The last verse then says, ‘And you, O my soul, bless God.’ (The Message). I love those words, ‘And you’- David also realises that his own soul is not exempt from the command to join in the song- he says, ‘come on, you, O my soul…’ having commanded every living thing to aid him in his efforts to praise his God, he turns to his own soul and gives the same command!

Let’s face it; the angels don’t really need that command from David. They are and always will be praising God- the song is being sung! There is no hesitation or confusion amongst the heavenly choir. It’s up to us to join in that eternal song!

May we make the same realisations as our royal ancestor David- let’s have the humility to know that our earthly song is not worthy (but still acceptable!), the boldness to usher everything around us into praise of a worthy God and the awareness to know that our soul needs the same encouragement!

‘And you, O my soul, BLESS GOD!’

Psalm 103

^1-2 O my soul, bless God. From head to toe, I’ll bless his holy name!
O my soul, bless God,
don’t forget a single blessing!
^3-5 He forgives your sins—every one.
He heals your diseases—every one.
He redeems you from hell—saves your life!
He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.
He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.
He renews your youth—you’re always young in his presence.

^19-22 God has set his throne in heaven;
he rules over us all. He’s the King!
So bless God, you angels,
ready and able to fly at his bidding,
quick to hear and do what he says.
Bless God, all you armies of angels,
alert to respond to whatever he wills.
Bless God, all creatures, wherever you are—
everything and everyone made by God.

And you, O my soul, bless God!

Peace

Mark

PS. MFB now have an APP, its called The MFB app (original i know) and its FREE off iTunes! Click here to see it! Theres a bunch of stuff up there so check it out!

www.markfergusonband.com

Have been reading a lot of things recently. Some thoughts going through my mind. As is often the case, a song emerges from these thoughts and I want to tell you about it. Isn’t it amazing that God made us from dust? How often I forget that I am simply a bit of dirt or grime, taken by an almighty God and transformed into a life! Psalm 103 is a fabulous Psalm-read it! But there’s one verse I always moved over all too quickly in the past- verse 14 says, ‘for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.’ HE KNOWS! The Message translates it as, ‘He knows us inside and out, keeps in mind that we’re made of mud.’ Is that not comforting to realise? Does that not put things into perspective? As we struggle with this life, this faith, this sin, this body, this arrogance, this ignorance, this scandalous grace….let us remember that HE KNOWS HOW WE ARE FORMED- let us not rise above that which God knows we are- let us realise that as the creator and sustainer we need him to succeed. If I fail, he knows I’m dust. If I let him down, He knows I’m dust. If I need his forgiveness more than I can bear to ask, he knows I’m dust. Let’s get right back to basics, to where it all began, receiving the breath of the Spirit, let’s live as God intended. I pray that God will breathe life into this dust again…. Draw near again Come rushing wind Breathe life into this dust again Put flesh on bones Your Kingdom come Breathe life into this dust again © Mark Ferguson October 2009 Peace Mark www.markfergusonband.com

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‘Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:  it is the time for home.’  ~Edith Sitwell

Wherever I read it, it seems true.

Anyway, over the last  while the band has been consumed with talks over our next step, what do we do next? Our EP was recorded two years ago this winter so we are thinking it’s time to get stuck into recording again!

Many questions have been occupying each of us- should we go all out on a full studio album, which has big financial implications or can we simply step things up a level from a home recorded EP…? Whatever happens we pray that God will have lead us in the right direction and we know that he ultimately will have all the glory.

In the midst of this chaos it’s so easy to forgot that we make music to worship God. He has to be at the centre of whatever we do and all the glory should always to go to him. Let’s face it, no one could believe that we could do it on our own strength. If we want to create an album which proclaims the awesomeness of an Almighty God and the beauty of our Saviour then it must be God centred!

It’s exciting times and although it sounds like we have no idea what we are doing God has placed the people around us to help!!

NEWSFLASH – This is the official statement that MFB are about to embark on their debut album!! WoHOO!!! We will keep you posted!

We have now jumped on the bandwagon of twitter and you can join us at

www.twitter.com/markfergband ….Enjoy!

Peace

MFB

Hey Everyone!

