In terms of worship songs, few have had the impact on me that “In Christ Alone” has had.
This song ministered to me in a special way by in 2008 and 2009 as my father was dying with cancer. The eternal truths sung about in the song were constant reminders of what dying in Christ means.
There’s also the reminder of the incredible work Christ has done for us to make an eternity with Him possible.
Enjoy.
My wife shared this song with me last year and every time I hear it I’m convicted. This is a great reminder about worship for this Sunday morning.
Below is a listing of the worship music from Briarwood Presbyterian Church yesterday…
“O Worship the King” (arr. Winkler)
[However, the version linked in the video isn’t arranged by Winkler.]
“O for a Heart to Praise My God” (Wesley)
“Worthy, Worthy” (Sooter/Fieldes)
“Mighty to Save”
“The Potter’s Hand”
“Doxology”
Here are the songs used to lead us in worship yesterday at Briarwood Presbyterian…
“Ode to Joy” arr. Scott
“We’ve A Story to Tell to the Nations”
“Assurance” arr. Ness Beck
Go!
(couldn’t find a video for this song)
“All Around the World” (Getty)
“Lift High the Cross”
“Ye Servants of God” (Wesley)
Yesterday, Briarwood’s annual global ministry conference kicked off in earnest. Here’s a sampling of the music we used to worship God…
“Holy, Holy, Holy” (arr. Winkler)
“Jesus Shall Reign”
“Compassion Hymn” (Getty)
“Behold our God”
“Let Your Heart be Broken”
I hope this worship was pleasing to the Lord. May it encourage your heart today.
I wasn’t there, but here are the selections of worship music from Briarwood Presbyterian Church yesterday…
“Come, Thou Almighty King”
“Good Shepherd of My Soul” (Getty)
“Hear the Call of the Kingdom” (Getty)
“O Church Arise” (Getty)
“Gloria Patri”
These are the songs used by Briarwood Presbyterian Church yesterday to guide our worship of the Lord…
“My Faith Has Found a Resting Place”
“O Church, Aries” (Getty)
“By Faith” (Getty)
“Lord for Your Glory” (also known as “We Lift our Hands”)
Yesterday’s worship music at Briarwood included the following:
“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” (Bish)
“Let us Love and Sing and Wonder”
“O The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus”
“Wonderful, Merciful Savior”
“Doxology”
Come Monday, we often forget what we sang about just a day before. Primarily for my sake, here’s what we sang at church yesterday…
“O for a Thousand Tongues”
“God so Loved the World” (arr. Harlan)
“How Great is Our God”
“Christ is Risen”
Today is Sunday.
On most every Sunday, my family and I rise early, read ourselves and then head off to church. There are several purposes for church. We come together to fellowship in some way. We don’t know every person at the large church we attend, but usually we can find someone we know and participate in some sort of fellowship. Some of us serve. It’s not unusual for at least one person in my family to be serving in some way in some area of the church. We also go for Bible study. We have a “Sunday School” class we attend and we’ll hear some sort of Bible lesson. We also hear preaching and teaching from the pulpit. Our senior minister is very good at this and we are rightly led through the preaching and teaching of God’s word. Oh yeah, we also sing some songs and sometimes we’ll listen to people play and or sing solos. The music is very good.
But the real purpose for coming together – fellowship, service, studying, teaching, preaching and music – is to worship God. We are specifically setting aside this time to go and participate in worshiping the One, true God. Though we may “go to church” and do a lot of different things while we are there, the real purpose is to go and worship the King.
God tells us this about worshiping Him: “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” – John 4:24 (ESV) So, even though we may go every Sunday and even though we may participate in all of the activities that are “part of worship,” this is the real standard for worshiping God. We must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
For me, worship is a lot harder than it really should be. My family and I attend church regularly, but the process of getting there and, to be honest, some of the people there, throw up huge obstacles to having my heart right for worship. My heart should be kind and tenderhearted and eager to forgive, like God has forgiven me (Ephesians 4:32), but my spirit is usually hard and calloused, ready to protect my interests. I should be heavenly focused, but most times I’m ground down into the sod with my earthly focused. Many times I’m too thoughtful about what happened the previous day, rather than being there in the moment and worshiping God.
So today, our gang will head off to church again. My prayer is that we won’t just be checking the box that we are there and participating, but that we will be there to worship the One true God in spirit and in truth. I hope this day brings the same for you.
Husband Father Son 