Glorious

Glorious

Written by: Paul Balouche and Benton Brown

CCLI Song No. 5548521 CCLI Song No. 5548521

Lyrics

Look inside the myst'ry - see the empty cross

See the risen Savior victorious and strong

No one else above Him - none as strong to save

He alone has conquered - the power of the grave

Glorious, My eyes have seen the glory of the Lord

Glorious, He stands above the rulers of the earth

Glorious, glorious - Lord You are glorious

Look beyond the tombstone - see the living God

See the resurrected; ruler of my heart

No one else above Him - none to match His worth

The hope of His returning fills the universe

Devotional Scripture:

*Scipture payers from Kenneth Boa, Handbook to Prayer: Praying Scripture Back to God (Atlanta: Trinity House, 1997).

“My attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5–8).*

“You are worthy to take the scroll

And to open its seals,

Because You were slain,

And with Your blood You purchased men for God

From every tribe and language and people and nation.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,

And they will reign on the earth (Revelation 5:9–10).*

“There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets” (Revelation 10:6-7).

Devotional Prayer:

You are the resurrected Savior; strong and victorious. You stand above the rulers of the earth and we wait in the hope of Your returning. You are glorious!

Revelation 9 "Still Complacent?"

After reading chapter nine of Revelation, I was struck by the people who did not respond to God. Even after all that had happened and seeing his judgment all around them, they continued to worship the idols they have made. But before I could accuse any further God reminded humbly approach these words. How many times did I feel his call to move or change an action and yet I did not respond. I continued to honor something else over him.

The first song that came to mind was “God of Justice”. It is a song that still challenges me to live out the words I am singing. To turn to what Micah 6:8 calls us to do; justice, love mercy and walk humbly.

Revelation is a book that forces you to consider your humility before and all powerful God and this verse reminds us that is not the words that honor God it is the action.

“He has shown all you people what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8)

God of Our Fathers

BLESSED ASSURANCE/TO GOD BE THE GLORY
Jesus is my story and my song was Fanny Crosby’s devotional prayer in this song. She is America’s most prolific hymn writer penning over 8,000 hymns. She would say about her blindness, “Darkness may throw a shadow over my outer vision, but there is no cloud that can keep the sunlight of hope from a trustful soul”. Her hymns became well known through the American Evangelist D.L. Moody crusades. Then they were reintroduced during Billy Graham crusades. This next song, “To God Be the Glory” was written in 1872.

GOD OF JUSTICE
We have been given much as Americans for a reason, so that we can give and be in a position for God to use us.

RAISE UP THE CROWN
It is only through the power of Jesus that we can love others. It is only his work on the cross that can bring freedom and justice to all.

GOD OF OUR FATHERS
We are thankful for the freedom that we have to choose to worship God. We are blessed to be free from oppression and thankful for the courage of those who gave their all to protect this freedom.
“God of Our Fathers” is a song written by a pastor of a small church in 1876. It was written to commemorate the one-hundredth birthday of the Declaration of Independence. In this prayer we are reminded that God is an almighty God and is in charge of nations. This trust in God alone is echoed through the prophet Daniel, "The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men” (Daniel 4:17).
Let your prayer during this time of offering be one of thankfulness to God and that we would demonstrate His love and grace to others.

Impulse of Thy Love

The key verse that drew me into the text this week was in verse 12, “Live such good lives among pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us”. How can our actions demonstrate the gospel? Would there be evidence of God’s presence in my life? This line from Take My Life, written in 1874 prays this way, “Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love”. Before we strive to simply not do bad things, we need to realize that it is God’s love in us that transforms us. It is Christ’ s love in us that leads us to love others, we are simply following his impulse.

Reflections

Songs;
Beautiful One
Blessed Be Your Name
Never Let Go
Our Great God
Father Let Me Dedicate

Do we trust God through tough times?

During Beautiful One we prayed that we would not become too familiar with God. That He would open our eyes to see how wonderful He is and that our hearts would be "captured" with the love He has for us. It is an everlasting love and He is a faithful God.

God is in the dark times and tough circumstance can bring a stronger and more real faith. Sometimes we have to experience His faithfulness in order to grow. Jesus is the "Living Hope". This week lets fix our eyes on him, "the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:2). Our hope can be secure, lets not put our hope in anything else.

Throughout the songs I was reflecting on the familiar passage from Psalms which promises His presence in our dark times.

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters,
He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me" (Psalm 23:1-4).

May His presence restore your soul this week.

Glorious One

by Steve Fee

We praise God's glory and the wonder of his greatness in this song. He is great and yet intimate with us as our Healer and Redeemer. My favorite line so far in this song is, "You hold the universe and still you run to the broken". I think this song connects well with our need as a church to see God as great, but also be more aware of his presence among us and in our lives. His love for us is demonstrated in the sacrifice of Christ, he desires a relationship with us. That is something to sing about.

Lyrics...
Our hands are lifted high, our hearts are bowing in reverence
And we're surrounded by the glory of Your presence
With ev'ry creature ev'ry tongue, we're lifting our voice to the Glorious One

Glorious One, Glorious One
Light of the world, You outshine the sun
King of all kings, eternity sings - Glorious One

Oh God of infinite worth with hands that carved out the ocean
You hold the universe and still You run to the broken
With ev'ry heart that's been redeemed we're lifting our songs to the Glorious King

There is none more beautiful...none more wonderful - Glorious One

Scripture Prayer...
Since I am receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, may I be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for my God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28-29)

My Savior My God

lyrics by Dorothy Greenwell in “Songs of Salvation”, 1873.
New music and chorus by Aaron Shust.

“I am not skilled to understand what God has willed what God has planned
I only know at his right hand, stands one who is my Savior

I take him at his word and deed; Christ died to save me this I read
And in my heart I find the need for Him to be my Savior

Yes, living, dying, let me bring; my strength, my solace from this Spring
That he who lives to be my King; once died to be my Savior

That he would leave his place on high; and come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, so once did I; before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves, my Savior lives, my Savior’s always there for me
My God he was, my God he is; my God he’s always gonna be”
_____________________________________________
From the lyrics of this beautiful hymn, the author was struck by the honesty of them. He desired to bring it back to his church, so he took the time to translate the music and write a new chorus that would communicate how our King is also our Savior.

The people who sat at the feet of Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount felt the same way as the religious leaders made it impossible for them to understand how to have a relationship with God. They were the outcaste of the religious society, but Jesus comforts them and calls them blessed.

For us today it is the same principle, we are unified in our humble need for a Savior. May we never forget that and in the words from the author of Amazing Grace John Newton, there are only two things we need to know, that we are great sinners but he is a great Savior.