A People for His Name

Guitar Scales for Beginners

October 14, 2019

Beginning guitarists should learn several guitar scales well. Learning the chromatic, natural, and major scales provides beginners with a solid foundation for playing their instrument proficiently.

Chromatic Scales

I teach all my students to play an E chromatic scale on the first string in their first lesson. To play the scale, play the string open, then play all the notes in order from the first fret to the twelfth fret.

The student does not learn the names of the notes at this time; he focuses on proper technique of fingering and sounding each note.

In one of their early lessons, I then teach them to play an E chromatic scale across the strings in first position. I encourage them to use this scale regularly as a warm-up exercise for their playing.

Learning the chromatic scales is a foundational skill that I stress with all my students. Playing these scales with good technique teaches the student many important skills and also helps train their ears.

Natural Scales

Having taught them to play the two E chromatic scales, I teach them to play an A natural scale. Learning a natural scale helps the student learn the names of the notes and which notes have sharps/flats between them and which ones do not.

My students also learn to play an E natural scale across the strings in first position. By learning this scale, the student learns to name all the natural notes in first position.

Learning to play natural scales in multiple positions and on all the strings helps in learning the guitar fretboard well. Knowing the fretboard well is vital for becoming a skilled guitarist who can play at advanced levels.

Major Scales

In addition to teaching them to play chromatic and natural scales, I teach them to play an E major scale on the first string.

I also teach them to play a movable major scale in 4th position. Learning this scales serves many important purposes in the training of skilled guitarists.

Learn These Guitar Scales Well!

Anyone who wants to be a skilled guitarist should learn these guitar scales well. Good teachers should stress the importance of doing so with all their students.

In Guitar Music

Guitar Music and Audio for “Jesus Loves Me”

October 11, 2019

Jesus Loves Me is a favorite hymn of believers, especially of children. This PDF provides the guitar chords and lyrics to play the first stanza of the song.

In addition, you can practice playing the chords to this song to the melody by using the audio of the melody:

See the full lyrics here.

In Guitar Music

The Resurrection Appearances Matter: Part I

September 30, 2019

In the NT, the Holy Spirit profoundly highlights the importance of the resurrection appearances of Christ. Part I of this series treats some aspects of that importance in the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles.

The Gospels

All four Gospels testify that Christ appeared to His disciples after He rose from the dead (Matt. 28; Mk. 16; Luke 24; John 20-21). Because the Spirit inspired every writer of the Gospels to include the appearances, we know that such testimony is vital.

John emphasizes the importance of the appearances by writing in detail about several of them. He highlights that Thomas did not believe that He rose until He showed Himself to them personally (John 20:24-31).

Acts

The book of Acts highlights in several ways that Christ appeared to His disciples after His resurrection. Acts reveals that Christ over a 40-day period after His Passion “showed Himself alive” to His apostles “by many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:3).

Moreover, Acts reveals that Peter declared in his gospel message that God showed the risen Christ only to people that He chose (Acts 10:41a). He also said that those who were His witnesses ate and drank with Him after He rose (Acts 10:41b).

Similarly, Luke records that when Paul preached the gospel in Antioch of Pisida, he testified about those who saw Christ after He rose (Acts 13:31). Furthermore, Luke reveals that Paul’s mission was that he had to be His witness to all men of what he had seen and heard (Acts 22:15). Because what he had seen and heard was “that just One” and “the voice of His mouth” (Acts 22:14), we know that testifying to Christ’s appearing to Paul was an essential part of Paul’s mission.

The Epistles

First Corinthians 15 underscores the appearances of Christ after His resurrection in a profound way. Paul says that the gospel that he preached in Corinth included testimony to four key events concerning Christ: His death, burial, resurrection, and appearances (1 Cor. 15:3-8). Because he testified to those same four elements in Antioch as well, we know that the appearances were a vital part of his gospel message.

Application

We must allow the Spirit to to teach us from the NT just how much the resurrection appearances matter! In particular, we should learn from Him to follow Paul in evangelism by testifying to the appearances when we witness to lost people.

