A Threefold Truth

There is a hymn that was written in 1980 by Jack Schrader, text written by Fred Pratt Green titled "This Is the Threefold Truth." It's hymn 355 in the 2008 Baptist Hymnal. I really like the first verse.

This is the threefold truth on which our faith depends,
And with this joyful cry worship begins and ends:
Christ has died!
Christ is risen!
Christ will come again!

We celebrate Christ's death all year long as we sing songs not only of His death but of our redemption. We, of course, celebrate the Resurrection at Easter, but in reality, every Sunday as we gather together on the first day of the week (don't even get me started on these new calendars that lump Saturday and Sunday together at the end of the week).

This Sunday we will celebrate with great hope and anticipation the third truth in this threefold truth on which our faith depends.

We'll begin our service singing "Days of Elijah!" "Behold He comes riding on the clouds, shining like the sun, at the trumpet call!"

The choir will then sing my new favorite song "The Great Day!" I don't have the words here to describe what a fantastic song this is. Andrew and Calli Smith will sing a duet on this song accompanied by the choir. The song is off of the CD "The Story." Wow! The entire CD is wonderful! Check out "The Story" here "The Story" is "God's story of love and redemption from Genesis to Revelation told in 18 new songs."

Artists who sing on "The Story" include Mark Hall from Casting Crowns, Bart Miller from Mercy Me, Nichole Nordeman, Amy Grant, Chris Tomlin, Natalie Grant, Michael W. Smith, Mac Powell from Third Day, Dan Haseltine from Jars of Clay, Mandisa and more!

So, I got distracted, anyway, I get all choked up and teary eyed every time we sing it. It is AWESOME!

Then we have a medley of some great songs about the 2nd Coming and heaven including "Soon and Very Soon," "I'll Fly Away," "When the Role Is Called up Yonder,"Shall We Gather at the River" and "I Will Rise."

It should be a great time of worship and celebration as we sing together THIS Sunday at 8:30 and 9:45. I hope you're planning on joining us. (If you're in the choir, listen to your rehearsal CD and sing in BOTH services if you can. You KNOW you want to really sing out when we sing the phrase "He will be King! Yeah!!")

Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly! Revelation 22:20

I Missed Pentecost

Actually, I missed Pentecost TWICE! How is that possible? Pentecost was May 27. I was visiting my Mom and her church didn't sing any songs about the Holy Spirit that Sunday. Hilldale enjoyed the music ministry of Geron Davis (and he is Pentecostal) so maybe that counts as a "Pentecost" service.

Then yesterday, as I was driving to church I was listening to the classical music station and noticed that the songs they were playing had the phrase "spiritus sanctus" in them. There were several short pieces in a row and each had that phrase. Now, I'm no Latin scholar, but I DO know that "spiritus sanctus" means "Holy Spirit."

You may not know this, but the Greek Orthodox Churches and I think maybe the Russian Orthodox Churches often have a different Sunday for Easter - which therefore dictates that they have a different Sunday for Pentecost. So when I got to church yesterday morning I "googled" "date for Orthodox Pentecost" and sure enough - it was yesterday.

So I missed Pentecost twice! I would have sung songs about the Holy Spirit yesterday. I think it is important. Southern Baptists seem to have a knack for ignoring things they don't want to deal with or that make them appear to be followers of a different denomination. We miss out on many good church traditions that other denominations enjoy so we won't look "too Catholic" or whatever.

We end up ignoring the Holy Spirit so we won't look Pentecostal - afraid people will then expect us to speak in tongues.

We should not do this. The Holy Spirit is the One who is God's presence and God's power in us.

I love these verses that talk about how we are sealed in Christ by the Spirit.

"who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge."
2 Corinthians 1:22 NAS

"In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation -having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,"
Ephesians 1:13 NAS

AWESOME!

If you allow the Holy Spirit to actually work in your life then we will see the Fruit of the Spirit in you too.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control ; against such things there is no law.

