(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Thank you very much. Thank you. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Wow. Million dollars. This is the word. That's awesome. It's something I've always wanted to do. Yeah, I don't think that's going to work. Alright everybody, welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. We're going to go ahead and get started this morning if you want to find a seat. Our first hymn this morning, we're going to open up with 343. If you turn in your hymnal to hymn number 343, revive us again. Hymn number 343, revive us again. Let's sing. We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love, for Jesus who died and is now gone above. Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again. We praise Thee, O God, for Thy Spirit of light, who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night. Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again. All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain, who has borne all our sins and has cleansed every stain. Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again. Revive us again. Fill each heart with Thy love. May each soul be rekindled with fire from above. Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again. I don't know if I can see Brother Ben Naim in here unless he's hiding from me, but Tanner, would you open us in a word of prayer? Amen. For the next song this morning, turn, if you would, to hymn number 410, Faith is the Victory. Hymn number 410. Hymn number 410, Faith is the Victory. Hymn number 310, Faith is the Victory. Let's sing. Faith is the Victory, we know, that overcomes the world. Faith is the Victory, Faith is the Victory. Oh, glorious Victory, that overcomes the world, is better over us, his love, our sword, the Word of God. We tread the road, the saints above, with shouts of triumph trod. By faith, they like a whirlwind's breath, swept on o'er every field. The faith by which they conquered death, is still our shining shield. Faith is the Victory, Faith is the Victory. Oh, glorious Victory, that overcomes the world. On every hand the foe we find, drawn up in dread or rain. Let tints of ease be left behind and onward to the frame. Salvation's helmet on each head, with truth all gird about. The earth shall tremble neath our tread, and echo with our shout. Faith is the Victory, Faith is the Victory. Oh, glorious Victory, that overcomes the world. On the last to him, that overcomes the foe. White raiment shall be given before the angels. He shall know his name, confessed in heaven. And then onward from the hills of light, our hearts with love aflame, will vanquish all the hosts of night, in Jesus' conquering name. Faith is the Victory, Faith is the Victory. Oh, glorious Victory, that overcomes the world. Amen. Good singing. All right, welcome everyone to Steadfast Baptist Church this Sunday morning. If you need a bulletin, if you will raise your hands, and one of our men in the back can get that to you. I know we've got several hands, so hold them nice and high. We'll get that to you. On the inside there, we've got our service times and our soul winning times there at the top, along with our month-to-date salvations and our year-to-date salvations. So we'll have one quick note. Soul winning this afternoon at 2 p.m., so if you're able to make it, I encourage you to do so. By the camera, we've got one right here. Also, keep our expecting mothers in our prayers throughout the week. We've got them listed there as well. And you'll notice we have at least two families that are missing this morning. Ms. Bree and brother Chris welcomed to the world their first newborn baby boy. So if you have not already heard the good news, the statistics are listed there. He was born October 3rd at 856 p.m., 6 pounds, 4 ounces, 18 inches long. His name is Walter James Gillham. So if you have not done so already, reach out to them and let them know just how thankful you are and just glad that everything went well. I've been told that mom and baby are doing good. So hopefully we'll see them soon. In the interim, thank you to brother Kevin for stepping in and brother Cameron as well just to fill those slots. It's nice to just be able to plug somebody in. We've got our list of upcoming preachers there underneath that. Of course, brother Ben Naim is here with us all day today preaching both the a.m. and the p.m. service. So I'm excited to hear what he has for us today. Also, we've got some upcoming events there on the right-hand side. Of course, I've been announcing this for several weeks now, but steadfast Fort Worth has found a new home and we are going to be celebrating that with them as a grand opening weekend October 16th through the 18th. That Friday, October 16th, Pastor Steven Anderson is going to be there preaching for that Friday service and so and then they'll also have Saturday soul winning and then their normal services on Sunday. So if you can make it down for that, I know Pastor Shelley would enjoy that. Of course, Pastor Shelley, he's going to be here this coming Thursday and so if you have not had a chance to meet Pastor Shelley, I encourage you to come on Thursday. He will be here preaching for us that service. Right below that, we've got the homeschool pumpkin patch field trip for the moms and children and of course, really just anybody who would like to attend can. There is a sign-up sheet on the back table back there if you could sign up and let me know. I'll probably be making the arrangements for that this coming week and so please get your name on the list before you leave here today and then right below that we have another soul winning mega marathon that's going to take place in Wichita Falls, Texas. Now, soul winning marathons consist of an all-day long soul winning event. We'll have soul winning in the morning, lunch, and then soul winning in the afternoon and so a great opportunity to reach a lot of people there in the Wichita Falls area. It's about two hours south of where we're at in the city and so that'll be a lot of fun. That's going to be October 31st and then the plan is to then come back to the church and we're going to do our second annual chili cook-off and so if you are on the list in the back that you're going to enter your chili into the contest if you please show up about 15 minutes early for that event and so that way we can get everything situated and in prime order for the judges, which we've got a list of judges in the back as well. Brother Ben, I know you're from the east coast and I don't want you to be tossed about with every wind of doctrine but in Oklahoma beans are not reprobate so we allow beans in our chili and you know Texas is a whole other country all to themselves. I don't know if you knew that or not but anyways beans and chili are acceptable. Do not be disqualified for that and then also we'd be watching the Massa conference hopefully be live streamed at that point so that'll be a lot of fun as well and then finally we'll have our family and friend day November 29th and that's going to be also celebrating our second anniversary as a church and so that's always a fun time. You know I don't know if anybody's got a chance to view any of Verity Baptist kind of reminiscing on their 10-year anniversary and it tends to bring a lot of memories to my mind of this church and so that's it's just a fun time you know to celebrate here as a church family and also that'll be our friend day so our family and friend day so have somebody in mind that you would like to invite to that. We will have a gift package that will be ready for them when they arrive and we'll have a potluck lunch afterwards after the morning service as well so keep in mind somebody who you would like to invite to that be praying for them and then finally we are on week number 10 of our Bible memory passage Psalms chapter 2. It's an easy verse and so anyways