Right, amen. And we're in the 100th Psalm here because today I want to preach about music, okay,
and in particular the music ministry of a church is what I'd like to preach about.
Before I get going with the sermon, I'm going to come clean with you straight away about my
motives for this sermon, okay. My goal of this sermon is to inspire people to want to
serve God through music, okay. That's my goal. I want to inspire the church,
people that are here, maybe people that are further afield and can't come all the time,
but maybe want to start serving God, to want to serve God through music. We're nearly three
and a half years on as a church and if Jamie's ill, which he has been a bit recently, we're a
bit stuffed for the live music, okay. And that's, you know, and there's a few reasons
for that and I'd like to change that going forward. It might take a little while, but
my plan is to have this church here for a long time to come. So with that in mind,
this might be a long-term plan, but it's also a short-term plan as well, as you're going to see
as we go through this. So my goal, there's a few goals here and ultimately that's the main goal.
My goal is for the musicians here, and I bet there are some musicians in this church,
some secret ones, okay. I know it's further afield watching. My goal is for the musicians
here to be convicted to serve, to want to serve through music. I know you're out there,
okay. You're out there. I'm going to be watching some eyes as I preach through this
as well and see if I can get any giveaways to approach people after the service.
My goal is for the non-musicians here to be convicted to become musicians to serve,
okay. That's what I'd like to happen as well. You don't have to have been playing
the xylophone as a baby perfectly to be able to play music when you're older, okay.
My goal also is for the parents here to be convicted to train their children into musicians
to serve, okay. So I'd like that to happen over the years as well, ideally from this.
And it is a great ministry not just for adults, I would say also for teens as well, okay. It's a
great ministry for teens and when you go to other churches you might see some some teens
often in a music team as well in a music ministry. And also my goal is for the children
here to be convicted to be willing trainee musicians as well to eventually serve in the
music team. And the question is, kids, do you want to serve God? And it's a great way to be
serving God from early, from young. There's ultimately, you could go as big as you like
with a music team, okay. So it's a great way to be able to serve God if maybe you're not,
maybe just for whatever reason, maybe not because you're not able, but you're just not in one of
the other positions, the other jobs, the other parts of a church's sort of, well, rotor of jobs,
okay. So basically today I want to impress upon you the importance of the music ministry and
what an honour it is to be a part of. Verse one, there in Psalm 100, it's a psalm of praise and
it said, make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. And the title of my sermon this morning
is the Church Music Ministry. I'd like to pray before I get started with it. Father, thank you for
your word, thank you for, well, music, Lord, the gift of being able to make a joyful noise, Lord,
but ultimately that joyful noise is to be made to you. Help us to, you know, to be convicted
about that today, to want to be a part of that, Lord, help everyone here to just, you know,
take the music ministry seriously and importantly and to be inspired to want to be a part of that,
to want to help it, to at least want to pray for it, Lord. And every single one of us here
being a congregational singer are part of this music ministry in this church, Lord, to help us
to all just really pay attention to this sermon and also maybe apply parts of it to other parts
of serving you as well, Lord. Fill me with your spirit as I preach this, please. In Jesus' name,
pray. Amen. Okay, so like I said, we're in Psalm 100. Okay, now this Psalm for me just
gives a great outline for this topic as well. So let's just read it quickly again. Psalm 100
said from verse one, make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness,
come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that
hath made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto
him and bless his name. For the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth
to all generations. We're looking at the church music ministry today and point number one, okay,
the music ministry is a command. Okay, the music ministry is a command. Okay, verse one said,
make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Okay, so in verse one, God through the
psalmist, he didn't say make a joyful noise unto the Lord, those of you with willing musicians.
Okay, he said all ye lands. He said whether you're in the middle of nowhere or you have
a musical instrument store or in every town, make a joyful noise. Okay, make a joyful noise
unto the Lord. When is that joyful noise to be made? Well, there is no restriction. You can
make a joyful noise to the Lord at any time of the day, in any place. In verse two,
he gives us a particular time when it is important. He said, serve the Lord with gladness,
come before his presence with singing. Okay, now turn to Colossians three because just like in the
Old Testament, when God's children come to the house of God, he wants us to praise him with
music. Okay, it's the same as in the Old Testament, he wants us to praise him with music.
Psalm 81.1, while you're turning to Colossians three, Psalm 81.1 says it's to the chief
musician upon Gittith, the psalm of Asaph, sing aloud unto God our strength, make a joyful
noise unto the God of Jacob. We're told to sing aloud, we're told to make a joyful noise,
time and time again it's an instruction, it's a command. Okay, in Colossians three,
instructing the New Testament Colossian church through the apostle Paul, God said this,
and above all things, in verse 14, and above all things put on charity, which is the bond
of perfectness, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also you are
called in one body and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwelling you richly in all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. So Paul said to the church to teach and admonish,
which is to warn, to caution each other in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, but it's
done by singing unto the Lord. Okay, so it's one another in songs, hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord, so we're teaching and admonishing
by singing to the Lord. So, for example, otherwise you know people would get this
wrong, they would take this wrong, it's not that we're here to sing a hymn, for example,
directed at so-and-so, you know, it's like, right, for example, just because he's right
near me, brother Jack's got an issue and then we all like sing a hymn, it's like, Jack,
you gotta quit the whatever, you gotta give it here, that's not what he's talking about,
we're teaching and admonishing one another, but by singing unto the Lord. So an example I
thought of, just because, I think because we sung it recently at men's private preaching night,
in trust and obey, okay, one of the verses in the first verse in fact says, when we do
his goodwill, he abides with us still and with all who will trust and obey. So when you're
singing that line of that hymn, you're basically teaching and admonishing one another,
but ultimately we're singing to God, aren't we? So we're singing to God,
we're teaching and admonishing one another, we're singing to God about God,
but it teaches and admonishes at the same time, okay? So they're singing, just singing to God,
it's not just some empty words, there's a point to what we're doing, right? We're singing to God,
we're praising him, we're thanking him, it said, and whatsoever ye do, in verse 17,
in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God
and the Father by him. Okay, so we're obeying the command to be teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts of the Lord.
It's a command, it's something we're told to do, that's a command of God,
and it's a bit hard to do sitting at home on YouTube, isn't it? Okay, that's a bit hard
to do, to sing, to teach and admonishing one another, that's a bit difficult, isn't it?