I hope I don't miss Pentecost next year. I'm glad I don't miss out on the work of the HOly Spirit in my life every day.

150 Days of Psalm comes to an end - Psalm 150

First words and last words are important.

Genesis 1 "In the beginning God..."

Malachi 4:5 "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. 6 "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."

Matthew 1 1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

Rev. 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Psalm 1 "1 How blessed is the man who..."

Psalm 150
1 Praise the LORD ! Praise God in His sanctuary ; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. 2 Praise Him for His mighty deeds ; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. 3 Praise Him with trumpet sound ; Praise Him with harp and lyre. 4 Praise Him with timbrel and dancing ; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. 5 Praise Him with loud cymbals ; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD !

The final words of the Psalms begin with "Hallelujah!" Praise the Lord!" It is obvious from this psalm that using instruments in worship is a good thing. I've mentioned in a few posts here how our friends who attend Church of Christ churches have an entire doctrine against using instruments in worship. They say that there is no mention of instruments in worship in the New Testament and that they only do what the New Testament says. I always say, "They don't mention air conditioning in the N.T. either." but that is a rather smart-aleck remark, so let me address this seriously.

I won't even bother with the ridiculousness of throwing out the Old Testament. It's too easy of an argument. When the Apostle Paul said, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16 NAS) The scripture he had was the Law and the Prophets (The Old Testament)

When Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets ; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17 NAS) He wasn't talking about the book of Acts. He was talking about The Old Testament.

Oh, I guess I addressed it after all.

But for sake of argument, let's base my assertion that musical instruments can and should be used in worship on New Testament words.
There are two verses that again, are too easy of an argument, but I guess sometimes you have to point out the obvious.

Ephesians 5:19 NAS


speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord ; (my emphasis)

Colossians 3:16 NAS

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (again, my emphasis)

What "psalms" could Paul have been referring too? The Psalter of course - all 150 psalms. If there was a "problem" or "sin" of using instruments in worship wouldn't Paul have mentioned that? "Oh, by the way, when you speak to yourselves in psalms, don't use the last one or any of the ones that mention instruments since God hates instruments now." Uh, I don't think so.

If we go with the assertion that we still can't use The Old Testament (again, a rediculous argument) then let's just look at the word "psalm." According to Meriam-Webster here is the origin of the word.

"Origin of PSALM



Middle English, from Old English psealm, from Late Latin psalmus, from Greek psalmos, literally, twanging of a harp, from psallein to pluck, play a stringed instrument" 
 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/psalm

Shooting fish in a barrel.

Well... it's hard to believe we've come to the end of our study of the Psalms. I have thoroughly enjoyed this study. I hope you have too. And even more, I hope it has inspired you to continue studying the Bible each day. Maybe after VBS

Hallelujah! Sing praise to the Lord. And accompany your singing with all kinds of musical instruments.
 

More from Psalm 149 - Let them praise His name with dancing!

3 Let them praise His name with dancing

A lot of Baptists get nervous about dancing. I remember a sermon once - years ago - on the 3 sinful Ds - drinkin', dancin' and drugs. I think what turned Baptist preachers against dancing was the rather obscene movements used in a whole lot of dancing. What's the old saying about vertical moves and something about horizontal and now I think Cheryl is going to fuss at me for writing that.... Others were against the kind of places you had to go to dance - bars and such.

Dancing is why some preachers are against certain kinds of music. There are some types of music that you just have to move your feet to.

In Psalm 149 dancing is another way to praise the Lord. Sometimes singing isn't enough; your whole body needs/wants to be involved in worship. Many of our Pentecostal friends have discovered this in their worship. They are more than happy to move and dance and sing and worship. (I don't see this happening soon at my church since many won't even clap their hands to a peppy song - but that's OK.)

