Ed Em

INTRODUCTION Singing of Songs was first mentioned in the Bible when Moses and the people of Israel after God led them through the sea. Ex. 15:1 The greatest musician known in the Bible; David was a man full of praise, worship and adoration. No wonder, his kingship was the greatest in the history of Israel. During his kingship, Israel had peace. From his infancy, he did great things with music, for example playing music for bad spirits to leave King Saul. He also danced marvellously before the Ark of God just in praise of his creator. David’s son, King Solomon also took after the father and knew the importance of music. As a result, he placed music very high and therefore employed music in all his activities. He ensured that music is the medium of worship in the temple. When the temple he built was being dedicated, he inaugurated a choir to provide music for the dedication of the Temple. The music sang that day caused the glory of God to fall in the temple. During the time of David and Solomon, instruments were used extensively. Many people think that since no mentioned was made about the use of instruments in the New Testament it is not good to use instruments in praising God. The Holy Spirit works in a dynamic way that is why the gentiles also received the Holy Spirit otherwise, the Holy Spirit may be ascribed only to the Jews. In the same way, when instruments are not mentioned in the New Testament, it does not behoved that it must not be used. In Amos 9: 11 God said He will restore the period of David back. The temple of David was full of music and instruments which pleased God and caused Him to act swiftly immediately. Music as we will see in this book performs a lot of miracles and can be used extensively. Even in the book of revelation. Angels are still using musical instrument to worship God and to cause Gods power to move.

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CHAPTER ONE Music indeed is indispensable to the spiritual upliftment of everybody. It relieves people from psychological, emotional and spiritual problems. It is found in any kind of worship. A look at the culture of the Israelites revealed that music plays a very important role in their worship. They actually recognised the importance of music and hence used it extensively to please God. It is an integral part of Israel’s worship and celebration. Singing in fact is the expression of love and thanks. It helps in expressing our heartfelt appreciations. Music indeed relieves from all kinds of depressions, depending on the words used it. It heals our sorrows, sicknesses etc. It also nourishes our souls and put us in tune with our creator. It is a medium through which we communicate our appreciations to God. It is also a medium through which God’s spirit work in order to heal sorrowful and depressed spirits [hearts], and even destroys the strongholds of Satan. Music can not be done away with. The importance of music was exhibited by Moses and Israelites in Exodus 15:1, “Then sang unto Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the lord and space saying, will sing unto the lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider hath the thrown into the sea”. After the crossing of the red sea by the Israelites, indeed they saw how wonderful, how great, how powerful, how unbeatable, unchangeable and magnificent their Lord God was. They realised how helpful he has been to them. They saw that there is no one on earth that can perform such great miracle, hence the only thing they are bound to do is just to sing to his praise and glory. They realised he is the only one who deserves praise and adoration. In verse 2 of the exodus 15, they realised that the Lord God was their STRENGTH. He was their salvation when they were in trouble and slavery. They

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realised God does not want anything from them hence all they need to do was to exalt that powerful God who is a Man of war. He fights and loses no battle. In our present era of Christian life, music must be regarded as a means of expressing our appreciation to our creator. It is not good always to pray and ask things from God, you must praise him for what he has been doing for you. With the present economic hardships being experienced by everybody, our good Lord has been sustaining us. He has protected us from wars which are being fought around the whole world, keeping us in good strength by protecting us from all health problems e.g. HIV/AIDS, cancer Diabetes, T.B. etc. What at all do we need to give to God? He needs NOTHING from us. The only thing we can give our Creator and Provider is our heart full of appreciation, praises, worship adoration and exaltation. It is, only these, coupled with care for others that can make us to be closer to God. When we worship our Lord in holiness, in love and willingly, He is so good to give us all that we want [read Ps. 23]. Here, David realised the essence of music and concluded that he will dwell in the house of the Lord. Looking at the Israelites, anytime there is a problem, (for example hunger, war, famine etc) and they were saved from these catastrophes, they always sing to the praise of their Creator. In our present days, we also face a lot similar problems and hardships; some even may be regarded as minor problems than that of the Israelites. In all these problems, instead of looking up to God for solution, we always backbite, criticize, ignore God and rely on human beings thinking that they can help us with their powers. After several trial and errors, when we do not succeed, we then think that there is a God who can help us. We have now made God a second hand helper. Our problems are always heard first by our acquaintances and friends instead of our Creator.

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After God being merciful and comes in to solve the problem, we never appreciate what He does for us. We only enjoy with friends who play no part in finding the solution to our problems. Instead of us to praise God for what he has done for us, we then go back to our unfaithful life and neglects God completely until there is another problem. The forerunners actually understand the use of music or singing and used it creditably to praise their creator. Here are some instances that music played very important role in the life of some people in the Bible.

