miserable leper. Also, who was to say the leper was in fact clean?! What if the leper was still leprous when the priest examined him?! What if the Priest contracted leprosy as a result of going out to this man? The Priest was the only one who could make the determination if the leper was clean, but to make it, the Priest had to go outside the camp, to the leper.

Similarly, Jesus, my High Priest, had to go outside the camp for my sake -- a miserable, spiritual leper. Hebrews 13:12-13 says, "Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach."

Leviticus 14:11

and the priest who pronounces him clean shall present the man to be cleansed and the aforesaid before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

My High Priest, Jesus Christ, met me outside the camp, declared me clean, brought me to the presence of the Lord, and will present me to the Father, clean! Notice the fact that the Levitical Priest presents the leper to be cleansed, though the same Priest has already declared him clean, when he met him outside the camp. This reminds me greatly of Hebrews 10:14, "For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." (ESV)

Leviticus 14:31
So the priest shall make atonement before the LORD on behalf of the one to be cleansed.

I will never stand before God, without Jesus, my High Priest covering me! Colossians 3:3-4, "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." Because I cannot and could not make atonement for myself, Jesus, my High Priest, made atonement on my behalf!

The Gospel According to Genesis 45

2009-04-13T23:29:00.000-07:00

These are some of my devotional thoughts on Genesis 45. The context is Joseph being ruler of all Egypt, when Egypt was a major world player, during a massive international crisis. The crisis brings his brothers, who sold him into slavery, bowing before Joseph for food, all the while ignorant of who he is, whom they bow to. I highly recommend opening your Bible and reading the chapter before or while reading this post. Genesis 45 is well worth the read!

45:1-3 Joseph's brothers came to him, seeking only his benefits (grain) not him. They did not recognize him for who he was. Joseph had to reveal himself to his brothers for them to understand. Before Christ revealed Himself to us, we too were only seeking His benefits, not Him. We did not recognize the beauty of Christ until He revealed Himself to us.
45:3-4 Joseph's brothers were dismayed at Joseph's presense, because they knew their guilt. Similar to us. Joseph asks his brother (even saying "Please") to come close to him. Because of Joseph's love and kind words, his brothers were able to draw near to him. Joseph had to draw them near to himself. God's kindness leads us to repentance (Romans 2).
Joseph's brothers could not repay him for his forgiveness. They could only throw themselves on his mercy. We cannot repay Christ, but only throw ourselves on His mercy.
45:5-8 Joseph does not blame his brothers for their sin against him, but gave glory to God for saving Israel. Joseph preached the gospel (in a way) and was grounded in God's soveriegn plan of salvation.
45:9-24 Joseph reconciles his brothers to himself and sends them to save Israel and bring Israel to him. Joseph sent 11 men to save Israel. Christ sent 11 men (the 11 apostles after Judas left) to preach the gospel to Israel and the world.
45:9-11 Joseph was lord and told Israel to not delay in coming to him. Then, Israel would have Joseph's benefits and blessings. Jesus is Lord, we must come to Him, and we will receive His benefits.
45:12-15 Joseph loved his brothers more than they loved him. Christ loves us more than we can ever love Him.
45:26 At first Israel did not believe. Verse 27 - Through the ministry of the 11 sons, repeating Joseph's words to Israel, and from what he saw Joseph had sent, he came to believe. We must repeat Jesus' words for people to believe.
Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, but then sent his brothers on a journey. A journey to save Israel and get back to the savior. Joseph provided everything they would need for the journey. Jesus has sent us on a journey, to rescue the lost world, and get back to Him. Jesus has given us everything we need for this Journey.

A Life Changing Discovery

2009-02-14T08:05:00.000-08:00

In the last few days, the Lord has revealed to me one of the most important discoveries I have yet enjoyed in my Christianity. This discovery comes from Psalm 130:3-4:
“If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.” NAS

My discovery: the Lord does not keep lists of His children’s sins!
If the Lord does not keep lists of His children’s failures, than what does He keep? In the Old Testament, this word “mark” is used quite often. It is a word that means “to keep, guard, observe, or give heed”i. Our Lord does not keep our sins, so here are examples of what the Lord does keep.

