Hymns -vs- Praise Choruses

An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big-city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.

"Well," said the farmer, "it was good; but they did something different. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns."

"Praise choruses?" said his wife. "What are those?"

"Oh, they're OK. They're sort of like hymns, only different," said the farmer.

"Well, what's the difference?" asked his wife.

The farmer said, "Well it's like this: If I said to you: 'Martha, the cows are in the corn,' well, that would be a hymn. On the other hand, if I said to you: 'Martha Martha, Martha, Oh, Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black-and-white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, the CORN, CORN, CORN,' then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well that would be a praise chorus."

(Author unknown)

Jesus and Immanuel

The Angel said - "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” The prophet said - “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.” (Mat. 1:21,23)

Immanuel - God with us.
Jesus - God saves.

There is great power in our Lord's names. Great meaning. Great significance. The angelic announcement was and is a great source of comfort and cause for celebration. It proclaimed a divine transition from heavenly silence to dynamic personal action.

No more Lostness - Together the names show a systematic principle. God saves by being with us, and if God is with us He will surely save us. the baby born of a virgin is nothing less than God in the flesh. The eternal God stepped into time. The omnipresent God had taken up spacial existence. He did it so that He could be with man not just over man. He came and experienced human existence so that He could bring heaven to us. He came where we were so that we could come where He is.

No more Loneliness - God with us meant that we would never be alone again. Covenant relationship is in the names of Jesus. God is with us in our daily walk through a sometimes cruel and uncaring world. God is with us when we are confused, perplexed, insecure, bewildered and discontent. God is with us when we are rejected or betrayed. God is with us when we are tempted and tried. God is with us when it seems like no one understands. 'Jesus' and 'Immanuel' announces that an ever abiding God is present and active with those that believe.

We call Him Redeemer because He bought us.
We call Him Teacher because He shows us.
We call Him Wonderful because He is good to us.
We call Him Counselor because He guides us.
We call Him Shepherd because He finds us.
We call Him Rock because He stands for us.
We call Him Master because He commands us.
We call Him Priest because he offered for us.
we call Him Prophet because He speaks to us.
We call Him King because He protects us.
We call Him Lion because He fought for us.
We call Him Savior because He died for us.
We call Him Lord because He rose from death and speaks for us.

Come to know His names rather than just knowing what His name is.

The Nazareth

John 1:46

Can anything good or just
Can one faithful and true
One we trust
Come out of Nazareth?

Nazareth
The low parts of Palestine
A ghetto of Galilee on Beulah’s backside
Unmentionable, unintentional
Most forgettable and avoidable
Nazareth.

No King had risen
No Prophet resided
In this hamlet of dusty farmers
Muddy potters, lowly shepherds
And occasional carpenters.

No wonder one would wonder
Stumbling at the word
That honor had risen with power
From the poor and quiet folk
Of Nazareth.

It’s this muddied thinking of our mannish minds
That often blinds us
And binds us
To handicapped reasons
And asinine assumptions
That great people only come from great situations.

And so we miss it
And dismiss it
Looking for God in the light on the left
We fail to see His hand on the right in the dark
Forgetting that He often grows lilies of the valley
In ghetto alleys and slum cities
Like Nazareth

But there rose one like a bright sun.
God’s Son.
Breaking the darkness like a cloudless dawn
Divinity in flesh came the Nazareth
His likeness unmistakably, undeniably God.

A carpenter’s son cutting hearts of men
Fashioning faith from foolish failure
The Creator and Orchestrator
He built a church on the strength of His name
And now fame is known
By Nazareth.

Now the ghettos sing glory
As they follow the grand story
Of the Nazareth
Who fought death
Rising from the hood and the grave
Overcoming poverty, obscurity and iniquity
Reigning at the right of absolute majesty.

The lowly shudder in the throes of hope’s dope
The forgotten remember their redeemer who delivered them
From Ghetthoic grieving
Seeing and believing that troubles are not binding
No concrete confining
Or circumstances continuing
When you think like the Nazareth
Ignoring what the rest expect
Pleasing God rather than man

His life is their proof
His existence our evidence
That the Most High
Comes to low places
Taking residence
Lifting low spaces to great heights
Blessed be the Nazareth
And Nazarites.


David Wilson

Prompts for Praise

"And they praised God because of me (Gal. 1:24)."

When God is praised awesome consequences take place. He is well pleased and draws near with blessings. Personal worries and fears are assaulted by celebrated conviction. The Devil and his legions flee in panic at the celebration of God's name and rehearsal of His power.

Paul's personal testimony in the book of Galatians, reveals an amazing fact about praise - we can be the reason that men and women praise God. Paul said that the churches in Judea praised God because of his ministry. There was sincere joy over his accomplishments in service to God. This joy was accentuated or augmented by the fact that they knew he was formerly their persecutor.

The one who used to murder Christians is now birthing them.

The one who chased Christians now leads them.

The one who helped kill Stephen, now leads men like Titus, Timothy, Epaphroditus and Silas

The one who fought them, now fights for them on the front-lines of the good fight of faith.

When the churches in Judea heard that report they praised God.

You and I can be a reason, a prompt to praise God.

• By our work and support of ministry.
• Through our example of God's presence.
• By the evident change of direction and focus.

And they will praise God because of you too.