Cross-Centered Worship: “The Greatest of All”
We have noticed a disturbing trend in the corporate worship songs of the church. Perhaps you have too? It seems that we sing very little about the main point of Christianity. This is largely because the church wants to be more “sensitive” to those who are not Christians.
With the best research in hand, we are told that non-Christians don’t really want to hear about sin and guilt and being accountable to a holy God. They also don’t want to hear about a Savior dying on a bloody cross for their sins. To reach them, we are confidently told, we must eliminate these topics from our sermons and our songs. Sadly, much of the Evangelical church has mistakenly signed on to this approach. We could not disagree more strongly!
The message of a crucified and risen Savior and the reconciliation that this can bring is the only message the church has! It is the one and only message the church has been entrusted with and that the lost so desperately needs to hear.
As one who has been responsible for leading corporate singing for years, I can attest to how frustrating it has become to find songs that are worth singing! There are many out there, but it takes time to find them. Because of this, we have started a new feature at Not For Itching Ears. Each week, we will post one worthy (at least in our opinion) worship song for you to listen to. We will post the lyrics as well as the Mp3 along with a chord chart when possible. This weeks selection is “The Greatest of All” , we hope you enjoy it. After listening to it, please rate it by taking our quick poll. You will find the poll at the bottom of this post.
The Greatest of All
The costliest purchase price
Father, Your Son’s atoning death
Was given in payment for mine
To buy me back from slavery
To set me free from my chains
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
Redeemed through Your infinite mercy
Your child forever I am
You ransomed and saved my soul
Jesus, Your death and Yours alone
Has canceled the debt that I owed
You satisfied the law’s demand
And new life’s been given to me
© 2007 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP) Chorus by Fanny J. Crosby, music and additional words by Pat SczebelAs recorded on Sons & Daughters
Listen to “The Greatest of All”
Download the FREE guitar chart for this song here: http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/productinfo.aspx?QuickAddProductID=M4220-04-57
Listen to other songs in this series:
Cross-Centered Worship Songs: “Oh What Grace”
Cross-Centered Worship: “The Gospel Song”
Cross-Centered Worship “All I Have Is Christ”
Cross-Centered Worship: “The Prodigal”
Cross-Centered Christmas Worship Song: “Glory Be to God”
Cross-Centered Worship: “The Greatest of All”
Posted on December 15, 2010, in The Cross, Worship and tagged bob Kauflin, C.J. Mahaney, christianity, cross-centered worship, Fanny J. Crosby, Pat Sczebel, Sons & Daughters, Sovereign Grace Ministries, The Greatest of All, worship, Worship Music. Bookmark the permalink. 9 Comments.
Not For Itching Ears 
This song really blessed me today. Thank you Pastor Jim!!!
Greetings in the love of Christ to all my brothers and sisters in your fellowship and wishing all the best celebration of our Saviour’s birth!!!
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Thanks for the song. I look forward to seeing more.
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I’m just excited to see that you see things like I do! How refreshing!
I detest “the emergent church” and all the “new christianity” nonsense. Instead of straining towards the newest coolest flavor-of-the-month in regards to being a more sensitive (feminine), accepting (compromising), diverse (allowing sinful lifestyles status), and open-minded (non-conservative politically) “church”, shouldn’t we simply all go back and re-read The Book of Acts and use that as our template?
Hmm.
Donald in Bethel, CT
ps: Enjoy your stuff so far!
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L.P. Thanks for checking us out!
Donald, yes the church should go back to Acts. Will we, is another question. I have. Thanks for stopping by.
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Will “the church” go back to Acts…?
No.
Especially if we continually insist on regarding the “church” as everything and everyone that sets up shop and calls themself a follower of Christ… The heresies of the emergent church is simply the latest charge of the Enemy, effectively doing what he has done many, many times before, infiltrating the Body, and then corrupting it with lies…
But there is an ironic lesson to it all, from my perspective… What is the vehicle that the “emergent” (i.e. New Age) movement is using to pollute “churches” all across the country, and the world? It is our own institutions, which we have trusted in and relied on for so many generations. The walls and watchkeepers that were supposedly erected to protect the gospel, and keep out false teaching, have now proven to function as the respectable-looking vessels through which the devil’s lies are cultivated and propogated. Instead of fortresses for truth, they have become the ideal instrument through which to introduce and indoctrinate unsuspecting and undiscerning people to the doctrines of demons. For centuries we have exhorted and begged people to be loyal to their dependable Christian institutions, to listen to the official leaders, to respect their positions of authority, to be impressed by their educations and degrees, to have high regard for people who sell lots of books and are well known…
Such a description is now the de facto blueprint used by every wolf that seeks to sew themself a set of “sheep’s clothing”…
And now, as more and more of these false teachers rise up from within the religious institutions we have constructed and maintained, it should be no surprise that so many people rally around them, because they are simply doing what they have always been trained to do…
The “seeker-sensitive movement” is not simply some error on the part of a few church-growth strategists. It is a very calculated and intentional effort on behalf of the Enemy, and the proponents of his “new age” gospel…
I highly recommend the book: “Trojan Church – The New Age Corruption of the Evangelical Faith“, by Gregory R. Reid. Just finished it, and it goes into all the New Age & occult connections between the “emergent” movement and the whole seeker-sensitive/”purpose-filled” stream. The two “movements” are in reality just two branches extending from the same dead tree…
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Hi Daniel,
Thanks for the book tip, I will check it out.
You have given us a lot to think about here! I have stong misgivings about the emergent church movement. The seeker-sensitive movement has practically taken over the American Church, with catostrophic results. I will soon be posting an article that I am working on called “The Seeker-Sensitive church is Neither” that goes into this in more detail. What do you think the answer to these two branches are?
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Looking forward to your upcoming post about “Seeker-sensitive church”. I agree with Daniel, above, 100%. The New Age has indeed set up camp within mainline Christianity.
Personally I believe it is God’s way of culling the herd. He said the elect wouldn’t be deceived. Well, what about the non-elect? Perhaps it is they who rush to such false teachings because they were never invited to truly sit at our Master’s feet in the first place. Just a thought. I am loosely referencing Matthew 7:21.
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