In Genesis 28, Jacob is on his journey from Canaan to the house of his mother’s family. On his journey, Jacob had a dream. In this dream the LORD tells Jacob that the blessing of Abraham and Isaac will be his. As God is speaking to Jacob, He makes this promise to Jacob in verse 15, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” NAS

Numbers 6:24, in Aaron’s Benediction, the priests were to say, “The LORD bless you, and keep you; the LORD make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace.” NAS

In Nehemiah 1:5, Nehemiah prays, “I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and loving kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments…” NAS

Psalm 16:1, “Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.” NAS

Psalm 121:3-4, “He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” NAS

Psalm 145:20, “The LORD keeps all who love Him…” NAS

From what I see of the Lord in the Scriptures, He keeps His people and His promises!
So often in my Christian life, I tend to keep lists, lists of personal failures, or thoughts of something that may have been displeasing to the Lord. For many a year, I felt this was the godly thing to do. I felt that there was a certain “state” I should strive to maintain, a state of having confessed and repented of every known sin. The problem was that I was not fully aware that every action in my life, from breathing to playing chess is tainted with my sin. There is not one thing I can do that will not somehow demonstrate that I am a sinner. So, you can see the dilemma of record keeping I had! It began with small lists of sins of course. Most of them I was not sure if they were indeed sin, but I threw them on the list and prayed over and over again that the Lord would show me if they were sins. Graciously, the Lord did not show me. My list grew on. I continued to try and assess my motives, feelings, thoughts, etc. Most recently, these seeds of sin have sprouted into a mental state of disarray. I have been unable to keep up with the lists of possible sins in my life, but still focused all my energy on the lists, not my Savior.

Little revivals sprung up in my life, where I learned to focus on the Lord’s love for me and my forgiveness. Great breakthroughs were made, but I still struggled with the ever maturing “weeds” of sin that had been planted. Then, the Lord reminded me of a very important and life-changing verse, Psalm 130:3-4. And I was overwhelmed with the truth that the Lord does not keep lists! Oh how great was and is my joy! The thought came to me on the treadmill in my gym in Iraq. How the Lord liberated my Christian life that day, February 7, 2009. It had been a process of His, that He is still working into me, but I had a great victory that day. Thank You so much, Father!

Now, when my own imagination assaults me, throwing possible sins in my face, challenging me to figure it out, I throw the burden on the Lord as He commands me to do. I fail many a time. But He forgives me, and is reminding me not to keep lists.
I was also greatly impressed with another aspect of this. As I said, if God does not keep lists of my sin, I should not either. Also, if God does not keep lists of my sin, He does not keep lists of His other Children’s sin! Neither should I. Help me, O Lord to refuse to keep lists of sins against me, by Your children or my enemies.
I am a changed man, praise the Lord! A struggling, sinful, forgiven, list-free, Christian! Thank the Lord He doesn’t keep lists even though we try so hard to keep them!

i Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon, word 8104 Shamar.

Pray

2009-02-08T02:51:00.000-08:00

I would like to ask any who see this blog posting to fervently pray to God, that the lost tribes of Iraq would be saved and come to the knowledge of the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Hudson Taylor

2009-02-08T02:46:00.000-08:00

"The cold was so great and the other things so trying that I scarcely knew what I was doing or saying at first. Then what if means to be so far from home, at the seat of war, and not able to understand or be understood by the people was fully realized. Their utter wretchedness and misery, and my inability to help them or even point them to Jesus, powerfully affected me. Satan came in as a flood, but there was One who lifted up a standard against him. Jesus is here, and though unknown to the majority and uncared for by many who might know Him, He is present and precious to His own."

2009-02-05T06:45:00.000-08:00

DONT WASTE YOUR DEPLOYMENT

2009-01-12T03:15:00.000-08:00

DONT WASTE YOUR DEPLOYMENT was a project that myself and some of my buddies in the Army put together in preparation for our deployment.

Originally we had thought that it would be great if someone would write a book called Don't Waste Your Deployment (inspired by John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life). Soon after that, we felt the Lord had called us to write this book for our friends and other Soldiers.

Writing "Don't Waste Your Deployment" has been a great learning process for us. We pray that maybe the Lord would use it in your life!

My friends and I would love your prayers and encouragement so that we will not waste our deployment!

In His Hand,
Mark

You can read and download "Don't Waste Your Deployment" online on our website.

www.onethirstministries.org/dwyd.htm

Search "Dont Waste Your Deployment" on:

The Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ

2008-08-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

For Those Who DO NOT Cherish the Christ of the Bible as their most precious and valuable Treasure

I am convinced that the majority of individuals in the world, who claim to be Christians, are only Cultural Christians. You may ask, “What does that mean?”. That means, that the majority of people who think of themselves as Christians and who go to church (some regularly, some only once in a while) are in the fast lane that leads straight to the pits of hell!

