“God was pleased to remove the heavy load, to enable me to lay hold of his dear Son by a living faith, and by giving me the Spirit of adoption, to seal me even to the day of everlasting redemption. Oh, with what joy — joy unspeakable — even joy that was full of and big with glory, was my soul filled, when the weight of sin went off, and an abiding sense of the pardoning love of God and a full assurance of faith broke in upon my disconsolate soul! Surely it was the day of mine espousals — a day to be had in everlasting remembrance! At first my joys were like a spring tide, and overflowed its banks.”

“I know the place! It may be superstitious, perhaps, but whenever I go to Oxford I cannot help running to that place where Jesus Christ first revealed himself to me and gave me the new birth.”

George Whitefield, quoted in Arnold A. Dallimore, George Whitefield, I:77.

An excerpt from The Private Life of a Modern Evangelical, by John Piper (1997):

During his pastorate at Northampton, Edwards delivered the usual two two-hour messages each week, catechized the children, and counseled people in his study. He did not visit from house to house except when called. This meant that he could spend thirteen or fourteen hours a day in his study. He said, “I think Christ has commended rising early in the morning by his rising from the grave very early.” So he rose between 4:00 and 5:00 to study, always with pen in hand, thinking out every flash of insight to its full and recording it in his notebooks. Even on his travels he would pin pieces of paper to his coat to remind himself at home of an insight he had had on the way. In the evening he would spend an hour with his family after dinner before retiring to his study. None of his children rebelled or went astray, but held their father in highest regard all his life.

Edwards’ six-foot-one frame was not robust and his health was always precarious. He could maintain the rigor of his study schedule only with strict attention to diet and exercise. Everything was calculated to optimizing his efficiency and power in study. He abstained from every quantity and kind of food that made him sick or sleepy. His exercise in the winter was to chop firewood half an hour each day, and in the summer he would ride into the fields and walk alone in meditation. In other words, for all his rationalism, Edwards had a healthy dose of the romantic and mystic in him. He wrote in his diary: “Sometimes on fair days I find myself more particularly disposed to regard the glories of the world than to betake myself to the study of serious religion.” Edwards describes one of these field trips as follows:

Once as I rode out into the woods for my health in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly has been, to walk for divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view, that for me was extraordinary, of the glory of the Son of God, as Mediator between God and man, and his wonderful, great, full, pure and sweet grace and love and meek, gentle condescension. This grace that appeared so calm and sweet appeared also great above the heavens. The person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent, with an excellency, great enough to swallow up all thought and conception – which continued, as near as I can judge, about an hour; which kept me the greater part of the time in a flood of tears, and weeping aloud.

Name of the Song	Downloads
Wonderful Grace of Jesus

Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin;
How can my tongue describe it, where will its praise begin?
Taking away my burden, setting my spirit free,
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me!

REFRAIN: Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Deeper than the mighty rolling sea;
Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain,
All-sufficient grace for even me;
Bigger than my sins,
Greater than my shame;
O magnify the precious name of Jesus, Praise His name (3x)!

Wonderful grace of Jesus, reaching to all the lost,
By it I have been pardoned, saved to the uttermost;
Chains have been torn away, giving me liberty,
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me!

REFRAIN: Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Deeper than the mighty rolling sea;
Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain,
All-sufficient grace for even me;
Bigger than my sins,
Greater than my shame;
O magnify the precious name of Jesus, Praise His name (3x)!

About this Song:

From http://www.faithalone.org/journal/1997i/Ward.html

“Wonderful Grace of Jesus”—the very title proclaims from the outset and at the beginning of each stanza that this hymn by Haldor Lillenas is a hymn of grace. First introduced in 1918, this song has become a favorite across denominational lines in the Church today. Its upbeat, bouncy meter and somewhat unusual refrain, which splits into two parts, with the melody alternating between the bass/tenor and alto/soprano parts, endear the tune to many. However, as is often the case, the strong doctrinal message carried by the words of the hymn are often obscured in the enthusiasm for the music. In fact, the author himself, in his autobiography, cautions against distorting the words of the hymn by performing it at too rapid a tempo.¹

While at first glance “Wonderful Grace of Jesus” may seem to be simply a general song of praise to God for His grace, several of its phrases make it clear that the author understands not just the term but the substance of the grace of God. In the first stanza and the chorus, the surpassing nature of God’s grace is set forth with the phrases “greater than all my sin” and “Broader than the scope of my transgressions, greater far than all my sin and shame” (Rom 5:20). It is grace, Lillenas proclaims, that takes away the burden of sin and liberates the captive soul.

In the second stanza, Lillenas demonstrates his understanding of the extent of God’s grace. Not covering just a favored few, the grace of God reaches to “all the lost.” People may choose to reject grace, but God extends the offer of salvation freely to all (Titus 2:11). Also in this stanza, and again in the chorus, the sufficiency of grace is described. Lillenas says he has been “saved to the uttermost” by an “all-sufficient grace.” Lillenas’s view of salvation by grace is not one of meeting God halfway, with both parties contributing to the transaction (Titus 3:5; Eph 2:8). His words here indicate an understanding that when Christ completed His work on the cross, salvation was finished (John 19:30), leaving nothing for man to do but accept the gift of grace and be completely saved.

