WEBVTT 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:24.239 Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome again to this live stream. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:33.039 You're all very welcome back in here into my study at home, and hopefully those weeks are numbered. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:37.280 Uh, before we get into uh Psalm 46, thank you, Lisa, for reading. 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:48.399 Uh, before we get into that, I do want to explain just a little bit of the uh the timetable going forward and uh when it is that we hope to resume live services. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:55.600 We've been working hard uh at this behind the scenes and uh praying uh for God's wisdom uh in that. 00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:57.759 Thank you for praying with us. 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:04.719 And what we are uh what we're looking at is uh resuming in the middle of August. 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:12.239 We are uh not rushing in to being together for uh a number of reasons. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:24.159 Uh first is we want to make sure that uh that every necessary precaution is uh being taken uh before we arrive in person. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:43.519 And that means that we are uh researching and ordering uh lots of PPE things like uh perspect screens that will uh sit in front of me and uh Ben, whoever's leading worship, that we can uh lead from behind, preach from behind so that I don't have to wear a mask. 00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:52.079 We've been working out our socially distanced seating in the hall, uh the one-way system in through the front doors and out through the back. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:58.000 Uh it stands uh with foot panels uh that allow you to get hand sanitizers. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:06.400 So we are uh in the process of basically putting together a large shopping list for all of those things, so every precaution is being taken. 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:10.560 Second reason why we're not rushing into it is that the building is not our own. 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:18.400 Uh so DCM, we've been in uh in good communication with them about the use of the building. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:27.919 And one of the things that they've taken the opportunity to do over the course of lockdown is to do some significant uh works in the building. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:31.680 The place will uh look different uh when you go there. 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:44.719 The uh the false ceilings that were in the hallway or in the kids' room uh or in the cafe, they've all been taken away and the original uh vaulted ceilings have been uh restored and they look beautiful. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:53.680 Uh they're also now working in the hall uh to repaint it, and so they've asked for a little bit of time while they can complete those works. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:03:03.439 Uh the third reason uh why we're not rushing into it is because we know that uh September is a busy season at the best of times. 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:18.000 This August into uh September, October is uh going to be very busy, very different, uh, as we continue to try and uh adapt to the changing environment. 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:28.159 And so, in order to serve you all well, one of the things that Ben and Duncan and I uh need is we need to rest. 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:31.759 This has been a difficult season uh for all of us. 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:37.280 Um, and it has been a tiring season uh for your leaders, I'll be honest. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:42.960 Um, and so we're going to take uh July uh just to take some time off. 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:54.080 And so what that means is that Peter will be preaching uh live next week to be praying for for him, and then for the following three weeks, there will be three pre-recorded sermons. 00:03:54.240 --> 00:04:10.560 Each of us, uh Ben and Duncan and myself, are pre-recording this week, and uh we will uh upload, and those will be uh streamed on Sunday mornings, but we won't be here live uh as it as it were. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:20.319 So this will allow us then to kind of have overlapping uh holiday time, something that's which we never uh uh are normally able to do. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:30.000 What we then hope to go to is that on Sunday, the 9th of August, we will have a dress rehearsal service. 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:53.920 On Sunday, the 9th of August, myself and Ben and Duncan and the setup team uh will all arrive in the building, all necessary people for setting up, and we will set up the the chairs the way they would, the sound equipment the way it would, the uh the music stuff, all of the PPE will be set up as though people were arriving. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:57.360 Uh, but it will just be a dress rehearsal. 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:04.879 We will stream live from the building on Sunday the 9th with a small group of people. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:21.519 If everything goes well and we are content, what that means is that from Sunday the 16th, uh we will invite you to join us, and you'll be doing that in a way uh in which you you register for service. 00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:36.000 We'll probably do two services with an hour in between them that'll allow us to clean, and you'll register for one of the two services and uh and come along and sit in your household socially distant uh groups. 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:46.319 If things uh if we think that things still need to be tweaked, we will do another dress rehearsal on the 16th and then uh from the 23rd go live. 