Music makes life memorable.   A soundtrack forges an emotional connection with a movie.  Jingles implant ad slogans in our consciousness that persist decades after product obsolescence.  The playlist of youth is one of the strongest influences on our worldview.  The music of our generation teaches us how to live.   The oft posited statement of a young person that “I don’t listen to the lyrics” is self-deception at best.   Music has power to plant truth, perspective, and emotion deep into our being.

Advertisers know this.  Poets know this as well.  And educators are learning this.   Words set to a song are more easily remembered, than those repeated or memorized.  Even a cursory Amazon search reveals that music is used to teach everything from history to catechism.  All those dates and names and attributes of God, so hard to memorize, are more easily remembered when set to music.

This is why music is such an important part of our culture and our Christian faith.   The Bible instructs us to worship, fellowship, and disciple using hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs.   Congregations are often catechized more from the music they hear and sing, than sermons or Bible studies.   Music is important.  It is a great gift from God given for congregational praise, prayer, and proclamation. And it must be carefully curated by the elders of the church. 

Our hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs must be biblically accurate and theologically clear.   They must express truths about God not the feelings of men.   Our music must echo God’s own Word.  And be faithful to express and teach its history, truths, and promises.  Music has always been an important way to communicate the glorious redemptive story unfolded in the Bible.

Even in the narrative of the Bible itself, God’s people are given songs to recite and remember God’s nature, his promises, and his saving works.   Songs given to remind the present generation.  And instruct the next.   One of the oldest of these songs is found in Exodus 15.   Moses narrated the story in prose, but then records one of God’s greatest hits, ‘The Song of the Sea,’ sometimes called the Song of Moses.   A favorite song of God’s people, sung year after year in their homes, at feasts, and in worship services.   A song that communicates who God is, what he has done, what he does, and what he will do.   A song that gives assurance and confidence for the spiritual battles Christians face.

The Song of Moses is so significant to the church that even the Redeemed in eternity will sing it along with the Song of the Lamb.  This is recounted in Revelation 15:1-4.

And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

“Great and amazing are your deeds,
    O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
    O King of the nations!
Who will not fear, O Lord,
    and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
    All nations will come
    and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Revelation 15:1-4

The Bible is full of music. Hymns that equip us to live victoriously. Psalms to express every fear, concern, and emotion to the Lord. And spiritual songs that move us from fear to faith in any crisis. What songs tell your story?

What is the music of your heart and soul?  Is it Songs of Zion? The Song of Moses and of the Lamb?   These are God’s greatest hits.  Songs to be sung around the throne for all eternity.  Are they the soundtrack of your life? Join us as we examine the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15 and consider what it teaches about who God is, what he has done, what he does, and what he will do.

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube. 

The cool, crisp air.  The crunching of fallen leaves. And the low amber lighting of late afternoon means Fall is in full swing.  Hands down, Autumn is my favorite season.  So many fond memories cluster around Fall, its traditions, and its holidays.   It takes me to many happy places in my past.  My mother preparing seasonal feasts.  My wedding day.   Raking mountains of hickory and white oak leaves with my Dad.  And drives through Arkansas’ highways and byways in awe of God’s artistry.   But Fall also reminds me of football.

No, not the hours spent with my Dad listening to Larry Munson call Georgia Bulldog games or any organized league play.   But the informal neighborhood league that existed in suburban Stone Mountain where I grew up.   Colony East and Indian Forrest and my own enclave, Inca Court, put together small 3 to 4 man elite squads which battled it out on a field behind the Stripling’s house for regional bragging rights.  Don, Alan, and I and sometimes Norman, were the pride of Inca Court.  

We practiced every day after school until the light faded or our moms called us for supper.   We cut down small trees to fashion our own goal post.  We were the only neighborhood venue that offered the opportunity to kick ‘real’ extra points.  Though, admittedly, retrieving the balls from the surrounding woods was sometimes a challenge.   It was sandlot ball at its finest.  And we took it seriously. 

Of course, there were no referees and few rules. Controversial plays were resolved by “do-over.”  And every running play inevitably resulted in ‘piling on.’   Even if the ball carrier was clearly down.  The play was not over until every man on the field was added to the pile.   Learning to survive being piled-on was a non-negotiable skill.

In organized play, piling on is a serious offense.  It is a personal foul and carries lengthy penalties.  It is considered excessive force, gratuitous violence.  A vindictive adding of insult to injury.   But for us, piling on was the glorious privilege of every man on the field.  We relished its place in our gridiron heroics.

‘Piling on’ in our idiom has negative connotations.   It denotes addition to a load that is already unbearable, especially harsh or excessive criticism.  It is akin to “kicking them when they are down.”   It speaks of what is gratuitous or excessive beyond what is sufficient.   But ‘piling on’ need not always be a bad thing. 

