Hymn, ‘Leaning on the Everlasting Arms’

Hey, where is everybody today? Hello out there?

Never mind. What do you say we kick off our weekend with a spirited rendition of a classic hymn? “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms”–good advice!

There’s an awful lot of bad news in this fallen world,  opposed to the good news of the gospel; but when you see that, there’s really only one thing a Christian can do.

Sing louder!

Be strong and of a good courage; be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.

P.S.–If there’s a hymn you’d like to see posted on this site, please let me know. I’m taking suggestions.

Hymn, ‘Bringing in the Sheaves’

When things look bleak; when the ungodly are riding high and whooping it up; when faith is at its low ebb–

What is the Christian to do?

Sing louder!

Best advice I ever heard, boys and girls. I heard it on this little, 15-minute Christian radio talk show.

Sing louder.

Bringing in the Sheaves is one of those old classic hymns that you can really put your heart into. I would love to hear King Ryons’ army sing it in their dozen different languages.

The guy who sings it here may not be the greatest singer in the world–ask God if He cares about that!–but I’ll bet you’ve never heard this glorious old hymn played on an autoharp. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve even seen a picture of an autoharp.

But enough talking–make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands!

Hymn: ‘Jesu, Joy of Men’s Desiring’

We usually hear this beautiful hymn around Christmastime, but there’s nothing wrong with hearing it now. In fact, after a week of watching Satan’s vandals trash our civilization, I need it now. It reminds me that God already has the answer to our self-imposed prison sentence in a fallen world. God will regenerate His creation through His Son, Jesus Christ.

So here it is–music by J.S. Bach, wonderful performance, and hope provided by the King of Kings.

‘Christ for the World We Sing’

Let’s start our Sunday with a classic hymn, here sung not as a performance, but as part of a church service. This hymn, by Felice DiGiardini (1716-1796), may be more familiar to you as “Come Thou Almighty King”–same music, different lyrics. Our church had them both in its hymnal, on adjacent pages.

Think about that line, “The world to Christ we bring.”

As Christians, that’s what we’re supposed to do. And you can bet the world doesn’t want to be brought to Christ. But I would rather not talk politics today.

Let the words and music of the hymn speak instead.

Hymn: ‘Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise’

The opening words of this classic hymn are from Paul’s first Epistle to Timothy, Chapter 1.

The thing about Paul’s epistles is, they’re full of real people. We know a lot about Timothy–his grandmother, Lois, his mother, Eunice, his pagan father (whose name is not given), and his less than robust state of health, for which Paul advises him to take a little wine with his dinner, instead of water.

If we belong to Jesus Christ, we are in fellowship with these saints of old; they are our family. We can love them. Meanwhile, we are in fellowship with saints in Africa and Asia and other faraway places, whom in this life we will never see face-to-face but who are nevertheless knit to us in a holy bond. They, too, are our family in Christ.

It’s good to have a big family, don’t you think?

Hymn: ‘Rejoice, Give Thanks, and Sing’

If I haven’t bollixed up this video, here, in this performance of a classic hymn, the unaided human voice is used as a musical instrument to praise God.

We can’t all do it well, but we can all do it.

Hymn: ‘Wonderful Words of Life’

Here’s another one from my Sunday school days, if I can get the video to work. Suddenly I’m having trouble with that.

“Wonderful Words of Life” is another old-fashioned hymn that only needs a piano to play it and a voice to sing it. We have provided the piano and the lyrics.

Sorry: the video refuses to display, you have to click on it. Don’t blame it on me. It’s stupid computer stuff.

Later: As you can see, now I have a video that works. For no reason I know of, or can imagine, I now have to use youtube, the Bing.com videos I’ve been using no longer work. But of course that has nothing to do with the business at hand, which is to make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

Hymn: ‘O, Worship the King’

This is another one of those old hymns that I love. I passed up what sounded like a Sergio Mendes & the Brasil 66 version in favor of normal people singing, with a piano.

But of course what really matters is to experience God’s presence. Open up. Let the music be as a hot bath after toiling in a cold rain. Let the words teach.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands…