 Alright, Judges chapter 5. So tonight I'm going to sing you a song, Deborah's song. I'm not going to sing a song for you so you don't get up and leave. But we're going to talk about this song in the Bible, which is what we just read. We just read a song. Did you know that? So we're going to talk about Deborah's song. We're going to talk about why Deborah's song is in the Bible, what it means, and what we can learn from it, and just the point of songs in the Bible as well. We're going to talk about that and, you know, the power of songs. And I ran a little experiment before church, and I'm going to kind of explain to you the power of songs in the Bible. All the kids were involved in the experiment. It was successful kids. You might have thought it was a failure, but it was a successful experiment. I'll explain as we get into it. But let's go ahead and look down at Judges chapter 5. So where are we in Judges? So we just looked at Judges chapter 4 last week. That was the story of Deborah freeing the people using, sending Barak to fight against Jabin and the Canaanites and Cicera, his general, and to slay him. We heard the story of J.L. killing Cicera. So let's look down at Judges chapter 5 in verse number 1 and see what we can learn from Deborah's song. So we already know the story, right? What's the point of another chapter talking about the same thing? So let's look at Judges chapter 5, look at verse number 1. It says, the Bible says, Then saying, Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoham, on that day saying, Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. Hear ye, O kings, give ear, O ye princes, even I, I will sing unto the Lord. I will sing praises unto the Lord God of Israel. So we're about to hear this song. And in Judges chapter 4 it begins and it says, Lord, when thou wentest out of Seer, when thou marchest out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. We're going to talk about that detail a little bit later. But it's telling us a little bit about what happened. In verse number 5 the Bible says, The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel. In the days of Shamgar, the son of Ainath, in the days of Jail, the highways were unoccupied and the travelers walked through the byways. So first of all, who was Shamgar? Go back to Judges chapter 3 and look at verse number 31. You don't hear a lot about Shamgar in the Bible, but the Bible mentions him here in Judges chapter 5 and verse 6 and then it mentions him the first time in Judges chapter 3 and verse 31 and the Bible says this. It says, And after him was Shamgar, the son of Ainath, which slew of the Philistines 600 men with an ox goat and he also delivered Israel. So Shamgar was a judge that delivered Israel from the Philistines at that time. He slew all these Philistines with a cattle prod, the Bible says. So look back at verse number 6 and it says in the days of Shamgar and it tells us kind of how things were back then. So Shamgar was basically the judge between Ehud and Deborah. You have this man Shamgar and there's not a lot of detail about him in the Bible but we see it in verse number 31 of Judges 3 and then we see the details of what things were like both during Shamgar's time and after Shamgar's time in verse number 6 and it says the highways were unoccupied and the travelers walked through byways. So that tells you that it was a dangerous time. It was dangerous. It was not good to be out. People when they went to travel somewhere they didn't walk on the highway or they didn't walk on the main road. They went through the woods. They went through different paths because it was just dangerous. Look down at verse number 7. It continues to tell us about what things were like back then and it says the inhabitants of the villages ceased. They ceased in Israel until that eye Deborah arose that eye arose a mother in Israel. So look they could no longer even dwell when it says the villages. It's talking about the outskirts, the outer small towns. You know this is small town America or small town Israel here. It's saying that people couldn't live there because they had to go into the probably the gated cities the larger cities because you know it just was so unsafe due to you know first with Shamgar the Philistine oppression and then after you know with Deborah before that they were oppressed by the Canaanites. Okay so look and it showed again here it says until that eye Deborah arose that eye arose a mother in Israel showing once again that Deborah was a judge of necessity here and she was kind of like one of those situations where somebody has to do something is what the Bible is telling us here. In verse number eight they chose new gods then was born the gates was their shield or spear seen among 40,000 in Israel. Now that's interesting right there. Okay because first of all you know in both of these cases with the Philistines go ahead and turn to 1 Samuel chapter 13. I'm not going to dwell on this but it's something to point out. Okay they were invaded by the Philistines then after that they were invaded by the Canaanites. So these people are under oppression. Under oppression during that time there's been no battle yet. The battle was to get out of oppression that we're going to read about with Deborah and Barak. But look the bottom line is they were no longer armed. These people had no weapons. They had nothing to defend themselves