Borden Church of Christ

In preparation for a series of Wednesday night youth classes called “learning to discern,” I recently decided to check the lyrics of the current top 10 songs in America based on physical sales, digital sales, and radio airplay  This adventure was somewhat depressing to say the least.

I remember as a teenager hearing Casey Kasem count down the top 40 songs of the week based on billboard magazines charts.  I must admit I have not been a top 40 listener since I was a teenager.  However I know without a doubt that now over some twenty years later,  I have witnessed the absolute unraveling of the music entertainment industry.

The hardest part of preparing my lesson was this; I can’t even use or read the lyrics of the songs I investigated in order to explain just how bad it is.  It would literally be completely inappropriate for me to try and have an honest talk about any details of the lyrics and themes of these songs.

In the coming weeks I will be doing similar lessons on entertainment such as movies, television, and gaming.  Unfortunately, I am not to hopeful it is going to be much better.  Truth is I am beginning to question whether it could possibly be any worse.  After reading these lyrics I can’t imagine what you could sing about that would be more offensive or vulgar than what is now at the top of the charts.

Please pray as I discuss this with our youth and challenge them to swim against the stream of American secular culture and use Godly discernment in their entertainment choices.

Here is the summary of the Top Ten Songs and Artists from billboard magazine.  Billboard is considered the foremost authority worldwide in music charts, and the rankings have gained a following among the general public.  It is typically regarded as one of the most relevant and unbiased sources of information on the music industry.

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine.  Billboard Hot 100 ranks the top 100 songs regardless of genre and is based on physical sales, digital sales, and radio airplay.

By the way, an excellent site to get Christian reviews for music, television, movies, videos, and gaming (from which I borrowed for some of these) is the Focus On The Family website called Plugged In Online at  http://www.pluggedin.com/

Here are the top 10 for the week ending March 7, 2010.

1.  Imma Be – The Black Eyed Peas – a song about drugs, alcohol, partying, sexing.  The f-word, the n-word, the s-word and every other imaginable obscenity both in words and themes.  Yes this leads the top ten – sadly it only gets worse.

2.  Bedrock – Lil Wayne (featuring lloyd lyrics) – The first line of the song  “I Can Make Your Bed Rock”  along with graphic and explicit lyrics concerning a sexual encounter, the rapper Lil Wayne incarcerated on felony weapons and drug possession charges has the words fear and God tattooed on his eyelids, apparently he does not.

3. Need You Now – Lady Antebellum - about a man and woman who get drunk on whiskey waiting and she calls the old boyfriend for a one night stand although she knows she will regret it in the morning.  Lady Antebellum is the 2008 new artist of the year in country music.  Again not the worst on the list but alcohol and one night stands blur the otherwise tamed love stories.

4. TiK ToK- Ke$ha – brushing teeth with Jack Daniels, drinking the night away, getting arrested, partying and encounters with the guys.  Basically celebration of the party lifestyle.  Ke$ha explained her inspiration for writing music, “I’ll usually go out, have one f‑‑‑ing insane night, come home half drunk, stumbling, and write down a few words. The next morning I’ll wake up and be like, Whoa, this story needs to be told. Like this single I have out right now, called ’TiK ToK.’”

5. Bad Romance – Lady Gaga – explicitly graphic request and offers for sexual activities.  The video shows a bathhouse where Gaga is kidnapped by a group of supermodels who drug her and then sell her off to the Russian Mafia as a sex slave.  Lady Gaga often boasts of her bisexuality, swooning over the devotion of her huge homosexual fan base.  What she sells more than music – narcissism and self-destruction.

6. Hey, Soul Sister – Train – about a guy who is enamored by a woman who we wants to have a relationship with.  Not graphic but suggestive of a one night stand.  This may have been the tamest of the top ten.

7. How Low – Ludacris – seems to be an explicitly graphic description of an encounter in a strip club.  Ludacris, is an extremely lewd rapper who sings more graphically than just about any modern rapper. Ludacris songs are loaded with Graphic sex, profanity, drugs, booze and guys toting guns.