A big part of being a Christian is worshipping God. Yeah, we need to be preaching the
Gospel as well, but a big part of being a Christian, a big part of what he wants of us,
is for us to come and worship him. Okay, to worship God, and a big part of worshipping God
is in song. You can't, you can't escape that, that's how he wants it done. Okay,
that's how he's wanted it done from early on in the Old Testament through to the New Testament
to worship God in song. Okay, that's how God likes it. Turn to Psalm 98, he wants
worshipping in song, and that should include instruments where possible, because there are
churches out there, you might have heard of these types of churches, that claim that we shouldn't
use instruments because we don't see them specifically mentioned in the New Testament.
So there are these kind of types of churches out there, I'm trying to remember them now,
I think they call themselves like traditional Baptists or something, that claim that there
shouldn't be any instruments. I might have got that wrong, the name of them. However, we don't
see them forbidden either, do we? Anyone see musical instruments forbidden in the New Testament?
No. And we do see, for example, harps being played in heaven in Revelation chapter 14,
you're not going to turn there, but we see the harps being played in Revelation 14,
so I have a hard time to believe that they're outlawed for this period of time without even
being told that they're outlawed. Okay, that for me is reading into the text, something that's
not there. Without being told, by the way, as well, maybe we would need to be warned that these
tons of psalms, of which we're going to see some of them today, are telling us to worship
on a variety of instruments, are now null and void. Okay, so that for me is a large
stretch and it's just false. Okay, look at Psalm 98 where you are. Psalm 98 verse 1 says,
O sing unto the Lord a new song, for we have done marvelous things. His right hand and his
holy arm has gotten him the victory. The Lord has made known his salvation, his righteousness
had he openly showed in the sight of the heathen. He has remembered his mercy and his
truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. That's a command, isn't it? Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord all the earth. Make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praise. So if you stand in church,
just a side note here, if you stand in church whispering the hymns, you're disobeying this
command, aren't you? He said make a loud noise. He said make a loud noise. So if you're standing there
and your mouth is moving because you want to look like you're singing, but I better not really
make any noise, well you're already disobeying. Okay, and you're out of God's will with that,
straight away. Now just a caveat on that, please don't sing loudly if you don't know the hymn.
I sometimes have done that before or sometimes I'm singing loudly and then I'm kind of doing
something else quickly and trying to sort something before a part of the service and
then I'm singing the wrong words and it's, I know it hurts the music leaders, they pretend
it doesn't, but it does, okay. So, okay, so obviously make sure you know it if you're
going to sing loudly, okay, but you should get to know them pretty quickly, but we should be
singing loudly, okay, but obviously it should be a joyful noise, okay, it wouldn't be a joyful
noise if you're singing it loudly, it's completely off, yeah, and you're singing the wrong words, but
it should be a loud noise full of joy in the Lord, shouldn't it? Okay, so the loud noise, see,
if you're whispering and you're not really saying it, well you're not making a joyful
noise, you're not making a loud noise and you're out of God's will there, okay. Now the singing
is accompanied though by instruments. Have a look at this in verse five, sing unto the Lord
with the harp. Now we're singing with the harp, with the harp and the voice of a psalm, with
trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord the King. Now the cornet
being a horn of some kind, and just before any of the knee-jerk types say, right, look,
burn the piano, okay, get rid of everything else, smash that guitar up over there, okay.
As you'll see as we go through this, the point is a multitude of different instruments,
so we keep seeing just different instruments, it's just, it's a multitude of instruments,
okay, it's make a joyful noise with a multitude of instruments. In verse five to six the command
was to sing with instruments, sing unto the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the voice
of a psalm, with trumpets and sound of cornet, make a joyful noise before the Lord the King.
Now go back to Psalm 100, we're looking at the church music ministry, okay, point number
one was a pretty obvious point, the music ministry is a command, okay. Point number two,
the music ministry should make a joyful noise, the music ministry should make a joyful noise.
Psalm 100 said in verse one, make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. And first and
foremost, okay, that music should be joyous, we should be singing with joy, shouldn't we?
When we're singing to the Lord, we have the ability to sing to God, He's listening to us,
we're praising Him, we're singing about not just salvation, many of the other wonderful things
about the Lord, we should be doing that with joy, shouldn't we? Okay, there should be joy in
our voices, joy in our hearts, really joy on our face. Again, you don't have to fake this and start
being weird, you know, like some of these weird churches that you're like, praise the Lord,
and everything else, okay, it doesn't have to be as silly as that, but they should,
if you're singing loudly, it's because there's some joy coming out. If you're just
down here and you're like, mumbling, murmuring, not really saying anything, you're clearly
not joyous, okay, you're not, what we're being told to do here is to make a joyful
noise unto the Lord. But you could also say, okay, that it should be a noise that's
joyful to the Lord, shouldn't it? So the noise that we make in this church should be joyful
to the Lord. So you could be so full of joy yourself, but if you're singing words that were
offensive to God, you're not making a joyful noise unto the Lord, are you? So if we were
singing just rank heresy here, we were just singing damnable heresy, we just were like,
oh, well, this is, victory in Jesus sounds nice, we were talking about this this morning,
it's got a lovely tune to it. I like the tune, yeah, it's a catchy tune, but it's got damnable
heresy, and when I repented of my sins, I won the victory, yeah, and talking about
salvation. That's not making a joyful noise. Think God's listening to that, that false
doctrine put around everywhere and going, oh, well, you know, this is a wonderful, I'm just
loving this. And you could think of many other types of damnable heresy that could be
included in hymns and stuff. So obviously what we sing is important, okay, but you could argue
as well with that as well, would all of God's people really have genuine joy if they were
doubting what they were singing? So can you really sing with joy in your heart if you're
kind of singing and you're thinking, I don't know about these words are a bit off here,
I don't know, is that really hinting or pushing or projecting some sort of work salvation or some
sort of other weird damnable heresy? Now turn to Romans 12. So of course the words that we
sing are important, okay, your turn to Romans 12. John 4 24 says, God is a spirit and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. So how am I worshipping him in spirit
and in truth if I'm singing some empty just generic words that could equally apply to my
spouse, for example, in my heart, or to someone's, let's be more, let's be honest, a lot of what
seems to be contemporary Christian music is almost identical to what people are singing
about their girlfriends or boyfriends in their fornicating lives in the world, right, you know,
things like, you know, your love means more to me than, you know, it's just like, it's empty
nonsense, okay, it's nonsense, all of that contemporary junk, it's empty, it's not, they're not
worshipping him in spirit and truth, okay, and that's also not teaching and
admonishing one another as well, singing, you know, just repeating the name Jesus for, you know,
five stanzas or something, or just, you know, that sort of stuff, just empty stuff, empty generic
stuff which could equally apply to a love song, that to me is a teaching, admonishing one another,
it's not worshipping God in spirit and in truth. All it is really is Christians trying to
sound like the world, isn't it? That's what you see out there, that's what, and again, some people
might not have ever been to church like this, I never heard this sort of stuff, but if you've been in
those sorts of places, you've ever stepped foot, and some maybe their background is more, kind of,
is better hymns for maybe some sort of old church or England type church, at least,
at least they usually sing some fairly doctrinally sound hymns, usually, okay,
but there's also a lot of these contemporary Pentecostal-y, you know,
contemporary Baptist-type places where it's just a complete empty nonsense, okay, and they're trying
to sound like the world and they're being influenced by the world, they're being influenced
basically by their worldly minds. Romans 12 says this in verse one,
Do you think trying to sound like Elton John, for example, is what God had in mind here
when he wrote this, you know, trying to sound like some sort of sodomite, some sort of wicked
reprobate, no, that's obviously not what he's talking about when he wants us to present our
bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God. He said and be not conformed to this
world in verse two, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what
is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. He said don't be conformed,
and if you're wondering what does that really mean conformed, made to resemble,
reduced to a likeness of, made agreeable to, suited to this world, okay, which is exactly
how so many churches sound, don't they, with their worship services that are made to resemble
a pop concert. They're just being conformed to this world, they're just trying to sound like
the world, okay, that's clearly their goal, clearly at least what's inspired a lot of that
music in the first place. Does anyone think that it's a joyful noise to the Lord, sounding
just like, basically sounding like what was dreamt up in the dark recesses of someone like
George Michael's mind, because that's what they're conforming to, some sort of wicked,
filthy, disgusting sodomite usually, what they've dreamt up in their mind and written into a song,
we'll just try and sound like that, we'll just sound like the one that'll get everyone in,
they'll all love it. It's wickedness, okay, that's being conformed to this world.
