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[0:00] Okay, right, so I've used a different technology this time. This is what we were looking at last time.

[0:10] So we looked at questions that might arise.! Why do we do music in a particular way? And this quote I didn't get because it had disappeared.

[0:24] At our members meeting in October, we had said that we were looking for someone to ensure that song material could be accurately projected without the preacher needing to organise this each time because you're aware that our projection technology means that you can't just take an overhead transparency and whip it up there at a moment's notice.

[0:48] It's all got to be pre-planned. So that's one feature, one factor. And we want somebody to be able to take initiatives so that new, good, appropriate Christian songs are sourced, so found and learnt by the congregation.

[1:10] And if that person could lead and coordinate a team of musicians, that would be a good thing. So this is territory that we've visited before as a church.

[1:22] And that was the words that every member got on a piece of paper that was sent out. Do you remember reading those words? No. I copied them off a piece of paper that was sent out.

[1:35] I mean, that's... I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. That's nothing new, is it? We've been working along these lines for some time. So we've been sourcing and learning new songs sort of intermittently, depending, you know, when Catherine was here, we learnt new songs with Maria.

[1:56] And so we've been doing that, but not very fast. And coordinating a team of musicians, I think we've agreed in principle that's the sort of thing that we would like to do, depends on having people who are sufficiently gifted and have got time to practice, and have got a good attitude to it, and so on and so on, and are able to work together.

[2:20] So, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's nothing new. Are we happy with that? I mean, it wasn't a piece of paper that was given to you on the 24th of October, because I copied it off that.

[2:34] Are you happy with that? That broad is sort of nodding. So our aim, as we continue to discuss, is that we need to go forward with unity.

[2:49] So we need, as a church, to go forward understanding why we're doing what we're doing, understanding the way we're going forward, because I think that unity is most important.

[3:05] It's not... Things like this can be a source of competition and conflict, where one person or one group of people says, well, we want this, and other people say, well, we're not having that, and that can be a source of division.

[3:20] And I'm quite sensitive to this. I don't want us to go forward as a church where we've got whispering and division, but we all know what we're doing together, and we're all happy with it.

[3:37] That does not mean that everybody's going to be happy with every song, but it's part of Christian graciousness to say, well, if this is helpful to such and such a person, I'm happy that they're happy, even though it's not my first choice.

[3:54] That's the sort of graciousness in the way that the assembly runs. So not competing to get our own way, that's what I'm trying to avoid. Okay, with me so far?

[4:05] Yeah? Okay, so what we looked at last time, so what we were doing last time was rather like doing a jigsaw, and you start around the edges, so all the blue bits of sky and all the straight bits and the corners, you fit that in, and you gradually work into the middle.

[4:24] And so that's what we were doing last time on this whole subject by looking at worship in a fairly general sort of way. And we went from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

[4:39] And we said there's some words for worship in the Old Testament, in particular word number 7812. So you may or may not know that a gentleman called Mr. Strong, I think not all that long ago, sort of a couple of hundred years, no, anyway, a chap, went through the Bible and he gave every Hebrew word a number.

[5:06] And then you can, even if you don't know any Hebrew, you can look up in Strong's Concordance such and such a word, can't pronounce it, but it is word 7812, and then you can look up, where is word 7812 used?

[5:23] It's not too difficult to do, particularly there are computerized versions that you can use to do that looking up, which is what I was using last time. So this word for worship is used in a certain number of places, forget how many.

[5:44] So Genesis 22.5, we looked at last time, do you remember where Abraham said, I'm going to take my son Isaac, we're going to go and worship and then come back.

[5:54] So we thought what he might have meant by that. Exodus 34.14 is, well, let's look, I can't remember what it is actually. Exodus 34.14.

[6:13] Yeah. So this is when you go into the land where there are Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

[6:28] It says in Exodus 34.13, break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles, do not worship any other god, for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God.

[6:42] So there's an example of the use of worship. We saw that it's, on several occasions, linked with serve. So I think Deuteronomy 8.19 is just such an example.

