WEBVTT 00:00.031 --> 00:01.722 [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, morning, everyone. 00:02.545 --> 00:05.307 [SPEAKER_00]: Good to see you, welcome everyone joining us online. 00:05.387 --> 00:08.790 [SPEAKER_00]: And in the parents room, it's great to be together. 00:08.810 --> 00:11.893 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be reading from Psalm 73. 00:12.854 --> 00:21.221 [SPEAKER_00]: So if you'd like to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 73, if you've got a paper Bible, you grab that out. 00:21.261 --> 00:26.926 [SPEAKER_00]: If you've got, if you want to open the app or open your Digi Bible, you can do that as well. 00:27.566 --> 00:32.130 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be reading from Psalm 73 and just a few. 00:32.110 --> 00:33.893 [SPEAKER_00]: minutes time. 00:33.953 --> 00:36.738 [SPEAKER_00]: Tell you why, you guys sounded good this morning. 00:37.279 --> 00:40.464 [SPEAKER_00]: There was just some, there was the sound of voices singing. 00:41.065 --> 00:41.486 [SPEAKER_00]: It was good. 00:41.506 --> 00:41.947 [SPEAKER_00]: Well done. 00:42.288 --> 00:42.728 [SPEAKER_00]: Well done. 00:42.848 --> 00:43.470 [SPEAKER_00]: Nice voice. 00:44.091 --> 00:45.072 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, good stuff. 00:45.353 --> 00:52.465 [SPEAKER_00]: It sounds a bit weird, like good job singing to Jesus, but you know, you do need to be encouraged because sometimes it doesn't sound like that. 00:54.807 --> 00:55.608 [SPEAKER_00]: But today it did. 00:56.389 --> 01:01.754 [SPEAKER_00]: So, well done for some reason when we all turn up with our singing voices on. 01:02.435 --> 01:04.557 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it encourages me, that's for sure. 01:04.597 --> 01:08.361 [SPEAKER_00]: And it encouraged us and I feel like there is something we'll talk about this in a minute. 01:08.701 --> 01:14.387 [SPEAKER_00]: There is an alignment that happens when we say true things and we sing true things. 01:15.108 --> 01:19.212 [SPEAKER_00]: How often are we using our voices to say untrue things? 01:19.799 --> 01:38.626 [SPEAKER_00]: or say things that are exulting other things, maybe the problems, maybe the situations other than Jesus, and yet when we can stand together and seeing very, very true things about a very, very true and real and eternal God. 01:39.307 --> 01:42.371 [SPEAKER_00]: Something happens and alignments, something shifts in our hearts. 01:43.212 --> 01:43.833 [SPEAKER_00]: So good stuff. 01:43.933 --> 01:47.899 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, Psalm 73, behold, these are the wicked, 01:48.672 --> 01:51.715 [SPEAKER_00]: always at ease, they increase in riches. 01:53.036 --> 01:57.680 [SPEAKER_00]: All in vain, I've kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. 01:59.041 --> 02:03.665 [SPEAKER_00]: For the day long, for all the day long, I've been stricken and rebuked every morning. 02:04.766 --> 02:09.550 [SPEAKER_00]: If I had said, I would speak thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. 02:11.131 --> 02:18.477 [SPEAKER_00]: But when I thought how to understand this, 02:19.385 --> 02:27.825 [SPEAKER_00]: Until I went into the sanctuary of God and then I discerned their end. 02:31.163 --> 02:39.311 [SPEAKER_00]: Years ago, I served as a police chaplain and I worked across two different police stations. 02:40.012 --> 02:47.059 [SPEAKER_00]: Police chaplains are there to look after their welfare and to care for the police offices. 02:47.620 --> 02:53.045 [SPEAKER_00]: And apart from giving you really cool uniform, no gun, everyone says, did you get a gun? 02:53.065 --> 02:53.926 [SPEAKER_00]: No, I did not get a gun. 02:54.246 --> 02:55.888 [SPEAKER_00]: I would call you uniform. 02:55.868 --> 02:59.679 [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, they call you things like Padre, which is weird. 03:00.060 --> 03:04.773 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, so you're welcome to do that if you would like, just call me Padre. 03:05.074 --> 03:10.890 [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's a holdover from military times, you know, that means father and... 03:10.870 --> 03:17.462 [SPEAKER_00]: And so you would spend time at these police stations caring for and looking after the police officers who were there. 03:18.664 --> 03:20.748 [SPEAKER_00]: And I would go in and see the sergeant. 03:20.888 --> 03:26.960 [SPEAKER_00]: He would sit down with me and say, now these are the people that I want you to, you know, maybe go and have a chat too. 03:27.080 --> 03:29.925 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a bit worried about this one or this one or this one. 03:29.905 --> 03:37.077 [SPEAKER_00]: and it was fascinating because I worked across two different police stations, Paddington police station. 