Blessed Be Your Name

The song ¨Blessed be Your Name¨ was written by Matt and Beth Redman soon after 9/11. Matt and his wife were scheduled to leave for the US on September 12, but they had to wait until international flights resumed before coming over from England. The song was written in response to what Matt and his wife saw here in the US after this tragedy and as a simple worship offering about choosing to worship and trust God no matter what the season. 

My references comes from an article in Christianity Today titled How Christian Leader Have Changed Since 9/11, September 2011, Vol. 55, No. 9.

Scripture References for the song are Genesis 14:20, Psalms 9:1-2 (Worshiptogether.com)

Our God is Greater - Our God is Stronger

The set list for April 1, 2012 will be a collection of songs that speak to God´s Mercy, Grace, Power and Beauty:

Mercy Reigns (Elevation Worship)

Blessed Be Your Name (Matt and Beth Redman)
Our God (Jesse Reeves , Chris Tomlin , Matt Redman , Jonas Myrin)

Video of Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin telling how the song¨Our God was written.

Beautiful One (Tim Hughes)

ENOUGH

Pastor Louie Giglio journals a lot and he works closely with singer/songwriter Chris Tomlin. Louie gave Chris some of his journal notes and from those notes was born the song that says: (Lord) All of You is more than enough for all of me. A video of the story of ENOUGH and how to play the song is located on worshiptogether.com.

SongWriters: Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio
Scripture Reference: 2 Corinthians 12:9 - And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Strong Enough to Save

We will introduce a new song this Sunday titled ¨Strong Enough to Save¨.   Here's a video of Mike Donehy from Tenth Avenue North talking about their new song "Strong Enough to Save" playing now on The House FM. The video talks about our fears of sharing the good news of Christ with others.  

You made me to sing, you made me to laugh

Mike Kelly explains the story behind his song "For Your Pleasure"

The inspiration behind the song "For Your Pleasure" is the book "Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren. If you take a look at the first four chapters of the book, you'll see where most of the lyrics come from. 

Several years ago I started reading that book and ended up writing a song about it. I wanted the song to serve as a reminder to me because I tend to be kind of down on myself at times. It's actually a bit odd that I would have written a song that declares "You made me to sing, you made me to laugh" because my struggles with depression often left me feeling anything like singing or laughing. However, the truth is the truth regardless of how I feel. The song reminds me that I am "here for a reason" and have a unique purpose to fulfill in this life. My feelings do not define me. Rather it is my position as a believer in Christ that defines me. The song itself doesn't directly reference any specific scriptures, but I think it speaks to an important truth none the less. That believers are here for a purpose and that our lives bring pleasure to God when we walk in His ways and fulfill our purpose.

We have all we need in You

The music list at Stafford Crossing for March 25, 2012 is FOR YOUR PLEASURE, STRONG ENOUGH TO SAVE, MORE THAN ENOUGH, and ALL WE NEED.  The song ¨All We Need¨ was written by Charlie Hall. He said the inspiration for the song came during a walk. He noted during his walk he was thinking about his life and what he had and did not have at that time. Also he was thinking about his dreams and as he walked he was talking with God about his life. When he returned home he started tinkering on the piano and wrote the words and music to this song. A video interview can be found on Worshiptogether.com.


Philippians 4:19: And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

We will be featuring the song ¨Beautiful One¨ this week during Sunday Celebration.  I had always believed the song was written by Jeremy Camp, but I was wrong; the song was written by Tim Hughes.  Tim notes that the song was inspired by Isaiah 53 and how when Jesus lived on earth his beauty was not recognized and how this shocked him.  He goes on to say the song was written to tell Jesus that we do love you, you are beautiful and we do adore you.


Isaiah 53
 1 Who has believed our message 
   and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, 
   and like a root out of dry ground. 
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, 
   nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, 
   a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. 
Like one from whom people hide their faces 
   he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
A interview with Tim and how he plays the song is located at:


Video about the song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJj6fiJ2aW8
Tim Hughes: http://www.kingsway.co.uk/tim-hughes-3/

Famous One

3/17/2012 9:07:07 PM

One of my favorite songs we do that Mike Kelly leads is Famous One.  I could not find any background information for the song. The song writers for this song are Jesses Reeves and Chris Tomlin and they listed Revelation 4:8,9 and 5:11-14 as references for the song.

I Am Not Skilled to Understand

3/17/2012 8:22:27 PM

My Savior My God by Aaron Shust is one of the songs that we will be presenting for worship this week for Sunday Celebration. The verses for song came from an old hymn and the chorus for the song was written at a red light?

A video telling the story behind the song can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKfJhTXwSCM (Aaron Shust - My Savior My God - Story Behind The Song)

I AM NOT SKILLED TO UNDERSTAND (Original Hymn)

Words: Dor­o­thy Green­well, Songs of Sal­va­tion, 1873.

I am not skilled to understand 

What God hath willed, what God hath planned;
I only know at His right hand
Stands One who is my Savior.

I take Him at His word indeed:
"Christ died for sinners"--this I read;
For in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my Savior!

That He should leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die,
You count it strange? So once did I
Before I knew my Savior!

And, oh, that He fulfilled may see
The travail of His soul in me,
And with His work contented be,
As I with my dear Savior!

Yes, living, dying, let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring-
That He who lives to be my King
Once died to be my Savior!