Powerful version of "O Holy Night"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5xBIHA-Dsc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Moving in God's direction

As you can tell, I haven't posted a blog in months. I recently moved in obedient response to be a help to a church planting ministry.  This move went very well and all throughout, I was thanking the Lord for His provision.  When I came out to Butler a few weeks ago to job hunt, I had ample opportunities for jobs.  I went to some temp agencies and also some permanent job opportunities.  That was my main focus at that time and I knew that the Lord would provide all my needs.  On last Saturday, there were 6 people to help load the truck.  It only took about 2.5 hours and there were no hang-ups that held us up.  I had a hard time sleeping that night, simply because of the excitement of moving to Butler.  I actually got up at 5am on Sunday to start getting ready.  I ended up leaving Manchester around 6:20am and was off.  My first stop was in CT to see Peter and everybody at his church.  Unfortunately, I did not arrive before SS so I updated the gentlemen in the sound booth and went on my way.  I was not planning for such a long trip but the drive ended up being about 15 hours due to construction, detours, and simply staying between 50 and 55 mph.  I arrived in Butler and Steve met me at the church building.  We unloaded my car and I spent the first night at his house.  I got well rested Sunday night.
I had scheduled about 3 apartment viewings over the next 2 days, but I also wanted to unload the truck as soon as I could.  Steve advised about the areas the apartments were in, which of course influenced my decision.  For those of you who have facebook, there was an apartment from craigslist that was posted and that was actually my first choice.  (But of course I only saw the pictures)  Steve knew the area it was in and said it was a pretty bad area.  Steve met me at my first apartment viewing on Monday around 12pm.  It is in a very safe and, in general, better area.  Again, for those on facebook, the pictures are up.  It is about 1000 square feet, 2 bedroom, with open kitchen dining and living rooms.  It also has plenty of storage and one of the storage sections even has washer/dryer hookups, but I don’t have a washer and dryer….yet.
Not only has the Lord provided with job opportunities and a nice apartment, but the Landlord and lady are a VERY nice retired couple, who live in the same house, 2 stories below me.  They are also Christians.  Praise the Lord!  While sitting down initially and going over the lease and different things, Steve and I were listening to Ken and Judy share their salvation testimony and were able to enjoy fellowship with other believers.  They have both been saved for quite sometime (40+ years).  
Just today (Tuesday) I had 2 job interviews.  The first one was about 30-40 minutes away and is probably the one I will pursue.  It is the same thing that I have been doing at Life Is Good for 9 years.  The other interview was right in Butler, but just didn’t seem like the right fit.

I have not posted a blog in months due to this move, but I will be starting up again.  In fact, I already posted one on my other blog.  That link is in the right hand section.

Musical Style

Most Christians that listen to Contemporary Christian Music seem to have a favorite argument.  In essence, this argument claims that the bible does not say anything about a specific style.  Well, there are actually a number of different styles mentioned in the Bible, and although the Bible does not indicate a specific style as WE may think of it today, (Rap, Rock, Pop, Jazz, Swing, Etc.)  there are distinctions in styles in the divinely inspired Word of God.   Almost all styles of music in the world can be placed under the “umbrella”  of one of these biblical styles and it is up to the reader to apply these truths to the music that they choose to be an influence in their life.

The Noise of War:

Exodus 32:1-18 is the account of the Lord giving the Ten Commandments to Moses.  Verse 17 tells us that Joshua thought that there was a war going on.  Moses responds, and with the knowledge of what the Lord told him previously (verse 7), said that it is “the noise of them that sing…”  There are a few things to note in this passage.  First, Joshua thought that there was a war going on and so all the chaotic and random noise of war was apparently heard.  Second, the Lord had told Moses that the people had corrupted themselves.  Moses knew that it was not a war that was going on, but that some form of corruption was among the people.  Also, at the end of Moses’ response in verse 18, he says “…but the noise of them that sing do I hear”.  The word translated sing in this phrase is a word that is built off of or from the root word “shout” at the beginning of this verse. Also, it is interesting to note that both times “noise” is used in verses 17-18; it is a word that means to cry or yell with a thunderous voice.  The point that we would like to see from this passage is clear in verse 7.  The people had corrupted themselves and along with this corruption was the act of idolatry, and a style that was likened to the various chaotic noises of war.

The song of the drunkards:

Psalm 69:12 is another indication that the Bible makes a distinction among style.  According to this Psalm, David was quite depressed and frustrated and praying to the Lord for deliverance from these trials.  The things that David is facing are put in poetic language.  The song of the drunkards is yet another divinely inspired style.   What are the characteristics of a drunkard?  The characteristics of a drunkard are made clear for us in the Scriptures and the passages listed below are just a few.

·       Proverbs 4:17

·       Proverbs 20:1

·       Proverbs 31:4

·       Proverbs 31:6

·       Isaiah 5:11

·       Isaiah 5:22

·       Isaiah 29:9

·       Isaiah 24:9

·       Isaiah 28:7

These passages and many more, teach a lot about strong drink and their results.  According to God’s Word, strong drink is the epitome of a fool.  Our passage in the Psalms does not indicate a particular song or any other particulars, but it does indicate that there is a lifestyle associated with drunkards.

Another interesting and telling passage is found in the N.T.  Ephesians 5:18 compares two fillings.  “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;” On one hand, a person may be filled with wine and therefore possess all, if not most, of the results from the passages listed above.  The opposite of this filling is to be filled with the Spirit and the results of being filled with the Spirit are found throughout scripture.  Here are some very clear scripture references.

·       Galations 5:22

·       Ephesians 5:9

Sing as an Harlot:

Isaiah 23:15 also indicates yet another style.  This passage tells the reader that the whole city of Tyre shall sing as an harlot.  It is no secret that the lifestyle of the harlot is filled with lust and whether this lifestyle is accepted by society or not, it is still sin according to the Word of God.  It is also no secret that harlots attract men by the way they move their body.  It does not matter what song is being sung, but the way it is being portrayed will tell a totally different intent.  In the early 60’s, Marilyn Monroe sang Happy Birthday to President Kennedy.  The words of the song AND the melody are quite innocent and harmless, but the way that the song was performed and presented had a totally different meaning than simply happy birthday.  There have been more recent occasions in this analogy.  Just 20 years later in 1983, Marvin Gaye turned our National Anthem into a sensual song.  The words and melody may stay the same but the way in which it is performed changes the message of the song being sung.  

Song of Fools.

      “It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.” –Eccl. 7:5

            In Ecclesiastes, Solomon tells us of a style dedicated to fools.  All throughout the book of Proverbs, Solomon tells us much about the fool.  One thing is sure that a fool is associated with the rejection of wisdom.  That is especially true in Ecclesiastes 7:5.  The song of the fool is not any better than even the rebuke of the wise.   

Songs of the Temple and of the Lord

There is yet another style mentioned in the scriptures.  In Amos 8:3, we read “And the songs of the temple…”  Again, scripture does not tell us anything regarding the specificities of what was sung, however it is safe to conclude that the songs of the temple and the song of the Lord (2 Chronicles 29:27) were completely different than the styles listed above and there are a few points to note about these last two styles.   First, according to the passage in Amos, the songs of the temple were not as the “noise of war”.  The word “howlings” found in Amos 8: 3 and the word “noise” found in Exodus 32:17 both, at their essence, mean to yell.  There is no yelling, involved with the songs of the temple.   Much of the rock music genre consists of a form of yelling.  Second, the songs of the temple will turn to howlings in the day of judgement.  This is also an indication of the decay of this world and the “day of the Lord” drawing nigh.  In 2 Chronicles the song of the Lord is closely associated with worship.  On the other hand, in the Exodus account, false worship was prevalent and the song of the Lord was absent.  The Bible says that it sounded like the noise of war, chaos and the songs of the Lord are the opposite of chaotic noise.  

The style of the music believers choose to use to express worship and praise to an Almighty, All knowing God matters.  Not all styles of music are pleasing to God. 

Worship: Transcendent of time and culture

In every culture of every age there has always been worship.  Worship may seemingly be omnipresent, but the Bible tells us that the One, true and living Lord God is omnipresent and there is no place on this earth for man to hide from God.  2 Chronicles 16:9 starts by saying “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth,…”  This verse describes for us the omnipresence of the Lord in anthropomorphic language, or the assigning of human characteristics to an attribute of God.  No one can be sure of whether or not our Lord has eyes, but this description certainly gives us good perspective of the Lord’s omnipresence.  God is the all powerful creator of this earth!  There is no need for the Lord to travel to Italy or Alaska.  The Lord, not only, sees everything, but is everywhere.  

Another passage regarding the omnipresence of God is found in the Psalms and is helpful for us to be able to relate a little more to the concept of God’s omnipresence.   Psalm 139:7-10: 

“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if                                                                                                              I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”

God is omnipresent, and in a similar way, worship is also omnipresent, in the sense that anywhere on earth that a person goes, they can find some sort of worship.  It seems that you cannot get away from worship. In whatever country one finds them self, there is worship.  Music has a role in the worship of just about every religion, and whether the worship is towards God or demons.  Every culture has some form of music.  In some cultures, it could be simply beating on rocks and in others it could be the high-energy rock shows that seem to overcome that society. 

Let’s just narrow this down to today’s culture and look at a company that has made it their business to provide music everywhere we go.  Muzack is a company that started in the 30’s and their main goal was for everyone to be able to hear music, whether it be while they were shopping or at an amusement park, Muzack wanted people to hear their “product”.  From the start in the 30’s, Muzack and their researches develop music “environments”.  They realized the power and influence of music and have sold these musical environments to 470,000 businesses across the USA and businesses in 40 different foreign countries.  These music environments are created to target businesses that want to increase their employee’s motivation, concentration, and even lower their blood pressure, simply by the music. 

 Today’s technology enables everyone to have their music at their fingertips.  The first thing people do when they go for a walk or bike ride or even snowboarding, is put in the ear buds and turn the music on.  Music has a tremendous influence and it is so common and accessible to have music with you today that we seem to be forgetting how powerful a tool it is and that it’s being used by the devil to put believers in a complacent state in their walk with the Lord. 

Hebrews 5:9 “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;”

One of the many things about God that can be learned from this verse is that God surpasses time.  God is the author of our eternal salvation and so, God is eternal and everlasting.  God is the creator of the whole heavenly and earthly realms and He is the same God gave Moses the Ten commandments, the same God that Daniel referred to as “The Most High God”, the same God that the Lord Jesus spoke of while he was on earth and the same God will be the judge of our lives on that final day in the future.  It’s plain to see that God is transcendent of time and in a similar way, music is also transcendent of time.  Ezekiel 26 and Isaiah 14 both contain the record of the fall of Lucifer and God says that one of the things that fell with Lucifer was his music.  Music was in heaven at the beginning and music was also involved when Moses came down after receiving the Ten Commandments.  There was music in Daniel’s day, Jesus and his disciples sang hymns and there will also be singing in eternity.  Music was in the very beginning and music will be present for eternity. 

In a closer more personal way in our lives, music is transcendent of time, in that, certain songs will bring back memories of childhood or an event from our past.  It seems only natural that we relate music to memories or important milestones through our life.  In that sense, music is powerful enough to bring us back to that time period in our lives, before we knew Christ as our savior or perhaps music was involved in our accepting Christ as our savior.  Most of what has happened in our past should be forgotten, and in Philippians chapter 3 beginning in verse 13b, Paul tells us that his goal was “…forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, ¹⁴I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”   Believers need to press toward the prize, and most of our memories, whether good or bad, do not have any effect on the present.

Beauty in Worship

Psalm 29:2 “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

Along with worshipping the Lord in Spirit and in truth, the Lord commands worship to be done in the beauty of holiness.  Earlier it was mentioned that Holy means to set apart and in any case of the Christian walk, believers need to set things apart unto the Lord.  This verse also tells us that there is a certain beauty to holiness.  The Lord is beautiful because of his holiness.  Most likely, there have been times in your life when you felt that something was harming you.  Whether it was a bad eating habit or TV, etc, and after realizing that something is harmful to your life, when that is taken away, there is a feeling of relief.  It’s a struggle at first to refrain from those harmful things, but after a little while, it becomes easier.  All believers need to refrain from certain things in their daily life and believers sometimes know in certain cases that separation will be good in the long run.  The apostle Paul uses the analogy of running a race in 1 Corinthians chapter 9.  Someone who is training to run the Boston marathon isn’t going to have cheesecake every night before bed.  That is probably the worst thing they can do for their body.  That person needs to, in a sense, be holy unto their training.  This needs to be expanded to every area of our life, because the Lord is the sustainer of all life and is worthy of our holiness towards him.  It’s amazing to even think that fallen humans can be holy to the Lord, since believers are fallen and sinful and all our righteousness’ are as filthy rags, according to Isaiah 64:6.  In some cases, we may think that it is impossible to give this area or that up to the Lord, but the scriptures remind us that the Lord does not command the impossible when He commands his children to be holy.  Philippians 4:13 promises us that “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”     

Believers also need to make sure their worship is beautiful.  What is meant by this is that worship to the Lord needs to be beautiful because everything about the Lord is beautiful.  When worship is conducted in a way that is not beautiful, that diminishes the testimony of who God is and the way that He is to be approached.  Let’s think of a simple analogy and for the sake of this analogy, we’ll say that worship is likened to water.  Water can be poured into a glass and it takes the shape of that glass.  Water can also be poured into ice trays, frozen and turned into a solid.  Finally, water can be put over a heat source and turned into a gas.  All these are forms of the same substance.  Different situations demand the different forms of water.  Worship has not changed and therefore cannot take various forms like water can and there is one manual for worship and that is in the Bible.  It is saddening to know that believers and churches are trying to change the form of worship to suit the wants of the fallen, human nature.  God put forth in His Word how He is to be worshipped and there is no other form that He will accept.  Proverbs 15:8a tells us that “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD:…” It is my prayer that my worship is acceptable to the Lord.  Comparing this verse with Jeremiah 17:9, where the heart id desperately wicked, it is a very dangerous thing to approach the Almighty in a casual way.

Spiritual and Truthful worship

John 424 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

I asked a good friend of mine what the most literal translation of John 4:24 was from the original Greek.  The most literal rendering of John 4:24 is as follows: "God is a spirit and the ones who are continually worshipping him must (it is necessary) continually worship in spirit and truth."  God is Spirit and therefore it is necessary for the worship of the believer to be in spirit and truth. 

Our God is a great God and is more than worthy of the worship that man can give.  Certainly the high priests understood that the offerings were to be the best of the cattle in the land and the way that the offering was to be conducted was certainly to be presented the best that they knew how, however, the Old Testament priests did not have John 4:24.  The Lord Jesus revealed this verse to us, so the worship that we bring to the Lord not only needs to be our best, but also needs to be yielded to the Holy Spirit and contain as much truth as possible, and not just our worship, our whole life needs to be yielded to the Holy Spirit and contain as much truth as possible.  Obviously, we are human and have that fleshly nature in us until we see Christ, but until then the Lord demands our reverent worship towards Him and our life and bodies to be yielded to Him.  If we are God’s children, then we need to have a distinction in the way we live and in every facet of life.  Our behavior needs to be different than the world’s behavior, our language needs to be different from the world’s language, the way we dress, the way we treat people and even the music we choose to listen to needs to be distinct from the world’s music.   Being different from the world is a testimony in itself for the Lord and the children of God should be willing to be different and distinct.  The worship that a true believer offers to God should be the closest in which a Christian can portray the worship that will be experienced in eternity.   John 4:24 tells believers that worship to the Lord needs to be spiritual and truthful.  Worship that is not spiritual or truthful is not really worship at all, though it might feel like it or look like it.  There are requirements in the Bible of how the worship of God’s children needs to be done.  Any other ingredient added to, or detracted from God’s recipe for worship towards a Holy God, will only deplete that worship.