1. IT IS A MEANS OF BEING APPRECIATIVE Looking into the Bible, there are a lot of instances where great men and women sang to show their appreciation to their creator for delivering them from problems. No wonder, these people are unforgettable in the history of Israel. Read the following texts and see how these great people used songs to show their appreciations, Exodus15:1-3, Numbers 21: 16-18, I Sam 2:1. In all these verses and a lot more, it was realised that all the people mentioned showed their appreciations to God through singing because he has done something great for them. Why don’t you worship and praise God for all that He has done for you. In the first book of Chronicles, David showed how important singing is in the worship of the Lord. He therefore instituted a group of people from amongst the Levites to sing to the praise of God. Read 1Chronicles 16: 4 – 5. From verse 7 onward, we saw the type of song that David composed to show his appreciation to God for remembering him and the Israelites and doing good things unto them. In so doing, other people also were informed and they have also seen that, there is a good God who can do everything for them and that; they must also turn to Him so as to receive the same

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blessing from Him. This is why we say, music plays multiple roles in the Church and must be given a serious attention. In this globalise economy; a lot of problems are being encountered, rendering a lot of people unemployed, poverty ridden, ill etc. Even in all these, God has been supplying you with everything you need. Those days you have nothing to eat, you have no money to buy food clothing etc, He [God] has supplied all these things. Whilst you were sick, when you had that accident, that time you were attacked by armed robbers, etc, did you know how you were able to survive? Did you realise that your survival was from God? Indeed if you realised these, why don’t you go on your knees and render your heartfelt appreciation unto God? Why won’t you sing Praises to God for what He has done for you? Everyday, you need to praise his name for all the miracles He has done in you life. Do you know how you have also come to this world? If you realised there is someone who brought you to this world and looked after you up to this day, why don’t you appreciate that person. It is good you show your appreciation to friends but, it must first go to your Creator and Provider or Supplier. In the actual fact, that friend was not the one who helped you. He was just a medium that God uses to bless you so render your appreciation to God first before to any other person He uses. There is a wonderful philosophy in praising God. The more you pour praises to Him, the more blessings He also pours on you. Recognise all that God does in your life and accordingly praise his name everyday. David knows what he derives from praising God; no wonder God blessed him more than everybody on earth. Begin to praise God for all that he has done for you now and see the benefits.

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2. SINGING BREAKS THE STRONGHOLD OF THE ENEMY. In 1Samuel 16: 14 -17, 23 we saw that, Saul was tormented by an evil spirit after God’s spirit departed from him. Saul has now become a stronghold of the devil. He was troubled. There was nothing that he can do to free himself. In verse 23, “And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp and played with his hand, so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him”. From the above scenario, when the stronghold of the devil i.e. Saul heard the song played by an anointed man of God, the evil spirit fled from him. All strongholds of the devil can be crushed down when a music or song void of all forms of backbiting, unholiness, unreasonable criticisms, anger, pride, insults, blackmailing etc. Music or songs or praises are therefore weapons or ammunitions that can be used to defend ourselves. In any warfare, praises can cause a lot of havocs to our opponents. Remember we are fighting against the spirits of this world and as human as we are, we can’t fight spirits. However, when we sing praises unto God, he would be moved to fight on our behalf. He would send his Angels to fight for us. Read 2 Chronicles, 20: 20-30. In our various churches, the devil is tormenting a lot of people. I believe praises sang in holiness, uncontaminated, and with open mind, can crush all these witches, wizards and other forms of spirits and principality from the church and break all strongholds of the devil. The same way the walls of Jericho were destroyed, the strongholds can also be broken. 3. PRAISES OPEN DIFFICULT GATES. When Paul and Silas were imprisoned, [Read acts 16] they prayed and sang praises unto God. Their praises indeed caused a lot of havoc. There was an earthquake which

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shook the foundations of the prison and opened the gates of the prisons. All bands or shekels on the prisoners were loose. Praises to God actually prompts God to quickly act in our favour. There is a very great power in singing praises. All gates locked on Christians will be broken if praises are sang unto God.

4. SINGING ACCOMPANIES PROPHESY. In the olden days, God uses prophesy extensively to talk to his people. In most cases, before prophet could prophesy, they are induced by music. Read 2 Kings 3:15. In this text, when the minstrel played, the songs induced Elisha to prophesy hope in the midst of difficulty. This prophesy of Elisha relieved God’s people from a severe draught. In 1 Sam 10: 56, another scenario was created about music and prophecy. After that, thou shall come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the philistines, and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shall meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with prophesy, And the spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shall prophesy with them, and shall be turned into another man. In the present dispensation, prophesies are no longer intense like in the Old Testament. This is because the Holy Spirit has been given to all who accepted Jesus Christ. However, the singing of songs can help receive messages through the Holy Spirit. Also, prophets who still exist can prophesy unto you through songs. These songs must be songs devoid of all forms of unholiness, pride, etc. When you devote yourselves to God, your songs may induce Pastors and Preachers to give messages of hope unto you. These songs may even serve as a prophecy unto the people and bring them deliverance. People may be amazed and ask amongst themselves the same question they asked when Saul prophesied.

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The choir must amend their ways and concentrate on how to help raise the spiritual standard of people rather than thinking bad about neighbours, judging them of things they have not even done, criticising neighbours etc. A choir must eschew hypocrisy and concentrate on invoking the Holy Spirit to deliver people through singing. Your singing may induce prophets, pastors and other preachers.

4. SINGING IS A FORM OF PRAYER. Singing, no doubt is a prayer. Through singing, you are communicating with your creator with the words of the music and worshipping Him at the same time, i.e. expressing how great He is, how miraculous He is and how caring He is. Also through singing, you are praising God and thanking Him for all that He has done for you. Through singing, which is a form of prayer, you can present your request to your Creator and He can bless you. Response to this type of prayer is always immediately and marvellously. Think of how Paul and Silas were delivered from the prisons whilst they were singing read Acts 16: 25-27. When the Israelites were planning to fight with the people of Jericho, God wanted them to perform music just to enable them present their request unto him. No doubt, whilst making the music, the walls of Jericho were brought down miraculously. Read Joshua 6.

