Pastor Nigel

FIRST CHILDREN AT GATEWAY SCHOOL ON THE COME TOGETHER COMPOUND.

Last week saw the first official school day at the Gateway School in India. The Come Together compound was full of excited pupils from local villages, and by the end of this week the school will be operating at full capacity of approx. 350 children.

To see pictures of the first school day visit the gallery on my personal blog.

MUSIC MINISTRY 2.

Our Europe/UK devotions on the power of music also looked at the following passages:

1. AMOS 5.21-24

-where the prophet speaks God's warning about 'show' and 'pretense' and the dangers of singing religious songs when doing so hypocritically-especially when ignoring justice and social concern.

It has been interesting over the last few years to see Third Day's increased passion not just for worship through music but also service through social action and justice projects around the world.

2. EPHESIANS 5.15-20

-where Paul challenges the Ephesian church to be filled with the Spirit and says that a consequence of that will be the singing of spiritual songs and an attitude of thanksgiving. If you want a question to ponder then ask yourself what Paul means by 'making music to the Lord in your hearts' (New Living Translation).

MUSIC MINISTRY.

On our European and UK tour opportunities to get together for devotions have been a little sporadic, with much hectic traveling early on going into Slovakia and Denmark on successive days, and then time off in London with some of the wives accompanying the guys.

However, when we have been able to read the Bible and pray together I've been looking at what Scripture has to reveal to us about music-not just songs with lyrics but music itself.

If you want to discover what we've been learning then read the following:

GENESIS 4.19-22 and 26

Here we see musicians sandwiched in between two very important skills- farmers/herdsmen and metalworkers/tool manufacturers. In other words, God ordained musicians from the earliest of times to have a significant role in society. It's no coincidence that at the end of this chapter people first begin to worship the Lord.

EXODUS 32.17-24

A natural part of the Israelites worship was music and dancing, albeit in this story their worship was misdirected.

2 CHRONICLES 20.20-30

Here it can be seen that praise is a passport to a better place. Jehoshaphat puts out a worship band at the front of the army before a crucial battle. He made a habit of praising God before and after a critical situation. Many of us might cry out to God whilst we are in a desperate place OR some of us might thank Him after passing through a crisis, but here we see praise at all times being modeled.