INTRO.- Have you lost your song? Have you lost your ability to sing? Or it may be that you never had it in the first place. Have you lost your enthusiasm for living? Have you lost your joy for living?
ILL.- Listen to the story about Chippie the parakeet. A Texas newspaper carried this story one time.
A Galveston housewife had a pet parakeet named Chippie. The woman, however, made some terrible mistakes with Chippie. There are just some things that you don’t do with parakeets!
While vacuuming the carpet one day, she decided to clean out of the bottom of Chippie’s cage with her vacuum. MISTAKE NUMBER ONE.
The phone rang and she turned to answer the phone with turning off her vacuum cleaner. YOU GUESSED IT. Sssssp! Chippie got sucked through the tube and into the canister. MISTAKE NUMBER TWO.
She dropped the phone, shut off the vacuum cleaner, and opened the canister. There was Chippie – feathers ruffled, dirt all over his little body. He was stunned but alive. She rushed into the bathroom, BIRD IN HAND. MISTAKE NUMBER THREE. She held Chippie under the faucet and turned it on full blast.
Then she spotted the hair dryer. MISTAKE NUMBER FOUR. She turned it to “hot” and “high.” The blast of hot air did the trick, but it nearly finished poor Chippie.
The next day a reporter called back to check on the bird. “How’s your poor parakeet?” he asked. She said, “Well, Chippie doesn’t sing any more. HE JUST SORT OF SITS THERE AND STARES.”
Is that you? Can you relate to Chippie? Perhaps you feel as though you’ve had your cage vacuumed. You’ve been sucked the dirt bag of life, stuck under the faucet, and hit with a blast of hot air. And you don’t sing much anymore. You just sort sit there and stare!
As we all know, life doesn’t always deal us a good hand. In fact, there are times when it’s downright horrible. Still, we must learn to sing. We can sing in life.
Acts 16:25 “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.”
Get the picture. Paul and Silas were thrown into jail because of their faith in Christ. THEY WERE IN A DARK, DIRTY, DUNGEON-LIKE JAIL, BUT THEY WERE SINGING! They hadn’t lost their song like so many of us.
God wants us to sing! God wants to experience life to its fullest!
John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Phil. 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: REJOICE!”
ILL.- Hank Williams used to sing the line “I was born to boogie.” I know about this boogie business, but I do know that God wants us to sing!
No doubt about it. God wants us to sing! God wants us to experience greater joy and fullness in life!
PROP.- I would like for us to consider what causes us to lose our song and how we can get it back.
1- Song stealers
2- Song producers
I. SONG STEALERS
- Complaining
Phil. 2:14-15 “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.”
The only way I know how to shine like stars in this crooked world is by not being a chronic complainer! Complaining does not draw people to Christ. It pushes them away. Chronic complainers do little good in this world.
ILL.- Take, for example, Jerry Falwell. I think Jerry does a lot of good in this world by preaching the Gospel of Christ. At the same time, he makes a lot of people mad by always fighting against this and that: the Civil Liberties Union, The Gay movement, etc.
I believe that he is right about these issues. I’m on his side but to the unbelieving world he often presents himself as a chronic complainer. And I’m not convinced this is the best way to win people to Christ. However, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. He may be right and I may be wrong.
I just believe that you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.
God never meant for His people to be a bunch of chronic complainers and gripers. Such people are song stealers. They steal the joy right out of people. Out of themselves and out of others.
ILL.- Preacher Marvin Phillips tells about riding on a plane one time with an elderly couple seated next to him. They were talking louder than they realized and the wife was complaining, “I don’t like riding on these airplanes. Folks get on them with guns and knives and they take you places you don’t want to go.”
The woman’s frail little husband said, “Now, honey, it’s gonna be all right.” Marvin said “I smiled. We taxied to the end of the runway and took off. It was beautiful day for flying. And I didn’t think about the little lady anymore until our wheels hit down on the runway at the next airport. At that precise moment her husband said optimistically, “YOU SEE, HONEY, WE MADE IT ALL RIGHT.”
And she shot back, “WE AIN’T THERE YET!”
Are you like that woman? Can’t see anything but the negative in most situations in life? If so, you’re a thief! You’re stealing the song out of people’s lives!
ILL.- It’s been said that all of God’s creatures lug around some kind of atmosphere wherever they go. And when a little black-and-while bundle of fuzz called a skunk is around, he’s in full charge of the atmosphere – BOTH HIS AND YOURS! Song stealers are skunky critters, smelly critters.
It’s also been said that some people brighten up a room JUST BY LEAVING IT!
ILL.- Someone said that if you want to stay positive in life and on top of things you must stay away from psychotics and neurotics. AND THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO.
The psychotic believes that 2 and 2 equals 5. The neurotic believes that 2 and 2 equals 4, but it worries him a whole lot.
Brothers and sisters, you have to stay away from some people in life, because they will steal your song!
I Cor. 15:33 “Bad company corrupts good character.”
Prov. 13:20 “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.”
Chronic complainers are song stealers.
- Negative attitudes are also song stealers. This person is similar to the complainer. In fact, there’s not much difference in the two.
Remember those who scouted out the promised land? Here’s what most of them said when they returned.
Numbers 13:31 “But the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.’ And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored..."
The majority of those men were negative thinkers. Whether they realized it or not they were stealing the joy out of others.
ILL.- Consider these two neighbors. The first husband wakes up in the morning and takes a good look at his wife. Her hair is in rollers. Her faced is covered with cleansing cream. There’s a rip in her robe and he thinks, “Man, what on earth am I doing hooked up with this?”