[6:55] So worship and serve. So bowing down and saying, I will do what you tell me to do. I am, you are the boss, I am the servant. That's part of worship, to worship and serve.

[7:07] And we also saw that it was linked sometimes with sacrifice. So in the Old Testament, the worshiping system would be linked with sacrifice.

[7:19] There's such an example in 1 Samuel 1.3, where, it says year after year, the man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh.

[7:35] So we did this last time, and we said that Old Testament, there's a whole system of worship, of sacrifices of animals, there's temples, there's temple and priests, and there's precise instructions, how all that works.

[7:52] Certain sacrifices, certain times of year, all this sort of thing. And we said that it would not be correct, just to take that and say, okay, we believe in the Bible, so we will sacrifice animals.

[8:07] We will have a temple and priests. We will have a holy space, and instead of having a pastor, we'll have a priest. It wouldn't be right just to copy all that into the New Testament, because Christ makes a huge difference.

[8:26] And when we go from the Old Testament to the New Testament, we have to go through Christ to get there. And we looked at some texts. We looked at John 4, where it says that the Father seeks worshippers.

[8:43] You remember that? And we looked at Romans 12, 1. Let's look at that one. Which said, which takes the idea of sacrifice and sort of turns it inside out.

[8:58] Sacrifice and worship and turns it inside out for the Christian and says, therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.

[9:15] This is your spiritual act of worship. So it takes that vocabulary of sacrifice of bodies and says, don't go down to the butchers and buy a lamb so that you can go to church and offer it on an altar.

[9:33] Don't do that. What you do do is, because of Jesus Christ, you bring yourself to God and you offer your whole life, your body, everything, you offer that as a living sacrifice.

[9:51] Every moment that you're alive, every breath that you take, you offer yourself to God because this is your spiritual act of worship. You remember, it's rather revolutionary thought, isn't it?

[10:06] And, you with me so far? Yep. One that I didn't mention last time is Romans 15, 16.

[10:18] Another use of the sacrifice language where Paul is talking about his work as a missionary and his aim to take the gospel across the world, outside Jewish circles into the Gentile world.

[10:42] And he says in Romans 15, Romans 15, verse 15, I've written to you quite boldly on some points as if to remind you of them again because of the grace God gave me to be a minister, it's almost like a priestly minister there, of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

[11:13] So again, we're using sacrificial language, but this is a slightly different thing. Again, he says, what I'm offering is not animals.

[11:24] I don't want animals offered to God, but I want the lives of men and women all over the world to be offered to God and I'm part of that. And I'm, you know, this is priestliness nowadays, evangelism, so that people, the Gentiles, Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

[11:52] So that's one we didn't look at last time and to my mind, 1 Corinthians 14 is a key chapter because it tells us about the things that go on in the assembly and in my understanding of it, it keeps on repeating a profoundly important principle that what goes on in the assembly when we gather together as church is that the things that are done must be, for example, 1 Corinthians 14 verse 4, he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.

[12:41] And to my, in my understanding of it, he keeps saying what you need to do, whatever it is, is it must edify the church. And he explains the sort of things he means, so in verse 16, he says, if you're praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand, say amen to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying.

[13:08] You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified. Or why is he not edified? Because he can't understand. So the intelligibility, no, he might sense that you're very excited, but unless he can understand what you're saying, it is not edifying.

[13:26] So he says in verse 18, I thank God I speak in tongues more than all of you, but in the church, when we're assembled like this, I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue.

[13:41] So I think he's just emphasizing the same thing again and again. What you do when you're in the assembly must be intelligible, understandable, because then it's edifying.

[13:53] And if it isn't edifying, you shouldn't be doing it in the assembly. Okay, that's just to repeat what we saw last time. So here's hopefully a little picture coming up. Yes. Okay, here's a picture of the world.

[14:09] And here is a man climbing a tree to pick fruit or something like that, a farmer. Here's a family. Here's a man doing some gardening.

