Welcome to the last Tuesday of March, first Tuesday of Spring, and to Tuesday's Musical Notes, where the music ranges from classical to commercial and the message waffles between "hmmm..." and earth shattering!
Today we journey back in time with the aid of the 1.21 gigawatts infused Notesmobile to a grungy sort of land (did you know that O'Reilly Auto Parts carries this? O'Reilly Auto Parts - part 121g). As we roll the windows down we quickly hear the cacophony of sounds. Swing mixes with Ska, ladies singing lead vocals, and in the distance, if you listen closely...what's that sound? Is that Gregorian Chant? ("Compilation of Chants" from the October 17, 1995 album Chants II by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos )
I guess we have arrived in a land where anything can become a hit regardless of its musical sound. It certainly is an "alternative" to what has come before. But there is something catchy about this sound. There is no doubt that a "connection is made"...
With the release of Marvel Studios - Captain Marvel, there is a fascination with all things 90's. Especially the music. Why wouldn't there be? We are on the edge of a new decade that will see the year 1990 as 30 years in its past. Ok, go back and read that one again...30 years. YIKES!!! That's ancient history to 2019's teenage lot. Yes, that makes today's song officially a "golden oldie".
Along with a scene that includes the actual last Blockbuster in existence, Captain Marvel did a good job of gathering an iPod full of 90's popular music. Complete with chart toppers and a few lesser known 90's hits, watching this movie is like opening a video time capsule and quickly recalling what that the decade of the 90s meant in your life. Well, at least for those of us who were ALIVE during the 90s.
One of the lesser-known songs used to flavor the movie is today's #53 hit from the Britpop band Elastica. "Connection" was released as a single prior to the full-length album being released. The single's popularity assisted in the album setting a record for the fastest selling debut since Oasis' Definitely Maybe the previous year. It also aided Elastica to be one of two 90s British Invasion bands (Radiohead being the other) to actually make a mark in the United States.
"Connection" remained broiled in controversy as portions of it seemed to have been "lifted" from other bands work. Lawsuits were settled out of court, but the group, after continual touring and membership shakeups, would disband in 2001 with 2 studio album releases and an EP. It would seem that perhaps a vital connection was not made...
We have written many times in this past year about Holy Spirit. We have told you about how He is one part of the Trinity that makes up God. (God, the Father, God, the Son (Jesus), and God, the Holy Spirit) We've discussed how it is His job to draw people to Himself to restore our connection to God through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
We've even suggested that Holy Spirit isn't a topic that many preachers and disciples of Jesus want to talk about, because His ministry is somewhat more difficult to understand. After all, while He was present at creation, God, the Father takes center stage during that event. While He was certainly present during the transformation of the disciples, Jesus physical life as a man took preeminence over what Holy Spirit was doing in the background. This is how it should be as the tangible and physical should always take dominance over ideologies, beliefs, and even digital manifestations of things (you can't really touch a download...am I right?)
Holy Spirit is also the way that mankind communicates with God. You see my friend, God is Holy. We cannot come into direct contact with God because we just couldn't handle it. Psalm 99:1-5 New American Standard Bible/The Message paraphrase of the Bible/King James Version of the Bible parallel
Jesus is currently with God preparing a place for believers to reside at the beginning of eternity future. The Gospel of Jesus according to His disciple John, chapter 14, verse 1-15 NASB/The Message/KJV The next two verses of John 14 is what we really want you to hone into today. Let's look: John 14:16-17 NASB/The Message/KJV Here Jesus tells His disciples and us that He will send Holy Spirit to be our helper. Jesus' promise is that Holy Spirit will dwell with our spirit as Jesus had dwelt with the disciples during His three years of ministry on earth. For those who believe Jesus was who He said He was and did what He said He did, Jesus promises that the Helper, who is as powerful as Jesus is, will dwell within the spirit of believers. That's a kind of connection that cannot be broken, taken away, or destroyed.
The apostle Paul elaborates even more about Holy Spirit's connection with the spirit of believers:
Did you catch verses 9-11? Eugene Peterson's The Message paraphrases the passage this way:
But if God Himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of Him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won’t know what we’re talking about. But for you who welcome Him, in whom He dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God’s terms. It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, He’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to Himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and He does, as surely as He did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With His Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!
I don't know about you, but I've never considered Holy Spirit's work quite that way. That means dear friend, that every day of our lives we can live in joy, boldness, and victory as our spirit connects with Holy Spirit more and more every day. Transforming us more into the likeness of Jesus. If only believers would grasp this truth...
I don't begin to understand how this is completed, but somehow the vital connection is made and I trust the One who says it is and will be complete at the day that I see Him.
Have you made that vital connection? Are you ready for your heart to make the trade? Holy Spirit is waiting to ensure your vital connection is made...
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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