The Difference Between Chants and Music — Alan Ives

Brother Allen, I could say it kind of like this right now. It depends upon how fast you want to get to New York. Okay. If you'll come on and share some stuff here with us.

Christ’s Promised Return

The Lord promised that he would come again and receive us unto himself. Those of us that have trusted the Lord. Someone wrote a song called Coming Again and we'll sing that. For me, soon we shall see, down from the heights of heaven above, coming again.

Oh, glorious message to know that Christ is God, only the Savior Christ within the sky. We traveled with our children. They were quite young and we brought them with us without the thought of having them sing.

And a preacher or two said, we advertise the singing Ives family. I said, well, here we are. And they said, no, no. Your children, they get by for free or what? They just go along for the ride? And I said, well, yeah.

Well, you ought to have them singing. I thought about it. I met the two older children. And I said, here's what we're going to do. Stephen, you sing with dad. Stephanie, you sing with mom. Whatever mom does for you, Stephen, whatever dad does for you, don't forget to do something to get off.

We sang and just dove in the wet. And we got all mouthy. We came up with a way to put the song away that we learned. And we came across it a couple of years ago. And we were given this biker cart. And we wanted to use it on some things.

And I said, you know what? We're just going to do what we can sing without our soul. And so we're going to sing this song. It's called Water from the Rock. That is what everyone needs. Living water from the Lord.

Moses, the Rock, and Living Water

The story, of course, is Moses striking the rock he was supposed to speak to. And yet God was merciful. The water, of course, came out and cleansed the earth for the children of Israel. We also know from reading the Bible that Jesus is that smithing rock.

And so that's what this song is about. And without our children, we are still singing the glory of water from the rock. I want to turn to the book of Amos. The word of God is amazing. Even what we would call some of the more obscure passages on music are important.

We learn something from all of them. But I want to take time this morning and talk to you about the difference between chanting and praise. The difference between chanting and praise. I think I need to put...

And this difference is a difference we find in how we live our life. Based on what kind of a philosophy we have about chanting or praise. They are diametrically opposed philosophies. Ways of thinking.

Ways of, what we could say, practicing religion. They are not the same. And we want to take a look at them. Amos chapter 5. Amos chapter 5. Let's stand together. We're just going to read the one verse.

A strange verse, perhaps, to start on. And then we're going to go to chapter 6 and see why the problem in chapter 5. But Amos 5 and verse 23. Let's read this strange verse together. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs.

For I will not hear the melody of thy vials. That is God speaking. And we'll pray in a moment. But that is the Lord saying he is going to refuse. Or that he has refused to hear somebody's music. And we want to find out why.

He won't listen to their singing. Let's pray. Dear Father, give us wisdom. Show us these things. Help us to be the kind of people that we need to be. Thy people, Lord. Bless now with Holy Spirit power this message.

Be our teacher. Guide us into all truth. May we be saved and happy in thee today. Meet needs. Answer questions. Lord, only thou can fix things in lives that need to be fixed. Bless this time in thy word.

And Lord, help me make all these thoughts clear. That they would be a practical and a real help in every life. May we never, Lord, be guilty of the chanting life. Help us to see these things today. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Be seated. The difference between chanting and praise. God spoke to his children Israel here. And said, take thou away from me the noise of thy songs. For I will not hear the melody of thy vials.

Israel’s Ease, Complacency, and Neglected Sin

Chapter 6 will show us why it was that God would not hear the singing of the children of Israel at this time. They were a disobedient people. But let's go to chapter 6, right at verse 1. And we'll go down to the first 6 verses or so.

Woe to them, it says in 6 .1, that are at ease in Zion. There's the first problem. This is a people that are laid back and taking it easy. And trust in the mountain of Samaria? I thought our trust was supposed to be in the Lord God.

Which are named chief of the nations to whom the house of Israel came. Pass ye on to Chalmy and see, and from thence go ye to Hamath the great. Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Be they better than these kingdoms?

Or their border greater than your border? Now the Lord takes a moment and says, Does anyone have a greater place to live? A greater land? A greater nation than you have? And yet he's pronounced woe to these people.

And he names them in verse 3. Who are they? They are ye that put far away the evil day. And right away I read that and said, Well certainly we shouldn't want or pray for evil days. That's not exactly what it's talking about.

