Behind the Praise - Sunday July 6, 2008

"Freedom"

This powerful declaration song was written by Darryl Evans. Darryl lives in Haltom City, Texas with his wife and two kids. You can read more about his ministry on his website

www.darrellevans.com/

"Mighty to Save"

This is another song from the Hillsong music ministry in Sydney Australia. This song is by Reuben Morgan & Ben Fielding. This song has a great re-occuring text. "OUR GOD IS MIGHT TO SAVE". This is taken from the passage in Zephaniah 3:1717 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."


Click here to read more about Reuben Morgan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuben_Morgan

Click here to worship along with the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXCAhKDZRlo

Click here to worship along with the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR8rlTIU8_Y


"O Taste & See that the Lord is Good"
The worship choir will share this stirring song based on Psalm 34:8



"When the Roll is Called Up Yonder"


Words & Music: James M. Black
1893
Black, a Meth­od­ist Sun­day school teach­er in Wil­liams­port, Penn­syl­van­ia, was call­ing roll one day for a youth meet­ing. Young Bes­sie, daugh­ter of a drunk­ard, did not show up, and he was dis­ap­point­ed at her fail­ure to ap­pear. Black made a com­ment to the ef­fect, “Well, I trust when the roll is called up yon­der, she’ll be there.” He tried to re­spond with an ap­prop­ri­ate song, but could not find one in his song book:
This lack of a fit­ting song caused me both sor­row and dis­ap­point­ment. An in­ner voice seemed to say, “Why don’t you write one?” I put away the thought. As I opened the gate on my way home, the same thought came again so strong­ly that tears filled my eyes. I en­tered the house and sat down at the pi­a­no. The words came to me ef­fort­less­ly…The tune came the same way—I dared not change a sin­gle note or word.
This song was sung in the Aca­de­my award win­ning mo­vie Ser­geant York (1941).


Click here to listen to a jazz arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0wN-gy7vPQ

Click here for a southern gospel arrangement of the song with Loretta Lynn:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2P_EJsnBls&feature=related

Here is a more lively arrangement by Crystal Lewis:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=njrMEkySils&feature=related



"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


“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


Click here to hear Fernado Ortego's version:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfhsOQyZqtg&mode=related&search=


"On My Knees"
Click here to listen to Dennis share the story behind the song:
www.praisecharts.com/live/articles/49/1/On-My-Knees-/Page1..html



The following is a note of how powerful this song is, it was written to Dennis Jernigan, also posted is the note Dennis wrote back.

I wanted to thank you for the song "On My Knees". A week before my grandfather passed away he confessed that he had been living a double life. He, too, had been abused as a child and had lived a life of homosexuality. Though they had slept in separate rooms for as long as I knew them, I had always thought this was my grandmother's wish, as he complained about her all of the time. My grandmother claims that she was not aware of his "second life" either. In the days after finding this out I was in shock. My grandfather's songs had never been published, but they were pasted in the backs of our church hymnals, and sung frequently as I grew up. He led the bell choir at our church and gave me my gift of music (and his grand piano!)My husband, also a music minister at that time, suggested that I read your story in hopes that I might find comfort in my difficult time. I did and quickly ran out and purchased "Hands Lifted High." I stopped at "On My Knees" - I listened to it over and over again and bought the music so I could play it over and over again. It was this song that carried me through this difficult time.This was over three years ago, but the emotions are still ripe within me. Recently, our sermon series and Sunday school lessons have brought up so many questions about my grandfather's life... Could he really have been a Christian? Will I see him in heaven? Etc. Etc...

Anyhow. My husband and I are singing "Oh My Knees" at church next week. We've sung it numerous times at different functions when we he was a music minister, but this is the first time we've sung at our new church, (where we are happily volunteering instead of on staff) at First Baptist Church, Hurst.I know you are a very busy man, but I ask for your prayers that this song will bless others like it has blessed me. I pray that my husband and I don't "get in the way" of its powerful message.And, I thank you for your humbleness and your honesty to share such intimate details with the world. You are an inspiration.

Wow! What a story! You know something of God's grace...I will definitely pray right now for you. Just sing from the center of what you feel and allow the Lord to weave His grace through the emotion. In other words, get lost in the song!Thanks for sharing your story with me and for using the music!BLessings,DJ