Rick L. James: News & Videos

I just finished recording "Holy Is The Lord" this morning and it is now on the music section of this site. I tried to sing this song in a more classical way. I hop eyou enjoy it. Let me know what you think.
Blessings,
Rick

"What am I? I am myself a word spoken by God. Can God speak a word that does not have any meaning?"
--Thomas Merton

November 2006
We are beginning a season in our lives when we are encouraged to give God thanks and praise for the harvest that he brings. One of the hardest things to do is to look at the harvest God has provided and give thanks even when the crops seem bare. The attitude of thanksgiving must be much deeper than want we simply feel. What does thanksgiving look like when we can’t seem to find anything to give thanks for? Maybe Habakkuk holds the answer.

Habakkuk 3:17-18
17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
Sometimes God’s greatest blessings find their way to us through a harvest of dead and dry crops. I don’t recall reading that Jesus was in much of a mood for giving thanks as he bore his cross to Calvary. This is the point of my newest song, “If You’re Not Gonna Move This Mountain", in the line:
“Lord, I know You never promised Roses and I know the rain will fall in this life and I know a better man than me walked the road to Calvary ‘cause sometimes it takes a cross to set us free.”
I encourage you this Thanksgiving, in spite of the circumstances you are in, give your thanks to the Lord. He is worthy and He is with you in the fire, suffering right along. Life is hard but God is good.


Blessings In Christ,
Rick L. James

By the end of this evening there will be a few freshly recorded demos
on the music section of my web site

These are only demos which means they are songs that are under
consideration for a new album in the works for 2007. They are merely
rough drafts so you'll have to imagine them with a full band and all
the cool stuff you can do in a studio.

For right now it is just me and my guitar, recorded on my little home
studio in the back room. The songs are in the music part of my page
and are called
"A Little Lower Than The Angels", "Twenty-Four", If You're Not Gonna
Move This Mountain", and a sappy love song called "I Hope That Man Is
Me".

Enjoy and God Bless,
Rick James

I met Dave Chappelle Today
So I was in Yellow Springs this morning waiting for my favorite independent bookstore/comic shop to open and who should walk by me but world famous comedian Dave Chappelle. I was reading a local paper and I said, "Hey, are you Dave Chappelle". He looked at me with a half smile and kindly replied as if his cover were about to be blown, "Yes, I am". The rest of the dialogue went something like this.

RJ: "Well, you are not going to believe this but I am Rick James. That is really my name."

DC: "Really, you must love that skit [I'm Rick james B----]".

RJ: "I hear about you every single day, no matter where I go. Every time I use my credit card or someone hears my name they ask me if I know who you are."

DC: "No kidding. Sorry about that man."

RJ: "It's ok, I just think it's funny now. You've made me famous."

DC: "Cool man, well, I'm sorry about all that. It was nice to meet you. You take care."

RJ: "You too."

We shook hands and he smelled like something smoky and sweet. That's how it went down. I have no been officially apologized to by Dave Chappelle for th euse of my name.

