Why does music matter? - Episode #12

In this episode I discuss why music matters! I hope you will listen, share, and follow the podcast. I pray the Lord uses this episode however He sees fit to do so. 

Transcript

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Welcome back to the Keep on the Firing Line Preaching Podcast. It is your host, Max Tidwell. I want to greatly apologize for how long it has been since I've said those words. I have missed being on the podcast and sitting in front of my mic and recording episodes. I have greatly missed this this summer, but it was also a much needed time to break and be with my family. We've had a great summer with revivals with our teens, church camp, VBS, all the different things. And I'm certainly thankful for that. But it's summertime is I cannot believe I'm saying this. Summertime is coming to a close. Our teens start back school here in just a couple weeks. And uh obviously I'm thinking, well, I ain't got to go to school no more. Praise God, amen. But uh our teens do start back school coming up soon, and uh summer is coming to a close. I can't believe how fast this year is moving by. It is almost August as I'm recording this. This will be going live at the beginning of August. And I'm I'm certainly thankful for all that's we've done this year and all that's been accomplished this year. Started this podcast at the beginning of the year, and I'm kind of ashamed to say we're only on episode 12. I wish we were a lot farther along, but the Lord knows exactly what he's doing, and he's ordered every episode, and I'm certainly thankful for it. I do want to thank you personally for listening to the podcast and tuning in every single week. It's so encouraging to me when I get a text message or run into somebody in public or a phone call or DM on Facebook or anything like that of asking me where the podcast is and what's going on and that you missed the podcast. That is so encouraging to me because the devil, you would you probably wouldn't be surprised, but also you would be surprised how much the devil can discourage with things like this. And uh, you see stats and how many people listen and all sorts of different things. And uh oftentimes the devil will try to discourage with a number, and I'm not in this thing for numbers, but it is certainly awesome to see when it when a bunch of people do want to listen and they do enjoy listening to it. And so for that, I'm thankful that you've tuned in today and that you've tuned into all the episodes prior. If you haven't tuned into the episodes, go listen to those. There's uh 11 other episodes of the Keep on the Firing Line preaching podcast that you can listen to. And uh today we start episode 12. I do want to throw this in here before we get started with our message today. I did start a TikTok for the podcast, and that is maxtidwell.kotfl. That stands for keep on the firing line. On there, you'll find like day in the life videos, you'll find uh just encouraging videos, you'll find preaching clips from me preaching, whether it's in our youth room to our teenagers or maybe in a sanctuary or at another church somewhere here in the country. I'm not sure where that might be, but if it's somewhere else, you might see a preaching clip here or there. And so go follow that TikTok. It just started it a few days ago. I've had a lot of fun doing the little videos and stuff. And so if you go follow me on there, that would be awesome. Hopefully, that you can get encouraged by that and also share that with people. Share the podcast, share that. We're on Facebook as well. So please do follow me on all those different platforms. It would be greatly appreciating. Get the word out about the podcast. I am gonna be having hats and t-shirts at some point. You've noticed, I'm sure, our new logos, our new Keep on the Firing Line KLG Hofel logo that is on the podcast screen. If you open your phone right now, you'll probably see that logo. It's on our Facebook, it's on our TikTok, it's on every platform that is Keep on the Firing Line. That is our logo. And so I've thought about making some hats with that circle leather patch on the on the front of the hat and then as well as some t-shirts. And so if you'd be interested in that, please shoot me a DM on Facebook or if you have my phone number, shoot me a text, one of the two, so I can gauge how many people would be interested in that and you know what uh what you'd be interested in, whether it's hat, t-shirt, or both. Because I'd like to do that eventually, but I do need to know that there's enough people that would want it before I purchase them so I don't go in the hole with a bunch of money because I ain't got a bunch of money to lose. Okay, so please do reach out to me on that end. That would be greatly appreciated. And I think it'd be awesome to see somebody wearing a KOTFL hat. That would that would encourage me a lot. So today, jumping into the message, I'm thankful to be back again. It is uh definitely different recording in front of a microphone instead of preaching to people, but I am back and I'm certainly thankful to be here. I'll draw our text this afternoon, currently this afternoon. I don't know when you'll listen to this, but uh today I'll draw our text out of Colossians chapter number three. I've been studying personally the book of Colossians, and I preached