with. I mean why do you think he's fighting with a cattle prod? He's fighting with a cattle prod not because it's a better weapon it's because they had no weapons. Okay look at 1 Samuel chapter 13. This is King Saul hundreds of years later maybe 400 years later and look you will see that with the Philistines you know this just kind of keeps happening. These Philistines are warmongering people and in 1 Samuel chapter 13 Saul and Jonathan you know they're getting ready to push back the Philistines and go to war with the Philistines and look at verse number 19. The Bible says this now look there hasn't been a war yet. There hasn't been a war yet in the Bible and it's just in verse number 19 of 1 Samuel 13 look what the Bible says now there was no Smith found throughout all the land of Israel for the Philistines said lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears. But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen every man his share his colter his axe and his mattock. They're basically using farm tools to go to war here and yet they had a file for the mattocks and for the colters and for the forks and for the axes and to sharpen the goats. So it came to pass in the day of battle that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan but with Saul and Jonathan his son there was their found so only Jonathan and Saul had swords and spears had actual weapons here. So the point here is at the beginning of both wars here there were already no weapons amongst the people isn't that interesting? I mean it wasn't a war to get rid of the weapons at the time of the war when they were trying to get their liberty back before they went into bond you know when they were trying to get out of bondage with the Romans it was a Philistine in both cases but they were completely disarmed so not the point of tonight's sermon but something to think about Judges chapter 5 look at verse number 9 Judges chapter 5 and verse number 9 look at what the Bible says my heart is towards the governors of Israel that offered themselves willingly among the people bless ye the Lord so this shows you that there were some leaders who chose to fight this war with Deborah that's good look at verse number 10 speak ye that ride on white asses ye that sit in judgment and walk by the way so like look some people were standing up some people were saying we will go fight obviously there was you know thousands and thousands of people even more than that we'll see in this song we're standing up some people were still sitting in judgment you know there wasn't just Deborah judging at the time she was you know a judge we're sitting in judgment here in Israel and Deborah in the song is praising them for that so she's basically kind of giving credit where credit is due you know after this battle is won is when they write this song and she's basically saying look we didn't do this by ourselves you know there was lots of people that helped here and stood up and she's saying praise God for you bless ye the Lord verse 11 they that are delivered from the noise of the archers in the place of drawing water even the righteous acts of the Lord even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates so we don't exactly know what this means here but people were either escaped from a dangerous place here and you know lived to fight another day and then got into this battle but look the Bible says that you know they were no longer going to have to live in fear in their villages look back at verse number 7 look back at verse number 7 because even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates remember that in the villages they ceased they couldn't live there anymore because it was too dangerous there was too much oppression and danger going on in the nation look at verse number 12 so it doesn't paint it doesn't paint a very good picture about what was happening in the nation at the time but the interesting thing about the song is this it does paint a picture of actually what was happening you're kind of starting to see the point of the song aren't you look at verse number 12 the Bible says so this was either talking about you know that they had dominion over the nobles of Jabin after the battle was over or possibly there was some nobles in Israel that didn't fight one of those two things but the bottom line is that they were made to have dominion over everybody in Canaan and possibly even some Israelites who wouldn't do anything at the time look at verse 14 they that handled the pen of the writer so now she's giving credit to all the tribes that came to help in the war so we're about to get into this war and she is giving in the song Debra and Barak are giving credit to the tribes that came and helped them out they were against the Canaanites against Amalak so Benjamin helped out of Maker came governors leaders the Bible says out of Zebulun they that handled the pen of the writer that's kind of an interesting statement saying hey these guys were like intellectual even the college professors came to help us fight is what the Bible is saying here even the people that were this isn't their trade their trade wasn't to be a warrior they came down they put their pens down and they fought with us Judges chapter 5 look at verse 15 and the princes of Issachar were with Debra even Issachar and also Barak he was sent on foot into the valley