Today is August 11, 2024 the year of our Lord. Now if we take 2024 and know that Jesus Christ was on this planet 2024 years ago and divide by 25 we can get a ruff estimate that was 81 generations ago. That is probably the maximum any one person could be because somewhere in everyones lineage their parents grandparents or great grandparents were towards the younger of the siblings in that generation or simply someones distant relative did not procreate until later in life. For example Former 10th President John Tyler (1841-45) was born in 1790 had a son Lyon Gardiner Tyler when he was 63 in 1853. Lyon Tyler Sr. had sons in 1924 (Jr) and Harrison 1928 when he was 71 and 75 respectively. Harrison died this past year. 2023-1790 is a span of 233 years almost as long as our countries existence in just 3 generations is an extreme case where at most 9 generations could have fit into that 233 yr span. So we are probably closer 70-75 Generations since Jesus was here. in Luke3:23 the Bible list the full genealogy from Adam to Jesus was 76 generations and 66 from Noah. Lets think about our own Generations. Lets think about the balance that is in our timeline B.C. 0 and AD. In our lifetime we may have the opportunity to meet 7 generations. Some of us may have had the chance to meet our Great Grandparents and we hope to make it to see our Great Grandchildren. Now some people in the room haven't met their Great Grandparents or Grandparents or never had kids of their own but as a child everyone remembers a really old person that taught them things from when they were young and of course you will see infants and children when you are old so again I say everyone will have met 7 generations which is about 10% since Christ was here. Pretty amazing when you think about it. Look around you. There are 5 generations right here today. This is your church family. We are here to share the Good News from Generation to Generation.
The message I have to share with you today is about songs. The words of the scriptures today have been changed to fit into songs I have sung and make it easier for me to recite and remember them. Even stories like Zecheus and Noah and the Ark have songs to make it easy for kids to understand and remember. I invite you to listen to the words that you sing. Wether or not it is a hymn or Christian song or love song on the radio I want you to pay close attention to what the songs are saying. Then fact check them with what the Bible says. I want you to think about the words even if your thinking is flawed because when we make mistakes that is when learning can take place. For example in a verse from Amazing Grace the Author writes "Have we been there 10000 years". Does that mean we have 7976 more years since Jesus was born, No, the verse goes on Bright shining as the sun. Oh maybe thats How long the Sun is in Super Nova stage its currently in? Hey Siri how long is a star in Super Nova? The answer is 1-2 million years. So that thinking is a 100x off. the verse goes on and says," We've no less days to sing Gods praise then when we've first begun. Ding Ding Ding that is correct. We all know when we individually began singing Praises to God and we have no less days because there is no count down. God is forever into infinity.
My parents were very good singers. My Dad would often sing solos in church my Mom's Amen was like that of an Angels. My siblings were competitive so we were a large family in the back corner of the Westtown Presbyterian Church pumping out perfectly pitched and harmonized music. We all joined the choir in church and our schools and maybe you can remember a music teacher or conductor stopping everyone and saying you are out of key or you are sounding flat. That was my biggest fear as a baby Christian. I was so concerned with singing the right notes I wasn't paying attention to the actual message of the song. The Doxology was a song we sang every week and somehow to this day I still struggle. I didn't pay attention to the words "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow" If we want more blessings we need to Praise God. That is something that this church does very well under Sue and Mike and now Ava Conklins leadership. This has been the case for this church even 30 years ago when I was in H.S. the best talented musical students came