Is that God's good and except, God's good and acceptable and perfect will, as you see there
in verse two, and that's why for example we don't have the drum and bass here, okay,
so, and I don't care what drum it is, we ain't having the drums, we're not going to have
the bass. I was at a church once many years ago, an evangelical church, they had a guy on the bongos,
they played it, but it just sounded like the world and you just started, you know,
your head started going, everything like the world, okay. It doesn't matter, it's like,
oh well, at least he doesn't have a drum kit. No, he's got the bongos, okay, it just sounds
like the world, the bass lines and everything else. You look here, we go, why was I a natural?
I was newly saved, all right, okay, we're not trying to make the flesh tingle like
it does in the bar or nightclub, okay, and I don't really care really how many people we would
attract if we did have a band up here, okay, nothing's going to change with that. We don't
want to resemble the nightclub, the bar, the worldly music concerts, that's not what our goal is, even if,
you know, that meant, oh well, some extra people might come in. It's like, yeah, we ain't doing that
because God said, and B not conformed to this world, he said, but B transformed, he also told us to make,
he basically told us to make a joyful noise unto him, okay. This is the house of God, okay, it's not
the house of Baal, we come here to offer reverent worship, okay, that's why we're here to offer
reverent worship to God that's pleasing to God. Turn to Psalm 95, but with that in mind, okay,
with all of that in mind, we still want our worship music here to be a joyful noise,
but a joyful noise to the Lord too, okay, that's the key point here, not just to our wicked
flesh, right. Psalm 95 and verse one, Psalm 95 one, Psalm 95 and verse one says, oh come, let us
sing unto the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. So we're making
a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation, so it has to be joyful to him as well, right,
let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
Now, the psalms are full of doctrine, okay, full of truth, they're not empty vein nonsense,
okay, so that's, the psalms are basically a songbook, okay, and there's so much in the psalms,
so much doctrine in the psalms, it's amazing really, okay, but verse three says, for the Lord
is a great God and a great king above all gods in his hand in the deep places of the earth,
the strength of the hills this is also the sea this is, and he made it and his hands form
the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord
our maker. Now that's the sort of worship we're talking about, isn't it, where it's about him,
it's not about our wicked flesh being appeased, so if you're thinking, well yeah, I mean, you know,
they preach to King James there, they preach the word of God, they preach on all different
subjects, however, I don't know, the music just doesn't make my flesh tingle, it doesn't make
me tap my foot, you know, the music doesn't make me want to dance and stuff like that, well,
you're out, you're completely out of God's will there, all right, you've got it completely
wrong because that's not what it's about really, okay, however, we still want to make a joyful
noise and a joyful noise to him but within the parameters that we believe is not then being
conformed to this world, okay, so turn to Psalm 33, we avoid the worldly sounds, we avoid
the voodoo style drums, the strummed guitars, okay, that's something that we avoid here,
now some churches bang guitars all together, I personally feel that a picked guitar, as you see
Jamie play with a picked guitar, I don't believe that's a worldly sound, it sounds like a harp to me,
okay, but I've said, you know, the reason we have a picked guitar and not else because
I don't want strummed guitars in this church, as long as I'm a pastor here, we won't have
the strummed guitar because I just consider it a worldly sound and I would go further than
ban all guitars but I like the picked guitar and I think it is similar to a harp sound,
okay, but we don't have that, we don't have the bass riffs, okay, okay, you ain't gonna
get a bass riff there where it's a doo-doo-doo-doo-doo, as we're singing stuff, it's just, that's not what we're
gonna be doing, but we still want to make it sound nice, okay, and as we grow as a church,
multiple instruments will make it a more joyful noise, won't they? Just think of it this way,
you know, and I like to give this example, I've given it before, when it's your birthday, maybe
dad's here, mum's here, whoever really, okay, when some people get together and sing happy
birthday to you, it makes you feel good, doesn't it, right? It's nice to have some people show some
love for you and sing for you, that's why we like to sing happy birthday to people in this church,
we're a church family together, well, think about it when you're at home, for example,
and it's your birthday and some of your family members sing and some of them don't, and some are
just like, hmm, like that doesn't make you feel good, does it? No, it's kind of like that with
God, God's looking down at this church service and when you're refusing to sing, for example,
how does it make you feel good? Well, think of it in the same way that if you got home,
dad's from work and it was your birthday and then the kids have all got instruments out
and they're all playing a different instrument and they've made an orchestra to play happy
birthday, you're going to be thinking, wow, this is some effort that's gone into
to basically showing their love for me. Now, if only one of those children is playing, great,
thank you, the other ones are singing great, but if maybe five of them are playing instruments
or six of them or whatever, it's going to feel good, isn't it? Right, and that's in the same way,
look, the more instruments we get playing, it's something that, you know, at the beginning I was
just happy to have someone that could play the piano, right, but over time, yeah, I'd love to
have multiple instruments and obviously then when people are ill, when people are sick, if people
leave, whatever else, we're not, right, we're back to the jukebox, you know, so I think it's
a great thing, but I think for God, God wants to hear those instruments, that's why we see
multiple instruments, not just find an instrument, it's multiple instruments, okay?