God Bless,

Rick James

Although we have been out of the season of Lent for approximately 10 weeks, I have been thinking about the death of our Lord anyway. The part that really stuns me, and I think must stun all mankind, is Jesus prayer of forgiveness for his murderer’s on the cross. “Father, forgive… they don’t know what they are doing.”
But what about if they DID KNOW ? What if they knew exactly what they were doing and did it anyway? What about the times when we know exactly what we are doing and we go against God anyway? What does Jesus say to us then? Have you ever though about that?
I am not here to give any answers, only to place the question in our minds. Can it be that without slipping into unorthodox theology that we could expand our minds to consider a God who forgives and loves even when we are at our most intentionally sinful? Is God the punisher or does sin provide it’s own punishment?
Why did Christ choose to forgive his executioners even as they nailed him to a tree? Does he still cry forgive every time we crucify him with our sin? Is scripture true when it says that the kindness of the Lord is what leads us to repentance? How can such kindness and holy affection be real? Would God show kindness to those who would mercilessly attack the twin towers with airplanes? Would God really show kindness to soldiers in Africa destroying entire races of people just because of the blood that flows in their veins? Does God love and extend grace to suicide bombers? Only if the gospel of Jesus is true.
I wish I had all of the answers, but I don’t. I wish I knew why suffering happens, but I don’t. All I know is that even though I have knowingly driven the nails of the cross through Jesus’ flesh with the weight of my own sin more times than I can count, he has nonetheless removed my sins from me as far as the east is from the west. It is amazing what happens when we agree with Jesus’ prayer for forgiveness and stop trying to earn it. We can’t add anything to what God has done for us. All we can do is repent and turn to Him so that our sins can be wiped out.
His offer of forgiveness is our opportunity for a total renovation of the self. It is the opportunity for a heart transplant, letting his heart beat within us making our hearts throb for the things that Jesus desires. And, like it or not, it is offered to everyone. I struggle with this. I’m not sure that I want forgiveness for every person in this world, but if the gospel is true, I am no better than they and if God loves me he loves them too.
Jesus, help us accept that our sins are washed enough and all we can do is rest in the forgiveness that you have already granted. Let your kindness lead us all to kindness. Lead us to pray for our enemies, enemies who walk the same sinful road that we do. Let enemies become allies in Your kingdom. Let the double-edged sword of your word perform surgery upon our hearts, cutting out the cancers of hate and bitterness that eat away at our souls. Let Your kingdom come and change as only it can. As we sing so often, “Take my heart and form it. Take my mind transform it. Take my will, conform it to Yours”. Lord, do the same for our enemies.

Come quickly Lord Jesus.

May His Kingdom Come,


Pastor Rick

Although we have been out of the season of Lent for approximately 10 weeks, I have been thinking about the death of our Lord anyway. The part that really stuns me, and I think must stun all mankind, is Jesus prayer of forgiveness for his murderer’s on the cross. “Father, forgive… they don’t know what they are doing.”
But what about if they DID KNOW ? What if they knew exactly what they were doing and did it anyway? What about the times when we know exactly what we are doing and we go against God anyway? What does Jesus say to us then? Have you ever though about that?
I am not here to give any answers, only to place the question in our minds. Can it be that without slipping into unorthodox theology that we could expand our minds to consider a God who forgives and loves even when we are at our most intentionally sinful? Is God the punisher or does sin provide it’s own punishment?
Why did Christ choose to forgive his executioners even as they nailed him to a tree? Does he still cry forgive every time we crucify him with our sin? Is scripture true when it says that the kindness of the Lord is what leads us to repentance? How can such kindness and holy affection be real? Would God show kindness to those who would mercilessly attack the twin towers with airplanes? Would God really show kindness to soldiers in Africa destroying entire races of people just because of the blood that flows in their veins? Does God love and extend grace to suicide bombers? Only if the gospel of Jesus is true.
I wish I had all of the answers, but I don’t. I wish I knew why suffering happens, but I don’t. All I know is that even though I have knowingly driven the nails of the cross through Jesus’ flesh with the weight of my own sin more times than I can count, he has nonetheless removed my sins from me as far as the east is from the west. It is amazing what happens when we agree with Jesus’ prayer for forgiveness and stop trying to earn it. We can’t add anything to what God has done for us. All we can do is repent and turn to Him so that our sins can be wiped out.
His offer of forgiveness is our opportunity for a total renovation of the self. It is the opportunity for a heart transplant, letting his heart beat within us making our hearts throb for the things that Jesus desires. And, like it or not, it is offered to everyone. I struggle with this. I’m not sure that I want forgiveness for every person in this world, but if the gospel is true, I am no better than they and if God loves me he loves them too.
Jesus, help us accept that our sins are washed enough and all we can do is rest in the forgiveness that you have already granted. Let your kindness lead us all to kindness. Lead us to pray for our enemies, enemies who walk the same sinful road that we do. Let enemies become allies in Your kingdom. Let the double-edged sword of your word perform surgery upon our hearts, cutting out the cancers of hate and bitterness that eat away at our souls. Let Your kingdom come and change as only it can. As we sing so often, “Take my heart and form it. Take my mind transform it. Take my will, conform it to Yours”. Lord, do the same for our enemies.

Come quickly Lord Jesus.

