Writings from the Past
A New Song – Psalm 40 – Don Doss, January 7, 2021
The ‘Other” Three-Sixteen – Don Doss – March 2, 2021
Vital Signs– Don Doss, Message – July 16, 2023
Wait on the Lord – Don Doss, March 2, 2021
The ‘Other’ Three-Sixteen – Don Doss – March 2, 2021
Like many of you who grew up in the church, probably the first verse you ever memorized was John 3:16. I have a small blue New Testament – well it’s more of a dingy blue dusty green these days – that was given to me on the day of my birth back in January 1955. I just checked, and sure enough, that verse was underlined around ten years later because it was the first real understanding of God’s love to me in my life. That one simple verse really says it all. I’ve heard it said that it is the whole Bible wrapped up in one verse, but later in my growth as a Christian I ran into another 3:16 that spoke to me about my role as a minister.
Colossians 3:16 – “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
I see this verse used quite a bit for teaching and admonishing, but there is much more I find as I read it. The central part of the verse says LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL IN YOU RICHLY. If you were diagramming the sentence as I remember doing in my English classes, it would look like *word|dwell*, not *(you)|teach*. Everything else in the verse is describing how to do that. Knowing and pondering and praying to God as you consider the Word of God is the primary necessity for the believer. And how do we find the ‘Word’ of God? Bible study. We have no other source to know God’s Word but through the Bible he has continued to make available to all people – it is still the BEST SELLER book of all time.
People of God are given certain responsibilities within the community of faith – the Church. We have our pastors and deacons and laity leaders that have specific duties, but we all have the job of knowing God’s Word. Read the Bible, get in a Sunday School group, find a small study group in our Church to be involved, even find an online study source to help you as you seek his Word… but READ the Word, that is a necessary job for every Christian.
When you get passed that, there is something else there in that verse that is really important. As you dwell in his Word, there are things that become apparent to you as a result of your dwelling. You begin to teach and admonish your brothers and sisters, you can’t help it! And how does that happen? Ah, this is the part that Church musicians like to hold on to, it is their job description for being a musician of the Lord… SING with thankfulness!
Bible scholars say that the word ‘psalms’ is definitely referring to the Psalms of David that were and still are used in Hebrew worship. The word ‘hymns’ refers to songs used in worship that are not from the Psalms but written to provide praise and instruction in worship, written by more modern authors than David but generally accepted as proper music for worship. The ‘spiritual songs’ is a clean-up identification that basically says it’s okay to sing all other songs that have a spiritual importance but are not psalms or hymns!
SING using songs, hymns and spiritual songs… different kinds of songs – that means not only hymns, but folk songs, Bible songs, familiar songs about the Lord. Songs with organ, songs with guitar, songs with a symphony orchestra or songs without any instruments at all… songs in a large group, songs with a few friends… but SING!!!!
We are taught in all wisdom through the songs we sing. Singing in worship is not simply something to do before and after the sermon – it IS worship. It is our life as a disciple. It is our training as a Christian, it is what we do. And it’s how we show our thankfulness to God for his great love for us. It is our love to our Lord.
Dear Holy Father in Heaven, help us to understand how much you love for us to sing to you, to lift up your name with our voices and instruments with all our hearts. Let us realize that music is for you, not for us – you are the audience, not the ones sitting in the pews. Give us a heart for worship so that you glory can’t be hidden from those that gather with us. Make our worship a true effort of our love for you, and increase our abilities to accomplish glorious praise to you alone, A-men.
And all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and kinsmen, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps and lyres, standing east of the altar, and with them one hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets in unison when the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice accompanied by trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and when they praised the Lord saying, “He indeed is good for His lovingkindness is everlasting,” then the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. 2 Chronicles 5:12-14
A New Song – Psalm 40 – Don Doss, January 7, 2021
(aka… Out of the mire and into the choir)
All through the scriptures, especially in the Psalm you and I are exhorted to sing to the Lord! But in six places in the Psalms we are told to sing a NEW SONG to the Lord. NEW SONG… a good topic to consider just a few days into the new year. God expects us to sing to him, to worship him – all of us! I heard this story some time back but just found out that it happened at a Methodist Church in Yukon OK where we drive up to for Christmas.
There was a member of the church choir who just could not sing. This fellow flattened every note; he was never in tune. One day several of the other choir members complained to the choir director about this guy and what he was doing to the music they sang. “Could he get some special tutoring?” “Could he stand next to someone who sang well? Maybe he could hear the tune that way, and it might help.”
