Please open your hymnal . . .

"Please open your hymnal to hymn number 199."

Thank You, Jesus, For The Cross

I co-wrote a song with Andi Rozier entitled "Thank You, Jesus, For The Cross", and it is receiving some very kind words from such Internet blogs as BISH, and HEART&VOICE.

You can find a demo and lyrics here.

My life lived for only me
My days spent so sinfully
My heart was dark, my eyes too blind to see
My pride destroying me

Your life, sent for sin to die
Your blood shed to justify
Upon the cross, My ransom to afford
This sinners great reward

Thank You, Jesus, for the cross
Thank You for the price You paid for us
Giving up Your life to save the lost
Thank You, Jesus, for the cross

The crown placed upon Your head
The nails meant for me instead
Your death became the only way to life
For me to live is Christ

You knew no sin, but You became sin
The great sacrifice
so we’d become the righteousness of God

The story on this one is pretty fun. Andi and I have been trying to co-write a song for about, um, seven years. It just never worked. There's a lot of hilarious stories, though (Mate - the word "ORBIT" does not belong in a praise song. That's a brand of gum.).

At a song writers retreat about two years ago, we got a verse we both liked, but felt the melody and chorus were "pants" (a British phrase for "awful"). Then, we were helping our good friend Steve Busch write a bridge for one of his songs, and we came up with something Andi and I felt "chuffed" about (British: very excited).

Steve hated it. :-)

Fast forward about two weeks later, and Andi and I were co-leading a song writers retreat. The Lord gave us all a very sweet time. Andi brought out this lyric that we had co-written and played this new melody and brand new chorus. It was so moving. I told him it needed a first verse and ran to a quiet room. I came back 30 minutes later with the verse. We wrote, like, three more verses and kept one of them. AND we put the bridge that Steve Busch didn't like onto our song.

It got some tweaks. Most notably, there was a LOT of debate on the first line of the chorus. Was it better to say "Jesus, Thank You" or "Thank You, Jesus"? It seems strange now, but those of you who write songs know how much you agonize over that stuff.

So - that's how it happened.

"How Great Is Your Blood"

I recently composed a song (called "The Sacrifice") which included the lyric "How Great Is Your Blood". Wanting to make sure I could justify that, I did some research.

"How great is Your blood!"

Definitions of “Great”
* unusual or considerable in degree, power, intensity, etc.: great pain.
* wonderful; first-rate; very good: We had a great time. That's great!
* being such in an extreme or notable degree: great friends; a great talker.
* notable; remarkable; exceptionally outstanding: a great occasion.
* important; highly significant or consequential: the great issues in American history.
* distinguished; famous: a great inventor.
* of noble or lofty character: great thoughts.
* of extraordinary powers; having unusual merit; very admirable: a great statesman.


The Blood of Christ . . .
1. was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Mt. 26:28
2. must be drunk in order to abide in Christ and have eternal life. John 6:53-56
3. is how God obtained the church. Acts 20:28
4. shows God’s righteousness regarding sin before Christ. Romans 3:25
5. is a term to show participation in the life of Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:16
6. is the means by which the believer is redeemed. Ephesians 1:7
7. is the means by which all things are reconciled to Christ. Colossians 1:20
8. secures an eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:12
9. is superior to the blood of goats and bulls. Hebrews 9:13
10. purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Hebrews 9:14
11. was needed to forgive sins. Hebrews 9:22
12. is superior so as to only be offered once. Hebrews 9:25
13. gives the believer confidence to enter the holy places. Hebrews 10:19
14. when profaned, outrages the Spirit of Grace. Hebrews 10:29
15. is superior to the blood of Abel. Hebrews 12:24
16. is superior to silver and gold. 1 Peter 1:18
17. is the ransom that was paid to win believers back from futile ways. 1 Peter 1:18-19
18. is precious. 1 Peter 1:19
19. cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7
20. testifies to the authenticity of Christ Himself. 1 John 5:6-8
21. frees us from our sins. Revelation 1:5
22. ransomed people from every tribe, language, people and nation. Revelation 5:9
23. wash and make white the robes of those who come out of the great tribulation. Revelation 7:14
24. gives believers the power to eventually conquer Satan his demonic host. Revelation 12:11.

Christmas Song: Come, Thou Lamb of God And Savior

New lyrics for "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus," written for a new sermon series here at Harvest.

