We had a blast recording this song. I remember times when we sat in the studio laying vocals laughing so hard that we were out of breath. Specially when Eddie inserted his little “…..and don’t you forget it…” after ‘you gotta act like a child of the king’. Oh, we laughed tears. It was a joyful time!
Warren got a kick out of his echoing some of the sentences in the verses. It was just all around a great time.
I’d have to say, that in this whole project, this was the most fun song to do and it’s fun to sing – yet, it has a very serious message! It’s sort of a wakeup call song for those of us who are in the church.
Well, I’m just gonna jump right in there and get to the point that I’m trying to make with this song……
Now I want to make one thing clear here, I’m not picking on any denomination or church group, but I believe what the Lord wants to make clear to all of us believers is, that sitting in a pew and being in church isn’t a guarantee that you ARE saved and are going to heaven.
So many of us do our Sunday thing. We are a member of a church, we go there regularly, we may even be really “spiritual” and attend all the services. Some of us may even get to church on time, without any major incidences. We are faithful tithers, we try to listen to the sermon, some of us are deacons, choir members, financial advisors, door greeters, Sunday school teachers, do the cleaning or cooking or work in the nursery. We do all these things, yet, we are still on an endless search for “happiness”.
Some of us repeat phrases and formulate words repetitively and call this a prayer and most of us don’t even know what it means. Most of the time we just repeat things and our heart’s are not even with it.
Like the Lord’s Prayer. I can’t remember the countless times I’ve repeated this prayer – well, because in so many churches it’s being used in the services as a prayer and I never ever really dug into the wonderful meaning of this prayer. Jesus told us not to just repeat it, but to pray like it. I will do a study on this some day – so be watching for it – it’s a beautiful guideline on how we are to pray. And if you DO pray these words, THINK about what they mean and what they mean to you and pray it from your heart and don’t just repeat words.
Words are just words until they come from deep within, from a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17), this is what God is pleased with.
Another question is, what do we do with what we hear from the pulpit?
We all have the tendency to go to church, listen to the sermon, some of us ‘spiritual’ ones may even underline and write stuff in our bibles, but soon’s church is out, we shut the book, zip it up – and it stays that way – until next Sunday. We swallow everything that we are fed from the preacher, without making sure with the Lord that what is being said is what God means. If we check into the Apostle Paul’s travels, when he went to Berea, he found that those who heard the Word also examined the scriptures if what was being said was so! Read Acts 17:10-12 – And the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea; and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so. Many of them therefore believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men.
Some of us don’t even receive and sometimes we are everything else but eager to hear the message, when we sit there assessing why there is a crack in the paneling on the pulpit, or wonder what that big yellowish spot is on the ceiling. Not that assertive? Well, how about wondering when you are going to get that broken fingernail fixed and oh, my gosh, sister soandso sure could use another hair coloring! Oops, back to the sermon…..man, I sure like sister whatshername’s outfit….wonder where she got that, I think I’d look good in that….. what did the pastor just say???
I’m sure you’ve done that…..hehehe, so have I. We just hear with half an ear and get things totally out of context, because we haven’t really listened in the first place and then checked it out for ourselves later on.
Yes and there also can be times when our beloved pastor may get it wrong unintentionally. How wonderful it would be to sit down with him and study the scriptures together, to understand things according to God’s Word and – be encouraged in this. Most pastors would welcome correction with love and proof of the scriptures. They want to teach the right thing!
But at the same time, we also need to be aware of false teachers who claim to proclaim the Word of God, but are so way off base from the scriptures and lead people astray with lies. It may sound right and they may have some truths, but they have some other things injected that are not even found within the scriptures.
Yet, how will we ever be able to detect the false teachers if we ourselves won’t take the time to know the Word and – therefore know the Lord.
We compromise our walk, our faith and our witness when we are not prepared in season and out of season. II Timothy 4:2 – preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
Remember II Timothy 3:16-17 – All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
I tell ya, I would want to be adequate. I would want to be equipped for every good work that I’m doing for the Lord! Wouldn’t you??
But – it can’t stop there. I was reading through John 5:39-47 in conjunction with this song and it’s theme. Let’s read this:
John 5:39-47 –
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me;
and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life.
I do not receive glory from men;
But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.
I have come in My Father’s name and you do not receive Me; if another shall come in his own name, you will receive him.
How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?
Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope.
For if you believed Moses you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me.
But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?
