Behind the Praise - Sunday March 22, 2009

BLENDED 9:30AM

"Blessed Be Your Name"


This powerful worship song by Matt Redman has a phrase that is based on Job 13:15. The Message translates it like this
"So hold your tongue while I have my say, then I'll take whatever I have coming to me.Why do I go out on a limb like this and take my life in my hands?Because even if he killed me, I'd keep on hoping. I'd defend my innocence to the very end. Just wait, this is going to work out for the best—my salvation!"

Click here to hear the story behind the song by Matt Redman.
www.theheartofworship.org/stories/Story-257-BlessedBeYourName-Redman.mp3


Click here to hear the song
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6xo5KogzaI


Click here to worship along with Tree63
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mZH9T9XNVU&mode=related&search=

“The Wonderful Cross”


ISAAC WATTS & CHRIS TOMLINThe original song was written by Isaac Watts, the new chorus was written by Chris Tomlin. Isaac was born in 1674 and Chris was born in 1972. Even though they are separated by three hundred years, there is no separation between their passion and commitment to leading God's people in worship. WOW! The past meets the present.


Click here to hear Chris Tomlin talk about how this new arrangement came about. www.theheartofworship.org/stories/Story-306-TheWonderfulCross-Tomlin.mp3


Click here to learn more about Chris Tomlin
www.christomlin.com/


You can listen to more of Chris Tomlins' music on his myspace website.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=94631118


Isaac Watts (July 17, 1674 – November 25, 1748) is recognized as the "Father of English Hymnody", as he was the first prolific and popular English hymnwriter, credited with some 750 hymns. Many of his hymns remain in active use today and have been translated into many languages.

Click here to read more about Isaac Watts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Watts


This is an interesting read on Isaac Watts.
www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/w/a/t/watts_i.htm


Isaac is best known for his emphasizing the role of music in worship, where the congregation actually began to sing with the choir. Watts became the congregation's pastor in 1702. Just five feet tall, he was an unprepossessing figure in the pulpit. Health problems continued to plague him, and an assistant had to be appointed to fill in for him after a severe bout with illness in 1703. Despite these problems, Watts was a powerful preacher. The Mark Lane congregation outgrew its quarters and twice had to move to larger facilities, and Watts' sermons began to be collected and printed. Part of his success was due to his emphasis on the role of music in worship. A minister, he felt, should not only write sermons but should seek to involve his congregation in worship through music.

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

“Indescribable”

On June 14, 2007, Tomlin's recording of the song "Indescribable" was used as the official wake-up call for Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester on Space Shuttle mission STS-117. What an incredible

This song is all about how great our God is. The artist of this song is Chris Tomlin and originally written by Laura Story. Laura Story holds the CCLI copyright of this song.
Like the twists and turns of a mountain road, Laura Story’s life has held its share of unexpected moments – some exhilarating, some terrifying, and some simply beautiful to behold. Leaning solely on her faith in the sovereignty of God, Story has learned that no matter what comes around the next bend it’s going to be an incredible view.

Once an aspiring symphony conductor, Story didn’t even know she could sing – much less write songs – until she was in her early twenties. Today, Story is not only a gifted vocalist and worship leader but also the composer of one of the most beloved worship songs of our generation – “Indescribable”. The song has topped the charts and been recorded by multiple artists.

Click here to worship along with Chris:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PTvr755V8s

Click here for a moving DVD with the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmTxZAl7ceU

"Oh the Glory of it All"


This worship song by David Crowder is a play on the word glory. David said even as believers we struggle with defining glory.At the start he was there, he was thereIn the end,he’ll be there, he’ll be there And After all our hands have wroughtHe forgives Oh the Glory of it all is:he came hereFor the rescue of us allthat we may livefor the glory of it allfor the glory of it all.


Click here to listen to David share about how he wrote the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r_XWX00lH8


Click here to worship along with David at a Passion event:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg-1yM6insA&feature=related

"Lord I lift Your Name on High"

Rick Founds wrote this song.It was written in 1989 during Found's morning devotion. Having developed the habit of playing guitar while watching television, he found it very natural to play while reading Scripture on his computer monitor."I'd just reach over and grab my guitar," he recalls. "I'd plunk along with whatever I was reading that day."He remembers marveling one early morning at the love of God who created the world though He knew we would rebel and fall. It amazed Rick that God had a plan to redeem us from the very beginning. As Founds meditated over his cyber-Bible and touched his guitar strings, God's plan struck him as something of a cycle.He thought of the cycle of rain that comes down, waters the earth, evaporates back into the clouds and then returns.Suddenly, the now famous chorus emerged: "You came from heaven to earth to show the way / From the earth to the cross my debt to pay / From the cross to the grave / From the grave to the sky..." Interrupting his own lyric, Founds explains, "The response to grasping even a little bit of that knowledge is praise, and thanksgiving and gratitude!" When he completes the line, 'Lord, I Lift Your Name on High,' a moment of silent awe follows.


Click here to read more about this Carol:
www.ccli.com/WorshipResources/SongStories.cfm?itemID=11

Click here to worship along with Rick Founds:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBezK_v_FqY

Click here to worship along with the group Petra:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cx5YmS7GXQ&feature=related

Click here to worship along with some great images:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OF5iaFNE7Q



THIRD 6PM

"Blessed Be Your Name"


This powerful worship song by Matt Redman has a phrase that is based on Job 13:15. The Message translates it like this "So hold your tongue while I have my say, then I'll take whatever I have coming to me.Why do I go out on a limb like this and take my life in my hands?Because even if he killed me, I'd keep on hoping. I'd defend my innocence to the very end. Just wait, this is going to work out for the best—my salvation!"


Click here to hear the story behind the song by Matt Redman.
www.theheartofworship.org/stories/Story-257-BlessedBeYourName-Redman.mp3


Click here to hear the song
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6xo5KogzaI


Click here to worship along with Tree63
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mZH9T9XNVU&mode=related&search=

"Everlasting God"

Brenton Brown wrote this song after both he and his wife had being diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Brown described their illness in the following excerpt from Christianity today. Brown: It's called fibromyalgia, a form of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. What defines it are the symptoms, the most obvious ones [being] fatigue. You feel jet-lagged most of the time. There are other symptoms like nausea, muscle pain, muscle aches. There's no known cure. Basically it was just like waking up one day and finding out that I had someone else's body. Very strange. I wasn't thinking as clearly. And over the last three years we've basically had to relearn how to live life with our new bodies. It's been a challenge. Chronic Fatigue is a little bit like having mono[nucleosis]. You feel very fatigued, very drained. And no matter how much you sleep, you're still going to feel tired. You can never shake off that tired feeling. I just kept going for six months. And then my pastor, the board of our church and the group of doctors that I was seeing all decided, "This is not working. You're not going to be able to force your way through this." Brenton Brown, born in South Africa, is a Christian songwriter and worship leader. He left South Africa for Oxford, England in his early twenties on a Rhodes Scholarship. While studying politics, philosophy and theology he joined the Vineyard music (UK), serving as worship pastor at the Oxford Vineyard, UK, and eventually as coordinator of the Vineyard (UK) Worship Development Team. His songs, Lord Reign in me, All who are thirsty, Humble King, Hallelujah [Your love is amazing] and Holy were recorded on the popular Vineyard UK projects during this time. He has since left the UK and now lives in Malibu, California with his wife, Jude. Brenton is an artist on the worship label Survivor and in 2006 released his first solo album, Everlasting God with Survivor in the UK and rest of the world, and with Sparrow in the United States and Canada.


Check out Brenton’s ministry here:
www.brentonbrownmusic.com/


Click here to listen to him share about how the song came about
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YePOcs88kqw


Click here to listen to Lincoln Brewsters' arrangement
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP2nz6PG8KM&mode=related&search=


Click here to listen to Brenton Brown & Paul Baloche
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bLWwnVBuF8

"Great is Thy Faithfulness"


In praise of God, 'Great is Thy Faithfulness,' a hymn written by Thomas O. Chisholm (1866-1960), is a worship song that uplifts through trials and tough times. It was a result of a writer's daily experiences and realization of God's faithfulness. The tune is composed by William M. Runyan (1870-1957), with scripture reference from the Bible's Lamentations 3:22-23 - "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail." This sacred song has been an all-time favorite among Christians. Popular gospel singer and songwriter Beverley Shea says that it was first introduced to audiences in Great Britain by the Billy Graham Crusades in 1954


Click here to sing the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kabwrNk3JAQ

Click here for an organ arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CIjceUj_oI&feature=related

"Beautiful"

I see Your face in every sunrise The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes The world awakens in the light of the day I look up to the sky and say You’re beautiful I see Your power in the moonlit night Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright We are amazed in the light of the stars It’s all proclaiming who You are You’re beautiful, You're beautiful I see you there hanging on a tree You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me Now you are sitting on Your heavenly throne Soon we will be coming home You’re beautiful, you're beautiful When we arrive at eternity’s shore Where death is just a memory and tears are no more We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring Your bride will come together and we’ll sing You’re beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful I see Your face, You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautifulI see Your face, You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautifulI see Your face, I see Your face I see Your face, You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful

This song was written by Phil Wickham. In a world where swagger usually triumphs over substance, it’s refreshing when a young singer/songwriter arrives on the scene with something to say. With the multi-faceted sound of a much older soul and shimmering melodies that match the intensity of his heartfelt lyrics, 21-year-old Phil Wickham’s self-titled debut can’t help but stand out in a crowd of cookie-cutter pop and angst-fueled rock. And it’s his personal journey of faith expressed in the songs that really makes the difference.Even though singer/songwriter Phil Wickham grew up in a devout Christian home, there came a point early in his life when he knew his faith needed to become his own. He no longer wanted to coast on his parents’ coattails or go to church simply because that’s what he was supposed to do. He wanted something real, that personal friendship with Jesus. And that crucial realization, combined with moving to a new city while he was in junior high, paved the way for Phil to pick up a guitar and start writing songs about his growing faith.

Click here to worship along with Phil: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg4cYdP1ngw