With a new album out soon, the band Thrice has navigated its way back to the top of my iTunes playlist. I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve forgotten how wonderful the Alchemy Index albums are. So legit. Here’s an older song, Moving Mountains (Alchemy Index, vol. IV), for your listening pleasure:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
(1 Corinthians 1:1-3)

LYRICS:

I speak in many tongues of many men
Argue with angels and I always win
But I don’t know the first thing about love

I prophesize and know all mystery
All living things are opened up to me
But I don’t know the first thing about love
Don’t know the first thing about love

I have the keys to open any door
Give all my possessions to the poor
But I don’t know the first thing about love

And moving mountains ain’t a thing to me
Have faith enough to cast them to the sea
But I don’t know the first thing about love
I don’t know the first thing about love

All other things shall fade away
Love stands alone and still holds sway
all other things shall fade away
Into the ground into the grave

I give my body up into the flames
And never once have I denied your name
But I don’t know the first thing about love
I don’t know the first thing about love

Thrice is an Orange County-based band. Lead singer Dustin Kensrue also leads worship at Mars Hill Church – Orange County. Thrice’s new album, Major/Minor, will be available in stores and online September 6th.

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Download the new single from Shai Linne, The Glory of God from his forthcoming album on the attributes of God.

Click here to download.

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A simple animation. A simple song. A simple speech.

I love this video because it reminds me of the simplicity of the gospel. The animation reminds me of a child-like joy and simplicity that is found in the gospel. The song, The Gospel Song, is beautiful. It is only four lines long, but they are strong and powerful. They capture the essence of God’s character, His radical love for us in His becoming incarnate, living the life we were supposed to live, and dying the death we were supposed to die, all so we might live and, ultimately, glorify Him!  In the video (1:20), John Piper summarizes the gospel  truth in a few words. Nothing elaborate, but so worshipful.

I pray that you are reminded that simplicity in our faith is not bad.  Sometimes, I think it is necessary and refreshing for our souls. The Gospel is such that a child can understand it in an instant and a scholar can search the depths of it for a lifetime. As we all grow in our passion for the Gospel, searching the depths of its truth, let’s never ignore the beautiful simplicity of it!

Holy God, in love, became
Perfect Man to bear my blame
On the cross He took my sin
By His death I live again

* “The Gospel Song” Lyrics by Drew Jones. Music by Bob Kauflin.

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And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

(Mark 15:33-38)

Lord Jesus, Comfort Me

You have canceled my transgression,
Jesus, by Your precious blood
May I find therein salvation,
happiness, and peace with God
And since You for sinner’s suffering
On the cross was made an offering
From all sin deliver me,
That I wholly Yours may be

All the pain You have endured
All Your wounds, Your crown of thorn
Hands and feet with nails through bored
The reproach which You have borne
Your back, ploughed with deep furrows
Cross and grave and all Your sorrows
Your blood-sweat and agony
Oh Lord Jesus, comfort me

Your back, ploughed with deep furrows
Cross and grave and all Your sorrows
Your blood-sweat and agony
Oh Lord Jesus, comfort me

from the album WATCH THE RISING DAY
Written by Matthew S. Smith
©2010 Detuned Radio Music
Based in part on a German hymn text by Johann Rist

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Page CXVI is a talented and gifted band that arranges old hymns to new tunes. And they do it well.

This Thursday, The Gospel for OC and Village Church of Irvine are hosting the first ever Page CXVI show in Orange County, California. Get excited.

Page who?

….Page “116″.

From the band’s website:

The name comes from a reference to page 116 in our copy of The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. It is a poignant passage where Aslan begins to sing Narnia into creation out of a black void.

It starts, “In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing. It was very far away and Digory found it hard to decide from what direction is was coming. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. Sometimes he almost thought it was coming out of the earth beneath them. Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words. There was hardly even a tune. But it was, beyond comparison, the most beautiful noise he had ever heard. It was so beautiful he could hardly bear it.”
~ C.S. Lewis

Join us this Thursday

Be sure to join us this Thursday, April 7th, at Village Church of Irvine, for a worshipful night of hymns and song. It starts at 7pm and only costs $10 ($5 for children). Go to the band’s website and register today!