Every culture in all of history has fashioned gods to worship. Nothing has changed in the modern age and the United States. Things are just different. I believe that American culture has fashioned itself a god, or at least a horrible misrepresentation of the real and true God. We have fashioned a god in our own image; a god we believe honors the American dream more than the Bible. We trust in a god who has an eternal party for everyone who has done some good or nice deeds in this life – excluding the mean guys like Hitler and bin Laden. The god most Americans trust in is a god who hasn’t the fortitude to condemn anyone, because this god exists for us!

Frankly these beliefs sicken me! If you believe and follow this false god, you will burn in hell for eternity! In fact, if you do not cherish the Lord Jesus Christ as your most precious possession, He will judge you in the depths of the lake of fire. Disturbing isn’t it?!

What I have just written is very depressing and sad. What troubles me is that so many are perishing by believing in this false god, and the True Church of Jesus Christ is standing by watching. At times we even participate in the worship of the false god. But now I pray that the Almighty God might let His glorious Good News shine through the darkness. Many will spiritually drown and never come to Christ, but God willing, YOU will listen to this wonderful and Good News that Jesus Christ wants YOU to hear and be saved from eternal punishment.

Now let me tell you the Good News.

There is a God in heaven. He is One God, made up of three persons, God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit. The Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit are all equally God and equal in power, however they have different roles in the Godhead. God is holy and righteous and just, and these are only some of His attributes. God is love and does love human beings, but God also loves Himself. (Many might be turned off by this statement, but please continue to read and hear what I have to say). The tragedy is that human beings have rebelled against God and do not love Him.

Jesus Christ says that the greatest commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37 NIV). If this is the greatest commandment, then disobeying this must be the greatest sin. Not loving the Lord our God with everything we have is the chief evil in the universe. We are all guilty of this great treason against God. The reason we are to love God above all else is because He is the supreme and most valuable one we could ever value and cherish. Everyone would agree that there are some things that are more valuable things than others in this world. We may disagree as to what they are, but we would agree that we should value certain things above other things.

Human beings were created to be happy! God wants you to be happy. God wants us to be supremely happy, not just a little happy. When we are happy in Jesus Christ, we are supremely happy. When we put anything in front of Him, we may feel happy, we think we are happy, but we are not supremely happy. God, the supreme being of the universe, says that supreme happiness can only come from Him. God is so concerned with our happiness that He commands us to love Him above all else. To love anything more than Him is to be miserable compared to the happiness He offers.

Please take to heart the following quotes:

“Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

~ C.S. Lewis

“Sin comes when we take a perfectly natural desire or longing or ambition and try desperately to fulfill it without God. Not only is it sin, it is a perverse distortion of the image of the Creator in us. All these good things, and all our security, are rightly found only and completely in him.”

~ Augustine (The Confessions of St. Augustine)

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it.”

~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 10:37-38

What Jesus has said is hard. But once He has opened your eyes to see that He is indeed the superior treasure to value, He will bring you to the point of loving Him above all else.
This is a life long task. Only in loving the Lord our God with all of ourselves, will we ever find fulfillment in the life He gives us.

The Good News is that through Jesus Christ, we who were far off in rebellion, unable to love God, can be brought near to God. Through Jesus Christ, God the Son, you and I can draw near to God and love Him and treasure Him above all else…fulfilling our God-given longing in life!

The Bible says in 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit…”

“Why did Jesus have to die?”, you may ask. The answer is, because the penalty for not loving the Lord God is death. God told Adam about sin in these words, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17). Because of Adam’ choice to love the fruit more than God, we have all died spiritually and will one day die physically.

I think these passages reflect God’s feelings about the sad state and plight of sinful man.

Romans 3:10-18, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.

“Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving,

“The poison of asps is under their lips;

“Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness;

Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace have they not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…”

Colossians 1:21, “And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds…”

Genesis 6:5, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Ephesians 2:1-3, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of his world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest…”

But please pay attention to the rest of this Ephesians passage (Ephesians 2:4-6):

“…But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus…” (NASB)

This is the Good News, that God makes us alive in Christ and enables us to love Him, our greatest need!

But you may wonder how does this glorious work happens, in which God makes a person alive. In the book of Acts, Peter answers a crowd who asked this same thing. Peter says in Acts 2:38, “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself.”

Again in Acts 16:30, a man asks the Apostle Paul, “ ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ And they [Paul and Silas] said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.”

Paul quotes Joel 2:32, when he writes in Romans 10:13, “...Whoever will call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.”