[14:23] Here is a musician. Here is, just so I wasn't being sexist, here is a lady instructing a crane driver how to drive a crane.

[14:36] And here is a little house in which people have assembled as church. Now, here's a question. Let me get a different color.

[14:47] Here's a question. How much of that is worship? Where is worship taking place? Or where should worship be taking place? All over.

[15:02] All over. So, this, from here, from, whoops, oh! Oh! from one end to the other is worship.

[15:18] It ought to be worship. If there was a Christian people, all of that ought to be worship. And here, this is still worship.

[15:32] What happens in the church? What's the difference between the worship out there and the worship in there, if any? What's the difference? They're all together, yeah.

[15:48] Okay, so they could be doing, hearing the word preached, yeah, it could be words. Okay, well, I would like to say that it's all worship, and what goes on here is the worship that is edifying.

[16:08] Yeah, edifying. What he actually says is edifying the church. So, I think this is building up Christians, so, encouraging faith, encouraging hope, encouraging love, encouraging holiness, encouraging gratitude, and doing it in a way that builds us up together.

[16:36] So, it's different from saying, you sit in your corner and read your Bible, you sit in your corner and sing, you sit in your corner and do something else. It's a corporate activity that the things that are said and done edify the church.

[16:55] Is that helpful? helpful? So, do interrupt me if I'm not making sense. Does that, I'm sure that needs thinking about more than that, probably deserves a better answer, but I think that gets us on the right track.

[17:11] So, we would come to church and go away thinking, I learnt something, I was reminded of something, I participated in something Christian, something that is enabling me to be stronger and enabling us to be a stronger church.

[17:34] Is that fair enough? Okay, so, that's sort of where we got to last time. So, there are two things I'm going to say this evening that make me feel as though I'm Ebenezer Scrooge.

[17:51] Okay, which I think, am I really like that? Perhaps I'll leave that to your judgment. Let's just talk about these three questions here.

[18:06] So, what sort of things then constitute worship done in the assembly? I wanted to look at this expression that people use, a time of worship, and see what your thoughts are on about that.

[18:22] And then also, a question, what offerings can we bring to God? Okay, so, there's sort of three slightly random questions on this. But I just want to get us thinking on those.

[18:40] Be prepared to answer that while we're all sitting like we are. Is there a microphone just so that we bring it a little bit closer? answer? So, any of those questions in any order?

[18:54] Anybody like to say anything about any of them? So, Anya's going to say something here. So, nice and slow, Anya. Worship, for me, is a very personal thing, and I think for everyone as well, because our faith and our walk with God is very personal, although it's also corporate.

[19:18] For me, it's often associated with, for example, like Ben. I love my husband, and I can tell, you know, Wendy, I love my husband. He's so amazing. You know, he's wonderful, but I actually never go to him and say this to him personally, Ben, I love you.

[19:34] And worship for me is something I want to tell God, how amazing he is, how great he is, what he has done. And sometimes I can think about myself, God, you loved me great, and I'm so good person, or you saved me.

[19:48] I can think about myself, talk a lot about me, but I want to talk about him. I had enough of myself, really. Okay. Let's just have a think about that.

[19:59] So, you're saying worship is very personal. Yeah, okay. So, I think the question is, we're each going to come wired up in a different way.

[20:12] We've got different ways our inner being works. And I think what we have to say is, okay, this is what it is for me, but we also have to think, what does the Bible say it has to be for everybody else?

[20:29] For example, today we sang the Psalm 22, and that one was not very personal. It's a song, but maybe half of us feel like really you are warm today, and you're really down.

[20:40] I could not face to think that, because I do not feel that would be hypocrisy to me to think that. If I think, God, you are great, it's always truth. It's always truth, and it's truth for everyone, hopefully here.

[20:53] So, everyone who is Christian will be truth, and they will be able to participate in that. Yeah. Okay, well, Psalm 22 isn't about me, or about you, it's about Jesus.

[21:07] So, do you say, well, that's an interesting thought, because we're told to sing Psalms. So, what should our response be if we have a Psalm, which is like Psalm 22?

