Discipleship | A People for His Name

Reading 50 Times through the Psalms

March 13, 2012

Prior to this year, I had read through the book of Psalms 25 times, including twice in the LXX. This year began with my reading through the book in January and in February.

Because of a work project concerning Christian music, I have read through Psalm 101 again so far in March. At this pace, I expect to finish the book by the end of this week, which would bring my total times through the book to 28. Reading through one more time by the end of March would make my total 29 times.

Then, to get to 50 times through the book, I would need to read through the book 21 more times by the end of the year. With 9 more months left in 2012, I would need to read through the book at least twice a month each month and also read through it a third time in at least 3 of the 9 remaining months.

Reading through twice a month requires reading an average of 10 chapters a day for 30 days. Three times a month would require reading 15 chapters a day for 30 days.

Although 10-15 chapters a day sounds like a lot, many of the chapters are fairly short, so it is not as much as it might seem initially. If God leads me to persevere with this project and enables me to do so, I will have read the book through 25 times in 2012.

I look forward to seeing how God is going to open my understanding of this marvelous book through this intensive study!

Update: Praise God that I made it through the Psalms 25 times in 2012!

In Bible reading

Bible Chapters Explicitly Directed to Musicians

March 10, 2012

Scripture has at least 56 chapters that are explicitly directed to musicians.

1. Psalms has 55 chapters that have the same wording in their headings, “To the chief musician”:

4-6; 8-9; 11-14; 18-22; 31, 36; 39-42; 44-49; 51-62; 64-70; 75-77; 80, 81, 84, 85, 88; 109; 139, 140

-Of these, only the heading of Psalm 88 does not begin with these words.

-Interestingly, although nine messianic Psalms are included (8, 22, 41, 45, 49, 68, 69, and 109), some key ones are not (2, 16, 72, 78, 96, 110, and 118).

2. Habakkuk ends with similar wording: “To the chief singer on my singed instruments” (3:19). It seems that this phrase applies only to the final chapter of the book.

Because these are the only chapters in Scripture that are explicitly addressed to musicians, it seems to me that every Christian musician should make these 56 chapters a special focus of his study sometime early in his life. They should also be covered in some manner in all music programs in Christian colleges and universities.

In Music

Titus 1 and the CCM Debate

March 8, 2012

The debate about the propriety of using Christian Contemporary Music has been going on for many years now. I recently was made aware of a dimension of the debate that I had not encountered before– some proponents of CCM who object to other believers’ using secular sources to address the issue.

According to this view, we should only use the Bible to decide whether or not music is moral or not. Almost immediately after I first heard of this objection raised against the use of secular sources, God brought to mind how Paul handled a serious problem in Crete.

Paul instructed Titus that he had left him in Crete so that he would “set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city, as [he] had appointed [him]” (Titus 1:5). He then related the necessary qualifications for such men (Titus 1:6-9).

He concluded his teaching about these qualifications by informing Titus that the elder must hold “fast the faithful word as he hath been taught [so] that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers” (Titus 1:9). He thus stressed the centrality of the elder’s adhering to and using sound doctrine from Scripture to both exhort believers in that sound doctrine and refute those who were contradicting it.

Paul then explained the necessity of such ministry by the elders by declaring the presence in Crete of “many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision” (Titus1:10). The destructive works of these evil men in subverting entire households had to be stopped by the elders’ skillful use of sound doctrine (Titus1:11).

In support of his own evaluation of the Cretians and of the necessity for the mouths of their false teachers to be stopped, Paul informed Titus that one of the Cretians’ own prophets had said, “The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies” (Titus 1:12). The prophet thus confirmed Paul’s assessment of the Cretians.

Paul then affirmed the truthfulness of the witness of this secular prophet (Titus 1:13a). Finally, based on his preceding instruction and the corroboration of his assessment by that of their own prophet, he commanded Titus to rebuke them sharply so that they would be sound in the faith (Titus 1:13b-16).

Paul thus handled this serious problem in Crete by exhorting Titus about the necessary verbal ministry of elders to oppose the perverse work of the false teachers among them. He based his exhortation and instruction to Titus upon his own evaluation of the Cretians and the corroborating witness of one of their own secular prophets.

