why christians sing

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So praise, My children, and never cease in your praising, for in the midst of it I will manifest Myself,and you will understand that when I demand of you your praises it is for your highest good.

THE OFFERTORY PRAYER THE OFFERTORY

THE LAMB HAS OVERCOME ECBC CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA ROBIN HARRIS, SOLO Standing in heaven Clothed in glory and majesty Is the Lamb of God Now crowned the King of kings Through His precious blood We have pardon And we stand now forgiven He has made us His people To reign eternally

Out of praises come courage, faith, strength, optimism, clarity and peace. Out of praises come health and happiness and the soul satisfaction men seek in the world and do not find.

Give Him glory Praise and honor Jesus is worthy The Lamb has overcome Holy, holy, Hallellujah Jesus is worthy The Lamb has overcome

Praise will transform the humblest dwelling to a hallowed haven. It will light the countenance and make the plainest face beautiful. It is impossible for the man who has learned unceasing praise to be a failure. God’s blessings attends his path, and God’s Spirit rules his heart. [excerpt from On the Highroad of Surrender, Francis J. Roberts.]

CONGREGATIONAL GREETINGS BABY DEDICATION LOIS PRESSLEY BEECH

THE MORNING SERMON

CONRAD “BUSTER” BROWN, SENIOR PASTOR

COMMISSIONING KATY WEAVER

CLOSING PRAYER AND BENEDICTION

WHY CHRISTIANS SING THE THREE R’S BOB KAUFLIN • SOVEREIGN GRACE MUSIC

Christians sing together during corporate worship gatherings. Colossians 3:16-17 helps us understand why. Paul tells us that worshiping God together in song is meant to deepen the relationships we enjoy through the gospel. This happens in three ways (or three R’s): 1. Singing helps us remember God’s Word. Paul says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly… singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” The “word of Christ” mostly likely means the word about Christ, or the gospel. Songs whose lyrics expound on the person, work, and glory of Christ tend to stay with us long after we’ve forgotten the main points of the sermon. 2. Singing helps us respond to God’s grace. While no one is exactly sure what “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” refers to, we can at least infer some kind of variety in our singing. No singular musical style captures either the manifold glories of God or the appropriate responses from his people. We’re also told to sing with “thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Singing is meant to be a whole-hearted activity. Emotionless singing is an oxymoron. God gave us singing to combine objective truth with thankfulness, doctrine with devotion, and intellect with emotion. 3. Singing helps us reflect God’s glory. Doing “everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,” implies bringing God glory. Worshiping God together in song glorifies God for at least three reasons. First, it expresses the unity Christ died to bring us. Second, because all three persons of the Trinity sing (Zeph. 3:17; Heb. 2:12; Eph. 5:18-19). Finally, it anticipates the song of heaven when we’ll have unlimited time to sing, clearer minds to perceive God’s perfections, and glorified bodies that don’t grow weary. Worshiping God in song isn’t simply a nice idea or only for musically gifted people. The question is not, “Has God given me a voice?” but “Has God given me a song?” If you trust in the finished work of Christ, the answer is clear: Yes! So remember His Word, respond to His grace, and reflect on His glory, and, “Come, Christians, Join to Sing loud praise to Christ our King!”

POSTLUDE

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WORSHIPGUIDE

PRAISE TRANSFORMS



PSALM 95

For Reflection

The Church in Corporate Worship Please use the following prayer to prepare your hearts for worship: We praise you, God the Father: You created all things by your power and wisdom and so loved the world that you gave your Son to be our Savior. We praise you, God the Son: You become human like us in all things, except sin, died for our offenses, and rose again for our justification. We praise you, God the Holy Spirit: You lead us into all truth and spread the love of God in our hearts. All praise and glory be to you, our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

JANUARY 15, 2017

Today we join our hearts and voices in joyful praise as we give thanks for the marvelous grace of our Lord through His Word that makes us... “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

