Phillips, Craig & Dean: YOU ARE MY KING

This is one of my all time favorite worship songs. If there is one image of Jesus that I am completely drawn to, it's Jesus as King. For me this speaks of His majesty and authority, but also His grace and understanding. I love kneeling before King Jesus because He has earned all of my love and devotion for what He has done for us by taking on the full weight of God's wrath for sin in our place. Such amazing love! If you are a follower of Jesus than you are also His servant. This means that as servants of King Jesus we are also His ambassadors here on this earth (2 Corinthians 5:20). And as His ambassadors, Jesus has bestowed upon us the power of His authority. So, when we speak, we speak with the full weight and power of Jesus Himself. This is what it means to be ambassadors of King Jesus, but we must always remember to exercise this authority in love. In this way we honor Jesus our King as His ambassadors here on earth. 

Vineyard UK: come to me

This song seems fitting for the days I've walked around the village of Mlangali in Tanzania, Africa visiting families in their homes. At every turn I was confronted by poverty and sickness, people living in less then acceptable shelters while suffering with various insufferable health issues. I met a man today working his farm with what seemed like a fractured leg, a woman with a persistent cough, another man with severe back pain, many children coughing with runny noses and others with various sores and painful ailments. At one point, a woman came looking for me (and my translator) as she must have heard that I was visiting and praying for people. She asked for prayer for her husband whom she said literally lost his mind one day and gave away everything the family owned leaving them in poverty with nothing.

It’s painfully obvious that the kingdom of darkness is actively at work in oppressing people and stealing their hope for a future. The reality of Jesus’ words couldn’t ring truer, “The thief [devil] comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10 ESV). God is life and He desires to bless people with an abundant life. Throughout the day, I was reminded by Holy Spirit that God cares for every aspect of each and every person. He cares about their physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual needs. At each home I was overwhelmed with great compassion for the family, Christ’s compassion, and as I was talking with them about their lives all my heart wanted to do was pray that God would intervene in their lives and restore all that the devil has stolen, killed and destroyed. Thankfully, I had an opportunity to pray for just about every family I visited. Praise the Lord!

Selah: Light of the stable (performed by Orchard Hill Church worship team)

This song is becoming by far my favorite Christmas song, ever. I love it because it captures the reality of who Jesus is: He is a King worthy of all creation's praises! Even as a little newborn baby, He is still the King of Kings (Revelation 19:16), who is worthy of our praises! "Hail, hail to the newborn King." Not only this, but Jesus is and always will be "the Light of the World and whoever follows Him will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12). Take a minute to really let this Truth settle into you. Jesus' presence in our lives drives back the darkness that continually tries to pull us down into the pits of despair and hopelessness. Now that's Good News! "Hail, hail to the guiding Light. That brought us tonight to our Savior! Halle, hallelujah! Halle, hallelujah!" Merry Christmas!

Sara Groves: when the saints

This song is a good reminder that when we read through the book of Acts in the bible, we should be asking ourselves: "Where in the world can I be doing what the disciples were doing?" Now, on the surface, the world today may look very different from what it looked like 2000 years ago. But, the sad reality of sin and our fallenness is that no matter what era that we live in there will always be people using and abusing other people. Though we have advanced greatly through technology, greed, lust and hatred still remains which means that there will always be a need for followers of Jesus to be engaging redemptively with the world from an eternal perspective with the Gospel.

"I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad. I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul. I see the young missionary and the angry spear. I see his family returning with no trace of fear. I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights. I see the sister standing by the dying man's side. I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor. I see the man with a passion come and kicking down the door. I see the man of sorrows and his long troubled road. I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load..."

Jesus the King

ENJOY! This video is just awesome. "Do you know Him?"

Visuals set to the audio of the famous sermon "Seven Way King" (aka That's My King) as spoken by Dr. S.M. Lockridge. The audio is slightly edited for a better flow in the video. The music in the background was performed live by the Granger Community Church band while the video played on the screens. It then led directly into the worship song "Here is Our King" by the David Crowder Band (to see the performance in it's entirety go here).