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:51.519 Uh but assuming all goes well, we hope to be back when by the middle of August. 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:55.439 Uh, we'll send that all out by way of uh text update. 00:05:55.519 --> 00:06:00.560 I might even shoot a uh a video uh so that you can watch that uh again. 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:09.120 I know that was quite a lot of information uh at the very start, but if you do have questions, uh you can email those uh to us. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:19.759 Uh you can uh WhatsApp on the on the socially distant group if you're if you're in that group and and ask those questions there. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:24.480 But for now, why don't we have a look at Psalm 46? 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:31.040 Let me pray uh and you can pull it up again on your phone uh or have it there in your Bible. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:47.360 Our Father, we do pray uh that you would establish our steps as we seek to move forward uh to being uh live in uh you know face to face together again, uh, that you would keep us uh safe. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:07:01.600 And we pray now that as we come to your word, uh that it would do the work for which you have purposed it, uh, and that you would uh change comfort and challenge our hearts. 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:04.079 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:05.040 Amen. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:10.800 Do you know we looked at this and together uh in the first week of lockdown? 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:13.199 Maybe you remember that. 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:28.480 It was in the uh the first Wednesday afternoon prayer time, you know, it was kind of organized quite uh impromptu, quite suddenly, uh, because we felt that we needed to be together to to pray, and that's what gave birth to our our three times a week prayer. 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:29.759 Do you remember those? 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:35.600 And uh we looked at this app back when everything was a bit disorientating. 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:42.000 We didn't know how long we were going to be in this season, we didn't know how long the virus was gonna last in our society. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:44.399 Back then there were conflicting messages. 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:51.439 People uh some people weren't all that mothered, some people were very anxious, some people were very fearful. 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:54.800 But there was this feeling, wasn't there? 00:07:55.040 --> 00:08:02.800 I know this is our saying goodbye to uh to some of you that this is all going to be very short-lived, uh, that we'd be back together before we knew it. 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:13.040 Uh, you know, we reassured one another, you know, saying, you know, it'd be so great when we're all back together again, kind of thinking that we'd all be back together again in one large, in one large group. 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:18.800 And so we looked at this, Sam, and we read these words. 00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:23.600 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:31.040 Since then, I don't think it's too much of an exaggeration to say that things have changed quite a lot. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:34.559 So that the world has changed utterly. 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:38.240 We now do things that we didn't do before. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:52.000 We now know what it is to cue for groceries, to wear masks out and about and on public transport, to be suspicious of uh every cough and every sneeze. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:57.840 You know, you hear a person coughing a couple of aisles over in Tesco and you just run for the door. 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:06.240 It has taken some things from us, taken the ability to embrace one another. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:10.799 We're quite a huggy church, and so that's gonna be hard. 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:23.200 The COVID cases might be dropping in Ireland, but it feels like the the new normal is gonna be here with us for a while. 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:31.360 It feels like the cautiousness, maybe even the fear and the uncertainty, is gonna linger. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:34.080 That's what it feels like. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:40.639 So perhaps what 17 weeks later? 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:43.919 Maybe Sam 46 looks a bit different. 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:50.080 Maybe it looks more necessary, more precious. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:10:01.679 If we're going to walk out of lockdown and not be crippled by fear, I think we need Sam 46, don't you? 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:08.480 And then, of course, it's not just our new COVID world. 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:13.440 We all face suffering ourselves. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:26.639 We all face those life-shaking events: sickness, sudden grief, distress, illness, loss. 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:30.960 What are we to do? 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:40.639 How do we read Psalm 46 in a way that is actually spiritually nourishing for our souls? 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:54.480 In a way that actually builds resilience for the future and helps us to face the chaos and uncertainties and sufferings that we are going through. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:02.559 One of the things that I love about this, Sam, is that it actually meets the reality of chaos head on. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:04.559 The Bible always does that. 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:08.720 The Bible doesn't say, oh, well, you know, it's just a natural part of life. 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:12.399 It doesn't say, oh, you just got to resign yourself to it. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:18.799 Or it doesn't get you to pretend like it's not there and uh escape and deflect. 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:19.440 No, no. 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:24.000 When it comes to suffering, the Bible meets it head on. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:26.639 That's such a good thing. 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:35.120 It's such a good thing because it means that it sees the problem head on and is able to offer a precise solution. 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:42.080 The psalmist shows us a world that is deeply unsettling. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:45.519 Read on with me. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:46.639 Verse 2. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:59.360 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though the waters roar and form foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:00.639 Selah. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:05.360 Parenthetically, selah means take a pause. 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:11.279 And so it's good when you're reading the psalms if there's a selah to actually take a pause. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:12.720 Take a breath. 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:17.600 You know, to you know, through the psalm, there are three places. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:24.799 And ultimately the culmination of the psalm is this call, uh this invitation to stillness. 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:33.360 But before that, the psalm is already even in its form, in its liturgy, saying take a breath. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:40.159 Look at the evocative images that we have read. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:46.879 It captures something of how it feels to be in the midst of suffering and chaos, doesn't it? 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:50.879 Doesn't it feel like when you're in suffering that the earth is giving way? 00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:55.360 What does suffering do? 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:58.960 It takes away foundational things. 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:11.200 It feels like it's now opened up. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:19.519 It feels like perhaps you're you're you're reaching out to grab hold of something and yet it slips from you. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:21.519 And you overbalance. 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:28.000 The mountains are moved into the heart of the sea. 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:31.200 What does a mountain symbolize in poetry like this? 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:34.960 Well, a mountain symbolizes permanence, doesn't it? 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:46.720 And so if you've got a mountain that's moved into the sea, it means that the the whole landscape of what you thought was true has changed. 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:54.399 The whole geography of your life has shifted permanently. 00:13:56.559 --> 00:14:05.919 Things have suddenly and unexpectedly crumbled, and now the terrain of your world looks utterly different. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:11.360 The seas roar and foam. 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:19.120 The seas in the Bible have all are always symbols of chaos and disorder. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:26.480 It was said of the uh of the ancient Israelites, the ancient Israelites were uh were great soldiers, bad sailors. 00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:30.240 Uh, if you wanted a good sailor, you went to Felisia, the Philistines. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:35.279 They were they were the sea people, Israelites, good soldiers, not too good as sailors. 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:37.120 So they were scared of the sea. 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:42.559 The sea always occupied in their mind this this place of chaos, of uncertainty. 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:43.519 And you know that as well. 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:51.600 You look out over uh a stormy sea in uh in Dublin Bay or down in uh in Wicklow or wherever. 00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:58.879 You look out of the stormy sea and you might appreciate its awesomeness as you're standing on the shore. 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:01.039 Where's the one place that you don't want to be? 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:04.960 You don't want to be in a little boat in the middle of it. 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:21.200 There it's terrifying and unpredictable, and so what this sound was getting at is in those roaring seas, will the little boat of your life capsize or not? 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:33.200 Will the little boat of your life have enough ballast, enough weight in its boat that when the big waves come up, that it stays upright? 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:37.679 Do you ever feel like you're capsizing? 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:53.360 And then later on in the so we've had lots of natural images, and later on the Sahama talks about human conflict, and there in uh verse uh six, the nations rage, the kingdoms totter. 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:55.679 Verse eight, come behold the works of the Lord. 00:15:55.840 --> 00:16:02.159 He has brought desolations on the earth, he makes wars to cease, he breaks the bow and shatters the spear. 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:09.759 There's this human conflict, this global level conflict of nation against nation. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:17.120 We don't need to look too far today to see the the warring nature of the world. 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:22.639 You see, countries like America, a country uh divided. 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:31.120 And then there's the countries that that we forget about because they're no longer reported on our news cycle. 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:37.360 We forget about places like Syria, we forget about regions like Kashmir. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:50.480 We forget parts of Africa that are left, forgotten by the West and left to the reign of warlords. 00:16:52.879 --> 00:17:04.559 So, in the midst of all of this chaos, sorry this has not been particularly uplifting of late, but it's good, it's good to acknowledge this before we get to the solution that Sam offers. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:18.640 So, in the midst of all of this chaos and all of the chaos that you are going through, all of the chaos that you will go through, all of the chaos that is going on in the world, what do you need to believe? 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:36.480 What do you need to cherish and hold on to and build your life upon so that you won't capsize, so that you won't get swallowed up by those shifting sounds. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:38.559 What do you need to know? 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:45.279 You need to know that God is your only refuge. 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:49.599 Now I know that that sounds ethereal, something that the Christians say. 00:17:49.759 --> 00:18:00.480 I'm going to explain why that's good, but look what the psalmist says: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:11.680 In the midst of chaos, in the midst of destruction and uncertainty, the psalmist celebrates this truth, this truth that is unchanging in the face of suffering. 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:15.680 God is your refuge. 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:25.359 There are many things that seek to substitute themselves as a refuge for us. 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:27.440 There are many things that we run to. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:34.559 Ask yourself now where do you run to when things get difficult? 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:53.759 Some run to the arms of a lover, some pour themselves into their work, some medicate with substance or sex. 00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:59.039 Others simply turn up the volume. 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:08.640 Turn up the volume on Spotify, on Netflix, on Audible to drown out the world. 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:16.960 Some get sucked into bitterness and resentment. 00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:22.079 And there's a a thorny comfort to that. 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:30.079 Some will run anywhere but to God because they blame him for the chaos in the first place. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:55.519 In doing so, they fail to appreciate that there is no place more secure, no helper more skilled, no comfort deeper than the comfort that he alone can provide. 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:10.880 No what the psalmist is saying: it's not that God provides a refuge, it's that he himself is the place of refuge. 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:18.319 That when all your strength is gone, he is the one who supplies more. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:36.240 To be very present uh means to be proven, uh tried and tested, or God is refugeed in strength, a tried and tested help in trouble. 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:41.200 The psalmist kind of has half an eye looking back to God's actions in the world. 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:48.079 He sustained his people before, he saved his people before, he'll do it again. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:21:07.839 Christian, suffering Christian, look back, look back to how God has helped you in the past, look to how he has sustained you in the past, look to how he has been that tried and tested helper in the past and trust him again. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:44.559 If you are, excuse me, if you are so confronted by your grief that you cannot see any of those things, can I invite you to look not to a past experience of your own, but to look to the cross and the empty tomb of the Lord Jesus, to look to God suffering for a needy world in order to make it new, and triumphing over death and grief and pain and suffering and anguish. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:52.240 Look to those things and see that He is tried and tested. 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.759 I said just a moment ago that saying that God is your refuge consigned. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:02.240 A little bit like something Christians say. 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:08.400 What does it actually look like for you to take refuge in him? 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:11.680 And why is that good? 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:29.839 First, to take refuge in him is to mean that means that you are a citizen of an unassailable city. 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:33.759 Read on in the Psalm verse four. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:43.279 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:46.079 God is in the midst of her. 00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:48.319 She shall not be moved. 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:51.039 God will help her when morning dawns. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:54.000 The nations rage, the kingdoms taught her. 