We thus learn that a Pauline approach to handling a problem issue at times includes the use of one’s own scripturally informed assessments of the problem and the use of legitimate supportive data from non-biblical sources. When, therefore, many Christian leaders today use both their own assessments and corroboration from secular sources to urge God’s people to reject the viewpoint that music is neutral, they are using a valid scriptural approach.

This analysis of Titus 1 in relation to the CCM debate has shown that contemporary critiques of using non-biblical perspectives to address the issue of whether music is neutral or not are invalid. In handling the difficult problem of the use of CCM in the Church today, we should employ a Pauline approach of using present-day sources to support our own Bible-based evaluations of the issue.

In CCM, Interpretation, Music

Toward Solving the Church's Music Problems

March 6, 2012

The Church of Jesus Christ is embroiled today in intense controversy about the music that it should use. Through careful attention to some key truths from Scripture, we can move toward solving many of the Church’s music problems.

Recognizing the Extreme Importance of Music

God inspired various men to pen the 66 books of Scripture. Of those books, Psalms is the longest by far. It has the most words, verses, and chapters of any book. It also has the longest chapter in Scripture (more than two times as long as the second longest chapter).

When these facts are coupled with the truth that every one of the 150 chapters of Psalms is a perfect song written by God, we should be awed at how important music is to God! We must also learn that God has through these facts greatly underscored to us how important music is for His people!

Focusing on God’s Emphases in His Music

Because the book of Psalms is a perfect songbook written by God Himself, those who desire to resolve the Church’s music problems should focus on learning everything that God stresses in this book. Apart from such immersion in the book of Psalms throughout our lifetimes, we will never have all the wisdom that God has provided for us to honor Him fully with our music.

Submitting to Divine Wisdom about Music

In His perfect wisdom, God has chosen not to give His Church the specific, detailed information in His Word about musical styles, etc. that we might wish that He had given to us. His not providing us with that information should instruct us that such information is not what we need most to resolve our music troubles.

Instead, we are to learn that through the Spirit’s filling, which will only fully profit those who have immersed themselves in His own words about music, God is able to lead His people infallibly about what He wants them to do in worshiping Him in music even though they do not have specific information from Him about musical styles. Only by submitting to divine wisdom in what information He has seen fit to give in His Word and what information He has not seen fit to give will we be able to deal properly with our music problems.

Sanctifying Chosen Men for Musical Ministry

In view of the truths treated above, what the Church needs most today is men set aside for leadership in musical ministry who have intensely immersed themselves in His truth as He has given it to us in His Word, especially in Psalms. Such men should be directed to do what leaders in other disciplines do in order to excel: many years of intensive study in preparation for proper ministry.

Having been through a very demanding doctoral program myself, I believe that it would not be asking too much to ask such chosen men to read carefully through Psalms 50 times in a five-year training period prior to assuming key leadership roles in musical ministry in the Church. That pace of reading would require them to read an average of five Psalms a day for at least 10 months in each of the five years of training.

Glorifying God by Glorifying His Word in Our Musical Ministries

Men who devote themselves to glorifying God in musical ministry—by glorifying His Word in their own lives in the intensive manner explained above—will equip themselves to be used greatly by God for His eternal glory. They will be the ones who will be filled with the Spirit to resolve our music problems through their supremely exalting in their musical ministries the truth that He has given us in the book of Psalms!

In Music

"We're Singing" – An Excellent Christian Guitar Resource

March 1, 2012

I have been teaching guitar for more than seven years. In that time, I have used We’re Singing, 7^th ed. (by the Wilds® Christian Association, Inc.) extensively as a supplemental text in teaching believers how to play the guitar.

Features

198 songs in SATB with lyrics and chords

Capo information for songs originally in keys that are difficult to play on the guitar

An extensive chart of standard chords, including diminished chords, and a chart of other chords

A comprehensive index of songs

Evaluation

This book is geared for use by both piano players and guitarists, and the author(s) have done an excellent job overall in supplying the chords for the songs.