if any children under the age of 18 can quote last week's verse number nine they can receive an ice cream reward in between services so that's all the announcements that I have this morning. We'll go to our next song in number 301 sweet hour of prayer in number 301. All right number 301 sweet hour of prayer him number 301 sweet hour of prayer three hundred and one sweet hour of prayer sweet hour of prayer that calls me from a world of care and bids me at my father's throne make all my wants and wishes known in seasons of distress and grief my soul has often found relief and oft escape the tempter's snare by thy return sweet hour of prayer sweet hour of prayer sweet hour of prayer thy wings shall my petition bear to him whose truth and faithfulness engage the waiting soul to bless and since he bids me seek his face believe his word and trust his grace i'll cast on him my every care and wait for thee sweet hour of prayer sweet hour of prayer sweet hour of prayer may i thy consolation share till from mount pisgah's lofty height i view my home and take my flight this robe of flesh shall drop and rise to seize the everlasting prize and shout while passing through the air farewell farewell sweet hour of prayer amen good singing while the offering plates are being passed around as is our custom turn to isaiah chapter number 12 isaiah chapter 12 and we'll be reading that chapter isaiah isaiah chapter 12 the bible reads and in that day thou shalt say oh lord i will praise thee though thou wast angry with me thine angry anger is turned away and thou comfortest me behold god is my salvation i will trust and be not afraid and not be afraid for the lord jehovah is my strength and my song he also is become my salvation therefore with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation and in that day say praise the lord call upon his name declare his doings among the people make mention that his name is exalted sing unto the lord for he hath done excellent things this is known in all the earth cry out and shout thou inhabitant of zion for gray is the holy one of israel in the midst of thee let's pray heavenly father lord we just thank you so much for this day lord we're thankful that we can come together lord we just pray that you give us the breath of him and that you give him the words that you have say open our hearts and our ears one minute here all right isaiah 12 look at verse 4 the bible says and in that day shall ye say praise the lord call upon his name declare his doings among the people make mention that his name is exalted verse 5 sing unto the lord for he hath done excellent things that is known in all the earth cry out and shout thou inhabitant of zion for great is the holy one of israel in the midst of these so isaiah chapter 7 through chapter 12 it's directed at king ahas and we see an instruction in verse number 5 that i wanted you to focus on it says sing unto the lord and that's the title of my sermon this morning sing unto the lord we see this phrase frequent frequently throughout scripture here's another place go to psalm 33 psalm chapter 33 of course the psalms are songs and that's a pretty big portion of your bible so we see that singing unto the lord is actually an important component of the christian life and that's one of the things i hope to emphasize here throughout the sermon is that we ought to sing to god we should sing unto the lord and that there are certain benefits associated with that which i'll go over a little bit later on while you're turning to psalm 33 notice what or i'll read for you isaiah 42 which says sing unto the lord a new song and his praise from the end of the earth ye that go down to the sea and all that is there in the aisles and the inhabitants thereof so the bible says sing unto the lord a new song and his praise this is one of the many ways in which we can glorify the lord jesus christ by singing to him by worshiping him sing a hymn sing a song a spiritual song music glorifies jesus christ psalm 13 says i will sing unto the lord because he at that bountifully with me so the psalmist says there in psalm chapter 13 i had you turn to psalm 33 but in psalm 13 6 the psalmist is saying that he's going to sing unto the lord because he had dealt bountifully with him now that's the case for us folks and i get it we all go through problems we all have different things that we struggle with but the vehicle that you drive the food that you eat the roof that's over your head is proof that god has dealt bountifully with you that he's been generous with you and so as a result the least we could do in response is sing unto the lord is sing to him worship him you know in america we have first world problems some of the problems that we deal with oh the internet cut out i can't go on youtube and watch cats playing piano or whatever people do on youtube these days okay we have first world problems i know one of the first world problems i deal with since i've moved to texas i can't for the life of me find unshredded mozzarella cheese at the supermarket and i like it unshred i want to i want to put it through the cheese grater myself everything they sell is already shredded you know what that is folks that's a problem that i'm glad to have i'm glad that i have that issue and not the issue that would be that i can't even find where my next meal is going to be that i don't know where my next meal is going to be but these are the problems we deal with in the western world god has dealt bountifully with us is my point that these are the issues we deal with internet cut out or whatever the case may be now again we do deal with trials we do deal with tribulations i'm not saying we don't but you know what we do have to get us through those low points we have the gospel of jesus christ we're saved we should never take that for granted we have church is this a perfect church no there is no such thing as a perfect church but you know what at the very least you have a place where you can assemble with fellow brethren who love god who are like-minded to listen to the word of god be preached every single week three times a week so we have that god has dealt bountifully with you here in oklahoma city because you have an opportunity to come and serve him here in the house of god there are people who can't for the life of them find a good church to go to and yet there's one right here at okc and so why not sing unto the lord he's dealt bountifully with you in that regard sing out sing loud psalm 33 i heard you turn there look at verse one rejoice in the lord oh you righteous for praise is comely for the upright praise the lord with heart sing unto him with the salt tree and an instrument of 10 strings sing unto him a new song play skillfully with a loud noise for the word of the lord is right and all his works are done in truth he loveth righteousness and judgment the earth is full of the goodness of the lord notice he loves judgment so there's something that will trigger the the judge not crowd but that's a different topic for a different time it says in verse 2 praise the lord with heart singing to him with the salt tree and an instrument of 10 strings that's why we have instruments at church that are played during the song service it talks about a harp an instrument of 10 strings you know there are these weirdo cults out there that think instruments are sinful in some way or pagan or something like that that's not what the bible teaches okay you see instruments all throughout the scriptures including here in psalm chapter 33 and here's a way in which you can serve god by the way if you're wondering how can i contribute to steadfast baptist church well if you're skillful in terms of playing an instrument then you can use your hands to get involved in the music ministry at your local church that's the way you can contribute go to psalm chapter 81 psalm chapter 81 some people have different skills in different areas i'm not the best singer so it's likely you won't see me doing song leading you know at any point in time in the near future but you know what if i did learn to play an instrument if i learn to play the trumpet or if i learn to play the guitar then i believe it would be my responsibility to contribute that skill to help enhance the music ministry at my church and we've seen people do that at the fort worth location or i guess it's hearst texas now at the hearst if you want to call it that location with our new building beautiful new building by the way we have brother phil millstead he's up there playing the guitar you know we have a trumpet player we have piano players so we have people contributing in that way psalm 81 notice what it says in verse 1 psalm 81 verse 1 sing aloud unto god our strength i'm going to repeat that one more time it says sing aloud unto god our strength make a joyful noise unto the god of jacob it says sing aloud that doesn't mean when it's time to sing come thou found come down from the very blessed let me check facebook uh i'm not saying people do that here this is preventative so don't take offense to this all right you guys did sing pretty well here in the morning so there's your compliment all right don't go snowflake on me and get offended but folks this is preventative we don't want to fall back into this attitude that's a song sir who cares you know i do this every time i come to chance you know at calvary just go ahead hum the melody and you don't even care you know the bible says sing aloud unto god it's the least we could do be genuine be real but more important than that just try your best just try your best individually you might sound like a dying cat when you sing some of you might sound horrible individually which is why you likely you know wouldn't do well if there was some sort of special music service and you were singing up here by yourself which we don't do anyway but if hypothetically they did have it you probably wouldn't sound too good if you're not a good singer obviously okay but here's the thing even if you do sound like a cat being tortured in an alleyway when you sing okay here's the good news when we all sing as a congregation we make one voice and that one voice sounds beautiful because it's god's people singing together praising god together in fellowship one with another like-minded the unity it sounds great it sounds awesome so don't worry about it you say i'm not a very good singer i don't care sing aloud sing like you actually care about the hymns and the lyrics that you are uttering that are coming out of your mouth and again as a congregation whether you're skilled at singing or not i guarantee you this it'll sound great when you all sing together go to psalm chapter 98 psalm chapter 98 i like christmas caroling personally we do that every year and it's a real blessing for people you know we're used to when we go out soul winning half the time people maybe half is a little over exaggerated but we do get negative reactions at times out soul winning i have yet to see a negative reaction to christmas caroling what kind of reprobate do you have to be to get upset at people singing christmas songs on your driveway or maybe just somebody who's you know just has a bad mood in a bad mood okay i'm not saying they're all reprobates so again let's not be snowflakes and get offended at everything i say but no folks i mean think about this what a blessing to the homeowner they open the door they see a congregation out in front singing him some christmas songs i love it it's a blessing to them it's a way in which we can express our love for neighbor out in the community it's one of my favorite events all year psalm 98 look what it says in verse 1 oh sing unto the lord you say wow you're being repetitive no the bible is being repetitive it emphasizes this over and over and over again sing unto the lord sing unto god it says oh sing unto the lord a new song for he hath done marvelous things his right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory skip down to verse number four make a joyful noise unto the lord all the earth make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praise even more scriptures here about praising god through music that's why we do it at church that's why we should do it in our spare time why not sing at home why not sing in the car on your drive to work a hymn put it on the radio and then you don't have to worry about how bad you sound because you're by yourself music is an important element to worship now there's a caveat i wanted to add here which is that it's not everything it's important but it's not everything and some churches get this wrong you'll go to church often the purple light churches with the fog machine and the skinny jeans preacher who gets up and preaches 10 minutes why because they spent an hour and a half singing and it wasn't even the right songs anyway it was ccm which i have something to say about in a few minutes but folks you don't want to get out of balance singing is important music's important but if your sermons are five minutes long and you're singing for two hours that you're out about there's a problem there right so we don't want to get out of balance turn if you would to first chronicles 15 first chronicles chapter 15 there's a balance for everything and as a christian we should be well balanced spend the right amount of time singing unto the lord spend the right amount of time the appropriate amount of time praying to god reading your bible coming to church going soul winning these are all different components of the christian life first chronicles chapter 15 when you get there look at verse 15 first chronicles chapter 15 and verse 15 the bible says first chronicles 15 15 and the children of the levites bear the ark of god upon their shoulders with the staves they're on as moses commanded according to the word of the lord so unlike uzzah who had touched the ark and died he dropped dead right then and there and part of the reason for that is because they placed the ark on a cart rather than carrying it the way that god had ordained so that was a big mistake unlike that situation we see here that the ark is being transported the right way look at verse 16 and david spake to the chief of the levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of music salt trees and harps and cymbals sounding notice by lifting up the voice with joy does that describe you when you come to church you lift up your voice with joy or do you sound like you'd rather be anywhere else and i've been there you know it's easy to take it for granted but make sure you're actually absorbing those lyrics you're singing really take them in and sing with joy sing like you want to be here sing like you mean it put some effort in they they lifted up their voice with joy look at verse 17 so the levites appointed hemen the son of joel and of his brethren asap the son of barakiah but the sons of mirai their brethren ethan the son of kushaya and look at verse skip down to verse 19 so the singers hemen asap ethan and ethan were appointed to sound with cymbals of brass these names also appear in the book of psalms by the way and zechariah and azael and shamiramoth and gil and uni and eliab and mayasea and benaiah with salt trees on alamoth and mattahiah and alephalei and miknaiah and obeditum and jael and azaziah with harps on the shemanith notice this to excel verse 22 and kenaniah chief of the levites was for song he instructed about the song because he was skillful so what's the point of reading this scripture we see that there are singers appointed to do the work of singing unto the lord making music okay and what i wanted you to focus on is the fact that it says in verse 21 with harps on the shemanith to excel and this is why we have to never forget this whatever you do whether it's singing