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:56.640 He utters his voice, the earth melts. 00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:00.240 The Lord of hosts is with us. 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:03.440 The God of Jacob is our fortress. 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:05.119 Selah. 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:17.680 If you are taking refuge in God, you are a citizen of an unassailable city. 00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:36.480 In the ancient world, it was possible to, in fact, common, to lay siege to a city, to surround it on all sides, to cut off its supply lines, to starve the people out so that eventually then their defenses are brilliant to get through the walls and sack the city. 00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:37.920 That was common. 00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:48.799 It is much, much harder to sack a city that has a river running through it. 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:57.279 That is why the Sama says there's a river whose waters, whose streams make glad the city of our God. 00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:02.400 There's a river running into the city, which means a couple of things. 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:07.200 One, it cannot be surrounded on all sides because there's a river down the middle. 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:12.240 And it means that it's constantly being supplied with water, maybe even fish. 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:15.119 It's an unassailable city. 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:20.000 If you want to see an ancient example of an unassailable city, you look at something like the city of Nineveh. 00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:23.200 In Iran, you can Google image pictures of that. 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:56.079 You run to a relationship into the arms of a loved one, and they are taken away from you. 00:24:57.039 --> 00:25:00.559 You find that the walls of your refuge are broken down. 00:25:01.119 --> 00:25:05.839 You pour yourself into your work and you find that job is lost. 00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:08.880 You are sacked. 00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:40.720 But if you run to God and your citizenship is of the city of God, that is that heavenly city, it means that your identity, your security, your sense of place and belonging, your meaning and significance is secure in a way that no degree of suffering can take away. 00:25:45.680 --> 00:26:02.640 It means that you can endure suffering and still know who you are, still know that you are loved by God, still have a hope that transcends the circumstances that you find yourself in. 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:15.759 And so to take refuge in God is to be a citizen of that unassailable city, to put your security in something that cannot be taken away from you. 00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:20.480 It means, secondly, that God is guarding the Christian. 00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:24.000 See, God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. 00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:26.480 God will help her when morning dawns. 00:26:27.599 --> 00:26:34.960 As a citizen of earthly cities, it's now mostly nation states, but uh back then it was city states. 00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:41.759 Uh as a as a citizen of an earthly city, you have certain benefits, right? 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:50.720 You have certain privileges, uh, rights, the right to the right to vote, uh the right to freedom of assembly, those, those sorts of things. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:57.119 In the earthly city, those benefits can be taken away from you. 00:26:57.440 --> 00:26:59.200 You can lose those. 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:03.119 You can lose your your rights, your freedoms, your income. 00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:16.720 But God guards the Christian in the heavenly city, and what that means is that all of the benefits of being a citizen of heaven are yours no matter what. 00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:23.920 All of the benefits of being a Christian are yours no matter what suffering comes upon your life. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:25.680 What are those benefits? 00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:32.640 What are the benefits of being a citizen of that heavenly city that God is guarding? 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:36.799 That you're justified by faith, declared innocent before a holy God. 00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:39.119 Your life is secure with him. 00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:55.119 You're adopted, you are now a child of God, and he will see to it that he brings you through whatever suffering you are going through, refined like gold, purer, stronger. 00:27:57.599 --> 00:28:05.440 It means that God isn't just your boss or your king, he's your father who loves you. 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:36.640 It means that you have the Holy Spirit in you, transforming you, reminding you of who you are, binding your heart to Jesus, uniting you to him, reminding you of the hope that you have, assuring you that God has not abandoned you. 00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:44.319 Are you a citizen of that heavenly kingdom, that heavenly city? 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:46.720 How do you become one? 00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:52.079 Well, you come one, you become one through faith in Jesus. 00:28:53.200 --> 00:29:00.160 Jesus says to his disciples in Luke chapter 10, Luke 10, verse 20. 