5. MUSIC OR SINGING BRIINGS DOWN THE GLORY OF GOD. In 2 Chronicles 5:12-14 it was revealed that during the dedication of the temple built by King Solomon, the glory of god came down as a result of the music which was provided. However the glory indeed was experienced due to the fact that, the singers were one, united and was with one mind and with one accord. They knew the purpose for which they were selected. They were aware that it was their duty to sing. In order

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to sing for God’s glory to be experienced, there is the need for singers, choristers, instrumentalists or all musician in our churches to be united, eschewed backbiting, slumbering, gossiping and any form of hypocritical life, so that there would be unification of the mind and spirit to be in tune with God’s mind so that His glory can fall on us to bring deliverance, healing and breakthrough to His people. There is indeed power in singing. The glory of God has not fallen into a chapel or temple until there was ministration of the music when Solomon was dedicating the Temple.

6. MUSIC SETS THE SPIRIT OF MAN IN TUNE WITH GOD. Music as earlier on mentioned, is a form of prayer. Before going to pray, when praises and worship songs are rendered, man’s spirit is usually raised in such a way that the whole being becomes uplifted so high that prayer life becomes easy, exciting, and communication becomes fluently. There is no tiredness and laziness. David showed that he was one man who was full of praises and adoration to God. No doubt his songs still remained as soul uplifting and inspiring songs and are sang everyday, and also recited as a form of prayer. Even occultists use his songs extensively because of the sort of power it evokes. Indeed, Christians have for a long time undermined the importance of music and are making it impossible for God to move. Almost all great men in the Bible at one time or the other saw the importance of music and used it extensively to set their spirits and mind in tune with God so as to receive from him. Great men such as Moses, Joshua, Elisha, David, Solomon, Silas etc regarded music as an indispensable part of their life because it puts them in tune with god.

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7. MUSIC FORCES ENEMIES TO FIGHT WITHIN THEMSELVES. In 2 Chronicles 20: 20-30, music was used as a powerful weapon against the enemies. Indeed, it is more powerful than any missiles, guns, spears, cutlasses, bombs, explosive etc. It is indeed stupid [in our eyes], for someone to go into war with singers in the forefront of the war singing praises and adoration to God. Imagine how miraculously God fought for the Israelites in the above text. It is unbelievable that an army should just sing and win a war. In deed, this was what our ubiquitous God did and caused the enemies to fight between themselves. If you find yourself as a chorister, then count yourself blessed as the powerhouse of the church or Christians. You are the source from where God will send missiles, bombs and explosives. However, to serve this purpose, you need to rededicate your self unto your creator, be committed to the task of singing and sing with unshakable faith. Above all, eschew all characters that can cause God to be displeased with you.

The camp of the enemy can be destroyed by them selves through your singing and all chains and sorrowful hearts will be set free. Healing and deliverance may be received through praises unto God. In the book of Acts, Chapter 6 when Stephen was given the duty of serving tables, he became full of the spirit because he was delightful about the work and did it diligently. As a result he was used by the Lord to do a lot of miracles. As choristers, in my candid view, you can also be used like Stephen when you are delighted with the work of God and devote your time for the ministry. No matter the situation in which you find yourself, you will be a conqueror. The devil may be against you but they may fight amongst themselves. However, when God starts using you discard out of your life, pride. Read Proverb 18: 12. You must also not allow the

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devil to let material things attract you in order to let you fall. The love for money should not be your priority. Be warned or else the devil will take control. Read the following texts and meditate upon them before neglecting the most rewarding work of God. Matt 6: 24, Prov. 19: 1, 1 Timothy 6: 6-11.James 6, Luke 18: 24 -27. Do not chase money. Chase the work of God and he will provide you with what he thinks you need at the right time. When you do this, you may not have a haughty character and live a life full of pride.

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CHAPTER TWO WHO CAN SING IN GOD’S TEMPLE We have just discussed some of the benefits or importance of music. It is appropriate for us to know the type of people that need to be in a choir and the qualifications they have to possess. Indeed it is not everybody that can sing to cause God’s glory to fall. Those who can do these are chosen ones by God. To be able to sing to the adoration of God, you need certain characteristics or qualification.

1. SELECTION. According to the Old Testament teachings, a member of a choir i.e. musicians are selected. Read 1Chronicles 25: 1, 7-31 and see the criteria of the selection. It is realised from here that it is not everybody that can sing to God to cause miracles of God to happen. A chorister is therefore a selected person or the chosen one to sing in a group of people who were also chosen to prophesy with harps, with psalteries and with cymbals, see 1Chronicle 25; 1. In these present days, the selection to belong to a choir is through the conviction of the Holy Spirit but not through any human institution. A Holy Spirit convicted person would be someone who will submit himself or herself to instruction by the Holy Spirit or leaders who must also submit themselves to the dictates of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, when selected by the Holy Spirit, I doubt the possibility of you showing arrogance, insubordination, slumbering disunity and disloyalty. A selected member of the choir must show devotion and sincerity. In the 2 Chronicles 5; 11- 14, when the singers sang the glory of God fell in the temple. In these present days, our bodies are the temple of God and when

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choristers sing the glory of God must fall on the people, delivering them from all misfortunes, sicknesses, devil possessions, draught etc. In view of this huge task, all choristers need to be selected and trained for this specific and holy task so that their duties can be done without blame. Remember that one person cannot do all the work that is why Jesus is the true vine and we are all branches on him. We all have different duties; hence a chorister is a distinct person. Read how Paul beseech us in 1Corinthians 12.

