This uptempo, personal declaration quotes Psalm 118:24 in the choruses. Permeating the song is the carpe diem (“seize the day”) attitude of Christian perseverance that we see in Hebrews 3:12-15. Listen to Today is the Day

Second Timothy 1:12, Daniel 3:25. The simple affirmation “I trust in God” rings throughout this song that brings new music (and words) to the 1873 lyric of Fanny Crosby in Blessed Assurance. The new bridge here is drawn from Psalm 34:4. Listen to Trust in God

Inspired by lines in a tract entitled “Focused”, this hymn departed from the atmosphere of its “Roaring Twenties” historical setting to invite people to live “keeping our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2). Colossians 3:1-2. Listen to Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus

God’s sovereignty, omnipotence, and integrity are praised in this piece that has attracted usage literally worldwide. The account of Abraham stepping out of his ‘comfort zone’ in faith, in response to God’s promise (Genesis chs. 12 & 17) gave rise to this song from Nigerian worship leader Sinach. Romans 4:16-24. Listen to Way Maker

A creed-like anthem, which affirms the gospel and core doctrines (ranging from Trinitarian theism, to theology of the end times), and includes an allusion to Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:18. Listen to We Believe

In this collaboration, major influencer worship-leaders Graham Kendrick (England) and Paul Baloche (U.S.A.) ask the right, timeless rhetorical question, in light of natural wonders (Psalm 19:1- 6) and the wonder of the gospel (John 3:16). A reflective ballad of gratitude and life-commitment (Romans 12:1) to the LORD. Listen to What Can I Do

Psalm 27:1. Occurring nearly 300 times in the Bible, “LORD of hosts” (Hebrew: YHWH Sabaoth, or Tsevaot) is one of the designations of God (1 Sam. 1:13, 17:45, Psalm 46:7, Isa. 6:3). This declaration-tune, inspired by 2 Kings 6:15-23, illuminates the meaning of the more archaic phrase: He is the God of Angel Armies ... the God Who deploys, and wages war! When we truly understand His sovereignty, confidence follows (cf. Rom. 8:31). Listen to Whom Shall I Fear?

John 1:1. The heart of this piece is that Jesus is the Word (logos) of God. Built on a simple groove, it contrasts the perpetuity of the eternal Word with the temporality of the earth, all flesh, and more (Isaiah 24:4, 40:6-8, 1 Peter 1:24-25). Exalts Jesus as the one sure ground! Listen to Word of God

Habbakuk 3:17-18; Philippians 4:4. Purposing to worship God even when we do not feel like it, and circumstances are difficult, is biblical. This anthem is the serious self-declaration of the committed child of God. Compare Psalm 42:5, 11; 43:5. Listen to Yes I Will

A modern hymn from CityAlight (Australian, evangelical Anglican ministry) whose catchline reflects the truth of John 15:5 and Galatians 2:20: that the blessings, victories, and fruit of the Christian’s life is not from individualistic effort, but by Christ’s power within the cooperating believer. Note a similar phrase at 1 Corinthians 15:10: “Yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” Listen to Yet Not I, But through Christ in Me

Isaiah 9:6, Revelation 1:8, Deuteronomy 10:17. A fast-moving, powerhouse recitation of attributes and names of God, together with personal declarations of commitments to Him. Musically distinct among worship songs, owing to its polyphonic texture (= a pair of simultaneous, different melodies). Listen to You Are Holy (Prince of Peace)

Psalm 34:8, Lamentations 3:25. This piece is a veritable thanksgiving offering, offered from the perspective of a person who has been in mourning and brokenness, and been revived by the Lord. A superb collaboration from veteran worship leader Paul Baloche and Dove-nominated CCM artist Sara Groves. Listen to You Have Been So Good

Phil. 3:7-8, John 15:5. With the same core theme of the hymn I Surrender All, this contemporary worship ballad from 2014 declares commitment to God, His word, and prayer amid a season of waiting, being perplexed, burdened, and wearied by the long night of the soul. The bridge is a direct application of 1 Peter 5:6-7. Listen to You Have My Surrender