of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart why a bodus thou among the sheepfolds to hear the bleeding of the flocks for the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart so here we see a difference here we see a difference she's giving all these tribes that helped out in the war and she's memorializing them in this song but then she's saying but in Reuben there was divisions she's saying Reuben there were great thoughts of heart and Reuben was kind of like Reuben's a tribe Reuben was a person which interestingly enough go back to Genesis chapter 49 go to Genesis chapter 49 and look down at verse number 3 Jacob is blessing his son so here we have the tribe of Reuben it doesn't say that everybody from Reuben didn't go help Debra but it does say that there was divisions amongst Reuben which is interesting Reuben himself was an unstable person the Bible says and Jacob when he's blessing his sons look at verse number 3 when he gets to Reuben the Bible says Reuben thou art my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength the excellency of dignity and excellency of power unstable as water thou shalt not excel because thou went up to thy father's bed and defileest thou it he went up to my couch so we're not going to get into that story but the bottom line is Reuben his life was unstable which is you know it matches how the actual tribe of Reuben you know behaved in this situation they were unstable they were unreliable they were divided and look I mean the Bible says look at verse 3 in Genesis 49 verse 3 that stuff sounds pretty good I mean this could be like a sermon series being unstable I mean just forget the notes for a minute being unstable could be a sermon series that's like 50 sermons long because you could be the most you could have some very strong character in many different places in your life but if you're unstable it wrecks it all look at all the things in verse number 3 my might the beginning of my strength the excellency of dignity the excellency of power look at all these things I mean look these are these are good traits these are good things but he's unstable think if you're just like this really like super hard worker you're just like when you get going you're just killing it and then but you just you can only do that for like 2 days a week or you can only do it for 3 months out of the year or you can only do it for a week and then you just get unstable and you fall off a track somewhere look I mean say you're really good at coming to church I mean you can come to church and you just like you hit it for like 6 weeks in a row and then you're just like yeah I'm not into church anymore and then you have to have your life correct 2 months and then you come back in I mean look I mean these are unstable people I mean when they're in it they're in it but then they're just unstable so look this was the tribe of Reuben and I don't know if it stemmed from you know the way Reuben was the way the tribe was that way I don't know how that would actually work but the bottom line is it's an interesting connection but the tribe of Reuben was undecided is what the Bible is saying go back to Judges chapter 5 being unstable in your life will ruin a lot of things for you no matter what look at verse number 16 the Bible says this it says to hear the bleeding of the flocks for the divisions of Reuben were the great searching of heart so I mean that just goes again to show you that being unstable first of all it's just confusing and it must be so stressful to be unstable where everything that you do in your life every decision that you make in your life is just this searching of the heart think about it am I going to go to work tomorrow well I just got to search my heart about that am I going to do what I'm supposed to do for my family am I going to provide for my family am I going to come to church and be committed to the house of God well I just got to search my heart every single time for that that's this tribe right here and they're divided it was a great division so Reuben was split some went and some did not the tribe now look here's another thing about Reuben we saw these verses before with the tribes like hey bless you the Lord and all these these people came down and they fought with us and they're memorializing the song in the Bible but here's what you got to remember everyone will always remember how you act in trying times so you want to be on the right side of this because look those are times those are times when history is made we're making history here in this song this is the times when history is made when songs are written about people right I mean you want to be on the good side not have people singing about how you stayed with the sheep and how you had to search your heart on whether or not it was the right thing and you wouldn't go and fight and all these things you ran and you weren't on the right side I mean that would be terrible to have you memorialized in that way look at verse 17 Gilead a boat beyond Jordan so here's another tribe this is Gilead the tribe the tribe of Gad on the other side of the Jordan why did Dan remain in ships so Dan didn't go Dan of course is on the coast Asher continued on the seashore Dan and Asher both on the coast didn't fight is that a shocker are you catching what I'm saying here I mean look the people on the coast they just didn't go at all they're just like whatever we're