God delights to pile on.   Not excessive demands or requirements, but grace upon grace, blessing upon blessing, provision upon provision.  We see this both implicitly and explicitly in the Scriptures.  Jesus taught, “give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.” (Luke 6:38) And John, the beloved disciple, said of Jesus, “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (John 1:16)

In Exodus 14, we see his grace upon grace, God’s piling on blessing upon blessing through the deliverance of Israel through the Red Sea.   He protects and delivers his people.  He destroys their enemies.  He comforts and assures them with his presence.  He watches over them.  He grants them faith.   The only things piled higher than the waters of the Red Sea are the blessings of God’s grace upon grace to an unworthy but elect people.  But even this is not all.  With the pillar of cloud and fire, there is another tremendous gift.  The Angel of the Presence.  The one who is very God of very God, yet would one day take on flesh to deliver us from a greater enemy than any ancient king.

God is no miser of grace.  When he sets his love upon you, he lavishes you with grace upon grace.   He holds nothing back.  “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”  His love is higher, wider, deeper and more expansive than you can possibly imagine.  Join us as we examine Exodus 14:15-31 and consider this grace upon grace.

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube. 

Parents never quite comprehend children’s anxiety over a family vacation.   We glibly assume all is excitement and anticipation.   It never enters our minds that some insignificant moment of our adventure is keeping our children awake at night.   For one of my daughters, a long awaited trip to Chincoteague Island was eclipsed by fear of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  All reverie over Misty of Chincoteague shrouded by the terror of five minutes driving under the sea.

For me, it was “Fat Man Squeeze.”   Chattanooga was only a couple of hours from our home.   And every barn roof in North Georgia beckoned, “See Rock City.”   My dad thought it would be a great adventure.   And so it was – in retrospect.   But in reading about Rock City, I had learned of a spot in the tour of its rock gardens branded “Fat Man Squeeze.”   Or as I feared, “Fat Boy Squeeze.”

I was ‘husky’ in my childhood – and very self-conscious of it.   And as if the thought of being permanently wedged in a tight rocky passage was not terror-inducing enough, the thought of being publicly branded as the “Fat Boy” who got lodged in “Fat Man Squeeze” was just too much.   So, to my father’s dismay, I offered excuse after excuse as to why a trip to Rock City was not a good idea.  Never daring to reveal my real fear of being literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.  

None of us wants to be in that place.  Stuck between a rock and a hard place.   Either literally or figuratively.  The expression and experience are common ones.  To be ‘stuck between a rock and a hard place’ means, to face two equally unpleasant, dangerous, or risky alternatives, where the avoidance of one ensures encountering the harm of the other.  

We consciously avoid being in situations with no safe exit strategy.  Yet as Christians we recognize in both the Bible and in our own lives, that the Lord often places us between a rock and a hard place.   He does so intentionally, so we will learn that He can make a way when there seems to be no way.

As the people of Israel leave Egypt, they go out with head and hand high.   Their God has delivered them from the iron grip of Pharaoh and centuries of slavery and oppression.   They have plundered the Egyptians and depart victoriously, while a defiant Egypt is in ruins.   Yet as their journey begins, we see two things that seem troubling.  

First God takes the people off the interstate, off the fast track to their new home.   They need to learn about themselves what He already knows.   They must grow in their faith before they face certain enemies and let fear drive them back to slavery.  And second, God leads them directly into what appears to be a dangerous and indefensible encampment.   After making good progress on the desert highway, the Lord tells them to turn around and camp on the shore of the Red Sea.   At the same time, he tells them that Pharaoh will harden his heart one more time and come for them – to either capture or kill them.  

God places the people between a rock and a hard place.   They are not victims of poor planning, poor leadership, or rebellion.  But of the purposeful plan of God.   They are about to learn that the Lord makes paths where no paths appear to exist.  And that the Lord will fight their battles for them.   As Pharaoh’s chariots appear on the horizon, they panic, grumble, and despair.  But Moses instructs them.

And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” 

Exodus 14:13-14

This is good counsel for us.   When we are stuck between a rock and a hard place – at work, in relationships, with decisions, and in our spiritual lives, have we learned to “fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for [us]?”   Will we panic, accuse others, or fall into a pit of black despair as the Israelites did before the Red Sea?  Or will we learn that we must only be silent and let the Lord fight for us?  

What is your response when you are between the rock and the hard place?  Join us as we examine Exodus 14:1-14 and consider how God places us in hard places to show us that he will make a way when there seems to be no way.  And that He, himself, is that way.

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.