Psalm 100:4

Our Many Hats

I stumbled upon this short story on the Internet the other day. It somewhat moved within my heart to share it. It was a story about a mother who was also a worship leader in the local church. She admitted that she woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was feeling “blegh” ever since. As the night came, and as she was about to step on stage to lead worship, she mumbled this under her breath, “Okay, mum’s hat off, worship’s hat on.” The elder of the church overheard her and lean over saying, “The problem is that worship hat should have never came off in the first place.”

When I first read that story, I began to reflect upon my life and my heart and began to wonder whether or not have I fallen victim to that scenario. Throughout our Christian lives, we sometimes do that without even realizing it. We put on our “leaders” hat when it is time for us to lead our cell group. We put on our “preaching” hat when it is time for us to speak behind the pulpit. We put on our “worship” hat, when it is time for us to lead worship.

But in fact, those hats should have never came off in the first place. Why? This is because live our lives as leaders. We live our lives as preachers of the Word, proclaiming His love. We live our lives as worshippers, adoring our Creator.

I think the elder of the church couldn’t have said it more clearly, that those hats that we wear in church should have never came off in the first place. 

So, how are we living our lives from Monday to Saturday, the days we spend outside of church?


- Josh

Should I Sing During Praise & Worship?

I was 16 years old when I first attended my very first worship conference that saw thousands of young people flooding an auditorium with anticipation and excitement.

I remember seeing many heartfelt faces with hands raised up high singing their hearts out to The King. Some even went to the extent to dance, shout and scream. Since it was my first worship conference experience, a lot was going through my mind, but to be honest, it sort of made me wonder and ponder what was driving and making these people "behave" like this.

When we hear the word “worship,” most of us think of the songs we sing every Sunday morning. But we need to first understand that, music has nothing to do with worship because actually, worship is the respond of our heart and love towards God. When we sing to God and play music to Him, it is merely the expression of our love and adoration towards him that is already in our hearts. But the beauty of this is that worship is not just limited to music and singing, but it can be anything and everything we do that allows us to express our love for Him. It can be writing, drawing, dancing and even speaking! 

But that leaves us with the question of how do we express this love and adoration in our heart towards God. It is quite unreasonable to think that we can be worshipping God without allowing it to affect our hearts and emotions. Time and time again, David urges and pleads with Israel to “clap your hands!” and “shout unto to God with a voice triumph!” David also tells us to “dance with job before the Lord” and to “sing with all your heart!”

The fact of the matter is that we are all emotional beings with different ways of personal expression. When we truly and deeply understand who God is and what He has done for us on the cross, our hearts will respond to those thoughts with feelings. But at the same time, it is important to remember that an emotional expression of worship is only god- centered when it is rooted in a proper understanding of who God is.

The focus of worship is not where we worship, or how we worship, or when we worship; the focus of our worship is in who we worship. Therefore, I do hope that we come to a place where we care more about loving, desiring, and worshipping God will all of our hearts, mind, soul and strength than we do about anything else. We are created for worship.

"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture." - Psalms 100: 1-5

The Privilege of Worship

 "As for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy." Psa 5:7
      
      David was a man of many privileges bestowed on him in the goodness of his Lord. He had the privilege of the poetic heart and the privilege also of a royal estate. But in this text he singles out a privilege we may all share with him. It is the privilege of public worship. "As for me," he says, "I will go into thy house." The very thought of it was a delight to him. It made a secret music in his heart when the hour of public worship was approaching. For him the recurring summons to the sanctuary was not a call to be grudgingly obeyed. It was the happiest summons of his week.
      
      This is perhaps the more remarkable in the light of the personality of David. His was one of those poetic natures for which the world is all aflame with God. We read in Revelation that in the other world there is no temple. There is no need of any sanctuary, for the whole expanse of heaven is a sanctuary. And there are natures in this present world so quick to see and feel that God is everywhere, that the whole universe for them is aglow with His presence. For them the great Creator is not far away. He is very near and He is always speaking. It is His voice that is calling in the sea and in the wind that bloweth where it listeth. The tiniest weed, the day-spring and the evening, the stars and the bird on the branch are but the manifold and changing shadows of that infinite perfection which is God. It is with such thoughts that the poet walks the world. It was with such thoughts that David walked the world. For him in every field there was an altar and a sacrifice in every breath of evening. And the wonderful thing is that with a heart like that, that saw God everywhere and worshipped Him, there should have been this overwhelming sense of the privilege of sanctuary worship. "Let others do what they like," is what he means, "as for me, I will go into thy house." There was something there that nothing else could give him, neither the lonely mountain nor the sea. And so at once, as reasonable men, we find ourselves confronted by this question--what was there in the worship of God's house that made it thus indispensable to David?
      
