 Now I'm a cover gospel music, but I also want to kind of move into just Christian music in general because What's happening in gospel music is also happening with just regular contemporary Christian music as a matter of fact You're seeing more and more today a blurring of the lines, and I'm not gonna act as though. I am some expert on it I'm not I do have a little bit of Musical ability and that I you know I played the drums as a matter of fact I used to teach drums for a while So I love music. I love drums Obviously, I love God and one of the things I used to be over at another church was just the overall worship portion of the service So when you walked into the building there was something going because you know how we are sometimes we are Our attention can get different ways whether so we might put the announcements up Made sure that all the sound everything was working right the the cameras and the screens and so forth But just the overall worst experience was there that there would be nothing that would take away from What God was doing there'd be nothing that would take away from The sermon but also that there'd be nothing that would just kind of overshadow it and Sometimes you see that in music today whether it be Gospel and when I say gospel, I mean obviously there's Southern gospel does that but what we're talking about today happens to be more What we would call black gospel soulful gospel Contemporary Christian praise and worship just regular choir music that kind of stuff and so what's happening today Is it really what we ought to be doing now? Let me say this before I go There is no Standard that the Bible puts out that says you have to sing it this way or this the preferred style or method If this is the right genre, we don't know there will be singing in heaven We just don't know what the genre is and so I'm of the belief that I'd like to kind of have a little bit of all of it Just so because some people have different preferences and so my preference Is it better than yours yours isn't better than mine, but it's just a preference But one of the things that we know is that and you ask any church leader this The if you want to find out where the good fights are where the where the Divisions are where all the mess is go to the choir because that that's just I don't know what it is about the choir There just seems to be a lot of stuff happening Maybe maybe it's because it's one of the arts and you can kind of get yourself Kind of into it and you end up maybe want to express yourself and people's feelings get hurt Who's gonna leave this song? She can't sing that well. He can't play that well all that kind of stuff like that that happens in every other part of the ministry as well and Sometimes when you see the way the the sausage is made so to speak in church You might not like it, but again, these are human beings But as it pertains to to gospel music a couple things you need to know about gospel music and as I said We're gonna transition into just regular Overall Christian music as well because some of the same things that trouble this genre Troubles others as well When black folks came out of slavery, obviously, they're gonna bring some things they had handed down to them from their roots some of the Rhythmic sounds and so forth that came with them from Africa And that was also brought into slavery and then you have these old Spirituals that were sung in many cases in many cases They were sung to kind of leave people away if they were thinking about running if it was time for let's say Tonight was gonna be a good night to run date might they might sing the song sweet swing low sweet chariot Or Michael row the boat of shore just kind of let folks though Hey, this is happening tonight And so some of those old Negro spirituals were really mashed as songs to help them get away But then a lot of those songs were just songs to kind of keep them encouraged because it was a rough life being a slave We don't we talk about how how race relationships are today in America. No, they didn't have a race relationships back then It was just you were a slave and that was it and so they would seem to kind of comfort themselves Because what happened to them was they came to know Jesus by and large and so they would speak about this They would speak about yeah, it's rough on this side But when I get to that side, it'll be even better when I get that great buy and buy And so some of the songs that we sing today that buy and buy So those songs were born out of a struggle born out of a hurt born out of a need and when you sing in church There should be a couple of things that are happening We come together in church for a lot of corporate things corporate prayer Corporate study corporate fellowship, but also corporate praise and worship and so It should come as no surprise because of all that was happening of all that kind of transpired Before the 19th century before the 20th century a lot of the struggle was built into some of these songs And so in some of these songs you would hear them talk about Just the struggle just the things about how how God has kept me how God has blessed me, right? The problem is and by the way, you would even see some of the Emotional aspects. There is nothing wrong with a choir member or a singer or someone having emotion come out Now there are some people have a preference where they want things to be kind of reserved and quiet That's fine Also, and there are times where folks just want to just they just can't control themselves if any of that is genuine Then amen if any of it is manufactured. Well, then