8. Rude Boy, Rihanna – explicitly graphic lyrics about a sexual encounter, this is one of thirteen songs off the album title “rated R” which probably should be “rated X”.

9. Say Aah, Trey Songz – a song about drinking alcohol, club hopping, and then once intoxicated they move the party to his condo and further describe in detail what happens next.  The music video for the song was released along with the video to “I Invented Sex.”

10. In My Head, Jason Derulo – song is about someone who is fantasizing in their mind about having a sexual relationship with graphic lyrics about the details.  The Song was alternately to be called “In My Bed”.

Scriptures for the lesson.

Psalm 98

A Psalm. ¹ O sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him. ² The Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. ³ He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. ⁴ Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises. ⁵ Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, With the lyre and the sound of melody. ⁶ With trumpets and the sound of the horn Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord. ⁷ Let the sea roar and all it contains, The world and those who dwell in it. ⁸ Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy ⁹ Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness And the peoples with equity.

Psalm 150

¹ Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. ² Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. ³ Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. ⁴ Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. ⁵ Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. ⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!

Romans 8:5–8

⁵ For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷ because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, ⁸ and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Philippians 4:8

⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

⁹ The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

It seems I hear more and more people, be they sports figures, public servants, the barber, the mechanic, the cashier, the waitress, and just everyday people, making claims to separation of Christianity from life.  Recently a famous sports personality (UofL coach), the fans, and public in general proclaimed with great conviction that his privately committed sin has nothing to do with his coaching ability or even his ability to be a great leader.

This is also not uncommon in political life.  When a public official falls to temptation in some area of morality, perhaps adultery or financial misconduct, or even stands in favor of a unscriptural moral/political issue such as abortion, there seems to always be a quick claim to a complete separation of the offense from ones ability to govern or be an effective leader.  We are told we should support them, if only because of the position or office they hold.  How ridiculous is that?

Well for the most part, I am not overly troubled or I should say surprised, when this happens in a purely secular context.  Another words, if the person has no claim to faith in general or Christianity in particular, then the worldview is coming from a purely relativistic mindset.  Therefore void of the Holy Spirit who convicts of sin, I would not expect much else (1 Corinthians 2:14–15).  Even when the nonbeliever concludes that a persons morality has nothing to do with their leadership it is understandable.

Where I am troubled the most is when a “professed Christian”, either makes this claim for himself, or defends another offender with this separation argument.  Here is the thing… Christianity invades every aspect of the life of a true believer.  We cannot separate our Christianity from our politics, our career, our family, our parenting, our education, or any aspect of our lives.  To do so in my opinion is to deny the faith which we profess to hold to.

Scripture instructs us to fear the Lord, keep his commands, and not support those who do otherwise, lest we be just as guilty of committing sin ourselves (Romans 1:32).  We are not afforded the liberty of making judgments or even decisions outside of the context of our beliefs which must be consistent with God’s commands, the Holy Scriptures, and the doctrines of faith once for delivered to the saints.

What does that mean?  It means we can’t say, “well he is a good Governor even if he is cheats on his wife,”  we can’t say, “well the fact that he has a gambling problem is not an issue with his ability to be a good coach,” we can’t say, “although he is an alcoholic he is a good CEO and knows how to make a profit,”  we can’t say, “he doesn’t pay much attention to his children, but he’s a wonderful preacher” (if you can’t say ouch – say amen).

Yes I do believe we need to be careful to remove the plank from our own eye, prior to trying to get the speck out of someone else’s (Matthew 7:1–5), yet the statement “do not judge”, does not mean we cannot hold others to a Christian standard of morality.  It is not judgmental to insist that abortion, drunkenness, adultery, homosexuality or other moral issues that are scripturally declared as sinful, cannot be separated from a persons leadership ability.  As a matter of scripture, being in a leadership position promises an even stricter judgment (James 3:1).

Yes – Christianity invades all of life – but it’s a welcome invasion.