03:37.097 --> 03:50.260 [SPEAKER_00]: So Sydney's oldest suburb, right on the eastern fringe of the CBD, very upwardly mobile gentrified, very kind of trendy and cool, and then King's Cross Police Station. 03:50.763 --> 03:57.758 [SPEAKER_00]: which was kind of the other end of town, but only you could literally walk between the two stations in about 10 minutes. 03:57.778 --> 04:08.842 [SPEAKER_00]: And so, you know, in padding to police station, people, it's all white collar crime, people, you know, embezzling funds and sending it to Switzerland, that kind of stuff, and they're all worried about that. 04:09.143 --> 04:10.746 [SPEAKER_00]: And then down to King's Cross, 04:10.726 --> 04:12.428 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, different kind of story. 04:12.468 --> 04:14.110 [SPEAKER_00]: You walk down Darlinghurst Road. 04:14.450 --> 04:19.876 [SPEAKER_00]: You get to see a different picture of what is going on in the city. 04:19.936 --> 04:27.864 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, when I sat down with the sergeant for the very first time, he said to me, Padre, hot tip. 04:29.085 --> 04:34.831 [SPEAKER_00]: If you want to know what's going on on the street, you've got to walk. 04:34.851 --> 04:36.012 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't drive. 04:38.275 --> 04:40.497 [SPEAKER_00]: That's a title of the message today. 04:40.848 --> 04:47.816 [SPEAKER_00]: Because the reason he was saying that was when you drive, you miss things. 04:48.877 --> 04:49.778 [SPEAKER_00]: You're insulated. 04:50.739 --> 04:56.265 [SPEAKER_00]: Windows up, doors closed, moving at a speed, you miss things. 04:56.325 --> 05:09.640 [SPEAKER_00]: There could be their minute details, the things that are happening on the street, the people talking to each other, the things that are going on, the problems that aren't problems now that are going to be problems in about five minutes time. 05:10.430 --> 05:16.998 [SPEAKER_00]: when you drive, but when you walk, you soak it in, you take it in. 05:17.698 --> 05:28.591 [SPEAKER_00]: I knew last time you walked down your street, the street where you live, but if you walked down the street where you live and you walked down there today, I guarantee you, you'll do this. 05:29.011 --> 05:32.175 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, how long's that tree been there? 05:33.236 --> 05:36.420 [SPEAKER_00]: Trees been there for 30 years, you just never saw it before. 05:37.025 --> 05:38.486 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that's weird. 05:39.207 --> 05:41.389 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, my grass is a little bit long. 05:41.930 --> 05:42.610 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's right. 05:42.851 --> 05:46.174 [SPEAKER_00]: You drive in and out of your driveway and you don't even notice. 05:46.594 --> 05:57.424 [SPEAKER_00]: That is because we go too fast and there is a call here, a Biblical call here to slow down, to reflect. 05:58.726 --> 06:00.487 [SPEAKER_00]: So that line walked on drive. 06:00.608 --> 06:06.373 [SPEAKER_00]: It's followed me for years because he wasn't just talking about traffic. 06:07.433 --> 06:17.123 [SPEAKER_00]: If you want to see what's really going on in your soul, if you want to know what God is doing beneath the noise, you've got to walk, you can't drive. 06:18.905 --> 06:31.137 [SPEAKER_00]: Because so much happens in your soul every single day, so much happens in your life every single day, and we rush through it, we move through it super fast, and you forget all of those things. 06:31.177 --> 06:35.922 [SPEAKER_00]: Those things that are going to become problems in five minutes that you don't see them because you're driving. 06:36.509 --> 06:37.310 [SPEAKER_00]: through your life. 06:38.692 --> 06:41.615 [SPEAKER_00]: And now this is what the Psalmist discovers here in Psalm 73. 06:43.918 --> 06:47.663 [SPEAKER_00]: Asap here, it's the beginning of this new section in the Psalms. 06:48.424 --> 06:57.715 [SPEAKER_00]: He's angry, tired, confused, but the breakthrough doesn't come through speed or strength. 06:59.097 --> 07:01.420 [SPEAKER_00]: It comes through stillness. 07:03.205 --> 07:07.153 [SPEAKER_00]: The kingdom of God does not always arrive at the speed of Wi-Fi. 07:10.079 --> 07:15.370 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes the kingdom of God arrives at the speed of dial-up. 07:15.931 --> 07:22.885 [SPEAKER_00]: Sorry for the young ones who don't know what dial-up is. 07:31.049 --> 07:34.879 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes the greatest act of faith is not about moving forward. 