we got a problem, right because it should not be a place where You should go to show off how good your vocal skills are or how good you are on the piano The drums are good to our and that does happen like with any band Bands can be messy and and let's remember when you go to church and you hear the music the guys that are playing That's a band though. They're in church and so there's a little bit of messiness going on right there That's why a lot of good bands think about when you were younger even today A lot of the good bands that were in let's say rock or R&B or what have you they don't last because this Bitey same thing happens in the church because egos take over and so you don't want the ego or you Outshining who we're supposed to be putting on on display, which is obviously God, which is Jesus We come to magnify him. We come to praise him, but we also want to thank him And so some of the songs in gospel tend to center around What God has done for us or what he can do for us my wife was the first person to kind of introduce me to Contemporary praise and worship music what some folks will call that, you know, white music, right? Some of the the muses where what was the song it was casting crowns? I'm a vapor in the wind I can even the song escaped me one of you guys Maybe you can kind of tell me the chest with this song. I cannot I cannot remember the name of this song But when I first heard the song Wow, that's just where is this song been all my life or these kind of songs And so I found myself going back listening some of these older songs that were ten years old five years old And it's like I didn't know these songs existed I've just stuck in this old gospel way, which is fine The problem is that many these songs even after we've come out of the bigger struggle They tend to be centered more about What I'm going through and God you blessed me and how you kept me and so forth which are good songs. That's fine But we did not sing enough about songs that were about him God You're awesome. You're wonderful. Even if you don't bless me God, you're amazing those kind of songs. And so We see that in gospel one of the problems that happens in gospel is Partly because of the emotion again, some of these things you'll see some of these same traits that you see in Contemporary Christian music and just your regular old praise and worship music Even in the different genres some folks are into this like Christian rap and so forth I really hadn't quite got into to Christian rap although. I'm not against it There's a few artists that I do listen to But I don't know calling me getting old or whatever. I just don't listen to it as much But you'll see some of these same traits that are in gospel music That are also in the other genres because it's just human being singing. Hopefully to the praise of God. Well as The emotions kick in The question is when this person is singing Are they singing more so much because they love God or because they're trying to show off? one of the things you'll know about black gospel music is that The runs are exaggerated and long so you all know about if we just started singing amazing grace We all at least know the first verse, right? But here we've got someone singing amazing grace And this is just the first verse and it takes quite a long time That's part of the thing if you go to some of these black churches If you got somewhere to be immediately after church, you might as well just not go just call and tell me You're not gonna be there on time because it ain't gonna happen That's part of the thing Maybe that's why when I was I didn't go to church as a little boy Maybe that's why I just hate it being there for so long The preaching may have been about this long and the singing was this long We're gonna sing for this much before and this much afterwards. And so sometimes it listen sometimes is is genuine Sometimes though you wonder me are are you guys doing this for you because again? I know about what it's like playing in a band and you want to have fun And it's okay if you are singing to enjoy yourself You should enjoy yourself praising God praising God should not be a chore But praising God should not be about you as well And so the question that we often wonder and I've had times I'm sure other people in ministry have had these occasions where they've had to tell somebody maybe a drummer Maybe a guitar player. Maybe someone has a listen. It's not about you. You want to settle down So the question is are these guys praising God? Are they jamming? So that's kind of now listen, I play the drums to stand and play the drums That's hard now the guy's talent. He's gifted and maybe that's what he's trying to show off and There is the the little tension that a lot of choirs and churches have hey listen It's not about you it's about him and I get that you're talented if you weren't talented We wouldn't have you playing but you're trying to show I never forget this one time We have we had lighting at our church And we can even move the light we just you know push a button have a light aim a certain way and We had a drummer come in who wanted to kind of fill in with the youth choir And he asked he said he said can I have you get one of those lights to kind of shine on me You know, I got this particular role as I tell you what I'm gonna do I got a light just for you man I'm have a one particular light shine on you, but I want you to sit your little narrow behind right there in that first pew That's where you're gonna be and we'll have somebody else playing I have a light shine on you because