Brother Scott ><>

Tenacity is more than endurance, it is endurance combined with the absolute certainty that what we are looking for is going to transpire. Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off. Tenacity is the supreme effort of a man refusing to believe that his hero is going to be conquered. The greatest fear a disciple has is not that he will be damned, but that Jesus Christ will be worsted, that the things He stood for—love and justice and forgiveness and kindness among men—will not win out in the end; the things He stands for look like will-o’-the-wisps. Then comes the call to spiritual tenacity, not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately on the certainty that God is not going to be worsted.

If our hopes are being disappointed just now, it means that they are being purified. There is nothing noble the human mind has ever hoped for or dreamed of that will not be fulfilled. One of the greatest strains in life is the strain of waiting for God. “Because thou hast kept the word of My patience.”

Remain spiritually tenacious.^[1]

Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10.

A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are My disciples if you love one another. (John 13:34, 35)

It’s easy to talk sentimentally about love. It’s much more difficult to apply it to needy people and situations. The Scriptures clearly teach, however, that the proof of God’s presence within our lives is our willingness to share His love with humanity. The earthly badge of our heavenly citizenship is our love relationship with others.

A life of love is a deliberate choice on our part. We must choose this lifestyle against our natural bent for self-centeredness. Soon, with the Holy Spirit’s enablement, our new life of love becomes a natural behavior. Then the emotional feelings of inner fulfillment follow. Responding to the needs of others will never be a duty; rather it should be a privilege of normal Christian living. Our love in action will bring joy to a brother or sister in Christ and even show nonbelievers that we are Christians not only in name but in deed as well.

THEY’LL KNOW WE ARE CHRISTIANS BY OUR LOVE

Words and Music by Peter Scholtes, 1938–

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord, we are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord, and we pray that all unity may one day be restored: And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love; Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand, we will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand, and together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land: And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love; Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

We will work with each other, we will work side by side, we will work with each other, we will work side by side, and we’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride: And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love; Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

All praise to the Father, from whom all things come, and all praise to Christ Jesus, His only Son, and all praise to the Spirit, who makes us one: And they’ll know we are Christians by our love; Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

Yesterday evening I traveled with my friend Brian Schmucker (Borden area Youth for Christ representative), to the Answers in Genesis headquarters at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY to participate in a live video webcast.  We were part of the guest audience for Ken Ham’s 2010 State of the Nation Address.  The broadcast went out live on the web, Christian television, and Radio.  The rebroadcast can be watched by going to www.answerslive.org.  I have heard Ken Ham speak live several times and knew it would be powerful.  I have a great deal of respect for his scholarship, his Christian faith, and his unmistakable passion for the ministry of Answers in Genesis.

Ham stated, “This address has been constructed to challenge both church and nation (America), and in many ways, is a response to President Obama’s “State of the Union” address given a few weeks ago—though it is applicable for any country (as I will be dealing with biblical principles and the spiritual state of a nation that once had a biblical foundation, as was the case with many Western nations).”

The truth is, this speech was an absolute wakeup call to America.  I wonder if we will listen?  We have become ashamed to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.  Because of this Ham proclaims the moral fabric of our country is scarcely intact and rapidly unraveling. Ham’s new book titled Already Gone has confirmed that, “The trends are frightening”. The American church is rapidly going the way of its atheistic European neighbors. The next generation of America Christians is calling it quits at a historic rate (as many as 70 percent of twenty-something’s who faithfully attended conservative evangelical churches as children no longer attend).  Ham suggested that without a serious reformation in which unashamed Christians turn back to their biblical roots, we can expect and increasingly rapid death of the church and its influence in America.

One of the positive highlights of the evening was the rollout of the new I am not ashamed campaign. It is a powerful new billboard, television, and newspaper campaign to put scripture before the American people which speaks to the absolute truths of God’s word concerning moral and ethical positions in American culture. They will address things like gay marriage, abortion, evolution, and racism, using scripture to declare that the bible has spoken clearly on these issues.