With a nod to Amazing Grace (“when we’ve been there 10,000 years”), 10,000 Reasons is built largely on Psalm 103. Co-writer Matt Redman explains: “If you wake up … and you cannot think of a reason to bring God some kind of offering of thanks or praise, then you can be sure there’s something wrong on your end of the pipeline, and not His.” See also 1 Thessalonians 5:18. Listen to 10,000 Reasons

2 Corinthians 12:9. Written during a time of burnout from ministry, here is a high-energy declaration from Matt Maher of the sufficiency of God’s grace (think: “outflow of God’s goodness and generosity,” theologian Millard Erickson). The God of grace is also the God of wrestling Jacob (Genesis 32:24-32), the one who brings about conviction of sin (John 16:8), and uses the weak in dealing with the strong (1 Corinthians 1:27). Aside: Asking God to “remember” is not a theological error, but a biblical practice (Deuteronomy 9:27-29), rooted in the solid theology that He is both a God of wrath and grace. Listen to Your Grace Is Enough

Matthew 6:9-13, Psalm 144:9a. This winsome song takes much of the substance of “The Lord’s Prayer” in Matthew’s Gospel and sings a “new song to the Lord” out of it. The composition has unfortunately not had the traction it deserves; it fills a gap. Great contemporary rendition of the central, model prayer in Christianity. Listen to As It Is in Heaven

1 Chronicles 16:29, Luke 19:40. With insightful rhetorical questions, this anthem highlights the famous Hebrew expression that means “Praise the LORD”: Halelu Yah (see Psalms 104-106, 111-113, 115-117, 146-150, and Revelation ch. 19). Truly a stirring, grand “flyover” of biblical, Christian worship. Listen to A Thousand Hallelujahs

Micah 6:8, John 8:32. Fast and simple (in the best meaning of the word), this fresh piece of music covers for a new generation the same bedrock verse in Micah of Bob Sklar’s chorus from the late ‘70s. And it also excellently includes New Testament reinforcements (John 8:32, “good news”, Mark 4:30-32, Matthew 4:17)! Listen to Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly

Revelation 5:12, Leviticus 11:44-45. With a title from the Latin for “Lamb of God”, this Michael W. Smith classic is an elegantly sparse lyric set to a melody abounding in emphases (points of emphasis). Praises the Father and the Son in an overlapping way that (rightly) suggests both are Deity, and both are holy, sacrificial, and governing. Listen to Agnus Dei

Percussive anthem and universal testimony of the Christian believer!: spiritually dead then made alive via Christ’s work (Ephesians 2:1, 5) through belief. “Because I live, you will live too,” Jesus said (John 14:19). Wonderful nod in the bridge to Bill and Gloria Gaither’s influential hymn of the same name. John 16:33, Revelation 12:11. Listen to Because He Lives (Amen)

Drawn from the words of Job (1:21), this Matt and Beth Redman classic about suffering and blessing was, with its assertive tune and take-my-stand sentiment, widely sung by congregations and even became the 2005 Dove Award winner for Worship Song of the Year. “Though there’s pain in the offering” is perhaps one of the most vulnerable concessive statements in all of contemporary worship. Listen to Blessed By Your Name

1 John 1:8-9. A contemporary worship song about sin and repentance — using the very words — and therefore a rare pearl! Essential gospel, evocative, winsome. 1 Timothy 1:15-16 Listen to Faithful to Forgive

Matthew 7:24-27, Philippians 4:7. A unique song of faith that affirms Jesus as the believer’s foundation (in life), based on the Parable of the Two Builders. Ideal to sing in chaos and feelings of fragility, it declares, “I won’t be going under” because “why would He fail now” when His faithfulness is not seasonal?! Listen to Firm Foundation (He Won't)

Contagious toe-tapper drawn from John 3:16 and 4:13-14 (see also Isaiah 55:1-3). Very practical song of praise and powerful invitation to bring personal failures, including addiction, to Jesus. Alludes to The Doxology too. Listen to God So Loved

