Hallelujah

Artist Explanation:  “‘Hallelujah,’ for me, is a need to understand the gospel. The chorus is a phrase in Revelations that says, ‘The church will sing for ever and ever’ which is hallelujah for the blood of the lamb that was slain. The very end of the bridge says, ‘Inside your wounds we hide away.’ So this song is just a reminder that if God is who He says He is, if He’s holy, we should be really scared, unless someone gets in between the glory of God and us little simple humans. The beauty of that song is we have a savior that has come in between the wrath of God and us.”

At first I am afraid
But not because of fear
But the holy of holies is drawing me near
Your voice like thunder
Shakes the ground I’m on

Hide my face in the shadow of Your wings, oh Lord
Hide my sin from the beauty here before Your throne

Hallelujah for the blood of the lamb that was slain
Hallelujah for the blood of the lamb that was slain
And so we enter in to see Your face
Enter in to see Your face, oh God

I’m falling to my knees
I feel the earth beneath
With the weight of my sin and this crushing unbelief
Could You really love me
With all that I’ve done?

You spread Your hands
And made a refuge for the weak
And blessed the weary bruised and broken
Took us in
Inside Your wounds we hide away
Inside Your wounds we hide

You spread Your hands
And made a refuge for the weak
And blessed the weary bruised and broken
Took us in
Inside Your wounds we hide away
Inside Your wounds we hide

I checked out their YouTube page and was impressed by their introduction video.  Notice how many times they say something like, “The Bible says. . .” or “Jesus said”, etc.  Their songs are obviously influenced by specific passages of Scripture.  I look forward to more from these guys and praise God for their ministry.  Watch the following video to learn more about them.

ESV Study Bible – This recently came out and has been getting great reviews.  I have really enjoyed the ESV translation and prefer it over the others I’ve used.  The study Bible has tons of useful articles and commentary.  I had read it had a lot of information, but I was still surprised by the amount and quality of the information it contained.  For me, one of the things I appreciate most is the online access.  Purchasing the Study Bible give you access to all of the content online.  Having access to that from anywhere has proven invaluable since the Bible itself is difficult to carry around because of its size.  Its written from a Reformed perspective which is especially obvious in passages and articles dealing with salvation.  All in all, this is the best study Bible I own or have seen.

Guitar Praise – So a while back I was at my sister’s house and somebody had Guitar Hero (or maybe it was Rock Band, I forget) for PS2.  I tried it out and thought it was a lot of fun, but I didn’t care for the music.  I told my wife that if they ever made one with some of my favorite Christian music, I’d buy it.  Well, Digital Praise came out with the PC game, Guitar Praise.  The game works basically the same.  Its not quite the same quality of the other guitar games out there, but the idea is the same.  You have five frets and the strum bar.  You can set the level of play based on your experience.  To start with, you have five songs to choose from and once you complete three of them, you unlock the next five.  The song selection is decent.  A few of them, I’m not sure why they’re included as they aren’t really heavy on guitars.  I’d like to see some bands that weren’t included added later on through expansion packs.  I’m voting for a Third Day expansion pack.  I’d love to play along to songs like Consuming Fire, Tunnel, Rock Star, Agnus Dei, etc.  I’d also like to see some Casting Crowns, Switchfoot (just to play Stars), The Afters, and some others that weren’t included.  All in all, its a fun game and I can easily get addicted.  I’d recommend your computer exceed the minimum system requirements, as I’ve had a few problems playing on my laptop.  I’d also like to get a second guitar to try the two person play with one on lead and one on bass.

Third Day Chronologies – This CD/DVD set comes in two volumes.  Its basically a greatest hits collection for Third Day.  I already owned a lot of the songs, but its revived my interest in many of them as well as introduced me to some that I hadn’t heard before.  Some of the live tracks are great, like “Blessed Assurance”.  I enjoyed the sound of “She Sings in Riddles” (off a rare EP).  I haven’t yet watched the DVD content but I’m looking forward to it.  I saw them in concert a few months ago and thoroughly enjoyed the Bible-saturated, God-centered approach. 

“Over and Underneath” by Tenth Avenue North – A student of mine introduced me to this band and they’ve quickly become one of my new favorites.  Tracks like “Love is Here”, “By Your Side”, and “Hold My Heart” were already familiar, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed new songs like “You Are”, “Beloved”, “Hallelujah”, “Let it Go”.  I could probably list the whole album.  I rarely find an album where I like pretty much every song, but this is one of them.  There are a few bands that are automatic buys for me when they come out with a new album and Tenth Avenue North is now one of them.