And cause the seed of violence to come near. I thought about that and I thought, What are they doing to get God angry? What are they doing to bring violence near them? What are they saying? They're saying, Evil days are not near us.

We are not near the evil days. They're far away from us. Everything is fine. But everything is not fine. Everything was not fine. They were saying, There's no trouble coming. But there was. They're lying.

They're deceiving each other and being deceived of course. In the meantime, what else are they doing? Verse 4. That lie upon beds of ivory. Some more rest and relaxation here. And there's nothing wrong with that when it's needed.

But they're taking it easy like they say. And stretch themselves upon their couches. And eat the lambs out of the flock. And the calves out of the midst of the stall. They're not living high on the hog.

But high on the other animals there. And here's their music. Verse 5. That chant to the sound of the vial. And invent to themselves instruments of music like David. That's important. This is like David.

But not the same as David. That drink wine in bowls. And anoint themselves with the chief ointments. But they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. They're having a wonderful life. A full life.

They have all of earth's pleasures. And things that they could want. To be comfortable. But they won't even look. They did not even look at the trouble amongst their own people. And they would not lay it to heart.

It did not grieve them. It did not grieve them that they were afflicted. It did not grieve them that there were sin problems. It did not grieve them that they were far away from God. You say, well, how far away were they?

Far enough away God wouldn't even listen to their praises. And their music had turned into chanting. And I am saying today that though those words, chant and praise or chant and music, are often interchangeable, they surely are not in this particular instance.

Chanting as Mindless Imitation

The noise of their songs and the melody of their vials was of a chanting style. Of a chanting type. And I said, there's got to be something more to that than this. What is that all about? And so I looked up the word chant in the concordance.

And the Hebrew word was parat. P-A-R-A-T. And I couldn't get anything out of it. And I read the definition. To scatter words. To prate or to hum. To chant. Well, that's what the verse said. But I thought, what is that talking about?

And then I realized we have an English word from parat. It's a bird. A parrot. He said when these people are singing, it's an imitation. It's a fake. The words are there, but they don't mean anything.

When a parrot squawks, when a parrot talks, the parrot doesn't know what he's saying. Maybe they can condition the response out of a parrot. If he can get him to squawk and say, Polly want a cracker? You know, that they give him a cracker, and they give him a cracker enough times, he'll know how to say Polly want a cracker again.

Those that work with that field of science understand that conditioning. The parrot doesn't really know what he's saying. The parrot will echo everything he hears. The parrot will say things that can embarrass their owners.

There are parrots that cuss. There are parrots that quote Bible verses. It depends what they heard their owner say. To chant is to scatter those words. To pray. The words come out, but there's no heart in it.

There's no understanding in it. And in that sense, it's worthless. And so these people, oh, they were chanting the words, they were singing unto God, they went through the motions, but there was no living, breathing, real walking relationship with their God at this point in their history and their life.

May we never be guilty of so living our life that we just go through the motions, even if they be good motions. Oh, we sing the song of Zion, but it's just a bunch of words, like Charlie Brown's teacher.

We know the living and true God. We're lively stones. The Lord has made us alive unto God. We should never be guilty of just a dead ritual, a dead religion. They didn't pay any attention to the things that God was concerned about, the sin in their life, the life of their own people.

You know, if you read a children's story, they name the rooster Chanticleer, the first five letters of the word chant. He crows in the morning. I don't know that he really is trying to wake us all up, but he does make a noise.

If you're a sailor out on the ocean and you sing, it's a sea shanty that you sing. If you're a Frenchman and you sing through your nose, you sing a chanson. Want to hear that again? Chanson. If you are a Jewish song leader, you are a Jewish cantor.

These are all the same as the word chant, so sometimes it is an interchangeably used word. But here in this passage of scripture, it's talking about a mindless scattering of words, a thoughtless scattering of words, like that parrot.

Chants in Popular Culture and Religion

We live in a day and age when people are getting comfortable with that. We're going to talk about religion and we're going to talk about music and we're going to talk about people's lives here, but what I'm saying is this.

We learn to chant at the ball games in high school. And we would learn something very simple and repetitive. That's how we learned it. It was repeated so much, so the crowd would start to shout to get the team all lathered up, you know, We're from Oshkosh, couldn't be prouder.