BLAMELESS Any one selected in to the choir must be blameless so that our sacrifice to the Lord will be effective. As a selected member of the choir, your behaviour should not threaten the upliftment of the choir. Your lifestyle, your way of talking, and your attitude should reflect Christ and be an example to be emulated by all Christians and non-Christians. You must make up your mind that you will not quarrel, talk about people, do any frivolous thing to tarnish the image of the Choir selected by God. Your actions, when found as putting the choir in disrepute will discourage other people and will, even block the glory of God from falling on the people to bring healing and deliverance unto them.

HOLINESS A chorister must exhibit a high sense and status of holiness. This is because if you are unholy, you cannot experience the glory of God. You may also block the deliverance of other people. Your unholy life will be a stumbling block for the Holy Spirit to touch others or your unholy can cause the glory of God not to descend into the temple

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[the body of a believer]. Unholiness also causes spiritual death. As a Christian and above all, a selected member of a choir, you must know the extent to which you will use your tongue. You cannot use your to produce good things and bad things for example quarrelling, insulting people, backbiting, slumbering etc. The tongue must be used in saying soothing words and singing songs to the depressed, pronouncing healing and deliverance to the sick and those in bondage etc. In holiness, the choir is bound to be used by God in changing things, performing wonders, and causing the hands of God to touch everybody so that pastors may not even have to lay hands on people before they receive their healings and deliverance. In 2 chronicles 23; 6, and 1Chronicles 23: 28-32 the scripture specify the work of the Levites and for that matter choristers, and further stated categorically that, they must be in holiness. Remember that the priestly ministry and the singing [or music] ministry are set by God himself to work closely in looking after his people, encouraging them and to help them not to go astray. In performing this duty, you need to show high sense and standard of holiness to help in achieving God’s plans for mankind.

TRAINING Music and priestly duties are duties which need training in the Old Testament, prophets were trained, priests were trained and choristers were also trained. A chorister must be subjected to a special training so that he or she can possess the necessary skills needed for the work he or she was selected for. This training indeed is very important to put you in the right mood and position to perform your duties perfectly. Jesus Christ, whilst on earth, trained his disciples perfectly and gave them the Holy Spirit to direct them.

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In view of this, a priest, pastor, or a chorister must also have special training in their various fields in order not to cause havoc to the church of Christ. A chorister must not sing destruction unto the people hence the need to be taught how to be holy, stop backbiting, pride, and the type of song that can encourage people and set them free from all bondages and sin. The training can also help them to be in tune with God but not be in off- tune with God. Also, imagine choirs singing discord. Everybody becomes depressed and the song usually doesn’t have any impact on the people. However, when the song is well sung, the spirit of the people will now be set to be in tuned with God as the people enjoy the melody and every aspect of the song. Choristers therefore need to submit themselves to training to enable them perform creditably so that those broken hearts in the chapel can have their hearts mended.

VISION A choir without a vision is like a madman who thinks of nothing and has no aim. Whatever comes into his mind is what he would do immediately. Remember the main vision of a choir is to sing so that the glory of God falls on people so as to receive their healings, deliverance and breakthroughs. Another vision of the choir must be to sing as a means of evangelism in order to turn people’s heart to God. In addition, you must have a vision that you must sing to bring God closer to the congregation i.e. the Holy Spirit must move within the congregation to destroy all intruding spirits and pronounce hope to those who are faithless.

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LOVING Indeed, a singer must be someone who loves everybody. No matter the situation you find someone, whether sick, bruised, poor, rich, depressed, deaf, blind etc, you are commanded to love all. Exhibit no form of discrimination. Read Acts 4:32. Remember, when Jesus Christ came to this would he loved the sinners and even proclaim that he was sent because of the sinners. Do not isolate yourself from sinners. If you do not approach them how can they also know God? However, you must know the extent to which you approach them so that they may not mislead you in to their folks. Your unity, as a choir, the way you love one another can entice those who are non-Christians to follow you, however, when you as a Christian, especially choir members can continue backbiting, insulting, causing conflicts, quarrelling, cheating, etc before non Christians, know that you are the one sacking people from worshipping God. With love, attendance to choir practice, bible study meeting, prayer meetings, revival programmes, retreats would be marvellous because everybody long to see other at these meetings and play, praise God and worship him and express love to each other through different activities. Love is very importance. It is only when the choir is bound in love that wonders can be performed. Read 1 John 4: 7-21. In verse 18, we saw that there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. A selected, blameless, holy and trained choir with vision must be infected with pure love. The lack of love would put the choir in a deformed situation. A situation in which, the glory of God cannot be experienced. A situation in which healing and deliverance can not be felt within the congregation. A situation in which all believers would experience a total breakthrough. You need to love each other to let the full blessing of God be experience within the congregation. When this

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love is manifested, the choir will be found as the light of the church and the salt of the church that when it is thrown away, there will be total darkness over the church and the Church becomes tasteless. When the church becomes tasteless and in full darkness, people may leave and each for the truth, light and the salt. In the 1 John 4:721, we would realise from the text that, god is love and anyone who wants to be dedicated to the work must also love each other and eschew all forms of hasted. There are other verses in the Bible that stressed the importance of love amongst Christians. Read also James 2; 8, Romans 12; 9-10. Apart from love for our neighbours, and above everything, there should be love for God. We need to love God with all our heart and our minds as commanded by Jesus Christ. It is only when we have love for God that we can be ready to dedicate ourselves to God’s work and help achieve His aim of bringing the whole world to Him.

AVOID THE ATTRACTION OF MATERIAL THINGS. One thing that Christians these days look for is worldly things or materials things. No wonder, there are some of the Preachers whose main concern is mostly on prosperity. Prosperity it self is not bad, it is a blessing from God. Note carefully in the Bible and check well whether the people God bless with riches fought and cheated people before getting their riches. Consider the life history of David, Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, Job, Solomon etc. they dedicated their life to God to use anyhow i.e. they sacrifice themselves to the wellbeing of other, and above all love mankind and God. It is humility that made them successful. Your priority should not be material or worldly riches. You must consider worshipping God as the first and the foremost thing so that God himself would bless you.

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Read James5: 1-6. Also in Matthew 6: 19-34, Jesus admonished the world against seeking after too much riches. Seek after things of heaven, seek after things you could do to inherit the kingdom of God. This text actually is not asking you to be lazy that you must not work. However, it is asking you to consider things of God first; worshipping God first, devoting your time and riches to God first and He will bless you. Your personal efforts to be rich can even land you in prisons or even death. As a Christian and above all, a chorister, you must delight in the work of God. Jesus Christ after fasting forty days and forty nights, was tempted by Satan. Satan used material things to force Jesus to submit unto him [Satan]. However, Jesus knowing the purpose for which He came into this world never submitted Himself. We must emulate this example of Jesus Christ, and know our aim of choosing to be a Christian and above all, a chorister. Jesus Christ was glorified when He defeated Satan by giving the first position to the work of God. You can also be glorified, and blessed when you give the first position to God. . Beware of seeking always after the worldly things. Remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Also, remember the rich farmer, who after harvesting, planned to enjoy himself but died because he refused to give first position to God and planned to exalt himself because he is now rich. Know that whatever you store up, you will spend most of your time watching over it thinking that thieves would steal it, termites will destroy them, etc. with all these devotion to our material things we may neglect the Creator, the one who blessed you with life and all the riches. In 1 timothy, 6:10 Paul said the love of money is the root of all evil.

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It is common these days that everybody thinks of looking for money first before going to worship God. We are never satisfied with what we have. We concentrate on possessing everything. Wait and ask yourself these questions. What did I bring to this world? What would I send to my creator? Does He demand anything from me? If I have my own building under how many roofing sheets can I sleep at a time? After my death or when the world ends where I would send my riches? If you are sincere with yourself, then you better think of worshipping God, giving Him the first position in your life so that what ever you desire he gives you. God does not want you to work and give Him something to eat or wear. The only thing He wants from you is that, love Him, love one another, be dedicated to worshipping Him, praise Him and seek Him diligently from you heart. The riches that you even have, do you consider giving some to the poor man, the deaf, the blind, those sick people in the hospitals etc. Think about yourself well and rededicate your self to God.

ESCHEW PRIDE. One factor that forces choirs to collapse is pride. Bible says in proverb 16:5a that every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Choristers need to eschew pride from themselves and listen to their leaders. Don’t pride yourself as older than them, more educated than them, holier than them, richer than them etc. Your leader, no matter how poor, ragged, young or handicapped he or she is must be given the due respect. Choir members usually see their choirmasters as young, poor, semi-literate etc and do not regard them in anything. Choir executive also pride themselves higher than their choir members and their choirmaster that there is always conflict amongst them. All

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these things are due to pride. Choirmasters also pride themselves so much that, they usually think without them the choir cannot sing and try to molest the choir members. Until we eschew pride from the choirs, the choirs can never grow. Our singing would displease God and the glory of God cannot fall into the chapel of god. Read also the following texts and see the effect of pride; 1John 2: 15-16, Matthew 7: 1-5, Luke 18:11-12 and Mark 10: 17-27.

ESCHEW HYPOCRISY. This is a characteristic of the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They profess themselves as holier than any other person. They profess outward holiness and neglect inward holiness. This is also due to pride. They usually think that outward holiness can help them inherit the kingdom of God. They criticise a lot and regard everybody as a sinner. This behaviour indeed has become a characteristic of the present day church and choirs. Most of us look mean upon others thinking that we are holier than the other, we have money than the other, are more educated than the other and they cannot teach me, ah, what they know? We profess ourselves as if we know all that is required. In mark 7: 1- 23, Jesus enumerated how showing ourselves outwardly would not be the right thing to do. We should not make ourselves judges over others and gossip against our neighbours. Our actions can cause others to fall. We rather have to admonish our selves and put each other on course rather than going to gossip amongst ourselves, and even condemning people. Some of us our sins are even worst than those we are condemning but because nobody saw us doing it so we pride ourselves as holier than others. If you think you have no sin that you can be a judge over other and condemn them you are indeed mistaking. Paul in Romans 3: 10 says

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there is non righteous, no not one and in verse 23, we were told for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. My advice to us all is that, we advise each other when found to be going wayward. We must not turn ourselves rumour monger and fabricate issues to blackmail others. Be careful, when you tarnish some ones image, your sins may be worst because that person can even cause suicide, so beware, rather approach the person, talk to him or her soothingly and advice him or her so that he would not perish in the sin.