[21:25] So, it's not about us. It's not me saying, you've forsaken me, it's entering into, it's about Jesus Christ, isn't it?

[21:37] The Psalm is about him. So, okay, I mean, I don't have to answer. It's not clear for visitors, for example, non-Christian came, and he's singing those words.

[21:54] It's not clear if Jesus sang that. For non-Christians, it's not clear at all. Okay, so you think it needs explaining. Yeah, okay. But it is a Psalm, and we are commanded to sing Psalms.

[22:06] So, maybe that means that we have to adjust how we're thinking about it, because it doesn't necessarily mean that we've got to identify ourselves with everything that is said.

[22:19] So, when it says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? We're not saying God has forsaken me. We're saying that is the experience that Christ had on the cross, because he's the one who said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[22:32] Isn't it? So, thank you for that. That's a very good thought. It makes us think about what we're thinking when we're singing things. Okay, thank you very much.

[22:45] So, any other thoughts? It's very helpful, very stimulating thought that. First of all, a comment about, your comment, worship is about God.

[23:10] God. Well, I said that, did I? I think so. I'm not conscious of saying that, but that doesn't mean I didn't say it.

[23:21] Well, certainly that one would, the Psalm, Psalm 22 that we sang, we would, I think, agree that we were worshipping when we sang it and that was about God.

[23:46] I mean, the centrality of worship is about him. Yeah. In that sense. Okay, yes.

[24:02] And I don't mean that there's nothing personal about it because in a sense our relationship to God is personal.

[24:19] Yes. And that is apparent even when we worshipping corporately, I think. Yeah. I think sometimes the phrase a time of worship is often used to refer to not the whole of a service but to part of the service which is often largely corporate singing.

[25:00] So an initial comment on that. I think the phrase is the way it's used in practice is misleading because I think the whole of what we do corporately together and indeed as you've said the whole of life is worship.

[25:21] So to label part of our corporate time together a time of worship as if the rest of it is something different I think is misleading.

[25:34] Yeah. Well that's exactly what I think. I feel a bit like Ebeneezer Scrooge saying it but I totally agree with you because I don't think if this is a correct description I think it is the way the Bible looks at it.

[25:48] All our time is worship there should not be a time that is not worship and when we come together everything that we do if it's valid in the assembly even talking to one another before and afterwards is worship so reading the Bible we're doing God the service of listening to his word praying we're coming to him singing yes even giving out cups of tea is worship so I think what people mean is a time of singing is what usually people mean yeah perhaps can I just give one more comment on that I think I don't have any intrinsic problem with singing sort of two or three a number of songs one after the other although it's not something that we generally do but

[26:55] I do think that occasionally I'm sure some of us have been in situations where the singing of perhaps a greater number of songs one after another having practice sometimes meant that the focus of the worship becomes my feelings more than it's about God in practice okay well if I may I'd like to maybe comment on that I mean that's a slightly separate point yeah I'd like to come if I can God willing next week to this matter of emotions and music and stuff like that so but thank you so thank you very much so we sort of does anybody else want to say anything on those questions yes

[28:00] David sorry just one thought when you did the box around the church and said that whatever is happening there has to be edifying yeah and I think perhaps the crux of of that is is is there a narrow range of things that is considered edifying or is there actually in the sense that God is a very creative God is there actually quite a wide range of things that are edifying and I suppose if I'm picking up Anu's point of us telling God that we love him so if in a meeting like this someone expresses their joy in being loved by God there might not be a lot of truth in it but someone is just expressing their joy is that edifying I think it is because it would encourage you know yes of course so we just need to be a little bit careful so if the person praying in tongues was expressing their love to God and they might be very enthusiastic about it so you see they're obviously enthusiastic about something but if you didn't understand it then it would not pass the test of being edifying

