Thought for the day-Do Not get too busy to Reach Out to Others
You cannot continually feed other people’s souls unless you feed your
own.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Do Not Get too busy to Reach Out to Others
Do Not Get too Busy to Reach Out
to Others
Isaiah 58:1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my
people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
The
prophet Isaiah had a big job to do! The
Jewish nation had fallen into idolatry.
Their sin was great and they were very needy spiritually. Sounds like today doesn’t it? As a Christian musician you will have
opportunities to minister to needy people.
It won’t be easy to take the time to minister to the musicians who you
come into contact with. Church musicians
and private music lesson teachers are busy people. Don’t let yourself get so pre-occupied with
the music part of music ministry that you forget to reach out to those you
minister to and to those on your own ministry team.
In order to be able to help others you must be in
regular communication with God the source of real help. If you are going to feed others you must
first be fed. If you are going to lift up
your voice “like a trumpet” you must be on top spiritually.
This
scripture states that we are to show people their sins and transgressions. Wow! I don’t know any music minister that
enjoys pointing out other’s sins. If we
are not careful we will go through life sort of doing God’s work while we miss
the real point of being His ministering servants. If those whom we come in contact with
continue in sin and miss heaven, we have failed them no matter how much music
we teach them. We must remember that
they will not make it to heaven if they continue sinning or have unconfessed
sin in their lives.
The real
importance of music is that it is a ministering tool and a worship tool. The music part of music is important, but it
is not the main thing. Getting ready for
heaven is the main thing. The most
important thing to remember about church music is that it a means of grace.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Prayer for the Day- Musicians Should be Seekers
Prayer for the day-Musicians Should be Seekers After God
Thank
you Lord for letting me sing the good news of your saving and sanctifying
power. Thank you that you do not require
sad songs, but rather glad songs. Lord
help me to shine and make my boast in the Lord (Psalm 34:2) Please shine through me and flow through
me. Help my musicing “show forth Thy
Glory”. These things I pray in your wonderful name. Amen
Ministers of Music Should be Seekers After God
Ministers of Music Should be Seekers After
God
I Chronicles 16: 9-10 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye
of all his wondrous works.10 Glory ye in his holy name: let the
heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.
As ministers of music we need to take heed of the
wonderful formula laid down for the seeker after God. First, sing unto the Lord. Second, sing Psalms (zamar 2167) sing and play
instruments unto the Lord. Third, talk
about what the Lord has done. Fourth,
glory (halal) or boast about his holy name.
Fifth rejoice (samach 8055), be cheerful and glad and be of a merry heart as
you seek the self existent eternal God, who is.
Wow! What wonderful guidelines for those who seek
after God. We, as ministers of music,
should by our musicing foster an attitude of great joy for the God seeker. Evangelistic singing should be joyful
singing. Nothing is said about sadness or groaning or depression. The Word says that the seeker should brighten
up and be gleesome. God wants the seeker
to cheer up. Why? Because the ‘good
news’ is the best news the seeker will ever hear in this life. The seeker after God should “Let the heart of
them rejoice that seek the Lord.” No
long face, no despair, no doubt and no sad song is recommended. Be sure that you present the good news as
good news-- never sad or bad news!
Musicians have the wonderful privilege to help set
an atmosphere conducive to seeking after God.
Some seekers will not even know much about God. Many seekers will have a wrong concept of who
God is and what he does for those who truly seek Him.We as Christian musicians need to remember that we
should also be seekers after God. Our musicing should be unto Him. As the verses in I Chronicles 16:9&10
tells us, we need to talk or sing of all His wondrous works. We need to be sure that as we music we “glory
in His holy name.” The same music that
edifies the believers we minister to will also strengthen us spiritually if we
let it draw us closer to the object of our worship—Jesus our great Savior.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Prayer for the Day- What God considers Important
Prayer For
the Day-What God considers Important
Lord, please forgive me for ever thinking about living the good
life. Forgive me for thinking humanistically
about “getting all I can and canning all I get.” Help me to be a giver. Let me pour out my life for you. Help me to be “ready to go or ready to stay”.
Lord, I want to serve you. If I know my
heart, I want to minister to others.
Please let me live my life as a willing sacrifice to you. Thank you Lord for giving me the privilege to
minister to those around me. Amen.
What God Considers Important
What God Considers Important.
Matthew 19: 29-30.
And every
one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother,
or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an
hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are
first shall be last; and the last shall be first. (also read Mark 10:28-31 and Luke 13: 24-30.)
The verses above are powerful and
even shocking examples of what Christ considered most important in this
life. He very carefully said that if we
want to inherit everlasting life we will need to “yield up” families and
possessions to be sent forth for Christ and His kingdom.
Those who love us the most often do
not remember Christ’s words to those of us who minister for Him. They want the very best for us. As a matter of fact they want us to be
“first”. Why? Because they believe with
all their hearts that we “deserve it”.
Christ gives this paradoxical
statement in verse thirty “But many that are first shall be last; and the last
shall be first.” No one that loves you
or me will want us to be “last”. Those
who understand Christian work know that if we serve Christ out there in
“Smirgley Junction”, we will be hidden away and will certainly be “last”. They know that we will come and go in this
life without much earthly recognition or remuneration.
Our family and close friends will not
always understand Christ’s promise in Matthew 20 :16, “So the last shall be
first, and the first last: for many be
called, but few chosen.” Remember that
in St. Matthew 20:29, Christ stated that those who forsake “for my name’s sake
shall receive an hundred fold….” and, of
course, everlasting life.”