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CHAPTER THREE SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT OF THE CHOIR Management of human beings is one of the most difficult tasks on earth especially in an institution where people voluntary chose to render a service in which they are paid nothing physically. Management of such an institution where the person cannot be penalised for absenteeism, lateness etc is indeed very difficult. These institutions need a leader who is patient, calm, convincing and knowledgeable to bring the people along to a common goal. To successfully manage a choir in this present harsh socio economic situation; you need to depend solely on the Holy Spirit and need to consider certain leadership factors that are necessary to help you achieve your aim. The greatest leader, Jesus Christ who lived on this earth showed certain leadership qualities that must be emulated by His followers.

1. VISION. The main vision of Jesus Christ was to bring all people back to God. This made Him to sacrifice His whole life for this duty. He was to help God achieve His aim of creating this world. After the first sin, man lost contact and that closeness with his creator. As a result, Jesus Christ came to redeem us to that closeness again. This is the main vision of Jesus Christ. As a choir, the vision is to sing to bring the glory of God nearer and closer to the people thereby allowing God’s spirit to free all those in bondage, depressed, ill, possessed by the devil etc. As a leader of a group with the above vision, you have a very great task. You need to ensure that this great vision is achieved at all cost. When it is not achieved, then your leadership is a poor one. When your vision as a leader is not the same as above, them

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you are bound to lead the people astray. A choir should not be a uniformed conscious and money making group, a group of backbiters, a group of gossips. Your vision, i.e. to sing to liberate people must be achieved. As a leader, you must ensure that God’s choir entrusted to your hand eschew all the bad behaviours mentioned above. This must be your vision so that more people would be set free from bondages and be delivered. If you don’t have a vision for the choir, you can be moved or a tossed anyhow like a boat on a sea without a captain. Also your vision must be Holy Spirit controlled.

2. HOLY SPIRIT DEPENDANT A good leader or manager must depend on the Holy Spirit for guidance. In John 15; 6, we learnt that “but when the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the father, the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father, he will testify of me”. Here Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit that he will send will be a helper. You therefore need to depend on him as He takes message from the father unto you. He must be depended upon to show you what to do. The Holy Spirit manifest himself in different ways and as a Christian you need to identify all these ways and know how He talks to you, and helps you in solving your management and leadership problems. Also in Paul’s letter to the Romans, (Romans 8: 1 -6) he admonished them not to walk in the flesh but according to the spirit. He further stated in verse 5 that for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, set there minds on the things of the spirit. The things of the spirit and flesh are categorically stated in the book of Galatians chapter 5: 16- 21. In leading choir members entrusted unto you by God make sure you exhibit features of a Holy spirit filled person as stated in Galatians 5:22- 26.

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3. COMMUNICATE PROPERLY. A leader must be able to effectively communicate his mind well to enable people understand him perfectly. A leader who cannot communicate effectively may destroy the choir. Look at the way Jesus Christ always communicate with his disciples. He always talk to them in a way that they must think deep about what He says for them to derive a useful meaning and change their lives. Communication is an effective way the growth of the choir can be ensured. When you communicate and people refuse to do what you said, then it means that you either communicate wrongly and ineffectively or the people you are communicating with have hard hearts and are not ready to listen to you, or they are fading up with too many words. You must exhaust all forms of communication channel so that they can understand themselves so as to change. Because Jesus realised that the people He has come to deliver have hard hearts and cannot be changed easily, he usually speaks in parable and use demonstrations sometimes to effectively talk to the people to understand. Above all, the Holy Spirit always led in a better communication. On the day of Pentecost, Peter was led by the Holy Spirit to preach to the masses that gathered. The Holy Spirit made it possible that the people became convicted and repented. Your actions as a leader must be Holy Spirit motivated to enable people turn to God the same way they did when Peter preached to them on the day of Pentecost. Communication is not only talking to the people to understand what you say. It involves a lot. You will be a proper and good leader when sometimes you communicate with actions. Involve yourself in the activities of the group to motivate them. Imagine you are at Choir practice whilst the president of the choir does not want to get involved in the learning but playing with other members of the Choir whilst other people are seriously learning. As a leader, you have decided to communicate an action of indiscipline in

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the Choir. Don’t wonder when the members of the Choir start exhibit these actions of indiscipline in the choir. You have sown that attitude in them. In fact what you possess that is what you will give hence if you are indiscipline, you will give out the indiscipline to your Church members since that is what you will communicate to the group. When you are someone who always brings confusion, you will sow confusions in to the members of the Choir. As a leader, do well to exhibit characters that can be emulated by the members of the group.

4. COMMITMENT AND DEDICATION. Commitment and Dedication indeed are strong words in leadership. As a leader, you must be committed to your leadership roles. When you neglect commitment and dedication, as your role, there will be disorganization. Without the spirit of commitment, you can never achieve you objectives. A choir can never sing to liberate people from bondages when they are not committed to the singing and prayer. The Choir can be a well organized group when the leaders are committed to their leadership role and when the group is committed to learning of songs, singing of the songs, prayer and reading of the word of God. When Stephen became committed to the serving of the people, God actually used him to transform a lot of people. Jesus Christ committed Himself to the extent of dying for our sins, so that we can also have life and have it in abundance. We as Christians have to emulate Christ. It is through this emulation that Christ can fulfil his promises through us. As a choir, when you are committed to the work of God, God can work through you to give healing, deliverance and all forms of miracles to the people. Imagine how Jesus Christ sacrificed His whole life for your sake. Why can’t you also dedicate your life to his work in order to bring more people unto Him? If Jesus did not

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do it, you cannot also sit down and say I am a born again. Dedicate yourself to your call as a Christian, as a choir member, as a choir leader or master to enable God to be pleased with you.

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CHAPTER FOUR THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH How can a vibrant Choir, lead to the growth of the Church? Jesus Christ, before leaving this earth promised that he would build his church that the gates of hell cannot prevail. Remember, you and I are the church of Christ. For the gate of hell not to prevail over the church, that is you and I; it is our behaviour that would catalyse the breakage or repair of the church. The church is the human beings, not any physical structure. If your life does not reflect Christ, then, the gate of hell will prevail over you the church of Christ. You must be Christ-like. The growth of any church depends on several factors. The growth, when it starts from the various cell or ministries in the church can, widely spread in the whole church. One of the strongest ministries that can cause the growth of the church in this new millennium is the music ministry. Tracing the importance of music from the Old Testament period as we have seen previously, we can realise that the Israelites saw the importance of music and hence its adoption even in the temple of God to enable them set their spirits in tune with the Creator. Music is something that develops the inner man and causes people to actually realise their misgivings. Music is something that makes people actually think deeper into their lives and try to make amends. Personally, I cry when I am singing songs of worship and actually think of the words of the music. It makes me think properly in order to rededicate myself unto God.

THE ROLE OF THE CHOIR IN THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH The choir or the music ministry in general, is very important in the growth of the Church. Music invokes the spirit of God and the glory of God to fall on the people to

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break all forms of yoke on them. Read the following texts and see how music and for that matter the choir helped in the spiritual upliftment of the people of God and even the priest. 2 Chronicle 5: 11- 42, 1 Chronicle 16: 1-43, Acts 2: 46-47. Surely, music can let the church grow. Even the disciples, whenever God performed miracles in their lives, they continue to glorify and praise God for the great works he has done for them. The praise that they gave to God signifies their gratitude to God for helping them through their tribulations. Nowadays, Christians are suffering because we are greedy, unfaithful, and ungrateful. We do not appreciate what God does for us. A critical look at the Apostles, and other people of God mentioned in the Bible always show their appreciative life to God from the inner part of their hearts through praising God. Our Choirs have a greater role to play to let God’s purpose be fulfilled in us. The choir need to sing as a way of interceding on behalf of the Church thereby showing our appreciation to God. When the Choir sings, I believe a lot of people can get their deliverance. In the II Chronicles chapter 5: 13-14 it was through the singing of the songs and praises coupled with unity that caused God’s glory in the form of clouds to cover the whole temple of God. Can you also sing to invoke the Holy Spirit of God to convict people of their sins so as to ask God to forgive them their sins, and above all let the glory of God be felt in the Church? If you cannot do this, then you are lacking. You need to make yourself holy to allow God to use your songs as a point of contact through which He can let His Spirit flow like a fountain in the Church that everybody can receive his blessings. The Choir for a long time has lost her image and as a result made all the Churches dead that the devil now reigns in our chapels. “Rise up oh ye anointed singers and sing in holiness to allow God to move and bless his congregation”. Do not try to be

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a stabling block between God and His people. Your singing is the medium through which God can pronounce healing, deliverance blessing etc through the priest or the pastor unto the people. Try to rededicate yourselves now and repent so that God can cause the growth of the church through your singing. As choir members, you must know that you are leaders just like the Levites that sang during the dedication of the Temple built by Solomon. God talked through Malachi [in Malachi 2: 1-9] that if the priests did not give glory to His name, He would punish them. As Levites, you need to live like Christ who has become the Chief Levite in this era of the New Testament. We need to turn away from every iniquity. Read Malachi 2: 4 -7. You need to speak or sing peace and equity to the people of God. If you cannot sing peace and your lifestyle is very aggressive and full of iniquity, you need not be maintained in the choir. God does not want people who are full of hatred, iniquity, backbiting, slandering etc in the Choir. If your life reflects all these abominations, you will sing these characters into the people and your behaviour and iniquity will lead to the fall of the Church. You must change your lifestyle to suit that of the Chief Levite, Christ, and so that you can bring peace of God in the Church. In the verse 7, of Malachi you are pronounced as the messenger of the Lord of hosts. Your life must reflect Christ so that people can see it and know that you are the light or salt of this world and they will look unto you to see in their darkness or they may put you in their food of life to have a better taste. Your life as Choir member must show that without you, there will be no taste in whatever activity the Church is undertaking. Your pieces of advice will always be sought after. Take care and change for the better. As a choir, you need to live a life that people will emulate and depend on God. As a Chorister, people see you more than any other ordinary member of the church. You are seen as people next to the pastor. People do not recognize the deacons, and

