Jesus

“Gloria” – Storytellers

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Over Christmas, we led the song “Gloria” at North Side a few times.  This song is included on the “Knowing Jesus” project and covers the incarnation part of Jesus’ life.  It’s the Christmas song.  Jesus came to us.

Back at our songwriting day at our house last year, Strutton, Evan, Linda, and Nancy had a small session to work on this song.  They had gotten stumped on parts of the song, but they came before the larger group with a 4-part choral arrangement of simply singing the word “Gloria.”  While it wasn’t long in length, I absolutely loved the beauty of it and knew that would be the foundation of the song.  The main melody became the instrumental hook at the beginning and throughout the song, and it also was the bridge of the song.  The final sounded very much like what was sung in my living room.

The chorus was written on the plane while I was traveling to Africa.  I was reading Luke 2 and just heard this escalating line in my head: “Glory to God in the highest.”  I recorded it on my phone while my traveling companions were sleeping so I wouldn’t forget it.  When I returned to the States, I opened up Luke 2 again and simply began to sing.  The majority of the song could be sung straight out of the ESV Bible with little variation to that text.  Love it when the Word takes over.  The remainder of the song was written in about 15 minutes as the Word and the music just kinda collided together.

Since the song would be a turnaround from the dramatic opener, we needed something to grab attention at the beginning.

I never thought I would find the beginning of the song sitting with my wife in the doctor’s office.

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Knowing That You Know Jesus

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New year.  New series.  New book.  We started our 3-monthish focus of 1 John this morning with a series entitled: “Knowing That You Know Jesus.”  If you recall, we studied the Gospel of John and it was called “Knowing Jesus,” but this focus is really settling on testing to see if you are in the faith or not.  How can one be sure that he or she is saved?

Today was one of our most packed and energetic Sundays I can ever remember.  Both services were hopping, and there was a real eagerness to encounter Jesus today.  I was so thankful to Cole, Patrick, Julio, and Sam for sharing about their time at Passion 2013.  So great to hear how God was using them and how God is leading them for their next steps.  Can’t wait to see what he does through these students and the many others who went with our church.

Today, we worshiped to:

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“Prologue” & “Come Lord Jesus” – Storytellers

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To begin the “Knowing Jesus” album and event, we needed something dramatic.

We needed something to display the numerous prophetic scriptures referring to the Messiah.

We needed something to sound dark with light bursting forth.

We needed something that sounded like 400 years of divine silence from God to Israel.

We needed something to create the space between Malachi and Matthew.

We needed something to sound like a supernatural battle going on where a baby was going to be born and the great dragon was trying to stop it.

And we needed it all in about 4 minutes.

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“Woe to You” – Storytellers

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It happened again last night.  I was moments away from pulling the song “Woe to You.”  We were leading the “Knowing Jesus” worship event at FBC Moncks Corner, and as I looked out at the congregation, I felt the same way 1st time we sang it at North Side – people aren’t going to like this one.

In fact, it may be too much.  It’s too edgy.  Very confrontational.  I kinda have to scream some.  Maybe we shouldn’t do it.

But each time, I went ahead with it, I sang the truth of Jesus’ words and let him handle the results.  I have been overwhelmed at the response of the song “Woe to You.”

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“I Will Follow” – Storytellers

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This week’s storyteller song is “I Will Follow” from “Knowing Jesus.”  This song was written to describe Jesus’ calling of the disciples and their willingness to follow him.  As our church has been engaging in the Great Commission more than ever, this song has been a very special song for us.

The song was written a few days before I left for West Africa this summer.  I huddled up some of our worship leaders on a Tuesday and we got a lot of writing done.  The 1st song we focused on was this one.  Strutton, Kennerly, Nivens, and myself got into the Word, hopped on some instruments and began writing this song out.  The first line that came out: “The very thought is overwhelming, almost too good to be true, that someone so undeserving would be chosen by someone like you.”  It turned into a ballad that starts very low key but then erupts towards the middle with some fun minor 4ths and large crescendos.

The first time I led it I was with some pretty special people and there was a pretty special response:

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Feed My Sheep

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Over a year in the study of the Book of John, we finally came to the conclusion in chapter 21.  This study has been amazing in my life and for our church.  Time spent on Jesus is never wasted!

I was amazed yet again at how the Holy Spirit united so many elements of the service.  From the worship songs, to the testimonies, to the message, to the invitation, I love it when He brings everything together.

We had Edgar give us a report from his seminary and missionary work in Mexico.  I was overwhelmed with joy as I thought how so many people at North Side had invested in Edgar and how many people had been impacted by him.  To see him using all that God has done in his life over the year was incredible!

Today, we worshiped to:

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“Friend of Sinners” – Storytellers

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On Sunday, we sang a song entitled “Friend of Sinners” that, based upon our worshipers, is becoming one of North Side’s favorites.  The song is included on the “Knowing Jesus” project and was written to summarize the relationship between Jesus and sinners (it originally was next to “Woe to You” to show the vast gap between Jesus’ relationship with sinners and the most religious of the day).

If you can tell by the picture above, this song was written differently than most songs I write.  If you ever see my handwriting, you must know that there wasn’t an electronic medium to use – I can barely read my handwriting!  If you can read the top right, you have a clue to where I wrote this.

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God Is More Concerned with Your Future Than Your Past

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In church, we want any change in you that happens to be change that lasts for a lifetime. If we can’t apply the message, we are wasting our time in learning the truths (James 1:22-25).

We don’t want to make shallow commitments. We want to start walking in this truth, and we want to be faithful for the long haul. Oftentimes, we get bogged down in our past mistakes or our shallow commitments.  But God is more concerned with your future than your past.

Let’s learn from Peter’s example. His words and actions changed from time to time and reveal some of our own tendencies.  Look at how quickly his words and actions change:

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Come to Jesus

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Today was the next to last Sunday of “Knowing Jesus” series, and it was one of my favorite Sundays ever.  We concluded our “Ni Zan Je” testimonies from this summer in a pretty special way.  As we took up the offering, we watched an International Mission Board video talking about the connection between financial support and our foreign missionaries.  And who was feature in the video?  Our very own partner, Greg, in West Africa!

Kara gave her testimony after that.  It was powerful to hear all that she learned and all that she did over the summer.  When she concluded, another one of our missionaries, Heather led worship with the choir to the song “He’s Always Been Faithful.”  As they sang, we played a video of our mission teams in West Africa.  There could not be a more appropriate song!  It honestly was one of the most powerful moments for me as a worship leader as I stood in the back of the auditorium worshiping along.

Today, we worshiped to:

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“Words of Life” – Storytellers

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The song “Words of Life” focuses on the teaching ministry of Jesus.  As we developed the “Knowing Jesus” project, we knew that we needed to designate one sone specifically to display the power of Jesus’ preaching.  He was known as teaching with authority, and His lessons are still discussed 2000 years later after their origination.  That is something unique!

We wrote this song in a different way than the others.

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