Hebrews 12:28-29, Jeremiah 20:9. Part “call to worship” and part prayer, this rhythmically driving piece “rolls out the red carpet” for Almighty God. Similar to the theme of Psalm 24 (“Lift up your head, O gates! that King of glory may come in”, vv. 7, 9). God’s “fire”, power to re-animate, and our being laid bare before Him (Hebrews 4:13) all reinforce the reality that He is Almighty. Listen to Here for You

Revelation 4:8-11, Isaiah 6:3. The epic Trinitarian hymn is the most famous of the 57 hymns of English minister-turned-missionary-to-India Reginald Heber. What a stately piece communicating that God’s holiness (purity) is superlative! (Biblical Hebrew does not have the word “holiest”, and conveys this meaning instead, in Isaiah 6:3, by repeating “holy” three times). Praise God that He is “merciful and mighty”, “perfect in power and love”! Listen to Holy, Holy, Holy

Philippians 2:9-10. Acts 3:6, 4:10, 12, 18-20. There is something special, theologically and existentially, about speaking the name that is at the heart of the gospel and is above every name: Jesus. This powerful anthem (originally done by Here Be Lions) is distinctive in that it names the conditions of anxiety, depression, and others, and calls believers to speak Jesus from the mountains, in the streets, and “for my family”. Powerful and practical! Listen to I Speak Jesus

Hebrews 4:16. With themes similar to the 1872 hymn “I Need Thee Every Hour”, this contemporary confession-song voices personal need, prays for the Lord’s teaching, and affirms the great doctrine of justification (God’s declaring a repentant person righteous in His sight, based on Christ’s work). An honest and plaintive ballad, while also hopeful — even triumphant, in its allusion to Romans 5:20: “where sin increased, grace abounded much more”. Listen to Lord, I Need You

Taken nearly verbatim from Psalm 36:5-7, this mid-tempo piece poetically extols the LORD’s noble character (covenant love, righteousness, etc.) as well as His protective covering of His people (“shadow of Your wings”). Listen to Your Love, O Lord

Proverbs 18:10, Acts 4:12. An intimate anthem affirming the power of the name of Jesus/YHWH (= LORD). It is a universal name for the nations to regard as supreme (Revelation 15:4) and for all prayers to address (James 5:14, Exod. 20:2-7, 1 Kings ch. 8:29-30). Listen to Your Name

John 6:68, Matthew 5:18. A worship song that acknowledges the “distractions of this world”, rallies us to share God’s love with it, and understands the life-giving power of the words of God, which are eternal — what is there not to love about this piece? From Third Day and Harvest. Lyric also cites 1 Peter 1:24, parallel Isaiah 40:6-8. Listen to Your Words

From an anonymous Irish hymn, Be Thou My Vision is pack-filled with biblical themes: Psalm 139:17-18, 1 Corinthians 1:24, 30, Psalm 16:6, Matthew 6:20-21. It’s one the few ancient hymns comprising a personal prayer, addressed directly to the Lord, and probably for that reason is beloved of people across the age spectrum. (Caution: since it is in the grammatical mood of merely possibility/wishing, verse 4 — “May I reach” — appears to fall short of the doctrine of assurance of salvation [1 John 5:13], so we avoid it.) Listen to Be Though My Vision

1 Timothy 1:1, Romans 15:13. From what would ultimately number a collaboration of five writers*, this piece derives from a pastor (Kauflin) composing a song about hope, and a pastor friend of his (Boswell) having the desire to base a musical composition on the opening of one the Reformation’s oldest Statements of Faith, which begins: “What is our only comfort in life and death?” (Heidelberg Catechism, 1563). The resulting congregational song, declaring “Christ our hope in life and death”, was released March 11, 2020, coinciding providentially with the mass shockwave and shutdowns of the global Covid-19 pandemic. *Jordan Kauflin, Matthew Merker, Matt Boswell, Keith Getty, and Matt Papa. Listen to Christ Our Hope in Life and Death