song leading specifically or reading the bible or even just listening to the sermon we should do it with all our might we should do it to excel and not half-heartedly not in a lazy way irregardless of your skill level i know i already said this but i'm going to reiterate it one more time irregardless of your skill level especially with respect to singing just try your best sing out loud now that doesn't mean be obnoxious right so some people might say okay i'm just going to scream everything as loud as i can and then you'll sound like an insane person right no no don't don't be obnoxious but again don't underestimate at the other on the other side the importance of putting in an effort singing loudly singing clearly kenaniah another point i wanted to make here from this passage he was in he instructed he was given the responsibility of instructing put in a leadership position in a sense why because he was skillful because he was skillful and the song leaders here you'll notice i noticed this at church song leaders they'll come a little bit earlier why to practice they want to practice they want to make sure they're getting it right for what purpose so that they are skillful because when you're put in a position of authority which a song leader is and you know pastor anderson said this to me when i spoke to him uh you know last i think it was in jacksonville when he came to preach for us one of the times that he came to visit he said hey he was talking to the uh the song leader and myself he said don't underestimate the importance of song leading you're an important part of the service if you're getting up here and leading the songs and so that's why it's important for the song leaders to remain skillful in what they're doing so they can correctly guide the rest of the congregation to sing unto the lord the right way and we see kenaniah he instructed because he was skillful that's why he was put in that position go to colossians chapter three colossians chapter three again i've seen it here when i've come to visit the song leaders practicing a little bit looking over their uh the songs that they're going to sing why so that they're doing it the right way take that responsibility and don't just trash it don't just take it for granted i'm just the song leader no you're important you're an important component of this service if you lead the songs now you might be wondering what are we supposed to sing all right fine you said sing unto the lord i get it but what are we supposed to sing well colossians 3 16 will give us a an answer here colossians 3 16 it says let the word of christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another notice in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts the lord the bible says psalms hymns spiritual songs christian contemporary music not spiritual christian contemporary music not a psalm for sure not a hymn it's vain emotionalism it's soy boy music and i'm glad that this church will never under the authority of pastor shelley inject that into the services might as well just inject estrogen into the services it's so effeminate you say i don't believe you okay let me read you some lyrics ccm higher than the mountains that i face stronger than the power of the grave constant through the trial and the change one thing remains this one thing remains your love never fails and never gives up it never runs out on me your love never fails and never gives up it never runs out on me your love never fails and never gives up it never runs out of me they just repeat the same thing your love never fails and never gives up it never runs out on me you know what i noticed about these lyrics i don't see the name jesus anywhere it doesn't even say god i can't tell if these are lyrics to the backstreet boys or if it's supposed to be lyrics to a song that's sung at church it's that pathetic ccm provides no doctrine it provides no profit it's vain it's emotionalism and the worst part about it is the churches that use this music they also somehow some way pick the most limp-wristed song leader they can find to sing it they get up there i can feel the holy spirit your love never your love never fails never gives up never runs out on me they gotta close their eyes and put their hand up weird you know even if i was unsaved this is what i would do i would walk into the service if i walked in late and the songs were already being played i would look at the skinny jeans up there with his hand up leading the music and i would walk out okay i would walk right out go to ephesians chapter five if you would ephesians chapter five so what are we supposed to be singing then if it's not ccm which is a satanic counterfeit if you ask me all right we're supposed to sing the hymns just like the hymns that we sung this morning for the service they're in your hymn book that's what we're supposed to mean why because it glorifies god because it reinforces doctrine because it's actually profitable it's not just you know some guy getting up there oh your love never fits i mean think about this folks that literally sounds like you read these lyrics for these ccm songs it sounds like you know they're singing about like a high school sweetheart or something it's weird so the second portion of the sermon this is what i want to focus on i want to focus on the benefits of singing unto the lord let's talk about that the benefits first benefit that i want to talk about is that it'll get you filled with the spirit ephesians chapter 5 look at verse 15 ephesians chapter 5 verse 15 again the first benefit i want to talk about it will get you filled with the holy spirit of god it says see then that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the lord is and be not drunk with wine where is it we're in his excess but be filled with the spirit so the bible says be not drunk with wine but rather be filled with the spirit of god so important if you're a drunk you're a loser you should be rather filled with the spirit of god how verse 19 speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart to the lord again instead of being filled with wine how about you be filled with the spirit of god and what is a mechanism by which you can be filled with the spirit of god well the answer is clear sing unto the lord sing some hymns sing some psalms what goes into your ears folks it'll affect your heart this is why psalm was so affected impacted by the music the melody that was coming from the heart what goes into your ears it'll affect your heart if you're listening to heavy metal outside of church when no one's around you know what that's going to affect your heart that will manifest outwardly that'll negatively affect your walk if you're listening to rap music outside of church i can guarantee you this it will affect your heart even if you think you're getting away with it what goes into your ears just assures what goes to your eyes what you look on it affects your heart it affects your heart if you would go to second chronicles chapter five second chronicles chapter five what you listen to affects your heart now i want to touch on a subject that might sting a little bit especially here in oklahoma might sting a little bit but i want you to follow through with me okay if you listen to enough country music you might end up being a complete loser drunk you might be a drunk say why again what goes into your ears goes into your heart tom hall i like beer kip more beer money these are these are country songs okay ray scott drinking beer hey i wonder what i'm gonna want to do if i listen to this every day probably drink beer luke combs beer never broke my heart kenny chesney you and tequila gary stewart whiskey trip i'm not done lee bryce drinking glass blake shelton the more i drink how about this one thomas ret this one's blasphemous right here beer with jesus with the songs of beer with jesus you know what jesus would