I Serve a Risen Savior

I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today

Author: A. H. Ackley (1933)
Tune: ACKLEY (Ackley)
Published in 153 hymnals

Audio files: MIDI, Recording

Representative Text

1 I serve a risen Savior,
He’s in the world today;
I know that He is living,
whatever men may say;
I see His hand of mercy,
I hear His voice of cheer
And just the time
I need Him He’s always near.

Refrain
He lives, He lives,
Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me
and talks with me
along life’s narrow way.
He lives, He lives,
salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart.

2 In all the world around me
I see His loving care,
And tho’ my heart grows weary
I never will despair;
I know that He is leading
thru all the stormy blast,
The day of His appearing
will come at last. [Refrain]

3 Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian,
lift up your voice and sing,
Eternal hallelujahs
to Jesus Christ the King!
The hope of all who seek Him,
the help of all who find,
None other is so loving,
so good and kind. [Refrain]

Source: Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal #251

Author: A. H. Ackley

Alfred Henry Ackley was born 21 January 1887 in Spring Hill, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest son of Stanley Frank Ackley and the younger brother of B. D. Ackley. His father taught him music and he also studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary in Maryland and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1914. He served churches in Pennsylvania and California. He also worked with the Billy Sunday and Homer Rodeheaver evangelist team and for Homer Rodeheaver's publishing company. He wrote around 1500 hymns. He died 3 July 1960 in Los Angeles. Dianne Shapiro (from ackleygenealogy.com by Ed Ackley and Allen C. Ackley) Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today
Title: I Serve a Risen Savior
Author: A. H. Ackley (1933)
Meter: 7.6.7.6.7.6.7.4 with refrain
Language: English
Refrain First Line: He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today
Publication Date: 1933
Notes: Spanish translation: See "Al Cristo vivo sirvo El en el mundo está" by George Paul Simmonds; Swahili translation: See "Yesu Bwana Mwokozi, aishi milele"
Copyright: © 1933. Renewed 1961 Word Music, LLC.

Notes

Scripture References:
ref. = Luke 24:6

Written by Presbyterian minister Alfred H. Ackley (b. Spring Hill, PA, 1887; d. Whittier, CA, 1960), both text and tune were published in the Rodeheaver hymnal Triumphant Service Songs (1933). (Rodeheaver was a gospel song publisher.) As told by hymnal editor George Sanville, the following incident provided the spark for Ackley's inspiration: a young Jewish man asked evangelist/musician Ackley, "Why should I worship a dead Jew?" To which Ackley replied,

But Jesus lives! He lives! I tell you. He is not dead, but lives here and now. Jesus Christ is more alive today than ever before. I can prove it by my own experience, as well as by the testimony of countless thousands.

Sanville goes on to explain,

Mr. Ackley's forthright, emphatic answer, together with his subsequent triumphant effort to win the man for Christ, flowered forth into song and crystallized into a convincing sermon on "He lives!" . . . The scriptural evidence, his own heart, and the testimony of history matched the glorious experience of an innumerable cloud of witnesses that "He lives," so he sat down at the piano and voiced that conclusion in song.
-Forty Gospel Hymn Stories, 1943

Ackley wrote the words and/or tunes to at least a thousand gospel songs and hymns in collaboration with his brother Bentley. Trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London, he was an accomplished cellist. Ackley graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary in Maryland and served Presbyterian churches in California and Pennsylvania. In addition to writing his own hymns, he edited hymnals and gospel song¬books for the Rodeheaver Publishing Company.

Liturgical Use:
Easter; equally useful on many other occasions of worship.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune

ACKLEY (Ackley)

Composed in gospel-song style, ACKLEY is supported by a simple harmonization intended for part singing. Some rubato may be observed in the refrain's final line. Observe two pulses per bar. --Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1987

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Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 43 of 43)

African American Heritage Hymnal #275

Ambassador Hymnal #527

Baptist Hymnal 1991 #533

Baptist Hymnal 2008 #269

CCLI Top 100 #90

Celebrating Grace Hymnal #622

Chalice Hymnal #226

Church Gospel Songs and Hymns #68

Complete Mission Praise #295

First Baptist Favorites #27

Hymns for a Pilgrim People #206

Hymns of Faith #167

Hymns of the Christian Life #498

Lift Every Voice and Sing II #42

Audio

Lift Up Your Hearts #365

Moravian Book of Worship #792

One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism #337

Praise for the Lord (Expanded Edition) #220

Praise y Adoración #261a

Audio

Praise! Our Songs and Hymns #550

Text InfoTune InfoAudio

Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #405

Rejoice Hymns #327

Rock of Ages A Worship and Songbook for Retirement Living #57

Sacred Selections for the Church #154

Santo, Santo, Santo #198

Text

Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal #251

Sing Joyfully #285

Songs of Zion #30

Soul-stirring Songs and Hymns (Rev. ed.) #31

The A.M.E. Zion Hymnal #187

The Celebration Hymnal #368

The Christian Life Hymnal #526

The Covenant Hymnal #253

The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration #220

The New National Baptist Hymnal (21st Century Edition) #119

The Song Book of the Salvation Army #334

Audio

The United Methodist Hymnal #310

The Worshiping Church #248

Total Praise #269

Audio

With Heart and Voice #105

Worship and Rejoice #302

Worship and Service Hymnal #257

Worship His Majesty #264

Include 110 pre-1979 instances
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