BEHIND THE PRAISE - Sunday May 16, 2010

BLENDED SERVICE 9:30AM

“How can I keep from Singing”

There is an endless song echoes in my soulI hear the music ring and though the storms may comeI am holding on to the rock I clingHow can I keep from singing Your praiseHow can I ever say enoughHow amazing is Your loveHow can I keep from shouting Your nameI know I am loved by the KingAnd it makes my heart want to sing Chris Tomlin joined Ed Cash and Matt Redman to write this song. The song is on the album "See the Morning". This song anchors the theme of hope found on the album. "How Can I Keep From Singing," is a rendition of the 1860 hymn by Robert Lowry. "How Can I Keep From Singing?" is listed in some hymnals by the opening line "My Life Flows On". The original composition has now entered into the public domain. The song is frequently cited incorrectly as a traditional Quaker hymn. Chris reworked the original text and crafted a song that could be sung to God during the difficult times.

Click here to listen to Chris share how he wrote the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6lTZySpbpo

Click here to worship along with Chris:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQI5wxtH6OY&feature=related

“O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing”

Charles Wesley was suffering a bout of pleurisy in May, 1738, while he and his brother were studying under the Moravian scholar Peter Böhler in London. At the time, Wesley was plagued by extreme doubts about his faith. Taken to bed with the sickness on May 21 Wesley was attended by a group of Christians who offered him testimony and basic care, and he was deeply affected by this. He read from his Bible and found himself deeply affected by the words, and at peace with God. Shortly his strength began to return. He wrote of this experience in his journal and counted it as a renewal of his faith; when his brother John had a similar experience on the 24th, the two men met and sang a hymn Wesley had written in praise of his renewal.
One year from the experience, Wesley was taken with the urge to write another hymn, this one in commemoration of his renewal of faith. This hymn took the form of an 18-stanza poem, beginning with the opening lines 'Glory to God, and praise, and love,/Be ever, ever given and was published in 1740 and entitled 'For the anniversary day of one's conversion'. The seventh verse, which begins, 'O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing', and which now is invariably the first verse of a shorter hymn recalls the words of Peter Bohler who said, 'Had I a thousand tongues I would praise Him with them all.' The hymn was placed first in John Wesley's A Collection of Hymns for the People Called Methodists published in 1780. It appeared first in every (Wesleyan) Methodist hymnal from that time until the publication of Hymns and Psalms in 1983

Click here to hear an organ arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mHDcIGXBtw

Click here for a contemporary arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1LwDBVpg_E

Click here for an acoustic guitar arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U8AuFL1qN0&feature=related

“Breathe”

A friend's suicide had left her reeling, but out of Marie Barnett's desperate need for God came a worship classic sung around the world.
Marie Barnett didn't consider herself a worship songwriter, although she had led worship with her husband John for years and wrote her own compositions during her personal worship time. John was the writer, penning what Barnett terms "tons" of worship music through the years (including "Holy and Anointed One"). "He's the worship writer," she explains, adding "I never sat down and wrote thinking, This could be sung in a congregation. It was more between me and the Lord in my bedroom with the door locked."
But that all changed during a Sunday evening service at the Mission Viejo Vineyard in Southern California. The Barnetts were leading worship as they had done hundreds of times before, and words to what would become the worship song "Breathe" just spontaneously came out.
" We had been singing 'Isn't He' by John Wimber," Barnett recalls, "and my husband continued to play. I was so enthralled with Jesus at that moment, thinking I could never live, I could never even take a breath if I didn't have a word from Him every day. And so I heard those words-'this is the air I breathe, this is my daily bread'-and I started singing them."
Before she knew it, the congregation had joined her. Still, it wasn't as if Barnett left that night convinced she has a worship hit on her hands. There had been other spontaneous songs, but she soon realized "Breathe" was different. "People would come up to me at the grocery store and say, 'You know what we were singing on Sunday night? I've been singing it all week.'"
So they began to sing the song regularly in church and it continued to elicit a strong response, bringing many to tears. Barnett says even now she can hardly get through it. "I think the word 'desperate' digs deep into me," she says by way of explanation. "The longer I'm a Christian, the more desperate I am for God."
Not to mention Barnett was feeling particularly desperate around the time the words for "Breathe" came to her. A dance teacher by day, Barnett's boss of 10 years had recently taken his own life, leaving behind a note asking her to take over the dance studio. "He was very depressed and had just gone through a divorce and was on all kinds of weird medications and into New Age thinking," she recalls of the tragic incident. "He even came to church with me once right before he took his life and I was like, Well, what good did that do? In the end, the event left Barnett with questions for which there were no answers. And that desperation came out in her songwriting."
Shortly after being written, "Breathe" wound up on Vineyard's Touching the Father's Heart #25 and seemed to be on its way to finding a broader audience. But if there's one thing Barnett learned from watching her husband's songwriting career, it's that the timing isn't up to us.
"We recorded the song for Vineyard and then nothing happened," Barnett says. "Not that I thought anything about it because to me it was just a neat thing the Lord gave to our church." Five years later, worship leader Brian Doerksen was putting together Vineyard's Hungry and contacted Barnett about including "Breathe." Then came Michael W. Smith's version on his 2001 release, Worship.
Barnett was driving in her car when she first heard the track playing on the radio. "I just started bawling. I love that version because at the end when he's saying 'Cry out to Him' it's like 'Oh! People are worshipping Jesus! Yea!'"
Since writing "Breathe" Barnett regularly contributes songs to the worship time at Vineyard Community Church of Laguna Niguel, the California church plant where she and her husband lead worship today. And she continues to run the dance studio as her late boss wished. With more than 600 students and 20 classes to teach each week, Barnett says the business venture provides with her plenty of material for her songwriting. And to round out her schedule, she also teaches at worship conferences, going "wherever people invite me."

