1. Applying the principles for establishing authority

2. Elders (plurality) in every church A description of what they did
Acts 14:23 So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
A description of what they did

3. Authority behind the example
Titus 1:5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you—
One church in a city
Elders at Ephesus – Acts 20:28
Elders at Philippi – Phil. 1:1
Elders at Jerusalem – Acts 15

4. Authority behind the example
James 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

5. Authority behind the example
1 Peter 5:1-3 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;

6. Singing
Acts 16:25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
Matthew 26:30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

7. Authority behind the examples
James 5:13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.

8. Authority behind the examples
1 Corinthians 14:15 What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.
“the intellectual faculty, the understanding”
“the rational spirit, the power by which the human being feels, thinks, decides”

9. Authority behind the examples “to the praise of anyone, to sing”
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
“to hold discourse with others in order to instruct them, deliver didactic discourses”
“to warn, exhort”
“to the praise of anyone, to sing”

10. Authority behind the examples
Ephesians 5:19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
“to cause to vibrate by touching, to twang; in the NT to sing a hymn
“to use the tongue or the faculty of speech, to utter articulate sounds”
“to the praise of anyone, to sing”

11. The Israelites both sung and played
How do we know they both sung and played?
Exodus 15:1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and spoke, saying: "I will sing to the LORD, For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!

12. The Israelites both sung and played
How do we know they both sung and played?
Exodus 15: Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea."

13. The Israelites both sung and played
God told us what they did and was specific as to the instruments
Silence teaches nothing – if God had wanted us to play He would have revealed it in some way

14. Singing can include more than words
George Strait sang a song
Did you hear the band playing?
Do we have the right to assume that God means more than He says?
God tells us what kind of singing He wants
Word of Christ dwell in you
Teaching and admonishing
Speaking to one another
Grace and melody