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[DaveW]

God loves music played on instruments in worship of Him, and he loves it when people sing before the congregation in worship of Him.

Psa 33:2 Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. 

Psa 68:25 The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.

[Ukulelemike]

3 hours ago, Invicta said:

Regarding the speed of online music.  If you download Audacity you can load your music files in and speed them up or slow them down without altering the pitch. Or you can alter the pitch without altering the speed.    If you do downloawd becareful from which site as some can have malicious software with them.

I use Audacity, but I have found that it can distort the music when the speed is changed.

We only use a couple sites, that we have had good history with. One is an IFB pastor who plays their entire hymnal, and I think they must have the same as ours because he includes some that I don;t see anywhere else.

17 minutes ago, DaveW said:

God loves music played on instruments in worship of Him, and he loves it when people sing before the congregation in worship of Him.

Psa 33:2 Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. 

Psa 68:25 The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.

True, however, when we seek to use the temple worship as our example, we must consider that only very few select people could be involved, ALL of them had to be Levites, and only a few specific instruments were allowed. It was really nothing like what churches do today. We work according to the New Testament model, not the Old Testament temple worship-very different things.

[DaveW]

2 hours ago, Ukulelemike said:

 

True, however, when we seek to use the temple worship as our example, we must consider that only very few select people could be involved, ALL of them had to be Levites, and only a few specific instruments were allowed. It was really nothing like what churches do today. We work according to the New Testament model, not the Old Testament temple worship-very different things.

I wasn't trying to apply the law to any church or Christian, only pointing out that verses like this indicate that God loves music when used in worship of him, both with instruments and also with dedicated singers.

Those people who say instruments should not be used and choirs should not be used are ignoring clear Biblical principle.

[swathdiver]

In our local church, the members sing 2 hymns at the beginning of service followed by announcements and a special or two and a final hymn by the congregation.  For each service on the Lord's Day, the choir is seated and sings along with the congregation but they open the service with a short song before the church joins in.  

At the end of service, during the invitation, the congregations sings a line or two or three from "Jesus Paid It All" for example.  

Ours is blessed with many pianists and organ players and many beautiful voices all lead by our beloved music director.

 

[Invicta]

15 hours ago, Ukulelemike said:

I use Audacity, but I have found that it can distort the music when the speed is changed.

We only use a couple sites, that we have had good history with. One is an IFB pastor who plays their entire hymnal, and I think they must have the same as ours because he includes some that I don;t see anywhere else.

 

I have not changed the speed often but it seemed OK when I did. Not sure if I used it on music, but may have only used it once or twice to slaw a preacher down who spoke too fast to catch all he said.  May have used it on music but I can't remember.

[Ukulelemike]

13 hours ago, swathdiver said:

In our local church, the members sing 2 hymns at the beginning of service followed by announcements and a special or two and a final hymn by the congregation.  For each service on the Lord's Day, the choir is seated and sings along with the congregation but they open the service with a short song before the church joins in.  

At the end of service, during the invitation, the congregations sings a line or two or three from "Jesus Paid It All" for example.  

Ours is blessed with many pianists and organ players and many beautiful voices all lead by our beloved music director.

 

Sounds very nice. In our church I am also the music director. Sadly, with one past exception while I have been the pastor, (and except for my wife, who can sing well but doesn't believe me) no one else can carry a tune in a bucket. So for 14 years I've been the music director.

[Invicta]

4 hours ago, Ukulelemike said:

Sounds very nice. In our church I am also the music director. Sadly, with one past exception while I have been the pastor, (and except for my wife, who can sing well but doesn't believe me) no one else can carry a tune in a bucket. So for 14 years I've been the music director.

In our church we have a grand piano and a pianist. We have four people who can play the piano.  For various reasons up to three may not be available.Their ability varies.  We are only a small church but in the evening service we only have about 10 attend but the singing is better than one church I once visited with about 100 attendees. We don't have a band, choir or music director, and especially not a" worship leader".

[Ukulelemike]

16 hours ago, Invicta said:

In our church we have a grand piano and a pianist. We have four people who can play the piano.  For various reasons up to three may not be available.Their ability varies.  We are only a small church but in the evening service we only have about 10 attend but the singing is better than one church I once visited with about 100 attendees. We don't have a band, choir or music director, and especially not a" worship leader".

Last Sunday we had three kids from the neighborhood, 8-10, attend. None of them knew the music, but I noticed that at least one of them picked it up quick and followed the tune very well. The singing was noticably enhanced, but one child, at least. Hoping we can keep them in. They claim to have been saved, but of course at that age we don't take it for granted, but would like to be able to foster the talent. I am afraid that no one is hardly taught music as kids anymore, hence they grow up with no ability to keep time or hear the notes. When I was a kid they taught us the basics of music early on, including rythym. I remember as far back as fifth grade having to play the triangle and the various tapping things, which taught rythym and beat, and singing in choirs. Now so many schools are removing music as unnecessary. And most churches anymore just blare lousy rock and roll and never teach people to use hymnals and to follow music. It is mostly performance, not participation. 

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Edited March 19, 2023 by ...

[Ukulelemike]

23 hours ago, Brother Stafford said:

*Update*

I have removed this section from my blog.  You can still view the videos via their original sources:

Musical Discernment Videos by Pastors Graham and James West at Tamworth Bible Baptist Church in New South Wales.

Ungodly Music Warning Videos by Brother David Cloud at the Way of Life Literature website.

You haven't gone CCM and worldly on us, have you brother? lol

 

[Saved41199]

I came from a church that had the "rock concert" at the beginning of the service...3-4 "worship" songs, loud, rock type songs. Now...it's not that I have anything against loud music, I did grow up in the late 70's...BUT...there's a huge difference between a concert and church. The church itself was like a concert hall...but...it's not what my soul and spirit was crying for...Our church now has a choir hymn, a congregational hymn, announcements, prayer and the teaching. The hymns point to Christ, the music is neither loud nor overpowering, and it stirs my soul and spirit to focus on Christ. 

Even at home, I no longer really feel the need to blast music (I could never listen to CCM...I was a semi-professional musician from a long line of professional musicians) i prefer either sermons or something quiet now. The Lord has done a work in my soul and spirit. 

Pray for me as I go forward for baptism tomorrow...thanks!

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Edited March 19, 2023 by ...

[Musician4God1611]

I think the key to this post is in the topic name. A lot of the musical set up of the services is according to the discernment of the pastor. It varies according to the members of the church and the people providing the music. If you have quite a few people that are doing specials for show, it might be in the pastor's interest to not have special music. If you have a piano player or organ player that has a "you couldn't do this without me" mentality, maybe the pastor should make it an acapella church. True there are definite rights and wrongs in music, but there is much that is just left to discernment of the pastor. As with any area of the Church, learn the principles and then use discernment in your situation, staying within the principles.

Remember that music is one of the most powerful influences in a person's life (I stress that I said ONE of the most). It is just as wrong to have a song service out of balance or not holding to truth, as it is the preaching. The pastor needs to make it clear that there are certain songs that are unscriptural and will not be sung in church. The pastor needs to study up on what music is right or wrong and needs to make sure that the music in his church complies. In short, the pastor needs to have discernment, and he doesn't need to take the attitude, "well I don't know that much about music so I just leave it up to so-in-so to keep an eye on things". No Pastor, that is your job. Study, pray, take an interest in the well being of your church. The songs that your people hear in church, they will go home, look it up on YouTube, and listen to it throughout the week. So your song service, like it or not, is reflecting what you believe is right and wrong.

[Invicta]

1 hour ago, Musician4God1611 said:

If you have quite a few people that are doing specials for show,

Do you have a sevice to put on a show?

[Musician4God1611]

That's my point. You don't want people to do it for a show, therefore you should probably do away with specials. If you're going to quote me, quote the whole sentence.