from this church that I didn't know at the time. Have you ever heard Lindsey Grebledinger sing? Count your Blessings Count them one by one Count your blessings show what God has done. Count your many blessings name them one by one Count your blessings say what God has done. When we are Thankful for our blessings thy beget more blessings so we Praise God in the good times but we must also praise him in the bad times. Perhaps the car is broken. Praise God you have alternatives like uber or lyft or a co-worker to ease the burden to get it fixed or replaced. Maybe the dryer broke like it has in my household. Praise God he provided a solar wind powered dryer, its called a cloths line, did you forget? Maybe the clothes washer broke. Praise God you will have the cleanest bathtub on the block all while singing He washes out the stains and irons out the wrinkles his banner over me his Love. This is a discipline song because what they don't tell you in Sunday School when you learned it that when he is washing out the stains you are still wearing the clothes. Have you ever felt like you were going through lifes ringer? Feel Rundown? This is what happens when you stay up all night partying. God is ringing out the laundry you are wearing then your body goes into a fever that is from the heat of ironing out the wrinkles. No-one said being a Christian is going to be easy. My Grandfather told me that nothing good happens after Midnight. Boy was he right. Christians are Day people not people of the night. Joy comes in the Morning. Sunrises become more important then sunsets as we grow in Christ. Getting back to the song. Next verse" We are the Sheep and he is the Shepard". Have you seen a Shepard's Hook? Who is going to question God? Hey God is the grass greener over here with this new non scriptural Philosophy That says I can do it all myself? No first you are getting bonked in the head by the staff and then your getting yanked back into the herd. His banner over me his Love. His banner is a banner of protection because we know better. He gave us his word on all matters. Vanity Money Relationships False Prophets any situation can be looked up in a Bible Dictionary and Concordance. Don't you wish we can obtain all the information in a book by Hitting the books. Kids don't try this at home. It just hit me. The BIBLE yes thats the book for me I stand alone on the word of God the B.I.B.L.E. Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth.
Nostalgia. My first vivid memory goes back to this scar on my left wrist. I'm not exactly sure if it happened in Kindergarden or First grade but I do believe there were no siblings on the bus. I heard the bus coming up the hill so I ran out of the kitchen and it was winter with snow on the ground and really bright. The wind was blowing the door open so I pushed it closed to make sure it was shut pushing my hand through the window. By the time I got to the bus I looked back and seen I had left a trail of blood all the way to the bus. The bus driver gave me some paper towels to hold on my wrist after she saw the blood pulsating out and away to school I went stopping at the nurses office before class. All through grade school and collage I only missed Balloon Day in first grade because I had poison ivy so bad my eyes were swollen shut. Now I am pretty much immune. Lets go back 40 years 1984. Olympics are being hosted in Los Angeles. The reason my family sang so much is due to how uncomfortable car rides were. This is a time before tablets and screens in cars. We as kids were savages, barely even Human. I don't even remember wearing a shirt. We had bow and arrows and were busy picking Blackcaps to paint our faces. We had a creek where we caught minnows and a pond where we caught Catfish and transferred them to the cows water tub. We grew up on a 90 acre farm. We would swing from Haymow beam to jumping on the trampoline. We had an ATC which was a Three wheeler and somehow nobody died. When it came to load up in the car inevitably someones shoe stepped in something and we were referred to as "These stinking kids". The mere fact of being on a wide open farm to the confines of a 4.5 feet wide by 6 feet deep Ford Fairmont powder blue station wagon with our siblings always brought up fights of who gets to sit in the trunk to have the most room.