Dance is also a beautiful way to convey a feeling and to tell a story. In this year's Passion Play we had a beautiful dance that told the story of Moses when his mother hid him in a basket in the Nile and Pharaoh's daughter found him. The dance was to the song "Deliver Us" from "Prince of Egypt." It was AWESOME!

Here are some pictures. Maybe I can get a clip of that song to put on here for those of you who weren't able to see it in person.

150 Days of Psalms - Psalm 149

Aaaaargh!!

I hadn't missed a day of blogging about a psalm for 148 days!! And then yesterday we were on the road for 13 hours or so and I thought about trying to blog from my phone, but when I thought about it we were in the middle of no signal land in southern Missouri. When we got home a little before 10 I unloaded the car and went to bed and Psalm 149 didn't even cross my mind. :-(

So here are some thoughts on Psalm 149. Later today I'll blog about Psalm 150. I can't believe 2012 is 150 days old.

Several of the psalms have had the phrase "Sing to the Lord a new song" in them. This isn't saying we should throw out all of the old songs. There is great value in old songs (the entire book of Psalms for instance). Those who only sing songs written in the last couple of years are missing out - depriving themselves and their congregations - of a richness and wisdom that songs and texts which have stood the test of time can bring to a worship time. Old songs are often dismissed as relics of the past with no meaning for today. This is the view of uneducated, youthful snobbery. Oooooo. Now I'm talking mean. Sorry. (but it's true) I have been very encouraged lately to hear the current "Christian bands" singing some of the beautiful old hymns of the 1900s. Here's a great example -  http://pagecxvi.com/

There is also great value in new songs. Music style changes and each generation wants to express their faith in their own way. There are many songs from "today" that I love singing. They have beautiful melodies and fresh texts that speak to us in the 2010s. Many of these new songs will pass the test of time. Many will be thrown out just as many of the hymns of the 1900s were let go.

So is this the point of Psalm 149? Not really. The psalmist is encouraging us to seek something new from God. To experience Him afresh today and not be satisfied with what God did in our lives last year or last decade. It was always sad for me to hear - back in the day when our services would have "testimony time" - to hear what God had done for someone back in 1962. Not that the experience with God then was bad or anything, but that they hadn't experienced anything new from God in 25 years.

Spend some time with God. Don't be satisfied with your salvation experience only. That is just the beginning of a lifelong relationship. Expect God to do something in your life. Or maybe I should say, "pay attention to what God is doing in your life." Verse 4 tells us that God delights in His people. Experience that "new" (again, fresh) today! Sing to the Lord a new song!

150 Days of Psalms - Psalm 148

The Hallelujah Psalms continue today with a psalm that has been set to music hundreds of times. The psalmist is pointing out how all of creation praises the Lord. Perhaps we (as people) like to set these thoughts to music is because when we see the sun and moon and stars it causes us to praise the Lord too. But this psalm goes even further to mention weather, mountains, trees, beasts and birds, all ages of people - everything and everyone are called to praise the Lord. Hallelujah!

150 Days of Psalms - Psalm 147

There are several familiar verses in Psalm 147. I just read v.4 to my family.
 4 He counts the number of the stars ; He gives names to all of them.
and my momma said, "You mean He's already named them all and we pay somebody to name them?" So my brothers told her "yes. Save your money."

Deep theological conversations from a bunch of pastors - hahaha.

Verse 3 is a familiar verse that is very comforting.
"3 He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds." It's very difficult to bind up your own broken heart and the wounds that caused it. This is a great verse to remind us all that God is the one who can heal our hearts.

Verse 10 was very important to me as a short, skinny, non-athletic guy growing up.

"10 He does not delight in the strength of the horse ; He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man. 11 The LORD favors those who fear Him, Those who wait for His lovingkindness."
Since I was HORRIBLE at all team sports and the object of many cruel comments from the athletes at my school this verse reminded me that what was important to God was that I was a person who feared Him and waited for His lovingkindness. Strong arms and good knees give out over the years. Developing a fear/reverence for God lasts a lifetime.