rebuke you if you tried to go take him out for a beer beer with jesus are you kidding me look you know what i'm gonna do folks you're not going to be filled with the spirit of god if you're listening to this crap so i like country well explain this it's just beer song after drinking song after alcohols what are they trying to get people to do here they're trying to brainwash you into thinking that alcohol is cool i don't care what country artist you thought that you liked back in the day but at the end of the day now that you're a christian if you want to be filled with the spirit of god maybe it's time to throw out your ray scott album your kenny chesney album open up the hymns sing god's songs the spiritual songs sing some songs sing something that'll actually be profitable for your life and not brainwash you to think that alcohol is cool because i can guarantee you this alcohol will ruin your life it's not something to make fun it's not something that to sing about i'm gonna go drink a beer waffle banjo drink my rumble stupid you know here's my song okay i'm gonna do i'm gonna be a country artist i've decided all right i decided i want to go be a country or the first arab country star okay here's my song beer looks and tastes like piss that's my song okay here's the here's the intro strong drink is raging whosoever deceived thereby is not wise proverbs 20 verse 1 that's what i'm going to put out there i'll put that to a banjo and trigger the country folks out there maybe i'll win a cma award i don't know but the bible says in ephesians 5 19 speaking to yourselves in songs and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart to the lord when you sing about the things of god guess what you're going to want to do you're going to want to do the work of the lord it's going to motivate you to do the work of the lord but if you're singing about alcohol and beer and wine and drinking and whiskey and all the rest of this stupid garbage guess what you're going to want to do you're going to feel tempted then to go out and drink you're going to feel tempted to go to the bar you're going to feel tempted to fall into that sin and then next thing you know you're lying in a gutter somewhere vomit all over yourself ruined your life ruined your life completely ruined you know what i like better than songs about beer how about this one he lives i like that song how about this one at calvary i like that one too how about this saved by the blood those are songs that are going to get you filled with the spirit and again they're going to motivate you to want to serve jesus christ not drink not commit fornication that's what the world will try and indoctrinate you into doing making it seem like sin is cool no it's not if sin were cool guess what the multinational corporations that were that produced this music they wouldn't be provoking you to go commit sin if it were cool you know what truly is anti-establishment serving jesus christ living a straight laced life as this culture around us degrades further and further every single day you want to be a rebel you want to be cool hey be a christian who actually loves the lord that's how you can be cool and again why even bother listening to these you know what it'll get you in the right mood for church that's what i've noticed if i had a particularly carnal week okay what i'll notice is this if i listen to a good hymn or a psalm on my way to church it gets me in the right mood for church it gets me in the mood to want to hear some fire and brimstone preaching it gets me in the mood to want to fellowship with my brothers and sisters in christ second chronicles five notice verse 11 so the ark is brought into the temple of god it's placed in the holiest of all second chronicles five verse 11 and it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place for all the police that were present were sanctified and did not then wait by the court by course also the levites which were the singers all of them of asaph and haman of judithan with their sons and their brethren being arrayed in white linen having symbols and salt trees and harps stood at the east end of the altar and with them and 120 priests sounding with trumpets it it came even to pass notice as the trumpeters and singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the lord and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and symbols and instruments of music and praised the lord saying for he is good for his mercy endureth forever now pay attention to this that then the house was filled with a cloud even the house of the lord so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud for the glory of the lord had filled the house now i won't explain what this picture is in my opinion we see that the ark was placed in the holy place and so consequently the trumpeters and the singers they sing as one remember what i said earlier you might not sound too good individually but when you're part of a congregation singing unto the lord we're all making one voice and that one voice sounds great that one voice sounds beautiful notice following the singing following the trumpets following the music what happens the glory of the lord fills the temple but we are the temple of god in the new testament the bible says first corinthians 3 it says know ye not that ye are the temple of god and that the spirit of god dwelleth in you if any man defile the temple of god him shall god destroy for the temple of god is holy which temple ye are in the new testament we are the temple whereas in the old testament the temple was a physical building prior to that it was a tabernacle that was mobile the presence of god it dwelt inside of a physical temple in the old testament whereas the presence of god dwells inside of your body in the new testament what am i talking about of course the permanent indwelling of the holy spirit inside you you've been sealed with the holy spirit of god it just assures the temple was filled with a cloud after the music was played to the lord we see that also you as god's temple in my estimation if you decide to sing some hymns on your way to church if you decide to sing some songs on your way to church you know what's going to happen you also will be filled with the spirit of god which i believe is what's being pictured in second chronicles chapter 5 in the sense that the smoke filled that temple well if you sing unto god if you sing unto the lord you'll be filled with the holy spirit you'll be filled with the holy spirit and then you'll be ready you'll be equipped to come to church and to do it with all your might you'll be equipped to come to church serve god listen to the preaching absorb and extract as much from the preaching as you possibly can we need to get in the right mindset before arriving here and i think one of the best ways to do that after you've prayed in the morning maybe you've read some bible with a cup of coffee and your breakfast how about singing a hymn on your way to church especially if you have lots of kids you're like a mini church and in your mini some of you drive big minivans i'm sure i'm not sure but i think you do okay i know at steadfast we have a couple of families that they have practically buses for their families they're so big okay imagine that you and your entire family of 25 kids or however many kids people have these days folks in our movement of course folks you can it's like a mini church you could be singing unto the lord on your way to church and then what's going to happen you'll be motivated you'll be motivated to come here for the morning for the afternoon to go soul winning in between and to serve the lord jesus christ to reach the gospel i'm sorry to reach the lost with the gospel of jesus christ that takes a lot of work so why not get filled with the spirit prior to that let's look at second samuel 22 second samuel 22 my next point is that singing unto