Sing to Jesus

I'm a pretty big fan of the phenomenon known as Fernando Ortega. If there were a song written by a human that was perfect, this might be it. The music is beautiful, but it isn't quite as beautiful as the text. Together though, the text and music are awesome.




Come and see
Look on this mystery
The Lord of the universe
Nailed to a tree
Christ our God
Spilling His holy blood
Bowing in anguish
His sacred head

Sing to Jesus
Lord of our shame
Lord of our sinful hearts
He is our great Redeemer
Sing to Jesus
Honor His name
Sing of His faithfulness
Pouring His life out unto death

Come you weary
And He will give you rest
Come you who mourn
Lay on His breast
Christ who died
Risen in paradise
Giver of mercy
Giver of life

Sing to Jesus
His is the throne
Now and forever
He is the King of heaven
Sing to Jesus we are His own
Now and forever
Sing for the love our God has shown

Render to Ceasar

I'm on my way to pay the man. I'm trying to take a spiritual approach to taxes this year. I have to, otherwise I'd get depressed. Remember that Jesus commanded us to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him. Mark 12:17. I may marvel at the amount of money that is taken from our already shallow pockets, but it doesn't matter. God gets what is His first.

God doesn't need anything, but, He requires everything.

Grace and Peace,
Joel

I Believe...

Aslan is on the move!

Love

I just wanna take the time to say that I absolutely love my wife. She's absolutely beautiful and wonderful and I can't imagine what my life would be like without her. I thank the Lord for her. She's my partner, my friend, my counselor. She also has a fantastic sense of humor.

Grace and Peace,

Joel

Let the Worshipers Arise

This weekend I was able to take the students in our youth choir (The Proclaimers) to an event called PraizFest. It was hosted by Geyer Springs, First Baptist Church in Little Rock. I had the opportunity to lead worship during an early morning session on Saturday. 8:30am. Normally I would not be very excited about such an opportunity. Most people don't really care about anything that early in the morning. The difference this weekend is that the room was full of students eager to be there and to lift up their voices in praise. Some things are difficult. Leading a room full of hungry teens to the throne of God is easy. You see, they wanted to be there. They paid their money, fought the storm (we had an ice storm), stayed up all night, got up early and came to worship God! I suppose they are unique anyway because not every student would give up a whole weekend to a weekend of youth choir. But over 600 showed up for this event.

What is it about worshiping early in the morning that seems so fresh and free? If you can get yourself out of bed it can be a wonderful event! Since God never sleeps I do not imagine the time of our worship is much of a concern to Him. Here is what I think is significant about the whole thing. Sacrifice. It is not easy to get up early. It is definitely not easy to get geared up to thrust yourself into a time of worship. It costs you something. It is not comfortable. God requires a sacrifice from us. That offering, that sacrifice is ourselves. We must let go of our desires and wants. This is the example Jesus has set for us. "Give up yourselves," He cries. "Come and follow me. Don't worry about the cost, for great is your reward!"

It will be worth it all
When we see Jesus
Life's trials will seem so small
When we see Christ
One glimpse of His dear face
All sorrow will erase
So bravely run the race
'Til we see Christ ~ Esther Kerr Rusthoi

Christ is our Reward, so, do not lose heart. Join in the song. Look to Christ and see what He is doing. He is glorifying the Father. He's our leader. Let us follow.

Grace and Peace,
Joel

Your Light Has Come

Okay, I put a rough recording of 'Your Light Has Come' up on www.myspace.com/joelwinters. The purpose of this is so you can hear the melody. It is not so you will be in awe of my mad recording skills!


To further comment on the song and the passage in Isaiah: This idea of being radiant is uplifting and exciting. "Raise your eyes and look around: they all gather and come to you; your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried on the hip. Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will tremble and rejoice..." (Is. 60:4-5a) This radiance takes place when God is with us. Emmanuel! We are becoming like Him because we are created in His likeness. When He dwells in and among us and we in Him we become more like Him! We are radiant, Emmanuel!

Grace and Peace,
Joel

The Song Kick

Occasionally I get on these song writing kicks. They last about a month and I write about 15 songs (2 of them might be presentable) and then it just goes away. So, I try to take advantage of the inspirational deluge. I have no idea what sparks the momentum. It would be easy to blame it on the Holy Spirit but I'm sure it has something to do with my current circumstance as well. A lot of times sermons will give me ideas. Sometimes a pastor will make a point and it will strike a chord in me and I'll start scribbling on an offering envelope. I usually miss the rest of the message so I try to make sure those songs are worth while.

Last night the praise band from church played at a Halloween extravaganza for one of our off-campus ministries. We dredged up a song I wrote this past week called "Your Light Has Come". It is my first attempt at writing a song for Advent. It is taken from these two passages...

John 17:1 Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said: Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so that the Son may glorify You, 2 for You gave Him authority over all flesh; so He may give eternal life to all You have given Him. 3 This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent — Jesus Christ. 4 I have glorified You on the earth by completing the work You gave Me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with that glory I had with You before the world existed.

Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD shines over you. 2 For look, darkness covers the earth, and total darkness the peoples; but the LORD will shine over you, and His glory will appear over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your radiance. 4 Raise your eyes and look around: they all gather and come to you; your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried on the hip. 5 Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will tremble and rejoice...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So...here it is - Your Light Has Come

We are confident in this:
That eternal life is knowing You,
The only true God.
We are confident in this:
That eternal life is knowing You,
And the Son that You have sent.

We rejoice! Your children rejoice!
For Your Light has come,
The Light of Christ has come!

Though the darkness covers us,
It cannot overcome the Light, As You shine over us,
In Your glory.
We will lift our eyes to You,
To Your radiance O Lord, And glorify
The only God who reigns!

We rejoice! Your children rejoice!
For Your Light has come,
The Light of Christ has come!

The Son gives You glory,
So we give You glory,
And nations will come to Your Light,
And kings to You brightness!

We are radiant, Emmanuel! Hallelujah!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I will put up a recording soon on myspace. May the God Who Is With Us grant you peace from on high!

Grace and Peace,
Joel