Click here to worship along with Michael W. Smith:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oad8ov10AjY

Click here for a moving video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwLgyMzzh0M

CONTEMPORARY 11:00AM

"One Way"

This song was written by Joel Houston and Jonathan Douglass. Houston is a musician and songwriter, best known as the key worship leader and producer of Sydney based worship band Hillsong United, the worship band of Hillsong Church's youth group, also known as Hillsong United. In 2008 he became the Creative Director at Hillsong Church.

Houston began playing piano at a young age, at the suggestion of his parents. As he was not interested in piano, he soon diverted his efforts to playing guitar instead.

Jonathan Douglass' first experience of what he describes as God's tangible presence was at a Christian youth camp. At 12, he was actually too young to attend the camp but tagged along with his older brother and sister anyway . One night while the band was playing, he felt something he is almost unable to put into words, I just remember lifting my hands, not really knowing what I was doing and singing these words that had a meaning I didn't really understand. I developed a longing for God's presence without knowing much about it.

The most powerful songs come from a personal relationship with God and are filled with meaningful scripture, JD says. Three years ago, JD wrote One Way, a song inspired by a personal search, I questioned what I was doing and why I was doing it. He was still going to church, reading the Bible and praying but he felt like he had lost the reason for it all. I sat down one night after hanging out with God and the verses just came out back to back within a couple of minutes, he says, Things about God, how He's always there, how He never changes and how I'll never live for anyone but Him.

Click here to learn more about Jonathon Douglass:
www.jonathondouglass.com/

Click here to worship along with the Hillsong worship team:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPuUIUWE8h8

Click here to listen online:
www.last.fm/music/Hillsong+United/_/One+Way

“Unchanging”

Chris Tomlin wrote this song about how our Lord never changes. Our response to His faithfulness and sovereignty is worship.

Click here to learn more about Chris’ ministry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Tomlin#Biography

Click here to visit Chris’ website:
www.christomlin.com

Click here to visit Chris’ myspace:
www.myspace.com/christomlin

Click here to worship along with Chris Tomlin:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLhB99vnkp8

Click here to worship along with Chris Tomlin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrGbVmfOw1A

Here are the lyrics:

Great is Your faithfulness
Great is Your faithfulness
You never changeYou never fail, O God
True are Your promises
True are Your promises
You never changeYou never fail, O God
So we raise up holy hands
To praise the Holy One
Who was and is and is to come
Wide is Your love and grace
Wide is Your love and grace
You never change You never fail, O God
You were, You are You will always be

"Wholly Yours"

David Crowders' mother called him one day with a song idea. David's mother serves as a social worker specifically working with child placement. His thought was "sure mom and I have some thoughts on childcare placement." She was struck by the use of the phrase I am wholly yours. She visited with David about the double meaning of wholly and holy. David filed the idea away and after spending some time the following came forth:I am full of earth You are heaven’s worthI am stained with dirt, prone to depravityYou are everything that is bright and cleanThe antonym of me You are divinityBut a certain sign of grace is this From a broken earth flowers come upPushing through the dirtYou are holy, holy, holy All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”You are holy, holy, holyI wanna be holy like You are