The third stanza touches on another hallmark of the doctrine of grace—that regardless of the magnitude of one’s sin, God’s grace is available and is sufficient for salvation even to “the most defiled.” This is reminiscent of Fanny Crosby’s words in “To God be the Glory”³ when she wrote “The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.”

The words of this third stanza may strike some as inconsistent with Lillenas’s Nazarene theology. While most evangelicals generally recognize that ultimate sanctification will occur only in the presence of the Lord in Heaven, Nazarene theology teaches a doctrine of “entire sanctification,” in which the believer can and should obtain complete sanctification in this life.⁴ Connected to this doctrine is the Nazarene teaching that apostasy in the life of a believer can result in the loss of salvation. Thus, for the Nazarene, there is no true doctrine of eternal security. This makes Lillenas’s words in the third stanza even more interesting, when he writes “Purchasing peace and heaven for all eternity,” and even in the second stanza where he tells us that we have been “saved to the uttermost”. While these words may have meant something quite different to Lillenas, they seem equally applicable to our understanding of God’s grace in salvation, sanctification, and security.

“Wonderful Grace of Jesus” combines doctrinal truth with a buoyant melody and serves as a good vehicle for teaching the doctrine of grace. It touches on the availability, sufficiency, and efficacy of the salvation offered by grace through faith in Christ, and so carries an appropriate message for believer and unbeliever alike. Though we should be aware that Lillenas’s own theology may not line up completely with that of most evangelicals, his words do carry the Gospel of grace, making this hymn worthy of the category “Hymn of Grace.”

Endnotes:

¹Paul G. Hammond, “Wonderful Grace of Jesus,” in Handbook to The Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Convention Press, 1992), 277-78.

 ²Hammond, “Lillenas, Haldor,” Ibid., 387.

 ³Reviewed in JOTGES (Spring 96), 97-99.

 ⁴Manual (1993-1997), Church of the Nazarene, (Kansas City: Nazarene Publishing House, 1993), 26-45.

Name of the Song	Downloads
My King
Who You Are
I Surrender All
Overwhelm Me
Glory To Our King
Glorious Day
Shine Your Light On Us
Grace Greater Than My Sin
Great is Thy Faithfulness
Rejoice
Hope in a Child
In My Place
Hallelujah God is Here
My Hope
It Is Well With My Soul
Here I Am

The Leader

The Task

Healthy Tensions

Right Relationships

(how can I worship God in my relationships with my team, church, and pastor?)

This is good stuff. Shai Linne is one of the pastors at Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia. Epiphany is an Acts 29 church plant, lead by Eric Mason and Duce Branch, contextualizing the historic Gospel into the heart of urban Philly using hip-hop culture as a backdrop.

HT: Ray Ortlund

Interview with Lecrae – Mark Driscoll

At Text & Context in February 2008, Mark Driscoll sat down with Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae.

Lecrae – Rebel Intro – Lecrae

This is the first song off of Lecrae’s new album Rebel in stores September 30. Buy it from Amazon.com

Doxologist Interviews Lacrae – Mike Anderson

Interview with Hip Hop Artist: Trip Lee

Interview with Hip Hop Artist: Trip Lee

Mars Hill’s Pastor Tim Smith interviews Sho Baraka of Reach Records.

Continuous Worship: Missional Worship – Tim Smith

Continuous Worship: Jesus the Sole Mediator of Worship and the Helplessness of Music – Harold Best

Continuous Worship: Is “Worship” the Only Word for Worship? – Harold Best

Continuous Worship: Idolatry – Mark Driscoll

I Sing the Mighty Power of God
by Isaac Watts

1. I sing the mighty power of God,
that made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad,
and built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained
the sun to rule the day;
The moon shines full at God’s command,
and all the stars obey.

2. I sing the goodness of the Lord,
who filled the earth with food,
Who formed the creatures through the Word,
and then pronounced them good.
Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed,
wherever I turn my eye,
If I survey the ground I tread,
or gaze upon the sky.

Chorus:

Kings of earth and everything, that lives now with us sing

And let your glory ring

O’er every mountain crest, Creation has confessed

That You have given breath

From heaven to the depths (2x)

3. There’s not a plant or flower below,
but makes Thy glories known,
And clouds arise, and tempests blow,
by order from Thy throne;
While all that borrows life from Thee
is ever in Thy care;
And everywhere that we can be,
Thou, God art present there.

by Michael Bleecker

Director of Worship for The Village Church in Highland Village, TX

Here is a session from a pastor’s conference where Bleecker talks about what it means to be a Worship Pastor. Click HERE.

(V1)
Take me far away from here
Save me from this world I fear
Break me from the things I hold so near
They’re so far from You(V2)
Reveal to me what You want me to do
Place me where Your will draws me to
Lord be pleased with the worship I bring to You
I sing to You, I shout to You

(Chorus)
Here I am, send me out let me shine for Your glory
I will read, I’ll live out and proclaim Your Word
Take me now, show me how 
I need to live not for me
But for You and Your glory

(V1)
(V2)
(Chorus x2)

Here I am, Send me Out
Let me Shine, Shine for you (x4)