07:35.962 --> 07:39.612 [SPEAKER_00]: It's just slowing down to see what God is already doing. 07:40.534 --> 07:44.485 [SPEAKER_00]: There is a treasure that's hidden in every season of life. 07:44.600 --> 07:51.776 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I know some of you right now, in particularly busy or stressful or painful seasons, you're trying to just rush through. 07:51.816 --> 08:00.455 [SPEAKER_00]: You're thinking to yourself, some of you are thinking to yourself, man, only five and a half weeks till Christmas, that means it's only about six weeks to the end of the year. 08:00.655 --> 08:04.363 [SPEAKER_00]: Then I can have my January 1 moment. 08:04.343 --> 08:17.155 [SPEAKER_00]: and I can hit reset and start again and I'm just going to just basically sleep between now and then hopefully kind of hasten the day rush it happened so that I can get to January and then I can have a fresh go at things. 08:18.113 --> 08:24.062 [SPEAKER_00]: But you need to know there is a treasure that is hidden in every single season of life. 08:24.923 --> 08:37.461 [SPEAKER_00]: Every face, every face of your family, every face of your work, every face of your career, every face of your business, every face of your study, there is a treasure that's hidden. 08:39.984 --> 08:42.368 [SPEAKER_00]: But we move too fast and we can't see it. 08:42.708 --> 08:44.931 [SPEAKER_00]: And how do we access this? 08:45.713 --> 08:47.395 [SPEAKER_00]: How do we access the treasure? 08:47.864 --> 08:52.630 [SPEAKER_00]: The answer is, what the Psalmist does here, is reflection. 08:54.432 --> 08:55.293 [SPEAKER_00]: Reflection. 08:58.076 --> 09:01.180 [SPEAKER_00]: Reflection is how we access the treasure. 09:01.200 --> 09:03.723 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like a jewelry box. 09:03.743 --> 09:06.086 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a treasure inside, but you need the key. 09:06.586 --> 09:12.133 [SPEAKER_00]: And reflection is the key that unlocks what God has hidden for you in your days. 09:14.510 --> 09:17.194 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, weird one, who's ever eaten a lobster? 09:17.375 --> 09:18.917 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we're gonna talk about lobster. 09:19.158 --> 09:20.520 [SPEAKER_00]: Could there's spiny shellfish? 09:20.540 --> 09:21.662 [SPEAKER_00]: Who's ever eaten one of those? 09:22.323 --> 09:24.787 [SPEAKER_00]: Delicious, difficult to get into, right? 09:25.167 --> 09:25.969 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's just say that. 09:26.630 --> 09:28.673 [SPEAKER_00]: Very yummy, very hard to eat. 09:29.474 --> 09:31.237 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, you need extra utensils. 09:31.377 --> 09:34.162 [SPEAKER_00]: You need a cracker thing, you need a little picker thing. 09:34.603 --> 09:37.868 [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, some people are just like men, it's too hard. 09:37.966 --> 09:39.067 [SPEAKER_00]: But I'll tell you what's worth it. 09:39.508 --> 09:47.136 [SPEAKER_00]: If you can, reflections like the cracker that cracks through some of that hard shell, so you can get the deluxe meat on the inside, right? 09:48.198 --> 09:50.761 [SPEAKER_00]: Weird analogy, but I think it's true. 09:52.643 --> 09:56.247 [SPEAKER_00]: Every season of life, good or bad has treasure in it. 10:01.493 --> 10:03.535 [SPEAKER_00]: When I thought to understand this, 10:05.067 --> 10:12.977 [SPEAKER_00]: It seemed to me a worrisome task, a worrisome task. 10:14.118 --> 10:19.505 [SPEAKER_00]: That's your challenge this week to use that phrase when somebody asks you to do something that you do not want to do. 10:19.565 --> 10:20.907 [SPEAKER_00]: Please say that. 10:22.428 --> 10:24.851 [SPEAKER_00]: It seems to me to be a worrisome task. 10:26.714 --> 10:27.795 [SPEAKER_00]: Unstack in the dishwasher. 10:27.875 --> 10:29.337 [SPEAKER_00]: That's a worrisome task. 10:30.143 --> 10:31.225 [SPEAKER_00]: and close out on the line. 10:31.485 --> 10:35.371 [SPEAKER_00]: We're cooking dinner for the fourth night, fifth night, sixth night. 10:35.391 --> 10:38.936 [SPEAKER_00]: It's same to me to be a weary, some task. 10:39.277 --> 10:40.478 [SPEAKER_00]: Please use that this week. 10:41.160 --> 10:42.001 [SPEAKER_00]: You will get points. 10:42.782 --> 10:44.204 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know by who, but you will. 10:46.928 --> 10:56.843 [SPEAKER_00]: The Sama said, all these things perplexed to me, or they seemed to me to be a weary, some task until, until what? 10:58.578 --> 11:06.746 [SPEAKER_00]: Until I went into the sanctuary of God, and then I discerned their end, until. 