The capo information and chords supplied for the many songs that are originally in harder keys for guitar work well toward making strumming or picking the chords for these songs generally straightforward.

The book provides a good number of simpler songs that are in good keys for guitar (with and without the use of a capo), which allows the beginning student to use it effectively to learn most of the important chords in the common keys (F, C, D, G, A, and E) that are used in guitar music.

This has been the most useful book that I have found for guitarists who want to play Christian songs.

In Christian Books, Music

Learning Greek Verb and Noun Parsing through English Sentences

February 28, 2012

I am teaching a beginning Greek student about parsing nouns and verbs. I have explained to him the basic concepts of tense, voice, mood, person, and number (Greek verbs) and of gender, number, and case (Greek nouns).

While reviewing these with him yesterday, I recovered an approach to helping students learns these concepts that I first came up with a number of years ago. Using many English sentences and explaining how each word works in the English sentence, I then showed him what Greek would use to convey those same functions for the nouns and verbs.

The following example illustrates this approach:

Tim, Joe gave Frank his book.

Tim – direct address = vocative;
Joe – subject = nominative;
Frank – indirect object = dative;
his – (shows possession) = genitive;
book – direct object = accusative

gave – aorist active indicative

Here are 25 sentences that I made up to use this approach. For nouns/pronouns, give the case. For verbs, give the tense, voice, and mood, unless directed otherwise. Skip the underlined words.

Dave sent flowers to his wife.

Flowers were sent to Dave’s wife.

Dave, have you sent her flowers?

Dave has sent his friends Christmas cards.

The old man had bathed himself until he fell and hurt himself yesterday.

Roy was watching TV.

Mike is listening to the news.

Roy is her husband.

Joe had been mistreated by his boss until recently.

His car is being damaged by hail.

Tim had hoped that he would get a good grade in the class until he failed his test.

Will she do her homework on time?

I had lived in sin until God opened my eyes.

Were you being watched?

The picture showed the accident.

The men of Rome were hating themselves.

Have their children been saved?

The policemen should be arriving home soon. (Present ____________ _______________).

The children may be taught by the new teacher. (Aorist ____________ _______________).

Don hit himself with his racket.

You are hearing for yourselves how bad things really are now.

I will be satisfied when I get to heaven.

Joe has burned himself before.

What should I send mom for her birthday? (Aorist _____________ _____________).

Bill will wash himself.

In Biblical Greek, Biblical Languages

Saved From a Scammer!

February 20, 2012

I praise God that He spared me today from being potentially scammed for a large amount of money. I hope that this testimony may somehow be used to spare someone else from falling prey in a similar way.

A few weeks ago, I posted an ad online for tutoring. I was encouraged to receive two replies the very next morning after posting the ad. The first reply went nowhere, but the second seemed promising.

I followed up on the second one and engaged in a series of e-mails with this prospective client. Supposedly, this client was a person coming from overseas to be in Greenville for a month. During that time, he wanted me to tutor his daughter in Algebra.

He said that he wanted many hours of tutoring each week. Because I had been praying for God to meet an upcoming financial obligation, I was thinking that this was His provision. I rejoiced in thinking how He seemingly had answered my prayer so directly.

As things progressed, he informed me that he would be sending me a check to pay for all the tutoring in advance. He asked how much I would charge and agreed to that amount.

Soon afterward, however, he sent a message telling me that he had made a mistake in making out the check. He said that he had mistakenly written one check instead of the two that he was supposed to have written, one to me and one to someone else.

He then told me that I was to deposit the check upon receiving it, take out the amount agreed upon for my tutoring, and then send the rest by Western Union to another party. Upon receiving this information, I was convinced that this was a scam and informed him that he needed to repent of his sin.

Thinking that this matter was finished, I was shocked to receive yet another e-mail from him today that told me that he had sent a check to me by Federal Express and that I would be receiving it today. He even gave me a tracking number to check. I did so and discovered that the check had already arrived this morning and was waiting for me when I would return from work in the afternoon.

Examining the check, which was more than five times the amount that we had agreed upon for my tutoring, I was appalled at the wickedness of this party. I was also grateful that God had given me helpful input from trusted friends that confirmed to me that this was a scam.

