Happy New Year!!! Welcome to the very first Tuesday of 2015! Today we present to you a reprint from Tuesday's Musical Notes - The Email. It is inspired by the Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston 1965 hit duet, "It Takes Two". The song would peak at #14 on Billboards Pop Charts and as high as #4 on the January 1967 Soul Singles Chart.
Welcome to today!!! "Do you believe in miracles?!!!" On February 22nd,1980 a certain Olympic Hockey team certainly did. You know you want to hear Al Michaels say it....hit this link:
"Do you believe in miracles?" - Miracle on the Ice
It
amazed everyone in the world that a group of college students from the United States could
defeat the 4 time world champions at hockey, USSR. I'll never forget watching
as Al Michaels called the only hockey game I have ever watched from
start to finish. Hollywood even made a movie about it with Kurt Russel
starring as Herb Brooks, the US Olympic Hockey team coach. It's a good
movie, that I'm sure if you're my age, you would enjoy. It's called
simply "Miracle".
I know you're probably wondering what a duet by Marvin Gaye and Kim
Weston, and hockey
have in common, especially how they are linked to scripture. Think
about it for just a minute. Anything you have achieved in your life was
probably achieved through the help of other people. You acted as part
of a team and through your combined efforts you achieved the goal. Many
times goals in our lives would be totally impossible through our own
efforts. You soon discover that if put 1 and 1 together that sometimes
it equals more than 2. In fact, the Beatles wrote a song about
teamwork. Joe Cocker ("You Are So Beautiful", "Up Where We Belong"),
who died last month, had this iconic performance with it at Woodstock.
The Bible has many things to say about man combining his efforts or gathering together to do great things.
Matthew 18:19-21 (New King James Version)
“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning
anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in
heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am
there in the midst of them.”
“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning
anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in
heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am
there in the midst of them.”
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (New International Version, ©2010)
Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
What these passages elude to is the
old saying that there is strength in numbers. We can achieve
exponentially more if we work together. When even one member of the
team is missing, the maximum output cannot be achieved.
Did you notice in the last sentence of the Ecclesiastes passage, that 2 transitions to 3..."A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." Up to this point Solomon has spoken in regards of 2 folks coming together to "have a good return for their labor, "one can help the other up", or to keep warm. In this last sentence, a third party shows up to make the cord even stronger. I confess to not knowing anything about how cords are put together, but I do know that we have promise after promise of God's help when we need it. One of those promises is found in Matthew 18:19, Jesus said this, "Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven." So as two folks come together to achieve something, the Father comes along as the third strand of the cord to strengthen the task.
That's why it is so important
that you come "whenever the doors are open" to the church in which your
membership resides. There is encouragement, education, edification, and
enjoyment when you join with like minded people to worship God, His Son
and His Spirit and work to see others delivered from the enemy.
What exactly gets accomplished when we "gather together to ask the
Lord's blessings"? The Bible says that we join with the heavenly throng in worship, children get taught Bible
stories, God gets glorified, and preChristians get delivered!!
It's
the start of the new year and resolutions are abounding. Perhaps you
are one of the thousands of folks who resolved to get involved at a
church, be more consistent in your relationship with your church family
or to take more initiative in your relationship with Jesus. As a start
to that, let me encourage you to strongly evaluate how and what your
membership
at church means to you. Does it mean enough to you that you sacrifice
your tithe, time, and talent.....? Please don't get me wrong,
membership in church doesn't get you in heaven, only the blood of Christ
can do that. However, to use another old cliche'....."actions speak
louder than words" Do you have an "active" faith? Your answers to these
questions will go a long way to determining the success of your New
Year's resolution.
A couple of years ago, I read the book called "Sun Stand Still" by Stephen Furtick, pastor
at Elevation Church in North Carolina. I highly recommend this book to
you and ask that you pray that I can have the "audacious faith" to
which it refers. Here is a few questions that reading this book has
generated for me. I serve a God who I believe physically caused the
Sun to stay in the sky for an entire day, why do I believe He can do
less now? Why do I not ask for the sun to stand still? Why do I trust
my eternal destination on His Word, but not my day to day life? Why do I
not serve Him in areas that he has blessed me with as strengths? Am I
being a willing participant, or spectator. Have I fulfilled the
commitments that I made when I accepted Christ's redemption?
These are just a few of the questions this book has caused me to ponder. I admit that I haven't come up with all of the answers, I'm not completely sure I am finished asking all of my questions, but perhaps if we work on it together we can find answers that surprise us both. Will you join with me? It takes two....me and you!
"It Takes Two" - Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston from the 1966 album Take Two
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
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