      The Sense of Human Fellowship
      
      Well, in the first place, in the house of God there was for David the sense of human fellowship. In the deepest yearnings of his heart, he felt in the sanctuary that he was not alone. It is a lonely thing to be a king, and David the psalmist was a king. He lived in a certain solitary grandeur which is ever the penalty of royal estate. And then for him there was another loneliness that pierces deeper than that of regal state--it was the loneliness of the poetic heart. To be a monarch is to be a solitary, and to be a poet is to be a solitary. The one is separated by his rank from men, and the other by his inspiration. And it is when one recalls that David was not only a monarch but a poet too that one begins to understand his loneliness. He craved for fellowship, as we all do, and for him it was very difficult to find. He had to deny himself those pleasant intimacies that are so heartening to the common man.
      
      My brother, out of a loneliness like that can't you gather the exquisite delight with which the poet-king would turn his steps to the communion of the house of God? There he was no longer solitary. There he was a subject, not a king. There he was as a brother among brothers under the shadow of a Father-God. And every sacrifice upon the altar and every word of penitence and praise told of a fellowship that lay far deeper than everything that can sunder human lives.
      
      Deeper than everything which separates is the need of pardon for the sinner. Deeper than every individual craving is the craving for fellowship with God. No wonder, then, that David loved the sanctuary. No wonder that with eager feet he sought it. No wonder that the hour of public prayer was the most cherished season of his week. Seeking that fellowship which every soul demands, no matter how richly gifted it may be, he said: "As for me, I will come into thy house."
      
      Brethren, as with David, so with us, that is the privilege of public worship. In all the deepest regions of our being, it is the assurance of a real fellowship. In the market-place, men meet and mingle on the basis or a common interest in business. In the home, lives are united by all the tender ties of human love. But in the sanctuary, the ground of fellowship is the common need of our immortal spirit which knows its weakness and its need of pardon and cannot be satisfied with less than God.
      
      When Christian was in the Valley of the Shadow, you remember, he heard the voice of Faithful on ahead. And it cheered him and comforted his heart to know that there was another in the Valley. And that is one thing the sanctuary does for us in a way that nothing else can ever do as we fight our battles, fall and rise again, and wrestle heavenward against storm and tide. It tells us there are others in the Valley. It gives us the happy certainty of comradeship. In common prayer we voice a common need, and in common praise a common aspiration. And within the house of God we come to feel that we are not alone, and to feel that is like a strain of music. Without that fellowship we should despair, for the pathway is infinitely hard. Without that fellowship, knowing our instability, we might falter and fall by the wayside. And then there falls on us the benediction of worship and we are wakened to the sense of brotherhood. Others have known the things that we have known, the failures and the struggles and the yearnings. Others as vile as we have been redeemed and became more than conquerors in Christ. Others, too, have been tempted to despair and have thought of the heavens as brass and yet have known that to depart from God was the avenue to death. My brother, it is such things that we learn in public worship in the house of God. No lonely meadow, no still and shady woods, no lonely mountainside can teach us that. And therefore from all the ministries of nature will the true seeker turn to the house of God, saying with the poet-king of Israel, "As for me, I shall come into thy house.'
      