REFLECTION

THOUGHTS FOR WORSHIP PREPARATION



It is only when you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow your Lord that you begin to experience the transcendent humanity for which you were created. Remember, Christ’s call to you is a rescue. In asking you to deny yourself and follow, He is giving to you what you could never earn or achieve on your own. You will not find it in your marriage, in parenting your children, in accumulating possessions, in the esteem of friends, in theological knowledge, or in the most beautiful location. Christ offers you what you cannot earn and what the physical creation can never offer: the all-surpassing glory of knowing Him. This is the world’s best prize. This is the universe’s best meal. This is the only thing that will give life meaning and fill you with lasting joy. The final question: In your everyday situations and relationships, where are you finding it hard to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ? –Paul David Tripp

Rise up, O men of God! Have done with lesser things. Give heart and mind and soul and strength To serve the King of kings.



Rise up, O men of God! The kingdom tarries long. Bring in the day of brotherhood And end the night of wrong.



Rise up, O men of God! The church for you doth wait, Her strength unequal to her task; Rise up and make her great!

Lift high the cross of Christ! Tread where His feet have trod. As brothers of the Son of Man, Rise up, O men of God! - William P. Merrill

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.

MORNING WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS VIDEO

I SING THE MIGHTY POWER OF GOD ECBC ORCHESTRA

COME, CHRISTIANS, JOIN TO SING MADRID

For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the !ock under his care.

The history of the hymn How Great Thou Art begins with Mr. Carl Gustaf Boberg (18591940). He was a Swedish pastor, editor, and member of the Swedish parliament. Mr. Boberg was enjoying a nice walk when a thunderstorm suddenly appeared out of no where. A severe wind began to blow. After the storm was over, Mr. Boberg looked out over the clear bay. He then heard a church bell in the distance. And the words to How Great Thou Art begin to form in his heart -O Lord, my God, When I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands hath made. . .

THE LORD IS MY SALVATION GETTY MUSIC

The grace of God has reached for me And pulled me from the raging sea And I am safe on this solid ground The Lord is my salvation I will not fear when darkness falls His strength will help me scale these walls I’ll see the dawn of the rising sun The Lord is my salvation Who is like the Lord our God? Strong to save, faithful in love My debt is paid and the vict’ry won The Lord is my salvation My hope is hidden in the Lord He flow’rs each promise of His Word When winter fades I know spring will come The Lord is my salvation In times of waiting, times of need When I know loss, when I am weak I know His grace will renew these days The Lord is my salvation

There was such calmness after the fierce storm he could only utter those words of peace.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.” So I declared on oath in my anger, “They shall never enter my rest.”

This poem, titled O Store Gud (O Great God) was published in 1891 and was later translated in German. In 1927, it was published in a Russian version. Stuart K. Hine, the English missionary to Ukraine, found a version of the Russian text and sang it at an evangelistic meeting with his wife. He then translated the first three stanzas into English, which was sung at an evangelistic meeting in England during World War One. He later wrote the fourth verse as a triumphant message of life eternal.

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.

HOW GREAT THOU ART

THE AFFIRMATION OF FAITH PHILIPPIANS 2:6-11

LEADER: Whom do we worship as our Lord and King? CONGREGATION: We worship Jesus as our Lord and King, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Of the hymn’s importance he said: “When we reach that heavenly home, we will fully understand the greatness of God, and will bow in humble adoration, saying to Him, O Lord my God, how great thou art.” May we all live in such a way that we will be ready when Jesus Christ appears to receive the saints. Our heavenly home awaits us, all of those who have received Christ in obedience. Dr. J. Edwin Orr of Fuller Theological Seminary, is said to have brought the hymn to America.

And when I reach my final day He will not leave me in the grave But I will rise, He will call me home The Lord is my salvation Glory be to God the Father Glory be to God the Son Glory be to God the Spirit The Lord is our salvation

HOW GREAT THOU ART O STORE GUD

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder Consider all the worlds thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed: Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee: How great thou art! How great thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee: How great thou art! How great thou art! And when I think that God, his Son not sparing, Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in, That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration, And there proclaim, My God, how great thou art!