going surfing or we're going to stay in our ships more nations and tribes are listed here that did not help in this great war look at verse 18 Zebulon and Naftali were a people that jeopardized their lives unto the death in the high places of the field people in the center part of Israel not on the coast the kings came and fought the kings of Canaan in Tanakh by the waters of Megiddo they took no gain of money they were fighting for liberation not money they were fighting for the right reasons then the bible says in verse 20 now we see a little shift here the bible says they fought from heaven the stars in their courses fought against Cicera so this is kind of the force multiplier of this battle right here because we know that Cicera had all these iron chariots he was very powerful but look this is where the battle was won in verse 20 it says they fought from heaven who fought from heaven the stars in their courses fought against Cicera look I mean whether this meant they were fighting at night whether it means that there was angels in the fight I'll show you that there was at least one angel in this fight and like as we've seen other places in the bible that's pretty much all you need if you have an angel on your side you know what this is some sort of heavenly battle that God is involved in is what the bible is telling us here and then the bible says in verse 21 now we see how the iron chariots by the way in chapter 3 or chapter 4 it was just like the iron chariots were just defeated now we see how the iron chariots were defeated in verse 21 so the river of Kishon swept them away that ancient river the river Kishon oh my soul trodden down strength go back to verse number 4 go back to verse number 4 in the bible where the look what the bible says in verse number 4 of judges chapter 5 so the bible says the river swept them away and in verse number 4 I told you I'd explain this the bible says when now marched out of the field of Edom the earth trembled and the heavens dropped and the clouds also dropped water so there was a massive rainstorm here there was a flood that flooded this river and washed all these chariots away washed this army away the clouds dropped water the heavens dropped I don't know if that meant hail or fog or whatever that meant implying the but look this is how the lord are partly out of the way it says that the mountains came down I don't know if that's landslides or what that was but look God you know basically won this battle for them and it's implying how the lord defeated the 900 chariots of iron here with just this simple army look at verse 15 the bible says in verse 15 of judges 5 and the lord discomforted Cicera and all his chariots and all his hosts with the edge of the sword before Barak so that Cicera lighted this is chapter 4 sorry so that Cicera lighted down off his chariot and fled away on his feet so in chapter 4 I just want to point out here in chapter 4 that's all you really hear is that you know the lord discomforted Cicera all these details in the song we get all the details about the heavens dropping and the stars and you know they fought from heaven you know who fought from heaven so I mean it's saying that there's a heavenly part of this battle is what we're seeing here and that the mountains came down that you know the the mountain came down the bible says but look in judges chapter 22 5 and verse number 22 we see more details it says then were the so it's broken by the means of the prancings the prancings of their mighty ones and then the bible says this this is how I know there was an angel there curse ye mirrors said the angel of the lord curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not to help to the help of the lord to the help of the lord against the mighty so this is another place that didn't help another group of people living in a place that didn't help and the angel of the lord in writing says curse you for not helping us so it's not that you know you have to be against the lord you just have to be not with him is what this angel basically proves here look there's at least one angel and you know that's probably all you need you give me an angel and we're good alright look at verse 24 now we get into the story of Cicera escaping and this is captured in the song as well blessed above women all the wife of Heber the keenight be blessed shall she be above women in the tent so we see we're remembering those who did not fight who did fight look at Judges chapter 5 verse 25 we see the story of jail he asked water and she gave him milk she brought forth butter in a lordly dish so she didn't just give him milk she gave him some butter she's trying to get his blood sugar up she wants to put this guy to sleep so we saw that last week but look in verses 26 the Bible gives us even more detail than we saw last time she put her hand to the nail and her right hand to the workman's hammer and with the hammer she smote Cicera and look what it says here she smote off his head when she had pierced and stricken through his temple so she pierced him with a nail now first of all I was at Home Depot yesterday and I was looking for like I wonder if I could find a nail like this I could do it right there so I found a nail that Jail used so this is the kind of nail that she drove through his head and then she cut his head off the Bible says after that so look Jail is memorialized and we see