this message a while back, uh part of this message a while back, and I felt like it's something that needs to be hit on and needs to be out there. And so we are gonna talk about it on the podcast today on why does music matter? What is what's the what's the point of music? Why does music matter? However, you would want to title this, why does music matter is is my title and my outline, but however you would want to title it, that is what you can title it. And so we'll be in verse number 16 of Colossians chapter number three, and then we're gonna go to go over back to Ephesians chapter number five really fast. The Bible says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another and psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Verse number 17 says, And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord, Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Well, I'm flipping over to Ephesians. Pardon my cough. I've been sick for a long time, and I can't seem to shake this cough and this hoarseness in my throat. So please, please, please bear with me. Hopefully it'll be better by next episode. And so Ephesians chapter number five, in verse number 19, the Bible says, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for the all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. We'll go back to Colossians chapter three, that's where we'll spend the majority. But I was just reading Ephesians chapter five this morning and uh read that verse, and it kind of coincided with what I'm preaching about here on the podcast today. And so obviously, why does music matter? I I believe everybody would say that uh music does matter to an effect, but to that effect and to that, to the weight of what matters with music, I don't know that everybody understands the spiritual aspect of why music truly matters. Personally, before I got saved, I listened to anything and everything. I was a rap person. I loved rap music. I was a basketball player, I was an athlete, and so rap music really drew my attention because of the fast beats and the upbeat and the, you know, all the different things that go along with that. And I also listened to a lot of country music. And so that was my two main uh main music genres that I would listen to before I got saved. Obviously, now I do have a personal conviction where I only listen to Christian music. And I do I believe that it is a sin to listen to rap music? Absolutely. Do I believe that it is a sin to listen to country music? Certainly. I believe that if it's anything that's not bringing honor and glory to the Lord, I do believe that it's a sin, and we'll talk about that here in just a minute on why I believe this. And we talked about alcohol, that was another controversial topic we talked about a while back, and I got positive feedback from that, and I pray I get the same. It is a controversial topic, and that's okay. I'm not afraid of criticism. It doesn't bother me. It never has and it never will. Man does not dictate what I preach, they never have and they never will. And so, as I talk about this, I'm not afraid. I'm not uh backing down on what I believe. This is what I believe, and I'm about to give you scripture for why I believe it. And so, firstly, look with me at the beginning of verse number 16. It says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. So, firstly, I want us to understand the message that the music portrays. Music matters because of the message it portrays. Number one, music is not neutral, it's not a neutral thing. Understand this today that the devil does use music. Just because Christian music is worshiping the Lord, that doesn't necessarily mean that that worldly music is worshiping the devil by any means. That's not what I'm saying. But also there is hidden messages and there is things that the messages that that the music carries. And back in my freshman year of high school, really when the Lord opened my eyes to this whole music thing, was actually before I got saved. Uh I was a freshman in high school at my Christian high school that I graduated from down in Florida. And uh our prof our teacher, he gave us a homework assignment. It was a very easy homework assignment, and it was for a completion grade. He was actually the superintendent of our school, and he gave us a homework assignment for completion grade. And if you personally know me and you're listening to this, you know I was all about completion grades because I did not do homework. And so I was I was excited about this completion grade project. Well, as he began to explain this completion grade project, I began to not get so excited as he began to explain this. And basically he was talking about music and why we should only listen to Christian music. And he he probed us, he pushed us to go home, print out our favorite song, whatever the case, whatever song it was, it didn't matter, write music, country music, Christian music, whatever the case may be. I said, Go home, print out your favorite song and read the lyrics. Just read all the lyrics, read what it says, read really what the song is saying, and then turn it in. He said, I'm not gonna read it. I'm not even gonna look at it. If you turn it in, you'll get a hundred and you'll get a completion grade. I just want to know that you did it. And for me, I went and printed out a song. I'm not gonna say who the rapper was or what the song was because I'm not giving glory to that person, but let's just say the song was it was so so much profanity, so much sexual content, so many references to drugs and alcohol and murder and all sorts of different things that I had no clue that I was even really hearing. Like I would rap the lyrics to the song, I would say the lyrics to the song, I I I would sing the lyrics to the song, but I I wasn't really grasping the weight of what I was actually listening to until I printed it out and I hadn't had it in front of me and I read it and I was like, whoa, what in the world is this? So I pivoted and went and found a Christian rap song and printed that out, Christian rap in quotes, as I'm doing that to my computer, but y'all can't see that. I went and printed out a Christian rap song and turned those in instead. I still got the 100, but that that changed my mind on music, but I still wasn't, I hadn't gone saved yet. So I really didn't change what I listened to. It got worse and worse through high school, honestly. That was freshman year. It got really bad towards my senior year and into my first year of college when I did get saved. It was all I listened to. And so I came to a point to once I got saved, I would try to do that thing where I would listen to Christian music on the way to church. And then I was that person who, as soon as I would walk out of church and I'd get in the parking lot, my Christian music would be on. But as soon as I left the church parking lot and nobody from the church could hear, I would flip over to rap music or country music. And so, uh, and I I say that uh very ashamedly now, looking back, what a what a sorry, what what what a sorry example of a Christian that would be. But understand is I I was very newly saved. And so as the Lord dealt with my heart and I began to surrender to his will for my life, I began to change that around. But this this this thought of I can just listen to the beat, or oh, I can I just like the vibe of this song, or whatever the case may be, there is a message inside that song. And the the message that it's portraying may not be something that you want to be singing. And so I encourage you to do the same thing. If you're listening to this podcast, go find your favorite song, print it out, or go online now and look at the lyrics and read those through for yourself and really think about what you're saying and what you're listening to, because you might be ashamed of what you're actually listening to. So that that number one, there's a message that it portrays, but we need to understand is Christ central. Like if the song is not centered around Christ, we don't need to be listening to it. That goes for worldly songs and that goes for Christian songs. Understand that the contemporary Christian music movement, there is a lot that goes on in that where the these guys and these women are aren't even real. I I don't believe some of them are even Christians that are writing these songs. I mean, you've got guys like Jelly Roll and uh these guys who are getting up on a stage and they're proclaiming Christ and proclaiming how Christ has changed their life, but yet behind closed doors and even out in public, just off the stage where everybody can't see them, they're cussing and smoking and drinking and all these different things and taking the Lord's name in vain. And I just don't, it's hard for me to wrap my mind around and believe that God's in that. And a lot of times we bring these songs into our churches and we bring these songs and we worship to them. And again, I'm not saying that the Lord cannot use somebody like that. The Lord used a donkey in the Bible. I mean, we we understand that I'm not saying the Lord can't use somebody like that, but we do have to be careful and we do have to put every song, not just worldly songs, also Christian songs, through a filter. And that goes for contemporary Christian and that goes for old-fashioned gospel music as well. There's some old-fashioned gospel singers that I don't listen to personally. There's some some people and some groups that I don't listen to because I don't, when I listen to the words of the songs and all these different things, it just doesn't sit right with me. And again, that's personal conviction, but I'm just preaching to you what I what what I what the Lord has given me from the Bible. And so, music, understand that it does disciple people. What we sing, we ultimately do start to believe. And so we have to understand that what we listen to, we're ultimately going to become. And the Bible says that we we out of the same mouth proceed blessings and cursings. Friend, these things ought not to be so. And so we need to make sure that we're listening to the right things. We're listening to pure music, we're listening to pure people. We need to let no corrupt communication proceed out of our mouth, but you that which is good to the use of edifying. And so we need to understand today of what we listen to is ultimately what gets in our ear gate is ultimately going to get down our heart in our heart. And the Bible says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And so what we let into our ears ultimately gets into our heart, and then ultimately comes out of our mouth. And God forbid we ruin our testimony out in public because we're listening, we want, we can't not listen to rap music or country music behind closed doors. So, firstly, I want to notice that the music matters because of the message it portrays. But secondly, hear me on this, it matters because of the methods that are used. Look, look with me in verse number 16. It says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. And then it says this, teaching and admonishing one another. And so there's teaching behind songs. There's teaching behind songs. You cannot tell me that there's not teaching behind songs. Come to find out, a lot of the rappers I listened to in high school were devil worshippers and they were demonic people, and they were putting demonic chants and stuff inside songs, and I'm sitting there singing it over and over. And if you tell me that there's not a method behind that, the devil is using songs and using songwriters to get his message across. If he the devil, listen, the devil's not gonna come at us with pitchforks and a long tail and pointy ears and you know a red face and jump out in front of us and be like, boo, I'm the devil. No, that's not how the devil comes. The devil comes at us in discrete ways because he knows if he comes at us like that, we're gonna stop it. But if he comes at us in a discreet way, we might fall. And then by the time we've fallen, we don't even know, we don't see what's going on, and we get sucked into this what something as simple as music that we think is so simple, something as simple as music, we have to understand that there is teaching behind the music. It's teaching doctrine. I look at songs about salvation, I look at songs about the blood of Jesus Christ and the second coming of Christ and all these different songs that we sing in church. They're teaching our doctrine. And so ultimately, on the flip side, the other music, the secular music, would be teaching the same thing. And so we need to watch that. That word admonishing means warning. And he's warning believers about what they sing. He says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing, teaching and warning one another, one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Now, we can sit here and say we could be, we could be on the far far side of this thing and say, Well, we don't need to sing anything other than hymns in church. And you believe what you want to. I don't care. Your person, you've your personal beliefs, I have my personal beliefs. Personally, I believe that David would have thought that the piano and the guitar and um so personally, I don't believe we should just sing hymns. That's not what I'm saying. But do I believe that we should go out and be singing songs written by Steven Furtick and all these different guys? No. Now, do I believe that there are some hymn writers who may have not had their hearts right and may have not lived right from the Lord? Absolutely. That's why I don't use the argument of, well, who wrote it? Who wrote it? No, I re I use the argument of what does these people look like? I'll tell you this. You go look up a uh music video from Elevation. I did this the other day leading up to this as I was studying, just as a just as a mental picture. You'll look up a music video from Elevation Church from a Sunday morning service and click on it and watch it. Okay. Now go to your country music, your Morgan Wallen or a rapper, or you know, whatever the case may be. Morgan Wallen, I know, is a real popular. I used to listen to him a lot. You go to these people and you look at a concert for them. I'll tell you this: there is no difference in a concert for Morgan Wallen or a rapper and a concert for elevation, other than the words that they're singing. They dress the exact same as the performers, the people in the crowd dress the exact same. The stages, the smoke, the lights, it all looks the exact same. The jumping up and down the mosh pit, the all of it, they all raise their hands. That I mean, everything is the exact same except for the words that are being sung. And I believe in 2 Corinthians 5.17, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. I believe, wherefore, come out from among them and be separate. I believe in all these things. I believe in be holy, for he is holy. I believe in all these verses. And so when we're looking at music and these different people who are singing, I believe we need to look at the way they live their lives. Now we can't put them under a microscope because everybody sins. I'm not saying that, but I am saying what is consistent and what is on a regular basis. Look at how these people live their lives and what they post on social media and all these things. And a lot of times we find out some of these Christian artists, in quotes, are just worldly artists that weren't good enough to make it in the world. And so they flip the script and come over to the Christian contemporary movement and they start to sing for these CCM creators, and then they blow up as a Christian artist, in quotes. And that's happened to a lot of these people. And so let's make sure we're understanding that there is a message that's being portrayed, but there's often also methods that are used. Remember, God chose singing as a delivery system for truth. That means music isn't just filler and a service, it's ministry. Understand this morning that we don't preach before we sing. At least at our church, we we sing, we sing a couple of hymns, we sing the choir songs, we sing a couple of specials, and then pastor gets up and preaches. And I've never seen a church where they walk in and the first thing they do is preach and then they begin to sing. I've never seen that before. Now, if your church does that, I'm not saying you're doing it wrong, but I do believe that the worship is what prepares our heart for the message. It's what begins to get the filth from the world out from the weak and begins to cleanse our heart, and we begin to worship and praise God, and our heart begins to soften and our heart begins to open. That way the preaching of the word of God could come in and convict our heart and dwell our heart, dwell in our hearts, right? And so there is a message that's being portrayed. Remember 1 Samuel chapter number 16, verse number 23, when David played the music to get the evil spirit to depart from Saul. And so there's times when in the Bible when we even see where music was used for very powerful things. And so don't just think from it's just music. It doesn't matter. Oh, I can listen to it and I'll be fine. Understand that that's what the devil wants you to think. He is the deceiver, he is the father of lies. So this this day he will make you believe that. And do not fall for the tricks of the devil. So understand that there is a message it portrays. There's also methods that are used. And why does music matter? It also matters because of the mental changes it can make. The Bible says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. What does that mean? What does that mean? The word dwell means to live in, to feel at home. And so your home is your dwelling place. I don't know if you have a home. I don't know if you're old enough to own a home. I personally own a home, and that is my dwelling place. That's where I live, that's where I lay my head on my pillow most nights, and that is where I stay most of the time, unless I'm traveling or we're staying somewhere else, whatever the case may be. But that is my dwelling place. And when it says let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, that means let the word of Christ live in you, right? And so how are we supposed to let the words of Christ live in us if we're letting the words of the world or the words of Satan live in us, right? So we have to let the words of the Lord dwell in us richly. Music plants truth deep in our heart, it rethits reshapes our thoughts, our attitudes, our emotions, and our desires. I love Mexican food. I don't know about y'all. I absolutely can destroy some quesadillas, I can absolutely destroy burritos, tacos, nacho cheese, and ultimately I can destroy some fajitas. Okay. So I love Mexican food. But I've noticed something when I'm in a Mexican restaurant. And I'm sure y'all might have noticed it too, how fast the music is. I'm talking like, you know, whatever. Like it's extremely fast. And the music they play is so fast and so quick. I mean, the beats are so fast. And I found, have you ever found yourself saying, man, we got out of in and out of there quick. I'm talking, I mean, the place is moving, everybody's moving quickly, everybody's working fast, everybody's eating fast. Why do you think that is? It's because of the music that they're playing. The music ultimately affects our it affects our attitudes, our thoughts, our emotions. It affects everything. And so when that music is playing, it makes the workers work quicker, it makes you eat quicker, it makes you move quicker, ultimately opening up your seat for someone else to come in. Look at a date night place. Me and my wife go out on dates, and when we go out on dates, we go to places where the the lights are turned down a little lower and the music is a little bit softer and it's a little bit slower. And what happens? We begin to spend a little bit more time in those places. And if we were to go to a place with fast-paced music, right? And so it affects everything. Think about when uh I think of like, you know, the classic, somebody getting broken up with in high school, and they go on a car drive and they turn on certain songs. They turn on like some I've heard teenagers talk about like depressed playlists or whatever the case may be, or they want to be sad so they listen to certain songs. And that's ultimately telling on each other that we listen to music because it gives us different emotions. And so understand that this is not just something that we can say, oh, it doesn't matter, because ultimately we've all said something where the in the case of music doesn't matter, and music doesn't matter in our life. And so remember the lyrics, we remember lyrics easier than scripture. I'll say this. I grew up homeschooled a lot of my life, and we went to classical conversations. I'm sure there's at least one person listening to this that was in classical conversations at one point in their life. And what they did was learning by song. You would learn all your stuff by song because they they knew that for children, it was a whole lot easier to remember songs than it was to remember textbook material. And to this day, there was a song called the Timeline Song. And it started at the very beginning of creation when God created the world, all and it went all the way to 9 11. And now that was back in you know 2008, 2009. So I'm sure it's gone up a little farther now. But I if you played that song right now, obviously I couldn't sit here, I can sing timeline, this is my time. Like I could sing the First part, but I couldn't sit here and sing the whole song. I'm not going to lie to you. But if you played that song right now, I could sit there and sing along with it perfectly fine. And it's been 15 years since I've heard it. And so we we ultimately soak in songs and singing more than we would soak in normal words. What would you say was easier to under easier to remember through the week? I'll tell you, I remember songs more than I remember sermons. It's easier for me to remember songs and what we sang than it is sometimes what the preacher preached. And how sad is that? But the devil knows that. He knows how powerful singing is. He knows how powerful songs are. And so why do you think he would not want to infiltrate your life with it? Why do you not think that he would want you to not believe that music matters and just to think you can listen to whatever you want and then go into the church house and worship? No, friend, you are not able to serve the Lord to your 100% capacity if you have that filth in your life. And today I'm praying that the Lord convicts your heart. I pray that as you listen to this, that the Lord convicts your heart and makes you sick the next time you try to listen to country music or rap music, makes you not want to listen to it, makes you not want to listen to it ever again, and makes you want to listen to psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. I'll be honest with y'all. I use chat GPT for certain things in terms of image creations, like uh taking pictures of stuff and being like, add this in or whatever. And uh I use it for certain things like that. And I saw one of my friends post one time, like if you were the devil, how would you do this or whatever the case may be? And they asked Chat GPT that. And so a while back when I wrote this message, I asked Chat GPT, if you were the devil, how would you use music against Christians and the church? And this was what it said back. I'd use music to distract from the word. If I were the devil, I wouldn't remove remove music from the church. I'd remove the word from the music, the capital W word from the music. Keep the beat, keep the emotion, keep the excitement, just thin out the doctrine and the scripture. Number two, I'd use music to replace teaching with feeling. If I were the devil, I'd turn music into a vibe, a mood, or a spiritual high. So people would confuse emotion with conviction and goosebumps with the Holy Spirit. Number three, I'd use music to normalize worldly thinking. Music sticks. If I wanted to change a culture, I wouldn't start with legislation. I'd start with their playlists. Because what people sing, they eventually celebrate, and what they celebrate, they eventually justify, and what they justify, they eventually defend. If I were the devil, I wouldn't try to stop Christians from singing. I'd just change what and who they sing about. Now, we can have all the conspiracies in the world that Chat and GPT is the devil and chat and GPT is demonic. You can believe whatever you want to. I don't really care. That's not the point of this. The point is that you've just had a AI platform admit that if it were the devil, this is what they'd use it for. Now, am I gonna sit here and be like the devil's telling on himself? Yeah, no, I'm not, I'm not gonna say that. But I am gonna say that that's pretty strategic and that's pretty planned out. And if you can sit behind your screen listening to this, if you're convicted about this, you probably already turned it off. I hope you're still listening and I pray that God change your heart on this matter. But understand this. Understand that the devil is using our music. He's trying to change our music and not just worldly music, he's also changing Christian music. But ultimately, the point of this is music matters and what we listen to matters. And so, friend, I encourage you to make sure you're singing the right songs, make sure you're listening to the right songs, make sure you know exactly what you're listening to, make sure parents you know what your kids are listening to, because the devil will try to hide anything and everything he can. That last quote from Chat and GPT, that'll preach right there, says, if I were the devil, I wouldn't try to stop Christians from singing. I'd just change what and who they sing about. And so today, I thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have any, uh if you have any any questions or anything like that about the Bible or whatever the case may be, maybe a topic you want to hear me talk about, or maybe a topic you want to hear my thoughts on, post that in the comment section of the Facebook post when I post this or DM me on Facebook or something. It'd be a blessing. And so I will uh see y'all next week. I can't wait to be picking back up. I'm excited. I've got some series planned coming up in the future, so I'm super excited to see what the Lord does to the podcast. I love y'all and I'm thankful for you listening, share the podcast, like it, subscribe to the YouTube channel, go follow the TikTok, the Facebook, all the different social media platforms, keep on the firing line. I appreciate you. This is Max Tidwell. I will see y'all next week. See you later.