Click here to listen to David share about how this song came about:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKPaXd5zRMI

Click here to worship along with David:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLxC_tYhFxs

THIRD SERVICE 6PM

"Great and Mighty"

This song was written by Caedman's call. Caedmon's Call is a CCM band that fuses folk-rock with adult alternative rock influences. Cliff Young (vocals, rhythm guitar), Derek Webb (lead guitar, vocals), Danielle Glenn (vocals), Aric Nitzberg (bass), Todd Bragg (drums), Randy Holsapple (organ), and Garett Buell (percussion) formed the Houston, TX-based band at Texas Christian University in the summer of 1992. The group originally included Aaron Tate, who left the band shortly after its formation, but he continued to write songs with Young. After spending some time playing locally, Caedmon's Call began touring college campuses across the South, steadily building up a dedicated following of young Gen-X singles.
Hold my heart, O God, keep me ever in Your will There is joy within Your presence here and now But better will is the the day that is to come
When Your full glory is revealed I have long endured the trials of the age But I will say You are great and mighty God Robed in majesty You set us apart, You set us free When You captured out heartsYou are great and mighty So in You I will rejoice, make my life an offering I'm enraptured by the mercies of my King And I will sing I will sing Your praise, I will sing Your praise O name above all names I will count the days until I see Your face I will evermore proclaim

Click here for an interview of Caedmans' Call:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zewGGyRJ9k&feature=PlayList&p=D6F378CD96C97EB7&playnext=1&index=5

Click here to play online:
www.rhapsody.com/caedmons-call/great-and-mighty

"Thy Mercy, My God"

Click here to learn more about Sandra McCracken:
www.sandramccracken.com/

Click here to worship listen to Sandra McCracken: www.last.fm/music/Sandra+McCracken/_/Thy+Mercy,+My+God

Click here to visit Sandra's myspace:
www.myspace.com/sandramccracken

1. Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,The joy of my heart. and the boast of my tongue;Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

2. Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here;Sin would reduce me to utter despair;But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive,And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

3. Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart;Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground,And weep to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.

4. Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divineSeals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divineSeals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

“Mighty is the Power of the Cross”

This song was written by Chris Tomlin & Jesse Reeves. Chris was stirred by the phrase "What can take a dying man and bring him back to life again". Chris and Jesse were amazed by the mystery of the cross, as it is foolishness to those who are perishing.

What can take a dying man And raise him up to life again?
What can heal the wounded soul? What can make us white as snow?
What can fill the emptiness?What can mend our brokenness?
Brokenness?Chorus:Mighty, awesome, wonderful Is the Holy cross.
Where the Lamb lay down His lifeTo lift us from the fall.
Mighty is the power of the cross.

Click here to hear more about how this song on the cross was written:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gDVwQ_Oyhc

Click here for a moving visual portrayal of the cross:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkO-D0fatRQ&feature=related

"You Watch over me"

I was lonelyYou came waltzing over to me
And Your eyes they saw right through me
And You heard each one of my cries for help
And You came to rescue me I was broken
Every prayer that I had spoken
Reached Your ears and all my tears weren’t cried in vain
You carried all my pain And put me back together again
You watch over me in the darkest valleys You watch over me when the night seems long
You help me to see the way before me
You watch over me; You watch over me Always faithful To be leading, at this moment Interceding for Your children Though I’ve wandered astray from Your infinite ways
You’ve never left me alone
Take my frozen heart; awaken me
Never once have You forsaken me
Even though I walk through this shadow of death
You will guide and defend me
You’ll guard and protect me
Even though I walk through this shadow of death
You will lead me home

I was wondering if the people of Israel felt butterflies of excitement in their stomachs when Moses said something to them like, “Pack your bags quickly, because after 430 years of slavery, I’m here to tell you that God has heard your prayers, and He’s giving us a land of our own. We’re leaving tonight!” God watched over His people as they journeyed through the desert to a place they couldn’t yet see. It’s easy to feel their pain as they hoped to be delivered from slavery in Egypt; while they searched their own hearts to discover if they really believed in this “God of their forefathers,” and whether or not He would truly deliver them. Jesus said, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” So, when your night seems long, when you walk through a dark valley in life, He will show the way before you. He will never leave you alone. He will watch over you. Believe that! -- AARON SHUST

Click here to learn more about Aaron: www.ccmmagazine.com/music/artist/aaron_shust/

Click here to listen to the song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdorGhItLy4

Click here for another version: www.ilike.com/artist/Aaron+Shust/track/Watch+Over+Me