Good Shepherd Community Church

The act of worship that is Christian baptism must contain the proclamation of the Word containing its institution and its meaning. A biblical way of enhance this service is to sing Christ centered gospel focused hymns expressing Biblical truth to both the one being baptized and the body of worshippers participating in this gospel ordinance. Psalm 105:2 ESV Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! There are examples of people who upon being baptized responded with rejoicing Acts 8, the newly baptized Ethiopian went on home rejoicing. The converted Philippian jailer upon hearing and believing the good news was baptized and rejoiced greatly with all his household, having believed in God. Acts 16:34 New Testament baptism presents conversion and baptism together. We must not separate what God has joined! The order of human response to God's sovereign move in grace is to repent-believe and baptized. One very important way of worshiping at the observance of baptism is to read appropriate scripture ,comment upon it and sing songs that express the meaning of the act to both the one being baptized and the others witnessing and sharing in this act of worship. Two examples of hymns are "The Servants of God a Baptized and When Jesus Died Upon the Cross

Sermon Outline: I. The Distress of the Psalmist - v. 1-3 II. The Relief of the Psalmist - v. 4-6 III. The Certain Hope of God's People - v. 7-8 As we read this Psalm we see that the psalmist is in great distress and is crying out for the mercy of God. The thing that is overwhelming him is his own sin, his great iniquity. He knows how righteous God is but is comforted in Yahweh's steadfast love and plentiful redemption. So the Psalmist waits in certain hope that God will redeem him as well as all his people from their iniquities. Knowing the Old Testament promises of the Messiah is where his ultimate hope rested: the coming One who would pay the price for the true removal of their sin and guilt. We, too, wait for the consummation of our salvation at Christ's return.

Jesus Christ gave and commanded two ordinances or sacraments for his followers to observe. Both are directly connected to and embody the gospel, the wonderful news of forgiveness and new life with God as our Father through the redemptive actions of Jesus- his life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension into heaven. Through these appointed rites we participate with Christ in his work on our behalf. To counter the all to common low view of the ordinances we must embrace a robust biblical view of their connection with our salvation through union with the Lord Jesu

Paul's words in Col. 3:1-4 cut across time: they begin with the past, come into the present, and look to the future. In all these phases we are united to Christ. Union with Christ has been called the "umbrella doctrine" because it covers the entire Christian experience. "In Christ" is the fundamental expression used over and over in Paul's letters to describe the position of the Christian in this world. In Gal. 2:20 we learn that we have been united with Christ in his death. All of our subjective blessings are based on his objective work on the cross. As Michael Horton says, "If Christ remains outside of us , it's useless to us - we must cash in through personal faith in Christ." When Christ arose and ascended, we also rose and ascended with him, not bodily, but spiritually. So in our present experience on earth, we walk by faith via the enablement of the grace of Spirit, to live our daily lives so as to please him. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 we read about our future at Christ's return: the raising of our lowly bodies from the grave to be changed like unto Christ's glorious resurrection body. Thus our present spiritual union will also become physical by the power of God.

Hymn singing that is the musical expression of Biblical truth in the form of vocal music is extremely important in the Christian life. What we sing and how we sing it shapes us in many ways. In the Bible singing plays a major role. This is especially true when believers gather. The Scriptures in both the Old Testament and the New Testament command us to sing and gives examples. The earliest recorded song I find in the Bible is Exodus 15:1ff Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, and said, "I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. He has thrown the horse and his rider into the sea. 2 Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him; my father's God, and I will exalt him. 3 Yahweh is a man of war. Yahweh is his name. WEB Moses concluded his mediator prophet role by composing and singing a song recorded in Deuteronomy 32. Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth. My doctrine will drop as the rain. My speech will condense as the dew, as the misty rain on the tender grass, as the showers on the herb. For I will proclaim Yahweh's name. Ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock: his work is perfect,for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he. An example of the importance of singing God's truth is the experience of Paul and Silas recorded in Acts 16. After being grossly mistreated and thrown into jail, About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. This is the Paul who later wrote to the churches in Colossians 3.