Getting more from our singing
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Make a joyful noise . . .
Make a joyful noise . . .
This message this morning involves participation, of your mind, your heart, your lips, your voice for it different than other services since the focus today is on singing.
More, please! Do we want to get more from the assembly, from our personal and our walk as a family? Our singing is a part of it, this morning this is our focus.
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord (Ps100:1-3)
1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. 2 Serve the Lord with gladness: Come before his presence with singing. 3 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.
In the NIV it says “Shout” in HCSB “Shout triumphantly” and in the New Heart it says “Shout for joy!”
(Shout to the Lord picture inserted here)
I think you can get the idea that singing is to be joyously, jubilantly, rejoicing, and vocal, and it is to be purposed, to the Lord!
(illustration) insert “shout to the Lord all the earth let us sing, power and majesty praise to the King.” When we sing, when we lift our voices we are singing to the one who has all power, all majesty and is our king!
We are to serve the Lord with gladness (Ps100:2)
One of the ways we serve the Lord with gladness is through lifting our voices in praise, and one way we do that is through the songs that we sing, not as a dirge, but as a joyful noise!
(Illustration) sing a portion of happy today very slow and lethargic,
Singing is an important part of our worship, our assembly, and in this series we are looking at More please! Getting more out of our assembly. Our singing is not just something that brackets the preaching, it is an important element, it is part of our worship.
Question: Do we need to be in the assembly to worship God, to lift songs of praise?
Have a heart like David, whose mouth, whose lip’s offer praises to God (Ps63:3-5)
3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You. 4 So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. 5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.
(Transition) Joyful lips and in David’s case joyful hands too that come from a joyful heart. Now, there are plenty of N.T. examples and instructions on how we are to respond to God’s goodness, to God’s lovingkindness.
If cheerful, sing praises (Jm5:13)
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.
(joy of singing-1 picture inserted here)
so what has happened in the assembly, it seems that many have lost the joy of singing, either that or have forgotten about the lovingkindness of the Lord who has made us glad.
(Transition) Let us enter his courts, let’s take a few minutes and lift our voices in song, just because we are filled with joy and we can’t keep it in!
(insert song 849 -Enter his courts with thanksgiving)
we are to sing with thankfulness in our hearts (Col3:16)
We are commanded to sing, to sing with purpose to sing with thankfulness. It is not just something we do, it is an important part of our worship, part of our assembly.
(Illustration) - chapel numbers would go down when it was a singing chapel.
One day I hope we will host an area wide singing, so let this service be a warm up for that!
(Transition) More, please, more from our singing that is what we are looking at today.
Purpose of our singing
Purpose of our singing
So, is singing important, is it an important part of our assembly? It should be purposed as well as joyful and thankful.
Purpose of singing: To praise the Lord
I think you have already seen from the scriptures mentioned that one of the great purposes of singing is to praise the Lord.
Think about the word “Hymn”
Hymn (n) A religious song or poem, typically of praise to God (Religious song, song of praise, anthem, canticle, chorale, psalm, carol; spiritual).
As a verb a hymn is to praise or celebrate something. In the Greek it is the word “humnos” meaning, “A song in praise of”
Praising, exalting from the heart as we sing to the Lord giving thanks (Ps28:6-7)
Praise, praising, exalting, exalting from the heart should become natural for the Christian. Look at how David responded to the Lords blessings.
6 Blessed be the Lord, Because He has heard the voice of my supplication. 7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.
Another purpose, others maybe listening (Act16:25-26)
while Paul and Silas were in prison, look what they were doing
25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;
26 and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
(Transition) sounds like some mighty praise and praise in song that brought big results!
Purpose: Spiritual act of worship (Heb13:15)
15 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
We are instructed to offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, how? by the fruit of lips! (Heb13:15)
Acceptable spiritual sacrifices (1Pt2:5)
5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
(Transition) We are spiritual people, offering up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God.
Don’t let our singing, your worship, your sacrifice of praise become dead, lethargic, or profane by not coming from the heart. Again, may we understand that our signing is vital part of our worship, of your personal praise to God.
Purpose to teach, admonish one another (Col3:16)
16 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.
We have to have some fun with this verse, there is so much there.
Question: how are we to teach and admonish one another according to Col3:16)?
We do it by our singing
The reason because we are thankful
And we do it from our hearts.
Purposefully to our God.
Singing and making melody with your heart (Eph5:19)
19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
(transition) We are called to make it from where? From our heart, We wanting our singing, our praise, our worship that we do with our voice to come from our heart. This should be a natural, common thing that is done, not just in the assembly but in all areas of your life.