So we want to make it nice, we want multiple instruments. Psalm 33 says this in verse one,
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, for praise is comely for the upright.
Praise the Lord with harp, sing unto him with the psaltery and with an instrument of
ten strings. Now, psaltery seems to be a stringed instrument similar to a harp,
and stay in Psalm 33, but second Samuel 6-5 says, In David and all the house of Israel
played before the Lord on all manner of instruments, made of fir wood, even on harps,
and on saltaries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. So there's all manner of
instruments there, but they're playing a joyful noise unto the Lord, okay? So it's not so much
the instrument as how it's played, like my example with the guitar for example, right,
okay, not played in a worldly way. He said in verse three, Sing unto him a new song
placed skillfully with a loud noise, for the word of the Lord is right and all his works are
done in truth. So it's about putting the time and effort into making it a joyful noise unto
the Lord. And obviously if it's something that you get inspired by the sermon and you think,
yeah, I'd like to serve the Lord in music, this is clearly a massive part of worshiping God,
yeah, and it's something that we're sadly at this point in time, we don't, you know,
we're lacking, okay, in this church and you think, yeah, I'd like to do that.
Obviously the idea is to put some time and effort into it. It should be playing skillfully
with a loud noise, okay? But don't be put off if you're thinking, well, I'm not like a complete
pro musician, because again, it's better to make a noise, okay, than no noise at all, right? But
obviously the goal is to play skillfully with a loud noise that comes from time and effort.
So you don't have, like I said, you don't have to play the xylophone in your crib when you're
a baby and everyone's going, wow, they're such a musician to be able to play music. Do you
know what ultimately it takes to be able to play music? It's just effort, time, effort and
discipline. It's like anything in life. You can have some skill, but if you don't put the
time and effort into it, then you're not going to be able to play, okay? It just takes time
and it's putting time into wanting to worship God and praise God in the right way, okay?
Now we're leading on to the next point though, which is, go back to Psalm 100.
We're looking at the church ministry, okay? Point number one, the music ministry is a command.
Point number two, the music ministry should make a joyful noise. And point number three,
the music ministry is serving God, okay? The music ministry is serving God, okay?
Psalm 100 said in verse one, make a joyful noise unto the Lord all you land,
serve the Lord with gladness, come before his presence with singing. So serving God is
something that we're all required to do. Everyone here, if you're saved, you're required
to serve the Lord. Deuteronomy 10 12, we don't have to turn there, says,
and now Israel, what does the Lord thy God require of thee? What does he require?
But to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways and to love him and to serve
the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. So we're required to do that.
Do we all do that? No. Should we all do that? Yes. We're required to serve the Lord our God,
okay? And for some, they might have put their heart and soul into another part of the ministry.
Maybe they put their heart and soul into another way of serving the Lord. But for most,
there are areas where they could choose to serve God or choose not to. And most people,
most people, it's not that their life is full up with serving God. Most people, it comes down
to choice, doesn't it? Where do I want to serve God? In what way would I like to? And what
way would I not like to? Turn to 1 Chronicles. Now, of course, there are also those that
have the ability to serve God and don't serve him at all,
or very little in very, very small ways. And then there are those that do serve God in many
ways and maybe serve him in ways that maybe isn't so good, or maybe they're not so, what's
the word, maybe not so made for, you know? And maybe for some, maybe music doesn't come
naturally to them. Maybe they could serve him in other ways more effectively, but maybe for
some, music would, or maybe for some, they have the discipline, the ability to just keep
practicing and get to that point. And when it comes to music, OK, I believe just many,
and it might just be something that, you know, maybe there's a few reasons for that,
because, you know, some churches, of course, it takes time with the church as well,
but some churches you just see in some places where there's just people are basically
auditioning and wanting to be part of the music team and don't maybe cut it. And then
in other places not so. Maybe part of that might be YouTube kind of Christianity, kind of as a start
for many people here, you know, maybe they were following online and stuff like that, and
ultimately that usually ends up just being sermons, isn't it? And this is kind of maybe
forgotten, it goes out of your mind a little bit, that so much of church, I mean, what do we have?
We have four hymns here and an instrumental while the offering's going on.
Somewhere between 20 and 25 minutes, probably on average, of a service which goes up to about
an hour and a half. You're talking somewhere between a quarter and a third of our service
is music. It's a big part of our service, isn't it? OK, and it's something that everyone
pretty much has the ability to be able to serve in, but so many people, and probably my
fault as well, I haven't really preached it before, I haven't really kind of tried to convict people
of that before, so it's something that I'd like to change, OK? Many maybe just, just like I said,
don't see that or don't think about that. And it does require time and effort, OK? It requires
discipline, it requires commitment to services as well, so there's no point, oh well I just spend
all my time practicing at home but I come once a month to church, well you're not really going
to be able to be an effective part of the music ministry. But Deuteronomy 10 12 says,
And now Israel, what does the Lord thy God require of thee? This is what I just read to you,
but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God
with all thy heart and with all thy soul. So we should be looking and finding ways that we
could serve the Lord with all our heart and with all our soul. In 1 Chronicles 16, OK,
they bought the ark from Keir Jathjirim. Did you turn to 1 Chronicles 16, yeah?
Keir Jathjirim, so they bought the ark of God, OK, they set it in the midst of the
tent that David had pitched for it, verse one, we are here, and they offered burnt sacrifice
and peace offerings before God. And when David had made an end of offering the burnt offerings
and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. And he dealt to every
one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread and a good piece of flesh
and a flagon of wine. And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of
the Lord and to record and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel. Now, do you think
this is just a few Levites that got the short straw maybe? Ah, those poor guys, they
had to do it. Well, the other ones had fun chopping people up and stuff like that.
