.jpg)
BLENDED 9:30AM"How Great is Our God"
This worship song was written by Chris Tomlin. Chris said he almost apologized to the Lord for writing such a simple song, but felt that the English language could only go so far in describing the greatness of our God. After writing the song he felt in his spirit that he had written a song that would be embraced by the church around the world.
Chris received his first guitar from his father, Connie, at the age of eleven after contracting a case of mono. Then, Tomlin wrote his first worship song at age fourteen. He entered college planning to study medicine, but he stated that he felt God's calling to something else and did not pursue that career.In the mid-1990's Tomlin spent time leading worship at the Dawson McAllister Youth Conferences, as well as at various camps around the state of Texas.Following college, at Texas A&M University Tomlin continued to play and write songs, and in 1997, Louie Giglio asked if he would be interested in working with the Passion Conferences. Tomlin agreed, and he has played a key role ever since. His first nationally released solo project, entitled The Noise We Make, was released in 2001, which saw the emergence of songs "Forever" (his most famous song other than "How Great Is Our God"), "Be Glorified", and "Kindness", all of which made the top 200 in the CCLI 2005 top 500 worship songs.
According to Christian Copyright Licensing International's list of the top 25 worship songs in the United States as of August 2007, Tomlin held 5 spots with songs he has either written or co-written with other songwriters: "How Great Is Our God" (#1), "Forever" (#5), "Holy Is the Lord" (#7), "We Fall Down" (#12),and "Indescribable" (#22).
Click here to listen to the story behind the song:
www.theheartofworship.org/stories/Story-302-HowGreatisOurGod-Tomlin.mp3
Click here to listen to Chris share about how the song came about on newsong café: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpfKli_4LQ0&mode=related&search=
Click here to worship along with Chris:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxPG_mRHDs&feature=related
Click here to learn more about Chris’ ministry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Tomlin#Biography
Click here to visit Chris’ website:
http://www.christomlin.com/
Click here to visit Chris’ myspace:
www.myspace.com/christomlin
"Grace Greater than our Sins"
Sometimes the argument is advanced that since God's grace covers all our sings, then we are free to live as we please. God's grace does provide for our freedom, but it is meant to free us from a slavery to our selfish, sinful nature in order that we might pursue "every good work" - to become all that God intends us to be.Julia Johnston was for many years involved in the work of Sunday schools at the First Presbyterian Church of Peoria, Illinois, and as a writer of lesson materials for primary age children for the David C. Cook Publishing Company. She also wrote approximately 500 hymn texts. The composer of this hymn, Daniel B. Towner, was for many years the director of the music department at Mood Bible Institute. "Grace Greater than Our Sin" first appeared in Towner's compilation, Hymns Tried and True, 1911.
Click here for an organ arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2SAlqwXhUU
Click here to worship along with the Women of Faith:
www.imeem.com/jhayem211/music/rwZtP7LA/women_of_faith_grace_greater_than_our_sin/
“And Can it Be”
Not many hymns begin with a question as does this one. However, it is not an expression of doubt but of wonder and awe. · How can it be that the shedding of Jesus’ blood 1900 years ago is relevant to me today? · How was it possible for the Son of God to have died for me? · Why should our Lord empty Himself of all His divine glory and become a man, in order to save “Adam’s helpless race?” There is considerable evidence that this hymn was written by Charles Wesley soon after his own conversion. Charles Wesley’s crisis experience occurred on May 20, 1738. He had been sick in body as well as in spirit. It seemed that God spoke to him through a vision. According to his Journal, this confrontation took place after reading the bible for some time. Following is his account: “At midnight I gave myself up to Christ: assured I was safe, sleeping or waking. I had continued experience of his power to overcome all temptation; and confessed, with joy and surprise, that he was able to do exceedingly abundantly for me, above what I can ask or think.”
And Can it Be, that I Should Gain
And can it be, that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood`?
Died he for me, who caused his pain?
For me, who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
’Tis mystery all! The Immortal dies!
Who can explore his strange design?
In vain the first-born seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine!
Tis mercy all! let earth adore,
Let angel-minds inquire no more.
He left his Father’s throne above,
(So free, so infinite his grace!)
Emptied himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For, O my God, it found out me!
