WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.439 Hey, what's up everybody? 00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:02.560 Welcome to One Church. 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:12.880 Thank you so much for taking time to experience this service, to uh invite us into your house, whether it's on your phone, on your TV, wherever you're joining, we just want to say thank you. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:18.160 Uh this weekend we're not having services in our building, uh, but we're still having church. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:22.160 And so what we're doing is actually putting together a different atmosphere. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:31.359 We're here in a living room, and uh we're gonna do something I think is super appropriate to do on the last day of the year, and that's we're going to pray in the new year. 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:40.560 And so um I want to start with a scripture actually in Luke chapter 5, verse 16, and it's a quick one, it's a short one, but I think it's a heavy one. 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:44.880 It says, Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness to pray. 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:48.159 Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness to pray. 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:48.719 Think about that. 00:00:48.799 --> 00:01:01.520 Jesus, who was fully God and fully man, would take time in his short life to do something valuable, which was to pray and actually go sometimes to a private place, to go to the wilderness and to pray. 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:08.000 And you would think if anybody had a pass on like not praying a lot, it would be Jesus, being the fact that he was deity. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:16.640 But he saw the value in making time to step aside to the perspective that it would bring to him, to the connection that he would have with God. 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:18.480 And so let's just do what Jesus did. 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:20.319 Let's take some time and let's pray together. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:33.200 We want to look at a few different aspects of prayer, and we're gonna work off of this acrostic acts, A, C, T, S, Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and supplication. 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:33.920 Okay? 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:37.760 Now I'm not gonna talk about all four of them on the front end, we're gonna go like one at a time. 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:40.799 And let me kind of give you a heads up on the format. 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:51.920 Um, I'm gonna do some sharing, I'm gonna share some scriptures and some stories and thoughts, but then uh a few different times I'm gonna kick it to the group and ask you guys to participate and share some of your thoughts. 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:56.000 So we'll have a little discussion time and then we'll have a time of singing. 00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:58.959 Uh we'll sing about the concepts we just talked about. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:05.280 And then also we're gonna have an element where we give space for people to think and pray uh in a personal way. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:06.719 So think about this. 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:15.520 This experience, like obviously you're you're watching it and we're not physically in the same room at the same time, but don't underestimate how powerful these moments can be. 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:24.800 I want you to think about what's being said, think about how it applies to you, and especially when we make those spaces for you to think and pray, go ahead and personalize it. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:29.840 When we take time to sing and worship together, feel free to sing along and to worship along with us. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:30.400 All right? 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:32.080 All right, you guys ready to jump in? 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:36.560 Okay, all right, so we're gonna start with the A, which is adoration. 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:38.159 Okay, adoration. 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:49.360 Um, if you think about the Bible, you you see throughout the Bible you have um 66 different books and you have different authors who are trying to help us develop a theology. 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:52.879 Theology obviously is like an academic word, it's the study of God. 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:54.719 But take it out of the academic for a second. 00:02:54.800 --> 00:03:02.960 Think of it in the relational, trying to help know and identify what is God, what is his character like, what it what is he like? 00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:05.759 And so with that, they would use different stories. 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:09.840 There's a lot of stories, there's a lot of pictures, there's a lot of symbols, right? 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:13.039 Think about the fact that a picture is worth what? 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:14.719 A thousand words, right? 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:18.000 So, like you look at a picture, you could talk about it forever. 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:32.319 Um, you think about a story, a story is probably worth a million because you could take the story of a prodigal son, or you could uh take a story from the Bible, and you could talk about it year over year, decade over decade, century over century, and it keeps teaching you. 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:44.560 So, as we're really trying to learn about who is this God that we're praying to and that we live for, a big use of pictures is very relevant because it gives us different aspects of God's character. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:46.080 So I'll give you a few real quick. 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:49.360 There's some in the Bible that talks about God as king. 