Quite an appropriate song when a pastor chooses to preach from 1 Chronicles. I mentioned when we first started this book, it would be the most challenging book that I've ever preached from, including Revelation. You recall why? It's because the first ten chapters are all full of names. We've worked through that. It's the inspired Word of God, every single name, even though we might not know every single name, and even though we might mispronounce every single name. But as we come to the end of 1 Chronicles, what we find in chapter 23 all the way through chapter 28 is more names. So we're right in the midst of more names. God has a purpose. of recording all these names. The chronicler who actually wrote this, remember that he is writing to the exiles that are coming back from captivity, back into the promised land, and they don't have a lot of hope. So he's trying to encourage them. He's trying to edify them and build them up. And here what he does, he starts giving the number and the officers of the first singers musicians that David actually put in place. Now he does this, he brings this record to light for those who are coming back. What we find here in 1 Chronicles chapter 25 is a list of the choirs, and they're divided by a lot into 24 groups. There are 12 in each group, which total up 12 times 24 is 288. There's 288 as far as in these musicians and choir singers. So there is a total as far as singers, this is the rotation, but there are a total of 4,000. So there is a lot that are involved, and this is of the Levites. What we find David appointing, they're basically from three different families. And notice what the Word of God says in verse 1 in chapter 25. Moreover David, and the captain of the host, separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps. with psalteries and with symbols. And the number of the workmen according to their service was. Of the sons of Asaph," now here is the first family. You notice the second family was Haman, the third one's Jeruthun. Of the sons of Asaph in verse 2 was Sekir, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Azariah, the sons of Asaph under the hands of Asaph, which prophesied according to the order of the king. of Jeruthun, the sons of Jeruthun, Gedaliah, Zeriah, Jeshiah, Hashebiah, Mattathiah, six under the hands of their father Jeruthun, who prophesied with a harp to give thanks and to praise the Lord. Of Heman, the sons of Heman, Bukiah, Mattaniah, Uziel, Shibuel, and Jeremoth, Hananiah, Hananiah, Eliatha Gidalti, Roman T. Ezer, Josh B. Cashaw, Malothi, Hother, and Mehazioth. All these were the sons of Heman, the king's seers in the words of God, to lift up the horn. And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters, and these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of the Lord with symbols psalteries, harps, for the service of the house of God, according to the king's order to Asaph and to Jeduthun and to Heman." Now I want you to notice here before we continue on with many, many, many more names, I want you to notice that the temple service was made up, as far as in Jewish worship, of these devout They exalted God with their song. No doubt that they were very impressive. They were very devoted and devotional. Because the musicians were very close to the heart of God. David had put these in place. Nathan, the prophet, had helped him and guided him and gave him a word from the Lord concerning that. But I want you to notice the place once again in music. We've talked quite a bit about music in the book of 1 Chronicles, but music at times, you know as well as I do, a lot of times, if you go to some churches and sometimes larger churches, what you'll have is a lot of times music will show off talent. A lot of times music will entertain. You go to some churches or some places where they have lights and flashing lights and big stages and platforms and music you cannot understand what they're saying because it's so loud and it reverberates. A lot of times what that does, it entertains and it gets emotions drawn up. But here I want you to notice in verse 7, so the number of them with their brethren that were instructed in the songs of the Lord, even all that were cunning was two hundred four score and eight. Here, I want you to notice the emphasis right in the middle of that verse, they sang the songs of the Lord. It is the songs of the Lord that affects the singer as well as the hearer when God is in it. If someone is up for show to show off their talent and their pride, you know what? It does not minister grace into the hearer. It's only as we sing the songs of the Lord. When it's coming from the heart to bring glory to the Lord, does it grace the hearers who are hearing the songs of the Lord. Music has always been very closely related to morals. You think about it, there is music that you can play and some of you may play different kinds of music throughout the week and the words can lead you to the most lowly places in this world. It can lead your thought life into thinking of things that you would normally think of if you weren't listening to that music. And it might simply be Not terrible music, but you know what? You need to guard your heart with all diligence, because out of the heart comes the issues of life. What you, as the old saying goes, what you put in will come out. Garbage in, garbage out. Music has a very deep effect upon our souls. Not only can it bring us to the lowest places that the most evil men go to, It can also lift our souls up right into the very heaven of heavens in worshiping our God. There was a writer who was a poet named George Eliot. He said, the mission of music is love in search of a word. Well, that sounds like a good definition. because