Yesterday, I posted the video of Shine into Our Night from WorshipGod11.
The second song we’ve finished editing is Come Praise and Glorify. I wrote this with Tim Chester, a pastor in Sheffield, UK, who has written over 20 books (including Total Church, You Can Change, and A Meal with Jesus). The fact that I wrote a song with Tim is purely providential.
I was leading the music at the New Word Alive conference this past April and happened to stay in a flat with Tim and his wife, Helen. I thoroughly enjoyed a couple late night chats with Tim and after I got home he sent me some of the songs he had written that they sang at his church. One of them based on Ephesians 1, stood out to me as ideal for the project we were working on, The Gathering. I fooled around with different melodies (with a little help from my friends), and finally landed on one we liked. I sent it to Tim and he graciously gave us permission to record it with my melody.
One of the things I appreciate about the lyric is the way it incorporates so many of the truths in Ephesians 1. Those include our blessings in Christ, God’s predestining us to be blameless in his sight, our adoption in Christ, our redemption in Christ, God’s purposes in Christ, receiving the Word of the gospel, and our inheritance in Christ being sealed by the Spirit. A veritable theological feast! I edited Tim’s original chorus slightly to draw attention to the fact that the God’s glory and grace are revealed through his being the God who saves.
At WorshipGod11 a hard drive filled up during the second recording of Come Praise and Glorify (we recorded the whole album twice). We ran through the song a third time, but found out that the hard drive hadn’t fully booted up yet. So this video is actually the fourth take of the song. It’s hard to describe my joy as I watch my son, Devon, singing God’s praises with so much passion.
Guitar chart in Bb here. Guitar chart in A here.
Lead sheet in Bb here. Lead sheet in A here.
Lyrics below.
COME PRAISE AND GLORIFY
Come praise and glorify our God
The Father of our Lord
In Christ He has in heav’nly realms
His blessings on us poured
For pure and blameless in His sight
He destined us to be
And now we’ve been adopted through
His Son eternally
To the praise of Your glory,
To the praise of Your mercy and grace
To the praise of Your glory
You are the God who saves
Come praise and glorify our God
Who gives His grace in Christ
In Him our sins are washed away
Redeemed through sacrifice
In Him God has made known to us
The myst’ry of His will
That Christ should be the head of all
His purpose to fulfill
Come praise and glorify our God
For we’ve believed the Word
And through our faith we have a seal
The Spirit of the Lord
The Spirit guarantees our hope
Until redemption’s done
Until we join in endless praise
To God, the Three in One
By Bob Kauflin and Tim Chester. © 2011 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).
Zimmer is the man. That guy was unbelievable to watch on the drums.
Good song… reminds me of a Fernando Ortega song.
That drummer must have been having a good time… he certainly appeared to be worshipping and he was using incredible excellence to do so!
Great stuff. I also echo Dan’s comment…All your players are obviously gifted with The Skillz (even the old fella on the keys lol).
As a drummer myself, I wish my right hand was as good as your guy’s left :)
Thanks for posting this stuff Bob, it’s encouraging!
Steph, did I meet you over at New Word Alive this past April?
This new song wonderfully captures the riches of Ephesians 1, which has for a long time been one of my favorite chapters. Thanks for this gift – I look forward to teaching it to my congregation. Soli Deo Gloria!
Hi Bob,
A magnificent contribution – the music carries these precious words with impact and interest!
Thanks!
Bob, since I don’t see anyone else named Steph, I’m wondering if (in de Niro style) you talkin’ ta me? Steph MacLeod is the singer on the hymns album I’m writing at the moment… My name is Greg.
You may well have met him at New Word Alive. Sounds like the kind of gig he’d be doing…Steph’s own stuff is at http://soundcloud.com/stephmacleod
Great song. Great video. Great night. Great God!
The way the melody changes in the verse where it says:
“For pure and blameless in His sight
He destined us to be”
Is absolutely beautiful. The melody is so captivating. This is such a great song. Thank you for posting it.
And I can’t imagine the joy of having one of my sons on stage with me worshipping God with such passion. You are blessed!
PS: On a blog frequented by so many worship leaders, I did not want to say something so ‘shallow’ but the drums were OFF THE HOOK!
What is the chord progression of interlude before verse 3?
John, the music for this song is available at: http://sovereigngracemusic.org/Songs/Come_Praise_and_Glorify/2