      The Message From the Past
      
      In the second place, within the house of God there was for David the message of the past. There was the memorial of all that God had been in His unfailing shepherding of Israel. In the life of David, as in the lives of all of us, there were seasons when he was hard pressed--seasons when the sky was dark and lowering and all the sunshine seemed to have departed. And who does not know how in such times as these the light of the countenance of God is quenched as though He had quite forgotten to be gracious. Such tragic hours were in the lot of David. There seemed for him to be no justice anywhere. Slander was rife and treachery was busy; hatred was malignant and victorious. And in such hours as these it seemed to David, who was a man of like passions with ourselves, as if the covenant of heaven were broken and his movements unseen by his God. What David needed in such hours as these was a larger message than his life could give him. He needed a reassurance of his God drawn from the wonderful story of the past. And not on the battlefields of Israel's history but in the sanctuary of Israel's faith was that sweet reassurance to be found. There in the house of God stood the ark that had been borne through all the wanderings of the wilderness. There was the mercy-seat where God had dwelt under the sheltering wings of golden cherubim. There was the pot of manna from the desert that had fed the hungry in their hour of need. There was the rod of Aaron that had budded. "As for me, I will come into thy house." David went to revive his courage by the past. When times were tragic, when faith was hard to keep, he went to learn the ways of God again. And so, refreshed and strengthened with that view of all that the living God had been to Israel, courage returned and dying hope revived, and David was made equal to his day. No man knew better than that poet-king the healing and help of the ministry of nature. But in hours like these when faith was tested, it was not to meadow or mountain that he turned; it was to the sanctuary, to the house of God, to the shrine and witness of an unfailing covenant--"As for me, I will come into thy house."
      
      The Comfort of the Communion
      
      And so it is with you and me as we turn our steps on the Lord's day to the sanctuary. We come to gain for our uncertain hearts the large, grand assurance of the past. As we listen there to the reading of those Scriptures that have been the stay of countless generations, as we lift our voices in those ancient hymns that were sung by thousands who are now in glory, are we not lifted above our cloudy present, where the divine purpose is so hard to see, into a region that is full of God? We have no ark, no golden cherubim, no budding rod, no gathered manna. But we have something that is far more eloquent of what the Lord has been throughout the ages. We have the broken bread and we have the wine in the memorial Supper of our Savior which unites us with every faithful heart that ever trusted in His grace. All that is given us in the sanctuary, and given us nowhere else than in the sanctuary--that sight and sense of all that God has been in the large and roomy spaces of the ages. And so we are kept from the blackness of despair and from thinking that God has forgotten to be gracious when, in our separate and individual lives, we look for Him and our eyes are dim. Blessed be God for the ministry of nature and for all the peace and healing of His hand. Blessed be God for the heather on the hill and the music of the stream in the valley. But when the way is dark and faith is difficult and prayer seems empty, we need another ministry than that. We need the testimony of the ages then. We need the ministry of the long past. We need to know that God has kept His promises from generation unto generation. And such is the testimony that like a flowing tide is borne in upon our darkened souls when with the poet of Israel we say, "As for me, I will come into thy house."
      
      The Mercy of God
      
      Third and last, within the house of God there was for David the blessed sense of mercy. "As for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy." Will you observe it is mercy--in the singular. It is not mercies--in the plural. The mercy of God is not many different things; the singer knew that mercy is all one. And yet to him that attribute of mercy was of such various and changing feature that the only way in which he could describe it was to compare it to a multitude. In a great crowd there is one common life. It is one life that animates the whole. Yet in a crowd, how that common life expresses itself in a thousand different ways. And so for David there were a thousand tokens that the Lord God was merciful and gracious, and yet he knew that the mercy was all one.
      
      Ah, how utterly David needed mercy. Without mercy there was no hope for him. He, the poet and king of Israel--what a guilty sinner he had been! My brother and sister, it was in search of mercy, mercy to pardon his sin unto the uttermost, that he cried out of a broken heart, "As for me, I will come into thy house." He had searched for mercy in creation and it had baffled him to find it there. He had looked to the stars for it and to the firmament, only to learn the littleness of man. And then in agony, and with that sense of guilt which was wrought by the Holy Spirit on his heart, he had turned to the house of God and found it there. Mercy--it was the message of the ark, for above the ark there was the mercy-seat. Mercy--it was the message of the manna, for it had been given to a rebellious people. And every sacrifice upon the altar, and every offering accepted there, spoke of the Lord God merciful and gracious. That was what David needed above everything, and that was what only the sanctuary gave him. No forest depth, no everlasting mountains, gave him the peace of reconciliation. And that was why David with his poet's heart, alive to all the music of the universe, turned to the sanctuary and cried, "As for me, I will come into thy house."
      