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:58.000 There is um uh portions of the Bible talk about God as light, talks about God as food, God as bread, God as water. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:06.000 Um, you know, think about uh God as father, God as counselor, God as advocate. 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:07.759 You ever think you ever think about that? 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:11.360 Like sometimes you feel like like God is arguing against you, right? 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:14.400 But but no, he's our advocate, he's arguing for us. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:24.639 Okay, so if you think about all these different pictures of God and what it says about his character, um this is why we're able to worship God for who he is. 00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:26.879 And this is what adoration is all about. 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:31.839 It's not us just sort of mindlessly going, I bless you, God, I I worship you, God. 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:33.680 It's what am I doing there? 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:35.439 What's in my mind when I'm saying that? 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:49.120 And what helps us adore God truly in the proper way is to think about these pictures, think about these aspects of his character that shows us a glimpse of him, gives us a picture of him, and then we can engage even our hearts in this whole process. 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:50.480 So I'm gonna kick it to you guys. 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:51.439 I'm gonna throw it to you. 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:58.000 When you think about different pictures of God and what it speaks to you and what you adore about him, what do you think of? 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:02.560 As you were talking, one that immediately came to mind was Christ the Solid Rock. 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:07.279 And I just picture, you know, like the big boulders, right? 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:10.079 That you couldn't even move with your best effort. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:18.480 But I also love that even in getting these pictures of God, like as Christ the Solid Rock, it links directly to parables. 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:24.160 So I immediately then thought about in Matthew about building your house on a rock versus on the sand. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:32.160 And so it's an immediate connection about when the rain came and wind blew and all of that, building it on the sand, it fell, right? 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:34.079 That's such a clear picture in our mind. 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:36.399 We know what that looks like, we've seen that. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:43.920 Um, but then picturing the house that was built on the rock, it's not just rock the image, but now I'm placing who God is, right? 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:46.879 The name of Jesus in place of that rock. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:52.720 And so I know in the last couple years of my life that is has been so applicable, right? 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:54.639 Just knowing God as that rock. 00:05:54.720 --> 00:06:02.079 So that regardless of what comes, regardless of what comes to my life, I know for a fact that I know God as the solid rock. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:02.959 That is so good. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:03.759 That is so good. 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:07.759 Think about like when you're being faced with things that are changing, right? 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:15.360 Whether it's like the the way the world's changing, different industries are changing, there are things happening in your own body that are changing, things happening in your family. 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:17.920 So there's all these shifting, changing things. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:32.959 And so when we think about prayer, right, in that first part of adoration, even as I think about God as a rock, as something immovable, as something solid that I build my whole life on, all of a sudden my fears and my worries about all those other things are put in perspective as to who he is. 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:37.839 And so just by acknowledging him and thinking of him in those terms, you know, it's a game changer. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:38.879 Anybody, anybody else? 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:47.120 Yeah, I was thinking about even when you said, like, with that that little part you said, I began to think about um Jesus the way maker, God the way maker. 00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:54.959 And I I envisioned, you know, when the children of Israel they were they were at the Red Sea, when they're being chased by Pharaoh, like it was an impossible situation. 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:59.600 A lot of times, impossible situations, we can tend to like take a fight or flight. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:09.600 And you know, the fight part was them putting their faith in God, and Moses putting his faith in God, and they're in front of an ocean, and all of a sudden the ocean opens up and God made a way for them to cross. 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:13.360 And how many times have we been faced in our lives with an ocean in front of us? 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:17.120 Like it looks so deep, it's impossible to get across. 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:24.480 And God just somehow finds a way to make a way to open that ocean for you to walk through with favoring the grace of God, man. 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:33.519 And so, as you were thinking about that, that that that's one of the things that resonates with me because there's been so many impossible situations in my life where I felt like I was just at the edge. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:37.600 And somehow, somewhere, I don't know, I can't explain it. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:49.920 But God, because of his mercy, because of his grace, because like a lot of times, my dad always just used to tell me, God's not looking for someone to um be perfect, he's just looking for someone to believe who he says he is in those times. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:52.399 I just chose to believe in who he was and he made the way. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:55.120 Yeah, you think of the picture of God as a way maker, right? 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:59.519 Like obviously, this is uh in modern times, but it's like you think of like a bulldozer, right? 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:00.000 Yeah, man. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:06.560 It's like you got this earth in the way, you got something in the way, and this thing comes and it just makes a way where there was no way, right? 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:07.759 There wasn't a path. 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:08.959 All of a sudden there's a path. 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:11.439 Like I watch like the construction projects happening. 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:14.879 It's like you see what it was, and now there's a new way, a new thing, right? 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:16.959 So I mean it's not it's not in the Bible, you know. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:23.040 Obviously, Waymaker is, yeah, but you start to think of that image like you know, God, I thank you, because you can bulldoze what's in front of me. 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:23.600 Come on, that's it. 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:26.959 You know, you can you can make a path where I don't see a way, I don't see a path. 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:28.240 You know, it's really good. 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:29.600 Anyone else? 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:33.039 I can share one, Greg. 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:39.440 Um I uh I've been relating a lot to the picture of God as a father, as you mentioned. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:42.720 God as a loving father is such a powerful picture. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:49.279 Um, my life personally, I have two kids now, four years old and one year old, and I just view it completely differently. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:09:09.759 And I think about, you know, I had a friend actually recently go through a tragedy in their family, and they mentioned the specific fact that they felt like for the first time they expressed their anger to God about a situation that they were going through, and how they'd never felt comfortable up to that point in their faith journey to share like their true emotion with God. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:14.080 And it's funny, like actually last night my son was crying, we didn't know why he was crying. 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:16.639 This morning he was angry, we didn't know why he was angry. 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:24.960 But just thinking about the value that is to a father when the son feels comfortable to bring his true self to his dad. 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:32.960 And it's not something that's a burden to me, it's something that's like, oh my gosh, I'm so thankful you felt comfortable to bring that to me. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:33.360 Of course. 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:35.440 Come up in my arms, let me help you with that. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:39.360 And I think sometimes we view God as a father, we might be nervous or scared. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:43.279 He already knows our emotions, he knows the emotions before we had them ourselves. 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.320 And so, him as a loving father, man, that's a powerful picture. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:47.679 That's really good. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:55.360 Um, we'll sing in just a moment, and and I don't want to put anyone on the spot, but if if anybody else has a thought, I've got one more thought, but I want to make space for you guys. 00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:58.480 Anybody else uh have one before we go on? 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:03.519 Come on, Isaac. 00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:05.919 Give it up for Isaac. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:07.120 Let's give it up for Isaac. 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:13.440 Um Lately, what's been hitting me is is Jesus as the lamb, right? 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:19.759 And um I think oftentimes for me it's easier to think of God as a lion, right? 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:27.519 As as you know, the the judging father, not judging in a bad way, but like um, you know, he he lives in truth, right? 00:10:27.679 --> 00:10:30.559 And so it's easy sometimes to be like, man, I failed, right? 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:37.360 Even the the element as a father, like man, I fell or I fell short or whatever, but viewing Jesus as a lamb has been game-changing for me. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:51.440 Like the gentleness of of Jesus, the ad the advocacy of Jesus, like the fact that he advocates for us, like the fact that he's willing to walk with us, and how gentle and how humble a lamb is has been really game-changing for me in my life at the moment. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:52.559 That's really good. 00:10:53.279 --> 00:11:01.200 I I originally didn't think I was gonna share this, but but you and I talked about this a little bit earlier, and and so I do just think it fits in. 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:21.440 Um for me, God is creator is so powerful, and it's it's been something, especially in the last year, that's like opened my eyes into thinking about God in a whole different way because obviously, like we know God is the creator of all things, but then you stop and you think about all the little uh things that that means. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:41.679 Like he created so much order, and he created so many detailed things, and he's this god of patience who he knew that it would be thousands of years of human history before we would find some of the things we're seeing at the bottom of the ocean, or the things that we're seeing in the sky, and they've been there this whole time. 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:43.279 But he was like, you know what? 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:56.960 This is just here, like he's a god that takes pleasure and has the patience to just wait for us to discover something so detailed, to to make a microscope that we can now see that snowflakes are different and our thumbprints are you know what I mean? 00:11:57.039 --> 00:12:07.360 Like that was so amazing to me, and and so appreciating his creativity and realizing that my creativity is a reflection of him and it's a piece of him in me. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:12.799 So God as a creator is like opening up new layers of my understanding of God. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:16.720 I just want to encourage you in your you know prayer life, right? 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:28.879 Like we tend to think about what is your prayer life like, and often it's uh, you know, we set aside time and we just sit there and talk to God or ask God for things, and yet, you know, it's kind of like always in an attitude of prayer, right? 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:30.799 Like being in that constant state. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:49.679 And I think I'd encourage you with this, and kind of like Shaylin was saying, when you think about adoration or worshiping God, think about how often things in nature, pictures, stories, these things can happen in real time, that they're not separate from your prayer life. 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:50.960 It's actually a part of your prayer life. 00:12:51.440 --> 00:13:06.639 That when you see something like that, right, and it could be something that's been right in front of your face the whole time, but it connects with you in that way, whether it's through your children or whether it's through, again, something you see out in nature, you see God's hand, it's telling you something about God's character. 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:08.879 You see, you mentioned about patience, right? 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:12.879 And you think about the fact that God put so many like Easter eggs out there, you know what I'm saying? 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:15.120 And then and then He's like, He's waiting on us to find them. 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:27.919 Like, and if you've ever had, you know, your child or your grandchild or your niece or your nephew, whatever, and they're trying to do something and you and you kind of want to get in there and do it for them, or you want to show them where it is, it's like God's like letting us discover this stuff and He's He's taking joy in it, you know. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:36.559 And again, that revelation as Father, let God keep showing you these pictures throughout throughout the world and through the world he's created, and then adore him with it. 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:47.840 I think when we do this, by the way, it does take us out of our natural tendency to sometimes become short-sighted or to make too much of something, like to have it out of whack or out of perspective. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:14:03.279 And um, I think in a certain way, like certainly we don't want to think of our lives as like small and insignificant, but sometimes the the mountain in front of us or the thing in front of us, you know, we make it so big, and so it carries more anxiety than it should, it carries more fear than it should. 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:15.759 Um, I thought I thought back of a story of a guy named William Beebe, who was a friend of uh President Teddy Roosevelt, and he talked about like how Teddy Roosevelt would be so stressed out of being the president of the United States of the free world, right? 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:28.000 And he's like, you know, think about how many catch-22 situations that you have to be in and how many big decisions you have to make, and you've got the economy, you've got, you know, and foreign policies and all these things, right? 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:41.919 And so when he would start to become so overwhelmed, he said that uh Teddy Roosevelt would walk out and look up into the sky, and he would start looking at like constellations, and he would look at like what we now know uh of the universe, right? 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:42.960 Of outer space. 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:49.679 And and so this is a quote he said that Teddy Roosevelt would say, This is the spiral galaxy in Andromeda. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:15:00.799 It's as large as our Milky Way, it's one of a hundred million galaxies, it consists of 100 billion suns, each one larger than ours. 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:04.480 And then Roosevelt would grin and say, I think we're small enough. 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:05.600 Let's go to bed. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:20.000 You think about, again, not that God's the magnitude of God makes us feel insignificant, but it puts certain things in place to adore God, to worship him, to view his character, it puts things in proper perspective. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:25.279 So let's take a moment right now and let's uh let's sing about the stuff that we've been talking about. 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:41.039 Nobody likes. 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:50.079 God, we thank you, Lord, that you always were, you always are, and you always will be. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:59.119 And Lord, in a world that is constantly shifting and changing, Lord, it's on Christ the solid rock we stand. 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:02.640 We thank you that your character is unchanging. 