you just made it about you. We're not gonna have that now if he was smart He was smart he kept his mouth closed So but we have that problem in church, right? And so you deal with it, but the problem is Trying to kind of recapture really what it used to be Compared to what it is now, and I don't know how old some of you guys are And how how old you are how long you guys have been even watching or paying attention to Christian music and gospel music Some things are different. Obviously. I mean obviously with time you get more Amenities, I mean we didn't have intelligent lighting in the 50s and 60s, right? You didn't have some of the microphones that you had you didn't have some of the buildings design the lighting and so forth You didn't have all that stuff that you had back then you didn't have that the in your mics and so forth that you had at the jab now back then and so The issue is Should we try to even compare how it was back then? Or is it should we be like we were back then should we be? Different because it's a different time But you all tell me you look at these two clips and tell me is there any sort of difference? And then also if gospel is not your genre see if you see the same thing in other genres contemporary Christian Southern gospel What have you so now compare what you just saw with her and What you saw with those groups versus this Now I am intentionally turning the volume down because I want you to look at this video and you tell me if you could you tell Me that they are singing anything Closely or remotely related to Jesus. Let me know if you think so I don't think you can look at this and come away with a conclusion that they are singing unto God I did what has happened is it has now become more of obviously a show and So even in these wars, you've got the red carpet and you've got people who who come down and and they They want to look a certain way. They want to dress a certain way. It's about their image all of that stuff and That's the sixth side the satanic side of really just Gospel music Christian music in general Because after a while we want to make sure we're getting paid We want to make sure that we're getting booked for other tours if you want us to come because often times in some of these In the Christian circles, you don't see the concerts taking place like you would see a heavy metal concert or rock concert Or our beam concert anything like that. They're not usually booked in stadiums Usually these artists are booked in churches And so there there needs to be this desire this this this swelling of interest To have this person to come and so if they see them Maybe their gas appearance with someone at a at a performance, so they'll come to such-and-such church that church that church The way that happens is someone needs to coordinate that but they need to be seen and so they'll go out there and Oftentimes you think that these people were on a Hollywood red carpet You would think that these people are are I don't go into the Grammys or go into the Emmys I'm not I can't remember which one is for music, but we got a problem, right? It should be that there's a clear line I'm gonna get to the scriptures in a little bit But there should be a clear line between what the world does and what we do I'm not saying they're gonna be there won't be any similarities. Obviously there there will be But when you look like them when you when you kind of grind and move like them Why come to church? I'm good with what I'm doing. I'll just read my bible on my own, right? And so what has happened is As they have tried to reach out and won the bad thing about a lot of times in gospel music And it's the same thing in in contemporary christian Is one of the first thing that seeps in is bad doctrine, right now I'm gonna say something that might be a little bit controversial But that's okay. I didn't write the bible. I'm just simply saying what it says And so this issue even of tongues comes up and if a person believes in tongues, okay fine We won't argue that right now But what about tongues when you're singing? I'll be honest. I've I've never seen Verse and chorus sung in tongues And okay fine. They believe in that well, well, okay Who's interpreting that and I wonder if they put the words on the screen? Are they putting the tongues on the screen and I know I'm sounding silly and kind of facetious, but What are we doing here? It's almost like we're trying to even compete when we're singing this show. Who's the most godly? Who's the most spiritual who's the most whatever? It's as though when we sing people are instead of seeking him they're seeking their own and That's really what a lot of times a lot of music has kind of delved into gospel obviously Praise and worship temporary praise and worship all of it. It's almost about What we want god give me some stuff, right? Give me some stuff bless me and then that's how I'm going to praise you that's why I'm gonna praise you well That's an artificial cheap praise. It's conditional praise, right? God do for me before I do for you forget the fact god that you've already done more than anyone can ever do Or I could hope for anyone to do Forget that I need some more what you did was not enough And so god I need some things and I promise you lord if you're giving this I'm gonna praise you So I'm gonna shout I'm gonna do all these things that I should have been doing And it teaches people who are also listening because when a person comes to church and they hear that They believe all of this is is is approved by the church leadership And so if it's said in the choir and