How a church can go from "praise and worship" to true preaching of God's Word!

Here's another shallow Praise and Worship song:

We believe in God the Father,
We believe in Christ the Son,
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
We are the church and we stand as one.

We believe in the Holy Bible,
We believe in the virgin birth,
We believe in the resurrection,
That Christ one day will return to earth.

Holy, Holy,
Holy is Our God;
Worthy, worthy,
Worthy is Our King.
All glory and honor are His to receive.
To Jesus we sing
Because we believe.

We believe in the blood of Jesus;
We believe in eternal life;
We believe in His love that frees us
To become the Bride of Christ.

At any rate, I could give example after example. I love the old hymns, too, if they're done right. But it simply is not true to say that praise and worship music is all shallow. Some of it is, just like some of the old hymns are. You have to realize that the old hymns are the best of the best. The shallow ones have been forgotten. So it will be with praise and worship music.

 

David...I'm a bit traditional and old fashioned but I will say that the lyrics you quoted above sure seem good.Or to coin the phrase...."that'll PREACH.I still prefer the old hymns as long as they are done right.Some of my favorites are "Great Is Thy Faithfulness","Marvelous Grace","Amazing Grace"...and many others.One of my true favorites is a song that used to be Bro.Lester Roloff's "theme" song.An old hymn called "Living By Faith".God Bless You.

Greg Sr.

 

(sarcasm on)Ok here is another example of weak modern music:

He Is by Aaron Jeoffrey

In Genesis, He's the breath of life
In Exodus, the Passover Lamb
In Leviticus, He's our High Priest
Numbers, The fire by night
Deuteronomy, He's Moses' voice
In Joshua, He is salvation's choice

Judges, law giver
In Ruth, the kinsmen-redeemer
First and second Samuel, our trusted prophet
In Kings and Chronicles, He's sovereign
Ezra, true and faithful scribe
Nehemiah, He's the rebuilder of broken walls and lives

In Esther, He's Mordecai's courage
In Job, the timeless redeemer
In Psalms, He is our morning song
In Proverbs, wisdom's cry
Ecclesiastes, the time and season
In the Song of Solomon, He is the lover's dream

He is, He is, He is

In Isaiah, He's the Prince of Peace
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet
In Lamentations, the cry for Israel
Ezekiel, He's the call from sin
In Daniel, the stranger in the fire
In Hosea, He is forever faithful

In Joel, He's the spirit's power
In Amos, the arms that carry us
In Obadiah, He's the Lord our Savior
In Jonah, He's the great missionary
In Micah, the promise of peace
In Nahum, He is our strength and our shield

In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He's pleading for revival
In Haggai, He restores a lost heritage
In Zachariah, our fountain
In Malachi, He is the sun of righteousness rising with healing in His wings

He is, He is, He is

In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, He is God, man, Messiah
In the Book of Acts, He is fire from heaven
In Romans, He's the grace of God
In Corinthians, the power of love
In Galatians, He is freedom from the curse of sin

Ephesians, our glorious treasure
Philippians, the servant's heart
In Colossians, He's the Godhead Trinity
Thessalonians, our coming King
In Timothy, Titus, Philemon, He's our mediator and our faithful pastor

In Hebrews, the everlasting covenant
In James, the one who heals the sick
In First and Second Peter, He is our shepherd
In John and in Jude, He's the lover coming for His bride
In the Revelation, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords

He is, He is, He is

The Prince of Peace
The Son of Man
The Lamb of God
The Great I Am
He's the Alpha and Omega
Our God and our Savior
He is Jesus Christ the Lord
And when time is no more
He is
He is

Yeah no teaching in this song!

There is nothing wrong with praise and worship. It's better to praise and worship vs. being dead in the water.

 

Sometimes the simplest words of praise are the best. Can you honestly look at the Psalms and say that they are not written as simple praises unto the Lord?

The Lord is my shepherd - I shall not want...

How simple is that? Yet those sincere and genuine words are a powerful testimony of the psalmist's relationship with the Lord.

 

You would think they would get bored just saying the same 16 words over and over and over and over and over, day and night, never ceasing.

Then again, maybe repetition of simple lyrics is not the real problem. Maybe our hearts are just too small.

 

I feel revival comin' on Brothers!!!!!!!!
Just back up and read all the praise to God.

 

well done, tinytime...that's what I'm talkin' about!

 

Do you think that maybe the problem comes in when one or the other is neglected?

Don't we need both simple praise choruses AS WELL AS the old, timely hymns sung with gusto and real thought?

 

Worship is not just songs being sung. Worship is not just preaching (though in the church this is the centerpice of worship). Worship is my complete satisfaction in God in all things.

As John Piper has so eloquently said: "God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him."

When this happens worship will be a way of life, not just a singing of songs on Sunday.

 

I do thank God for the revival that our brother reported. And I'm not anti-tradional music. If you knew me, you'd know I love the classic hymns and I use them.

My problem is the claim implied that you either have true preaching of the word or you have praise and worship. The OP said "How to go FROM ____ TO ________." What else is that supposed to mean except that we should try to leave "praise and worship" and move on up to "true preaching of the word of God?" This is a false dichotomy. It turns the worship service into a one-man show.

In the IFB circles I used to travel, preaching degenerated into "pulpiteering," where style is more important than substance. That ridiculous silohette of Billy Sunday striking an exaggerated pose was supposed to be the epitome of preaching.

How about we get back to biblical exposition and heart-felt worship in our churches?

[ September 06, 2005, 10:50 PM: Message edited by: David Ekstrom ]

 

David,

may I say, perhaps it is a difference in our viewpoint of what church is. To us, and Im an IFB, the church service is a preaching service. Praise and worship are incorporated within it, of course, they are not excluded. But to us, as I understand it, praise and worship are things which are supposed to be done by each individual each day in his daily walk with God. Thus the main purpose of our service is not to have a worship service, but rather to have a preaching service.
It is a time for the preacher to reprove, rebuke, exhort to all good works, a time to open the Scriptures and explain and illustrate so that all can understand, and a time to preach the gospel to any visitors who might be there.
I understand your viewpoint because it is how I was raised, my parents still are of your mindset. Im not condemning you of course, just saying that perhaps much of what you saw as a degeneration might just have been because you came with a different mindset than what those churches had.
Does this make sense?
Please don't think that Im saying worship should be left out! No, not at all....like I said, it is a part.

 

We were members of a church where a new pastor decided to have 2 services on Sun. morning, one traditional and the other contemporary. I was against the contemporary because I believed that it was not honoring God. My wife and our two sons went to the contemporary, I went to the traditional. After some time they convinced me to try the contemporary. The first 2 times I just sat
there, the third time I was involved and have liked contemporary since then.
We didn't find a blended service until we moved to where we are now. Our church dosen't have enough members to have 2 services. So the blended service works very well.

 

Rev 2:2-4 "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have [somewhat] against thee, because thou hast praise and worship music..

Yep, that's what the Bible says...
Because personal holiness and salvation is all about the music program. That's why Paul wrote so many letters about the importance of a good usic program in churches.

 

Funny...that's the same thing they said when Fanny J. Crosby was writing all of those songs in her day. Folks would be suprised to know what was said about those songs when they were first written.

Does a song have to be at least 100 years old to be godly? (If so, "He Touched Me" is out!) Are we not to accept a song until the author is dead?

Spoudazo has asked an important question, but if it is answered, will you ignore the response? In truth, the same question can be asked - where's the fruit (whatever that means) - about the old traditionals.

And by the way, is it wrong to "feel good" about the songs you're singing in church? I have a feeling in many cases the clamour over music style has much more to do with self (what I want) than anything else. (On both sides of the issue)

 

USN2,

where do you get the impression that people here are against "feeling" in their singing? Throughout this thread Ive seen people writing things like "heartfelt praise" being a great thing, and we should sing with real feeling and glorifying God in the words and music.

I don't believe that this is about "old" versus "new" songs, but rather whether the songs that ARE being sung are more shallow now than they used to be. Alot of times they are. But not always.

I love Frank Hamilton's songs. He writes good lyrics, with alot of meaning and teaching and real experience, and his songs are beautiful. Im sure there are many others. But I don't remember anyone saying that an author has to be dead before we like their songs.

 

I do not for one second believe that the majority of that church was unsaved because of the music that was sung or not sung.

Lord Reign In Me
Over all the earth
You reign on high
Every mountain stream every sunset sky
But my one request Lord my only aim
Is that You'd reign in me again

Lord reign in me
Reign in Your power
Over all my dreams
In my darkest hour
You are the Lord of all I am
So won't You reign in me again

Over every thought
Over every word
May my life reflect the beauty of my Lord
'Cause You mean more to me than any earthly thing
So won't You reign in me again

The Heart of Worship
When the music fades
And all is stripped away
And I simply come
A Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless Your heart
I'll bring you more than a song For a song in itself
Is not what you have required
You search much deeper within
Through the ways things appear
You're looking into my heart

CHORUS:
I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And its all about You
All about You, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When its all about You
It's all about You

King of endless worth
No one could express how much You deserve
Though I'm weak and poor
All I have is Yours
Every single breath
I'll bring you more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what you have required
You search much deeper within
Through the ways things appear
You're looking into my heart

 

Dina,

no one said they were!

I really think people need to just get over his wording of the OP! He MEANT, I believe, that people were only interested in what they were calling a "praise and worship" service INSTEAD OF preaching the gospel.

Haven't you ever been to a church service where all they did was sing shallow, repetitious choruses and smile at each other?

Fine, maybe you haven't, but apparently that was what HIS church was experiencing.

At HIS church that meant something to him that frankly none of us here really understand because we weren't IN his church then.

Just praise God that they got saved! And now they CAN praise and worship in the REAL sense, by BEING SAVED and singing praises to God!

Amen! Hallelujah!

 

Perhaps, not in the OP, but it was made clear in the next post.