In Gospel, Interpretation, Theology

Unborn Babies Who Die Before Birth Are Humans

September 14, 2019

People in our day dispute whether unborn babies who die before birth are humans. Scripture provides important revelation that decisively answers that question.

Unborn Babies Who Die Before Birth

In the midst of his grievous trials, Job bemoaned God’s bringing him alive out of the womb by saying,

Job 10:18 Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me! 19 I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

To interpret these words properly, we must keep in mind that Job was not a Jew. We must understand that he was not following the Mosaic Law. We must also consider that he was the most righteous and godliest person alive in his day.

Godly Job, therefore, rightly believed that people should carry those who die before birth from the womb to the grave. Because Job believed that people should bury them after their death—just as they bury other humans after they die— he believed that the unborn are humans!

From Job, we thus learn that we must not discard those who die before birth as merely being “tissue” but not humans. Rather, he teaches us that unborn babies who die before birth are humans, and we must provide a proper end of their life by burying them.

In Interpretation, Theology

The Importance of Feasts to the Lord

September 2, 2019

Scripture reveals in many ways that feasts to the Lord were an important part of Israel’s worship and service to the Lord. Moreover, it also teaches that their importance will extend far beyond just Israel in the future.

This article presents some biblical aspects of the importance of feasts to the Lord.

An Explicitly Stated Purpose for the Exodus

Prior to the Exodus, God directed Moses and Aaron repeatedly to confront Pharaoh with His demand that he let His people go to hold a feast to Him in the wilderness:

Exodus 5:1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.

Exodus 10:9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the LORD.

The First Occasion of Idolatrous Corruption of Corporate Worship in a Feast

Exodus 32 records at length that the people engaged in idolatrous corporate worship on the first occasion that purportedly was supposed to have been corporate worship in a feast to the Lord. A careful treatment of the dark record of this corruption of what should have been a feast to the Lord points to the importance of the proper observance of feasts that were to the Lord.

Commanded Occasions of National Worship with Music

God commanded Israel to observe three yearly feasts to Him as special occasions of worshiping Him corporately as a nation:

Exodus 23:14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.

Numbers 10:10 Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God.

Nahum 1:15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.

Divinely Inspired Songs for Ascending to Jerusalem for the Feasts

God gave Israel a special collection of Psalms that they were to use when they ascended to Jerusalem to celebrate their feasts to the Lord: Psalms 120-134. His doing so testifies to the special importance of these feasts to the Lord.

An Element of Continuity in Israel’s Worship Throughout Much of Its History

By recording that the Israelites will come to the Millennial Temple in Jerusalem to celebrate solemn feasts to the Lord, Scripture reveals that feasts to the Lord will in that day have been one element of continuity in Israel’s worship of Him throughout much of its history:

Ezekiel 46:9 But when the people of the land shall come before the LORD in the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it.

Worldwide Obligation to Observe Feasts in the Millennium

In the Millennium, God will require all the nations of the world to come up to Jerusalem yearly to worship Him by celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles:

Zechariah 14:16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

In Discipleship, Music, Theology

A Parable about Music Used in Missions

August 20, 2019

Should the music used in missions be in the “heart language” of the people being evangelized? This parable presents an important test case for assessing this notion about music used in missions.

Discovery of a New Tribe

Researchers discover a new tribe of people in a remote island that they had thought was uninhabited. They find out that these people are cannibals. The cannibals are also idolaters who sacrifice people as part of their worship of their idols.

Moreover, as part of one of their yearly feasts, the entire tribe gathers to eat people that they have sacrificed to an idol. After having sacrificed those people to an idol, the worshipers sit down to eat the people that they had sacrificed to the idol and to do so as part of their worship.

Following their meal, the cannibalistic idolaters rise up to play. In their playing, they fornicate ritually, sing, and dance wildly. They do so to music played by musicians who also participated in the eating of the sacrifices.

The researchers secretly document all that takes place in this feast with top-notch drones that produce high quality audio and video recordings of all that took place in the feast. They release the recordings in an international news documentary. Some Christians see the horrific documentary and decide that they have to reach these people for Christ.