This calling on the name of the Lord involves, knowing that God is Who He says He is in the Bible. It involves knowing that you and I are sinners only deserving of hell. We are calling on the name of the Lord to save us. We ask Him to save us from sin, from ourselves, from hell, and from God. God loves humans, but He must love Himself above all else. For us to love anything more than God is the chief sin and idolatry. The same would be true if God treasured anything of lesser value than Himself, the superior and most precious treasure. So God must value Himself above all else. Praise God for this, for if God valued anything else as more valuable than Himself, we would be lost forever! Because God values Himself and His glory above all, He must punish sin – someone must pay by death. If you think that your sins are not that big of a deal, consider that it cost the very life and blood of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, to pay for our sin! Those who call on the name of the Lord for salvation, will receive the forgiveness of God and complete access to God. We are freed from our death and imprisonment and freed to love God with all our hearts! Those who refuse the forgiveness of God, will face eternity under His wrath and torment.

So I beg you to come to Christ and receive His salvation. I also beg you to examine your “faith”. There are far too many people who think they are saved but are not and will rot for eternity in hell. 2 Corinthians 13:5 states, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you – unless indeed you fail the test?”

To be saved, you must place your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord, God, and Savior. You must approach God the Father by coming through the Son and in the confidence Jesus Christ gives you. “And without faith it is impossible to please Him [God], for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

Lest you think you are too sinful for God to forgive you, consider this verse, 1 Timothy 1:15. The Apostle Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament says, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am the foremost of all.” Paul says that he is the worst sinner, and yet Christ still forgave him and used him mightily for His glory.

Many Christians would end a presentation of the gospel with a model prayer. I will not. I think that far to many people are trusting in a magical prayer they prayed when they were 6, instead of trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. I will not end with a model prayer guaranteeing you salvation, but I will end with my prayer for your salvation.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I pray that You, Almighty God, would use this very humble presentation of Your Glorious Good News. I pray You would cover over my mistakes and still glorify Yourself through this attempt of mine. Please save the Person who is reading this right now! Please fill them with the horrors of their sins and the desire to find safety in Your salvation! Please make alive the person who is reading this. May your Holy Spirit take the Word of God and Awaken the dead Soul who is reading this right now!

Fill my Friend with the peace and joy that is only found in Jesus Christ! Show my friend the words he or she should say to You. Right now, I call on You to make this person call on Your Name for salvation!

Glorify Yourself, O Lord!

In Jesus Name,

Amen

NEW ONE THIRST MINISTRIES SITE

2008-02-10T01:12:00.001-08:00

Come check out the new ONE THIRST MINISTRIES website. Mark's music and chord charts, as well as Sermons, Articles, and other Bible-Centered Resource are on this site.

www.onethirstministries.org

One Thirst Articles

2008-01-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

From now on this page will not display postings. All new blog postings will be posted on the ONE THIRST ARTICLES Page.

Welcome To One Thirst

2007-12-27T20:46:00.001-08:00

It is my privilege to welcome you to the blog site of One Thirst Worship Album. My name is Mark Waite and I currently reside in Fairbanks, Alaska. In December of 2007, I had been planning a trip back home to Edgewood, New Mexico, and one chilly morning I was taking a walk thinking about the trip. The thought came to me that perhaps my church worship team would be willing to help me record some of the songs the Lord has allowed me to write and use in worship services. I talked with my family about this and the worship team, and the Lord worked out the details and allowed the One Thirst project to succeed.

The COG Worship Team and myself were able to record about 10 songs on one Sunday afternoon, in the school gym where our church meets. Where as the CD is not professional, it is certainly worshipful, and I must commend the COG Worship Team for doing so well! I believe that music as entertainment has its place, but One Thirst is not meant to be entertainment. One Thirst is a collection of songs that I believe are good worship service songs that God’s people can sing.

No money will be asked for One Thirst. It is produced as a ministry, and any money given for it will be used for ministry. For this reason, I have no problem with individuals reproducing One Thirst, as long as it is not sold or altered in any way. (However, I do ask to be informed of any reproduction of One Thirst). The driving purpose of One Thirst is to display the Name of Jesus Christ as Big and Glorious, for no other name saves.

I pray that the Good Lord might use ONE THIRST, so that some may finally quench their thirsty souls in the Lord Jesus Christ. I also hope that God's People will be encouraged to continue to treasure Jesus Christ and to live in such a way as to display Him as supremely valuable. May the worship of our God encourage your hearts and souls!

~~~

Lord, give us One Thirst for You and for Your glorious Gospel! Fill us with Joy and open our hearts to praise Your Name!