Week One – April 3rd & 4th Easter 2021
Title: Music Makes Us Think
Bible: John 12:23 – 27, Matthew 26:39, Hebrews 12:2 - 3
Sam wrote in the chorus and the second verse:
It's been a long A long time coming But I know a change gonna come Oh, yes it will
It's been too hard living But I'm afraid to die 'Cause I don't know what's up there Beyond the sky
John 12:23 & 24 (NLT) 23 Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.
“Our most meaningful times in life generally follow the most difficult trials”
In the song the next lyric is:
Then I go to my brother And I say, brother, help me please But he winds up, knockin' me Back down on my knees
John 12:27 (NLT) 27 “Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came!
Matthew 26:39 (NLT) 39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
Difficult trials lead to distractions that challenge us.
The last verse in Change is Gonna Come is this:
Oh, there been times that I thought I couldn't last for long But now I think I'm able, to carry on
Matthew 26:39 (NLT) 39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
John 12:27 (NLT) 27 “Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came!
Purpose pushes us to press on.
Hebrews 12:2 – 3 (NLT) 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.
It takes a death to have a resurrection.
It takes pain to have progress.
It takes a trial to have a testimony.
It takes a hurt to have a healing.
It takes a struggle—to have a story worth telling.
It's been a long A long time coming But I know a change gonna come Oh, yes it will