Now Jesus was talking to the Jews – the religious leaders, who were seeking to kill him because they just wouldn’t believe that He was the Son of God. The funny thing is, they did read the scriptures and knew the scriptures, but that’s where it stopped, they never believed them.
They never grasped that they bore witness of Christ, the Christ who was standing before them, talking to them. Sounds like a ton of people in this day and time too. Just because they are “religious” doesn’t mean that they have received Christ and have come in His Name.
Being an artist, specially a musician, I see a lot of things going on in music that is everything else but seeking God’s glory. We really have to guard our hearts, specially as creative people. It’s easy to become prideful and easy to get caught up in what we do.
I have to be honest here and confess that as an artist, as a musician specially, we do have the tendency to seek approval from others. It validates what we do, because if we have touched someone, or made a difference in someone’s life with a song that we have written, created, worked on and recorded, it gives us a sense of satisfaction and encouragement to keep going. If none of the songs on my two albums would have ever touched anyone – would I keep writing? I would honestly have to say that I’d be on my knees crying out to God asking Him what I’m doing wrong, because the songs seem to be meaningless. I would be inclined to quit – unless God would tell me otherwise. In essence, there is nothing wrong with the need of being validated – if the validation comes from a right heart, not from pride.
I’m sure if you are a pastor, you have the same feelings. If you’ve preached a ton of sermons and no one ever told you that your message directed them in the right direction in their walk with the Lord, you would get discouraged quickly. We ARE to encourage one another in the Lord. I Thessalonians 5:11 – Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing. (see also I Thessalonians 2:7-12)
But back to my experiences as an artist. Some of us, in seeking man’s approval we may go down a road of compromise, just because we enjoy the ‘pat on the back’, or the attention and recognition we get from man, the music industry, etc, more than seeking the eternal value in what we do. We need to be careful who we so readily believe.
Jesus, in talking to the Jews in John 5:41-43 was telling them that
He didn’t come to receive glory from men. Here He came and they wouldn’t receive Him. The Jews would rather believe what someone else said, just because this someone else happened to be some big shot speaker, rather than the living Son of God who was standing right there before them!!! They had a head knowledge of the scriptures, but they failed to recognize the Son.
See, we also got to be careful not to compromise our walk with God by having a head knowledge of the Word, but never internalizing it and – coming to Jesus. Jesus made a very strong point in vs. 42 – but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves!
Paul made a strong point too in I Corinthians 13:1 – If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
Same as an artist, I can sing all kinds of pretty songs, but if I don’t have the love of God in me, I’m just a noisy voice, nothing more. But, wow, I’m getting the pats on the shoulder for how great I can sing…..
If I’m so busy basking in the pats on the shoulder how can I……see Jesus’ words in vs. 44 – How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?
OUCH!!!!
Since the Jews were so religious and knew the scriptures, boasting that they believed what Moses had jotted down, Jesus had to tell them in vs. 46-47, that if they would believe what they were reading, they’d believe in Him, cos – Moses wrote of Him. But, since they apparently are not believing (internalizing) what was written, how could they ever believe Jesus’ words??
Being a member of a church, being religious means nothing if you don’t have Christ. If you see yourself in this position, if you are not sure that if you were to die today that you’d go to heaven, I urge you, don’t delay, but ask Jesus to be your Savior today.
I know this was a tough subject, but it has to be said, because it’s in the Word. Some of us need a wake up call out of our pew slumber.
I did!! Been there, done that.
We need to ask the Lord to help us grow, we need to take His Word to heart and let it renew our minds. Once we have believed, we need to receive the wisdom from the scripture, apply it to our lives, live it and we’ll find that what we learn from God, will help us to endure anything that comes our way, as we draw close to Him.
But how will we get to know God, unless we spend time with Him and hear from Him as we read His Word? We got to read it daily, because it will help us to remember how to act as a child of the King!
So go to church with a renewed attitude, an eagerness to learn, a hunger to search the scriptures, a discerning to find the truth, a yearning to dwell in Christ’s presence and a desire to get to know Him more.
Then seek the Lord about what you are gifted with and go out there and use it for His kingdom. Let His love shine through you and know that as you have His love within you, seeking His approval rather than man’s, you are gathering eternal treasures in heaven when you touch the lives of those around you.
Finally I want to end with one more scripture that just came to mind as I’m closing. May you be encouraged by this:
Philippians 2:1-5 – If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus.
Don’t compromise, act like a child of the King – and……’don’t you forget it!’