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JOEL ENGLE: You know one of the things that I feel called to do is to put the word of God to music. I did CD years ago called Solemn 19 where we literally took scripture verbatim. Our rule was we couldn’t alter the scripture. We literally put the music to the scripture and—you know songs like—songs like “Solemn 1:61”, “not to us oh Lord. Not to us but to your name be the glory” or Solemn 1:51, you know “I love the Lord for heard my cry, for mercy’s turned his ear to me”.

Solemn 56:3, you know “when I am afraid I will trust in you and God is the word I praise and God I trust. I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me when you are my god?” And that—

I’ll never forget that scripture in particular. I used to be really afraid of flying. And, um, in about—oh, about nine years ago, eight years ago, um, we just put this record out and I was on this airplane and I’m telling you the turbos were just horrible and I’m scared, I’m like—and you start feeling guilty, I’m like I’m a Christian, I’m not supposed to be afraid of dying but I don’t want to die in an airplane wreck.

And all of a sudden I just—you know when I—when I’m afraid I will trust in you and God who’s word I trust—or God is who I praise and God I trust. I will not be afraid.

And you know that’s—the scriptures when we put into our daily existence and our daily lives I mean they begin to change. And you know what, that was a defining moment when I stopped being afraid to fly; all because of Solemn 56:3.

JOEL ENGLE: I think probably one of the greatest scriptures that a person could ever know is Romans 8:1, which says “There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because the law of the spirit has set us free from the law of sin and death.” So many Christians live in fear of the judgment of God upon their lives. They know Christ, their sins have been forgiven, but they live in fear and there is a barrier between them and their intimacy with God because they don’t trust God’s love. But the Bible says that if you Christ, there’s no condemnation. We’ve been set free from the law of sin and death. You know, I think so many Christians try to live the Christian live from their own strength, they try their hardest to be their best for God, when God has placed his spirit in their hearts. Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” So the Christian life is about Jesus Christ living his life through ours. So when I go back to Romans 8:1, I want people to understand that they don’t have to live in fear of God’s judgment. He sings songs of love over us, you know Zephaniah 3:17, and we can have that intimate, deep relationship with Jesus Christ.