This iMix accompanies our new sermon series (Fall, ’08) called, “Pure Desire – Moral Sanity in a Sex-saturated Culture.” These songs celebrate all that God has made good – the beauty of restoration, healing and transformation that result when our lives are defined by the grace of Jesus Christ, and wholly devoted to use for his glory. The pursuit of God and his ways becomes our greatest pleasure, and the practice of our sexuality a means by which we worship him. Here are some comments on why I chose each song. I pray that these songs are a great encouragement to each one of you personally, and that our church will bless God as we sing them together and live according to the truth we sing.

Pure Desire iMix By Bill Born
1. As It Is In Heaven by Matt Maher (Empty and Beautiful) I choose to open this iMix with a song based on the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer captures so much of our need as children before our great Heavenly Father. Because God is holy, we say “let your will be done.” We realize that it really is all about God’s Kingdom, his power and his glory forever. And that is what we ought to be about too.

2. Everything Glorious by David Crowder (Remedy) I love this song because it defines the process of God’s redemption in our lives. In the beginning, God made everything glorious, including our sexuality, and sin has made everything not so glorious. However, grace comes through Christ Jesus and brings restoration and beauty to the things that sin has distorted and that in my opinion is more beautiful than anything else in this world.

3. Give Us Clean Hands by Chris Tomlin (Worship Together – Be Glorified) This song comes right out of Psalm 24 which answers the question, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?” The answer? . . . those with clean hands and a pure heart. The Psalm ends with a prophecy of the coming messiah – the one who would make the way of grace through the cross. May we be a generation that seeks God’s face and finds that we are gazing into the face of Christ who initiated this seeking process in the first place. He came to seek and to save us, to cleanse and to purify us so that we might stand in God’ s presence.

4. East to West by Casting Crowns (The Altar and the Door) God is revealed to us as “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.” Psalm 103 further declares that, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Yet even after true repentance, the struggle with guilt and shame often keeps us in bondage to our sin. It is a struggle of mind over matter. What we know from Scripture must inform & transform what we feel. This song reminds us how far the east is from the west. May this truth help to set us free!

5. Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle (Sweetly Broken) This song captured my soul the first time that I ever heard it. It was the verses that so clearly and poignantly declared the gospel that first got my attention. And then the chorus seemed like the perfect worship response – drawn to our knees, lost for words, lost in love, sweetly broken, and wholly
surrendered. May we at Trinity not only delight in singing about the gospel, but also respond to it with such tender and raw emotion.

6. O For a Thousand Tongues by David Crowder (Remedy) This is a hymn with a passionate statement of worship – if only I had a thousand tongues to sing God’s praise! I love the fact that as we gather in corporate worship, as one in Christ Jesus, we do indeed bring many tongues to sing God’s praise. The ending of this song, centered on Jesus’ name is over the top. There is one great love and it is in Jesus that our God-given desire and need for love is fully satisfied.

7. Join the Song by Vicky Beeching (Painting the Invisible) It’s fun to hear the doxology sung in this song with an invitation to come join the song. The joyful and playful music just makes me want to smile and dance, and . . . join the song. It is the song that God made us to sing, and all who’ve never sung it need to be invited in. We need to join Jesus in his mission of seeking and saving the lost – adding singers to the great song of praise.

8. Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) by Chris Tomlin (See The Morning) When it comes to the topic of our sexuality, a flow of mercy and grace is a refreshing stream quenching our intense thirst and washing away what is dirty and shameful. Grace is poured out upon the repentant heart and the result is the release of chains that brings freedom and beauty. I’m proud to belong to the family of God which includes a lineage of former
C291wretches’ like John Newton (the composer of Amazing Grace).

9. Lift High by Steve Fee (We Shine) I love every part of this song, from the opening statement, “Broken people call his name,” to the invitation to “all rise and exalt the Son.” But my favorite is the invitation in the bridge to “Lift up your heads and look on Him.” There’s nothing like being in a worship gathering united with the body of Christ as we all gaze in the same direction – toward Jesus Christ the Holy One. Let’s lift our eyes to him and sound the invitation for others to join us – broken people, helpless children, sinners – for such were all of us, dare we ever forget!

10. Happy Day by Tim Hughes (Holding Nothing Back) Is there any better way to say it? There is such freedom and joy as a result from our sins being washed away! I think of the passage where Jesus says, “He who has been forgiven little, loves little.” Like the sinful woman’s extravagant expression of worship, I want to be a worshiper who loves much because I understand how much I have been forgiven. What a glorious day, when Jesus washed my sins away! I’ll never be the same! Trinity Church, let’s be a people who
truly celebrate the day of salvation – shout it out, “Jesus is alive!”

11. Jesus Messiah by Chris Tomlin (Hello Love) Chris has always written songs that are God-focused. This song, like many from his new worship project, “Hello Love,” is all about Christ and the gospel. Truly we must sing songs of worship that are God-focused (like the psalms), but without Christ the revelation of God is incomplete. Christ is at the center of all Christian worship. Indeed, Jesus Messiah is the Lord of All. This is a bigger picture of our God and should inspire bigger expressions of praise.

12. When I Survey (The Wondrous Cross) by Kathryn Scott (Satisfy) The words of this
familiar hymn sung to this new melody immediately caught my attention and inspired me to join in worship. The beautiful melody combined with the simplicity of the recording, just piano and voices, invite reflection and personal response. In fact, this song declares the most compelling and worthy worship response to the cross of Christ. “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

13. Divine Romance by Phil Wickham (Phil Wickham) Phil is songwriter who celebrates the rescue of salvation, and in turn revels in God’s grace. This is an expression of love in response. “For you I sing, I dance, rejoice in this divine romance; lift my heart and my hands to show my love.” Are we completely satisfied in God’s presence? God delights in satisfaction in him alone! The psalmist affirms that, “In your presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore at your right hand.”

14. Alive in You by Matt Maher (Overflow) The fact that Christ lives in us is the most amazing reality of the Christian life. Paul calls it a mystery, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” He says elsewhere, “Do you not know that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit? C285 therefore honor God with your body.” This truth not only transforms our public worship, but also our private worship. Let’s live it out and shout it out! “I’m alive in you as you live in me. I’m alive in you, hope of glory.”

15. All Because of Jesus by Steve Fee (We Shine) “It’s all because of Jesus I’m alive,” we get to joyfully declare together. Paul says in the Scriptures, “ . . . even when we were dead in our sins, [God] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” Why then do so many churches feel dead and apathetic when they corporately gather to worship God? I praise God that Trinity Church is growing more and more alive when we gather to bring worship to God. Let’s excel still more as we gain a deeper understanding of our salvation by faith alone, by grace alone and through Christ alone.

16. God of Our Yesterdays by Matt Redman (Passion: God of This City) I love it that the last words of the closing song on this iMix are, “We can trust you.” Is it possible that trust is the most authentic worship response to God? We worship the God who was, who is and who is to come and we should chose to trust rather than to fear. This song speaks to the reality that God is always present. He is present when we indulge in shameful sin, present in a struggling marriage, present with those who’ve been victimized, present with those who long for what they do not have, or have what they do not want. Thankfully, he is present when we cry out for help, and present at the moment of repentance and throughout the process of healing, restoration and transformation.

Together, he is making us into a beautiful people, yes, a beautiful bride – his beloved church! We can trust you, we can trust you . . .

Bill Born