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
No condemnation now I dread,
Jesus, and all in him, is mine! Alive in him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Click here for an arrangement of the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQeIGbKqiw8
Click here for another arrangement of the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHPnGnzctCI&feature=related
Click here to worship along with the Gaithers:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnzJ5BUdcyo&feature=related
“The Wonderful Cross”
ISAAC WATTS & CHRIS TOMLIN
The 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
“All to You”
This worship song was written by Lincoln Brewster. Brewster has been musically inclined since his early childhood in Homer, Alaska. At the age of one, his mother, Cheryl, noticed how well he could keep rhythm on a drum set his grandfather had given him. At the age of five, his mother introduced him to the mandolin. Quickly mastering the instrument, he began playing for cruise ship tourists alongside his mother in Homer, Alaska.
By the age of 12, Brewster had a band called Lincoln and the Missing Links, which included his mother on bass and vocals. In his late teens, he moved with his family to California where he joined the high school jazz band (playing guitar and drums) and marching band (playing snare drum).
Due to connections gained in Los Angeles, he had recording contract offers by 19. Feeling emptiness in his life, Brewster attended church services with his high school sweetheart and Christian, Laura. He recalls feeling God drawing him close after attending a drama ministry performance with Laura.
"I was afraid to lay down a lot of things in my life," Lincoln said. "One night, I laid all my cards on the table. I asked the Lord to come into my life, all by myself. It was the best night of sleep I'd ever had. I was very peaceful.
Click here to listen to the song online: http://play.rhapsody.com/lincolnbrewster/letthepraisesringthebestoflincolnbrewster/alltoyou?didAutoplayBounce=true
Click here to read more about Lincoln:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Brewster
Click here to play Lincolns’ songs on his myspace – the songs are available on his standalone player, you can also listen to “Everlasting” and “Let the Praises Ring”
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=83285546
Click here to listen to Lincoln share about his journey and how a 70 year-old woman encouraged him during a time of worship;
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJPh1asdTsw
“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:
http://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 promisesTrue are Your promises
You never changeYou never fail, O God
So we raise up holy handsTo 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 changeYou never fail,
O GodYou were, You are You will always be
“Nothing but the Blood"
Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, would write these words, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." (Romans 3:25) The emphasis of this verse is on the shed blood that satisfies or propitiates our sin debt. Another way of saying the same thing is, "What can wash away our sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus." More than likely it was this verse or one like it, dealing with the subject of blood, which caused Pastor Robert Lowry to write a hymn.
Born in Philadelphia, on March 12, 1826, young Robert accepted Christ as his personal Savior at the age of 17 and later graduated from Bucknell University with high scholastic honors. In the 73 years of his life here on earth, he pastored churches in Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York City and Brooklyn. Along with his preaching, Dr. Lowry also had the gift of music in the writing of hymns. When asked about his method for writing songs, he would answer by saying:
I have no set method. Sometimes, the music comes and the words follow…. I watch my moods, and when anything strikes me, whether words or music, no matter where I am, at home or on the street, I jot it down…. My brain is sort of a spinning machine, for there is music running through it all the time. The tunes of nearly all the hymns I have written have been completed on paper, before I tried them on the organ. Frequently, the words of the hymn and the music have been written at the same time.
He supplied the music for such familiar hymns as We’re Marching to Zion, Savior, Thy Dying Love, Where Is my Wandering Boy Tonight, I Need Thee Every Hour and Fanny Crosby’s song, All the Way my Savior Leads Me. The words and music would come together in 1864 to produce Shall We Gather at the River. Then, in the Easter season of 1874, Christ Arose would flow from his pen and his heart. Finally, in 1876, Pastor Lowry would give us the answer to our sin debt in his song, Nothing but the Blood.