11:07.627 --> 11:24.923 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, the Psalmist is talking about this life that's going on, angry, confused, tired, and then I walked into the sanctuary, literally into the temple, and in the process of worship and connecting with the God of the heavens and the earth, I then started to understand. 11:24.903 --> 11:26.765 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, we don't need to be in this space. 11:27.105 --> 11:31.609 [SPEAKER_00]: This is there's nothing particularly holy about the building itself. 11:31.869 --> 11:45.621 [SPEAKER_00]: There is something holy about the gathering, about the people, but it's the way that we access this reflective action here of sitting before God and saying, God, what is it that you were doing? 11:45.901 --> 11:54.488 [SPEAKER_00]: Walking through life, not driving through life, that helps us understand things that were previously 11:56.375 --> 12:11.289 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this particular example, you may connect to this, you may connect to it, but hold the wicked, always it is, always increasing and riches. 12:13.134 --> 12:15.058 [SPEAKER_00]: And we'll ever thought that, man. 12:15.747 --> 12:22.156 [SPEAKER_00]: I know 20 evil people who were eviler than me, who were doing better than me. 12:22.176 --> 12:28.045 [SPEAKER_00]: I know 30 people who were more and more evil than me and they seem less stressed than me. 12:29.046 --> 12:30.108 [SPEAKER_00]: What's the story with that? 12:30.128 --> 12:31.470 [SPEAKER_00]: They're always at ease. 12:32.591 --> 12:37.198 [SPEAKER_00]: They cheat on everything and then they get the profits from it and no one ever finds them out. 12:38.480 --> 12:40.723 [SPEAKER_00]: What gives God what's happening? 12:42.446 --> 12:44.168 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, just me? 12:45.700 --> 12:54.490 [SPEAKER_00]: happens a bit and then all in vain I've kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. 12:54.510 --> 13:04.260 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I've done the right thing all this time, I kept the rules, I obeyed, I did what was right and I have nothing to show for it. 13:06.302 --> 13:13.210 [SPEAKER_00]: I should have just, I should have 13:14.540 --> 13:22.952 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what the Psalmist is saying, all in vain, until I entered the sanctuary of God. 13:24.093 --> 13:29.181 [SPEAKER_00]: And then I discerned their end. 13:31.464 --> 13:37.092 [SPEAKER_00]: When you walk, you notice things, faces, rhythms, tensions, kindness, when you drive you just pass through. 13:37.452 --> 13:43.821 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I want to encourage us to get beneath what God is doing, what is doing beneath the noise here. 13:45.168 --> 13:48.653 [SPEAKER_00]: The speed of life is outpaste, the speed of our soul. 13:49.014 --> 13:51.698 [SPEAKER_00]: You can scroll faster than you can think. 13:54.683 --> 13:57.868 [SPEAKER_00]: The speed of life is outpaste, the speed of the soul. 13:59.530 --> 14:05.860 [SPEAKER_00]: So you can ask more questions than you can have time to answer. 14:06.835 --> 14:10.700 [SPEAKER_00]: When we get caught in the blur, we get exhausted by what we see. 14:11.021 --> 14:22.837 [SPEAKER_00]: We spin in questions that cannot be answered until we enter the sanctuary of God that reflective place where we say, God, what is it that you're actually doing beneath the noise? 14:24.159 --> 14:27.985 [SPEAKER_00]: What's going on here that I can't see? 14:29.106 --> 14:30.748 [SPEAKER_00]: What are you doing that I can't see? 14:31.169 --> 14:33.332 [SPEAKER_00]: What are you saying that I can't hear? 14:35.253 --> 14:38.858 [SPEAKER_00]: And when we don't reflect, we start to live reactionary lives. 14:38.878 --> 14:40.340 [SPEAKER_00]: We make decisions out of fatigue. 14:40.660 --> 14:42.042 [SPEAKER_00]: We speak from frustration. 14:42.483 --> 14:47.149 [SPEAKER_00]: We interpret God through our stress, and reflection slows that spin. 14:51.135 --> 14:53.858 [SPEAKER_00]: Reaction is easy, just react. 14:55.460 --> 14:56.742 [SPEAKER_00]: But reflection is holy. 14:59.446 --> 15:04.753 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like looking through fogged glass, the difference between looking through fogged window 15:06.370 --> 15:15.221 [SPEAKER_00]: So there's a couple of things here, there's some practices for the road that we can take with us on this journey. 