21st May 2023 Infill Service - Dave Food - Powered by a song

So we've been doing a theme for the last couple of weeks now powered by

and I really want to talk about being powered by a song. I'd just

like you to pause for a moment and think about and think about a song

that you love. It doesn't have to be a Christian song, but a

song that you love. Firstly, I want to say, for some of

us, we immediately go yeah, but I can't. I can't write songs.

I'm not a musician. Well, the first thing I want to say

to you, you can write. We can all write words. You know,

a musician who writes a tune, So who writes a melody is just

writing a tune. Somebody who just writes words is writing poetry or prose.

It's only when those two things come together that we get a song. In

One Samuel, chapter sixteen, it says this, and so it was whenever

the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take up a harp

and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well,

and the distressing spirit would depart from him. There ain't ever times when you

feel low. Are there ever times when you think, oh, I can't

get out my bed? This morning, I just don't feel that well.

I want to encourage you to sing a song. You know the world knows

this is true. Why are choirs becoming? Why were choirs in schools?

Because corporate singing is a powerful thing. Singing together with other people. We

join with the team, we do it together, and if we're down,

the song can lift us. And this is a truth. It's in God's

word. But the schools learned it, and then we stop having corporate worship,

and now we start finding community choirs right around the world who are gathering

and seeinging together because they find it's good. It's good to sing together.

You ever walked down the street and found somebody humming a song. Maybe you

found yourself sometimes walking down the street, maybe then taking a little skip and

humming along something. You know you're singing a song. You may not be

singing the words, but you've got a song going in your head. You

know, how great he's our God. The song is still there, The

song is diod in my head even if I'm not singing the words. How

great is our God? And so firstly I want to say to you,

sing a new song, Sing a new song, sing something when you feel

low. Sing something when you need a breakthrough, Sing something when you need

revelations. Sing something. Sometimes we won't even know the words. We'll just

have a tune and we'll start singing, and then God will give us the

words. Supernaturally, God will speak to us. He'll speak to us.

We'll declare, we'll proclaim, we'll share something. Psalms is a great place

to turn. David wrote the Book of Well, it wasn't a book of

Psalms at the time. It was songs. He wrote one hundred and fifty

songs, but at least one hundred and fifty. Actually, we think there's

probably some that didn't end up in Is it rebooted? Yes, Okay,

you'll have to restop. Okay, David zeph And wrote this, which I

think is important and encouraging. Let's just turn that, Jonathan, if you've

got it. Seph and I three, verse seventeen. Not a part of

the Bible you turned to regularly. When was the last time you turned to

anybody? Even remember exactly where it is in the Bible. I'm just challenging

you. Avent there you did on Friday? Okay, great, we're in

line. Then, the Lord your guard in your midst the Mighty One will

will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you

with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing. Yeah, yeah,

God rejoices over us with singing. If you've ever had a little child,

or you've ever been a little child, which includes everybody in the room,

probably your mum or dad has sung over you at some point or other.

You know you're struggling, You know, when children is trying to get

them to sleep. You'll find yourself starting to sing. Even if you don't

know a song, you'll just start humming something. And there's something about the

ver virations. There's something about the vibrations that goes on that helps. Julia

will tell you when we first met, we lived in a block of flats

of students, and I was her neighbor. And I got a bit of

a reputation because I sang in the shower and I managed to find this particular

note that would make the pipes in the building vobrate. So I could sing

a note in the shower and the pipes would vibrate around the building. But

I sense that vibration is true. We can find something. How is it

that certain opera singers can make a glass crack or burst because they create the

right vibration. That just means the glass gets so agitated that it goes bang.

But I think there are vibrations that we synchronize with. There are things

that we feel comfortable with. There are certain songs that have certain rhythms that

actually sit with our heartbeat. And if you don't believe this, let me

find out whether you've got caught out by this. As you walk around supermarkets,

if you ever listen to that muzak which I can't stand, but you

might notice, and you might know this that actually, when you walk around

the supermarket and it's busy, they'll play faster music, and they'll play faster

music because you will walk faster because if the beat slightly faster, you'll walk

slightly quicker. That means you get through the store quicker, which means they

get the crowd through the store. Week. If you don't believe me,

next time you walk into a store, just have or listen to the music

and try walking around to a different beat. Just try doing it. Just

a thought, because the world is getting hold of some of the things that

God says, I want you to walk maybe God has God has a beat

in the cadence, and you'll find sometimes will sing a song on a Sunday,

and it'll be different to the one that we've been used to. We'll

be singing it. Maybe it's a fast song that we sing slowly, or

it's a slow song that we'll sing quickly. But something about the cadence for

that moment means that the beat drives us on towards coming together and worshiping.

