Passion's songs are some of the most popular in modern worship music, with many of their songs sung by millions in churches all across the country, including "Our God," "Holy is the Lord," "How Great is Our God" and "10,000 Reasons." The live releases drawn from each year's conferences have been highly anticipated since the first edition in 1998.  The last few years have been the most successful, with each release taking it up a notch from 2012's White Flag, 2013's Let the Future Begin, 2014's Passion: Take It All to 2015's Passion: Even So Come, one of my top 10 worship albums of the year, featuring "Lift Your Head Weary Sinner (Chains)" by Crowder, "You Found Me" by Kristian Stanfill and "My Anchor" by Christy Nockels.

Passion: Salvation's Tide is Rising marks the latest edition and once again has a balanced lineup of worship leaders, with new standout songs by Chris Tomlin, Kristian Stanfill, Crowder, Melodie Malone, Brett Younker, Matt Redman and Christy Nockels. All of the songs on Passion: Salvation's Tide is Rising are catchy, exciting and worshipful, and it is a must-have for your praise and worship collection. More importantly, this is an album about submitting to the Lordship of Jesus and declaring the confession of Isaiah 26:8: "Yes Lord, walking in the way of Your truth we wait eagerly for You, for Your name and renown are the desire of our souls." 

These passionate worship songs are sung with vocal sincerity and reverence with biblically-based lyrics. If you're looking for additions to your worship set list, I especially recommend "Salvation's Tide," "My Victory," "Simple Pursuit," "I Turn to Christ," "Your Grace Amazes Me" and "Remember." I had the chance to speak with Brett Younker about "Remember."

Please tell me the personal story behind this song.

This is a really special song for me. It took a really long time to write. There are songs that come really quickly, in an afternoon. I have a friend who introduced me to three amazing songwriters from Sweden. I take theology classes, and I'd wrapped up one of my classes studying Genesis through Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 32, they are about to enter the Promised Land, and Moses starts telling the people to "remember how you used to be slaves in Egypt, and how God brought you out of Egypt and all the way to the Promised Land."

The reason Moses told them is that he knew they would forget who they are, forget that they belong to God, and forget all the things God had done for them. But he said, "if you remember, it will build your faith." I was moved by that. I began to think "what are the things today in 2016 that I need to remember?" As my family and Passion City Church walk through life, what are the biggest things to remember? 

I know for me the biggest thing is to remember the empty grave. Since Jesus is alive, the resurrection begins to reframe my entire life. I know I'm going to have hard times, and I've done that, but I came to this writing session with the line "I'll remember the empty grave." 

We had written a song around it, and had that as the last line in the chorus. I played it for Kristian and Louie, and they said they liked the song, but wanted to help me finalize the verses. We re-wrote the verses, and as we were assembling songs for the new Passion album, Crowder produced it and he helped with the bridge and helped finish the song.

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

Isaiah 40:3-5 (NIV): "A voice of one calling: "In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord' make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

Jude 1:5 (Voice): "You have heard the stories many times, and the Spirit has enlightened you about their meaning, but you still need to be reminded. Remember when the Lord saved our ancestors from the land in Egypt? He breathed life into their earthen lungs and took back the life from those who did not believe."

Psalm 60:12 (Voice): "Only through God can we be successful. It is God alone who will defeat our enemies and bring us victory!"

Psalm 46:10 (NKJV): "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"

Matthew 28:6 (NKJV): "He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay."

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (Voice): "For I passed down to you the crux of it all which I had also received from others, that the Anointed One, the Liberating King, died for our sins and was buried and raised from the dead on the third day. All this happened to fulfill the Scriptures; it was the perfect climax to God's covenant story."

What is the takeaway message?

My family has gone through a lot of health issues, and my dad has had cancer, and my mom journaled daily the Bible verses that helped get her through the day. I started the song with "My heart hangs on every word that You speak." This song is all about proclaiming how I might not see God at work or feel God at work, but I know His Word is true, and I'm going to hold on to His Word in every season. If I can somehow elevate my eyes and lift my heart up to the truth that the grave is empty today, then I'm going to be okay.

Circumstances may be overwhelming. They are very real. Pain is real. Heartbreak is real. But those things are not going to be greater than the fact that Jesus defeated sin and death. That's what's going to help us get through life and what gives us faith and hope in every kind of season. The song is a cool journey of walking with this song and trying to get the right words in place. We need to remember the words "He is risen." The angel didn't move the stone so that Jesus could get out. Jesus broke the power of sin and death, and He could move the stone Himself. The angel moved the stone so we could see that Jesus isn't there and so we could know that we serve a God who defeated sin and death. 

Remembering that He is risen changes everything. That's a theme throughout this whole Passion album, celebrating the victory of the Cross and His resurrection. We don't have to walk around as victims anymore, focused on the things done to us, or the things we've done to ourselves and the choices we've made. We fully embrace the work that Jesus did for us and step into the life that Jesus has made available to us. If we bend our lives around Jesus and His glory, our lives are about something greater than themselves. Let His grace surround you, and your faith in Jesus can change everything.

Lyrics:
My heart hangs on every word that You speak
I need You Lord come find me
Holy Spirit breathe
I've been walking through deserts
I need more of Your presence
I'm weak Savior be my strength

Down in the valley when waters rise
I'm still believing hope is alive
All through the struggle and darkest day
I'll remember the empty grave

Your touch bringing me closer
Your hand healing what's broken
My prayer Father meet me here
My life for all of Your glory
Your grace let it surround me
Let faith change the atmosphere

Hallelujah death is done
All of hell is overcome
Jesus You are alive
Hallelujah death is done
All of hell is overcome
Oh my Jesus You are alive

I'll remember
Yes I'll remember the empty grave

As believers we need to take time to "be still and know that He is God." If we aren't spending time with God and cutting out the noise of life, we can't "hang on every word that You speak." Allow the Spirit to speak to your heart so you can live out the words "Your grace let it surround me, let faith change the atmosphere," and proclaim to Jesus "my life for all of Your glory."

The message of this song challenges listeners to think about our own doubts and how Jesus calls us to rely on Him and the power of His resurrection, to remember that He has overcome death and fear. That's cause to celebrate and gives Christians everywhere the faith to believe and tell the world, "Hallelujah death is done, all of hell is overcome, Jesus You are alive!" 

Clearly some truths that we can rally behind as believers in Christ together is that God is Our Father, He sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins and He rose again and defeated death. We can all say Hallelujah and celebrate those truths together while singing along with this song. This is a wonderful song to sing in order to prepare your heart for Easter, and it is one of the many highlights of this album's offerings of praise and worship.

This song has become my personal anthem and I sing along at the top of my lungs the sincere and emotive lyrics of faith, hope and remembrance in the refrain: "Down in the valley when waters rise, I'm still believing hope is alive. All through the struggle and darkest day, I'll remember the empty grave." Amen to that!

Listen to the song below.