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:08.559 And Lord, your character is consistent and yet you're always doing something new. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:10.559 You're always doing something fresh. 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:18.400 And Lord, often it's in that new territory, that new terrain, that we get really nervous because we haven't seen it before and we haven't been there before. 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:29.119 And yet, Lord, it's it's the adoration of your character that keeps us solid, it keeps us grounded in the world around us that is always changing. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:31.440 And so, God, we just thank you for your goodness. 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:42.960 God, we thank you for all the pictures of you that we have in the Bible, the images, the stories, the things that help us to see pictures of your character and who you really are. 00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:45.759 We love you and praise you in Jesus' name. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:46.799 In Jesus' name. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:48.000 Everybody said amen. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:49.599 Amen. 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:53.519 All right, we're gonna move to the C here, which is confession. 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:55.599 All right, we're gonna talk about confession. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:20:58.960 And uh actually um interesting story. 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:03.119 So my my son Hudson is uh, you know, you guys know him pretty well, right? 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:06.960 He's uh on the autism spectrum and he's he's had some real ups and downs. 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:10.240 Last year, he had a really, really hard school year. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:16.480 So he um long story short, he figured out how to get himself kicked out of school for you know each day. 00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:24.559 If he wanted to go home, he would just do whatever he had to do to get sent home, so he'd make himself throw up or he'd say some terrible word or he'd do something, right? 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:26.799 So he missed like two, was it like 200 hours? 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:28.319 288 hours of school. 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:29.839 288 hours of school. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:31.519 He either got sent home or something. 00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:38.079 Like it was a it was a rough year, and and of course, like everything we tried to help him, it just didn't seem to be working. 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:46.880 And so recently he's actually in a new school, he's gotten a lot of really good help, and um it's it's been a really, really great season actually in the last few months. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:50.160 But I noticed something that's drastically changed. 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:53.359 Uh he's now 12 years old, something he's doing now that he's never done before. 00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:59.839 So I used to be able to tell what kind of day Hudson had based on when I came home, and I have a whistle that I do when I come in the house. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:00.480 House was there. 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:08.160 When I would do that, if he had had a good day, okay, he would come to me like Dad, I had a good day. 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:10.400 You know, I was okay, he would come and tell me about it. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:12.000 He'd come find me. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:18.559 But if I came in the house and whistled and I couldn't find him, I knew it had been a bad day, right? 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:23.200 He was worried about getting in trouble, he was worried about shame, right? 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:24.960 So he's avoiding me. 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:27.920 So in the last, probably like, what do you think? 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:29.680 Two months, maybe? 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:34.960 Yeah, probably the last six to eight weeks, he has been coming home every day. 00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:37.680 And if I'm not there, he'll FaceTime me. 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:39.279 He will ask to FaceTime me. 00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:40.960 I want to FaceTime Dad. 00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:42.799 And he'll tell me about his day. 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:46.559 And the breakthrough is he's not just calling me when he has a good day. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:53.839 He'll literally FaceTime me and he'll be like, Dad, I had a rough morning and a pretty good afternoon. 00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:55.119 Like, what happened? 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:59.200 Well, I got really upset and I threw a pencil at my teacher. 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:01.200 He'll tell me about what he did. 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:07.599 My man, you turned it around. 00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:10.240 You sure did. 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:13.759 So it started off rough, but then you got it together. 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:19.440 You you did uh self-control, and then you you you went from red to green. 00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:23.119 My man, I'm so proud of you. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:24.000 I knew you could do it. 00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:25.519 I knew you could do it. 