some more detail once again from this story can you believe this is only like 40 cents I mean that's quite a nail anyway Jail I'll give it to you after the sermon okay don't give her a hammer okay the Bible says in verse number 27 so she cut his head off we see more details here she wanted to make sure this guy wasn't getting up alright verse 27 at her feet he bowed he fell he lay down at her feet he bowed he bowed he fell where he bowed then he fell down dead the mother of Cicera looked out a window now we're seeing Cicera's mother looking for him coming back from the battle now this is probably anecdotal here we see through the lattice why is his chariot so long and coming why tarry the wheels of his chariots her wise ladies answered her yay she returned to answer to herself have they not sped have they not divided the prey to every man a damsel or two to Cicera a prey of diverse colors a prey of diverse colors of needlework of diverse colors of needlework on both sides meet for the necks of them that take the spoil so let all thine enemies perish O Lord let them let love him be as the son when he goeth forth in his might and the land had rest forty years so we just see this anecdotal story of how his mother was wondering why hasn't Cicera come back to me because jail killed him she cut his head off after she drove a nail through his head so look my point of trying to make here in Deborah's song is that we see a lot of additional detail in the story laid out in this song I mean look we see that the people the people of the land of Israel they were oppressed at this time before this battle they were disarmed at this time they were completely an unarmed nation they were traveling in the country at this time was unsafe you had to go through the woods or the wilderness or wherever they had to use the byways they were oppressed even in their villages they didn't have villages they couldn't live there they ceased in the villages the main cities because it was so unsafe there was a great war detailed here by Deborah and Barak in which many tribes of Israel came to fight like we didn't see that detail in chapter 4 on which tribes came to fight and which tribes did not fight and for what reason and then the Bible says look the Lord fought for them from heaven either with an angel angels and other natural disasters or whatever or both and then jail of course kills Cicero with a nail and cuts off his head and kills the main general look it's quite a story all this put into a song so the question is and the application this evening is this why a song why not just tell the story why not just write the words down to us I'm not singing to you up here we wouldn't know the tune of this song but why did they write a song so why a song the bottom line is this go to Exodus chapter 15 it's not the only song by far in the Bible it's not the only song in Exodus chapter 15 just look down at verse number one songs in the Bible carry a message they carry a message they tell a story in the Bible the Bible says this then saying Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord and Spake saying I will sing unto the Lord for yet triumph gloriously the horse and his rider had to be thrown into the sea and then Moses' song goes on from there but the bottom line is it's a song talking about the great victories that God has performed for them freeing them from the Egyptians it's all put into a song it's to tell and to memorialize the story of the Exodus of the Israelite people so why why so they wouldn't forget what God did for them is why they put it in a song think about the songs those are songs those are songs think about all the truths that are in the book of Psalms that are songs it's so we can remember and we will not forget all the great truth that God has for us all the things that God has done for us like the Exodus, like the battle of Barak and Deborah to free themselves from the Canaanites but look why can't we just tell the story is the question this brings you to my experiment that I did with the kids before church why can't you just tell the story why not just say I'm just going to tell the story look I've told plenty of stories in my life especially if you're ever familiar with like hunting or fishing I mean I am really good at telling a hunting story I just can't have Garrett around because he's like no the horns were not that big and I'm like silence it's my story so look but the point is is that the song had a specific purpose so I didn't experiment with the kids I lined up I think it was seven kids in a row and I just gave them a simple phrase and I gave them a phrase I gave the phrase to one kid and then he was to whisper it in the ear of the next and the next and the next and the next and the next it's the game of telephone if you've ever heard this game so here's the phrase that I gave the kids and the whole thing lasted about three minutes and I was talking and I was visiting with them during the whole exercise trying to get them thinking about something else but this is a three minute exercise with like six words so imagine how messed up you know a story could get if this is what happens to six words this phrase that I gave the kids was this a guppy in a shark tank that is what I told Jacob he was the first one in the line I blame him for everything because I told him and what I got back I told him a guppy in a shark tank and what