we desire to show love unto our Lord. And music, when it comes from the heart, it's to express our love to the Lord our God for the great things that He has done for us. I want you to notice in verse 1, what we read there, that the latter part of that, it talks about these three families who should prophesy with heart and with psalteries and with symbols. Here, the Word of God is saying that these three families that make up this choral group, this large group of singers and musicians, what their job was to do was to prophesy, and that prophesying was to come with instruments. Now, think with me here for a moment. As they prophesy, That means it's not a human ability that they're displaying. It is a gift of the Spirit that they have been gifted with that they are expressing praise and thanks unto the Lord our God. I believe I heard Brother Josh say a few things this morning. Some of them I'm going to forget about that speeding ticket. We didn't hear that. We don't forgot that. But one of the things he was talking about was, how do you know a true prophet of God? A prophet, one of the things Brother Josh mentioned in Sunday School class, is not always telling future events. That's not what a prophet always did. A prophet would very simply proclaim God's Word. And so a false prophet would proclaim that which is not God's Word. Here's how you tell a prophet from a non-prophet, found over there in Deuteronomy chapter 18. Here it's proclaiming what God has revealed with authority. And God's Word from Genesis to Revelation is God's revealed will. And if you add to that, and you come around and say, and I've got a word from the Lord, let me tell you, we need to talk. Because if that don't line up with the Word of God, me and you are going to talk. You know what? It's got to line up with God's Word, or you're a false prophet. There's a lot of people who've got a word from the Lord, so to speak, that don't have anything to do with the Word of God. Here, these three families, they prophesied. They sang the Word of God. They sang the songs of the Lord with harps and psalteries and with cymbals, is what the Word of God says. If you were to look over in the book of Psalms, and we won't take time to look at all them Psalms, but Asaph wrote, I think it was about twelve different Psalms. Where you find Psalms by Asaph is Psalm 50, and then starting in Psalm 73 all the way through Psalm 83, you've got Psalms by Asaph. Jeduthun is a little bit different. There were songs that were given unto Jeduthun. In Psalm 39, Psalm 66, and Psalm 71, they were given to Jeduthun, and he was the one who played those songs. that were given to him. There is only one recorded from Heman, and that is in Psalm 88. So here are these psalmist, singers, musicians, and we've got records of some of the things they played and some of the things they sang. But I want you to notice here Starting out in verse 1 once again, notice it was David that separated these three families. But he had help, it says, the captain of the host. Now the captains of the host, this would be the captains of the armies. This would pull in the military as far as they were involved in the order of musicians. Now that might sound a little odd. The army, the military, has a part with musicians. But not if you knew how the army of God went forward. Let me draw your attention to 1 Chronicles chapter 20, passage of scripture which we've already gone over. Well, I think it's 2 Chronicles. We haven't gone over it yet. 2 Chronicles chapter 20. In 2 Chronicles 20, notice what the Word of God says in verse 1. And it came to pass after this also that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Here they're about to go to war with Israel, or actually with Judah. And it's told Jehoshaphat. Then notice down in verse 17. In verse 17, Here is what is told to the children of Judah. You shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord will be with you. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. And the Levites of the children of the Koathites and the children of the Korhites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high. And they rose early in the morning. They went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established. Believe his prophets, so shall you prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord. And that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord, for his mercy endures forever." Notice the singers are at the front line of the warriors. You don't have the army going out first, you've got the singers going before the army into battle. Now that sounds kind of odd to me, especially in our day and time, doesn't it? Can you imagine us standing in a bunch of choir, beautiful singers in front of a bomb going off? It sounds just odd. But I want you to notice, the purpose is that God might give the glory for it. They praise God, God gives the victory. Notice what it says in verse 22, And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come against Judah, and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir. utterly to slay and destroy them. When they made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy another. When Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and behold, there were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped." Sounds like a good battle plan. Put the Lord first. Jehoshaphat and his people came and just collected all the spoils. In battle times, back in the Old Testament, what Israel would do or what Judah would do, they would put the singers to the front. And they would go forth singing praise unto God. Notice here back in our context in 1 Chronicles 25, it talks about these particular families. There's three of them. You