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:46.640 And I thought, man, this is a huge leap for him in his mind, in the way that he sees me, that he trusts my character, and he comes to me going, I'm not just gonna go to my dad when I've done something good, I'm not just gonna go to my dad when I'm proud of myself, I'm gonna go to my dad because he's gonna help me work through my mistakes. 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:51.599 I'm gonna go to my dad because he's gonna help me reconcile. 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:54.400 And think about Father God. 00:23:55.200 --> 00:24:02.480 Often it's like we can't even in our own minds bring our stuff to him because of the shame. 00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:05.200 Or even maybe our confusion about what is his character? 00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:08.000 Can I only come to God when I've been hitting it out of the park? 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:11.200 Can I only come to God when I've been like an all-star husband or wife? 00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:13.359 Can I only come to God when I feel like I'm killing it? 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:17.119 Or do I come to God when I am ashamed of myself? 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:20.079 Or I did something that violated my own conscience. 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:24.319 Or I did something that I regret and I immediately thought, I wish I could go back in time and do that. 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:30.319 When I'm carrying that burden, do I see God as somebody that I can bring that to? 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:35.759 And I would encourage you to think deeper about the character of God. 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:37.200 Think deeper about who God is. 00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:40.960 He's not just the one you come to when you won the ballgame and hit it out of the park. 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:43.759 He's not just the one you come to when you made the honor roll. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:46.240 He's not just the one you come to when you got it right. 00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:48.000 It's when you didn't have self-control. 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:51.359 It's when you can't, you did the thing you can't undo, right? 00:24:51.759 --> 00:25:03.440 That you come to him and and it's like, I can't tell you what it's done as a father, and I've seen the progress in Hudson because now he's able to make progress quicker because he's not holding on to. 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:05.440 He's not holding on to things. 00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:13.599 I wonder if we could reframe and get a better view of God if we would more quickly come to him with the things that we've been holding on to. 00:25:13.839 --> 00:25:15.200 Hey, I got a scripture for you. 00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:16.640 This is a this is a real good one. 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:18.240 Let's put this up on the screen. 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:21.200 It says in Psalm 32, 1 through 5. 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:22.319 Listen to this. 00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:28.880 Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight. 00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:36.799 Yes, what a joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty. 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:38.880 Verse 3. 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:44.559 When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:46.000 That's a word. 00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:50.400 The penalty of me refusing to confess, bringing it to God. 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:53.279 It wasn't that God was waiting to lay the smack down. 00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:58.480 He said, I was bringing it on myself because I didn't trust God enough to bring my shame. 00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:02.480 And it started, he said, causing my body to react. 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:04.079 My body was wasting away. 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:06.079 He said, I groaned all day long. 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:09.359 Day and night, your hand of discipline was heavy on me. 00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:14.000 My strength evaporated like the water in the summer heat. 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:19.759 Verse 5 Finally, I confessed all my sin to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:24.880 I said to myself, I will confess my rebellion to the Lord, and you forgave me. 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:26.400 Exclamation point. 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:28.079 And all my guilt is gone. 00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:36.720 We think of confession often as like this thing we're terrified to do, and it is a beautiful thing to do. 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:40.400 It's a thing to do in light of the adoration of the character of God. 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:46.400 When we confess our sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us of our sin, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:26:46.559 --> 00:26:49.279 So you hold that stuff in, your body's wasting away. 00:26:49.359 --> 00:26:53.759 It's literally affecting your health, it's affecting your quality of life. 00:26:54.000 --> 00:27:03.039 It is not God's will for your life that you would hold that in, which is why the C, the act of prayer, of confession, we bring this to God. 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:04.400 Psalm 86, 5. 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:11.680 Oh Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask you for your help. 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:12.319 All right. 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:13.519 So here's what we're gonna do. 00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:19.599 We're gonna take a moment and just go around the room and we're gonna confess our sins to the internet. 00:27:20.720 --> 00:27:22.559 And we're gonna start with Christy. 