David wrote some great songs in sum one hundred and thirty seven, and you

might recognize this song. You might even have a tune ring in your head

as I bring you read you these scriptures by the rivers of Babylon. There

we sat down, yay, we wet when we remembered Zion. We hung

up our hearts on the willows in the midst of it. Can you imagine

hanging up your hearts? Well? There were those who carried us away captive,

asking us, asking of us a song, and those who plundered us

requested mirth, saying, sing to us one of those songs of Zion.

What's being asked here? The people of God are being asked to sing in

difficult times. I mean it's being done sarcastically here, But they say,

go on sing one of your songs. Do you know what. I am

sure there are people in the room. There are probably people listening who somebody's

turned to you and say, go on, sing one of your songs.

Then when are your happy, clappy songs. I'll tell you what. You

sing it, You sing it, and just see what happens. You sing

it, and see what happens. The enemy loves to come and say,

go on, sing one of your songs. Sing one of those songs that

makes you happy, and see what happens. I encourage you sing a song,

stare him in the face, stare it down, and say, I'm

gonna sing a song. I'm going to sing a song in by the rivers

of Babylon. We're gonna sing a song in a place where we shouldn't be.

I'm gonna sing a song in a place where I feel low. I'm

going to sing a song in a place when I don't feel like it.

I'm gonna sing a song in a place when people say be quiet. I'm

going to sing a song. Now. I wouldn't encourage you to be rude.

If you're in a library and you feel like you should be singing a

song, and it says silence. Sing a song in your heart. I

do just't necessarily have to come out. I've seen people walking down the road.

I've seen people on the train. I've seen people in Waterloo Station who

are skipping along. Why because they've got their earphones in and they're singing a

song in their head. You don't hear it because they've got their earphones in,

but they're singing. And sometimes I've actually heard people singing along. You're

on the train, their earphones are in, and because they've got their earphones

in, they can't tell that we can hear them singing because they're singing along

to their music. Sing a new song, sing a new song? How

shall we sing? And God's people said this, how shall we sing a

new song? How shall we sing a song in the land? Why?

Because God will enable us. God will give us the tune. God will

give us the words. When you run out of words, speak God's language.

When you run out of words, speak God's language. In Isaiah fifty

four, verse one, this is quite a challenging scripture. Sing o baron,

for you have not born, break forth into singing cry aloud. You

have not labored with child. For more are the children of the desolate than

the children of the married women, says the Lord. When there has been

no fruit, sing when there is not fruitfulness, sing, declare. This

isn't just about women, This is about fruitfulness. This is about saying when

you have seen no fruits, sing, sing a new song, declare it,

proclaim it. I was going to play a video today and can't play

the video because I think the wire this is overloaded. I think that's what's

going on today. But you might remember, or you will remember this story.

A gentleman called Paul Harper through COVID, a gentleman in his eighties who

had Alzheimer's, was videoed on YouTube with his son. Gave him four notes,

he said, play these four notes that and he gave him the four

notes, and his dad sat down at the piano, and he played a

completely contemporaneous piece, just off the top of his head, just like that.

Now he has Alzheimer's, he can't sometimes he can't even remember what he

had for dinner ten minutes ago. But his son sat him down at the

piano. He was a pianist, He said, Dad, his four notes

now make up a tune. And he made up that tune and he videoed

it, and video was played on national TV, and the Royal Philharmonic created

a song out of it, and a gentleman called Tom Farmer, who's a

millionaire, heard that music and gave a million pounds to Alzheimer's. Powered by

a song, Powered by a song. And the reason I mentioned that is

not just because of that story of that song making a breakthrough. And there's

a video online again which I would have played this morning, but I'll put

it up later of the gentleman who created the song then sitting down with the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and playing the piano with a room full of musicians. What

a powerful moment. It wasn't just his song. It became somebody else's song.