The choir director told these other choir members he would have a talk with the man. So he pulled the man aside after the next choir practice. He said, “you know, maybe you’d like to spend some time developing your talent. I’d be glad to work with you after practice sometime.”
“No, I don’t want any special treatment, I just want to be a regular member of the choir.”
“Well,” the choir director said, “we really could use your help in other areas of the music ministry … keeping our music library in order, listening to new music we might sing…”
He tried several other ways to convince this gentleman to leave the choir, but each time he said, “No, I just want to sing in the choir.”
In desperation the choir director told the pastor, “Listen, I can’t work with this guy. He can’t sing and he can’t take a hint. He ruins every piece of music we try to sing. People are dropping out of choir because of this man. Either he goes or I go!”
So, the pastor called this man and asked him to drop by the office. When he arrived, the pastor tried every way possible to get this fellow out of the choir. “Would you like to be an usher?”
“No, if I was an usher, I wouldn’t be able to sing in the choir!”
“Well, how about being head usher?”
“Nope, I’d rather sing in the choir.” How about counting the money after we take up the offering?”
“No, because then I wouldn’t be able to sing in the choir…” The pastor offered him everything.
“The Board of Trustees? Member of the Administrative Board?”
“Nope, I just want to sing in the choir.”
Finally, the preacher decided to level with him. “Look, friend, the plain truth is I want you to quit the choir, because I’ve had at least a dozen people come to me and tell me that you just can’t sing!”
The man replied… “So??? Big deal! I’ve had 30 people tell me you can’t preach – but I haven’t tried to make you quit!”
We are all supposed to sing to the Lord… maybe not in the choir it that’s not your particular gift – but to sing and praise in the congregation for sure! But there’s more – what about singing that NEW SONG? What does that mean? Does it mean we have to stop singing the “OLD” songs??
You may know that our hymnal was printed in 1989, over 20 years ago. The word is that they are working on a ‘new’ version. The little book “The Faith We Sing” was printed as a supplement. In the introduction it tells us that because of so many new songs that a supplement is required… that was 10 years ago! The problem with printed music is pretty much like computers… the minute they are produced, they are obsolete.
We use this term many times to justify introducing a newly composed song to the congregation so they won’t get mad at us. But I’m not exactly sure that’s what David was talking about when he wrote Psalm 40 from his life experiences. Listen to the first three …
1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.
The Hebrew text of the term NEW is shir kadash which means a fresh experience, a renewed vigor. I think to really understand what David was expressing and what the Lord wants us to gather is how the phrase is used in this verse we just read. Raised in the Baptist tradition, I found 4 things that all start with a P to help me organize my thoughts…
It starts by saying after waiting patiently… not being a baby and whining or complaining… God hears our cry. Now ‘cry’ means a loud, insistent voice based on fear and trepidation. Now that may sound like a bit of double speak – but patience doesn’t mean weak and lowly and inactive. But it does tell us something about our mindset.
We can be insistent in our approach to God, not because he owes us anything but because he expects us to go to him. But then we must not expect him to immediately jump to our request because, after all, he’s God and you just can’t order the Creator of our Universe around like a dog or a servant. So I call this “determined patience”. Our New Song begins with patience. Listen to the second verse and find what the person that is in trouble is doing about it…
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
What does the person do? Nothing. HE lifted me, HE set my feet, HE gave me a firm place to stand. Isn’t it most of the time US who decides when it’s time to act, or when we think we see God doing something we just grab it out of his hands and do it ourselves? Our NEW SONG won’t happen if we are the ones to do the work. It’s based on our position – we’re the ones to be helped, we’re the ones that need to go limp and let God move us. Then I found something else interesting. The New Song requires our patience, and our position, but then comes the praise – but check out the verse… HE gave me a new song to sing.
You see, he’s the one that provides us the subject of our worship. The new song is from God, from his incredible actions in our lives, for the great things he’s done.
Like David, we shouldn’t prohibit our joy and excitement over God’s work through our lives. This psalm is a reminder to us that our new song flows from God’s grace. It washes us, renews us, it comforts and empowers us. The actual songs we sing may indeed have a 20-year-old copyright date, but we can sing them with renewed vigor because God’s grace is fresh and new as is our desire and joy to express it.