00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:23.920 Go ahead, Christy. 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:28.799 What is uh, go ahead, just what are you most ashamed of? 00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:30.559 Just what you're most ashamed of. 00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:32.160 Don't just let it let it out. 00:27:35.440 --> 00:27:36.000 All right. 00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:46.880 All jokes aside, let's let's take a moment here in like quiet our hearts, and uh we're gonna we're gonna sing a song in a moment. 00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:48.480 Maybe even just like a minute. 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:58.480 Like if there's anything that's subterranean, anything you've been pushing down, anything that is in your peripheral, you haven't wanted to look at it, it's too shameful, it's too painful. 00:27:58.640 --> 00:28:07.200 Um again, maybe it's a a way you you violated your own conscience, maybe it's a sin of commission, you committed a sin, or a sin of omission. 00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:09.599 It was something you were you should have done, you didn't do. 00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:13.599 Whatever it is you're carrying that weight, it's a good time to lay that burden down. 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:21.920 So if you're if you're at home, okay, where wherever you're at, you're on your phone, take a moment, quiet your heart, and right now let's trust God enough. 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:30.960 Let's have a healthy enough view, a high enough view of God as a good father to bring our sin to him, to confess our sin and to trust his grace. 00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:50.319 Do you thirst for drink from the well? 00:29:51.200 --> 00:29:56.079 Jesus is come, we sing no come to the altar. 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:20.799 Oh come to the altar, the father's arms are open wide, forgiveness, was but away the precious, but we sing that again, oh come to the altar. 00:30:26.960 --> 00:31:01.759 Forgiveness was but away the precious Jesus Isn't he wonderful? 00:31:03.119 --> 00:33:02.559 Sing hallelujah, Christ is written We bow down before him for his Christ is written with single Jesus Christ Can we give you praise? 00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:15.680 What can wash away my sin? 00:33:17.599 --> 00:34:26.719 Nothing but the blood of Jesus What can make me whole again nothing but the blood of Jesus is love makes me write nothing but the blood of Jesus Nothing but the blood of Jesus. 00:34:31.119 --> 00:34:32.880 God, we thank you, God. 00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:40.559 We thank you that you are eager to give grace and that you don't run out, that your mercies are new every morning. 00:34:41.519 --> 00:34:46.800 Lord, often we do things and we don't even know why we did them, but you know why we did them. 00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:51.519 You know what's beneath the sin and you know what's beneath that. 00:34:52.239 --> 00:35:04.880 And so, Lord, when we come and we open up our hearts to you, uh Lord, we thank you that we are not met with an angry father or an angry judge. 00:35:05.119 --> 00:35:14.000 We are met by a gracious father that helps us, Lord, to see things we hadn't seen and to come to places of freedom and forgiveness. 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:20.639 So we see confession as a gift today, and we thank you for it in Jesus' name. 00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:22.159 In Jesus' name. 00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:23.119 Amen. 00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:26.559 All right, let's shift to the T. 00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:29.760 So we've got A C, Adoration, Confession. 00:35:29.920 --> 00:35:31.199 T is Thanksgiving. 00:35:31.360 --> 00:35:32.400 All right, thanksgiving. 00:35:32.639 --> 00:35:34.400 We're gonna talk about thankfulness. 00:35:34.719 --> 00:35:39.440 Uh, I want you to think about thanksgiving uh and thankfulness as like two different things. 00:35:39.599 --> 00:35:43.679 One is it is a feeling, but second, it's a discipline. 00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:54.079 All right, so if we think about reactive and proactive, have you ever just been like hit with a wave of gratitude or weight of a wave of thankfulness, and you're just feeling like super thankful? 00:35:54.159 --> 00:35:58.320 You're like in your feelings about thankfulness, you're like, man, life is good, you know? 00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:01.440 And then other times, okay, you're not feeling it, right? 00:36:01.599 --> 00:36:03.920 It it would it would be then proactive. 00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:08.800 I would need to be proactive about thankfulness because to be frank with you, I don't feel thankful right now. 00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:10.159 I'm not feeling good right now, right? 00:36:10.239 --> 00:36:11.280 If that's where you're at. 00:36:11.519 --> 00:36:14.960 So we don't, we're not uh victim to just how we feel. 00:36:15.119 --> 00:36:18.159 Uh, we can use thankfulness as a weapon, right? 00:36:18.559 --> 00:36:20.559 Um, and and so it's important that we think of it that way. 00:36:20.639 --> 00:36:28.400 I remember like when Shayla and I uh first got married, and I would have these moments, like I am sort of an emotional person, I'm a verbal person, whatever. 00:36:28.559 --> 00:36:30.880 I get hit with these feelings of like how grateful I am. 00:36:30.960 --> 00:36:33.039 I'm I'm looking at her, I'm thinking about her, you know. 00:36:33.199 --> 00:36:39.039 And so I would just articulate it, you know, I would say, uh, Shaylin, I'm so thankful for you, you know. 00:36:39.199 --> 00:36:40.559 I love you so much. 00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:45.519 And and she'd be like, she'd be like, what are you thankful for? 00:36:47.280 --> 00:36:49.199 I'd be like, oh I just love you, you know. 00:36:49.360 --> 00:36:51.360 She's like, she's like, what do you love about me? 00:36:51.519 --> 00:36:53.840 You know, she like wanted me to be specific, right? 00:36:53.920 --> 00:36:58.880 And at first, at first it kind of put me out because I was like, yo, can you just take the compliment? 00:36:58.960 --> 00:37:01.440 You're like, like, can I just be thankful? 