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elders like the way they recognize you and the pastors, be very careful that you don’t fall in to sin. When you fall into sin, you will sing sin unto the people and the whole Church will die in sin. Your singing will NEVER bring the glory of God but the WRATH of God, so watch your ways. In the Bible, God visited His people through singing and delivered them. Read 2 Chronicle 5, Acts 16: 25 – 40. Imagine how Paul and Silas through their prayer and singing became the medium through which God visited the prison by shaking the foundation of the prisons and making the prison keeper to surrender himself to Jesus Christ. The devil will surrender, the witches, wizards, juju men, occultists, psychics etc will all surrender when you do the right thing before God before singing. Indeed singing is a powerful tool of worship. In the book of Revelation, John told us that when he saw heaven and Jesus Christ seated in the right hand of God, there were angels worshipping them. God deserves your worship every second. Do not be tired there is a blessing in it. When you don’t receive any financial blessing through this, don’t think God is not blessing you in any way. Financial blessing is just a minute part of blessing packages that God has for you. Jesus said you must rather rejoice that your name is written in heaven. John admonishes us that we are not of this world.. These financial gains will only draw us back from God because; we may neglect God and concentrate mostly on our riches more than God. Loose yourself to God to use you and bless the church and you will realize the financial blessings that God will give you through those who were delivered because of your singing or preaching and the deliverance they received. The choir has a very sensitive part to play in the church. It is therefore better for the choirs of today to change their behaviour and turn to God or else they may face the wrath of God for

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neglecting His duty and His people. In fact, the position and the role of the choir in the growth of the church can not be overemphasized. It is clear both from the Bible and our individual encounters at the church so don’t be weary.

DUTIES OF CHURCH TO THE CHOIR TO ENHANCE CHURCH GROWTH To the congregation, or the churches, you must not neglect the choristers. Their work demands a lot of devotion and sacrifice. Try and give part of your riches unto the choir. In the Old Testament days, God commanded the Israelites to send their tithes to the house of God. These tithes are used to feed the Levites. As church members, do not forget to give to ensure that the Church and the Choir grow. The choir need encouragement both financially and in other aspects of life. Continue praying for the choir, the choir even need more prayers than the pastors. Our churches these days are found to be having problems with their finances. Partly, this may be attributed to the fact that the tithe paid by the church members are not given to the Levites [i.e. choir, pastor, and other church workers such as sweepers, prayer warriors etc.] the money is being used on development projects such as building of pastors residences, chapel buying of cars etc. Separate appeals for money must be lunched to do these developmental projects. This is why anniversaries and church activities are necessary in order to cater for these things. As the money is not properly used, church members may also not be properly blessed by God. In Malachi 3: 7- 15, especially in verse 10, the bible mentioned that “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it”.

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In the house of the Lord are the Levites who have to eat all that has been brought. When you make the Levites to go hungry, how can they help to do the sacrifices that are supposed to be made for the other tribes? They can also not perform other duties. They can’t continue to be hungry and be going about doing their duties. In manner, when tithes are brought to the house of the Lord it must be used to pay the church workers e.g. Pastors, Evangelists, Chapel sweepers, choir members, deacons etc. In most Churches today, Choirs are not regarded as Church workers and hence are not catered for in any way. The church must do her part and the good Lord will bless everybody in the Church and this will help the church to fully grow. God does not want anything from any church members in order to eat. He wants the tithes to be brought so that those who work in the chapel or temple i.e. those who devote themselves can also have something to eat. He gives us so much but, He needs nothing from us. It is only through catering for the poor that we can receive financial breakthrough in the church. No pastor, prophet, or evangelist can pray for you to have your financial breakthrough. There is an easy way for you. This easy way is to follow the blessing pact in the book of Malachi 3: 7 -15. If you refuse to give to those working in the house of God, there is no way you can expect God to bless you. TITHE is the blessing pacts so do not play with your tithing. To ensure you are blessed, you also need to ensure that your tithe is used in the way God commanded it to be used. If it is used on purchasing Treasury bill, run Lorry or transport businesses or investment in other forms of businesses, your blessings are being blocked. The church is not a business venture that we need to save money for our next of kin. Even if the Church wishes to invest in any business at all, the tithe must not be used for that purpose. Instead of the money being used on the poor in the society, the orphans, the

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widows, etc much of the money is being used to buy Treasury bill neglecting the most important things like looking after the widows, orphans and the poor. It is only in business venture that we must seek interest on the money we are using for the business. Money derived from church collection must be used to develop the members who have no other helper and cannot do anything and in addition other people who are not members of our churches but are handicapped. God will never praise anybody who saves enough money for the church. However, he would bless the church that cares for the humanity. Jesus Christ commanded that love one another. You cannot profess to love God whilst you neglect the handicaps in the society. They are the measuring instruments that God will use to measure your love for him. You may buy buses to bring people to the church; however some of these intensions may be evil. Some buy these buses to bring more people to the church and with the intension of extorting money from these innocent members and even trying to convince them to sell all that they have and bring the money to the man of God Jesus Christ warned against all these i.e the false prophets. In view of the consciousness of too much prosperity, we have all turned the greatest commandment down and concentrates on cheating people to get more money and contributing huge amounts at church. Woe unto you, when you cheat the poor in the society and use as contribution to God. God hates these hypocrites and would never bless you. Well, you may make yourself popular in the church and attract other people unto yourself to do business with you through giving huge money and thereby advertising your business. Imagine the deaf, blinds, mentally retarded children, orphans, widows

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etc who has nobody to cater for them. Jesus said when you do any little thing unto these people, you will definitely be blessed. Your reward will be greater. Desist from cheating. As a Christian, your attitude of cheating may send people away from God. Your attitude must be to bring the people to God. My advice therefore is that, the church must try to cater for the deafs, and dumbs, blinds, other handicapped people, the chapel sweepers, the choir, the Pastors, Evangelists, Prayer force members and other workers in the church. A worker deserves his salary. So do not expect too much from only the church members you must also contribute as a church to the welfare of the handicapped members in the society and you will be blessed. Read Matt 25: 31-46.

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