I took the check to my bank, and they assured me that it was a phony check. They recommended that I take it to a local branch of the same bank that issued the check. I did so, and they confirmed that it was indeed a fraudulent check.

Had the circumstances been slightly different, I might have lost a lot of money to this scam. Having never dealt with such a situation before, I find it revolting that there are people out there who prey on others in this way.

Praise God for His mercy in saving me from this scammer!

In Testimony

Paul's Emphasis to the Saved and the Unsaved

February 18, 2012

Reading through Philippians this morning, I was again struck with Paul’s teaching to the Philippians about his mindset: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead” (3:10-11). All too often this teaching is reduced so that Paul’s focus is made out to be that of just knowing Christ.

Such reduction does not account for what Paul himself here teaches that he was seeking to attain by any means–the resurrection of the dead! As this passage actually reads, the statements about knowing Christ, etc., are on the way to Paul’s attaining the resurrection of the dead. He thus emphasized in his teaching to believers that attaining bodily resurrection was a paramount motivation for him.

Other passages show that Paul also testified to unbelievers that he had this same focus:

“But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question” (Acts 23:6).

“But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:14-16).

From this Scriptural data, we learn that Paul stressed to both the saved and the unsaved that he was profoundly oriented in his mindset toward the truth of the resurrection of the dead. We would do well likewise to focus both our own attention and the attention of all to whom we minister–both unbelievers and believers alike–on this central teaching of Scripture.

In Discipleship, Exhortation

Chromatic Scale

February 16, 2012

Learning the chromatic scale is a good way to start learning to play the guitar. I recently came up with this new handout to teach it.

In Guitar Music

God Wants You to Be Saved!

February 14, 2012

Acts 10 provides us with the wonderful account of how Cornelius, an exemplary man, was saved. The glorious content of this passage reveals three key truths about how God also wants you to be saved!

I. God wants you to be saved by accepting the fact that you need to be saved, even as Cornelius did through the message that the angel gave to him.

Despite his being devout, fearing God with his entire household, giving much alms to the people, praying to God always, being just, having a good report among all the nation of the Jews, and having some previous knowledge about Jesus, Cornelius was not saved. Neither was he saved simply by having a genuine supernatural experience with a true angel of God, who informed him that his prayers had been heard and his alms had been remembered by God.

He, therefore, was not saved even though he was an exemplary man in so many respects. Moreover, even the genuineness of his religious activities and of his supernatural experience did not save him.

Every person must likewise come to the point that he accepts that he is not saved despite however good of a life he may have led. He must also recognize that no mere supernatural experience that he might have can save him, even if it were to be genuine.

II. God wants you to be saved by accepting that the only way you will be saved is by hearing the words by which you will be saved, even as Cornelius did.

The angel that Cornelius encountered informed him that he would have to hear the words by which he would be saved. He thus had to accept that the only way that he could be saved was through his hearing those words.

Every person must likewise come to the point that he accepts that simply being genuinely religious will not save him. To be saved, he must hear the words by which he will be saved.

III. God wants you to be saved by having your sins forgiven through your responding properly to the words by which you will be saved, even as Cornelius did.

Through Peter’s preaching the gospel to him, Cornelius heard the words by which he would be saved. In a nutshell, Cornelius heard that through the Lord Jesus Christ he had to believe in God, that raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him glory, so that his faith and hope might be in God (1 Pet. 1:21).

Cornelius was saved through his receiving the forgiveness of his sins by responding to the gospel message with repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ. Every person must likewise be saved by receiving forgiveness of his sins by responding to the gospel with repentance toward God and belief in Jesus Christ to be saved.

Have you accepted that you need to be saved?

Have you accepted that the only way that you will be saved is by hearing the gospel, the words by which you will be saved?

Have you received the forgiveness of your sins by hearing the gospel, repenting toward God, and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ? (To learn more about the gospel, please see my post, The Gospel of God and His Christ.)

God wants you to be saved by doing so! He wants you to be saved from the eternal punishment that awaits those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1:8).

In behalf of Christ, I beseech you to turn to God and be saved before it is too late.

In Evangelism, Exhortation, Gospel

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