And it didn't just become somebody else's song. It moved people, and

it moved people to give. I mean that's millions and millions of pounds was

begiven because of four notes. All he started with was four notes. Some

of us will say, Dave, I can't write a song. I've only

got one word. Well one word will do. One word is enough.

Start A sentence starts with one word. A story starts with one word,

A song can start with one word. Let me encourage you. Write your

song, sing your song. It may just be for you, and that's

fine. Go back to me singing in the shower. There were some songs

that I sang in the shower that I wouldn't sing anywhere else. But also,

enjoy your song. Don't just sing it because you're kind of like a

choir boy. Okay, I've got to sing this song now and do it

like a robot. Sing it from your heart, sing it from your head,

sing it as God gives it to you, repeat it where you need

to repeat it. I'm so grateful that the worship team took us through a

song and took us back and we sang it again. Sometimes people carry a

song for life. You'll be carrying, you'll be singing. You'll find yourself

saying the same way as you'll say. I don't know why I'm saying this,

but it's your song. It's your song, and I want to encourage

you to speak it out, to proclaim it, to declare it, and

do it with faith. There's a famous story about some marines who were stuck

in a in a They were they were. They were trying to get across

the enemy. They were crawling through the river and they got stuck in them

d They got stuck in this mud. And as they got stuck in this

mud, and they had to stay there overnight because the daylight was coming,

so they had to stay in the water, in the mud. And to

encourage them, they started. One of them said I'm going to start singing

a song, and he started singing a song, and they start. They

didn't want it to be too loud because they didn't want them but they started

singing a song. And as they started to song, their spirits lifted.

As their spirits lived in, fresh energy came. As fresh energy came,

they were able to get themselves out of the mud. Or you might have

heard the story about how on Christmas Day in the First World War, people

started singing Germans and British people in the trenches and others in the trenches started

singing Christmas carols and one voice started, and then another voice joined, then

another voice joined, then another voice joined, and then you know the story

that actually they ended up playing football together on Christmas Day, and then they

went back into the trenches to to get I just want to say, sing

a song, and a song will make a difference, make a difference,

and something will be changed, Something will be changed. God talks about bringing

peace, not as the world will know. I think because some gentlemen,

and I think there were mostly men, started to sing some Christmas carols.

Peace came for a few moments, for a few hours, and then we

turned back to our crazy world. But when you see nothing sing, I

mean that's the story of the barren woman. Is no fruitfulness but sing,

sing, sing, sing, And I think the world is crying out for

singers. We need to hear some new songs. We need to hear some

new music, We need to hear some new words. I'd love my life

to be powered by a So in Acts, chapter sixteen, verse twenty five.

And you might find this story crazy, story of there's it coming.

Yeah, yeah, But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns

to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Now they're in prison,

they're shackle to the wall, they've already had a tough time. I

don't know, is singing something you'd expect to find in prison. Maybe in

the choir in the chapel, but not when you're shackled to the wall.

At midnight, singing went on, singing, of him singing to God,

bringing glory to God. And who was listening the other prisoners. I had

the privilege of going around Bronzefield a number of times with Simeon and we got

to talk to a number of ladies in Bronsfield, which I believe is the

largest ladies prison now here in the UK. And I was chatting to some

of these ladies and said, okay, what's the most difficult thing about being

in prison? And you might think it was the lack of freedom? Do

you know what the answer they gave me, They said, David's the rattling

of the keys. Every door you go through, somebody who has permission to

take you through that door takes a set of keys from their pocket and it's

always a big set of keys and they unlock that door and you go through

that door. So every door you go through there is a rattling of the

keys, and the rattling of that keys is a reminder that say, hey,

you can't go where you want to. And two Nigerian ladies who I

went to meet and I went into their cell with Simeon and myself and someone

else. They said, you know, when we hear the rattling of the

keys, we sing a song. We sing a song to God because it

drowns out, it drowns out that that confinement, that sense of being in

prisoned. So let me encourage you, wherever you find yourself, not just

on the train, not just walking down the street, not just in your

shower or your bathroom, or where you think no one else can hear you,

sing a new song. Sing the words that God's given you, and

God will help us. Isiah sixty one says this, and you will remember

this. You'll know this scripture if you'll draw this scripture. Isaiah sixty one

says this, as we read to console those who mourn in Zion, to

give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment

of praise, for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees

of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified,

the garment of praise, the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness.

