This is an amazing song we sang at Revolution last Saturday. It was written by a preacher named Robert Robinson. Robinson was 22 when he penned the words to the song in 1757. Enjoy
Play the song here:
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, Mount of Thy redeeming love.
Here I raise my Ebenezer; Here by Thy great help I've come; And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God; He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be! Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love; Here's my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.
God of Glory, Voice of Thunder Split the cedars, Bring us under Oh the shadows of your wings You give us strength, You give us peace
The CD is not out in the United States yet. It is pretty awesome. I found this online. I can't wait until I can buy it. Enjoy Make sure that you check out the new cd on their website. www.theiheartrevolution.com
Hillsong United has always amazed me. It is so awesome to see a local youth group making a global difference. They do more than just write songs and put out cds. They are going to the darkest corners of the earth and bringing the gospel. I have been a hillsong united fan for many years now and what draws me to them is the idea that I could be part of starting that kind of movement where I am. I am convinced that God has greatness for us if we will allow Him to work through us. I want to be part of something huge! It kind of goes back to that old question: Is the church a monument or a movement! I want with all my heart to be a movement. I do not just want to be a monument to the past. I want to challenge the ordinary and reach out to the potential that God has for us.
On my fridge is the quote: "What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" Fear cannot control us. I want to reach out and do something unthinkable so that ALL THE WORLD will worship JESUS CHRIST!
Last night I bought the new CD from Jon Foreman (the lead singer from switchfoot) called Winter. I have to say that it is by far the most spiritual album that I have ever heard come from Jon. It is such a powerful cd. I totally connected to these songs. The entire ep is just Jon, an acoustic guitar, and some strings. It is such a chill cd. My two favorite songs are "Learning to Die" and "White as Snow."
Here are the lyrics to the song "White As Snow." This has been my prayer all day.
Have mercy on me, oh God
According to your unfailing love
According to your great compassion
Blot out my transgressions
Have mercy on me, oh God
According to your unfailing love
According to your great compassion
Blot out my transgressions
Would you create in me a clean heart, oh God?
Restore in me the joy of your salvation
Would you create in me a clean heart, oh God?
Restore in me the joy of your salvation
The sacrifices of our God
Are broken in a contrite heart
Against you and you alone
Have I sinned?
The sacrifices of our God
Are broken in a contrite heart
Against you and you alone
Have I sinned?
Would you create in me a clean heart, oh God?
Restore in me the joy of your salvation
Would you create in me a clean heart, oh God?
Restore in me the joy of my salvation
Wash me white as snow
And I will be made whole
Wash me white as snow
And I will be made whole
Wash me white as snow
And I will be made whole
Wash me white as snow
Would you create in me a clean heart, oh God?
Restore in me the joy of your salvation
Would you create in me a clean heart, oh God?
Restore in me the joy of your salvation
Today I picked up the new CD from Passion. The title track is called "God of this City" it is an amazing song. It is a prayer for God to change the city. It was written by friends in Belfast. It was birthed as a prayer of hope over Belfast, one of the darkest cities in the world, one filled with bondage, oppression and widespread and celebrated prostitution. As I listened to the song for the first time I was driving around my city and I was overcome with a burden for my own city, Madisonville. Check out the song:
You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You Are
For there is no one like our God
There is no one like our God
Greater things have yet to come
Great things are still to be done
In this city
Greater things are still to come
And greater things are still to be done here
You're the Lord of Creation
The Creator of all things
You're the King above all Kings
You Are
You're the strength in our weakness
You're the love to the broken
You're the joy in the sadness
You Are
Greater things have yet to come
Great things are still to be done
In this city
Where glory shines from hearts alive
With praise for you and love for you
In this city
Greater things have yet to come
Great things are still to be done
In this city
Greater things are still to come
And greater things are still to be done here
I Truly believe Greater Things are yet to come for THIS CITY! That is what we are to seek, the transformation of the city. Imagine for a moment what God what God working through you could do in THIS CITY!
