Worship and Music Ministry
News and Information from Hilldale Baptist Church, Clarksville, TN
* Rev. R. Lyndel Littleton - Worship Pastor
* Dr. Larry D. Robertson - Senior Pastor
We're going to go with another verse about all the nations this week. Last week's verse was Psalm 96:1-3 Sing to the LORD a new song; Sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. 3 Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.
I had chosen this verse so I could advertise our new ESL ministry. (Scroll down and check out my posts if you are behind on ESL.) So this week I am celebrating a great start to ESL ministry at Hilldale. We had 18 people at our first meeting. A few had been to the recent training at the TBC (Tennessee Baptist Convention) from NAMB (North American Mission Board), some teach ESL in the public schools and some have taught ESL at other churches and have been through training.
So... we have a fantastic group of teachers that are all excited about beginning an ESL Ministry here.
Here's a great verse for you all to memorize this week. It's from Psalm 57
9 I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations.
10 For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens And Your truth to the clouds.
11 Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth.
"Come, Thou Almighty King? Why would you sing an old hymn like that?"
I'm so glad you asked.
First of all, just because something is "old" doesn't mean it's bad and just because something is "new" doesn't mean it is good. The way to judge a song is first, by it's text - Is it scriptural? Does it make sense? Is it well written?
Come, Thou Almighty King gets great marks on all three of those questions.
Then a song should be judged by it's tune - Is it singable? Is it boring? Does it have a nice melodic line?
Again, this tune passes with flying colors.
I'm afraid too often we judge a song by whether or not it sounds good on a guitar. There is something wondrously majestic about a grand hymn such as this one played on a big pipe organ in a beautiful sanctuary. (There are a lot of times I really miss having a nice organ.) But, you know, this song actually would be just fine played on a guitar.
A good song is good no matter how it is presented. If a person can only worship if the instrumentation is exactly how he likes it then I fear he may be worshipping the music rather than the Creator of music.
As we sing these words, my prayer is that you will sing them as a prayer - that they will echo the sentiments of your heart, that God will "show up" and help us to praise Him.
Come, Thou Almighty King,
Help us Thy name to sing;
Help us to praise;
Father, all glorious, O'er all victorious,
Come, and reign over us, Ancient of Days.
Here are the other songs we'll be singing Sunday.
You Are God Alone
Bro. Tim and I went to LifeWay today. Not the store in Clarksville, but the big whoop-dee-do headquarters in Nashville. Some of you older types probably remember it being called "The Sunday School Board."
Today was preview day of next year's VBS theme. There was fun music lead by the one and only Jeff Slaughter (who writes the music and creates the motions (dances) every year, some nice drama of the biblical characters the children will learn about and a preview of the videos that will be shown. The videos always have a great story line that ties in with the theme and ties all of the daily stories together.
Here's a picture of the backdrop of the Big Apple. I'm sure our ladies who make such fantastic sets for us will easily make this - or actually one even better! Hooray for Ramona and Misty!
I wanted to have my picture taken with Jeff Slaughter - the music guy. But when the preview deal was over he and another guy were on stage and were going to continue the live webcast with a Q&A time.
I wanted to stop them and tell them that I needed a picture and that thousands would see it on my blog and on FaceBook, (hahaha) but this sorta mean looking lady with a headset was pushing us on out the door since we weren't staying for the Q&A. (OK. She wasn't really mean looking, but it wouldn't sound the same if I said this nice lady gave us one of those "I know you want your picture made with Jeff but you are in the way" kind of looks.) So we headed on out the door.
Here's a short clip of Jeff leading one of the songs.
Speaking of the songs from The Big Apple Adventure. (Here's where the Children's Choir part comes in.) We've been asked to premier the VBS musical next January AT LifeWay! How awesome is that?
With our new Fall schedule of doing new things on Sundays we have adjusted our music schedule and now Children's Choirs (for the Fall) will be on Tuesday afternoons.
Let me say that again in a bigger font.
This Fall
Children's Choir (grades 1-5)
will be on
Tuesdays from 4:30-5:30
beginning August 24.
I will be leading the choir and Bro. Tim and some others will be helping me. If you want to help, give me a call or send an e-mail. We'll meet in the choir room. The side door will be open. I'll have a big sign there so you'll see where it is. We'll have a blast!
I missed posting last Monday. We were in a two-day meeting going over some exciting plans for our church to reach out to our community. I'm very excited about all of the ideas we shared, but the one I am most excited about is a ministry to internationals that God has brought to Clarksville. As of today, I really can't jump on an airplane next month to go to Brazil to work with missionaries in Rio de Janeiro in spreading the Good News of Jesus. I really need to be here working on Christmas and getting musical things going for the Fall. My bank account probably wouldn't be able to take care of a couple of plane tickets either. (I'd want Cheryl to go with me of course.)
I may not be able to travel to twenty different countries in the next year or two, but I CAN minister to people from Brazil and China and Guatemala and many other places right here in Clarksville. "How is that?" You may ask. Through our new ESL ministry at Hilldale. Here is a link to a post about an informational meeting this coming Sunday. ESL Ministry
So what does that have to do with Memory Monday? Haha! Today's verse is a sneaky way for me to get in more advertising for ESL.