00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:08.640 He says to his disciples, do you not rejoice that the demons submit to you, the unclean spirits that they submit to you? 00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:14.400 Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:17.680 That is, that you're on the citizenship roll. 00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:28.880 They didn't do anything to earn it, they did it because, or it was possible because of who Jesus was, because of their faith in him. 00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:33.279 How do you get to be part of that unassailable city? 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:35.039 No, that doesn't mean that you don't go through suffering. 00:29:35.119 --> 00:30:02.640 That doesn't mean that that suffering doesn't come upon your life, but what it does mean that that even though suffering does occur, that you endure, that you are able to persevere, that your hope is not taken away, that comes freely to you who trust in Jesus. 00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:17.759 And thirdly, what it means for him to be our refuge is that God will most assuredly bring justice and peace. 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:23.039 He is the one who says, first ten, be still and know that I am God. 00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:28.880 I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. 00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:42.640 Often our anger or our anxiety is fueled by what by not knowing what will happen in the future. 00:30:43.759 --> 00:30:51.359 Not knowing whether or not the injustices that we see or have experienced will be put right. 00:30:51.759 --> 00:30:59.039 What the psalm assures us is that the injustices will be answered. 00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:04.079 What the psalm assures us is you know where the future is going. 00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:14.720 The future is going to a place where the Lord will speak and he will bring chaos and warfare and injustice and pain and suffering and grief to an end. 00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:16.880 He will be exalted in the nations. 00:31:17.039 --> 00:31:18.720 That's where history is going. 00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:24.079 He will be seen as supremely good and supremely glorious. 00:31:24.319 --> 00:31:35.039 All those petty despots, all those petty kings and rulers and presidents will be a footnote to history in comparison to the exalted Lord. 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:37.759 That's where history is going. 00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:46.319 And so, because the reason why that's good is because so much of our anxieties are caught up with not knowing the future. 00:31:46.640 --> 00:32:13.759 But the Christian on that wide angle lens does know the future, knows that God will be seen as glorious, and you will reign with him, you will be part of that heavenly city in all of its fullness when God brings warfare to an end, suffering to a close. 00:32:14.880 --> 00:32:16.720 And so, what is our response? 00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:20.400 What is the response that this psalm demands? 00:32:21.279 --> 00:32:27.839 That the psalm invites you to it's there again in verse 10. 00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:42.400 Be still be still and know that he's God. 00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:07.519 Or clouding skies on a summer's day. 00:33:07.920 --> 00:33:11.279 Be still and know that I am God. 00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:18.160 But actually, in the context, it's quite different, isn't it? 00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:59.759 There's a lot of there's a lot of clamor, there's a lot of tumult and noise to the mountains are being thrown into the sea, the seas themselves are roaring, they hear the crash of the waves, the nations are raging, they're shaking their fists and their swords at one another, there are bombs exploding, there are chariots rumbling down the streets, there are bows with arrows zooming past your ears, and in the clamor and noise, and blood and sweat, God comes and says, be still. 00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:24.719 In that sort of way. 00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:50.639 I don't know what they're like, um, but apparently um parents get frustrated from time to time. 00:34:50.800 --> 00:34:58.000 And one of the things that if I were to be a frustrated parent, I might say is sit still. 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:02.320 And you can think that God is doing that. 00:35:03.039 --> 00:35:09.119 You can think that God is saying, sit still, but that's not what it says. 00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:11.519 It says be still. 00:35:20.159 --> 00:35:28.159 God is not trying to control you, he's trying to console you in the midst of life's trials. 00:35:28.800 --> 00:35:42.960 He's not impatient with you in your suffering, he's not frustrated at you in your anger, in your questioning. 00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:47.920 He's not impatient. 00:35:49.039 --> 00:35:50.559 He's not frustrated. 00:35:50.800 --> 00:35:52.719 He's trying to be compassionate. 00:35:54.559 --> 00:36:10.079 He's trying to he's trying to in a sense take you by the shoulders or take your face in his hands and say, Stop, look at me. 00:36:10.480 --> 00:36:11.280 Look at me. 00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:12.960 Keep your eyes on me. 00:36:13.760 --> 00:36:14.639 I'm here. 00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:16.320 I hear you. 00:36:16.480 --> 00:36:17.440 I see you. 00:36:17.840 --> 00:36:19.280 I'm not going anywhere. 00:36:20.400 --> 00:36:21.920 I'm going to fix this. 00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:23.760 Trust me. 00:36:35.039 --> 00:36:36.639 He's saying, I am God. 00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:44.239 It's so tempting, isn't it, when you watch something scary to say, don't be scared. 00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:48.639 Being scared is a very right human emotion. 00:36:48.800 --> 00:36:50.239 It's okay to be scared. 00:36:50.480 --> 00:36:57.039 Some of you might be scared right now about what the future might hold for you, what you're going on to in your life. 00:36:57.199 --> 00:36:59.519 And I won't say don't be scared. 