15:18.225 --> 15:19.727 [SPEAKER_00]: Because reflection isn't passive. 15:19.827 --> 15:25.113 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of us here, this reflection, word and go, oh, all you're asking me to do is just sit there. 15:26.715 --> 15:30.960 [SPEAKER_00]: No, it actually takes a little bit of work to get into a reflective place. 15:32.062 --> 15:35.466 [SPEAKER_00]: Because what you're doing now is easy. 15:35.665 --> 15:36.606 [SPEAKER_00]: It's just default. 15:37.387 --> 15:39.490 [SPEAKER_00]: Reflected reflection is not default. 15:39.870 --> 15:49.562 [SPEAKER_00]: It takes us a bit of effort to stop, to stop that spin, to stop the blur, and sit with God, to enter into the sanctuary and discern. 15:52.206 --> 15:53.367 [SPEAKER_00]: The Psalms are full of this. 15:53.728 --> 15:56.952 [SPEAKER_00]: I remember, I meditate, I consider, I ponder. 15:59.855 --> 16:02.719 [SPEAKER_00]: Each word invites us to walk and not to drive. 16:04.235 --> 16:09.249 [SPEAKER_00]: So the first thing is this reflection helps us discern and decide. 16:09.550 --> 16:17.552 [SPEAKER_00]: When we pause the spirit whispers, reflection helps us discern and decide. 16:18.798 --> 16:26.931 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, we're just about six months now into our second location at Frank Sin and I tell you what, guys, it's going great. 16:27.692 --> 16:35.524 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, is there, you know, every time I go down there, the communities continue to grow, you know they're celebrating on the baptism at the end of this month. 16:35.909 --> 16:45.443 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, there are people coming to faith in, like, Frankston region, you know, the Moly's just signed a lease on a house, so they moved down there this in the next couple of days. 16:45.844 --> 17:00.786 [SPEAKER_00]: There are some significant things happening in an entirely new community that you and I will never access, but because there's a community there reaching out the gospel and the kingdom to people in that space, we get to enjoy the fruit of that. 17:01.829 --> 17:15.341 [SPEAKER_00]: But when this opportunity first came and there was this talk and initially of that, I went and I hired a little studio cabin at the Big Four Caravan Park in Frankenstein. 17:16.682 --> 17:19.865 [SPEAKER_00]: And I spent three days walking around. 17:21.926 --> 17:24.249 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, you think, what a waste of time. 17:24.309 --> 17:31.735 [SPEAKER_00]: Nope, because in three days, I think I figured out what would have taken us 17:33.436 --> 17:53.842 [SPEAKER_00]: to stop, rent a little shack, go to the shops, go to the beach, you know, and you could just, you know, just, you can picture me just walking around, how my journal out every now and then, you know, looking like a proper weater, right? 17:55.004 --> 17:56.085 [SPEAKER_00]: Just walking around. 17:57.280 --> 18:17.402 [SPEAKER_00]: have it to look at stuff, just thinking, okay, Lord, what is it that you're doing here, meeting with local Christian leaders, other churches who are like, and every single one of them, this is important, every single one of them said, please come, please, I like the man from Macedonia saying, come help us. 18:19.624 --> 18:25.971 [SPEAKER_00]: And that practice of reflection of stopping, 18:26.525 --> 18:30.814 [SPEAKER_00]: means it helped us as a team, discern and decide. 18:31.857 --> 18:35.783 [SPEAKER_00]: So you come back from something like that, and the elders are like, okay, what did you learn? 18:36.064 --> 18:37.126 [SPEAKER_00]: What did you notice? 18:37.146 --> 18:37.967 [SPEAKER_00]: What did you pick up? 18:38.328 --> 18:40.090 [SPEAKER_00]: What are some of the things that you're thinking about? 18:40.451 --> 18:41.453 [SPEAKER_00]: How might we partner? 18:41.893 --> 18:43.336 [SPEAKER_00]: What is it that we need to do next? 18:43.656 --> 18:49.125 [SPEAKER_00]: These kinds of things all happen because we have a process and a practice of reflection. 18:49.345 --> 18:51.329 [SPEAKER_00]: Reflection helps us discern and decide. 18:51.569 --> 18:57.038 [SPEAKER_00]: Psalm 25 said he guides the humble in what is right. 18:57.018 --> 18:59.681 [SPEAKER_00]: and teaches them his way. 18:59.741 --> 19:02.523 [SPEAKER_00]: There is a humility that comes from reflection. 19:03.484 --> 19:06.367 [SPEAKER_00]: Because when we rush, we don't leave space for the whisper. 19:06.888 --> 19:08.109 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we do that too, right? 19:08.169 --> 19:11.873 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we rush and we're rushing because it's our friend because we don't want the right answer. 