I got back was a shark attack now look obviously I mean we still got the shark in there but obviously look the message got confused okay obviously I mean it's based on messages stories they're all based on people's bias look obviously one of these kids was very biased very prejudiced against sharks I mean obviously one or many kids thought that sharks were just inherently violent it's not right but the point is that somebody injected their opinion they added to the story they added to the sentence and then they took other things away that's how stories get messed up right maybe somebody in a story was there and witnessed something from a different perspective maybe you know the story in their mind changes inadvertently like they didn't you know they have you ever misremembered something I mean we just we just did an experiment with one short sentence imagine a complex story you know details would just be left out added changed period but look I mean it also shows us look there's a little game that we played also shows us the danger of listening to second hand information okay I mean like gossip turn to Proverbs chapter 18 this is not the point of the sermon but look you need to be careful listening to information from people that said I heard that this guy said so-and-so about so-and-so I mean you need to be careful with things like that because it's almost never the truth look at Proverbs chapter 18 and by the way this is way too common today this is way too common today where people just think that it's okay to just talk about people behind their back and just you know people just think it's fine I don't know why but they do look at Proverbs chapter 18 and verse number 8 the words of a tail bearer are as wounds and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly so by the Bible says that people that go around telling tales about people they look they might not even mean harm by it they might not even mean harm by it but look that's why you need to be careful about talking about things that do not pertain to you or that you haven't heard you just need to ask yourself here's a good check you just need to always ask yourself if that person was here would they be okay to be saying what I'm saying right now right that's why many times you can just get rid of situations like that by somebody that comes to you and says hey do you know Brother Bob said this to me what do you think about that and I was like well let's go talk to Brother Bob about it and work it out and they're like oh no no no because Brother Bob didn't say that and they know that they're spinning something to convince you to manipulate you to flatter you something okay so look the bottom line is there's a situation going on have influence or involvement in just stay out of it turn to Proverbs 26 the Bible says this in Proverbs 26 17 it says he that passeth by I mean the people that just have to get involved in every little detail every little you know squabble every little mess that's going on in somebody else's life I mean look don't you have your own problems I mean the Bible says this it says he that passeth by in meadoweth with strife belonging not to him one that takeeth a dog by the ears I mean there's a picture for you grabbing a dog by the ears you know if you grabbed our dog by the ears you probably just get a lot of slobber over you I mean you probably wouldn't get hurt but I mean the point is that it's just a messy situation you're not supposed to do it you know so you'll just get yourself in trouble you'll hurt people just be careful it's way too common today back to songs so here's why songs so look songs are here's why songs are used in the Bible in fact that songs are so powerful in preserving and delivering a message or a story that's why I mean look in Deborah's case I mean look at all the different details that we saw in the song that we didn't see in just the story and it helps people remember look I mean Moses Exodus the same thing but look here's the thing there's many bad examples of this too okay there's many bad examples you ever heard the saying I got that song stuck in my head how many times has that happened to you I mean we've talked about the earworms in the sermon last year but look the power of music and culture cannot be understated you know I've heard this so many times in my life from people that listen to songs and even after myself I got rid of worldly music in my life and things like that and people say I just like the tune I don't listen to the words I just like the tune but look the song of Deborah and Barack tells the details of the story the lyrics matter folks I mean the lyrics matter now look I grew up the culture that I grew up in was country music that's the culture that I grew up in okay and this fits for any kind of culture that you came from but look the themes the themes were pretty much the same in all the songs and it's the same in all the different cultures of music the genres or whatever you want to call them but look it's funny how the themes in country music are actually realities in the places that people listen to those songs isn't that funny it's not just a song the lyrics matter they've changed they've reflected the culture they're helping change the culture I mean you think about it things in country music the culture it's a lot of the same things in hip-hop it's a lot of the same thing by the way