If you can't hear us, we'll yell a little louder. We're from Oshkosh, couldn't be prouder. If you can't hear us, we'll yell a little louder. We're from Oshkosh, And it went on until everybody was hoarse.

It was simple, it was short, it was rhythmic. But everybody got swept away with the shouting and nobody really thought about what they were singing or chanting. What does it mean anyway? If you can't hear us, we'll yell a little louder.

And I guess we did. There wasn't a lot of mind behind it and we just tried to out-shout the other team and they were shouting, I suppose, the same thing, but we couldn't hear them. And we get used to chanting certain things, but pop music came out when I was a teenager and a little bit younger.

And we found that it was even simpler oftentimes in the music, but boomshakalakalaka, boomshakalakalaka. And those kind of things caught on. We call them hooks. It's something that a person without a lot of intelligence can get a hold of real fast.

And it hauls them into the music. It hooks them into the music and catches their ear right away. A lot of them were chant-like things. And a little bit later, if we have time, we'll play some things that were very repetitive.

They write pop music these days. Someone said to reach a 12-year-old and they corrected themselves. No, it's 8 now. You realize, here I was a teenager listening to pop music thinking how cool it was.

And the people who were making the music were saying, we got this down in the 12-year-old level and I'm already 16. I stayed there a long time. As long as I stayed with that music too, mentally. You know, when it comes to Eastern religion, they have their magic words and their magic melodies.

They learn what's called a mantra. And they recite this over and over until they are in a mesmeric state, hypnotized, while they wait to have a religious experience. They have their magical melodies. They're called ragas.

And they drone on the sitar over and over. This is not to draw a crowd. This is not to sell out, you know, have a sell out attendance at some kind of a concert. This is simply part of their religion. The melody repeats and repeats.

We said yesterday, minimalism is a new age feature that tends to move people toward that hypnotic state when they stop thinking. And real music, we saw also yesterday, is something to help us to think and to think about God.

But the Eastern religion has these magical words and magical tunes. I call them magical. You know, when we were kids, we watched Walt Disney. And I remember one that I never forgot. I still don't know what it means, but they were singing Salagadoola, Metchagaboola, Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo.

Put it together and what do you got? Bibbidi... It was a bunch of witches stirring up a cauldron, working up some kind of magic potion. So when I say they're magic words, I'm not stretching it very far.

The world is full of this kind of chanting, incantations. That's another word for this kind of thing. And when it comes to religion, it's no different. You know, they have repeated prayers that they chant in many churches.

And they're just like the parrot. They don't think about what they're praying or saying. It's just part of the ritual. It's just part of the service. And it means nothing to them whatsoever. We talked about rap music and how they took away the melody and how trance dancing took away the harmony and left only the rhythm.

And the trance dancers jump like this. But it's not just called dancing. It's called trance dancing because the dancer jumps with this repetitive movement and if they really get excited, they add their hands to it.

I learned all the steps, just so I could do that for you. But they do this until they are in a trance. What's the point? A pogo stick would be more fun and you don't fall into a trance either. But one young man, 19-year-old Jewish boy, he said, Oh, if we just jump long enough, maybe the Messiah will come back.

As if God would be impressed with us jumping without our pogo stick until he comes? I'm not going to do it. Repetition. Repetitive movement. There is something in the mind of the heathen that says, this repetition is a good thing.

Biblical Warnings Against Vain Repetition

And I want us to see this from the Bible. We'll look in the Old Testament, then we'll look in the New Testament. We get used to people chanting all around us. What was that all about? Lions and tigers and bears, oh my.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my. Is that going to muster up courage? Is that the same as praying? Is that going to keep the lions and tigers and bears away? I thought the one guy was a lion. Could you ever figure any of that out?

Until they get all the way to the Emerald City. That's an imitation of heaven. It's an imitation of the New Jerusalem. We don't get there by chanting, folks. What's a rapper doing? He's just chanting, right?

He's chanting. He's saying what he says in a monotone style so that those that they don't want to hear it don't hear it very well while they say all these things that they really shouldn't say. Chanting.

We read yesterday to make melody in your heart to the Lord. If I hear someone recite a Bible verse, I don't want to hear them go blah, blah, blah, blah, like Charlie Brown's teacher. I want to hear them recite knowing what they're saying.