Down through the ages, man has tried to work off his sin debt in good works and religion—only to fail. The Bible says, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness." (Hebrews 9:22) Robert Lowry understood this very well:
Oh! Precious is the flow That makes me white as snow No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Click here to sing along with the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxDHamIhF7o
Click here for an organ arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvNNFPBkEsw
THIRD 6PM
"Here is our King"
This worship song was written by David Crowder in response the Tsunami on December 24, 2004. David and his wife were watching the images of devastation preparing to attend the Passion meeting in Nashville later that month. David was having trouble processing the level of devestation. He remembered telling his wife that 9-11 made more sense, as we are used to humanity doing something to each other. Historically we've done unkind things to each to each other and all we have to do is turn on the news. David knew how to process that devestation, but to be able to see such devestation unfold before his eyes was a new process for him. He struggeld with how to look at that and still say "God is Good". This song was David's response to God in the face of such a tragedy.From wherever spring arrives to heal the ground From wherever searching comes the look itself A trace of what we’re looking for So be quiet now and wait The ocean is growing the tide is coming in Here it is Here is our king, here is our love here is our God who’s come to bring us back to him He is the one, he is Jesus, Jesus
Click here to worship along with David Crowder:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6Fl_nqGJc0
Click here to listen to David share about how the song came about:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aea5Mq4sSUA
“Marvelous Light”
This song was written by Charlie Hall. Charlie Hall has been traveling for almost 15 years, from OKC to Kuala Lumpur, enthralling friends and strangers with his goatee and his songs. With a musical journey that has crisscrossed all kinds of rock music, folk music, and electronic music, he carries a songwriting sense that aims to capture dense images of life with God, in compositions that can be carried with the listener.He aims to tell the old story of the Gospel in an ever-shifting world, without resorting to easy truisms, or lazy language. His new collection of songs, The Bright Sadness, echoes a journey pressed to the chest of God, joyful and sorrowful at once, with God's heart clear and pulsing in each note and word. It wraps liturgy with the unexpected, and daily mundanity with daily surprise.
Click here to learn more about Charlie Hall:
www.charliehall.com/
Click here to visit Charlies’ myspace:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=60771694
Click here to worship along with Charlie Hall:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTkB6cBJGZg
Click here for a slower arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbEEeB0Dyew
“Be Thou My Vision”
The text (Rop tú mo baile) is often attributed to Dallan Forgaill in the 8th century; in any case, this text had been a part of Irish monastic tradition for centuries before the hymn itself was written. It was translated from Old Irish into English by Mary E. Byrne in “Eriú," Journal of the School of Irish Learning, in 1905. The English text was first versified by Eleanor H. Hull in 1912, and this version of the lyrics is the most common. However, slight variations of these lyrics are sometimes seen. The first verse of Hull's version follows:
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Thus, the English translation of the hymn itself is fairly recent and the Elizabethan vocabulary and structure is somewhat an anachronism. Be Thou My Vision has become the quintessential Irish hymn in English-speaking churches and is often sung around St. Patrick's Day. Despite its traditional nature and the seemingly archaic quality of the text, Be Thou My Vision has become a popular song performed by Contemporary Christian musicians, such as Rebecca St. James and Ginny Owens.
Click here to read about the origin of the hymn:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_Thou_My_Vision
Click here to listen to Rebecca St. James version
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XZ3ja-quhA
"The Glory of it All"
When David Crowder was attending Baylor University in Waco, Texas in the mid 1990's, he learned that more than half of the 14,000 students enrolled in the college were not attending church. This was very disturbing to Crowder, and after many conversations with a friend of his, they decided to start a church that was college friendly. Thus, University Baptist Church was born. That was 1996. Today, almost a decade later, nearly 1,000 people, most of which are college students, are attending the church.
When David first started writing music, he mainly focused on lyrics that discussed the difficult things he was going through. At that time there were not many congregational worship songs that did that so he struck a chord with many people. Today, David says that he writes many of his songs while riding in the car in the country with his wife. Even though his audience has changed, though, David always writes his songs with his University Baptist Church congregation in mind. Although the David Crowder Band is comprised of six different individuals, they have all committed themselves to work together in an effort to give hope to those who have left the church, as well as those who have come back. They feel very blessed by the work God has done in their lives and look forward to what He has planned for them in the future.
Click here to listen to the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg-1yM6insA
"Because of Your Love"
Jesus you endured my pain
Savior you bore all my shame
All because of your love
All because of your love
Maker of the universe
Broken for the sins of the earth
All because of your love
All because of your love
Because of your cross my debt is paid
Because of you blood my sins are washed away
Now all of my life, I freely give
Because of your love,
Because of your love I live
Click here to hear Phil Wickham share about the song:
www.tsrocks.com/p/phil_wickham_texts/because_of_your_love.html
No comments:
Post a Comment