19:12.633 --> 19:13.534 [SPEAKER_00]: We want our answer. 19:14.956 --> 19:17.498 [SPEAKER_00]: And if we rush, we don't have to listen to advice. 19:17.758 --> 19:18.679 [SPEAKER_00]: We can just keep going. 19:23.104 --> 19:23.224 [SPEAKER_00]: Ha ha. 19:23.244 --> 19:26.687 [SPEAKER_00]: Secondly, reflection helps us judge rightly. 19:29.333 --> 19:32.297 [SPEAKER_00]: No, no, a new part of the New Testament says, don't judge, let's you be judged. 19:32.798 --> 19:43.855 [SPEAKER_00]: But each of us is called to judge every day, to pick between right and wrong, to be able to discern and decide which is the right way. 19:43.895 --> 19:59.037 [SPEAKER_00]: And reflection helps us judge, Riley, Psalm 37 says, be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him, 20:01.632 --> 20:05.216 [SPEAKER_00]: stillness guards our heart from reacting out of emotion. 20:05.516 --> 20:12.424 [SPEAKER_00]: How often have you, you know, you fired off that text message too quickly, you sent an email that was a little bit angsty. 20:13.706 --> 20:22.796 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, you said something, you kind of snap back at someone who said something to you and then that night you're in bed and that's all you can think about. 20:23.357 --> 20:28.703 [SPEAKER_00]: You like, ah, dang it, shouldn't have done that. 20:30.893 --> 20:35.760 [SPEAKER_00]: Reflection gives us the grace of distance, enough space to let the truth settle. 20:37.843 --> 20:44.853 [SPEAKER_00]: So reflection also, thirdly, reflection keeps our hearts sweet. 20:49.580 --> 20:55.568 [SPEAKER_00]: When we live without reflection, disappointment, heart and thus, it hardens us. 20:56.105 --> 20:58.028 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, life does this. 20:59.029 --> 21:02.454 [SPEAKER_00]: There is a disappointment upon a disappointment, upon a disappointment. 21:02.674 --> 21:08.442 [SPEAKER_00]: And if we're not careful, those disappointments, they calcify the outside of our heart. 21:08.803 --> 21:16.233 [SPEAKER_00]: They create this kind of protective layer and what happens is when we get disappointed, we go, okay, won't let that happen again, get hard. 21:16.494 --> 21:18.336 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, won't let that happen again. 21:18.356 --> 21:21.381 [SPEAKER_00]: A little bit more calcification, a little bit more, a little bit more. 21:21.461 --> 21:23.884 [SPEAKER_00]: Till at the end, you don't feel anything at all. 21:24.016 --> 21:27.481 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's awesome because you never get disappointed because you expected it. 21:27.761 --> 21:39.277 [SPEAKER_00]: And then you pass that off as wisdom, by the way, which it's not because you then what we've got to do is stop reflect and allow God to just soak our hearts so that they keep our hearts sweet. 21:39.538 --> 21:41.681 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, you will feel the pain and disappointment. 21:42.121 --> 21:48.370 [SPEAKER_00]: But yes, you're a kinder, more compassionate, more empathetic, more Jesus-like person. 21:52.315 --> 21:55.559 [SPEAKER_00]: when we reflect until I enter the sanctuary of God. 22:00.165 --> 22:05.892 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, a David prayed, Psalm 139, search me God, search me of God and know my heart. 22:07.354 --> 22:09.336 [SPEAKER_00]: Test me and know my anxious thoughts. 22:12.580 --> 22:15.103 [SPEAKER_00]: Take a moment to reflect, keeping our hearts sweet. 22:16.605 --> 22:22.272 [SPEAKER_00]: Fourthly, reflection depends our affection for God. 22:25.340 --> 22:31.526 [SPEAKER_00]: What remembering does is it turns our memory into worship. 22:33.247 --> 22:44.778 [SPEAKER_00]: It takes the things that God has done, the vast catalog of all of his acts in your life and in mind, and turns them and uses them as fuel for future worship. 22:46.519 --> 22:55.127 [SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing like looking back and seeing what God has done so that you can then look forward and anticipate what He might do in the future. 22:55.647 --> 22:57.791 [SPEAKER_00]: and reflection helps us access that. 22:59.495 --> 23:11.159 [SPEAKER_00]: When I think about it, you know, there's only one of the, one of the, the lepas who came back to say thank you to Jesus, only one that reflected and went, oh, how did I get here? 23:11.560 --> 23:12.081 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that's right. 23:13.143 --> 23:16.390 [SPEAKER_00]: Let me go back and say thank you before I go on. 23:18.344 --> 23:20.046 [SPEAKER_00]: And reflection helps us do this. 23:20.126 --> 23:23.251 [SPEAKER_00]: Deepens our affection for God Psalm 77. 