Music Used in Missions

Some missionaries decide to take a missions trip to reach these people. God works marvelously and some of the cannibalistic idolaters become believers!

The newly converted people have a burden to reach the rest of their own people. They plant a church and invite some of their own people to their services.

The missionaries teach the people that they should use music in their own “heart language” to reach people in their services. Because of what the missionaries teach them, the former idolaters decide to use in their services the same styles of instrumental music that they know the idolatrous musicians played in those idolatrous feasts. Of course, they use that music to accompany godly lyrics.

Based on what Scripture reveals, what should we think of what these converted idolaters did musically in their church? Was their use of that music to evangelize something that is legitimate? Did the missionaries correctly teach these people about using music to evangelize people?

In Ministry, Music, Parables, Theology

Was There Rain Before the Flood?

August 10, 2019

I recently saw a meme that asserted that Noah did not know what rain was before the Flood. I disagree with that view.

No Rain Before the Flood?

Scripture first mentions rain in a statement that connects God’s causing it to rain with the existence of certain things of the field:

Genesis 2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

The next mention of rain in Scripture is when God said the following to Noah:

Genesis 7:4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

God then did what He said He was going to do and made it rain on the earth:

Genesis 7:12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

Based on there not being any previous mention of it raining on the earth prior to the Flood (Gen. 7:12), some have concluded that there was no rain before the Flood.

Why There Was Rain Before the Flood

To understand why the conclusion that there was no rain before the Flood is wrong, we must make a key comparison. Note what God said in Genesis 2:5 with what He said after the Fall of man:

Genesis 2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

Genesis 3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.

In Genesis 2:5, God said that there were no herbs of the field then because He had not caused it to rain on the earth and because there was not a man to till the ground. In Genesis 3:18, however, He ordained that man would eat “the herb of the field.” Furthermore, after the Fall, God sent Adam out of the garden “to till the ground” (Gen. 3:23).

For man to eat of the herb of the field (Gen. 3:18), God had to make it rain on the earth and there had to be a man on the earth to till it (Gen. 2:5). We can be certain, therefore, that God did make it rain after the Fall and prior to the Flood so that man would be able to eat the herbs of the field that God ordained that He would eat!

Conclusion

God did make it rain on the earth long before the Flood. We do not have any basis to hold that Noah did not know what rain was before the Flood.

In Interpretation, Theology

A Vital Pauline Emphasis Applied to Our Music

August 1, 2019

In First Corinthians, Paul emphasized that the Corinthians must not be idolaters by playing idolatrously as the Israelites did in the Golden Calf Incident (1 Cor. 10:7), which including their producing demonically influenced music on that occasion (1 Cor. 10:18-20 applied to Exod. 32:17-18). In addition, the Pauline emphasis in this passage included a command to flee idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14).

Moreover, we find this emphasis reiterated in Second Corinthians when he again instructed them that they must not have anything in common with the unrighteousness and darkness of idolatrous unbelievers:

A Reiterated Pauline Emphasis

2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Because Paul reiterated this vital emphasis, we must heed what he emphasized to the Corinthians by properly applying it to our music!

Application to Our Music

Like the Corinthians, we must reject all the unclean things (2 Cor. 6:17) that reprobate idolaters as inventors of evil things (Rom. 1:30) have made, including musical forms sourced in demonic influence upon them in their idolatrous worship (Exod. 32:17-18; cf. 1 Cor. 10:7). We must not have any fellowship with such unfruitful works of darkness (Eph. 5:11).

In CCM, Music

The Battle for Kingdom Music

July 18, 2019

The vast majority of biblical content about music is not explicitly pertaining to music in the Church. Properly understood, all that the Bible says about music, however, is about music in God’s eternal kingdom. Therefore, we need to engage in The Battle for Kingdom Music because engaging in the battle for Christian music is too narrow a focus to treat properly what Scripture reveals about music.

Of course, in the battle for kingdom music, we must use Scripture to address the problems that we have in Christian music today. In particular, we must explain why God does not accept in His kingdom the use of rock music and music related to it.

Why Rock Music Is Not Acceptable Kingdom Music

To do so, we must help believers understand that the Bible does not teach that God created all musical styles or genres. We also need to explain to them why it is not biblical to hold that music without words is inherently neutral, amoral, or good.

Beyond that, we must make known that God has given categorical prohibitions to His people that completely preclude them from borrowing any music from wicked people who have crafted their music for wicked purposes or used it for wicked purposes. Many rock musicians have testified that they have designed their music to promote evil so we must reject it entirely.

Furthermore, we have testimonies from rock musicians that their music is demonic or sourced in demonic influence on them. God commands Christians not to have anything to do with anything sourced in or connected with human contact with supernatural evil. We must therefore completely reject all rock music and music that is derived from it or based upon it.

In order to fight the battle for kingdom music properly, we must give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of what God says about music that is fit for His kingdom. As God brings it to mind, I would appreciate prayers for God’s good hand to be on me for this ministry.

In CCM, Ministry, Music, Preaching

Who Made the Golden Calf in Horeb?

July 4, 2019

Scripture records information explicitly about the Golden Calf Incident (GCI) in at least six chapters in six books of the Bible: Exodus 32; Deuteronomy 32; Nehemiah 9; Psalm 106; Acts 7; and 1 Corinthians 10. A careful examination of the stress the Spirit places on who made the golden calf in Horeb (Deut. 9:8-21) brings out some striking facts.

Eleven Explicit Statements

In the six passages cited above that speak about the GCI, the Spirit records eleven explicit statements in which He said who made the calf. Ten of them are in the Old Testament, with 8 in the Pentateuch itself.

Pentateuch

1. Exodus 32:4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

2. Exodus 32:7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

3. Exodus 32:20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

4. Exodus 32:31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.

5. Exodus 32:35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

6. Deuteronomy 9:12 And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy peoplewhich thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.

7. Deuteronomy 9:16 And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you.

8. Deuteronomy 9:21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.

Rest of the Old Testament

9. Nehemiah 9:18 Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;

10. Psalm 106:19 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. 20 Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. 21 They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;

New Testament

11. Acts 7:40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

Discussion

Based on the data presented above, what does God want us to learn? Out of the 11 passages that speak of who made the calf, Scripture specifies Aaron as the one who made the calf once by himself (Ex. 32:4) and twice in conjunction with the people (Ex. 32:35; Acts 7:40-41).

In all the other 8 occurrences, however, the Spirit says that it was the people who made the calf. Of the 5 statements in Exodus 32, the Spirit says 4 times that the people made the calf. All 3 times in Deuteronomy 9, it is the people who made the calf. Both Nehemiah 9 and Psalm 106 say that the people made the calf. Acts 7 as well says that the people made the calf.

By my count, the Spirit explicitly says 10 times that the people made the calf and does so in all 5 books that talk about the making of the calf. So who does the Spirit stress as the one(s) who made the calf?

Why has He done so?

In Exposition, Interpretation, Theology

Chromatic Scales

Natural Scales

Major Scales

Learn These Guitar Scales Well!

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The Gospels

Acts

The Epistles

Application

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Unborn Babies Who Die Before Birth

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An Explicitly Stated Purpose for the Exodus

The First Occasion of Idolatrous Corruption of Corporate Worship in a Feast

Commanded Occasions of National Worship with Music

Divinely Inspired Songs for Ascending to Jerusalem for the Feasts

An Element of Continuity in Israel’s Worship Throughout Much of Its History

Worldwide Obligation to Observe Feasts in the Millennium

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Discovery of a New Tribe

Music Used in Missions

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No Rain Before the Flood?

Why There Was Rain Before the Flood

Conclusion

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A Reiterated Pauline Emphasis

Application to Our Music

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Why Rock Music Is Not Acceptable Kingdom Music

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Eleven Explicit Statements

Pentateuch

Rest of the Old Testament

New Testament

Discussion

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