Nothing to see here, you know, just some kind of random guys, whatever. That was just
quickly mentioned. Well, these are serving men here whose names have gone down in eternity,
OK? These men here that chose to serve the Lord at least were, no, maybe whether they
chose or not, they were given that opportunity, that ability, they were given that job to serve
the Lord, to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel. Well, look at verse five. We see
their names. Asaph, the chief, and Exim, Zechariah, Jael, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and
Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Ibedodom, and Jael, with saltaries, and with
hearts. But Asaph made a sound with cymbals. Benaiah also, and Jehaziel, the priest,
with trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God. Then on that day,
David delivered first this psalm to thank the Lord into the hand of Asaph and his
brethren. And it's Psalm 105, but you're not going to turn there, that firstly is
what we see read here. It says in verse eight, give thanks unto the Lord, call upon
his name, make known his deeds among the people, sing unto him, sing psalms unto him,
talk ye of all his wondrous works. Another command there, it's about singing to him,
singing psalms unto him. Now, it then goes into Psalm 96 after that, but jump forward
to verse 37. Verse 37, where it said, so he left there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord,
Asaph and his brethren, to minister before the ark continually, as every day's work required.
And Ibedodom, with their brethren, threescore and eight, Ibedodom also, the son of Jejethen
and Hosea, to be porters, and Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priest, before the
tabernacle of the Lord, in the high place that was at Gibeon, to offer burnt offerings
unto the Lord upon the altar of the burnt offering, continually morning and evening,
and to do according to all that is written in the law of the Lord, which he commanded Israel.
And with them, He-man, and Jejethen, and the rest that were chosen, who were expressed by
name, to give thanks to the Lord, because his mercy endureth forever. And with them, He-man and
Jejethen, with trumpets and cymbals, for those that should make a sound, and with musical instruments
of God, and the sons of Jejethen were porters, and all the people departed every man to his house,
and David returned to bless his house. So, where were they all expressed by name? Do you notice
it said in verse 41, the rest that were chosen, who expressed by name? Well, it seems to be maybe
in a couple of places, but back in 1 Chronicles 6, it says this, you can turn if you want to,
but I'm just going to quote two verses. It says, and these are they, this is 1 Chronicles 6
of verse 31, and these are they whom David set over the service of song in the house of the
Lord, after that the ark had rest, and they ministered before the dwelling place of the
tabernacle of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the house of the Lord in
Jerusalem, and then they wait on their office according to their order. So, this is then followed
by a long list of musicians. Why? Because it's such an important part of serving God. Okay, the list
we see in many places talk about these musicians. These are great men of God. These are,
these are famous men. These are men whose names have been read for eternity, will be read for
eternity, and have been read for the last, you know, at least the Old Testament here, three and a
half thousand years old. We've been reading, people who have been reading the Bible, have been
reading about these men, okay, who served the Lord through music. Because it's not just some
people that fancy playing an instrument, okay, they're putting time and effort into, like I said,
what is over a quarter of our church service, okay, and it requires, it requires
some dedication, some commitment. They're part of the teaching and admonishing of us all, okay,
people that are playing instruments in a church. The praise and worship of God, his way,
they're a part of all of that. They help us to be filled with the Spirit as well, by the way,
according to Ephesians 5 19, by speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing, making melody in your heart to the Lord, okay, that's how, one of the ways that
we're filled with the Spirit as well, okay, for the service, during the service, for the
preaching and everything else. They could be the difference as well, by the way, between you
people who don't understand staying or not, because there are people that do come in and sadly
will be looking to appeal to the flesh, but at least if the noise is a joyful noise, if it is
played skillfully, if there are quite a few people playing instruments, it might appease those
people that don't really understand for a while and don't understand that ultimately it's the
Word of God is the most important thing, but it is going to be something that is going to
probably make people stay and sadly will make people leave as well. Some people, they are looking
for, and the music is a big part of it, okay, however, obviously, if you're going to go to one
of these clown churches around the corner because the music's better while they preach
out of a false bible and preach a load of nonsense, well, you know, in a way it might be
better, but there could be people just new to it, right, they don't really understand.
The music ministry is serving God, okay, which leads on to the next point. So go back to
Psalm 100, we're looking at the church music ministry. Number one, the music ministry
is a command. Number two, the music ministry should make a joyful noise. Number three, the music
ministry is serving God. And number four, the music ministry should be done happily, okay, the music
ministry should be done happily, okay. Psalm 100 said, make a joyful noise unto the Lord all you
land, serve the Lord with gladness, come before his presence with singing. So as much as I'm hoping
to inspire people with this sermon, okay, I don't want to encourage resentful service
in this area, whether it's in the short term or in the long term, okay.
Serving the Lord in any capacity should be a positive, shouldn't it? Okay, if you have the
opportunity, the ability to serve God, what a great thing, right, it's a blessing. Whether
you're sweeping the front step outside the front of the church or spending many hours
practicing hymns, we should serve the Lord with gladness. Okay, whatever you do for the
Lord, what a great thing it is, you should do that with gladness. Psalm 84, 10, you don't
have to turn there, says, for a day in thy courts is better than a thousand, I'd rather be a
doorkeeper in the house, oh my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. So whatever
we do, if you're given the opportunity, the ability, you're given a job to do at this church,
you should do it with gladness, okay. Turn to James chapter five. Now this is more the case,
though, when it comes to such a key part of our worship, though, even more so, I would say.
But my point is, okay, parents, don't force your kids to reluctantly play,
for example, in our church in the future, okay. Don't be a resentful server, anyone here, okay.
Whether it's kids growing up or anyone else, don't do that, okay. No one wants to resent,
there's nothing worse, is there, than a resentful server. You go anywhere where there's
sort of someone serving you in one way or another, and they're resentful about it, doesn't
it wind you up, okay. It's horrible, and you just, what are you doing, why are you even,
why are you even doing this in the first place if you're going to be resentful about it.
People do that a lot of the time in many areas. Can you imagine if I just can't see God up here,
and I was just like, all right, ready for another sermon, took me hours. You don't probably don't care,
you know. After a while, you'd be like, what, it would make you feel lousy as well, wouldn't you,
you know. And so you don't want to see resentment when people are serving you, and obviously
that's the same with the music. If we were, you know, if 10 years time and we got a
load of people sitting there just like, you know, sorry, picking, but they're playing the piano,
and they're just, you know, and then it finishes, and so I've got to learn another one, you know.
You'd just be like, what, you know, you just ruin every, every one sort of spirit and
everything else, so we don't want that. But we're meant to be, we're meant to be making a joyful
noise, okay, and rather than a bitter one. And James 5 13 says this, it says, is any among you
afflicted, let him pray. Is any merry, let him sing psalms. And I would say not only should that
be when you're playing music as well, okay, that God's saying, look, if you're merry, if you're happy,
it's a good time to be singing, to be worshipping, to be praising, because we should be making a joyful
noise to him. But I would say that also goes for everyone who joins the music ministry every
time they open their mouths to sing a hymn in this church, okay. You should be, it should be
something that you're doing merrily, you should be happy to be singing, happy to be praising God,
whether it's your favorite hymn or not. Whether it's a hymn that you're like, oh it doesn't
make me sound that good this one. Who cares, yeah? You should just be enjoying it, find a way to enjoy
it. Turn to 1 Chronicles 13, okay, to see the correct attitude when it comes to serving God in any
capacity. Whether you're volunteering or not, whether it's soul winning or a set job like
ushering, whether you're playing an instrument or singing in church, okay. In 1 Chronicles 13 it
says this in verse 7, 1 Chronicles 13 and verse 7. I appreciate this, a bit of a study, a lot of
Bible turning, but hopefully, you know, you're going to see a lot of these points backed up by
the word of God today. 1 Chronicles 13 and verse 7 it says, and they carried the ark of God
in a new court out of the house where Abinadab and Uzzah and Ahio
drove the car, and David and all Israel played before God with all their might, this is verse 8,
and with singing and with harps and with salt trees and with timbrels and with cymbals and
with trumpets. No doubt said that they played before God with all their might.
They put all their effort into it. They put maximum effort into serving God in that area, okay,
and that's something that we should have on our hearts with every way we serve God. It should be
maximum effort, doing the best job we possibly can, yeah. Go back to Psalm 100. We're looking at
the church music ministry. Number one, the church or the music ministry is a command. Number
two, the music ministry should make a joyful noise. Number three, the music ministry is serving
God. Number four, the music ministry should be done happily. And point number five, the
music ministry's focus is congregational singing, okay. The music ministry's focus
is congregational singing, okay. Psalm 100 said, make a joyful noise unto the Lord,
all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. So all
ye lands are told to make a joyful noise, to serve the Lord with gladness, to come before
his presence with singing, okay. Turn to Psalm 150. Now Colossians 3 16 said this,
your turn to Psalm 115, 150 sorry, 150. Colossians 3 16 said, let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, one another,
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Remember he's talking to the church, he's saying to teach and admonish one another with
that singing. Psalm 98 4 said, make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth.
Make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praise, okay. Psalm 150 where you are says it like this,
praise ye the Lord. This is the last psalm, okay. Finishing the book of psalms, how does it
finish? Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the firmament of his
power. Praise him for his mighty acts. Praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise him with the sultry and harp. Praise him
with the timbrel and dance. Praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him
upon the loud cymbals. Praise him upon the high sandy cymbals. Let everything that has breath,
praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. So if you've got breath, which I'm assuming is everyone
here, some of the guys it's a bad breath, okay. We've all got breath, okay. Our focus here is
for us all to sing, okay. For everything that has breath to praise the Lord. That's what it
said in verse six there. Everything that has breath, praise the Lord. We praise him with the
instruments alongside helping the praise. That's the key point, okay. So when we're talking
about music for church, the point is that the music is accompanying the singing. The singing
is the focus. The point is congregational singing. Our focus isn't the instruments, okay.
Our focus is the words that are sung to God. And there's a key point here because you'll notice
many places where they get that wrong and then you've got it in completely the wrong spirit,
okay. Turn to Psalm 105. The music is an accompaniment to the singing. It's not the
other way around. We're not singing while we just admire this great musical masterpiece
by a group of people, okay. We're not looking for guitar solos. That's not what we're interested
in here. It's not like, right, cut the singing. We've got a great musician now to show off his
skill, okay. Okay, pause for a second and behind the back and stuff like, wow, you know.
That's not what it's about, okay. He said in verse one of Psalm 105,
I give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.
And one way that we do that is through song. Verse two said, sing unto him, sing psalms unto
him, talk ye of all his wondrous works. That's what we're doing in the singing. It's
the same thing. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works.
Okay, that's what we do when we sing. That's not happening if everyone is too
focused on the guy with the electric guitar, okay, soloing off or whatever it is, okay.
That's not going to be happening. We're not going to be thinking about those words and
everything else. Glory ye in his holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice and seek the Lord,
seek the Lord and his strength. Seek his face evermore. Remember his marvelous works that he
has done, his wonders and the judgments of his mouth, which is what so many psalms, hymns,
and spiritual songs are about, which is why our hymn book is full of hymns that are just basically
remembering his marvelous works that he has done, his wonders, the judgments of his mouth. That's
what we're doing. That's what the whole focus is and it's for us all to praise him together,
for all to worship him, but the music helps that. You don't have to turn a bit. In 1 Chronicles
15 16 it says, and David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to
be the singers with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and cymbals sounding
by lifting up the voice with joy. That's the goal of the instruments to lift up the voices
with joy and it's much easier isn't it? When it's a cappella it's a bit harder isn't it?
Let's be honest. When it's one instrument it's good. When it's two, three, four, five,
six, it starts to get even easier to lift up your voice with joy. God hears it all and the
music and the music there, even then those of you that might not, you know, maybe it's harder
to make a good sound. Maybe there are those that aren't blessed with being very well in tune or
singing well and I'm not trying to look for anyone here in case I'm not scared. I thought
don't lock eyes with anybody. But regardless okay if that's you but there's a loud sound
coming from the instruments then it kind of it makes you feel more confident to sing doesn't it?
To sing loudly all goes together but it's too accompanied to encourage us to sing
by lifting up the voice with joy. That's what it's all about okay. Go back to Psalm 100. We're looking
at the church music ministry. Point number one, the music ministry is a command. Point number two,
the music ministry should make a joyful noise. Point number three, the music ministry is serving
God. Point number four, the music ministry should be done happily. Point number five,
the music ministry focuses congregational singing. Point number six, the music ministry
must uplift the Lord. The music ministry must uplift the Lord. Psalm 100 said,
make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness come before his
presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God. It is he that have made us and not
we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with
thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless his name.
So it's pretty clear that when we come to worship God it's all about him and not us
right? It's about God, it's not about us, which is why we don't have solo singers getting up to show
off their so-called great voices. Okay? I'll never have someone come up here and do a solo.
Never. Okay? It's completely ridiculous. It's completely so far away from what God wants.
Someone's standing here and going, hey listen to how great my voice is. The whole point is that
we're all singing to God and praising him, not looking, going wow, you know how great, or maybe
not, going oh not so great. Okay? Whatever. Okay? It's not about them. It's not about the soloist.
It's all about uplifting the Lord. That's the whole point, isn't it? It's about uplifting him.
And everyone singing has to remember that too. Okay? So the minute you're focusing on how you
sound to others, so if you're standing there going, oh I bet everyone can really hear this one now, or
oh notice I've just gone off a little bit on the melody and changed a few notes here.
Okay? Got a bit up and down. Okay? You're just out of God's will there.
That's not the point. The point is we're just singing the words to God and we make your joyful
noise unto him. Okay? It's not about uplifting ourselves. Right? And everyone singing has to
remember that too. Okay? So you've got to bear that in mind. Keep that in your heart.
When you're singing, okay, you're worshipping God. Not yourself. You're not sitting there
trying to listen to someone else. Go, do I sound better than them? You're not going,
I'm louder than so and so, so I'm suddenly doing it. But, you know, that's not the idea.
The idea is you're just worshipping God. Focus on the words. And sometimes the flesh
will get in the way with that. And you've got to, like, just smash the flesh down. Just
focus on the words. Focus on the words. Focus on singing to God. I'm singing to you,
God. This is me and you singing here, you know, and obviously with everyone at the
same time. Verse three said, know you that the Lord hears God. It is he that
has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him
and bless his name. So go to 2nd Chronicles 7, okay, to see King David referred to as having
got this concept right. Okay? So this is after King David. This is in Solomon's reign,
but he's being mentioned here. He got the focus right, okay? It's not about the musicians.
It's not about the singers. It's about making a joyful noise,
noise to uplift our Lord and Savior. And in 2nd Chronicles 7, okay, Solomon has built the temple.
The glory of the Lord is filled, it says in verse four. And then the king and all the
people offered sacrifice unto the Lord. And King Solomon, this is verse five, now have 2nd
Chronicles 7. And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep.
So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. And the priests waited on their
offices, the Levites also with instruments of music of the Lord, which David the king and
made to praise the Lord because his mercy endureth forever. When David praised by their
ministry. So he praised God by their ministry and the priests sounded trumpets before them all
and all Israel stood. The whole point of the music ministry is to praise the Lord.
That's the whole point of it. Not to praise the person, not to uplift the person,
to praise the Lord. For us to be able to praise by the music ministry.
It's to praise the Lord through music and for all of us to be able to do that with the music
and to help us to be able to do that by making a joyful noise unto the Lord, okay.
So if we start focusing on ourselves, on our skills, our voices, on our kids' musical ability.
You know something else, we're now sharing God's praise with someone else and God
doesn't like that. You don't want to be sharing the praise that should go to God
with someone else getting the praise. It should all be about the Lord. Now if you've
got your heart right without, you can get your kid's heart right without whatever else,
that's great isn't it? Because then it's like right okay we've got it right, we're serving the
Lord, we praise the Lord, but if you're, if in your mind already you're thinking right okay
how could I, how could I show my kid to be the best here? Or how could I somehow,
there must be something I could play and then everyone's going to be like you're amazing.
You're wrong. You got it wrong okay. You need to grow a bit more before you,
before you start thinking about this okay. But hopefully, that's not anyone here,
go back to Psalm 100. We're looking at the church music ministry okay. The music ministry is a
command. The music ministry should make a joyful noise. The music ministry is serving God. The
music ministry should be done happily. The music ministry focuses congregational singing.
The music ministry must uplift the Lord. And last one, point number seven,
the music ministry is an honor okay. The music ministry is an honor. Psalm 100, it said in
verse five after showing us, or let's look from verse three, know you that the Lord is God,
it is he that has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates for thanksgiving and into his courts of praise. Be thankful unto him and
bless his name for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth
to all generations. Look serving God in any way is an honor okay. It's an honor to win souls
for him. It's an honor to do jobs that help make a fully functioning church. Whatever you
do, whether it's you consider it menial or not, it's an honor okay. It's an honor and it's a hard
thing you know as a pastor because you know especially in a small church like this you
basically have unpaid help but on the flip side it's such an important job. So it's hard
because you don't want to be like clamping down and you know telling people off and stuff
like that for doing a job maybe not so well or for not putting effort into it or
of whatever else not being reliable things like that but then on the flip side
they are serving God though and it is an honor and it should be you should treat it as what
an honor I get the ability to be able to do that because most people don't even
have a church to turn up to let alone to be able to serve God through in one capacity or
another doing a job for God right so it is an honor it should be seen as an honor but it's
hard to get that balance right obviously when you're leading people with that because you
know that sadly not everyone sees it like that they think they're doing you a favor
well you know helping out the pastor with this one it's like no you know ultimately you're
serving God right and that's an honor to be able to do that it said for the Lord is good
his mercy is everlasting truth and truth to all generations so look we serve an awesome
God don't we what an awesome God to work for a God that did more for us than we
could ever do for him whatever you do even if you commit your whole life to serving God
you know and however you do it you know you just find a way to just serve God
your whole life never do anything for anyone but yourself you you're maybe you're a single
person who just serves God the whole life you know commits a whole life to God you still
have done nothing compared with what he did for you not only did he die for you he went to hell
for you okay he's done more than you could ever do and and what we do is a drop in the
ocean but we are still required to serve him it's not to pay anything back you're saved if you
put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ however it's our reasonable service isn't it our
reasonable service he's different to all those idols isn't it he's different to all those false
versions of God where you have to do stuff for them no the difference is that we we have
ultimately we have a servant king who died for us he gave himself for us right what how
different is that to all the false gods of the world so we do serve an awesome God it said
in his truth endure to all generations that enduring truth okay the word of God by the way
it's talking about the preservation of God's word really the word of God points out what an
honor it is to be so close to him okay it points out what an honor it is to be serving
like those music ministry levites were serving him that was an honor okay turn next to 32
do you know what sort of men those levites were
and in case you're wondering they weren't the hippie musician types that you see around today
in case you've got images of the music team of the levites they were like the hippie
ones or something right they weren't long-haired rebels singing about communist utopias
something else okay that's not what they were in excess 32 moses has come down from the mount
okay to find the children of israel worshipping the golden calf he's the only man that broke all
10 commandments at once okay smashed him obviously right he force fed them a golden
calf afterwards so he's trying to make up for breaking all the commandments at this point okay
then it says in verse 26 and moses stood in the gate of the camp and said who is on the
lord's side okay so remember like this was like outrageous he's been up in the mound he comes down
and they're already made an idol they're like worshipping the idol they've already got i don't
care about him they forced aaron to make this he was an example of weak leadership here
i mean these guys like you can imagine him being angry right so he's come down he said who
is on the lord's side let him come unto me and who came up unto him all the sons of levi
gathered themselves together unto him and he said unto them thus saith the lord god of israel
but every man is sought by his side and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp and
slay every man his brother and every man his companion and every man his neighbour to about
those that were worshipping this golden car and the children of levi did according to the word
of moses and their fellow of the people that day about 3 000 men and and it was on the back
of this that god chose him for the service it was on the back of this event them standing
next to moses on the lord's side that they were then selected to beat to basically do the
service of the tabernacle and everything else and if you jump forward to number 16
jump forward to number 16 you'll see moses remind them what an honor it is to serve the lord
like they had been doing and like they were able to do okay now in number 16 there's this
rebellion for me okay it's like they're they're envying the leadership position and and moses what
he does he points out to them just how bizarre it is considering what an honor they've been
given look at number 16 and verse 8 number 16 8 says and moses said unto cora here i pray you
you sons of levi seemeth it but a small thing unto you that the god of israel has separated
you from the congregation of israel to bring you near to himself to do the service of the
tabernacle of the lord and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them and he
has brought thee near to him and all thy brethren the sons of levi with thee and seek ye the
priesthood also i basically said that god brought them near to himself to do the service and in the
new testament we could apply that to the church service couldn't we he said that they
stood before the congregation to minister unto them okay and that's something that that a church
music team is basically doing they might be sitting but they're basically ministering to the
church and ministering to the congregation before the lord there okay they were brought
near to him and that's something look when you're serving god when you're putting time and effort
into serving god you are brought near to him okay and when you're studying and you're
studying music and and practicing and everything else and the whole time you're just singing and
thinking about music that's a great way of bringing close to god isn't it you're so much
less likely to be having your mind poisoned by the filth filthy smutty music of today when
you're practicing and learning and training in hymns every day okay so you're being drawn close
to god with that you're getting close to him and that's that's what the music ministry of
the local church is doing what an honor what what a great thing to have the opportunity to do
isn't it what an amazing thing to be able to do if you've got your heart right with it
go back to psalm 100 we're looking at the church music ministry the music ministry
is a commander music ministry should make a joyful noise the music ministry is serving god
the music ministry should be done happily the music ministry focuses congregational singing
the music ministry must uplift the lord the music ministry is an honor and psalm 100 we're
going to read it through one last time said make a joyful noise unto the lord all ye lands
serve the lord with gladness come before his presence with singing know you that the lord
he is god it is he that has made us and not we ourselves we are his people in the
sheep of his pasture enter into his gates for thanksgiving and into his courts with praise
be thankful unto him and bless his name for the lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his
truth endureth to all generations so after all of that okay if you're feeling inspired by that
but you would like to obey that command you would like to make a joyful noise you think
you're able to put the time in to do that okay you're able to put some effort into that
to serve god happily by helping our congregational singing in uplifting the lord in what is an
honor all those points we've gone through here are for me and these are just ideas i had some
instruments that would be a great addition in the future to our church so the piano obviously
the picked guitar okay like i said picked guitar um i'm gonna have someone strumming the guitar
here and when it's a pick guitar ain't gonna be no electric and all that stuff okay um the the
and the pick guitar is like the salt of your heart for me anyway if you can play the harp or
you fancy playing that it's actually quite easy to learn the harp so even better right flute
clarinet oboe trumpet horn trombone violin cello the trombone seems to be probably what the sack
butt was if you've ever read that in the bible um and if there's anything else if you're
just sitting there going well what about probably leave the recorder out if you could
okay i don't know if you can make a joyful noise with the recorder
uh but if there's anything else you're like well actually none of those but i do play this
come and talk to me about it show me what it sounds like you know and if it sounds good look
i i'm all for it and if you think well i don't know i don't play anything and you think about
that list or something else and you think actually i wouldn't mind learning to do this
come and say to me oh what do you think about me learning to play this i'm not going to
hold you to it if you try and learn it and you think no it's just not coming for me it's
not working for me i'm not able to fit it in you know them don't worry you know but like i said
let me know if there's something you think will will sound nice accompanying the singing in this
church please get involved please learn it i'd like to build up i'd love to have that whole
area fill up with musicians eventually that's what i'd love to have i said to my kids the
other day maybe yesterday i said i've got to the point where i would potentially even have bag
that's the limits we got
but i was lying
this ain't no scottish church
other than the bagpipes uh anyone else want to come out with instruments we won't
well um no but honestly you know seriously if if we can make a joyful noise okay
and um look you know i i would love to i'd love to build up the live music you know kind of
musical instruments in this church if you if you're sitting there and especially like i said
no it doesn't just have to be kids adults as well look it just means putting some time in
each day really put some time in to practice an instrument to learn it's a great way of
serving the lord it's great they will already do another job look you know right now that's
what ultimately we're lacking that you know other jobs and other things you know in general
can be covered and things in the church is a music ministry that's something that we we have
a big lap for for whatever reason for probably a few reasons you know but there's another thing
as well just think about as well the music ministry is an attacked ministry as well for
reason right it's a it's you know people who are in the music ministry in a way you could
say look if you're gonna have you're gonna have maybe things and obviously with tribulation
things you're gonna draw closer so don't be put off by that as well the more we have the
harder it is to be attacked but ultimately you know music is a massive part of our service
so it's something that you know we we need to build up right i need to get people who are able
to play instruments i'd love to get more people um involved and and you know and with time you
know just to be able to call on just different people to have people to be able to just step up
in the future to just have basically the best part of an orchestra that'd be amazing wouldn't
it right and hopefully you know that might convict some people today and um if it has and you know
you've got any questions any thoughts about it please talk to me after the service uh that
was the church music ministry and on that we're going to finish in a word of prayer
father thank you for your word thank you for um well the the um you know the fact that
you make it clear how you want us to worship you how you want us to do it not to be conformed
to this world lord but to be transformed by our minds and by the renewing of our minds and
to prove that good and acceptable and perfect will of yours and to do that in all aspects of
our worship service lord um and help us to be able to do that through music help us to be
um you know to to be blessed with with you know not just current musicians but people that
want to become musicians to be able to be you know what what part of what's what is such
a key part of of worshiping you lord a key part of our service key part of us being taught
and admonished and growing as well and lord help us to to improve that part of our church
ministry help protect those that are able to play music and are able to to be a part of
that and help to inspire those that maybe haven't got involved yet to just um to maybe
think yeah we'd like to be a part of that lord help us um to just do things in the right
way here lord as well there for it to be for the right reasons the right motivations for everyone
help us to to um as we go on our way now to to make the soul willing to get many people
saved and to also return for this evening service in Jesus name for all of this amen