23:23.791 --> 23:26.775 [SPEAKER_00]: I will remember the deeds of the Lord. 23:27.977 --> 23:34.506 [SPEAKER_00]: I will consider all your works and meditate on your mighty deeds. 23:37.810 --> 23:44.259 [SPEAKER_00]: Reflection takes happening and turns it into a hallelujah. 23:45.921 --> 23:47.203 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what reflection does. 23:49.782 --> 23:57.451 [SPEAKER_00]: So, we're in November, the long road behind us, the Christmas rush ahead. 23:58.152 --> 23:59.613 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the perfect time to pause. 24:01.756 --> 24:06.501 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's some questions for you to ask next time you reflect. 24:07.743 --> 24:11.427 [SPEAKER_00]: You can ask this, where did I see God at work this year? 24:14.751 --> 24:17.494 [SPEAKER_00]: What did I learn through my joy? 24:19.229 --> 24:21.713 [SPEAKER_00]: What did I learn through my pain? 24:24.057 --> 24:28.325 [SPEAKER_00]: What's still unresolved in my heart that I can bring into his presence? 24:29.847 --> 24:35.477 [SPEAKER_00]: You're in every single one of my journals that I have, I have a little page at the back and it just says unresolved at the top. 24:36.339 --> 24:39.284 [SPEAKER_00]: And then every time I have a question that I don't know the answer to, I write it in there. 24:41.007 --> 24:44.072 [SPEAKER_00]: And it could be a question, could be a question about anything. 24:44.744 --> 25:00.785 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it could be a question about, it could be a question about the Bible, but it could just be a question about life, it could be a question about marriage, it could be a question about my relation to anything, I just have an unresolved and I write it down and I use it as prayer. 25:02.688 --> 25:04.109 [SPEAKER_00]: Where did I see God this year? 25:04.150 --> 25:06.272 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of us can just start there. 25:08.816 --> 25:11.359 [SPEAKER_00]: Some practices that you might want to employ. 25:12.368 --> 25:14.792 [SPEAKER_00]: It's to take an hour out and go for a walk. 25:16.014 --> 25:20.342 [SPEAKER_00]: No phone, just walking with God. 25:22.105 --> 25:30.901 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you will have a sacred place or a special place in your home, or in one of the spaces that you go regularly. 25:31.182 --> 25:33.145 [SPEAKER_00]: Some people have a chair. 25:33.344 --> 25:34.245 [SPEAKER_00]: That's my chair. 25:35.107 --> 25:38.151 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the room where I go, you know? 25:38.211 --> 25:44.981 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you might have a little special space where you go to reflect. 25:48.006 --> 25:57.900 [SPEAKER_00]: You might want to practice Sabbath and actually take a day off from saving the world and let it be, let your soul breathe, 26:01.087 --> 26:09.019 [SPEAKER_00]: And when you're facing something weighty, go there, go into that place. 26:11.242 --> 26:23.681 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, this is slight hyperbole, but I do like this quote, Blaze Pascal said, all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. 26:27.026 --> 26:28.849 [SPEAKER_00]: All of humanity's problems. 26:29.757 --> 26:33.142 [SPEAKER_00]: still from our inability to sit quietly in a room alone. 26:33.462 --> 26:39.030 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I'm not sure if that's 100% true, but I do like the thought. 26:41.013 --> 26:59.258 [SPEAKER_00]: How many hills would be prevented where we're able to sit quietly with God, to enter into the sanctuary and discern what He's doing, how many life-giving moments would be created if we were to walk and not drive. 27:01.077 --> 27:05.502 [SPEAKER_00]: if we were to slow down in the rush, stop the blur and connect with God. 27:07.284 --> 27:07.544 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 27:09.006 --> 27:09.306 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 27:09.567 --> 27:11.449 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, live, why don't you come? 27:12.189 --> 27:15.453 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to transition now into a couple of things. 27:16.955 --> 27:23.602 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, this will take a little bit of choreography, but I'm believing that it's going to work and it's going to be a life-giving time. 27:24.083 --> 27:27.827 [SPEAKER_00]: So, um, a couple of stories. 27:27.993 --> 27:32.398 [SPEAKER_00]: On Friday, live message me and said, hey, man, I think I've written a song for Sunday. 