the lord is associated with joy singing under the lord is associated with joy now there's two components that i wanted to talk about with respect to this particular point the first is that singing is often a product of joy it's a product of joy psalm 67 talks about this it says oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth one day jesus christ will rule and reign on this earth he will judge the nations on this earth we won't have to worry about clown show elections anymore there's going to be no elections jesus you know he's just going to rule that's it no debates jesus ain't going to be debating anybody no election 2020 anymore it's over jesus rules and reigns and if you don't like it well he said those mine enemies which would not that i should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me case closed all right it's going to be a theocracy i can't wait for it and so what are we going to be doing we'll be singing for joy we'll be singing for joy if any leftists make it into the millennium somehow they make it through the wrath of god they won't be singing for joy they're going to be really upset they're going to hate jesus because the jesus that they thought of in this life right here not going to be the jesus that they end up seeing during the millennium we as god's people though will be singing for joy the bible says in psalm 67 and in second samuel chapter 22 we see david's song of deliverance what was he doing here same thing he was singing for joy it says in verse one and david spake unto the lord the words of this song in the day that the lord had delivered him out of the hands of all his enemies and out of the hand of saul i don't want to read the whole thing here for sake of time but basically this song it focuses on david being delivered from his enemies and so we start singing why because singing is associated with joy people do it as a product or a result or a consequence of something good that happened in their life you see this constantly throughout scripture last time i was here i i preached about hannah and if you look at the the chapter right after the one that i covered what does it talk about it's hannah's song and why is she singing because god had given her a son and so you see with respect to god's people when something good happens unto them they express their joy through singing and i don't care what situation you're going through right now just as sure as david was delivered from his enemies you've been delivered spiritually even if your life hypothetically is a wreck right now well there's still one thing you could always fall back on as a positive that's never going away and it's this you've been delivered spiritually when you got saved you were delivered by the lord jesus christ so why not sing for joy why have an angry or sad countenance like the rest of the world does constantly worried about the election worried about who the next president's going to be and all that other garbage how about instead of behaving like them why don't we behave like we have the hope that we do have which is that when we die in this flesh guess what it doesn't end there we end up going to heaven so why not sing blessed redeemer great song how about this one when i see the blood how about this one kneel at the cross these are some great hymns that you can sing for joy go to psalm 71 psalms chapter 71 now remember what i said i said if you sing you'll be filled with the spirit well what is one of i should say what is a component of the fruit of the uh i messed it up let's try again start over what is a component of being filled with the spirit or the fruit of the spirit that would be joy that would be joy when you're filled with the spirit you exhibit joy psalm 71 look at verse 23 my lips shall shall greatly rejoice psalm 71 verse 23 my lips shall greatly rejoice when i sing unto thee and my soul which thou hast redeemed what can we learn from this verse when you sing unto the lord what's the product of that joy when you sing to god what's going to happen to you you're going to exhibit joy that's what the bible says you say i'm constantly stressed at times i'm depressed you say maybe you maybe you just lost your job i don't know what you're going through we all have problems but you know what if you're going through something particularly heavy or difficult you know what it sounds to me sounds like to me that you need some more church that's what it sounds like it doesn't sound like you need less church which is what some people will turn to when going through affliction or difficulty it sounds like you need more church why because this is a place not only where you can hear the preaching not only where you can fellowship with god's people but this is also a place where you can sing unto the lord during the song service and according to psalm 71 the bible says my lips shall greatly rejoice when i sing unto thee if you've had a stressful week if you're going through some problems you need more church where you can sing to god and the bible says you will rejoice go to titus chapter 2 titus chapter 2 what's another benefit you'll rejoice it'll bring you happiness just talked about that but how about this one it reinforces doctrine singing unto the lord the hymns and the spiritual songs and the psalms reinforces doctrine now why is that important because doctrine is important oftentimes as fundamental baptists we get accused of splitting hairs on doctrine that people would look at and say oh that's not too important you know they would look at what happened for example with the trinity and tyler baker getting fired as the uh deacon of faithful word baptist church and some people who are not fundamentalists would look would look at that and say well that seemed a little bit harsh so what if he views the trinity a little bit differently but that's not our attitude is it no because at the end of the day doctrine's important especially doctrine related to the nature of jesus christ the nature of god himself and so we take doctrine seriously as a church so it would make sense that we pick hymns to sing that actually reinforce the doctrines that we believe it's good for your children as well children might learn differently than adults they might you know there are some kids out there who perhaps they learn more from singing so if they're if you bring your children to the church service they might actually get more out of the song portion of the service the singing portion of the service than you give them credit for because as they're singing these lyrics the doctrine reinforced in the hymn or in the song is being absorbed by them and children absorb everything it's what i've heard at least titus 2 notice what it says in verse 6 young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded you know that means you know don't be a jokester all the time verse 7 in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works now pay attention to this part in doctrine showing uncorruptness gravity sincerity sound speech that cannot be condemned but he does have a contrary part maybe a shame having no evil thing to say of you doctrine is supremely important doctrine should be number one we ought to show uncorruptness in this area and so whenever we have an opportunity to reinforce salvation by faith alone to reinforce the trinity to reinforce one saved always saved to reinforce even the poster of pre-wrath rapture to reinforce replacement theology through song i say we take it here's an example holy holy holy this tyler baker will not like this hint i'm not sure if they sing this at valiant trash can but if they do what a bunch of hypocrites look at the lyrics i'll recant the lyrics to you it says holy holy holy lord god almighty all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea holy holy holy merciful and mighty god in three persons blessed trinity put that in your pipe and smoke it tyler baker it says god in three persons we believe the trinity we love the trinity we love the doctrine of the trinity three distinct persons one essence three distinct persons one god so let's sing about it because we believe it all hail the power of jesus name i won't go too deep into the lyrics on this one but all i know is that it does mention a terrestrial ball doesn't it hmm mention the terrestrial ball i think that debunks the flat earth morons out there doesn't it right now at this church if it hasn't been already made abundantly clear through the preaching that you've heard so far since you've come here we don't believe the flat earth because the flat earth is retarded it's stupid it's dumb it's moronic the only people who believe that have the iq of a squirrel okay so i like that part of all hail the power of jesus name that's great terrestrial ball that's right we live on a sphere folks not that hard to realize how about this one saved by the blood of the crucified one folks you want a powerful song right there i mean this thing you know i sung that ccm earlier which had no power was effeminate you you know the difference between that and the hymns the hymns actually have power they want they get you going they want you know they get you motivated to serve the lord jesus christ and saved by the blood of the crucified one is one of those hymns that does that for me you might have a different favorite song but i'll read a few of the lyrics here it says saved by the blood of the crucified one now ransom from sin and a new work begun sing praise to the father and praise to the son saved by the blood of the crucified one it talks about the blood of jesus christ now that's important we're saved by the blood of jesus christ john macarthur doesn't seem to believe he doesn't believe that he doesn't seemingly not believe it he comes out and says the opposite john macarthur the false prophet heretic hopefully his church burns down to a crisp if he sings the song just like tyler baker hypocrite hypocrite it says saved by the blood of the crucified one essential doctrine and notice i read you some of these lyrics here what what do you what do you get when you hear these songs when you sing these songs actual doctrine reinforcing doctrine reinforcing doctrine that exalts jesus christ that exalts the truth not vain emotionalism but the truth and that's important let's look at first chronicles 16 first chronicles chapter 16 and this is my final point first chronicles chapter 16 my final point is another benefit of singing unto the lord is that it's a it's a mechanism by which you can praise god and thank god we see gratitude expressed in psalm 69 which says i will praise the name of god with a song and will magnify him with thanksgiving with thanksgiving and david does just that in first chronicle 16 this is a song of thanks after the ark is delivered back into jerusalem it says in verse number seven then first chronicle 16 verse 7 then on that day david delivered first this psalm notice to thank the lord into the hand of asaph and his brethren 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 work so how does david express his gratitude this is also the same way in which you can express your gratitude to the lord for all the things he's done for you by singing by singing hymns what better way to express your thanksgiving to god than by singing unto him pay attention to the lyrics that you're singing pay attention to the message of the psalms and the hymns and use that as an opportunity to thank god for everything that you have for everything that you have psalm 116 it says i will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the lord here's a bonus point for you expressing your thanksgiving to god guess what that is it's a spiritual sacrifice remember we are all members of a spiritual priesthood in the old testament they offered up carnal sacrifices physical sacrifices well as members of a spiritual priesthood we offer up spiritual sacrifices unto god that are a sweet smelling savor unto him and we can do that by thanking him by offering thanksgiving unto him and we do that by singing expressing our gratitude go to acts chapter 16 acts chapter 16 singing to the lord is another way we can praise god and here's a hymn that does just that it's called to god be the glory some of the lyrics for this as you're going to act 16 it says to god be the glory great things he has done so loved be the world that he gave us his son who yielded his life and atonement for sin who opened the life gate that all may go in praise the lord praise the lord let the earth hear his voice praise the lord praise the lord and then it says let the people rejoice this is a song we can this is a song we can use to praise the lord to praise god to worship god what wonderful lyrics that is right there i love it actual substance actual substance psalm 150 it says praise him with the sound of the trumpet praise him with the psaltery and harp praise him with the timbrel and dance praise him with stringed instruments and organs folks when you're playing an instrument if you whoever's playing the piano or whatever other instruments you end up adding that is a way in which you can praise god through the instruments verse five of this one of this chapter says praise him upon the loud symbols praise him upon the high sounding symbols let everything that at breath praise the lord praise ye the lord what is psalm 150 emphasizing praising the lord praising god and here's the thing about instruments just as sure as we are individual subsets of this church okay and we all have different roles some of you just come here and go soloing other people lead the songs there's a preaching rotation but you all come together why to serve jesus well it's the same thing with instruments each instrument is emitting or you know it's playing a specific sound but it all comes together to make music combined with the singing so that's what i want you to focus on that you all have an individual role here with this church just as sure as an orchestra for example features different instruments and they all come together to accomplish one goal just as sure as we as a local church come together to accomplish a unified goal act 16 it says in verse 16 act 16 16 this will be the last place i have you turn act 16 16 it says and it came to pass as we went to prayer a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us which brought her masters much gained by soothsaying the same followed paul and us and cried saying these men are the servants of the most high god which show unto us the way of salvation so this lady here this is a demonic freak lady and she's possessed and she's basically trolling here and she's sarcastically proclaimed these are the servants of the most high god look at verse 18 and this did she many days but paul being grieved turned and said to the spirit i command thee in the name of jesus christ to come out of her and he came out the same hour so paul rebukes the spirit verse 18 the demon comes out of her and consequently the men who had been gaining from this woman this soothsayer they're upset about it and so they respond to what paul does look at verse 19 and when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone they caught paul and silas and drew them into the marketplace under the rulers and brought them to the magistrate saying these men being jews do exceedingly trouble our city and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive neither to observe being romans and the multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them and when they had laid many stripes upon them they cast them into the prison charging the jailer to keep them safely who being received such a charge thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stock so paul and silas they're brought to the magistrates and what happens to them they're smeared so they're attacked verbally but then they're also attacked physically they're assaulted they're beaten the multitude they rise up against them their anger waxes hot here against them their clothes are rent you know tempers flare paul and silas beaten for the cause of christ essentially in acts chapter number 16 and the bible says when many stripes were laid upon them they're thrust into the inner prison i want you to picture this for a moment black lives matter is out there right now let's picture this for a second and they're teamed up with antifa and there's hundreds of them and they're throwing rocks at the glass and they're trying to break into the church and they're actually successful in doing so and they flood the church and they grab some of us we're able to knock out a few of them because they're a bunch of flimsy effeminates anyway but they because there's so many they actually end up overpowering the church they grab us we're taken to the authorities and we're sent to prison because under the joe biden administration hate speech is a federal crime so we've broken the law and we're sent to prison and we're thrown in a prison cell each of us individually and it's a nasty prison cell there's cockroaches everywhere it smells like a rotting corpse we're in the inner prison here's my question for you how do you react how do you react to that well let's see how paul and silas reacted look at verse number 25 and at midnight paul and silas prayed and sang praises unto god and the prisoners heard them now imagine that after going through that you know we think getting banned from facebook or twitter is affliction that's nothing this is affliction right here physically being beaten and thrown into the inner prison for the cause of christ there are a lot of people who talk tough right now when we don't have to face that that threat oh i'm gonna go during the tribulation i'm gonna win so many souls to christ and you know these these uh blowhards right you know what they're gonna do when the affliction actually comes they'll be running and hiding because they're talking about they're bragging about it but paul and silas face actual persecution here for the cause of christ thrown into the inner prison now of course we know god miraculously frees them and then the jailer he gets saved and his house in the famous scripture but here's my point even at their lowest point in life paul and silas thrown into the inner prison beaten battered you know what they still had they still had the wherewithal to praise god and they did it how they did it through singing so here's my admonition for you if paul and silas can accomplish that in a prison cell we can do it in our car on the way to church we can do it at church certainly at church we can sing unto the lord and praise god if they're willing to do it in a prison cell no matter how difficult life may be no matter what you're going through the affliction and the pain or even if you're going through some persecution courtesy of close friends or family it doesn't matter because guess what you can still praise god just like they did they were thrown in prison and they still found a way to praise the lord they still found a way to sing unto the lord and imagine what the fellow prisoners were thinking as they're hearing that like man what's up with the what are they they're singing in prison what's up with that but you know what we're sanctified we're different right we're supposed to be different from the world we're supposed to be sanctified from the world and so if you draw a reaction like that from people out there a reaction that says what's up with this person there's something different about them you know what you're doing a good job and that's the type of reaction i bet you it doesn't say but i guarantee you that's what they elicited here folks we can we can sing praises during the ups and the downs okay we can we can sing praises whether you're in prison or out of prison during war during peace all the days of our life don't be ashamed of it no the world should be ashamed for the music they listen to that beer crap the drinking songs i was listing earlier they ought to be ashamed of the music that they're listening to in the world on their radio not us okay don't be ashamed of the hymns don't be ashamed of the songs we have nothing to be ashamed of with respect to our music every hymn every psalm they're wonderful they're powerful and according to the word of god it's a way in which we can praise and worship him so why wouldn't you sing so i challenge all of you sing unto the lord like you mean it don't be ashamed you say i'm not a great singer sing out loud anyway i don't know the lyrics well just try your best you know listen i flubbed the lyrics before when i didn't know it in my hymn book i'm sitting there looking at it and i say the wrong word nobody's ever made fun of me for it so don't worry about that you'll be fine sing out loud sing loudly sing like you mean it do it with all thy might and here are some of the benefits that you'll incur you'll be filled with the spirit like i talked about you'll be filled with joy because it's a product of joy and it also leads to joy and also we know that as you sing you'll be praising god and lifting him up and exalting him and there's a blessing associated with that you'll be offering a spiritual sacrifice as you sing the lyrics of the hymns and the psalms so this is a good segue right here okay i just spent an hour yelling at you about singing so here's what we're gonna do now we're gonna sing unto the lord let's do it right now let's sing out loud let's sing like we mean it and folks this is all i have left to say thanks for listening let's pray father we uh we just thank you for this church lord and i pray that uh you would help us to recognize the importance of music and listening to the right music and absorbing the right music and singing unto you and glorifying you through music and obviously it's not everything lord but we just pray that you would help us to do that now and uh father i just pray also that even outside of church that we wouldn't be tempted to turn on the radio and listen to trash but rather that we that we would put on a hymn or a song and sing unto you on our way to work or wherever we might be going lord and help us to do this at home help us to do this at church lord i just pray that we never depart from this foundational truth that we ought to sing unto you in jesus name i pray amen all right our last hymn this morning is going to be number 404 hymn number 404 when the battle's over hymn number 404 when the battle's over let's sing am i a soldier of the cross a follower of the lamb and who i fear to own his causal blood to speak his name and when the battle's over we shall wear a crown yes we shall wear a crown yes we shall wear a crown and when the battle's over we shall wear a crown in the new jerusalem wear a crown wear a crown wear a bright and shiny crown and when the battle's over we shall wear a crown in the new jerusalem must i be carried to the skies on flower of ease while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas and when the battle's over we shall wear a crown yes we shall wear a crown yes we shall wear a crown and when the battle's over we shall wear a crown in the new jerusalem wear a crown wear a crown wear a bright and shining crown and when the battle's over we shall wear a crown in the new jerusalem sure i must fight if i would reign increase my courage lord i'll bear the toil endure the pain supported by thy word and when the battle's over we shall wear a crown yes we shall wear a crown yes we shall wear a crown and when the battle's over we shall wear a crown in the new jerusalem wear a crown wear a crown wear a bright and shiny crown and when the battle's over we shall wear a crown in the new jerusalem amen and with that you are dismissed you