Stethoscope

Stethoscope

Luke 17:20-21

What do you sound like on the inside?

The sounds of the heart tell the story of the life.

The following are Real Songs:

• “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost Overnight?”

• “Drop Kick Me, Jesus, Through The Goalposts Of Life”

• “Her Teeth Were Stained, But Her Heart Was Pure”

• “Here’s A Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares”

• “How Can I Miss You If You Won’t Go Away?”

• “Thank God and Greyhound You’re Gone”

Ah, the sound of the music of heart.

Singer John Denver recalled how after high school he went to Texas Tech with the intention of becoming an architect. "But I quit to become a singer. Not one person said I was doing the right thing. Everyone said I was making a big mistake. They even turned me down for the shows at Six Flags, and I wound up handling the little cars the kids drive. But I knew deep down inside I was born to sing for people. And singing is the most joyful thing in the world for me. It’s what’s inside you that counts."

A stethoscope is a device for listening to the internal sounds. The stethoscope was invented in France in 1816, and is a basic instrument for discovering how healthy we are.

Jesus talked about the inside job.

Mark 7:18-23

18 "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ’unclean’?

19 For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")

20 He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him ’unclean.’

21 For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,

22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.

23 All these evils come from inside and make a man ’unclean.’"

(NIV)

You don’t have to wait very long before what is on the inside comes out.

Whatever is within the heart comes out through the words we say and the music we play.

Singer Sheryl Crow said recently, in a New York Post interview: “I believe in God. I believe in Jesus and Buddha and Mohammed and all those that were enlightened. I wouldn’t say necessarily that I’m a strict Christian. I’m not sure I believe in heaven.”

What music do you hear when you listen to your heart?

Remember, whatever is inside will determine what comes out.

Some people think they can role play their way through life. They wear various masks to cover up the fact that they are not ready who we think they are. Some even get to the place where they think if they can act a certain way long enough, they will become what they portray.

Let me tell you the story of a young man who tried to live that way. Selected by his music teacher to perform a solo while in the third grade in the place of the fifth grade class, this young man took center stage and sang his heart out. The next year he was the lone fourth grader in the fifth grade musical and sang the lead role. Entering the seventh grade, this young singer was selected for a small part in the eighth grade musical. He even learned all the male parts and acted as an understudy for any boy who missed practice. Singing was his life and he was proud of his abilities.

While his voice may have been in tune, his heart was desperately out of tune. Between the seventh and eighth grades, he heard music like he had never heard before. He attended a Vacation Bible School with some relatives. The students there were singing a new song to this young singer, quite unlike anything he had heard before. This was a song of freedom, of commitment to Someone bigger than the song. The young singer tried to mimic the tune. While it was easily received by those around, the tune rang discordant in the heart of the singer. Something was still missing although the song sounded alright to the listeners.

Soon the song was left behind in favor of other songs, more comfortable songs that matched the young singer’s heart. The young singer was far more comfortable with songs of despair rather that the joyful songs from hopeful hearts. One December 11, 1970, the young singer heard the Song again sang from hearts who had been redeemed. This time he asked for his heart to be retuned to the perfect pitch of the Master Singer so that the young singer could sing a new song.

I can speak with authority about the young singer, for, you see, that young singer was me. And since that day, my heart has sung a new song. It is a song for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When one gets in tune with the King, Kingdom songs come naturally.