00:37:00.639 --> 00:37:03.199 But I will say keep your eyes on the hero. 00:37:05.280 --> 00:37:09.440 When your children are watching movies and they're scared, don't say to them, don't be scared. 00:37:09.519 --> 00:37:10.960 Say, watch the hero. 00:37:11.360 --> 00:37:12.880 Watch what he's going to do. 00:37:13.119 --> 00:37:15.199 Watch how he will put things right. 00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:16.719 Watch the hero. 00:37:17.119 --> 00:37:18.480 It's okay to be scared. 00:37:18.639 --> 00:37:21.360 But God is saying, watch me. 00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:23.039 Look at me. 00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:24.960 Look at what I'm going to do. 00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:27.039 Look at how I'm going to fix things. 00:37:27.280 --> 00:37:30.559 Look at the manner in which I will exalt myself among the nations. 00:37:30.719 --> 00:37:32.880 Because it won't be with bow and spear. 00:37:33.760 --> 00:37:38.800 It will be with nail-pierced hand and crown of thorns. 00:37:45.360 --> 00:37:50.639 He's saying, Be still, look at me, and know that I am God. 00:37:51.360 --> 00:37:53.840 Now, there's a challenge here, isn't there? 00:37:54.079 --> 00:38:01.440 Because one of the things that verse 10 means when God says, I am God, is it means that you're not. 00:38:04.159 --> 00:38:08.800 Fixers like me have a hard time with this. 00:38:12.079 --> 00:38:22.800 But you can also fall into the trap of thinking that you're God when suffering comes upon your life and you immediately begin to resent him. 00:38:24.639 --> 00:38:35.119 Perhaps what you're saying at that point is, or perhaps your view of God at that point is, he's really here to make my life plan go the way I want. 00:38:37.599 --> 00:38:43.920 If COVID has taught us anything, it's taught us that life plans don't work out the way we want. 00:38:44.400 --> 00:38:47.760 It's taught us that life plans need to be written in pencil. 00:38:52.559 --> 00:38:58.880 But when he says, I am God, yes, he's saying, and you're not. 00:38:59.119 --> 00:39:01.599 Yes, he's saying, look at me. 00:39:03.519 --> 00:39:07.199 He's also saying that your circumstances are not. 00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:09.840 Your circumstances are not God. 00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:12.960 This season that you're going through is not God. 00:39:13.679 --> 00:39:17.360 It's not going to control you forever, it's not going to define you forever. 00:39:17.519 --> 00:39:21.920 It's not going to be Lord over you forever. 00:39:23.440 --> 00:39:24.719 It won't last forever. 00:39:24.800 --> 00:39:26.480 Only God is eternal. 00:39:27.199 --> 00:39:29.119 What you're enduring won't define you. 00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:32.000 Only God gets to do that in Christ. 00:39:35.119 --> 00:39:36.800 It won't define you. 00:39:38.159 --> 00:39:44.639 And God is powerful enough to turn that suffering for your good and the good of those around you. 00:39:48.800 --> 00:39:57.119 And so maybe as we prepare to come out of lockdown, perhaps some stillness is called for. 00:40:00.800 --> 00:40:21.840 To be still, to find some time to reflect on the good things that you've been given, on the blessings that you have, biblically speaking, as a Christian, the blessings that you have in your own life. 00:40:26.320 --> 00:40:31.039 Some of us have been given lots of time to reflect, and it's been deeply beneficial. 00:40:31.920 --> 00:40:35.119 How are you going to be still post-lockdown? 00:40:35.360 --> 00:40:40.480 You know, we're terrible at slowing down, we're terrible at stopping, we're terrible at being still. 00:40:41.039 --> 00:40:47.199 And now we're facing this uh this new season of going back out into the world. 00:40:47.280 --> 00:40:50.639 Are we just going to forget all that's happened over the last 17 or 18 weeks? 00:40:50.800 --> 00:40:54.639 We're just going to park it all, or are there lessons that we want to take through? 00:40:54.800 --> 00:41:08.960 Other spiritual rhythms that we want to uh to carry forward with us, other ways in which we have been still that we want to keep going so that we continue to remember God's goodness and his power? 00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:13.519 How will you do that? 00:41:14.800 --> 00:41:16.320 How will you remember? 00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:42.480 How will you remember Jesus who stepped into our world and was exalted, lifted up between heaven and earth on the cross, who stepped into our suffering-soaked world and spoke peace to the raging seas and calmed the hearts of the anxious disciples? 00:41:44.079 --> 00:41:47.599 How will you remember the one who died so that you could live? 00:41:50.320 --> 00:41:58.960 The one who now sustains you through the trials that you face and reminds you of your heavenly citizenship. 00:42:03.119 --> 00:42:04.719 How will you look to him? 00:42:08.079 --> 00:42:18.079 How will you look to him with hope in your eyes that one day he will be fully exalted and that you will reign with him? 00:42:18.800 --> 00:42:20.960 That is the promise of the gospel. 00:42:23.440 --> 00:42:26.800 Run to him. 00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:42.079 Run to Jesus, the refuge of your soul, the one who will strengthen you for every difficult day. 00:42:43.679 --> 00:42:44.400 Let's pray. 00:43:01.920 --> 00:43:03.840 But necessary ones. 00:43:04.400 --> 00:43:06.239 I pray that you would bring comfort. 00:43:06.320 --> 00:43:12.559 I pray that you would draw those people, draw us all into the comfort of your refuge. 00:43:14.400 --> 00:43:24.800 Enable us by your strength, sustain us by your power, renew our hope, renew our joy. 00:43:28.880 --> 00:43:49.599 Remind us of that heavenly citizenship and cause us to persevere until we reach that heavenly city and behold your glory face to face. 00:43:50.880 --> 00:43:54.400 We pray these things in Jesus' name. 00:43:55.280 --> 00:43:55.920 Amen. 00:43:57.360 --> 00:43:59.760 Please do join us uh in. 00:44:00.079 --> 00:44:09.840 In a few moments' time after the after the song for virtual tea and coffee, uh, I'm going to schedule that Zoom call now and I'll post the link into the chat window. 00:44:10.079 --> 00:44:12.320 But for now, let's sing together.