      My friend, as with David so with us: of all our needs, our deepest need is mercy--mercy to pardon, mercy to receive, mercy while we live and when we die. Without a mercy infinite and boundless, there is no hope for any mortal man. Without a mercy glorious and flee, there is nothing but a fearful looking for of judgment. And I do not know of anywhere within this universe where there sounds out the silver bell of mercy save in that ministry of reconciliation which is the message of the house of God. I turn to nature and I don't find it. I search for it in vain among the hills. I hear it not in the song of any brook nor in the organ-music of the sea. But the moment I enter into the house of God, clear as a trumpet, soft as the breath of evening, I hear of a mercy that is high as heaven and deeper far than the abyss of sin. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Christ hath died, the just for the unjust. He is able to save unto the uttermost. My brother and sister, whatever else we need, that is the deepest need of every one of us, for without that mercy none of us can live, and without it none of us can die in peace. Cherish, then, all that is bright and beautiful in the world around you and in the sky above you. Walk with an open ear, as David did, for every accent of the great Creator. And then like David, poet-king and sinner, feeling your need of the everlasting mercy, say to your soul afresh this Lord's day, "As for me, I will come into thy house."

Our many hats.

I stumbled upon this short story on the Internet the other day. It somewhat moved within my heart to share it. It was a story about a mother who was also a worship leader in the local church. She admitted that she woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was feeling “blegh” ever since. As the night comes as she was about to step on stage to lead worship, she mumbled this under her breath, “Okay, mum’s hat off, worship’s hat on.” The elder of the church overheard her and lean over saying,

“The problem is that worship hat should have never came off in the first place.”

When I read that story, I begin to reflect upon my life and heart and wonder whether or not have I fall victim to that scenario. Throughout our Christian lives, we sometimes do that without even realizing it. We put on our “leaders” hat when it is time for us to lead our cell group. We put on our “preaching” hat when it is time for us to speak behind the pulpit. We put on our “worship” hat, when it is time for us to lead worship.

But in fact, those hats should have never came off in the first place. Why? This is because live our lives as leaders. We live our lives as preachers of the Word, proclaiming His love. We live our lives as worshippers, adoring our Creator.

I think the elder of the church couldn’t have said it more clearly. That those hats that we wear in church should have never came off in the first place. 

So, how do we live our lives from Monday to Saturday?

Integrity Worships the True God

“Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits and its width six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.”
-- Daniel 3:1-3

People are incurably religious and will worship either the true God or a false substitute.

Scripture teaches that a double-minded man is “unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8). That certainly was true of King Nebuchadnezzar, who shortly after declaring that Daniel’s God “is a God of gods and a Lord of kings” (Dan. 2:47), erected a huge image of himself and assembled all his leaders for its dedication.

The image was ninety feet tall and was probably constructed of wood overlaid with gold. Because the plain of Dura was flat, the statue would have been visible for a great distance. The gold idol was a magnificent sight as it reflected the bright sunlight of that region.

The king’s plan was to have all his leaders bow down to the image, thereby bringing glory to himself, verifying their loyalty, and unifying the nation under one religion. But he was soon to learn that three young men with spiritual integrity would never abandon worship of the true God, regardless of the consequences. Worshiping the true God or a false substitute is the choice that everyone must make. Sadly, millions of people who wouldn’t think of bowing to a tangible image nevertheless worship useless gods of their own imaginations. Even Christians can be lured into self-love and covetousness, which are forms of idolatry (Col. 3:5). That’s why you must always guard your heart diligently.

Psalm 29

THE OPENING VERSES OF PSALM 29 SUGGEST that a great part of what it means to “worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness” is to ascribe to him the praise that is his due: ascribe to him glory and strength, “the glory due his name”(29:1-2).

In this light, the central section of the psalm (29:3-9) is remarkable, for it focuses on just one element in God’s activity, viz. the voice of the Lord. “The voice of the LORD is over the waters” — possibly an allusion both to the original creation, when God simply “spoke” and the universe came into being and took form, and to the spectacular deliverance when God parted the Red Sea, but also to every storm-swept current; “the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.” The voice of the Lord is both powerful and majestic. It “breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon,” proverbial for their size and strength — an allusion to the unleashed storms that God’s voice calls forth. Indeed, this is nothing to him, for nations and mountains alike perform his bidding, and all of them hear the thunder of his voice in the storm that traverses from Lebanon in the north to Kadesh in the south.

The secularist looks at a storm and thinks exclusively of the physical properties that have brought it about. The believer understands that those properties have been built into the material world by its Creator, and that God himself speaks in thunder and lightning. The only proper response is to gather in his temple, and in a spirit of mingled awe and humility cry, “Glory!” (29:9).

Small wonder that the psalm ends (29:10-11) by focusing on the universal reign of God: “the LORD is enthroned as King forever,” whether at the time of the deluge (the Hebrew word for “flood” in this passage is found only here and in Gen. 6-11) — the very deluge that most powerfully demonstrated God’s power to deploy the forces of “nature” as he sees fit — or in the perpetual blessings and strength God confers on his people.

Isaiah foresees the day when the “Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples,” when the nations will rally to him and his place of rest will be, literally, “the glory” (Isa. 11:10). When Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was about to be sent into eternity by the furious mob, his eyes were opened, and he looked up to heaven and saw “the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55).

His is the final voice of God; he is the Word of God. “Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength” (29:1). Let all cry, “Glory!”

What's On Your Throne?

What’s on your throne?

“ And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth..” – Exodus 20 v1-15

Everyone worships something. Idolatry has become something in which we all are victim to. For some of us, we picture idolatry in a form of a golden calf, or a statue like people in the Old Testament. But today, the world has transformed so much that we begin to have substitutes for those objects.

We adore celebrities, supermodels, cars, and gadgets. Don’t get me wrong. Those things are not bad. But as humans, we tend to make an object into a subject in which we turn to. Without realizing it sometimes, we begin to worship our possessions. We start worshipping footballers, or famous singers.

Why does that happen? I believe it is because we are wired that way. We are all worship beings. We have to worship something. But the intend there is that we direct all our worship to God, and God alone. Worship is for God because He deserves it. It is suppose to be that direction pointing towards Jesus. But human beings are good in redirecting our worship and attention towards something we create.

The dictionary defines the word “God” as something in which we make supreme. We all worship, but it’s whether we worship the God of the universe, or the god of ourselves. What do you give ultimate worth to? We are slaves to our possessions because if we cannot give those things up, then you don’t own it. It owns you.

So what’s on your throne?

Realizing Our Ultimate Priority

"To the glory and praise of God" (Phil. 1:11).

Paul's prayer in Philippians 1:9-11 closes with a reminder that love, excellence, integrity, and righteousness bring glory and praise to God.

God's glory is a recurring theme in Paul's writings, and rightly so because that is the Christian's highest priority. But what is God's glory and what does it mean to bring Him glory? After all, He is infinitely glorious in nature, so we can't add anything to Him. His glory is never diminished, so it doesn't have to be replenished or bolstered.

In Exodus 33:18-19 Moses says to God, "'I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!' And [God] said, 'I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.'" In effect God was telling Moses that His glory is the composite of His attributes.

That suggests we can glorify God by placing His attributes on display in our lives. When others see godly characteristics like love, mercy, patience, and kindness in you, they have a better picture of what God is like. That honors Him. That's why it's so important to guard your attitudes and actions. Paul admonished Timothy to be exemplary in his speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity (1 Tim. 4:12). That should be true of every believer!

Another way to glorify God is to praise Him. David said, "Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in holy array. . . . In His temple everything says, 'Glory!'" (Ps. 29:1- 2, 9).

You cannot add to God's glory, but you can proclaim it in your words and deeds. What picture of God do others see in you? Does your life bring glory to Him?

Worshipping God for who He is, not for what you want.

Have you ever be in a relationship/ friendship (or know someone who is in a relationship/ friendship) for something that you want from them? For some of us, we intentionally make friends with the rich kid in class so that we can get expensive gifts from them when we invite them to our party. Some of us can relate to it in one way or another. We have relationship with someone for our own benefit.

Have you ever spent time with your group of friends, and all you did was just “hanging out?” It is either at a mall, or a cozy coffee place. I’m sure some if not all of us know what I am talking about. As teenagers, we take sometime to discover what we like to do and find the same group of friends to share that similar interest.

Interestingly, many of us see God as a vending machine or as Santa Claus. We simply submit our request when we wake up early in the morning and expect to see them answered as the day goes by. And I think many of us fail to recognize that relationship is everything. And it is when we make and take time to spend with Him, which is simply having a personal relationship with Him. If we take time to seek His face, eventually His heart will extend His hand because His heart is always open to bless us and GIVES US WHAT HE WANTS FOR US.

Similarly, when it comes to our worship, it must be directed to God’s face and His heart. We love God for who He is, and not for what we can get out of Him. We serve God for who He is in our lives, and not for the new iPhone that we want. We worship God for who He is, and not for the straight A’s that we want in our exams. But surprisingly, many of us do the opposite. We love, serve and worship God expecting that His hands will move to give us what we want. If that’s the case, then I think we have completely missed the mark.

So what can we do to check our motives to see if we’re worshipping God for who He is?

1.     Coming to God with an open heart. Being vulnerable before His presence and being honest with our thoughts and feelings releases something from deep within. We are allowing God to enter and work in our lives.

2.     Look for opportunities to be thankful. Many of us are blessed beyond what we really need. We have at least 2 whole meals everyday and we have a bed to sleep comfortably at night. For some of us, all we need to do is to just look up before we go to bed at night to see the roof above us. Praise and worship God for that roof.

DISCIPLINES FOR THE DISCIPLE - SINGING

The Discipline Of Singing

INTRODUCTION

1. Our study of spiritual disciplines have so far examined such
   spiritual exercises as...
   a. Prayer - especially the value of secret, simple, and steadfast
      prayer
   b. Meditation - contemplating God, His works, His words, and things
      worthy of virtue
   c. Fasting - as a means of humbling one's self before God, especially
      when joined with prayer

2. Another discipline in which we engage regularly is singing...
   a. We spend nearly a third of our assemblies engaged in this activity
   b. Rightly so, for it has the potential of reaping great spiritual
      benefits

3. But I wonder if some do not appreciate the value of singing...
   a. Many Christians sing with virtually no emotion, some do not sing
      at all!
   b. I have known Christians, who...
      1) Complained because time available for classes was taken up by
         singing a few hymns
      2) Will not attend a worship service if they know it will be
         devoted to singing

[Singing as a spiritual discipline is of great value, and should be a
habit engaged by those who desire to grow in godliness.  To appreciate
why, let's review...]

I. THE PURPOSE OF SINGING

   A. TO PRAISE THE LORD (UPWARD)...
      1. This is the most common concept of the purpose of singing
         a. Indeed, this is certainly the idea inherent in the word
            'hymn'
         b. Which comes from the Greek word humnos, meaning "a song in
            praise of"
      2. The Psalms call upon us to praise God in song
         a. "Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, And give thanks
            at the remembrance of His holy name." - Ps 30:4
         b. "Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our
            King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth;
            Sing praises with understanding." - Ps 47:6-7
         c. "Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to
            the Rock of our salvation." - Ps 95:1
         d. "Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the
            earth." - Ps 96:1
         e. "Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of
            His salvation from day to day." - Ps 96:2
         f. "Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! For He has done marvelous
            things; His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the
            victory." - Ps 98:1
         g. "Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with
            singing." - Ps 100:2
         h. "Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; Sing praises to His
            name, for it is pleasant." - Ps 135:3
      3. Praising God in song should be a natural for Christians !
         a. David reacted this way to the blessings of God - Ps 28:6-7;
            59:16-17
         b. Christians are taught to sing praises when joyful - Jm 5:13
         c. Paul and Silas even reacted to persecution by singing
            praises - Ac 16:25
      -- Is not God worthy of being praised in song?

   B. TO TEACH AND ADMONISH ONE ANOTHER (OUTWARD)...
      1. Singing is not always directed toward God...
         a. Certainly, many songs are
         b. But songs are often directed to each other - cf. Col 3:16; Ep 5:19
      2. That's because many songs are designed to teach one another
         a. Teaching and admonishing us to live properly, to enjoy the
            blessings of the Christian life
         b. It might even be said that 'congregational singing' is
            actually 'congregational teaching'!
         Do not our brethren deserve the encouragement that comes from
         singing?