May His Kingdom Come,


Pastor Rick

Well, I survived Y.A.C. (Youth at Camp) in Saint Mary's Ohio for another year. I'd like to say first of all that the Lord is amazing and that it was great to see Him working in the lives of the teens on the Northwest Ohio District Church of the Nazarene. NWO teens rock my socks off.

I want to thank New Covenant from Mount Vernon Ohio for accompanying me in leading the teens in praise to our God each day. Jon Gibson, Andrew Scholz, Austin Lamos, Ryan Stroop, and Preston Fleming...You guys rock my shoes off. I hope we get to do it again sometime.

To the directors, Tim Moebs and Josh Morgan, thanks for a great week. To the counselors who love Jesus and teens enough to spend a week in unholy heat and humidity with mosquitoes the size of my head...you guys and gals are my heroes and you just plain rock.

I think the Lord for working through every part of last week and I look forward to seeing His glorious future lived out in the lives of these awesome teens.

One last thing, some of you were wanting to hear the song, "A Little Lower Than The Angels" again. It is available on this web site as a video clip.

www.rickjamesmusic.net
Blessings In Christ,
Rick L. James

Hello all my good fans, friends, and family. I am pleased to announce that many of my worship songs are now available at www.ccli.com
If you are a music pastor and would like to use any of my music in your church you can download lyrics, leadsheets, and report your usage if you are a CCLI member.

Have a great day and may God's Blessings be upon you.

The second song under consideration for the new '07' record is here. The title is "Sing Praises To God Who Reigns Above" and it is posted on the music page at www.rickjames.net
Please give it a listen and give me some feedback on why it should or should not be on the next CD. I'd love to hear from you.

God Bless,
Rick James

Just wanted to let my friends out there know that my music is now available for download from apple itunes.

Just go to this website or click the link on the buy section of this web site.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=128896480
God Bless,
Rick

Hello friends,
I just thought I would let you know that I am going to start putting potential songs for the new record onto this website. They will not be in full professional recording format, just a simple guitar and voice recording to give you an idea of the songs lyrical and musical content. I am trying to narrow down which songs to record and would appreciate feeback on my guestbook page or by E-mail. In turn, you get to be a part of the song selection process for my next recording. It's like making your own CD, only different. The first song for review wil be "Holy Is the Lord" a simple praise song that we have been singing in my church for a while now.
Blessings,
Rick James

Well, Northwest Ohio District's B.L.A.S.T. at Findlay first church of the Nazarene was a complete success. It was great to worship with so many teens from the surrounding area. Keep running hard after God. I especially want to send a shout out to Wilson restaraunt in Findlay Ohio for a truly unique dining experience. I'd also like to thank the high fiving Easter Bunny for being such a good sport in downtown Findlay. Some person in an easter bunny outfit was standing on the street in front of a local business waving to the oncoming traffic. When Mike Womacks, a teen from my youth group, put his hand out the window and waved back the Easter bunny lunged at our van and gave him a high five. It was so unexpected that we laughed for about 5 minutes. Here's to you five slapping Easter Bunny. You aren't the real reason for Easter, but I consider you an ally.

I have been reading "The Confessions of Saint Augustine" over the last few days and it is truly a gift. One sentence that is standing out to me at this moment is "Oh! that Thou wouldst enter into my heart, and inebriate it, that I may forget my ills, and embrace Thee, my sole good?"
It seems like our world is obsessed with partying and losing control through alcohol. Every time I had been around an inebriated person their inhibitions are gone as the drink works it way through their mind and heart.
Augustine is simply rephrasing the scriptural emphasis of not being drunk of wine, but being drunk with the Spirit instead.
I long to lose control of myslef and be inebriated by the Spirit of God. I'd love for my inhibitions to be lowered and for th eSpirit of God to have full control over all my thoughts, words, and actions. I don't believe this is a fantasy. I believe God's words mandates this kind of intoxication. Let's all get wasted my fellow Christians...on God's Spirit. Let's lose control on the intoxicatin power of the Spirit. Let's let Him work in us to do things that we never would have done apart from His Spirit leading us. Let's us go hard after God.

Blessings In Christ,
Rick