About a month ago Shane Bernard and Shane Everett (Shane & Shane) came to Wildwood with their band to lead a Sunday evening time of worship. It was a great evening, and God was glorified in that time together.
I have listened to Shane & Shane’s music for years, and Wildwood sings many of their songs (or their arrangements of songs) each Sunday. They are truly a gift to the Church at large for which I am greatly thankful to God.
As the Shanes spent time at Wildwood that evening, I was blessed by their ministry both on and off the stage. Off the stage, we got to have dinner and interact a bit about life. On the stage, I got to hear Shane Bernard share his personal wrestling with the lyrics of Psalm 23, and how the Lord was teaching him through this Psalm to not “want” but to rest in the Good Shepherd who satisfies.
It truly is a special moment when you get to spend time with an artist or author and hear “behind the music.”
I was thinking about this today as I reflected on John 14:25-27 and 16:12-15. Last Sunday we began a new sermon series entitled “Fired Up: The Holy Spirit & the Believer.” In this series we are seeing what Jesus has taught us about the Helper (the Holy Spirit) that He sent to be with us after He ascended to the Father in Heaven. In last Sunday’s message we talked about the present (the Holy Spirit) that Jesus has sent for our present (our current experience) to help us in the Christian life. We ended that message by asking “how does the Holy Spirit help us?” This Sunday, May 4, we will begin to answer that question by looking at ONE of the ways the Spirit helps us: by guiding us into Truth.
The Scripture is God’s Word. Though men wrote the words down, these men were carried along by God’s Spirit in what they wrote. After guiding the writing of the Scripture, the Holy Spirit then remains in a permanent way in the life of the Christian helping them make sense of what was inspired in the biblical text.
To say it another way, it is truly special when we get to LIVE with THE ARTIST and THE AUTHOR of Scripture every day. We get access to God both “on” and “off” stage and learn more of what is “behind His music.”
Hope you can join us Sunday at Wildwood Community Church in our 8:30, 9:45, or 11:00 worship services. See you there … and bring friends!