00:37:01.599 --> 00:37:02.880 Like, can I just be loving? 00:37:02.960 --> 00:37:06.159 And so I I got a little like sort of defensive. 00:37:06.239 --> 00:37:12.239 Uh, and then I started to think about it, and when I understood thankfulness in the the duality, right? 00:37:12.320 --> 00:37:16.559 The the two terms, the it's binary, it's it's both proactive and reactive. 00:37:16.719 --> 00:37:26.719 Yeah, right now I might be feeling super thankful about you, you know, but tonight we might get in an argument and I start feeling uh like a victim, or I might start feeling different towards you. 00:37:27.039 --> 00:37:42.320 So the fact that she led me to articulate specifics about what I was thankful for, it gave me a tool in the moments where I needed to be proactive and not reactive, where I didn't feel it, and yet I still need to be thankful. 00:37:42.639 --> 00:37:47.119 And so um I actually I've got something uh I want to show you guys. 00:37:47.440 --> 00:37:49.679 A little tool actually a friend gave me a while ago. 00:37:49.840 --> 00:37:51.519 It's called the mood elevator, right? 00:37:51.599 --> 00:37:53.679 You might need to lean in a little bit, okay? 00:37:53.920 --> 00:38:00.000 This is the mood elevator, and it basically describes like what mood you're in, right? 00:38:00.079 --> 00:38:00.880 How you're feeling. 00:38:01.119 --> 00:38:02.480 So let's start in the middle, right? 00:38:02.559 --> 00:38:03.440 The middle is curious. 00:38:03.519 --> 00:38:06.559 Like if you're just like kind of in a naturally healthy spot, right? 00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:10.480 You're curious about the future, you're curious about people, you're curious about life. 00:38:10.880 --> 00:38:13.760 Okay, let's go down and say we're getting in a worse mood, okay? 00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:16.960 So, like, what's beneath that is you're impatient. 00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:19.760 Beneath that is irritated. 00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:22.000 Beneath that is worried. 00:38:22.960 --> 00:38:24.639 Lower than that, defensive. 00:38:25.199 --> 00:38:27.440 Keep going down, judgmental. 00:38:28.480 --> 00:38:33.280 Beyond judgmental is not just I'm judging you, but then self-righteous, which is I'm better than you know. 00:38:33.360 --> 00:38:35.360 Why why is everybody stupid? 00:38:35.599 --> 00:38:37.360 Why is everybody evil except me? 00:38:37.679 --> 00:38:38.559 Self-righteous. 00:38:38.800 --> 00:38:45.840 Then uh the next is stressed and then angry, and then at the bottom is depressed, it's like the valley of despair. 00:38:46.239 --> 00:38:46.480 Okay? 00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:49.119 Let's go from the curious up, right? 00:38:49.199 --> 00:38:51.039 So if you go up, it's flexible. 00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:51.519 Right? 00:38:51.599 --> 00:38:53.599 When you're in a good mood, it's like, yeah, yeah, cool, man. 00:38:53.679 --> 00:38:54.719 I can roll with the punches. 00:38:55.119 --> 00:38:58.639 Okay, when you're not, down here it's like I'm impatient, right? 00:38:59.039 --> 00:39:02.159 But but up here, I'm rolling with the punches, sense of humor, right? 00:39:02.239 --> 00:39:03.679 Like I just find stuff funny. 00:39:03.920 --> 00:39:08.000 Okay, when you're in a good mood, if you're in a bad mood, it's like funny people are annoying. 00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:08.719 You know what I mean? 00:39:09.440 --> 00:39:10.800 Uh I don't want to laugh, okay. 00:39:10.880 --> 00:39:11.679 I'm in a bad mood. 00:39:11.840 --> 00:39:13.280 Um sense of humor. 00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:20.639 Uh up here again, you're patient, you're not flustered, you're appreciative, hopeful, optimistic, right? 00:39:20.880 --> 00:39:24.400 You're uh up here, you're resourceful, which means hey man, it doesn't matter. 00:39:24.480 --> 00:39:26.960 We don't have what we need, we'll we'll make it work with what we got. 00:39:27.280 --> 00:39:29.840 Okay, you gotta be in a good mood for that, right? 00:39:30.320 --> 00:39:33.599 Okay, and then up here is is creative, okay. 00:39:33.760 --> 00:39:38.400 I actually read a thing on creativity, and the guy said the number one key to being creative is getting in a good mood. 00:39:39.119 --> 00:39:39.679 Dead serious. 00:39:39.760 --> 00:39:41.679 He goes, he's like, when I'm trying to be you know who it was? 00:39:41.760 --> 00:39:43.440 It was actually Ryan from the office. 00:39:43.519 --> 00:39:50.239 I don't know his real name, but but but he he does he he he does a lot of like he cre he uh produces stuff and writes stuff. 00:39:50.400 --> 00:39:53.440 He says when he's creative, he takes the whole morning to get in a good mood. 00:39:54.320 --> 00:39:57.679 So so whatever, you know, breakfast food gets him in a good mood, that's what he eats. 00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:00.880 And the people that put him in a good mood, that's who he talks to. 00:40:01.199 --> 00:40:03.440 So again, mood has a big part of it. 00:40:03.599 --> 00:40:09.280 Wise, and then at the very top, grateful thanksgiving, gratitude. 00:40:10.159 --> 00:40:15.599 The height of my mood elevator is I can't believe I get to live this life. 00:40:15.840 --> 00:40:18.159 I can't believe I get to be in the room with these people. 00:40:18.320 --> 00:40:19.920 I can't believe I get to do this work. 00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:23.360 I I can't believe, you know, so you're in a state of gratitude. 00:40:23.840 --> 00:40:32.880 Sometimes life is going so good, and the endorphins are high, and you feel you feel thankful. 00:40:33.280 --> 00:40:38.719 And in those moments, okay, feeling is reactive, or uh thankfulness is reactive. 00:40:39.039 --> 00:40:44.000 But what about when I'm on the bottom end of the mood elevator, right? 00:40:44.639 --> 00:40:51.760 Think about the scripture, Psalm 34, 1, where David says, I will bless the Lord at all times. 00:40:52.320 --> 00:40:55.599 Because regardless of where I'm at, that's proactive, right? 00:40:55.760 --> 00:41:01.440 Regardless of where I'm at, I might be down here irritated, I might be feeling self-righteous, I might be feeling depressed. 00:41:01.599 --> 00:41:09.360 What starts to pull me to my greatest state, my greatest mood of gratefulness is I start with thoughts of gratitude. 00:41:09.440 --> 00:41:12.480 And as I learned from Shaylin, being specific. 00:41:12.960 --> 00:41:14.400 So let's just practice it right now. 00:41:14.480 --> 00:41:15.760