From time to time my wife and girls will make a batch of chocolate chip or peanut butter cookies or snicker doodles – especially over the holidays. The best time to eat those cookies is when they first come out of the oven. They are fresh and melt in your mouth. You know how it goes? The batch comes out and set out to cool off, but before the next bunch comes out, those are gone! We want to eat them as soon as they come out of the oven. Those cookies have absolutely no opportunity to get stale.
A new song is much the same way. It never gets stale. Fresh revelations and experiences produce fresh new songs. The new song comes from the spirit of a person who has a fresh relationship with the Father. God is always revealing more of himself to those who walk close to him. As he reveals himself and as we are patient, giving him the position of our hearts, he gives new songs of praise that only those to whom he is revealed can sing. It is their song to him. It is sung through them by the Holy Spirit to the Father.
You’re waiting for the fourth P? It’s an important part… the second half of the third verse…
Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.
It’s a promise from God. A new song brings about many who will trust in the Lord. Maybe that is where our church needs to focus to bring in new folks!
Our new song is based on our patience and our position, then comes the praise. Fresh expressions of our thankfulness to God the Father come through our relationship with him and the new experiences he brings us through. When God lifts us out of the muck and mire of our own actions and heals and empowers us – we will sing a new song… over and over again.
Wait on the Lord – Don Doss, March 2,2021
This is one of my all-time favorite stories from the Old Testament and you will soon know why. Following the reign of Solomon, the nation of Israel was split into two parts, Israel and Judah. Ten of the tribes of Israel revolted against Solomon’s choice for successor, his son Rehoboam. So, the ten tribes separated from Judah and Benjamin and became the northern kingdom with Solomon’s other son Jeroboam as King. The southern nation was called Judah which kept Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple.
From the time of the end of Solomon’s reign to the Babylonian captivity was about 387 years, during that time between Israel and Judah there were 38 kings, and only 8 of them were good! Jehoshaphat was the fourth king following Solomon in Judah, he and his father were good, but Jehoshaphat had problems befriending the bad King Ahab of Israel. Even at that, he did honor to the Lord and cleaned up the mess left by Solomon’s son and grandson.
The glory of Solomon’s kingdom was still around. It had only been 61 years since Solomon died so the splendor was still there, but a large part of the armies had gone with Israel. After a few mess-ups and close calls in battle, some of the surrounding kings got together and thought this might be a good time to attack Jerusalem since their army was apparently in disarray and all the wealth in Jerusalem ripe for the taking.
This is where it gets good! A warning comes to Jehoshaphat about the coming onslaught, so he inquires of the Lord. His way of inquiring is interesting – you’d think he would go to a prophet or counselors – but no… he brings in EVERYBODY together and prays. Everybody, according to 2 Chronicles 17:14, means 1,161,000 fighting men, it also means all the families! So he prays in front of ALL the people (without a sound system I might add), and this is how that prayer ends…
“But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 2 Chronicles 20:10
The verse following this prayer is key…
All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the Lord.
So please get this picture… easily over 2 million people are standing there waiting for an answer from God to Jehoshaphat’s prayer. Just waiting – can you hear that silence? And the answer comes and it comes from a drummer! (actually a cymbalist) Really, a great great great grandson of Asaph the musician of David who played percussion as did his family for generations. His answer was to go out to battle with musicians in front of the army praising God and the battle would belong to the Lord.
The next morning the army left for battle with the musicians in front playing and singing and when they got to the place, all of the vast army coming to attack them were already dead on the ground… they didn’t even have to swing one sword! Being a church musician, I can pull a lot out of this lesson – like musicians being in the front of the battles, and the answer coming through a member of the orchestra… but probably though, the most amazing thing is how the two million people just stand there waiting on an answer from God. Remember also the close relationship Jehoshaphat had with God that allowed him to pray that prayer and expect an answer. Wow, that’s one of those things that’s hard to visualize.
Glorious and Almighty Lord, you honor the righteous and give victory to the faithful. Even though you chose to give us our earthly lives many years after the reign of Jehoshaphat, help us to understand how you can bring great wins in our battles today just by trusting you and waiting on you to move. Give us such a strong belief in your invisible power and actions in our lives that we can pray to you knowing there will come and answer and stand – stand among the people, sure that you have heard our petitions and ready to act on your word to us. Help us realize the battle belongs to you, Lord.
