Staying Alive, Staying Alive

[Neighbor]

Staying Alive

Yep The Bee Gees fun little Disco era tune likely still alive at Johnny Rockets (Restaurants). 

But one with absolutely no expression of hope! Such a paradox, the lyrics versus the melody being an oxymoron.

Just staying alive ha ha ha ha ha  staying alive.

Funny how much fun can be made out of celebrating  mediocrity, and yet so much of real joy beyond all understanding, that of celebrating  Yeshua in worship by way of praise songs, can be deliberately avoided, even by those that  do cherish hearing his word from a pulpit with much exposition of it.

I know I used to be very much that way, what a sad waste that was. It is so much more joy to let loose and sing praise, joining with a local body of Christ as the Holy Spirit envelops the gathering saints singing praise of Jesus. 

Just can't experience that  depth of worship online. It does seem to take being  with the body physically, the body of Christ gathered in corporate worship. I am sorely missing that right now! ( Been sickly almost three months). Got to force myself up and at 'em!

[AdHoc]

58 minutes ago, Neighbor said:

Staying Alive

Yep The Bee Gees fun little Disco era tune likely still alive at Johnny Rockets (Restaurants). 

But one with absolutely no expression of hope! Such a paradox, the lyrics versus the melody being an oxymoron.

Just staying alive ha ha ha ha ha  staying alive.

Funny how much fun can be made out of celebrating  mediocrity, and yet so much of real joy beyond all understanding, that of celebrating  Yeshua in worship by way of praise songs, can be deliberately avoided, even by those that  do cherish hearing his word from a pulpit with much exposition of it.

I know I used to be very much that way, what a sad waste that was. It is so much more joy to let loose and sing praise, joining with a local body of Christ as the Holy Spirit envelops the gathering saints singing praise of Jesus. 

Just can't experience that  depth of worship online. It does seem to take being  with the body physically, the body of Christ gathered in corporate worship. I am sorely missing that right now! ( Been sickly almost three months). Got to force myself up and at 'em!

You are designed so - to get your spiritual nourishment by physical assembly. The word is "Ekklesia" - "The GATHERING of the select ones". Ephesians 4 requires fellowship in UNITY for growth. You can never replace the physical meeting.

I have had a blessed life past my three score and ten. Old age blues are normal. No more doing the 100 yards in 11 seconds, and wheezing while tying my shoe laces. What I do in the cool of the morning on waking is greet the Lord and thank Him for another day - even if there's going to be some pain. Then, I start to list my past blessings. Of course I have to start again and again, but it is a practical anti-old-age-blues formula. But I have to say that pensioning is a mixed blessing. Man's got time to watch his body failing. But then i have to be grateful that the way things look right now, I'm not going to end like Paul. Adam's inherited nature is going to catch up (Rom.5:12-17). But Paul, who did some travels that we have not (2nd Cor.12), said it is FAR better with the Lord (Phil.1.23).

It's a race for Paradise. Ever considered that once Adam was kicked out of Eden, there has never been a Paradise on earth. There's one for the souls of dead men and God has one - but on earth...

Blessings bro

[Neighbor]

2 hours ago, AdHoc said:

But I have to say that pensioning is a mixed blessing.

Yep. I had a terrible sequence of dreams this afternoon,  seems I kept ending up unemployed without a solid future endeavor, or job, no matter what I did. By the time I awoke from my  "napping" I was really mentally exhausted.

Then I realized, hey I am retired! Cool! Thank you Lord. What's in the fridge? Boy this napping wears me out!

[Neighbor]

2 hours ago, AdHoc said:

Ephesians 4 requires fellowship in UNITY for growth. You can never replace the physical meeting

Might you please expand upon that? Thanks! 

[AdHoc]

21 hours ago, Neighbor said:

Might you please expand upon that? Thanks! 

Here's the text (Eph 4:1–16);

1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ... 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

There are TWO UNITIES - (i) that of the Spirit which is already established, and (ii) that of THE FAITH which will take a while to achieve. The gifts given are given from heaven (from the ascended Lord). The gifts are all speaking gifts. The Apostle gives the Word of God. the teacher teaches it inside the Assembly, the evangelist teaches it outside the Assmbly, and the Pastor maintains the order.

