Behind the Praise - Sunday March 1, 2009

"Sing to the King"

This song was written by Billy James Foote. The song is based upon the hymn by Charles S. Horne. Here are the original words penned in 1910. Notice the similarity between the Horne's words and Billy's adaptation of the song.

Sing we the King Who is coming to reign,
Glory to Jesus, the Lamb that was slain.
Life and salvation His empire shall bring,
Joy to the nations when Jesus is King.

Refrain
Come let us sing, praise to our King,
Jesus our King, Jesus our King,
This is our song, who to Jesus belong:
Glory to Jesus, to Jesus our King.

In the summer of 2001, I was sitting in my office, in Evergreen, CO, reading through a Baptist Hymnal when I came across an old hymn called Sing We the King, written by Charles Silvester Horne. As I read the first verse I was amazed by the lyrics. There was not a wasted word. I had been working on a melody for several weeks, but did not have any lyrics. Horne’s first verse was a perfect match to the melody I had written. It did not take long to come up with a chorus. The second verse takes two phrases from Horne's last verse including, "satan is vanquished and Jesus is King". Of course, I have documented this on both of my worship projects and try to make sure everyone who records Sing to the King does the same.
My prayer is that this song will remind the church that the King really is coming back. It seems as though we have left this fact out of worship songs for too long. It is encouraging to be reminded that the enemy does not win (Rev. 20:10). We have a hope in the knowledge that the King is going to one day split the sky and the dead in Christ will rise, and believers, who are alive, will be caught up in the clouds to meet Him. I also pray this song will give the church a sense of urgency to win the lost; as Fanny Crosby said, to "rescue the perishing, care for the dying." We must not be idle, but live as those who know the King and know He is coming to reign.

Learn more about Billy's ministry on his myspace website & ministry website:
www.myspace.com/billyfooteband

Learn more about Billy's ministry here:
www.billyfoote.com/

Click here to worship along on the passion recording:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrsrPfGmpPg&feature=related

"Everything I Desire"


Click here to listen to the song:
www.rhapsody.com/the-brooklyn-tabernacle-choir/tracks.html


"O How I love Jesus"

Frederick Whitfield was an Anglican clergyman who lived from 1829-1904. The hymn he wrote, "Oh, How I Love Jesus", became a favorite in the evangelistic crusades of Moody and Sankey. It originally had 8 stanzas but only 4 are found in most hymn books. It was first written in tract form in 1855. The entire hymn revolves around the name of Jesus. What a powerful name! The name of Jesus promises us great things from the Father. It promises to be with us in every circumstance. How we should love Jesus for all the great things He has done and is doing for us.
There is a name I love to hear, I love to sing its worth;
It sounds like music in mine ear, the sweetest name on earth. It tells me of a Savior's love, who died to set me free;

It tells me of His precious blood, the sinner's perfect plea. It tells me what my Father hath in store for eve'ry day,
And tho' I tread a darksome path, yields sunshine all the way.
It tells of One whose loving heart can feel my deepest woe,
Who in each sorrow bears a part, that none can bear below.
Oh, how I love Jesus, Oh how I love Jesus,
Oh, how I love Jesus, Because He first loved me!

Click here to worship along on the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTv2Eg4lxBM

Click here to hear Elvis sing the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2z5IacR_3A

Click here to worship along with Melinda Watts:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY0fI4FXJOM

"God of My Days"

Zach Neese's perspective:

"God of My Days" took me two years to write, because I was concerned about the hearts of the people that it would minister to. The lyrics had to be true in the mouths of both mourners and people who were rejoicing. It had to ring true as a sacrifice of praise and as a statement of faith. I began writing out of a holy discontent. I was frustrated by the Church's tendency to paint a happy face over the reality of people's suffering. Sometimes Christians come across as uncompassionate because we deny or fail to address people's pain. Our churches are full of people who are hurting, and many times we make them feel guilty about it.God isn't afraid to talk about pain. He never denies it. He guarantees it (John 16:33). He also guarantees that He will never leave us to face it alone (Hebrews 13:5) and that He is bigger than whatever we're facing.He is the God of every season and situation of our lives.Recently, my wife Jen and I had a baby girl, and God was right there rejoicing with us. A few years ago, we lost a baby boy. God was there for that too, wrapping us in His powerful, comforting arms and helping us mourn. In both situations, He was God. In both, He was worthy of praise, and from both, He will bring something miraculous.Maybe I don't understand. But I believe. He is God of my days, King of my nights, Lord of my laughter and Sovereign in sorrow. He is the Prince of my praise and the Love of my life. He never leaves me, and He is always faithful. He is the God of my days.

Click here to visit Zach's myspace - you can play the song from here.
www.myspace.com/zachneese

Click here to worship along with the gateway worship team:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHGaXj-gdEc

Click here for another arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBAExdZPad8

"Psalm 51"
our own John Brewer wrote this paraphrase of Psalm 51.

"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

Cederick Johnson will share this song as the offertory
“The Old Rugged Cross”

The “Old Rugged Cross” is a popular Christian song written in 1912 by evangelist and song-leader George Bennard (1873-1958).
George Bennard, was a native of Youngstown, Ohio but was reared in Iowa. After his conversion in a Salvation Army meeting, he and his wife became brigade leaders before leaving the organization for the Methodist Church. As a Methodist evangelist, Bennard wrote the first verse of the gospel song, "The Old Rugged Cross" in Albion, Michigan, in the fall of 1912. Charles H. Gabriel, a well-known gospel-song composer helped Bennard with the harmonies. Published in 1915, the song was popularized during Billy Sunday evangelistic campaigns by two members of his campaign staff, Homer Rodeheaver (who bought rights to the song for $500) and Virginia Asher, who were perhaps also the first to record it in 1921. The Old Rugged Cross uses a sentimental popular song form with a verse/chorus pattern in 3/4 time, and it speaks of the writer's Christian experience rather than his adoration of God. Bennard retired to Reed City, Michigan, and the town maintains a museum dedicated to his life and ministry.
"The Old Rugged Cross" remains enormously popular and has been performed by some of the twentieth century's most important recording artists, including: Al Green, Anne Murray, Brad Paisley, Chet Atkins, Elvis Presley, Floyd Cramer, George Jones, Jim Reeves, Johnny Cash and June Carter, Kevin Max, Mahalia Jackson, Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Ray Price, Ricky Van Shelton, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Statler Brothers, Vince Gill, Willie Nelson.

Click here for an organ arrangement of the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q_G02X2Dj8&feature=related

Click here to listen to recording of this great hymn: www.simplyangel.com/theoldruggedcross.htm