And I'm glad if they recite a verse, but I want them to know and understand what they're saying and think about it. The greatest hypocrite, actor, imitator, pretender is Satan, who appears as an angel of light, the father of lies.

We don't imitate Christ by the way. We follow his steps. We follow his steps. But with all of this chanting around us, we're to be making melody in our heart to the Lord. The 7 -11 choruses. They ought to be offensive to us.

You know about those, right? That's been around long enough with 7 words 11 times. You know about the farmer that went to the praise service? It isn't really praise, okay? But they call it a praise service, a praise and worship service.

The farmer went and he tried to explain it to his wife and she said, well, what's it? He said, well, it's sort of like a hymn sing. The wife didn't go, you know. He said, it's like a hymn sing, only different.

He said, let me explain. If I say, Martha, the cows are in the corn, that's a hymn sing. But if I say, oh, Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha, the cows, the cows, the spotted cows, the black cows, the brown cows, all the cows are in the corn, corn, corn.

That would be a praise service. Just a little more repetition, you see. And repetition can be good to learn things. We're supposed to have, what, for our life? A pattern of good works. And so there is a practicing doing right, I guess we would say.

And yet, we go to the Lord, as we said yesterday too, and Paul said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? It's a living, breathing relationship with God. And we don't just get stuck in a pattern. Those patterns, what happens if everything goes crazy and you don't know what to do next?

Then you've already developed a pattern of good works and you just stay in it. But otherwise, we ask the Lord, what should I do now? What should I do now? What should I do now? And we walk and talk with the Lord.

I hope we do. There's a problem with too much repetition. Those of you that heard the kid from Michigan singing, there wasn't enough living, breathing heart in that. It was a lifeless, deadpan, monotone, empty sound, wasn't it?

Very lonely, actually. It's just sad when you think about it. But let's turn to 1 Kings 18. I said we would look at a picture of the heathen and God's people and this business of too much repetition. 1 Kings 18.

And here we have the story of Elijah and the priests of Baal. Elijah and the priests of Baal. You may already know the story, but Elijah challenged the priests of Baal to find out who God was. Who is the God who is alive?

Who is the real God who answers prayer? Who is the God who has power? And we need to find out so people quit following Baal. If he's God, we'll follow him. But Elijah knew Baal was not God. And so he challenged them.

He said we're going to put up a sacrifice and we're going to call down fire from heaven and whoever does, that's the God we should follow. And they did this publicly. But I'm going to begin in verse 26.

It says, And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal. So here they're going before Elijah. And they've got this already. They called on the name of Baal.

Now watch this. From morning even until noon saying, O Baal, hear us. That's morning is 6 a .m. Alright? So for six hours they prayed and they called upon their God and they said, O Baal, hear us. What else?

O Baal, hear us. What else did they pray? What did they ask him? O Baal, hear us. For six hours, folks. O Baal, hear us. O Baal, hear us. O Baal, hear us. There's plenty of repetition there. Plenty of chanting there.

And really none of them knew what the answer was going to be. And God didn't allow the devil even to pull a trick on anybody. But there was no voice nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.

They got a little upset and they were a little shook. And they thought, Baal must not think we're serious here. So we've got to do something else. But I cannot imagine someone praying, O Baal, hear us.

For six hours. And then not getting an answer either. That's a waste of a lot of time. So they said, alright. We're going to jump on the altar. And they did. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, cry aloud.

For he is a god. Either he is talking or he is pursuing. Or he is in a journey or peradventure. He sleepeth and must be awaked. And they cried aloud. So they jumped on the altar. And they're screaming.

And cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets. Let me tell you something. If your religion tells you to cut yourself with knives and lancets. You've got a funny religion. You've got a strange religion.

If you've got to draw blood. We have a savior who poured out his life blood. Who shed his blood for us. Willingly to pay for our sins. But what's this business of cutting ourselves. People cutting themselves with knives.

Till the blood gushed out upon them. O Baal, we're really serious. We're really serious. What? I'm going to slash my arm. That's how serious I am about this. I'll tell you what. When people want a bad religion.

When they want a false god. They go to no limits. To try and prove it. And it came to pass. When midday was passed. And they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. Now they went till six o 'clock.