Vital Signs – Don Doss, Message – July 16, 2023 (I definitely had to reduce these notes for the sermon, this would have lasted 2 hours!)
Well Good Morning! Wow… the last time I was asked to preach in this sanctuary was about 12 years ago and wasn’t asked back for whatever reason, and most if not all the people that heard it are not hear any more so I’m baaack! Really, it is an honor to be asked… and if I’m still around in 12 years, who knows!!
So I started thinking about all the things I like to talk about… the history of the Hebrews, King David, worship, all the music in worship… so much… but nothing felt right. I’ve been a Christian for over 60 years – not granted maybe not the best disciple in those early years, but I can tell when the Lord is pushing me a certain direction or when to turn around and go the other way. If I don’t share with you what I feel the Lord is leading me to, then I’m not doing what I’m supposed to. The message today is not one of those soothing ‘everything’s all good’ kind of message – this one may indeed step on some toes, it has mine for sure.
WHY? So let me start with a simple question, and the answer will start our journey this morning. I’m not sure that we will get to the answer quickly so I’ll Help with the answer so we aren’t still here at 2:00!
Why do you come to church? What is it about church that draws you through the doors every Sunday or more? Most common answer is to worship God – and that is a great answer, but not what I’m looking for so let’s go on…
Why do we worship God? Well he’s the Creator of the Universe and we owe him our worship – again very true, but still not there
There’s umpteen thousands of answers here, but eventually we will get to this… because he sent his Son to die for our sins.
Why would He do that? Because He loves us that much! True, but what is the end game… what is our expectation and hope we have because of his great gift to us? We’re almost there… For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
There it is… isn’t the underlying ‘elephant in the room’ reason that most of us come to church because of God’s promise to us of eternal life… to go to heaven when we die?
Oh oh Don, Don – you shouldn’t be that pointed you shouldn’t that direct!! Wait, I’m just getting started!
BAD WORDS Over time, I believe that our super educated sophisticated society we live in has softened the gospel message so much that no one really knows what it is. Case in point… there are some words that we don’t use any more in conversations and most churches. Most everybody stops reading after 3:16 – but there is a second part to that verse that we hardly EVER hear: For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to ______ the world through him. John 3:17
Now when you are ‘saved’ from something, it usually is something pretty bad, or painful, life-threatening like drowning or a burning house – saving someone is moving them from a very very bad situation back to being safe away from harm. John 3:17 says the Son would SAVE the world through him… saved from what?
HELL Here’s where it gonna get just a little dicey, you’re about to be uncomfortable. Jesus talked about hell more than he talked about heaven… why do we not talk about it?
* Luke 16 he calls it a great chasm that no one may cross.
* Matthew 25 people separated into two groups, one goes into his presence and the other into eternal fire.
* Mark 9:43 an unquenchable fire
* Matthew 13:42 where people will gnash their teeth because of the torment
* Matthew 7 the difficult path through the narrow gate leads to life, the broad way leads to destruction.
* Luke 16 the parable of the rich man and the beggar… no return or communication across the void, even to warn relatives.
* Matt 10:28 calls it Gehenna where trash is burned forever and maggots abound.
It’s real but we don’t want to talk about it – ‘well it’s just not appropriate in our sensitive modern society’. But if we don’t realize the truth of the eternal torment in hell, how can we possibly understand the glory of God’s sacrifice for us? Where is God’s grace if there is no Hell?? And if hell is really not that bad or it doesn’t last for eternity, then where is the magnitude and purpose of God’s grace?
One more verse to look at, 3:18… Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. You see 3:17 says Jesus didn’t come to condemn the WORLD, but 3:18 says if you do not believe, you’re condemned already – but the difference between being condemned or being SAVED from condemnation is simply believing in Jesus. So there’s a choice – and it’s totally up to you and I, and it needs to happen while we are alive here on earth! You are or you’re not.
Over half of chapter 3 in the Gospel of John is an account of a conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus. Being a Pharisee, Nicodemus had to talk to Jesus at night so no one could see him. He begins… “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” But the first thing out of Jesus’ mouth was this: “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are ____ ____.” John 3:3
Why do we not speak these words anymore? They’re the words of Christ himself but the world has turned them into a negative connotation, so that anyone that uses them is thought of as some low-life backwoods hick or a crazy religious nut. So are you saved? Have you been born again?