Can you believe summer is nearly gone!! Where did it go?! Summer time is a funny period for the band – it all starts towards the end of May/start of June when we are playing 2 or 3 times a week at points (total mayhem) and this year we had the added pressure of trying to put on the Theatre gig (will tell u about that later). As you can imagine we were all pretty busy, but i think this year esp, it brought everyone a bit closer and I have to say I loved every minute of it!

Then after the climax and chaos of June we get off for summer break….this is the bit in the summer were everyone goes their separate ways, not on purpose but for some reason it happens every year, Mark heads to Africa, Timmy heads round Ireland, Jimbo perfects ‘wow’ and I go to camp in Sligo! So for about 6 weeks through July and August MFB are disbanded, but then brought back to reality very quickly with Xpression looming!

Every year after we have our summer break we meet together for a marathon of a practice for Xpression and every year without fail instead of being a bit rusty and awkward, God seems to give us a freshness and added momentum which blows me away. I think especially for me this year I found that I was totally wrecked coming out of 6 weeks of summer camps and suddenly thrown into Xpression and I was expecting to be dead on my feet but I think I had more energy than any other year!!

Xpression for those that don’t know is a group of 400 plus volunteers who go out into every community in Portadown, Craigavon and Richhill and show practical LOVE! We have the unbelievable privilege of leading worship each morning and this year God took all of us on an amazing journey showing his Love, Grace and Majesty. I was totally in awe of some of the young xpressioners who every morning came with only one purpose, to worship and glorify God with everything they had! The week ends with an open-air concert in the middle of Portadown where all the volunteers and people we’ve met in the community join together to worship! Kasat always have a ‘field day’, providing us this year with a Mirror Ball (disco ball) which was like the size of the moon, well not quite but was really quite impressive!!(check out the photos) It’s just bonkers when you look out into the crowd of black tshirts and our Lord is being Glorified above all others, with passion and exuberance in the middle of our town!!

Xpression was just unbelievable this year, God is so faithful, it sets us up for the next few months as we are refocused after the summer and ready for whatever God has in store!!!

Just realised I have written way too much, oops, check out the photos going up on the website and the up-coming gigs!

Peace

Matt

Good day fine people of the MFB mailing list!

As you may have heard we are putting on a small concert in the Market Place Theatre in the lovely Cathedral City of Armagh, on the 27th of June at 8PM. The venue is first class and we look forward to making use of the facilities!

We have great pleasure in letting you know that we have found a quite excellent young local artist who will be our support for the evening. Her name is Katharine Holland and she is a singer-song writer from Portadown! She has an awesome voice and some fantastic songs. We know that she will be a great addition to the night, which gives you even less of an excuse not to be there! lol Check out her myspace to hear a little sample: (http://www.myspace.com/katharinepholland)

Tickets are selling well- nearly all the stall seats are gone! So don’t leave it too late if you are thinking of coming along!

Tickets are available from:

Box Office [t] 028 3752 1821

Online at http://www.marketplacearmagh.com

We are also playing at Hope Dealers in Craigavon this weekend more info at http://megalife.org.uk/mg/

Peace

Matt

PS Check out our blog at http://markfergusonband.wordpress.com

http://www.markfergusonband.com

Can’t believe we are at the end of another month!! MAD! It has been a blessed and exciting year at RESONATE and we continue to seek real encounter with God through freedom in worship and listening to his word…this Sunday 7pm, Thomas Street Methodist Halls with Brian Agnew (KLCC)…

Can I also draw your attention to two other things-one is an event we have in Armagh Theatre on 27th June-you may have already received a couple of emails but we would love to see you there! Check out our wee promo video below

Also, on 28th June we have our final resonate before the summer break. We have an awesome speaker in BISHOP KEN CLARKE (Fanta) coming that night- it will be held in Edenderry Presbyterian Church Halls. Starting at 8pm…Ken is both a fantastic person and an extremely gifted speaker (was main speaker at a previous PortadownConvention)….please do consider coming along!

God Bless,

MFB

P.S. Thanks to everyone who downloaded the MP3 and a big welcome if this is your first MFB Mail message!

http://www.markfergusonband.com