If those who forsake earthly
connections and possessions receive everlasting life, what about those who said
“I go sir”, and went not? This is
sounding better all the time. Those who
go are first in the Kingdom of Heaven and get to miss eternal damnation. Christ sums it up very clearly in Matthew
20:28 “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,
and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Thought for the day-Blending-Part 2
Thought For the day-Blending –Part 2
Music is an aid to memory. This song contains ten times the theological
thoughts that some “one thought”
choruses contain.
Blended Music Before "Blending" was Cool-Part 2
Blended Music Before “Blending” Was
Cool-Part 2
With the
introduction given in yesterday's discussion,, I want to explain why gospel hymns like “What a Wonderful Savior”
by E.A. Hoffman are appropriate for 21st century public
worship. Each verse of this song is a
clear confession of faith taken from the fundamental doctrines of the Bible.
Christ
has for sin atonement made,
We
are redeemed: the price is paid.
I
praise Him for the cleansing blood-
That
reconciled my soul to God.
He
cleansed my heart from all its sin-
And
now He reigns and rules there-in.
He
gives me overcoming power-
And
triumph in each trying hour!
To
him I’ve given all my heart.
The
world shall never share a part.
Each thought of each line is followed by the corporate
(choral ) response: “ What a wonderful Savior!” Each complete verse is then followed by
the strong chorus:
What
a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus!
What
a wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord!
This gospel hymn has the best of everything. It includes:
Atonement
Redemption
Cleansing
by the efficacious blood of Christ
Reconciliation
Cleansing
from all sin
Christ
reigning in the believer’s heart
Christ’s
overcoming power given to believers
Triumphant
Christian living
A
life sold out to Christ
Freedom
from the power of this world
This
gospel hymn also is loaded with expressions of repeated praise to our wonderful
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This song
is a classic example of many songs that may be found in any standard Hymnal. Although the musical vehicle is simple
harmonically and rhythmically, it is a proper vehicle to support this mighty
lyric gospel hymn. Next Sunday give this gospel hymn a try in Sunday morning
worship. The fundamental understanding
of the Bible doctrines imbedded in this song will help you in your presentation
of this wonderful song to your congregation.
P.S. note the importance and credence that punctuation gives to this
lyric poetry.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Thought for the day-Blending-Part 1
Thought
for the day-Blending-Part 1
Nutritionists constantly stress the importance of a
balanced diet. Good quality gospel hymns
are, in my estimation, some of the balanced catechism tom insure a balanced
theological diet.
Blended Music Before "Blending" Was Cool-Part 1
Blended Music Before “Blending” Was Cool-Part 1
About 100
years before blended music for worship became popular in public worship as part
of the worship the worship renewal movement, Elisha A. Hoffman wrote the words to
“What a Wonderful Savior”. This song may be defined as a gospel hymn. There
are several definitions given for the gospel hymn by various authors. These definitions run from a “mixture song”
which includes praise to God mixed with
clear fundamentalist doctrine to “simple songs with an elaborate
chorus”. Some of the definitions that I
have found have been positive but others are very negative considerations of
this musical genre especially because they stress adherence to the fundamental
doctrines of the Bible.
Notably,
the early gospel hymns were developed first by George Root (1820-1895), William
Howard Doane (1832-1915), Robert Lowery (1826-1899), Philip Bliss (1838-1876),
et al. There have been a host of writers
who have produced these mixture songs in the 20th century. Current writers are particularly negative
about gospel songs that exhibit clear fundamentalist doctrine and the fact that
these songs are quite simple harmonically.
Although
there are numbers of these songs that are anything but “classics”, time has
already shown that they are not the only religious songs that often rightfully
fall into obscurity after a short period of popularity. At this point in time there is an emphasis on
worship music that centers almost entirely on God with little or no content
about man’s relationship to God. The
claims of the gospel are purposefully omitted from the bulk of praise and
worship choruses. Certainly, praise to God is not an option but rather a
necessity for worship musicing. However,
as I have said often, so are songs of prayer, confession, contrition, the
Trinity, Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection, the second coming, and a
host of other doctrinal and creedal content.
So, the
gospel hymns written by the hymnists listed above were an integral part of the
Moody, Sankey worship and evangelistic services. Louis F. Benson notes that, “Their work [the
gospel hymn] was appropriated in Dwight L. Moody’s English campaign and his
later call upon American churches to add evangelism to worship.” The Hymnody
of the Christian Church, by Louis F. Benson, p.266 The concept of having an element of evangelism
and fundamental doctrines of the church as a part of public worship is not
popular in many churches today. My
philosophical question to those who oppose an element of evangelism in worship
is, “Just when are songs that teach fundamental doctrines and have an evangelistic
appeal appropriate for the modern audience?”
Many fundamentalist churches have shortened or
removed revivals, camp meetings and evangelistic campaigns from their schedule
of public services. These same churches
sing a repertoire of praise songs on Sunday morning and Sunday evening and at the
midweek service, with little or no songs that catechize the audience in the
cardinal doctrines of the church. When
should the church music present the claims of the gospel and give people an
opportunity to come to know Christ by a personal profession of faith? It seems that, if the modern fundamentalist
churches are attempting to be seeker sensitive, they need to add an element of
evangelism to their worship musicing in order for it to be a proper concomitant
to the preaching of Christ crucified. I
want to emphasize again that I believe praise and worship music must hold a
place of centrality in all the public services of the Assembly of
Believers. However, although praise
music is fundamental to Christian worship, so is the exposition of the other
cardinal doctrines of the church. Tomorrow we will continue our discussion of the importance of the Gospel Hymn.
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