Romans 6:4. Driving, confessional rock-anthem with vivid imagery of being called by Christ out of our personal “grave” of spiritual deadness and coming out running! This is not the “glorious day” of Acts 2:20 (that is, Judgement Day), but the glorious day of newness because of encounter with Jesus (compare the “today” of Luke 19:9). Sings the truth that salvation is a resurrection. Also quotes from Philippians 3:20. Listen to Glorious Day

Psalm 126:3. Smooth, up-tempo call to worship and testimonial-song, mainly in the plural (“Let us bow” / “We dance”, etc.). Built on a well-established biblical phrase in the Psalms and elsewhere, where God is said to have “done great things” (Psa. 71:19, 106:21, 126:2-3, 1 Sam. 12:24, Job 9:10, Joel 2:20, Luke 1:49). One verse also cites 2 Cor. 1:20. Listen to Great Things

Romans 5:20, Lamentations 3:23, Matthew 18:23-35. That the all-knowing God has provided a merciful way whereby He can (ethically) “cast our sin into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19) is the basis of praise in this fervent ‘Hallelujah anthem’. The sheer sum of sins is no impediment; Christ’s life outweighs them. The debt we could never afford, the Father of tenderness and lavishness affords (Luke 15:11-32)! Listen to His Mercy Is More

Psalm 104. Simple, mid-tempo international classic containing multiple foundational themes in worship: (1) God the King, (2) God the Creator, (3) God’s eternality, (4) God’s Trinitarian nature, (5) the supremacy of God’s name, (6) singing together, (7 ) singing with our hearts. An ideal praise song for use in the local church, with readily-memorizable phrases, and architecture for singing the chorus and bridge in a round. Listen to How Great Is Our God

Isaiah 45:18, 1 Peter 2:24. Potent, nostalgic 20th-century hymn that extols God’s greatness from several angles, from cosmology and nature, to atonement at Calvary, to the end-times coming of Christ. The lyrics have their origins in an 1885 poem—translation “O Mighty God”—by 26-year-old Swedish minister Carl Boberg. Modified and expanded by English missionary Stuart Hine, and soon regularly featured at Billy Graham Crusades. Here linked to both traditional and non-traditional styles. Listen to How Great Thou Art

1 Peter 4:19 (NASB). Revelation 6:14. This famous hymn traces back to the harrowing experience of a bereaved mom and survivor of the most famous shipwreck of modern history up to the time of the Titanic (1912): that of the SS Ville du Havre (Nov. 22, 1873). Although the later histories of Anna Spafford and her husband Horatio are regrettably not one of faithfulness to orthodox doctrine, the lyrics of It Is Well, based on a poem of Horatio’s from the Ville du Havre events, are theologically sound. They have helped scores of believers express that the soul stayed on Christ, regardless of circumstances, is in a state of wellness (3 John 2). [For the evidence that this hymn was written by an orthodox Spafford at the time of composition, see Kenneth Berding, “Was Horatio Spafford a False Teacher When He Wrote ‘It Is Well with My Soul’?”, Talbot School of Theology Faculty Blog at biola.edu/blogs/good-book-blog <accessed 09-06-2023>] Listen to It Is Well with My Soul

Colossians 1:17, Luke 4:16-21, Romans 1:16. Wide-surveying celebration of what Jesus does, from universal, to the greatly personal (“He saved me from who I was”). With its Trinitarian chorus, this song from the group We the Kingdom evokes the deep heritage of Christian worship. A solid, gospel-style piece in 6/8-time. See also Hebrews 1:3. Listen to Jesus Does

John 6:37. This song is Brenton Brown’s expansion of the foremost invitational hymn in history: Just As I Am (1836). The prayerful, vulnerable lines are perfect for any occasion of someone seeking a touch from Jesus, going far beyond altar calls. The original lyrics come from a woman in Brighton, England, who suffered from chronic bad health and was therefore bitter toward God, Charlotte Elliott. Eventually, through a visit from Swiss minister Cesar Malan, she came to Christ “though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings and fears within, without.” Charlotte went on to write around 150 hymns during the rest of her life as a believer in Jesus, the Lamb of God (John 1:29). Listen to Jesus, Take All of Me