saying then it must be it passed through the hands of the pastor as well One of the things that a wise pastor would do Is to always make sure Always make sure that I see What you guys are singing that we kind of coordinate this. I want to know what you're singing. Why? Because if you say something that's just out there Who's got to come back and fix that who's responsible for these people that are that are going amiss because you said something that was just really utterly Unfounded and unbiblical for example There's a guy from my hometown of Indianapolis named Alan Lawrence Got some good songs, but some of the songs just aren't necessarily biblical, right? And that happens a lot because people that's seeing They're not necessarily theologians. They're not studying Although I think they probably should Because you're still up before the people ministering and they look at you So I think you ought to be doctrinally straight as well, but he has a song it's called it's The sound of my breathing And he takes the the tetragrammaton the the yad hey the the y h w h that we have in english And says that that means it's been kind of a a thing for the last maybe 20 years People have tried to say that that is The unpronounced name of God with those four letters are actually what the sound of breathing is And that's God's name and they make it into something really really spiritual. Oh my god. That's what that means. That's God's breathing No, it's not Okay As someone who's hebrew. I mean who could speak hebrew as some jewish person is that the case they'll say no That's just silly. That's just christians looking to be more than what we are That's not what it means Well, then having vows. Well, here's here's the truth Hebrew words period Do not come with vows at least in the old the masoretic texts Added the vows later so people who as they were taken into captivity and began to stop speaking hebrew When they tried to learn it They were familiar unfamiliar with the words and so the masorites would put these vow markings there so they could know what's saying To come up with this goofy idea that is is the sound of God speaking I mean, I mean of us breathing. That's just now you're making up something. Okay, so What we want to do though, as always we want to go to the text and just be mindful It's not got a few more things. I want to say as well And so let's go to I hope I put it in the in the dark mode Hope you guys can see this, but he says uh and and Romans 14 16 says so do not let what you regard as good be evil spoken of or some verse may say Don't let your good be evil spoken of and so The reason why that's important is if you're singing if you're involved in something It should not be an occasion Uh for an offense to be caused for someone to see something that in this case He's talking about if someone sees you eating meat and though eating meat is not sinful Don't do it in front of the people, right? Well nowadays though, we're doing things that look to be sinful Or questionable avoid those things Um my third oldest child Hannah. She is Her job is is a praise and worship leader at a church for the youth and We had a conversation before And it was about just your appearance, right? Now she doesn't dress in in a provocative way But you got youngsters there who might be looking at you and you want to be mindful of that so that No young man. No older man will look at you Objectively as though you're something some some piece of meat That nothing that you do the nothing that you wear takes away from the gospel, right? Well, we see this a lot nowadays in churches. We see people who just have forgotten how to dress Uh, and I know it's hard ladies. I'm speaking ladies right now, but also guys I know it's hard to find clothes that just aren't, you know Tight and got your veins showing I get that But understand when you wear those things, I don't care how godly the guy is He's gonna notice that right and then some of it's up to the men are wearing Again, I was under a rock, maybe but Some of the things that the men are wearing. I mean It maybe it's just me. I'm out of touch. I guess I you know I'm still not down with the With the tight jeans and so forth But even some of the things that let's say that like you saw the the curt frankings of the world wearing It's like what what are you wearing? What are you doing? What do you what do you have to prove? You know, I mean, okay fine. You got a few dollars You can buy something that's fashion fashionably and in vogue whatever, but Again, we want to have a holy appearance. Granted. We're not going back to robes and to Whatever they wore in in in the first century church time. I get that But we don't also have to look like The world like we're selling our bodies, right? And so He says don't let the good that you're doing Be spoken of in evil fashion. Then let's look at another passage that That paul brings up First Thessalonians 5 22 of my there He says abstain from every form of Evil and guys, I promise you I was trying to not bring up any greek, but I will this word form Is the word edus, which is just the outward appearance. So this is where some version might say Avoid the very appearance Of evil. So when you're singing Avoid the appearance of evil avoid it looking like it's about you and you're at some show You're at some concert avoid that it should that should not be the case. It should not be that When we see you we see all the lights. I don't have a problem with some of the lights I do have a problem with the uh, what do you call the power techniques? I do have a problem with some