[29:22] I agree that if there's something like that it needs to be interpreted but I'm just saying that some of our very different ways of reacting to God some I mean there's actually a lovely worship song I know that talks about what it would be like when I see Jesus will I dance for him will I sing hallelujah will I be able to speak at all you may know it but there is such a wide variety according to the kind of people we are how we respond to Jesus and I just think there's room for being encouraged in a very wide variety of ways and I don't I just yeah so personally I would draw a line just before dance because I don't think dance is intelligible I mean I suppose there's situations where it could be interpreted and somebody could say this person is now showing that

[30:23] Christ died on the cross for them or this person is now just showing that they love God very much but I would draw the line dance and say that it's fine it's got a place like music and everything it's worship of God but in the assembly I can't quite myself I mean I could be wrong but I can't quite see how it edifies in being intelligible yeah I think we're probably picking on a couple of things as you say if it's difficult to understand what it means yes it may not be so obviously edifying but there's just a vast variety of the ways we are encouraged by one another yeah I think this it's quite this bit here means that there's a lot of things that are edifying so and therefore our worship yeah but it does draw a line and say there's some things that are worship but they're not edifying yeah so personally

[31:35] I'd put dance outside that I know some Christian people have a ministry of dance I admire them very much but I just think not for me I don't think I could yes I wasn't really raising that as a subject no did you have something Wendy yeah I thought it was a very helpful definition Brenda and you know to give us you know remind us that actually worship is what we do throughout and having been in churches that have what they call a time of worship I think probably it is the wrong name for what goes on but having said that I do quite like the time as I would call it a response to what we've heard as a time of worship which doesn't have to actually just be song it can be prayer and reading as well yeah yep I think I'm far from trying to justify that what we do is the only way to do things and I'm very far from saying that the only way is what gets called a hymn sandwich but response yes

[32:52] I mean I think I'll come on to this next but I think it is responding to the truth about God because I think there is a danger in what one actually is responding to is something other than that but responding to the word of God to what he has said to us I think is sorry do you pass the microphone over sorry I would say a reflective response because it would give you a chance to reflect as well you know like I was also thinking you know about the song you know the Psalm 22 song that we sung and you know although God is a very personal God he's a very relational God and I felt that that song we're like sharing in the experience of how Jesus felt as a I thought it was more like a sharing experience rather than a personal reflection it's not saying something about me it's saying something exactly so you know we're delving into what

[33:57] Christ went through and sometimes we can feel that for ourselves and there was a positive outcome at the end of that so yeah thank you I really wanted to say something in regard to what we've been talking about in in the worship isn't necessarily just about God but it's also if we if we take the Psalms for instance quite a few of the Psalms talk about us for instance Psalm 23 the Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want he makes me lie down in green pastes he leads me beside quiet waters so we're talking about ourselves in relation to God so it's it's not just about him it's about us in relation to him yeah what I would like to say is

[34:59] I remember reading a book which said we should get back to pure vertical worship as if that was what we should be aiming for and what I well I know what the Bible says is that real worship is vertical and it's also horizontal and if it isn't both of those things it isn't worship well no sorry if it isn't both of those things it's not what we do when we're together and I'll hope to demonstrate the truth of that in a moment Roberto I really like the way you structured the evening and my thought is you talk about edifying what is God edifying the church why there is outside we have the living God in us that's why we need to be together to be edified what is building that's the main difference we are one here different gift and different problems sometimes we need different problems we come here humbling ourselves most of the time sometimes we're happy sometimes we're not

[36:23] God is always building on us I like to see the church and every time I see one of you I see God that's the way I think the assemblies built on with different ministry different gift that that's the word I really like is the previous page unity you really stress that word everything needs to be done in unity to justice to talk about it thank you very much one of the seams and strands of that is what the Bible says there are one another ministries so confess your sins to one another encourage one another submit to one another pray for one another so all these things go on in the assembly so there's one another which means just sitting while one person talks is not the whole thing at all it's when we pray in little groups or when you greet people at the beginning at the end that's part of it we haven't finished when the last hymn is sung we're just moving to another part of what goes on together okay so that was revising last time shall we start this time study so let's do a little bit of this and then