have Heman, he is over the wind instruments. You've got Jeduthun, who is over the harp. There are 24 choirs, remember, containing 12 in each one, which each one had a leader that's included in that 12, totaling 288 as far as in shifts, with a total, they rotated every week or two, yet they had a total of 4,000. There was a lot of order as far as in their worship. And things ought to be done decently in order is what we find over in the book of Corinthians in the New Testament times. God is a God of order. But let me ask you this. Because there was so much order with these singers and musicians, was there room for spontaneity? Was there room for all of a sudden just praising the Lord? Kind of out of order. of the order. I want you to notice here in this passage of Scripture, in the first three verses you find the word prophesy three different times. And then you find also, according to the service, to their service, in verse one, according to the order, in verse 2, and then it talks about, it says it once again, each time here they prophesied, that means they were led by the Spirit of God. You know what that means? That means there's room for spontaneity there. Even so in our worship service, there's room for spontaneity. Though we have an order of service, there's nothing wrong with being spontaneous in praising God. There is nothing wrong with all of a sudden getting service out of a little bit of order and praising God in a little bit of a different way. In verses 2 through 6, we read that passage of Scripture, and what you have are the sons of Asaph, the sons of Jedethon, and the sons of Heman, along with his daughters. there is a variety as far as within this choir. I want you to notice here, it says in verse 5, in the latter part of that verse, God gave to Heman 14 sons and 3 daughters. Now he had a big family. Wouldn't you say 17 kids is a pretty large family. Can you imagine Heman with his 14 sons and his three daughters come into the temple. You know what's about to happen. They're about to start singing praises to God. Every time you saw this family as they're starting to travel together, here is a group going to praise God. They were, as it says in verse 7, so the number of them with the brethren that were instructing the songs of the Lord, even all that were cunning was two hundred and four score and eight. And they cast lots. Here is how they chose who did what. There were male and there were some female there because notice Heman had three daughters. And it says when they cast lots, ward against ward, as well as the small as the great, the teacher and the scholar. In other words, there was no bias in choosing who was doing what because they cast lots. And ultimately, the lot, as it fell, came from the Lord. There was no partiality. You ever heard, I'm not very music adept, but my wife is, my daughter is, and you know, if you play in an orchestra, you have what's called first chair, you have second chair, and I often think, if you're in second, you got second chair, don't you think they're a little bit jealous of the first chair? Does that ever happen? Never happens. Yeah, it does happen. Here, there's no room for that because the lots were cast for who was doing what. And ultimately the decision was coming from God. And all that... Notice this variety. All that participated, participated. There was none silent. There was none that were idle. They were all active. And there was such a variety. You know what? Here's something beautiful. One of the beautiful things about New Life Baptist Church over the years is that there are people from different nations, different ages. There's male, there's female, and you know what? It's neat. I often share with people, many years ago, when we were back over in, hang on a minute, Woodhill Shopping Center, probably been 10, 12 years ago, we had seven nationalities represented on one church pew. I remember it was right by the door. And when we started singing, they were sharing a hymn book, seven different nations. And I thought to myself, you know, we're a small church, but this has got to be a foretaste of heaven. that different tribes and different languages, different tongues can join and praise God together. One day, it's going to be a great variety in heaven. What beautiful music that will be. In verse 3, notice, the responsibility was given to them as they prophesied with the harp to give thanks and to praise the Lord. They were to give thanks and to praise God. You know why we thank God? We thank God because of what He has done. We are thankful because of what's happened to us. We are thankful because of where we are. We are thankful because all of God's gifts that He has opened our eyes to. That's what giving thanks means. Now praise would be just something a little bit different. Praise is praising God for who He is. Just because we know who He is, we give Him praise. And the more you know who God is, let me tell you, the more you're going to give Him praise, the more you understand the things that you have. came as gifts from God, the more you're going to give Him thanks. We give Him thanks for what He's done. We praise Him because He alone is worthy. The most thankful are those who see what they have and that it's been given to them. The Word of God says in James, I believe it is, every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights in whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. Now you think about that. Everything you have is because of God's gracious gifts to you. You know what? We're not thankful enough when we think about it that way. We give Him praise. And let me tell you who gives God the most praise. The one who gives God the most praise is the one who walks with the