The Gospel for OC‘s ministry team will be there. If you see us there, make sure to stop and say hi.

Chance to win tickets

To support the band, our ministry team is sponsoring a buy 3 get 1 free deal for the first 10 people that register three people online. To enter, go to the band’s website (http://pagecxvi.com) and purchase three tickets. When paypal sends you a payment confirmation/receipt to your email, just forward it to info@thegospelforoc.com. The first 10 entries will receive one free adult ticket or two free children tickets, on us.

Once this opportunity is closed, we will announce it on the blog.

Please NOTE: All of the event proceeds go to Page CXVI. Blessing the contemporary world with classic hymns is what they do for a living. Neither The Gospel for OC nor Village Church of Irvine will yield a profit on this event. We hope you’ll join us in supporting this band.

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“The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”
(Romans 13:12-14 ESV)

Tedashii – Make War (intro by John Piper)

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Dustin Kensrue’s Christmas song, This is War, looks at the Christmas story from a wartime perspective—that is, God Almighty declaring war on Satan, sin, and death. To free us from our seemingly hopeless enslavement, God sent his only begotten Son, Christ Jesus, as a ransom for our sins.

During his Christmas Eve sermon in 1995, John Piper explained this need for a ransom:

…let’s take the specific act of Jesus’ service that he mentions in Mark 10:45. “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus came to “give his life as a ransom for many.” This is what Christmas is about. He came. He did not come to be served. He came to give his life a ransom for many.
…
Now why is his death called a ransom? “The Son of Man came to give his life a ransom for many.” Ransom is a good translation. The Greek word here (lutron) meant just that—a payment to release someone from some kind of bondage: prisoners of war, slavery, debt. So the implication is that Jesus sees his death as a ransom to release many from bondage. He is paying what they cannot pay so that they may go free. He is substituting himself for them. And at the cost of his life, they get freedom.
…
The heart of the Christian message is that Christ came to give his life a ransom for many. That is, to die for many. That is: to save many from their sin and from its guilt and power and penalty in eternal punishment.

The Good News of Christmas

God took initiative in salvations, and he did so through the fragile form of a baby child. He did it to show grace to ill-deserving sinners. It was a war waged. And today, it is a victory won. This is the good news of Christmas.

This is War is still my favorite Christmas song. We already posted this video last year, but it’s worth a second glance. If you go back to last year’s post, you can watch as Kensrue explains what the song means to him.

(RSS readers: If you don’t see the video below, click through to watch it on the blog)

LYRICS:

This is war like you ain’t seen.
This winter’s long, it’s cold and mean.
With hangdog hearts we stood condemned,
But the tide turns now at Bethlehem.

This is war and born tonight,
The Word as flesh, the Lord of Light,
The Son of God, the low-born king;
Who demons fear, of whom angels sing.

This is war on sin and death;
The dark will take it’s final breath.
It shakes the earth, confounds all plans;
The mystery of God as man.

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(HT: Mars Hill Church Blog)

“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
1 Peter 1:8-9

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The song from Beggars that I’m really loving at the moment is titled In Exile. It’s legit.

THRICE // ‘IN EXILE’

I am an exile, a sojourner
A citizen of some other place
All I’ve seen is just a glimmer in just a shadowy mirror
But I know one day we’ll see face to face

I am a nomad, a wanderer
I have nowhere to lay my head down
There’s no point in putting roots too deep when I’m moving on
Not settling for this unsettling town

My heart is filled with songs of forever
A city that endures, where all is made new
And no I don’t belong here
I’ll never call this place my home
I’m just passing through

I am a pilgrim, a voyager
I won’t rest until my lips touch the shore
Of the land that I’ve been longing for as long as I’ve lived
Where there’ll be no pain or tears anymore

—-end song—-

Such a rad song. As I listen to it, I consider the words of the apostle Paul in his letter to the saints of the church in Philippi:

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

(Philippians 3:12-21)

Oh, Lord, haste the day.

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It’s rad.

Hillsong’s With Everything:

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