Please take the time to watch this webcast and get ready to make a difference and stop being ashamed. Brother Scott ><>

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

2 Timothy 1:8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,

2 Timothy 1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

1 Peter 4:16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.

Luke 9:26 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

I have often heard it said, “you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian”.  I agree, in the sense that going to church does not make anyone a Christian.  But the issue is not really if you “have” to go, as much as it is that being a Christian makes you “want” or “desire” to be involved in the local church.  One of my professors at bible college said it like this; “It is like saying I love you Christ – but I really don’t care for your bride.”  Who could imagine saying something like that to Christ?  From a heavenly perspective the church is the beautiful bride of Christ.  From an earthly perspective, I would agree it is not perfect and will not be perfected until Christ returns.  But it is God’s plan for his people to fellowship, worship, evangelize and pray corporately as well as individually and that is accomplished, at least in part, in and through the local, tangible body of Christ we call the church.  I am teaching the youth tonight on the value of church attendance and participation.  Truth is, in the end my teaching does not hold as much weight as parents and other leaders commitment does, in respects to this area of Christian stewardship.  May we honor, love, and participate in the bride of Christ in such a way that we would never lead them to stray.

In Christ, Brother Scott ><>

Hebrews 10:24–25 (NASB95)  24and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Mark 9:42 (NASB95)  42“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea.

Some further humor, thoughts, and comments on church attendance …

Epigram On Church Attendance

“Everybody has a reason for staying home from church—even those who are here.”

-   Some people think a 30-minute sermon is too long, so they substitute a 300-column Sunday paper.

-  The reason why people miss church when it rains is the reason why we have church.

-  Wanted: Men, women and children to sit in slightly used pews Sunday morning—Saratoga Congregational Church. In “Wanted” section of St. Charles, Minnesota, Press

-  If absence makes the heart grow fonder, some people ought to love their church greatly.

-  A man proudly said: “I went to church only 2 times in my life—the first time they sprinkled water on me, the second time they sprinkled rice.”  A hearer added: “And the third time, they sprinkle dirt.”\

“Morbus Sabbaticus,” a terrible condition – though short lived…

“Morbus Sabbaticus,” better known as “Sunday sickness,” is a disease peculiar to some church members. The symptoms vary, but these are generally observed:

1. It never lasts more than twenty-four hours.

2. It never interferes with the appetite.

3. It never affects the eyes. The Sunday newspapers can be read with no pain. Television seems to help the eyes.

4. No physician is ever called.

5. After a few “attacks,” at weekly intervals, it may become chronic … even terminal.

No symptoms are usually felt on Saturday. The patient sleeps well and wakes feeling well. He eats a hearty Sunday Breakfast, then the attack comes until services are over for the morning. The patient feels better and eats a solid dinner. After dinner, he takes a nap, then watches one or two pro-football games on TV. He may take a walk before supper, and stop and chat with neighbors. If there are church services scheduled for Sunday evening, he will have another short attack. Invariably, he wakes up Monday morning and rushes off to work feeling refreshed. The symptoms may not recur until the following Sunday, unless another service is scheduled at the church during the week.

Why Should You Attend Church?

David declared that he was glad to “go into the house of the Lord” for worship (Ps. 122:1). Today, many Christians are glad to go into their church buildings to worship Christ, but a growing number are not. In fact, unprecedented numbers have become dropouts from church attendance.

Their reasons for quitting vary. But in light of David’s joy in coming before the Lord, it might help to consider reasons for maintaining church attendance:

•     Because believers need help to reflect on the past week and see it as just as small part of the journey of life.

•     Because they will benefit from being taught and led in worship by others, rather than feeding on a constant diet of their own choosing.

•     Because they need regular reminders of their standing in Christ, help in acknowledging and confessing their sins, and teaching about God’s truths.

•     Because they need to hear how believers in the past struggled, grew, and lived out their faith.

•     Because they need to experience artistic and creative expressions of the faith, such as music, prayers.

•     Because they will benefit from silence before the Lord once in a while.

•     Because they need help to face the issues of life and faith as presented through the teaching.

•     Because they need to hear about the experience of other contemporary believers.

•     Because they need an alternative to the constant messages of a culture that ignores God.

•     Because they need a conscious break from work and self-interests in order to concentrate on the Lord.

•     Because they need to hear reminders of God’s love.

•     Because they need help in praying.

•     Because they need to belong to a community of faith that includes others who are trying to live out the gospel.^[1]