Another six hours. And I don't know what they said. But they prophesied. That there was neither voice. Nor any to answer. Nor any that regarded. So they carried on for twelve hours that day. And they got nothing from their false god.

I don't need a god like that. I knew that from the time I was a young kid. I don't want a god that isn't real. I don't want something fake. I am not going to manufacture my own god. I want to know the god that made heaven and earth.

The god that made me. The god that did these wonderful things. He's the one I need to know. When I was a teenager. I said that's the god I'm praying to. I have to find the god that made me. So I know what I'm supposed to do.

Well he found me. But. When they were finished. Verse thirty. Elijah said come near unto me. Elijah took the stones. Verse thirty one. Built an altar. In the name of the lord. He did not. By the way. A preacher told me that.

When I was still young. And using contemporary Christian music. He said. Elijah never borrowed the stones. From the priest of Baal. To do his worship. We don't borrow the world's music. To do our worship.

So Elijah took the stones he had there. And built an altar. Verse thirty two. He put the wood on the altar. And cut the bullock in pieces. Then he poured water on it. That's not going to burn. Then he did it a second time.

In verse thirty four. Pour water on the thing. We want to see what. He wanted to see what god really could do. I guess. He filled the trench up with water. Verse thirty five. And then Elijah prayed. In verse thirty six.

Let's look at his prayer. Let's see if he goes. Oh lord god. Oh lord god. For six hours. I don't think so. Elijah the prophet came near and said. Lord god of Abraham, Isaac and of Israel. Let it be known this day.

That thou art god in Israel. He's not trying to prove anything. Except that god is god. The priest of Baal wanted Baal to do something for them. Elijah wanted god to glorify himself. Let it be known this day.

That thou art god in Israel. And that I am thy servant. And that I have done all these things at thy word. That I'm following you lord. Hear me oh lord. Hear me. That this people may know. That thou art the lord god.

And that thou has turned their heart back again. He prayed a short prayer. It didn't last for six hours. He talked to the god that he knew. And the god that knew him. And he said. Do something to show these people.

That thou art god. For thy honor and glory lord. And he said hear me twice. He did repeat himself. But not very much. And what happened? Verse 38 says. Then the fire of the lord fell. And consumed the burnt sacrifice.

And the wood and the stones and the dust. And licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it. They fell on their faces. And they said. The lord he is the god. The lord he is the god.

Elijah took the priests of Baal. Prophets of Baal. Took them down to the brook Chisholm. And slew them. And said. These are false prophets. Wicked men. There was no vain repetition. On Elijah's lips. He prayed a real prayer.

With just enough words. To tell the lord what he wanted. And what he needed. And god heard his prayer. And god answered his prayer. I'm glad the lord's ears are open unto our prayers. And when we call upon him he hears.

And I'm glad I don't have to chant for six hours. And maybe still not get his attention. I like that song. Where it says. He will hear our faintest cry. And he will answer by and by. What is it that the heathen.

Feel the need. To chant. Jesus gives us the answer. In Matthew chapter six. Let's go to the new testament. Not like Elijah's prayers. If you get into chant mode. If you get into thinking like the people who do chanting.

You're not going to have a wonderful Christian life. You're not going to have a wonderful work life. You're not going to have a wonderful life by any stretch. In any way of measuring it. Matthew chapter six.

Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer

And it's all related. How you live. How you pray. How you sing. How you think. You cannot separate these things. Matthew chapter six. Is a chapter about prayer. And of course the Lord is telling us here.

To pray in secret. And the Lord. Which seeth in secret. Heareth in secret. Will reward thee openly. Begin with verse five though. And he's telling Christians. And when thou prayest. Thou shall not be as the hypocrites.

Fakes. You don't have a false religion. And you don't have to put on a show. A real Christian with a real God. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues. And in the corners of the streets. That they may be seen of men.

That's their motive. Oh they'll hear us. Oh they'll hear us. They want everyone to say. Look at how religious they are. Who cares. Verily I say unto you. They have their reward. People may speak highly of them.

But thou. Verse six. When thou prayest. Enter into thy closet. And when thou hast shut thy door. Pray to thy Father which is in secret. And thy Father which seeth in secret. Shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray.

Watch this. Use not vain repetitions. As the heathen do. Well Jesus is very plain. He says that's what heathen do. They do everything in repeat mode. Everything in chant mode. For they think. The Lord knows what's in man doesn't he.