Romans 8:29, Philippians 2:6-8. Surrender, sanctification, Christ’s mission, and evangelistic witness are all themes of this prayerful, melodic song. Very fitting piece for Cross Road in light of our missional slogan: “Reach, teach, live, love like Jesus”! Listen to More Like Jesus

This ballad of the contented, thriving future of believers is a 2017 refreshing of the classic 1898 hymn that came to Eliza Edmunds Hewitt as she studied John 14:2-3. Several biblical teachings punctuate this hopeful hymn (1 Corinthians 13:12, 15:52, Romans 8:19-21). Listen to One Day (When We All Get to Heaven)

Isaiah 5:16, Daniel 2:21, Hebrews 12:28-29, Romans 8:15. The categorical uniqueness, worthiness, and victory of the heavenly Father is celebrated through a litany of rhetorical questions and a call to cry out “Holy.” Gently rhythmic and swelling invitation to worship. Listen to Only a Holy God

The famous doxology-psalm that concludes the entire collection of Psalms receives a congregationally-singable musical setting in this composition from 2020. Pastor Rusty Mott recommended it, and it’s been a fine addition to our corpus of songs in which we sing from the Scriptures. Listen to Psalm 150 (Praise the Lord)

Psalm 23, John 10:11. Faith-filled, jetting proclamation of Jesus as the caring Shepherd of the twenty-third psalm. The believer’s sense of security is based not on the self, but on “because of Who” He is. In view the immense popularity of Psalm 23, it is surprising that this solid, worshipful song is not more utilized by churches. Listen to Shepherd of My Soul

Matthew 1:21, Acts 4:12. This power-chorus recorded by Anne Wilson, and poetic accompanying verses, are a wonderful public accolade (panegyric) of Jesus Christ. Captures the heartfelt theme of the Gaithers’ There’s Something about That Name (1970) yet updates it for this generation in a whole new composition. The meaning of the name of Jesus, “Savior” (Hebrew: Yeshua, Yehoshua), is reflected here in everything from comfort, to forgiveness and grace, to power over graves. Listen to Something about That Name

Luke 15:4-7, 11-24, Romans 5:10. Fast, vibrant expression of love for Jesus and image-laden litany of how He came to our (Christian believers’) rescue — we the spiritually lost, refugees, hostile, chained, and so forth. The allusion to Amazing Grace matches superbly. Listen to Sound of Adoration

Hebrews 9:12-15, Colossians 1:13. A testimonial anthem reflecting the core of gospel transformation: Jesus’ saving blood applied to the sinner’s dire situation. Vivid, emphatic, elegant. Contains quotations from the hymn-lyrics of both Lewis E. Jones’ “There Is Power in the Blood”, and Elisha A. Hoffman’s “Glory to His Name”. See also Isaiah 1:18. Listen to Thank You Jesus for the Blood

Colossians 2:15, Hebrews 2:14-15. This rhythmic anthem with Celtic flavoring affirms Christ’s victory in the past, and how it means present and future overcoming for those who are in Christ. Awesome worship song of faith, hope, and a great future. Bridge is unforgettable: “I know how the story ends”! Revelation 21:3-4 (cf. John 14:2-3). Listen to You’ve Already Won

Luke 7:7, Philippians 1:14 The intriguing dual-orientation of this lyric is that it can be taken either as a request for the Lord to speak His word, or as a request for another to speak the Lord’s word to one’s felt-need. Potent chorus harmonies climax this ballad honoring the power and delight of God’s words (Jeremiah 15:16), and upholding the doctrine of the infallibility of Scripture. Written by prolific veteran worship musician Tommy Walker. See also Psalm 119:11, 105 for chief allusions. Listen to Speak the Word

Acts 1:8. Power-ballad testimonial song that affirms God’s powerful activity in the past (“I’ve witnessed it”) and resolves to affirm it now and in the future (“I will witness”). Packs in multiple biblical themes: story, God’ faithfulness, empirical knowledge, cross and resurrection, proclamation, and personal faith. 1 John 1:1-3, Acts 22:14-15 Listen to I've Witnessed It here