Something that has been helping us lately at revolution has been something called the BOX! Each week we try to plan our youth services in such a way that they are compelling and life changing. We want to provide the right enviornment where students can connect with God.
One of the greatest ways that this happens is through dilligent preperation. There have been times that I have had so many elements planned out, however, I neglected to realize that if those elements were not communicated far in advance to our team then it would not be effective.
The box is a password protected place on our youth website that is updated weekly with what is going on for the next two weeks at revolution. This is a great thing because it allows all staff, musicians, and singers to be on the same page for what is going on for the next two weeks. The cool thing is that the technology that we use is free. Go to www.box.netto get your own box. We put the mp3s/lyrics of the songs that we are doing. This allows students/leaders to put the songs on their ipods and print off the chord/lyric sheets. Each week every student is responsible to log into that week's box and download what is going on for the week. Sofar it has been working awesome! The cool thing for me is that I can update the box from any computer! It is a cool thing that is working for us at revolution...
Tonight I was able to go to the Switchfoot/Relient K concert in Evansville, IN at the Center. It was a great concert. Relient K sounded just like the cd banjo and all. They even had an old acoustic stand-up piano on stage. It was great. Switchfoot was definately worth the trip though. The set was totally unscripted and raw. There was even a time in the concert when Jon walked though the crowd all the way to the middle of the room draging a big rope light. It looked so cool. He was standing there in the middle of everyone singing with a massive 200 foot light rope. It was kinda like he was carrying the light to the people...cool effect. They sang songs like, Dare You to move, meant to live, shadow proves the sunshine, ammunition, gone, and many more! They even sang a new song that they just wrote called the regeneration. It was a great concert and with every ticket that was bought a dollar was donated to Habitat for Humanity.
I only had one beef with the concert, it's kinda big, Jesus was never mentioned. This really was sadening to me. The room was filled with thousands of teenagers from many youth groups, while they did spur them toward community action, they did not spur them toward a relationship with Jesus. The most important thing! Community service and action should be a response to our love for JESUS not just simply a life of good works alone! I guess you could look at it from a couple of different ways. I have always liked Switchfoot. It was a dream come true to see them in concert. They gave me an appitite for christian music when I didn't like christian music at all years ago. Their songs have been a stregnth in my life. But there is something that does not sit well with me when you don't even mention the name of JESUS, when you are surrounded by thousands of people that PAID to come hear you speak and sing! It seems like it was an opportunity wasted. The platforms that God gives us are not for ourselves, but it is to make the name of JESUS CHRIST the most famous name in the world! People don't need to scream MY NAME they need to scream the name of JESUS. JESUS...JESUS....JESUS!!! I am not just trying to pass judgement on a band that I have liked for so long, but I did not understand why they didn't lift up the name of Jesus in that room full of people.
Food for thought:
-What stage has God given to you in your life to influence people?
-What do you use it for?
Just when I think that Hillsong United could not come out with any more awesome rocking worship music they have to go and do it again. This is such an awesome cd. It is not even out yet. However, I went to the hillsong website and downloaded the mp3s. It is such a raw worship experience. I love it. It is the worship from their annual summer camp. I am with them on this one! There is something special about summer camps. It is a time where students get away and experience God in such amazing ways. If you haven't already...buy it. Simply amazing.
Today I have been totally feeding off this song. It is just a simple recording of a song from Carlos Whittaker. I read his blog everyday. He is a worship leader for Buckhead Church in the heart of Atlanta. This song has been my prayer all day. This is definately a song that we will be playing at revolution. As a musician and worship leader it is so easy just to look all the time for new songs so you can provide some "New" music to the church. However, the problem, i know at least with me, is that I become a song "Consumer" and "Critic" insted of allowing music to bring me into a place where worship "Consumes" me and God speaks into my life. We are not called to bring "NEW" music. We are called to take the church "DEEPER" in worship than they have ever been before. This song definately is my prayer!
I'm Brandon Shanks, Student Pastor at the Pentecostals of Apopka. Thanks for stopping by. My prayer is that these pages serve as a resource for those of us seeking to lead this generation to Jesus.