I asked Jesus to come into my heart when I was 6 years old. Six is kind of young, and that caused some doubt to creep into my head and grow through my childhood. Was I a Christian? Did I know what I was doing at 6 years old?? Through high school I did a lot of research with some friends on recent archeological discoveries that backed up biblical accounts. I studied an abundance of non-believing writers and historians: Josephus, Pliny the Younger, Trajan, Tacitus, Suetonius, Thalles, Phlegon, Galen, Tertulian, and more. Jesus – his birth, life, miracles, ministry, death on the cross, his followers, his church years after his death – all of this is historically documented, it was true.
But even after all of that, it was these two verses hit it home…
Mark 15:23- Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” AND Proverbs 3:5- Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
John 10:27-29 – My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
I went to my first time church job as a minister of Music & Youth and took a big group of teenagers to Falls Creek. Anyone ever heard of Falls Creek? They would schedule a great preacher to do each of the weeks and that year they had the pastor at the largest Baptist Church in Oklahoma – this church would baptize hundreds of people each week! And I found out why! When they offered the invitation with 5,000 kids – it was like a Billy Graham Crusade with hundreds of kids flowing down the aisles for the invitation. This preacher would say something like “you have to know that you know that you know you are a Christian… if you don’t remember the date you were saved then you probably weren’t!! If you have ANY doubt that you have become a believer, you need to settle it tonight right here.” My heart sank, I knew the confusion this would cause.
I was a counselor to half a dozen kids that came forward, and I had to unpack what the preacher had done and start back at the beginning. “Do you remember ever asking Jesus into your heart?” Most would say yes – “Did you mean it?” Most would say yes… “Do think that the righteous God of the Universe would lie to you?” Most would say no… “Can you trust in the Lord?” Most would say yes. That should answer your question… if you know you asked Jesus to come into your heart and you meant it – you should trust the Lord that he heard you.
Then when I got back to our cabin I found lots of my own youth in turmoil about what to believe, there is an eternal consequence so I have to make sure they understood. How can I reasonably tell a teenager that they are or aren’t going to heaven? Share my story – that’s all I knew. So what about you? Are you saved? Are you born-again?
While serving at Atoka First Baptist Church I occasionally had the privilege to take a group of senior adults out sight-seeing! A fun group to be around and talk with! One of these precious ladies, Iva Stanphil was part of this group. She was the epitome of a perfect lady in everything… incredibly smart, knew the Bible inside and out, very nice, funny, eager to help in any way she was asked. She asked me just before we took off on a trip to the Tallamina Drive (it was fall) if her son-in-law who was visiting could come with her. We had room and I could not tell her no, so of course I said sure.
This was a trip I will never forget. Turns out that I talked with Gene most of the trip about church stuff, ministry, he was easy going and very interested in my work and how I planned and prepared – and one thing that came up strangely enough was ‘assurance of the believer’. I told him about my Falls Creek experience having to reteach the kids about their salvation. Eventually I found out that this Gene guy was also known as Dr. R. Gene Reynolds who at that time was a pastor of a pretty large Baptist Church in Arlington… and had a book published entitled Assurance!
Anyone here ever had to be hospitalized or taken to the ER? They start hooking things up to you! These nurses and doctors need to watch the monitors to check up on how well your health is doing… Pulse / heart beat… pretty important! Blood Pressure… need it. Respiration… got to breathe. Body Temperature…not too hot not too cold. Pupillary Reflex… iris contracting when shining a light into it shows brain sensitivity. It’s important to understand that these signs are just the indicators, they don’t cause the problems they just report the status.
It’s mostly my story – how with God’s help I worked through some difficulties that I think everyone at some time goes through, we all deal with the same thoughts that run through our heads and each of us then makes a decision that has eternal significance… and if you remember anything about the choir’s Christmas presentation, you know that eternity, forever, everlasting is a very very long time. We are so interested and in pursuit of the here and now – eternal things are for later and we just put off, we kick the can down the road.
Youth ministry, indeed ALL ministry is leading each person to a deeper level of discipleship no matter where they come to you. So the main push is to first of all lead them to a belief in Jesus and then begin the discipleship process. That moment of belief is important – it’s something that should be remembered and begin a change in the person’s lifestyle and understanding of how they fit into the world with their belief in Jesus.
The Lord knew I needed Gene at that time, he was sent just for me to have an answer for my youth group. And the Lord also knew ahead of time that his flock would have questions about their eternal condition and despite very direct verses from his Word about it, there would still be questions.