During the 2011 Super Bowl XLV halftime show, the Black Eyed Peas with R&B star Usher and former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, entertained millions by featuring the following setlist:
1. I Gotta Feeling
2. Boom Boom Pow
3. Sweet Child O’ Mine
4. Pump It
5. Let’s Get It Started
6. OMG
7. Where Is The Love? and
8. The Time (of our life)
One of the controversies before the game was that the ‘Look Up John 3:16’ ad was rejected to be aired during the Super Bowl game, but unbeknown to many, closer review of the events on this day, show that each song in this set list that was featured during the same Super Bowl game could be used with the other to unfold the very essence of John 3:16; God’s beautiful story for the Salvation to mankind. Continue reading for to see how.
We have been having The Time (of our life) as in the time of Noah, ignoring and disobeying God’s commands and indulging in sinful wickedness, only to become a prisoner of a war (POW); a war between God and evil that began in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15). I Gotta Feeling that there is something horrendously wrong with this sinful lifestyle of mine and I see that validated from the Bible, which states that the wages of sin is death (Boom Boom Pow). Oh My God (OMG), what can I do? is my cry. We have refused or rejected the Faith, and we do not have Hope nor Love. Where is The Love? I ask, and hidden in the Scripture (Bible), I hear God’s still soft voice, say, “I have sent you my Only Begotten Sweet Child O’ Mine, who is called Jesus Christ and all who believe in Him shall not perish (i.e., be no longer a prisoner to death) but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). Why did God do this? Because He loved each one of us very much. Jesus Christ was God’s response to man’s groaning and cry – Where is The Love? Jesus is God’s gift to mankind. For the wages of sin is death (Boom Boom Pow), but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23). He sacrificed Himself so that we would not have to pay the penalty of our sin. His love for you made Him endure our Cross and He who knew no sin, was imputed our sin on Himself, separating Him from God, a agonizing experience in which He had to cry out OMG, OMG, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:45-46). God (the Father) forsook God (the Son) so that He would not have to forsake you and me. To God be the glory! for this provision, He has made possible, through Jesus Christ, for the problem of our sin. All we need to do is accept this gift of God, by believing in Him. So Let’s Get It Started. Delay no further, for now is the accepted time; now is the day of [your] salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). And when we believe, let our lives change and let us love the Lord our God, with all our soul, strength, mind and heart and let us love our neighbors as ourselves (Luke 10:27). Let every pump of our heart (heartbeat) out-pour this story of God’s love for and to mankind. Let us Pump It (share) with those who have not yet heard it. Only then can we truly say that we are in deed having The Time of our lives.
‘Look up John 3:16’ ad was rejected but in the Song setlist is hidden the Gospel of Truth. There is no stopping God’s message. His Word does not return void (Isaiah 55:11) and shall accomplish that which God pleases.
Point(s) to ponder:
If you have never accepted this free yet costly gift of God to mankind, then you can receive Him today.
A – Acknowledge the need you have for a savior.
B – Believe in Jesus Christ, God’s gift for the salvation of the world.
C – Confess with your mouth your sinfulness, for He is faithful and just to cleanse us of ALL unrighteousness.
Isaiah 55:11 (KJV)
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
John 3:16-17 (KJV)
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