I believe a song can lift a spirit of heaviness. There are times

and seasons when we find ourselves low in the sense the Father says a bit

like in some one hundred and twenty one, lift your eyes, lift your

voice. I don't know whether you notice this morning, but as we were

singing a song, the band were continuing, how great is our God?

And Cherryan was encouraging us over the top. He was he was taking us

to another level. We were taking a step up in praise. We were

putting on the garment of praise. But you know, one of the important

things about putting on the garment of praise is we've got to take off the

garment of heaviness. Here's the thing. You know, we're way down.

You see people walking around the street. You see people with their heads down,

Say how are you, and they're looking down at your feet, and

hey, lift your head up, let's talk. Look at me. They're

under a spirit of heaviness. And the first thing we've got to do is

throw off the spirit of heaviness so that we can put on the garment of

praise. Otherwise, as soon as we stop praising, we just still sense

the garment the spirit of heaviness. Put on the garment of price, declare

proclaimed and shout aloud. David said this in Psalm ninety six, verses one

and two. Oh, sing to the Lord, a new song, Sing

to the Lord. Some of the earth, Thank you, Jill, thank

you. Someone's paying attention to this one. All the earth. Yeah,

I was misquoting scripture. They're not some of the earth or the earth.

Scripture somewhere else says even the stones will cry out, even the stones will

cry out. Somebody I used to work with many years ago, who lived

in Saudi Arabia, had not known any Christians, was so desperate he fell

into a desperate place. He ended up walking along the beach very late at

night and sat down on the beach and said, God, if you're there,

make yourself, make yourself. I just need to hear from you.

God, if you're real, let me know, show me that I'm part

of something bigger. And he lay down in the sand on this beach,

and he looked up at the stars, and stars started to blink, and

then he saw a shooting star flying across the sky. And then he saw

another shooting star. He'd not seen any shooting stars before. And suddenly,

as he was lying there on the beach. Now it may have been that

he just never looked before. But in those moments, he said, God,

thank you. I feel precious, I feel special. And then he

felt Jesus speak to him. He came a Christian. He'd never been to

church. He said, who are you talking to me? And he felt

this voice say, I am Jesus your Savior. Became a Christian there on

a beach in the middle of now eight. I can't explain it apart from

its God sing to the Lord. He started singing a song. He said,

I didn't know what I was singing, but they're lying on the beach.

He started to sing, and I guess it was a new song to

him, and his spirit lifted. He put on the garment of praise,

sing to the Lord, bless his name, proclaim the good news of his

salvation from day to day by the rivers of Babylon. We sat down and

wept. How can we sing a new song in this land? I want

to encourage you. Church. People need you. People need you to be

the song. You need you to sing a song. God needs you to

sing a song. And some of you might say, but Dave, I

can't put two notes together. Well yeah, but you can write the words

and you can hum. To be honest, some of the songs that are

new songs will not be number one hits, but they will make a difference.

They will make a difference. They might it might just be for you.

Your new song might just be for you today. You know, a

new song today might be something that you just need to sing into a situation.

It's only when the enemy knows that we're serious, and when we can

look him in the face and sing a song and laugh and smile, he

thinks, ah, okay, Dave, he's serious today. He's not just

saying the words. He's got a hold of the words. He's singing the

words from his heart. He's declaring the words. He's proclaiming the words.

And so church, those listening online, those listening later, I want to

say, sing your song. Sing your song today. Sing your song as

best you can, sing your song despite circumstances. Sing your song before you

even start singing, you know, before you get up in the morning,

start singing the song in your head. Because you need to hear the song

that God is singing through you. You need to declare it, you need

to proclaim it. I need to too, powered by a song. Now

you've probably heard Boney m this morning because I said, by the rivers of

Babylon, and immediately in your head You've heard by the rivers are Babylon.

We sat down, You've done it. And now I've got that earworm in

your head and that will be springing up throughout the day, a bit like

a kipper. If you eat a kipper for breakfast, you still taste it

later. If you sing a song, it will come back again and again

and again. But you know what, you do have to sing it.

It's got to get from the head and the heart, and he's got to

get out there. Now. You may not want to sing it on the

Eggham train station or Waterloo or on the TV, but I'd encourage you find

a place to actually sing it. Don't worry about whether it's perfect. God

will help you shape it. God will help you with the words. He'll

connect the words with the tune. He'll make things resonate. You'll find things

will stick and flow together. But I want to speak to some circumstances.

I bring things to a close. I want to speak to some circumstances because

I believe this will truly change some people's days today. I believe if you

are with without hope. Sing a new song, Sing a new song.

Now. I want to encourage you to go back and look at the way

David sang. David's songs that one hundred and fifty that we've got recorded,

the songs that he recorded, they're not all happy songs. The some worries

me. I'll look at my life. I'm in a mess, not what

I've done. But he still wrote the song. And a song tells a

story, and a story takes us somewhere, and taking us somewhere can take

us beyond, take us to where God wants us to be. It's far

easier to steer and shape or move something that is moving. If you ever

try to move your car and it's stationary and you're trying to push start it

and it's stuck and you're trying to turn the wheels in it's stationary, it's

really hard. Once the powers there making an adjustments easy. Once movement is

there, it's so much easier. So get moving and God will help us

to nudge our track as we sing our song, as we shape our song.

So if you don't feel like it, start singing to yourself. First

of all, if you're singing on behalf of somebody else. Then make it

personal. Make the song personal. By the rivers of Babylon. You sat

down, I saw you weep. But you can sing a strange song.

You can sing a new song in a strange land. If there is emptiness,

fill it with a song. I said, a number of us love

silence. Some of us don't like silence. We fill our day with noise,

and we don't like silence because what goes on is what goes on in

our heads. Things start to play that we don't want to hear, so

we want to drown that out. Well, another way of drowning that out

is to sing a song. Sing a song from your heart. If things

are broken, sing a song, join the pieces together. If something needs

to change, sing a song. If healing needs to come, sing a

song. Sing to the Lord, bless his name, Proclaim the good news,

his salvation every day, Proclaim, proclaim, Declare. Then we go

back to Paul Harper, this gentleman without signs. There are clubs around the

UK now and probably around the world now where they get people together, and

they get people together to sing songs. John who's Clem Ferris's son, He's

got a real talent and a gift to work with older people. And he

knows all the songs from the forties, fifties and sixties. Why because he

goes into old people's homes and he just sings song with them. He said,

there's a lady. Yeah. He talked to various people who can't even

remember what they have for breakfast and yet start singing a song. You don't

have to give them song sheets. They know all loud the barrel, anybody

know, we'll have a barrel of fun. Yep. And there's plenty of

songs like that. And part of that is because I believe, and I

think this is true that when we get a song inside, it sticks and

it stays. That's why people like Terry Waite, who was the two meter

man who was in prison for many, many years, he drew out scripture

and he drew out songs. He said there were times when the guards told

him to be quiet because he was singing in the cell and he was a

big guy. But he said some of the songs he hadn't sung for years

and years and years, and all he had was the first line, and

then as he sang the first line, the second line would come, and

then later I did sing the first and the second line, and the whole

verse would come. I believe songs stick, and you can share your song

with somebody else. You can share your song and it can stick in them.

There are times when I've been sitting on the train listening to someone as

they hum along to whatever they're listening to on their headphones, and then as

I step off the train, I'm humming the same tune, even if I

didn't want to. And so I want to encourage you. Why don't let's

become broadcasters of the songs that God's given us. Let's share it with somebody.

Let's amplify it and see the fruit and the fruitfulness of what God does

and says. So, whatever your circumstances, I want to encourage you this

morning, sing a new song. So let me pray. Let me pray,

Father. I first, you want to pray for those who live in

an echo chamber. They live in an echo chamber because what's been said still

echoes around, and it echoes around again and again and again. And sometimes

people have stuck their fingers in their ears and said, stop, I don't

want to hear this anymore. I particularly hear some words. One phrase that

rings in my head as I'm praying right now is you'll never be any good.

Well, sing a new song, Sing a new song. Let's change

the track. Let's move on from the old track, Move away from that

phrase that's got stuck in your head and stuck in your heart. God made

you, He made you with the purpose He made He created you, and

so sing a new song. Sing a new song. For those who've been

abused, for those who've been messed around with. You've survived so far,

Go beyond the survival, Go beyond the song of I'm a survivor, to

sing I'm special, I'm unique. I'm here with a purpose. I'm here

with God's plan. I'm not here just to be a number. I'm here

to make a difference. I'm not just here to make a difference to me.

I'm here to make a difference to others. And as I make a

difference to others, and some of the things that you've been through will become

part of your weapons of warfare. Some of the confidence of that which you've

overcome will become part of your new song. Some of the things that you

thought were things that shackled you will become your weapons of warfare. You could

take off the shackles that you had. That ball and chain that was round

your ankle, you can take it off and you can use it as a

mace. Can spiritually use it to whack the enemy on the head. And

step out of prison and step into freedom. And some of the stories that

you've been through, some of the things that you've been through will get reframed.

Somebody will turn the lights on and you'll realize that actually it wasn't quite.

God gives you a different perspective. And as you speak forth from your

place of experience, from your place of healing, from your place of breakthrough,

and your place of wholeness, God cause others to see that they can

be healed too. God heals them, God restores them. God makes them

new. Sing a new song. And for those who planted in the garden,

and they planted seeds and they've pruned, but there is no free Sing

a new song. Sing a new song, proclaim, declare, put the

words together, sing it from your heart, and then allow God to enlarge

it. Allow him to bring a crowd around you. There are a number

of people who are listening as I'm sharing right now, who've got an idea,

who've got something that the God has given you, and you feel you're

singing on your own in the dark. Keep on singing, don't stop singing.

It's only when we hear that quiet, wavering voice across the stillness,

across the flames, across the across the struggle, that we too join in

and it We'll start by humming, and then as we start humming, and

then then we'll start to remember the words, and as we start to sing

the words, we'll want to join with the you and come and sing that

song. I just sense there are people who are singing a solo right now,

But God's bringing a choir to come and be part of what you're doing.

God's bring in a choir. And I'm not just talking about worship here,

guys. I'm talking about your DNA. What God's called you do,

what you're walking in. You still feel like you're singing as a solo,

and there's that wavering voice standing on stage in the darkness, and you feel

like there's a spotlight on you. But I want to encourage you. Actually,

there are people in the audience, There are people who are hearing what

you're singing. There are people catching what you and they're on a journey right

now, and stopping right now is not the thing to do. Keep on

singing, keep on with faith, believing, because God is able to do

immeasurably more when we ask her. Imagine it's not just bringing one or two.

He's bringing a crowd to you. And please. I also, even

as I'm praying this, I sense that one thing I want to say is,

please, God brings the crowd. Be ready for change. For some

people, we've been so used to singing alone that when somebody else turns up,

it'd be, Oh my God, this is going to be difficult.

God's bringing you help us. God's bringing you resources that all mean change,

and that will mean good change. That will mean you have to think differently.

We've got to make room church, We've got to make room for a

new song. Over the last four or five weeks, we've taken a table

out every week. Now we're now at our maximum for the moment. We're

going to leave two tables in, but we're making room. We'll start bringing

chairs in. We're making room. We've switched around our worship because we're having

worship after the Word, because We're expecting ministry to be required because God's word.

God's word does not return to him void. Even as the rain falls,

it performs the purpose that it's been called to perform before it goes back

to be rain again. And as God's word falls on us, we will

respond in lots of different ways as we come around waiting. So we're making

room. Are you making room for the vision that God gave you and you

feel like you're singing a solo right now? Are you making room for the

choir to come and join you. We're making room in prayer, pre prayerhaps

before church every Sunday, in the office. Friday nights of prayer have gone

from one hours to two hours. Welcome to join people, but you,

we're making room. We're making room for a new song. We're making room

for a new declaration. We're making room for new believers. We're making room

for people who have not yet joined us. We're making room. So sing

your new song. We pray in Jesus name. Amen,