The supply is at first VERTICAL It is the supply of the ascended Lord DOWN to the servant. But this supply is like the tithe of Israel. It is to be brought to the GATHERING. The HORIZONTAL supply is by "speaking". The saints are to be "fitted together", "com-pacted" and "EVERY PART must supply". Israel where to go down "to that place where God chose to put His name" (The Temple - His House) and share the tithe - some for themselves and some for others. Notice the following in Deuteronomy 12:1-14.
1. You had to bring your supply to God's House
2. All the males HAD to go thrice a year
3. You had to rejoice
4. You may not appear EMPTY-HANDED (Deut.16:16)
5. If you did not come up to God's House, God would not protect you from your enemies

This is the grand Type for Ephesians 4 The Israelite had to work the Land and bring his first and best tenth. The Christian must deal with the Lord and His Word during the week and then bring the first and best experience to feed the others and himself.

The great enemy of this system - the NICOLAITANS. They stopped "EVERY JOINT" from functioning and caused the majority to come empty-handed. If an Assembly is 50 saints and only 3 function, the Church loses 94% of its supply.

[Sower]

On 2/5/2024 at 2:50 PM, Neighbor said:

But one with absolutely no expression of hope!

 

            "the lyrics versus the melody being an oxymoron"...

Popular tune at the time with a cry for help embedded within the all the melody...
 

I only Deleted some words, to reveal what's left, and nothing added.

 

"Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk
I've been kicked around
Since I was born
And now it's alright, it's okay
And you may look the other way
We can try to understand
The New York Times' effect on man

Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother
You're stayin' alive
Feel the city breakin'

 

Well now, I get low
 I really try

I'll live to see another day
We can try to understand
The New York Times' effect on man

 

Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me
Somebody help me, yeah
Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me, yeah
I'm stayin' alive

 

I've been kicked around since I was born
it's okay
And   you   may look the other way
 

Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me
Somebody help me, yeah
Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me, yeah
 

Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me
Somebody help me,
Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me
I'm stayin' alive

Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me
Somebody help me,
Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me, yeah
 

Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me
Somebody help me, yeah (oh)
Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me, yeah

             I'm stayin' alive..........

 

Robin Gibb (now dead from cancer) recalls, "The subject matter of 'Stayin' Alive' is actually quite a serious one; It's about survival in the streets of New York, and the lyrics actually say that"

 

 

BARRY Gibb (eldest and only living brother) :"Ricky Skaggs was helping me through that darkest period. He is by nature a devout Christian and he took me there and made me understand"  (He lost his two twin brothers from health issues, and youngest brother later)

I was never a Bee Gees fan.  Couldn't stomach disco...            But they could really sing, harmonize.

 

 

[Ray12614]

On 2/5/2024 at 3:50 PM, Neighbor said:

Staying Alive

Yep The Bee Gees fun little Disco era tune likely still alive at Johnny Rockets (Restaurants). 

But one with absolutely no expression of hope! Such a paradox, the lyrics versus the melody being an oxymoron.

Just staying alive ha ha ha ha ha  staying alive.

Funny how much fun can be made out of celebrating  mediocrity, and yet so much of real joy beyond all understanding, that of celebrating  Yeshua in worship by way of praise songs, can be deliberately avoided, even by those that  do cherish hearing his word from a pulpit with much exposition of it.

I know I used to be very much that way, what a sad waste that was. It is so much more joy to let loose and sing praise, joining with a local body of Christ as the Holy Spirit envelops the gathering saints singing praise of Jesus. 

Just can't experience that  depth of worship online. It does seem to take being  with the body physically, the body of Christ gathered in corporate worship. I am sorely missing that right now! ( Been sickly almost three months). Got to force myself up and at 'em!

You are absolutely right!  The assembly is sooooo worth the effort to get to.

I pray that the healing that Jesus gave us 'by His stripes' will manifest and flow into your physical body in Jesus' Name !

Praying for your complete recovery so you can re-join your local church assembly . . . 

Grace and Peace . . . 

Ray . . . 