it's packaged differently and it's packaged for a different part of the country or whatever it's the same message it's the same message the drinking what's a man what's a man a man's a hard drinking hormonger that's a cowboy that's what that is I mean they glorify things you know like the cowboy way whatever that even means you know like going off I'm going to go in rodeo and leave my family behind and my wife left me because I got to get to another rodeo this is real but they glorify this type of thing look people live their lives this way my wife is leaving me and my family left me it's glorifying that I mean just this it glorifies all of it and it makes the situations look it makes the situations sound heroic I mean it makes the situations I mean everybody had when I was growing up had a good view of a cowboy you know you were tough and you were just you know this rodeo hero and all this kind of stuff I mean look I mean it creates a culture and it's because of the music I mean look I mean any other hip-hop culture is the same thing that music or whatever it's the same thing it glorifies all the same sins in a different way and it's all just as bad it makes it look good it makes it look fun and it actually affects the culture of the areas of the regions it affects I mean the lyrics matter folks it's not just a beat it's not just a tune people are listening to the words they're putting those words into action in their life I mean it's changing people I mean look it's glorifying a message and it's a look it's a detailed message that's the thing with music they can tell you a detailed message in a song and you'll never forget it isn't that something that's why we have songs in the Bible you know things are put to music to remember them to preserve the details of the story it's all good but Satan uses the same technique he uses the same thing which is why which is why we just need to be careful with what we're filling our minds with notice I didn't say filling our ears with because what you what you listen to what you see folks will affect your mind it'll ultimately affect your heart I mean look don't you feel good and by the way I mean and I've said this before and I'll say it again all this music you know whether it be hip-hop or rock or whatever else there is or country music I mean the funny thing for me was I always thought country music was more wholesome than you know other I always thought that I was you know it was it was more of a wholesome thing that I was listening to country music when I was younger but the funny thing is when you actually listen to the words if you go back and listen to it now guess what I'm gonna have to listen to it because guess what I can still hear the words I can still hear the words and I'm like I can't believe I'll listen to that I can't believe that that's what that song says I can't believe that everyone think that this is okay I mean once you compare it to what the bible says and the standards here I mean it's bad but then another thing is you will not want to listen to spiritual things you will not enjoy hymns if you have all that garbage in your heart you will not have the heart to listen to songs and hymns and spiritual songs you know look these hymns these hymns tell a story every single one of these hymns tells a story the battle hymn of the republic it tells a story it tells a story of a soldier fighting in the civil war I mean it tells a story in verse number four the bible says you know about you know it says with a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me as he died to make men holy let us die to make men free I mean that is the story that this union soldier is telling and this song is retelling his life is retelling the situation that happened here in great detail it's comparing it you know I love to tell the story tells the story about Jesus there are so many songs in the bible tell the story in detail about the sacrifice that Jesus made for us and we remember it through those songs those are the kind of things that we need in our mind that we need to get stuck in our head and that we need to have in our hearts and we need to look they're important they're useful they're memorable but we need to make sure that we're listening to the right ones because it can greatly affect us in a negative way or a positive way it's up to us and look here's the thing you got to break the trend you got to break the trend you're like I don't like listening to hymns you got to break the trend and guess what you're like I don't like listening to hymns because I listen to worldly music whether it be country or hip hop or whatever it is guess what if you're unstable you'll never break the trend because you have to get into a situation where you're stable spiritual things you can read the Bible you can listen to the hymns and guess what you'll start to like it you will change your heart you'll start to like it how many of you like to listen to hymns how many of you like getting a hymns stuck in your head all day long I mean I love that but that didn't use to happen before I got stable in my Christian life so it's all about stability you can be a rocket ship Christian two weeks at a time it's not going to work it's not going to work songs Deborah's song it's a great story in the Bible that gives us more detail and it's very memorable let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer