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

Well let me throw this into the pot since rock & roll was brought up.

What about Southern Gospel that sounds like sinful country music? Country music seems to be ignored by many Christians. The themes in country music being adultery, drinking, etc… and some country singers mix their ungodly country with gospel music( I mean the same guy/gal singing about the bar and adultery in one album will produce another album with so called Christian music. I’ll use the Sunday morning show on WSSL 100 in my area as an example.) Country music is far worse than rock music second only to Rap.

Now back to the subject. I fully support the use of drums and electric instruments in the Church. In the OT they used string instruments etc… to praise and worship God. Did not God say that He loves praise?

It’s rather legalistic to attack modern styles of praise and worship. There is nothing wrong with this type of music. In my church we have opened the service singing Awesome God which is a rather simple song but is very good to worship and praise our Holy God! There is nothing wrong with people singing and worshipping God freely.

There is nothing wrong with older songs mixed with newer songs. Gee you would think by the way some people talk that we can not write wonderful spirit filled songs today that praise our Lord and presents the gospel truth. I posted an awesome song called He Is and it seems to be ignored on this thread. Yes He Is has drums and it is a worship song that clearly teaches some things about Christ that I have not heard from many a Baptist pulpit.

Yes some modern music is weak but we can not throw the baby out with the bath water.

 

David J, I did note the great words you posted for the song, "He Is."
BTW, tonight, I ran out to the store. I love praise and worship, but I'm not really into contemporary Christian. Anyways, I turned on my radio and I had had a Christian station on. A song came on that was not at all my style. It was almost like rap. But the words caught my attention. I had to fight back tears as I drove because the song communicated the Gospel so well. He said something like, he was watching TV when he was 13, Billy Graham was on and his mother saw him almost crying. She led him in prayer and he got saved. The chorus went something like, "before I knew it I was a different man."
the second verse went that he drifted from the Lord, being pulled by the world as a teen. The Lord convicted him and he prayed. Then the chorus came again. Before I knew it I was a different man. The third verse had him stumble across a lot of senior saints. He stopped to listen to their testimonies and he realized that they also had had their "thirteen year old" experiences. The Lord spoke to him and before he knew it . . .
I can't at all remember the words exactly, but man what a song!

 

...next thing ya' know...
(Matthew West)

 

In regards to "christian" music...here's an interesting website to stir the pot with:

http://www.blessedquietness.com/journal/housechu/hip-hop.htm

Bro.Van Nattan can be a bit rough...but he makes some interesting points and is quite thorough with his research.This guy is definitely not interested in competing in any popularity contests.I personally prefer sources that try to frame things from a strictly biblical point of view without regard for "preference".

Greg Sr.

 

James, why would you be so sarcastic? Many church members ARE NOT saved. Would or would you not be glorifying God if someone who had made a profession of faith years before who's profession was false were convicted by the Holy Spirit and came to Christ?

So, are you saying you're not sure of your own salvation, James? I hope you are.

 

James, why would you be so sarcastic? Many church members ARE NOT saved. Would or would you not be glorifying God if someone who had made a profession of faith years before who's profession was false were convicted by the Holy Spirit and came to Christ?

So, are you saying you're not sure of your own salvation, James? I hope you are. </font>[/QUOTE]Hi AVL

 

Sorry to jump in but I couldn't pass by...

Since when does the use of "praise and worship" constitute NOT preaching God's Word?

I have been in several "old time" style worship churches where the 'preaching' was thirty minutes of shouted opinion sprinkled with a few out-of-context verses.

I have also been in several "praise and worship" churches where the Word was opened, preached, and taught in a depth that would stagger many.

Don't paint with a broad brush, people. You will smear the masterpeice that God has created for Himself... it's called the Church.

In Christ,
Trotter

 

Trotter,

I think we went over this earlier over the first few pages. I certainly don't blame you for not wanting to read all 5 pages of this thread! But please be assured, we did attempt to make that point clear.

The problem in the OP was that HIS church had many unsaved members. So even if the praise and worship were proper, they didn't make much difference if all the praisers were unsaved. He was simply trying to glorify God by saying that his church had gone FROM shallow TO real preaching.

I think its too bad that some of the charismatic churches have turned the phrase "praise and worship" into something so shallow and emotionalistic (word?) that sometimes we use the phrase a bit "tongue in cheek."

 

I agree, bapmom, that we can rejoice when shallow professors are genuinely converted. In this brother's experience, his church had had shallow preaching with shallow worship. Some falsely generalize all contemporary praise and worship as shallow but that's not true. But I must say that Trotter's experience tracks with mine.
As a preacher, nothing prepares me, and I trust, my hearers, for solid, expository preaching as solid praise and worship. The two should go hand-in-hand.
Whether it be traditional, contemporary, or blended, let's elevate our worship. Let's really work at leading our people in worship.
BTW, how much effort do we put in to our worship services? How much time is given to the planning? How much time is given each week in practice? How much planning is done in making sure that everything is in place?

 

I agree that our praise and worship ought to be solid and well-done, and glorifying God. It is the best way to prepare hearts for the preaching.

We have a choir director/music director who actually grew up in our church's bus ministry. He went on to go to BIble college, and now he's back and on staff. He does a very good job, making sure there is lots of practicing specials, and he's gotten alot of the music program more organized.

I think we have a good thing goin' at our church.

 

James, why would you be so sarcastic? Many church members ARE NOT saved. Would or would you not be glorifying God if someone who had made a profession of faith years before who's profession was false were convicted by the Holy Spirit and came to Christ?

So, are you saying you're not sure of your own salvation, James? I hope you are. </font>[/QUOTE]Hi AVL </font>[/QUOTE]HI, Branch! Glad to see you!

 

I know in our services, we have a blend of contemporary and traditional. Of course the contemporary is done on the small keyboard we use at the present, and not by canned music. It has been wonderful, and people have been responding to the Gospel. If the praise and worship music is scriptural, I don't see a problem with using it.

 

The fruit is where the Gospel is being preached. PW or hymns... who cares? Go where the Gospel is truly being preached. I pastor a traditional church. The fruit we have is because Jesus is lifted up in our hearts and we preach the truth - not because we sing traditional hymns. I love hymns, but I'm not going to say that the churches that have p&w are not fruitful because I have an "opinion". That's just in bad taste.

On the other hand - I'm glad that your church experienced revival. I don't believe it had anything to do with the music. The Word of God was preached. People are going to continue to be saved if the Bible is preached.

 

Amen Brother!