Lord. And as you walk with the Lord and you learn of the Lord, the more you learn of the Lord, the more you're going to praise the Lord. If you walk with Him, you learn of Him, you praise Him more and more. That's where we should be. The Lord, He and He alone is praiseworthy. Here are people who know their God, and they're growing in that knowledge. I want you to notice, we'll read through this passage of Scripture. It's a short passage compared to what we've been through in the past, but notice it says in verse 9, as it gives a list of all these choristers and musicians and many of these names, you will rarely hear again. I pray you'll hear them again because you read through your Bible. But in verse 9 it says, Now the first lot came forth for Asaph to Joseph, the second to Gedaliah, who with his brethren and sons were twelve. Now this gets very repetitious. The third to Saccur, he and his sons and his brethren were twelve. The fourth to Israel, he and his sons and his brethren were twelve. The fifth to Nethaniah, he and his sons and his brethren were twelve. I think you're getting the hang of it as far as the repetition part. The sixth to Bukkiah, he and his sons and his brethren were twelve. The seventh to Jeshariah, Rila, he and his sons and his brethren were twelve. The eighth to Jeshiah, he and his sons and his brethren were twelve. The ninth to Madaniah, he and his sons and his brethren were twelve. The tenth to Shimei, he and his sons and his brethren were twelve. The eleventh to Azariel, he and his sons and his brethren were twelve. The 12th, the Hashabiah, he and his sons and his brethren were 12. The 13th, the Shubiel, he and his sons and his brethren were 12. The 4th, the Mattathiah, he and his sons and his brethren were 12. The 5th, the Jeremoth, he and his sons and his brethren were 12. The 16th, the Hananiah, he and his sons and his brethren were 12. The 17th, the Jashbikeshah, he and his sons and his brethren were 12. The 18th, Hanani, he and his sons and his brethren were 12. The 19th, Amalothai, he and his sons and his brethren were 12. The 20th, Eliothai, he and his sons and his brethren were 12. The 1 and 20th, Tehothir, he and his sons and his brethren were 12. The 2 and 20th, Gedaltai, he and his sons and his brethren were 12. The 3 and 20th, Temehazioth, He, his sons, and his brethren were twelve, the fourth and twentieth. To Romam Taiser, he and his sons and his brethren were twelve. Here is a list of all the musicians that were chosen to sing praise and to give thanks unto God. If any of you have ever studied church history, One of the things that you will read about and you'll learn about is that oftentimes revivals start with songs. I'm not negating the Word of God. The Word of God is primary as far as importance in preaching that sinners would be saved. but often in the hearts of believers. Where hearts are stirred up and revived to bring praise and glory to God, it starts with songs. Songs of praise from a fervent heart. That last song we sang, I Need Thee Every Hour, it forever rings in my ear about 20 or 25 years ago. Brother Sugrum Ramasar, he would sing this song. Of course, them Trinidadians had that little Trinidadian twist, and he would sing it like this, I need thee every hour. Oh, he'd sing, and he'd sing it with all of his heart. One of the things that really impressed me early in ministry with Brother Sugrum is when he and I would go out and visit, I remember one young lady. She told me later, after Brother Sugrum had gone back, that he made such an impact in her life that she started going to church because of his deep sincerity and love for the Lord. We are standing as God's people, and I believe we can all say with that song, I need Thee every hour, most precious Lord. I pray that when God puts a song in your heart, that you sing it with a fervent heart. Don't sing it passively. There is a song, I think it was by a contemporary Christian group, some may know the Newsboys, some may think, oh boy, he's off his rocker. They had a little phrase in one of their songs, it says, dance like no one's looking. And the whole principle of that was because of the joy of the Lord. It doesn't matter what other people think about you as long as you're living to glorify God. Sing. Sing like nobody's listening. Now there's some of you need to sing like nobody's listening. Brother Josh, I got your back. Sing. Sing even if you're out of tune. God inhabits the praises of his people. We're going to stand and sing a couple songs. And a couple songs that I'd like to sing, there's probably umpteen dozen that we can sing about being thankful and about giving praise to God. You'll need your hymn book, because I didn't give you any pre-warning for Sarah to put it on the screen. So if you would get your hymnal, and I'd like for us all to stand and sing page 23. Page 23 very simply states, Thou art worthy, O Lord. Somebody asked me last night online, they asked me, are you ready for Iran? I said, yes, I'm ready because Christ is coming over the world victorious. Power and glory unto the Lord belong. Let me tell you, Iran can't do nothing that God doesn't allow. God is sovereign. As we're dismissing the word of prayer, I hope through this week the Lord puts a song in your heart and you'll sing like nobody's listening and people will just be looking at you and maybe you'll get a chance to share Christ with someone who knows not Him. As we're dismissed in a word of prayer, so thankful for our guest visiting with us tonight. Good to have you. And good to see Sister Linda back with us. She's back from surgery, so pray for her recuperation. I think she's recuperated or recuperating, so thankful for that. Brother Josh, would you dismiss us in prayer?