   C. TO BE FILLED AND ENRICHED (INWARD)...
      1. David wrote of the personal benefit of singing praises
         a. It made his lips and soul to greatly rejoice - Ps 71:23
         b. He found it to be pleasant and beautiful - Ps 147:1
      2. Singing can be a means to being filled with the Spirit
         a. Paul charged the Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit - Ep 5:18
         b. He explained how:  by singing and making melody in one's
            heart to the Lord - Ep 5:19
      2. Singing can be a means to being enriched by the Word of Christ
         a. Paul charged the Colossians to let the Word of Christ dwell
            in them richly - Col 3:16a
         b. Again he explains:  by singing with grace in one's heart to
            the Lord - Col 3:16b
      -- For a truly Spirit-filled life enriched by the Word of Christ,
         singing is essential!

[Singing is a wonderful spiritual discipline that blesses God, those who
hear us, and even ourselves as we sing.  How can we get more out this
spiritual discipline?  Here are some thoughts regarding...]

II. THE PRACTICE OF SINGING

   A. ENGAGE THE MIND AS YOU SING...
      1. Remember, singing is teaching and admonishing one another
      2. This assumes that we understand what we sing - cf. 1Co 14:15
      3. We must be careful that our enjoyment of singing is not like
         how many people enjoy their popular music (i.e., liking the
         music without necessarily understanding the words)
      -- Give careful attention to the words of the songs

   B. ENGAGE THE HEART AS YOU SING...
      1. When we sing, we must do so...
         a. "with grace in your hearts" - Col 3:16
         b. "making melody in your heart" - Ep 5:19
      2. This assumes that we involve our 'heart strings' (emotions) as
         we sing!
      3. To sing without emotion (without grace in our hearts)...
         a. Is hypocritical, and condemned by Jesus! - Mt 15:7-8
         b. Will be evident in our countenances! - cf. Pr 15:13
      -- Put your heart into your singing

   C. ENHANCE YOUR SINGING IN WORSHIP BY WHERE YOU SIT...
      1. Sitting alone or spread out discourages many from singing as
         they might otherwise
      2. People become more involved, are more uplifted, edify others
         better, when they sit together and closer to the song leader
      -- One of the first steps to enjoy singing is to sit with others
         who love to sing!

   D. UTILIZE OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN TO SING...
      1. Singing is more enjoyable when we are able to read musical
         notes, sing different parts
      2. Churches often provide singing classes
      3. Indeed, every opportunity to sing is an opportunity to learn
      -- Take advantage of any opportunity to learn how to sing

   E. EXPAND THE SPHERE OF YOUR SINGING...
      1. Is your singing limited just to the public assemblies, on the
         first day of the week?
      2. Singing, like prayer, ought to be spontaneous, arising whenever
         the circumstances call for it - cf. Ac 16:25; Ps 34:1-3
      3. Take advantage of special opportunities to sing, such as
         monthly and annual singings
      4. As a spiritual exercise, it should be done in private devotions
         as well as in public worship
         a. Sing while you work, travel, or alone in your private
            meditations
         b. Make use of hymns on tapes or CDs when traveling or
            meditating
      -- Increase your opportunities to sing at other times with others,
         and when alone

CONCLUSION

1. David exemplifies the attitude of one who exercises himself through
   the discipline of singing...
   a. "I will sing to the LORD, Because He has dealt bountifully with
      me." - Ps 13:6
   b. "I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You
      among the nations." - Ps 57:9
   c. "I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to
      my God while I have my being." - Ps 104:33

2. He likewise calls upon us to sing praises both in public and in
   private...
   a. "Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, And His praise in
      the assembly of saints." - Ps 149:1
   b. "Let the saints be joyful in glory; Let them sing aloud on their
      beds." - Ps 149:5

As we seek to exercise ourselves unto godliness (2Ti 4:7), consider the
discipline of singing as an appropriate complement to other spiritual
activities such as prayer, meditation, and fasting...