There are many, many verses that talk about all nations and all peoples knowing the LORD. Jesus, in the Great Commission, told us to go to all the nations to make disciples. the Great Commission
But the verse I chose for Memory Monday this week is Psalm 96:3 Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.
We may not be able to jump on a plane to Korea tomorrow, but it's very probable that we can share the love of Jesus with someone from Korea through an ESL class.
Here is Psalm 96:3 in context. What a great Psalm!
Psalm 96:1 Sing to the LORD a new song; Sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.
3 Tell of His glory among the nations,
His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.
4 For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory of His name; Bring an offering and come into His courts.
See how YOU can be involved in our ESL Ministry at Hilldale.
We have some teachers who have been trained and certified by the Tennessee Baptist Convention in conjunction with the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
(Plans are in the works to offer additional training for more teachers at Hilldale in 2011)
You don't have to be a certified teacher to be a part of this ministry.
Be a blessing to internationals in Clarksville as you help them with language skills that will benefit them, their families and our community.
Here are some of the ways you can help. Find out more at our meeting.
"We get along great ever since I lowered my expectations." When I first heard this said I about fell out of my chair. Hahahaha! I liked it so much I added it to my favorite quotes on Facebook! Of course I can't tell you who was being referred to. I suppose you can look on Facebook and see that Bro. Paul is the one that said it. haha. I don't know if he even remembers.
Have you ever really wanted to know someone better? And then once you got to know them you wondered why you wanted to know them in the first place? I, of course, never have. You all are wonderful! hahaha. Will Rogers said he never met a man he didn't like. (I know, you all have someone he should have met. haha) I guess I'm sort of like him. Well, except for one or two...
Sundays during worship are a great time for us to get to know God better. Of course it takes more than an hour a week to get to know someone, but this is a good start. (You also have to spend time each day in the Word, but that's another post.)
This Sunday in worship during the first part of the service it's my prayer that the songs will give opportunity for you to voice your desire to know the Lord more. I join the Apostle Paul in his prayer found in Ephesians 1:17
I keep asking that the God of our LORD Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
We'll begin the service this Sunday, August 8, singing 'Holy, Holy, Holy." This text of this great hymn was written in the 1820s. The tune we sing it to was first published in 1904. It is a great statement of faith and in the doctrine of the Trinity. In fact, the hymn tune was named NICAEA after the Council of Nicaea, AD 325, which formulated the Nicene Creed, a statement of faith which included an affirmation of the doctrine of the Trinity in response to the Arian heresy.
But I have distracted myself.
The third verse of this wonderful hymn has the words "though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see" (a reference to Isaiah 6) So I like to go from that verse right into "Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord." (for you music people out there, just do them both in D. I suppose you could do them in E, but it makes "Holy, Holy, Holy" rather high for present day congregations. It was in E in the 1966 Baptist Hymnal.)
Then after singing through "Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord" we'll go straight into the 4th verse of the hymn keeping the tempo and style the same.
"Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy name, In earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!"
Then the choir will sing a beautiful song titled "Oh, I Want to Know You More."
It has such a wonderful text.
The chorus says,
"Oh, I want to know You more.
Deep within my soul I want to know you. Oh, I want to know You.
To feel Your heart and know Your mind. Looking in Your eyes stirs up within me
Cries that say, 'I want to know You'
Oh, I want to know You more."
Then there is this text at the bridge. (Oh, if only we could sing this with all our hearts and truly mean it.)
"I would give my final breath to know You in Your death and resurrection. Oh, I want to know You more!" Whew!
Here's how the Apostle Paul worded this yearning of the heart. Phillipians 3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death
Preach yourself the sermon you need to hear to get you to the place that you can say this verse with all your heart while we sing it.
The other songs Sunday morning will be
"Nothing but the Blood"
and
"Covers Me for Life"
which I think will support very nicely a message about knowing for sure about your salvation and knowing that you are secure in your salvation (Covers Me for Life).
Some of you voted in the early voting. I went to East Montgomery Elementary School first thing this morning. The line wasn't long. In fact, I just walked up to the first table, signed my name on the paper, took it to the second table where they looked up my name, signed that book then walked right up to a voting booth. (I think they are still called booths. Hmmm, maybe "station" is the new name. I don't know. Anyway, he punched a few buttons to get the thing set up and off I went - voting away.
It's important to vote. Unlike the weather - which everyone complains about but can't do anything about - when you vote you actually make a difference in how the county, state and country will be led over the next few years. And in our part of Tennessee many of the offices are decided in the primaries. There were two or three offices that had two or three Independant candidates running. I suppose the winner of the primaries in those instances will be the new elected official.
Before you go you should check and see what district you are in and then see who is running for school board, sheriff, judges to keep or not as well as the high profile offices of Governor and Senator and Representative.
If you live out where I do in the southeast part of Montgomery county, we are represented by the same guy who will represent almost all of West Tennessee. It was John Tanner, but he has retired.
So....
GO VOTE
By the way. If you don't vote you don't get to complain about how the election turns out.