For they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. That's what heathen think. If we do it loud enough and long enough. God will hear us. That boy thought if he just jumped long enough. It would bring the Messiah back.

The priest of Baal thought if they just called on Baal long enough. That he would hear them. People get swept away with music. That just beats and beats. And pulsates and pulsates. And pounds and pounds.

And repeats and repeats. And that somehow. God will be pleased to hear that. It goes further than that. But let me finish this portion of scripture. In verse 18 Jesus. Or 8. Verse 8 Jesus says. Be not ye therefore like unto them.

For your Father knoweth what things ye have need of. Before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye. Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts. As we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom. And the power and the glory forever.

Amen or Amen. Now. He says this is the manner after which you should pray. And people have taken this prayer. And some have called it the Lord's Prayer. As Baptists we usually call it a model prayer. It's a prayer that's laid out.

To teach us. How we might pray. But. After this discourse. The very thing that Jesus said not to do. That the heathen do. Is turn this kind of prayer. Into a repetitious mindless parroting. And I don't know if you've ever been in a church like that.

It's almost frightening. After you've been a Christian for a while. To go to a church and hear everyone. Go to a funeral and hear everyone. In unison. Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day. Have you ever heard. I mean I've heard that. Yeah. Yeah. My daughter was four years old. And she. We got to the funeral late.

And they were. Doing one of these. You know. And she said. Daddy. Daddy. They don't know how to pray. I said. That's just one of many reasons. We are not what they are. But you are right. They don't know how to pray.

They don't know the God. They pretend to be calling upon. And they're not thinking about it. The funeral just gets over. And they can't wait to run outside. And take a smoke on that cigarette. And draw that smoke.

Into the. What should be the temple of the Holy Spirit of God. They can't wait to head to the reception. So they can all take a drink. Now that uncle so and so is dead and buried. They can't wait to cuss.

And tell a dirty joke. They're not thinking for one moment. We would like it to be here on earth. Just like it is in heaven Lord. No sin. They're not really praying the prayer. It's sad. It's woeful. They're chanting.

Thinking someone. We're all doing this together. Surely God is going to hear us. There isn't one of them. That's thought about. Forgiving their debtors. Forgiving those who trespass against them. They're still holding a grudge.

And that memorized. Mesmerized prayer. Didn't do them a thing. They aren't. Hoping the kingdom will come. You try to talk to them about Jesus Christ. And they'll shove you away. This is. They took this prayer.

Right in the very place the Lord said. Don't make it a vain repetition. Don't recite it like a mindless parrot. Our Father which art in heaven. I imagine. We're bringing up lots of questions. How much.

Repetition, Musical Patterns, and the Trinity

Repetition. Is good. There's a rule. I learned it as a musician. And then I looked to see if it was in the Bible. My teacher said you never do anything. More than three times. When you're writing music.

Don't repeat a line. More than three times. The fourth time you need to make a change to that line. If I play. I just make up something here. But if I play. Then I better change it. I did it three times.

And then. You don't do it four times. Let me play it four times. And see what you think of it. A few more. It becomes monotonous. It becomes. Or tends to become. So boring. That it would be hypnotic. If we're forced to listen to it.

And anybody with half an ear or half a mind. Would say no. That's enough. I heard it. Can you imagine a preacher. Even to make a point. For God so loved. For God. For God so loved. For God so loved. For God so loved.

Three is enough folks. Now. When it comes to raising children. One should be enough. Clean your room. We never told them a second time. Without correction. But anyway. It becomes. Monotonous. Matter of fact.

It becomes offensive. Because you go. I heard you the first time. Why three? My college professor. Bruce Wise. He was a wise man. He was. But. Dr. Bruce Wise. Said three times. I asked him why. He wasn't wise enough.

To know why. In the Bible. In 2 Samuel 18. In verse 33. David was mourning over his son. Oh my son Absalom. My son. My son Absalom. Would God that I had died for thee. Oh Absalom. My son. My son. He says Absalom.

My son. My son. Roughly three times. In Jeremiah 22. In verse 29. Jeremiah said. Oh earth. Earth. Earth. Hear the word of the Lord. Three times. In Isaiah 6. And verse 3. And here we see a little bit better.