of the Illuminations that just make the smoke. I have a problem with that because now we're we're What are we doing y'all? Well, we're getting to where we're trying to entertain and so Now the attention is not on the word and what god is doing the attention is on man These guys are jamming these guys are getting down these guys can really dance look at her look at him, right? And even to the point now where people are going to show off again their bodies up there What's happening now And it's not just as I said in just gospel It was just in the black gospel circles But it's also happening in the white churches predominantly white church And it's sad that we even have these these black church white church. I know but bear with me But what's happening is in all the different churches and all the different nominations Obviously seeing creeps in And there are some people out there that are talented who have no business being In choirs who have no business being in praise and worship I've seen churches By the way, do you know if if you have the talents here in Dallas? If you have the talent to play let's say an organ or piano or drums There are churches that will pay you to come in Let's say their piano player leaves or their organ their organist that whatever goes out of town. Well God forbid we got to have the music going and so what do we do? We need to make sure that we got somebody in here. So we'll go and pay somebody and these guys make a good amount of money You can make upwards between the thousand depending on the size of the church a thousand two thousand twenty five hundred dollars a week Playing the organ playing the piano in the Dallas area I don't know where what it what it's like in certain areas certain areas church eating is big Right, but here in the Dallas area in this in this area you're gonna have churches that Listen I don't want to give place to the devil when I say this but it's true Um church has become in many cases big business It's become something because and I get it every church I remember times where we wanted to make sure okay. Well, what was the offering like not because we cared about it But well, we got to pay some bills. We got to pay these things these ministries costs and so forth The gas for the van to go pick up people that cost all the stuff it cost The electricity the electric company doesn't care that we love the Lord. They still want their money same thing with the gas company so I get that there is a A focus at some point in time on money But sometimes we say we got to make sure that we keep folks coming in and entertain that way That way they'll give because a happy parishioner is a giving parishioner, right? And if we can entertain these people and make them feel blessed because what's the one thing that we do sometimes and and Some of you folks that may have been to a predominantly black church or charismatic church would have you a Baptist traditional Baptist church When the music is going we'll say oh child, didn't we have church? We don't know what was preached. We don't know what the topic was but we enjoyed the Lord today We had church, right? so That shouldn't be it should be that we went and received a word from the Lord that could develop us and keep us going throughout the week, right and so in churches today as I said the world creeps in One of the biggest problems. I thought it was just in the black church, but no, it's in the white church in the choirs Issues of sexuality. First of all, I don't know how many affairs have happened in church choirs Don't know But a lot Whether it's a big church Whether it's a small church, it happens a lot. You've got men that see women who may be there for a legitimate reason But they've got issues. They've got pain some guy did them wrong. And so while they may be vulnerable this wolf sees This fox over there and His tongue gets the hanging out and he gets to salivating and he sees somebody And look here. So I understand what you've been going through and you know me too good. Can we pray together sometime? You know, uh, here's my address. It's my number, right? That happens These relationships being exchanged it happens You've got one of the things that we always talk about was how uh, the piano player or the organ in the church Organists in the church was gay a lot of homosexuality showing up rear and head in Church choirs church praise and worship team because they they're gifted to Um, and and there's a lot of gay guys that can sing and he can sing and he can play And so let's get him in here. Uh, let's get him on and here's here was one of the things that happened Let's get him in here. Let him play and then we'll see if we can convert him later because Pastor my god, he can't he can't hear the gospel outside and and let him come in and play Well, guess what that'll allow him to hear the gospel and and to convert him, right? No, we're not no the standard is going to be the standard the standard is up here We're not going to lower it because somebody can play or somebody can sing so The issue that we're having over and over again is that we are trading in actual worship for a fake worship for a plastic Lighting and smoking worship that sounds good that tickles the ear But wouldn't it be sad wouldn't it be sad to hear good music and let me let's let's call it what it is It's good music now. It's not necessarily delivering music But let's say we hear all this good music and maybe we hear hear word And we're entertained and and and and to go to church and to enjoy yourself in church and still go to hell How bad would that be?