Come, Thou Lamb of God and Savior,
Come to take our sins away.
In Thy sacrificial favor
Spare us, heal us, cleanse us, we pray.
We, like sheep, had lost direction;
We could not for our shame atone.
From the altar of Thy perfection
Make Thy blameless life our own.

Come, Thou Way of our redemption,
All our wand'rings rectify;
Truth, but not of our own invention,
Jesus, Word of God, reply.
Life, eternal and resurrected,
Thou to our spiritless framework impart;
And, by Thy love to the Father directed,
Way and Truth and Life Thou art!

(c) 2007 Joshua Westerholm

RZIM: worship setlist

Last week, I led worship (with the world's greatest brother, Tobi, Mary, Chris, and Jack) for Ravi Zacharias summer school at Wheaton College. I know, I know. I should have told you earlier. Sorry!

The group was very diverse. There was "raising-hands-girl" and "arms-folded-guy" right next to each other, but their love for the Lord went beyond their postures. Very interesting, so my song choices were pretty conservative to try to serve the group. I got the feeling that if we had done a church plant with just the people in that room, it would have been very . . . smart.

I'm sure it was the only summer school course in the country that opened with singing. Some truth is so great: it demands more than lecture. More than discussion. More than debate. It demands to be sung.

Here's the song sets that I used!

MONDAY
Come, Christians, Join To Sing (updated by Kevin Harnett)
Everlasting God
Knowing You
Great Are You, Lord (Steve and Vikki Cook)
He Is Exalted

TUESDAY
Our Great Savior (arr. Stowell/Westerholm)
How Deep The Father's Love For Us
Lion and the Lamb
Once Again
Here Is Love
Wonderful Cross

WEDNESDAY
Crown Him With Many Crowns
Everlasting God (Brenton Brown)
Humble King
Fairest Lord Jesus
How Great Is Our God (Tomlin)

THURSDAY
Holy, Holy, Holy
Holy Is The Lord (Tomlin)
You Are My All In All
Jesus, You Are Worthy (Brenton Brown)
In Christ Alone

FRIDAY
O Worship The King
Lord, Reign In Me
Jesus, You Are Worthy
Nothing But The Blood (hymn)
How Great Thou Art

"First Place" gets reviewed

Reformed Worship Magazine graciously included "The First Place" in their column, songs of the season. While I appreciate the entire article, my personal favorite is the MIDI recording at the end.

"Cyberhymnal dot org, here I come!"

The First Place
“The First Place” is not in common currency in the praise and worship repertoire, but that may change with its recent appearance at John Piper’s Desiring God conference, “Above All Earthly Powers: The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World.” The song is a brilliant recasting of Colossians 1:15-20, portraying Christ’s reign over heaven and earth and in our hearts.

After establishing the supremacy of Christ in the stanzas, the refrain bursts into the Kuyperian exclamation, “Every inch of this universe belongs to you, O Christ.” The refrain concludes with personal application “So you must have in all things the first place”—that is, if Christ’s supremacy is displayed throughout all creation, certainly he should also reign in our lives.

The music complements the text perfectly, with simple chords and a low-range melody in the verses that are answered by the expanded range and energy of the refrain. The song is best accompanied by a praise band, but can also effectively be led by just piano or guitar.

The song’s composer, Matthew Westerholm, is a graduate of Trinity International University. Westerholm has been on the worship ministry staff at Harvest Bible Chapel in the northwest suburbs of Chicago since 1998. He maintains a blog at http://retroevangelical.blogspot.com/.

Click to listen.

New Song: Could This Day Be The One?

Here's some fruit from the songwriting retreat. Josh Caterer filled out this chorus that I had written. What do you think? (P.S. - the music is really cool.)

My heart is resting on the hope
That I will see your face
And sorrow will be gone
Without a single trace

I’m longing for the day
When faith shall become sight
And darkness disappears
In your glorious light

To hear skies torn in two
To turn and know it’s You
To think that Heaven has begun
To finally feel at home
To know You as I am known
Could this day be the one?
Lord Jesus, come.

Words and Music by Matthew Westerholm and Josh Caterer
(c) 2007 Matthew Westerholm and Josh Caterer

New Song: Revelation Song

Our church has been greatly blessed by the new song "Revelation Song", written by Jennie Riddle. You can find sheet music here and purchase it from a number of different places.