Worship & Healing

Do you believe that God still performs miracles today? Do you believe that He can heal people today? Is there evidence in the way that you live your life that you believe God is able to do these things?

My sister Pam sent this to me today....

The Story

The Song


In The Story, I really appreciated the female band member stating, "The name of the Lord is a Strong Tower and a Refuge and a Fortress. And worship is how I remember that I'm in that Place."

Worship Anywhere

I'm not a fan of Pepsi products, but I became an instant fan of this guy singing in a hotel vending machine room.

Galvin

While looking and listening at the Free Music site, I heard a song that really caught my attention. I wanted to know who wrote and sang it, so I went to his site. What I found deeply moved me, and I would like to share it with you.
Galvin is a young Singaporean man who has recently come to Christ. His testimony is profoundly touching to me. You can read it at his website or view it a video explaining it. I recommend viewing both.
God has obviously blessed him with many talents including musical voice, composing, artistic ability....etc, but Galvin would likely tell you that his greatest blessing received has been God revealing Himself to Galvin and his family.

Get Service

If you've never been to SermonSpice.com, it is worth the visit. It is a for profit site that sales video clips that can be used in church services or at Bible study type events. There are a bunch of Mother's Day items available right now; some that are sappy and sentimental, and some that are just funny or thought provoking.

I have a bunch of favorites:
MeChurch - depicts a church that tries to bend over backwards to meet everyones needs.
Evangelism Linebacker-linebacker goes around tackling people who are not sharing their faith.
It's All About Me - worship singer sings selfish praise songs to himself.

Tonight, I found one that was profound. It has some Matrix or 6th Sense qualities to it. It is called Get Service, and it makes you wonder how different your response to the world would be if you really understood the needs of others.

What's In Your Offering Plate?

The topic of stewardship has been interesting to me over the past few years because a few years ago I learned that my long-held notion of stewardship was only partially right. In the past, as soon as someone said "stewardship" I immediately tuned out because I knew that they were talking about giving money, and I felt I already knew what I needed to know about that. Well come to find out, there is so much more to stewardship than the offering of money.
Likewise, there is much more to giving an offering to God than just putting money in the plate. Psalms 27:6 gives one example of this: ...I will offer sacrifices in His tent with shouts of joy. I will sing and make music to the Lord.
The Lord counts our praises as an offering as well. So, as you receive a blessing from God, voice your pleasure and thank Him sincerely.
Also, as you are singing hymns of praise and worship to God at church, remember that you are not just singing a song to set the mood for your worship or for your enjoyment/entertainment. Remember that you are offering Him your shouts of joy and singing as a sacrifice because your Creator is so deserving of the praise.

I'm Trading My Sorrows

Sunday, we will be singing I'm Trading My Sorrows in church. The message of the song is clear, "Give it up to the Lord. Regardless of what happens to you in this world, he's got better things in store."
While singing this song, I recognize that all the trials, pains, ills, hurts, sorrows and shame that I may suffer today can be used for God's good someday. Thus, my prayer is "Here I am God. Use me."
Take a look at the song's author's motivation for writing it at Trading My Sorrows

ApologetiX song video

I found a video made to the Bethlehemian Rhapsody. Very funny. Watch the whole thing including the credits.
god-wins-every-battle

Amazing Grace

I attended a Promise Keepers conference in 1995 at RFK in Washington DC. It was a spiritually transforming weekend for me and for thousands of other men. There were over 52,000 men in attendance at the event, and it was a thing of wonder to hear us all singing together praises and adorations to God.
One song that I remember singing was Amazing Grace. It was lead by a man named Wintley Phipps and literally transformed that football stadium into a heavenly place on earth. He shared his interpretation of the origins of the song. I have shared this story with multiple people over the past 12 years. Well tonight, I ran into a video of that very night at RFK, and if you will click on Amazing Grace, you can be transported back to 1995. Look carefully. I was sitting on the field section on the right, towards the middle, in the 6th to last row. You just might see me. Remember though, back then I had hair.

How Great Thou Art

Tomorrow, we will be singing "How Great Thou Art" in church, and I was reviewing the lyrics to the song when I was struck by what a perfectly balanced song it is in terms of presenting a picture of who God is.

• Verse 1:

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder

Consider all the works Thy hands have made.

I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,

Thy power through-out the universe displayed.

Refrain:

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee:

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

• Verse 2:

When through the woods and forest glades I wander

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur

And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:

(Repeat Refrain.)

• Verse 3:

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin:

(Repeat Refrain.)

• Verse 4:

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation

And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!

Then I shall bow in humble adoration,

And there proclaim, my God. how great Thou art!

(Repeat Refrain.)

It starts off with a description of God as a mighty Creator and powerful being, moves on to discussing the beauty and grandeur of his creations, then discusses His amazing grace and love for us as demonstrated through the Gift of His Son, and finally, describes His Awesome Power over sin. He is worthy of us bowing down and humbly adoring Him. My God. How great Thou art!

My appreciation for these lyrics lead me to research the origin of the hymn. I came across the following site....
How Great Thou Art
The history of the song is worth reading. The site that contains this history is called
AllAboutGod.com. It has some well developed resources and materials for Christians, and looks like a great place to nudge anyone towards that may be curious about what this "Jesus stuff" is all about.

Johnny Lang

For those of you who have never heard of Johnny Lang, he is an incredible musician with an incredible story. He received his first guitar when he was 13 and by the time he was 15, he had a Platinum album, "Lie to Me." Lang spent his teenage years with guitar legends like B.B. King and Buddy Guy and toured almost non-stop with the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and Sting. Altogether, he’s recorded five albums and earned a Grammy nomination.
Running with a crowd like that was probably a blast, but it had it's price, too. He became addicted to alcohol and drugs, and was fascinated with magical religions. He was as far from wanting a relationship with God as you may possibly imagine........ God chose him.
His testimony of his salvation is remarkable. It is evidence that you need to keep praying for those souls that you've been praying for. God can move anything or anyone.
Take a look at Johnny Lang's Testimony and see if you don't agree.
Also take a look at his website.

ApologetiX

Anyone who loves the sound of secular music (but not necessarily the message), has a sense of humor, loves new ways of learning scriptural truths, and has found at least one of Weird Al's songs entertaining MUST check out this site and this band.
ApologetiX - parody band
I have heard two of their songs on XM-radio, "We're a parody band" (sung to the tune of Grand Funk Railroad's "We're an American band") and "Meshach" (sung to the tune of "Love Shack" by the B-52's). Both songs were very well done musically and lyrically. Both contained scriptural references. They were humorous but not overly edgy or offensive or disrespectful to The Word.
I have not heard but have seen the lyrics to their version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."Their version is "Bethlehemian Rhapsody" and tells the story of David and Goliath in rock-operatic fashion. Hilarious lyrics. I look forward to hearing it.