The guy next door, however, thinks differently. He wakes up in the morning and takes a good look at his wife also. Her hair is in rollers. Her face is covered with cleansing cream. There’s a rip in her robe and he thinks, “WHAT A DOLL I’M MARRIED TO! She jumps up in the morning, fixes breakfast, gets the kids off to school before she even takes care of herself. WHAT A WONDERFUL WOMAN!”
See the difference in the two guys. What is the difference? Attitude. One sees nothing but bad stuff and the other sees nothing but the good stuff.
Those who always see the bad stuff, the negative and spread a bad report to others are nothing but song stealers.
It’s been said that those darken the world of others, darken their own world.
Prov. 11:17 “A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.”
If you go around spreading bad reports about everything and everyone you’ll do no good for Christ. You will steal the joy right out of people’s lives and your own.
There are many things that steal our song in life, but we need to zero in on how to get our song back.
II. SONG PRODUCERS
- The mind, the thinking.
Prov. 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…”
We are what we think. If we think positive thoughts, we will be positive living people. If we think negatively, we will live that kind of life.
If we make up our minds to sing, we will sing.
ILL.- Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most people are about as happy as they choose to be.”
ILL.- A lady named Cindy Cochran has her own TV show in Houston, TX. Whenever someone says to her, “Well, this just isn’t my day,” she comes back with these words: “WELL, WHOSE DAY IS IT, THEN?”
Essentially, we all choose what kind of day we’re going to have. And the same goes for our lives.
ILL.- Take, for example, Governor-Elect Arnold Schwarzenegger. He came to America at the age of 21 with $20 in his pocket. His determination allowed him to reach one goal after another: reigning over the world of bodybuilding, being a successful businessman, rocketing to the top of the movie charts as an action-hero, and, perhaps most importantly to Arnold, helping children through the Special Olympics. And no telling how much money Arnold is worth, but one thing is for sure, HE’S NOT A POOR BOY FROM AUSTRIA ANY MORE!
Whether you like Arnold or not, you have to admire him somewhat when you consider where he came from and where he is now.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? He had a mind for it. He set his mind on his accomplishments, one right after another. As a man thinks, so is he.
And the same principle applies to singing. If you want to sing bad enough, you will. If you want to find joy in life, you will!
- The ear, the listening.
Another way to produce a song in our hearts and in our lives is by listening. We need to take singing lessons if we are going to learn to sing.
ILL.- I love to listen to Celine Dion. I think she’s one of the best female singers there is today. At least, in her line of music. I love listening to her music. And after listening to her sing for a while, you should hear me sing! Well, at least, she inspires me to sing.
But I’ll tell you one better and that’s Sandi Patti, gospel singer. I have always loved her singing and music. She in inspirational. She makes you want to sing praise to the Lord!
Brothers and sisters, if we are going to sing or get our song back we must look to people who sing, who live the abundant life and learn from them! We have to listen to what they are saying and to what they are singing! We must pay attention to their every move. You can’t hang around with croakers if you want to get your song back!
Prov. 13:20 “He who walks with the wise grows wise.” And he who runs with singers will learn to sing.
ILL.- Some of you know Wayne Smith who preached at the Southland Christian Church, Lexington, KY, for 40 years. The people loved Wayne and he loved them. Wayne has a heart for people. He loves people and it shows.
Two stories about Wayne. Wayne tells one on himself and I know of another.
Wayne was in a restaurant one time with some people. He was laughing, having a good time at lunch. He invited the waitress to church and she took him up on his invitation. The next Sunday she came to church. After the service was over she met Wayne at the door and he recognized her. He asked her if she liked the sermon and she said, “I’d rather hear you laugh.”
The point is: There was a joy in Wayne’s spirit that moved that woman even though his preaching did not.
Wayne’s laughter and joy is contagious. Here’s another example.
ILL.- When my kids were small we were on vacation one time and I asked them if they wanted to hear Sandi Patti and hear a Wayne Smith sermon tape. They said, “We want to hear Wayne Smith preach.” Why? BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT HE WAS FUNNY, APPEALING, AND JOYOUS.
After the North American we heard Wayne preach, however, not in his own church. After the service was over I introduced my children to Wayne and told him how they preferred to hear him preach over Sandi Patti’s singing. He said, “Your kids are not normal.” About a week or so later, my kids received a box of Kentucky candy in the mail from Wayne.
I have learned from that man of God. His joyous spirit is uplifting, contagious, encouraging, helpful, loving.
We have to run with singers or look to singers in order to sing or get our song back.
CONCLUSION-----------------------------------
ILL.- Suppose you walked into Baskin Robbins ice cream place and began reading all those delicious flavors, all 31 of them: Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter and chocolate, Rocky Road, Chocolate fudge, Cookies ‘n cream, Chocolate chip, Chocolate almond, (did I mention chocolate?), etc.
Considering all those delicious flavors of ice cream can you imagine anyone ordering just plain vanilla? Why get plain vanilla when you could get one of those exciting flavors?
And so it is with life. Life is full of fascination and excitement, but most of us settle for the plain old vanilla kind of life!
Give me a dip of bland. Or a dip of mediocre! Or a boring scoop of blah!
John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”
Jesus wants us to sing in life. He wants us to experience an exciting, rich, full life, but it’s only possible through Him. Have you lost your song? He’s the person who can get it back for you.