27:32.418 --> 27:34.040 [SPEAKER_00]: I think it would be good. 27:34.480 --> 27:43.430 [SPEAKER_00]: And here's a really bad voice memo, which when live sends you a voice memo, it's not bad, right? 27:43.450 --> 27:44.091 [SPEAKER_00]: It's never bad. 27:44.912 --> 27:48.616 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's a voice memo of the song, I think it would be great. 27:48.896 --> 27:51.459 [SPEAKER_00]: And I said, that sounds awesome. 27:51.659 --> 27:52.580 [SPEAKER_00]: It's gonna fit perfect. 27:53.081 --> 27:57.966 [SPEAKER_00]: So she's written a song that draws us into rest before God. 27:58.537 --> 28:02.445 [SPEAKER_00]: So she's going to sing that for us in just a moment on a really cool guitar. 28:04.589 --> 28:06.513 [SPEAKER_00]: Who's guitar is that? 28:06.533 --> 28:06.934 [SPEAKER_00]: I'll really? 28:07.515 --> 28:07.835 [SPEAKER_00]: Seek. 28:11.402 --> 28:13.727 [SPEAKER_00]: Nice. 28:15.445 --> 28:29.704 [SPEAKER_00]: Second story is this, a couple of weeks ago, one of our prayers, Dave, said to me, it was on a Sunday morning and said to me, Matt, can you pray for me or going in for some tests tomorrow? 28:29.764 --> 28:35.211 [SPEAKER_00]: They found some spots on my organs and they're really worried. 28:37.374 --> 28:40.558 [SPEAKER_00]: And I've got two days of testing a hospital coming up. 28:41.888 --> 28:46.095 [SPEAKER_00]: And we, and so like like cancerous kind of things. 28:46.977 --> 28:47.698 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we prayed. 28:47.738 --> 29:03.306 [SPEAKER_00]: And then week went by and Dave came back to me the week after and said, well, I just had three oncologists fighting with each other about why there is nothing showing on my MRIs. 29:09.378 --> 29:19.411 [SPEAKER_00]: And I had a nurse wanting to sit with me and talk about God, so he sat with her for 20 minutes and shared the gospel with her. 29:21.414 --> 29:35.672 [SPEAKER_00]: So, and I share that story to say, that's the power of pausing and taking a moment is that the presence and the healing power of God is there and sometimes when we're driving, just miss it too fast. 29:38.082 --> 29:39.591 [SPEAKER_00]: So a couple of things that we're going to do. 29:41.000 --> 29:42.268 [SPEAKER_00]: Live's going to sing the song. 29:42.610 --> 29:43.536 [SPEAKER_00]: That's you, right? 29:44.393 --> 29:50.663 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to create some space at the front of the room here just to reflect, and now I want to get down on my knees at the front here. 29:51.484 --> 29:58.935 [SPEAKER_00]: And I just want to reflect and be in the presence of God and say, Lord, ask and ask some of those questions, Lord, where have you been at work this year? 29:59.897 --> 30:03.542 [SPEAKER_00]: What's still unresolved, where were you present in my joy in my pain? 30:04.343 --> 30:05.986 [SPEAKER_00]: So that is going to happen. 30:06.186 --> 30:12.696 [SPEAKER_00]: And then the other part is, I do feel like I want to go after prayer for healing today. 30:12.676 --> 30:23.835 [SPEAKER_00]: So we'll have a prayer team over here, so my right, your left, over at the front here, and we'll have enough people to pray for people who need prayer. 30:24.637 --> 30:29.265 [SPEAKER_00]: So it could be a little bit messy, and it could be a few people moving around. 30:30.006 --> 30:32.170 [SPEAKER_00]: But I think we're cool with that, yeah? 30:32.150 --> 30:39.744 [SPEAKER_00]: Because so Dave will be there praying, we'll have our prayers there, have some of our elders there, just to pray for you. 30:39.785 --> 30:50.064 [SPEAKER_00]: With whatever it is, now it might not be something like as extreme or as cancer, it could be something that something that you feel like is, oh, that's a trivial thing. 30:50.405 --> 30:54.192 [SPEAKER_00]: It could be something chronic that's been going on for a long time. 30:54.172 --> 31:02.802 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I have chronic asthma, I've had asthma since I was a boy, and every time there's a call for prayer, I'm there, because I just want to keep knocking on that door, right? 31:03.503 --> 31:21.985 [SPEAKER_00]: So it could be anything, I'd encourage you just while there's a sense this morning that the Lord is there's something to access there, so we'll do that together, we'll create some space for reflection of the front, and then for the rest, we're actually just going 31:21.965 --> 31:28.387 [SPEAKER_00]: reflect and allow the Lord to speak and then in a moment we'll ask you to stand and we'll see. 31:29.029 --> 31:29.511 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay?