The Power of Music Intro to Series "Psalms by John Piper"

Does anybody know the name Elvis? Of course you do! When you hear that name your mind goes to the vault and pulls up Jail House Rock, Hound Dog, Love Me Tender, and a whole slew of other songs. As you think of the name your hips start to swing! If you are not careful you might end up swinging and singing in the shower with the back scrubber as your microphone, trying to mimic Elvis' every move! The next thing you know you are standing in the shower with a shampoo waterfall hairdo singing Jail House Rock in the mist covered mirror with a million fans (in your mind) screaming and cheering for you!!!

What if I said "Come Together?" Your mind travels to the Beatles. You have a million and one Beatles songs coursing through your veins. Your mind starts to think of the "love" generation.

Jimi Hendrix? Automatically, you grab your air guitar and start playing the greatest solos ever heard!

Devo? Whip it!

Pink Floyd? The Wall. We don't need no education anyway. You start to feel negative toward all your teachers.

Just about everyone I know (save for two) gets lost in a Journey song!

Eminem? Your hand goes up, your other hand holds the mic to your mouth and you start rapping away.

The Cure? If you know them you think, "the front runners to emo."

My point is that music has an incredible power to influence the mind, emotions, dress, and sometimes the actions of a person. Many times people will sing themselves songs to comfort themselves in times of trouble. Whole cities can be found singing Queen's We Are The Champions when their local sports teams win a national championship. The Cure's Killing An Arab made a resurgence after the atrocity of 9-11. The whole 60's were influenced and shaped by musicians and what they were doing.

I was pondering where to go next with our youth ministry and how to help them find a true hunger for God when I started thinking about the power of music in our lives. I felt the urging to go to Psalm 1. I started to study and think about the Psalms and how they can help us. Fortunately, I ran into a podcast from John Piper on my Zune. It happened to be on Psalm 1.

Over the next several weeks I am going to post links to the series John Piper did on the Psalms. I want to post them after our youth have heard them so that any who missed can catch up, but I encourage you to take a listen as well.