When we sing, our teaching, our admonishing we are teaching one another how to live properly. The songs we sing have meanings, they are more than just singing, they are singing with purpose, there are meanings behind the words of the song (i.e. what can wash away my sins? Or I surrender all)
That brings us to another purpose
To be filled and enriched (Eph5:18-19; Col3:16)
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
We are to be filled with the Spirit, singing, making melody (Eph5:18-19; Col3:16)
Singing can help your heart be full and if your heart is full, you are full of the Spirit of God.
Singing in a means to be filled with the Spirit, and look at this (Col3:16) see what more we can get
16 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.
Singing is a means of having the word of God enrich you.
(Transition) Singing is vital, it is commanded, it is filling, it is enriching. So you want more please? Here are some ways to get more from our singing, our worship, our praise, our spiritual sacrifice to God. It is more than something we do on the first day of the week in the assembly. Though it sounds sweeter here then in the shower or in my office by myself.
Getting more from our singing
Getting more from our singing
What if getting more took giving more?
Give more by engaging your mind (1Cor14:15)
15 What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also.
Sing with the mind (1Cor14:15)
We need to pay attention to the words we are singing and understand the meaning behind the words.Our singing is worship, this is not just singing along with a song on the radio, this is singing songs of praise to our God! when we gather in the assembly we gather in worship, singing is a part of that worship. Worship of our God who loves to hear from us in prayer and praise!
Sing with the heart (Col3:16; Eph5:19)
when we lift our voices, we must do so with the grace of God in our hearts, and that comes from the word of God.
16 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.
I know we have used that verse before today but it is a pivotal verse for when we are worshiping!
So, as we come with God’s grace in our hearts, we make melody with our hearts to the Lord. (Eph5:19)
19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
It’s good to engage your mind, your heart, and yes it is OK to even have some emotions involved in your praise, in your singing. Let your heart stings be picked by the instrument of your heart.
To not engage your mind, your heart, then we are being hypocritical and condemned by Jesus (Mt15:7-8) and will be evident to others (Pro15:13)
7 “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.
and then look what proverbs says
13 A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, But when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken.
(Insert song 362 -joyful, joyful, we adore thee)
(Transition) An engaged mind and engaged heart are not to be just one day a week, let our singing be expanded. Don’t limit your singing to just Sunday. Let the Lord of your life be the song that you sing daily
(insert song 990- You are the song that I sing)
(illustration) - my prep includes prayer and singing, there are biblical examples of this (Act16:25) which we looked at already, but here is another.
Bless, praise continually, boast in the Lord, magnify the Lord, exalt His name (Ps34:1-3)
We do that with our lips, with our heart, with our mind. And yes I should say with scripture so here it is
1 I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul will make its boast in the Lord; The humble will hear it and rejoice. 3 O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together.
It is OK to sing in your car, in the fields, in the house, in the library (well, be careful on that one) It’s OK to break out in song. there are things, tools, you can use to aid in your personal singing, worship, there are CD’s tapes, radio, and you can sing along with them. Think about this, if singing becomes a part of your daily worship, just think how sweet it is when we all come together in the assembly.
Getting more from your location.
Singing sounds enriched, enhanced when we sing together, when able to sit together it is even better. I know we cannot do that right now, so sing out. Bring your energy, your heart, our mind, your devotion and it will impact those around you and the assembly as a whole.
Singing is used for teaching, admonishing, but it is also use to build up, encourage, edify one another. It’s that one of the reasons when we come to the assembly?
May we sing, may we be joy filled, may we sing and be happy when we sing because of that the Lord has done for us, regardless of any situation that we maybe facing, if the skies are grey, dark, looming know that you are not alone, we are all in this together and sometimes songs help us to remember to sing and be happy.
(Song #841 - Sing and be happy)
How do we get more from the assembly? - Let your singing be a significant part of it.
Singing like any other activity, the more you put in, the more you will get out of it.
Singing is a part of serving the Lord with gladness
Singing is praise to my God and yours (Ps104:33)
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
It is good to sing praises (Ps147:1)
1 Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant and praise is becoming.
Joinme in song in telling the story of Jesus and our love for Him.
Song-275 I love to tell the story
invitation - Are you in Christ? do you have a wonderful Savior? He wants to be yours and you be his, be his today and if you are his, and you are filled with joy, may we sing together and be reminded that we have a wonderful savior!
Invitation song- 9 A wonderful savior is Jesus my Lord. (Invitation slide) (Prayer) (Exit)