Maybe you've been told you can't carry a tune, so you've spent years mouthing the words instead of lifting your voice. Or maybe you've watched churches fight over music styles for so long that you've quietly concluded worship is really about the songs we choose. Neither is true, and Scripture has been correcting both mistakes for a very long time. In Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:18-19, the Apostle Paul commands believers to address one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, not as a suggestion for the musically gifted, but as ordinary obedience for every believer filled with the Spirit and the word of Christ. Long before Paul, Scripture already showed us a singing God: Adam sang the first love song, Miriam sang at the Red Sea, and Zephaniah tells us the Lord himself rejoices over his people with loud singing. Jesus sang with his disciples the night before the cross, and Hebrews 2 calls him the true singing worship leader still leading his church today. That's the turn worth sitting with: singing was never primarily about talent or style. It's a response to a God who sings first, and a weapon he's given his people, the kind Jehoshaphat's army carried into battle, and the kind Paul and Silas used in a Philippian jail at midnight. In this message, Dr. Joe Crider walks through four lenses (interpretive, purpose, cautionary, and application) to recover what Paul actually meant, why it matters far beyond music preference, and how your voice, however untrained, has a place in it. If you've ever wondered whether your singing counts, this one is worth your time. Scripture: Colossians 3:16 (Ephesians 5:18-19) Date: July 26, 2026 Preacher: Dr. Joe Crider, Worship Pastor