[37:58] I'm sure you will have had enough so what I wanted to look at this time was what does the Bible say about singing or in particular what does the New Testament say about singing and there are I could find about ten places where it's mentioned and so I've missed out the Song of Moses I've missed out the Psalms I've missed out what happens in the Old Testament in the Temple but I've jumped into the New Testament are you with me are you happy to do this for a few minutes or would you prefer to that's two people at least right so this is my second Ebenezer Scrooge moment which is this this is the question can angels sing okay the question can angels sing I think that's there's actually quite a profound answer to that but let's let's go through and we'll find all the verses which talk about angels singing so I've looked up in my concordance sing song songs sang and this is what

[39:11] I've come up with are you up for looking at these so Revelation 15 they're working backwards from the end actually Revelation 15 and I'm quite happy to not finish this but to carry it on next time Revelation 15 3 it says verse 2 and I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire standing beside the sea those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name they held harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the lamb great and marvelous are your deeds Lord God almighty just and true are your ways king of the ages who will not fear you oh Lord and bring glory to your name for you alone are holy all nations will come to you and worship before you for your righteous acts have been revealed so

[40:20] I don't know what tune they sang it to looks quite difficult to find a tune for that who's doing the singing who does it say is doing the singing those who have been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name so these are the people who were in the battle and came out victorious so it's not angels it's people it's us it's the redeemed people and so you notice they are singing so that's a right a deeply right thing to do to be singing

[41:23] God's praise they are addressing themselves to God great and marvelous are your deeds Lord God almighty so they are addressing themselves to God but you notice they are addressing themselves to God in a way that communicates something to the rest of us well why are you great and mighty because just and true are your ways king of the ages for you alone are holy all nations will come and worship before you for your righteous acts have been revealed so it's it's worship to God but it's not just simply saying I love you that is a valid thing to say but in this case they're saying I love you because this I'm worshipping you because so they're spelling it out are you happy with that that's just one example it shows us that that singing is part of what we were made for 14 3 14 3 they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders no one could learn the song except the 144 thousand who had been redeemed from the earth okay who's singing the redeemed who else can sing this no one that's an interesting thought isn't it that there is something that redeemed people have to sing about that no one else has to sing about only the redeemed people can sing this redeemed meaning bought by the blood of

[43:13] Jesus Christ he died for these people they've been bought by his blood and they alone can sing this song they alone can say thank you lord that you died on the cross for me thank you for saving me thank you for doing this for me thank you for forgiving my sins see the angels don't have that song because they haven't been redeemed but only we can sing that see that's a wonderful privilege isn't it revelation 5 9 when he had taken it the four living creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the lamb each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints and they sang a new song you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for

[44:17] God from every tribe and language and people and nation you have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign on the earth let me do the next sentence I looked and heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands ten thousand times tens thousand they encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders in a loud voice to do this literally they said I know it says different in your translation it says it different in mine but I looked it up they said worthy is the lamb who was slain who are the people did the first bit the singing yeah that's what it says isn't it it says the four living creatures and the twenty four elders now so if they were angels that would contradict I would be wrong so maybe

[45:17] I am wrong but I don't I'm going to stick to I'm going to stick to what I'm going stick to my thing which is I don't think angels can sing if you look yeah but that's a mistranslation look it up verse 13 I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them saying I know but it's lego which is to say so our translators I think confuse us in this but this is me being Ebenezer Scrooge because everybody knows angels sing at the birth of Jesus but it doesn't say that at all it's as they say but even if I'm wrong here's the important point God has given human beings!

[46:14] the ability to sing animals! don't sing well they sort of chirrup and stuff I don't think angels can sing but anyway maybe I'm wrong but only the redeemed can sing the song of the redeemed only the redeemed that means that Christians have got a special thing that they can sing the song of the redeemed and what a song to sing we can do that what a gift we've been given to be able to sing God's praises so I mean that's a wonderfully inspiring thing we can sing the praises of God isn't that brilliant we can sing the song of the redeemed nobody else can sing it isn't that totally brilliant what a gift God's given us to be able to do that let's do one more verse let's go to

[47:16] Colossians 3 16 and then we'll stop there aren't that many verses well actually there's two I think basically that talk about no that's not right three that talk about singing in the assembly as such and this is one of them Colossians 3 I take it from verse 15 and let let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body you were called to peace and be thankful let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom and as you sing psalms hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to

[48:22] God and whatever you do whether in word or deed do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through him okay let's imagine an assembly!

[48:36] some of this is certainly true outside the assembly but it's certainly true inside the assembly too so here's the assembly now would anybody from those verses like to tell us any of the qualities that are supposed to describe that assembly any of the sorts of things that go on in a group like that from verses 15 to 17 okay hold on to that one for a moment!

[49:04] so thank you for that we'll come back to that anything else? Peace yeah thank you so it talks about the unity of this group and it says that it's characterized by peace so we're sort of working together a sort of intermeshing as opposed to conflict and bitterness and you know factions so peace yep anything else that is supposed to characterize this group thankfulness yeah so this is a group of people of which you could say a predominant feature is that they are thankful that's a nice thought isn't it you go to a lot of groups and their predominant mood is moaning isn't it that's right the council haven't done this or see what the boss has done or do you know what she said yesterday and it's about moaning but the fellowship of the church should be about thankfulness they're thankful thank God for this thank God for that thank God for Jesus thank God for what he's done for me so thankfulness yeah thank you anything else thank you so this is the what sort is stamped through here

[50:32] I can't write that but the word of Christ the message of Christ the message about Christ it dwells there in what way richly which is a wonderful thing isn't it so if you were to go if a Martian was to come into the assembly and just listen you know wonder what they're talking about there oh they seem to be talking about Christ and those people are talking about Christ as well and a chap at the front talked about Christ and they seemed to sing a song oh that's about Christ too the word of Christ richly sort of is soaked in you know if Jamie Oliver were making a recipe for church he'd say I want to take the word of Christ we're going to whack it in there mmm that's delicious mmm that's what that's what it would be the word of Christ richly dwells in this church ok so now what activities does it say it does talk about activities ok you sing psalms hymns and spiritual songs so it does say sing psalms so I take recourse to that so it's right to sing psalms perhaps we need a little bit more thinking about what we how we do so but it does say sing psalms who are they sung to so if I do a singing let's do a singing here there's some musical notes who to

[52:08] God ok so which verse does it say to God end of 16 with gratitudes in your hearts to God so it's vertical ok is that all no you teach and admonish one another as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs that's right that's what it says that the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God so it's got both those directions you're singing with gratitude to God and you're teaching and admonishing one another as you do so that's what it says that's what happens in the assembly so you see it isn't just sideways and it isn't only vertical it's both I mean what might count as teaching and admonishing one another well let me just see whether

[53:14] I can find a psalm that does something like that so I'm wondering whether psalm 95 because psalm 95 says come let us sing for joy to the Lord let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song so that's about God but it's admonishing one another it's saying let me get the quote right it's saying come let us sing for joy to God let us shout aloud to the God of our salvation so it's addressing one another isn't it that's a sideways thing so it's saying are you going to do that for shouting aloud to the God of our salvation come let us sing to the Lord so it's it's not just saying you know what I think about God it's it's sideways thing again for the Lord is a great God the great king above all gods in his hands are the depths of the earth and the mountain peaks belong to him the sea is his for he made it and his hands formed the dry land that's edifying isn't it you think yes that's who

[54:28]  God is I grasp that and then let's admonish and instruct come let us bow down in reverence let us kneel before the Lord our maker that's addressed to one another isn't it yeah for we are for he is our God we're the people of his pasture the flock under his care okay thank you very much for your contributions and patience it didn't get as far as we wanted but I hope it's useful I hope we're getting a little bit the hang of this and understanding one another would anybody like a ending ending ending