 

[Still Alive]

Well, I can say with confidence that I'm still alive.😁

[Starise]

On 2/5/2024 at 3:50 PM, Neighbor said:

Staying Alive

Yep The Bee Gees fun little Disco era tune likely still alive at Johnny Rockets (Restaurants). 

But one with absolutely no expression of hope! Such a paradox, the lyrics versus the melody being an oxymoron.

Just staying alive ha ha ha ha ha  staying alive.

Funny how much fun can be made out of celebrating  mediocrity, and yet so much of real joy beyond all understanding, that of celebrating  Yeshua in worship by way of praise songs, can be deliberately avoided, even by those that  do cherish hearing his word from a pulpit with much exposition of it.

I know I used to be very much that way, what a sad waste that was. It is so much more joy to let loose and sing praise, joining with a local body of Christ as the Holy Spirit envelops the gathering saints singing praise of Jesus. 

Just can't experience that  depth of worship online. It does seem to take being  with the body physically, the body of Christ gathered in corporate worship. I am sorely missing that right now! ( Been sickly almost three months). Got to force myself up and at 'em!

Lots of angles to explore here and many have been thus far. 

I was in a home group meeting the other day and a woman there commented that she was in her truck trying to find a Christian song and could not find anything she liked, so she ended up on a secular station.

There is a metamorphasis happening in mainstream Christian music that has been affected by both compromise and by secular record companies. We now have gay Christian musicians which I think is an oxymoron. Lyrics have been made to be distant and lacking in meaning or having multiple meanings. I guess that could be said about much music nowadays. The world Christian music scene is becoming or in some cases has already become much like the world. Same as people will argue over which bible version to use, we have Christians in disagreement over what Christian music should look like.

We are often left with the old stuff which younger generations don't grok for the most part,or the new stuff that needs to be navigated like a mine field. I am by no means an expert on everything that is called Christian music, but I have been into a lot of it maybe more than some. In the end people know what they like, and they sometimes assume everyone else likes it too. There's some favorite widely adopted songs like 'Amazing' Grace and others that seem to have stood the test of time very well because there is deep meaning behind them. One church close to where I live is like many churches in that they have only a handful of songs that are 'approved' by the church and they mostly stick to them which can get very old very fast. I see music like the different kinds of food. Not everyone likes the same things, and not everyone needs to. Different strokes for different folks :)

'Christian ' music  can be music about God, music to God, or music about God to others, or as a musical memiour of sorts. 

WORSHIP music is the kind of music most Christians think Christian musicians should make, and I agree with that, but I also think we are all called to different things at different times. Some of that might not line up with someone else's template. I am a small fish in a big pond with no aspirations other than that I make music however odd or however unliked it may or may not be. It looks as if the Lord is going to use me in worship again and that energizes me as I guess it would energize anyone who gets to use what they feel like God gave them. I like free un templated worship where the Lord leads in how it all goes. Don't give me a color book, just let me play, so in that respect I'm probably 'out there'. 

Real corporate worship can be copied but it can't be manufactured or sold. Genuine corporate worship has nothing to do with anything but unobstructed worship. Too many churches are 'doing worhip' and not engaging in it.

[Neighbor]

 John MacArthur who is even older than  am  states any music after 1950 is of the apostate church. I found most all worship at church services  to consist of  four dirges and a prayer,  a lengthy prayer.

Then one day I visited a strip center store front church with almost three hundred people jammed into it.  Worship opened with  "Not I, But Christ In Me" and the Holy Spirit moved amongst us and all sang and worshipped our Lord.

Since then I have been changed regarding  corporate worship services and the very real worship of our Lord being more than a classroom with an expositor, or a group of men in a circle in free exchanging of ideas with each other, or at an ask an elder meet.

A meet is not a worship anymore, least not to me. Not once the Holy Spirit has descended upon a group in worship in song does one really know the difference, is my present thought.

And Johnny Mac, well he is not infallible, good but not infallible. The day I sat at His church service they had the full orchestra and by the time his lesson was to begin I had need of some fresh air to keep me awake. It was just dead in there, maybe 1500 or more people, but dead of any Spirit presence.

I can take my Johnny MacArthur straight up, but not with orchestra. Even then I need a back  of Phil  Johnson wit.