To make the car ride more enjoyable my Dad would sing Hi Ho Hi Ho its off to fun we go! A bunch more quick Hi Hos and somehow the song would repeat about 3xs. Then he would tell us what the Odometer read and we had to use our Math skills to guess what it would read when we got there. The boys would sing Heaven is a wonderful Place then when we got to the word filled the girls would Start the same words but quicker to catch up. Heaven is a wonderful Place filled with glory and Grace. Then all together we would get in each others face and obnoxiously sing" I wanna see my Saviors face cause Heaven is a wonderful place, I wanna go there! Then Boys repeat. We went to Wolf Lake every summer and one of the nights our parents would take us to Monticello Raceway were we learned if you placed a 2$ bet on the favorite you could win your 2$ back plus a dime. Important lessons on risks and gambling. A storm would be coming in then the raceway would lower the glass and enclose the stands. Soon you would see a layer of smoke settle at a certain level. You didn't see the level if you where at the level where it settled but you would smell it and made your clothes stink. Another trip was to Action Park with the church families. Yes that Action Park which was later named Class Action Park because it was so dangerous. Here we learned about what Hydroplaning was. Not because we were driving go-carts. There was a water slide that was so steep that at one point you had free fall experience and then you hydroplaned of your back to slow down your momentum. You could not wear a shirt to protect your back because it would end up around your neck and also you learned what a water wedge felt like. On another water slide you grabbed a blue rubber mat and the idea was to skip across the flat part at the bottom and race to stand up. My Dad and his two rugged farm boys decided we were going together to race. My Dad walked right passed the 225 max weight sign and the Lifeguards didn't stop him either seeing there was an intense competition brewing. Naturally the most weight got to the bottom of the slide first and when my Dad hit the 3ft deep flat pool the waters parted and my brother and I got a close view of what it must have looked like when Moses parted the Red Sea. There was no water behind him and our chances of skipping a crossed the top of the water where drowned as we got rolled by the parting waves. We also learned about Physics. A body in motion tends to stay in motion. Not only did he not stop in the 20 ft flat pool he traveled another 20 feet hard into the cushion luckily not hitting previous riders trying to safely exit the ride. Pay close attention as I tell you about these experiences because in all this nostalgia I am trying to demonstrate how much kids retain all before age 10. This is why it is so important to send your kids to Sunday School. Oh be careful little ears what you hear Oh be careful little eyes what you see. In 1985 we went to Shea Stadium. I remember it was Sid Fernandez on the mound vs the St.Louis Cardinals with the wizard Ozzie Smith at SS. I sat on the 1st base side in the Mezanine level. I remember the roar of the crowd when Vince Coleman toke off to steal 2nd base. The following year 1986 the Mets won the world series. I was 10 and to this day 38 years ago I can name all the position players. C Gary Carter 1B Kieth Hernandez 2nd Base Wally Backman SS Rafael Santana 3rd Base Ray Knight LF Mookie Wilson CF Lenny Dykstra RF Daryl Strawberry. I won't bore you with the Pitchers names. I didn't look these players up but when I did how could I forget the Tim Taufel Shuffle a 2nd Baseman that platooned with Wally Backman. Later in life we found out that there was drinking beers in between innings and a lot of the players had Cocain addictions not exactly worth the amount of time I was devoting to them. I was also playing baseball from March to August 5 out of 7 years making the All Stars Teams. Seeing I was Baseball 24/7 My parents decided it was time for me to start Sunday School. Everyone groaned. We all thought we should have a choice in the matter. Every Saturday Night we had to go to bed as if it were a school night. Finally my parents agreed that we can have the choice but only if you make the right choice which really just meant you are going to Sunday School. It got easier to go when they made Grannies lunch the reward. Really Sunday School and Church all together was only two hours and looking back on my life it was the most important thing in everyones life not just my own. One Febuary before Catchers and Pitchers reported for spring practice My Dad asked what are you learning in Sunday School hoping to not hear about baseball. I said Dad Im learning about the Great Baseball Game. My Dad rolled his eyes and said OK let me hear it. Eve stole 1st Adam stole 2nd David put out Golieth and the Prodicals son ran Home. For those of you keeping score you can't steal first base unless the catcher drops the ball on the 3rd strike.
If you have noticed none of these trips were very far and maybe you remember the early 80s Action Park Monticello Raceway or Shea Stadium none of these places exist as they did 40 years ago. The Raceway no longer has night races and I am not sure the windows could even retract anymore. Shea Stadium was torn down and a new Citi Field was built. Action Park is now Mountain Creek. Jesus Jesus Jesus there is something about that name. Kings and Kingdoms shall all pass away but there's something about that name. Lets Pray Turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in his Wonderful Face and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim from the light of his glory and grace. Amen Today I have a counter in my left hand that has counted all the songs I referred to throughout the service. I hope I have stirred up some songs for you too sing throughout the week. Listen to Sound of Life Radio and if you need Blessings Praise God!
By Jim Miedema