WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:05.360 As we enter fall, we'll begin a verse-by-verse study of Psalm 23. 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:07.839 So, Psalm 23, pretty popular psalm. 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:11.359 You may have it somewhere in your house sitting on some piece of artwork. 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:16.559 Maybe you have a bookmark in your Bible with Psalm 23, pretty popular psalm for us. 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:21.760 It answers some questions for us about the nature of God, about God's care for us. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:23.280 Is it possible? 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:26.079 Could it possibly be true? 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:38.880 That you and I, as messy as we are, as discontent as we often are, or maybe all the time, as weary as we are, even like at the end of summer, how can I be this tired at the end of summer? 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:41.359 I thought I was supposed to be rested at the end of summer. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:46.240 Or maybe just tired from life or something happened. 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:52.640 Is it possible that I am the object of God's affection? 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:57.840 Is it possible that God is fiercely committed to caring for me? 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:03.600 This summer I was away from my three daughters for one week. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:07.439 And so during that week, maybe you've been away from loved ones for a little bit. 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:10.959 And the first couple days, if we're just all honest, the first couple days are wonderful, right? 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:12.159 Like you're just really selfish. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:21.519 Like you eat what you want, you watch what you want, like you own the remote, you own your time, you're going to bed when you want, you wake up when you want, nobody's bothering you, nobody's, you know, you know, can have a sip of your Coke. 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:24.159 No, the whole Coke, all of it, is mine. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:26.560 I'm not giving sips to anybody. 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:27.519 It's all mine. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:31.439 But after a couple days, start to start to miss my people. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:41.439 At the end of the week, I was waiting for them to join me, and I was in the airport, and all these people are coming down this escalator, and I'm sitting there waiting, all these people, and they're lovely people. 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:49.920 They're people like you and other people and all sorts of shapes and sizes and colors, all sorts of people watching other people hug, but they're not my people, right? 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:51.120 Not my people. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:52.640 I'm waiting for my people. 00:01:52.799 --> 00:02:01.439 And eventually, my wife and my three daughters come down the escalator, and my three girls, you know, just run at me and bulldoze me with hugs. 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:03.680 I hadn't seen them in a week, feel like forever, right? 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:06.560 Hold each one, each head. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:08.240 I want to look at each one. 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:10.400 I want to look at them, I want to look them over. 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:12.800 I want to kiss them, I want to hold each one, right? 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:13.919 Like object of affection. 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:19.439 Maybe you've done that with a child or like a niece or a nephew, your golden retriever. 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:20.400 It's been two hours. 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:25.680 If you've been away from a golden retriever for two hours, it's like two years every time you come home. 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:28.000 Object of affection. 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:37.759 So we have Psalm 23, and David is writing this with this kind of foundation of fierce commitment and care of God to us. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:48.560 And David in the Old Testament, this writer of this Psalm, he's been a shepherd, he's been poor, he's been oppressed, but he's also been powerful. 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:49.919 He becomes a king. 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:53.520 He's been powerful, he's had all provision taken care of. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:56.159 And he's the guy who writes this. 00:02:56.400 --> 00:03:08.319 And behind all kind of his points, as we go verse by verse through this in the coming weeks, is the foundation that your creator is amazingly fond of you and fiercely committed to you. 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:10.960 Not to a pain-free life. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:12.319 So don't mistake that. 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:13.120 We can mistake that. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:19.439 Not to a pain-free life, but to being for you and with you in a broken world. 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:23.120 So here's the first verse, Psalm 23, 1. 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:24.240 You may already know it. 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:29.840 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:32.800 So point number one is this a few points to guide us. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:36.800 The good shepherd owns and cares for his sheep. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:40.319 The good shepherd owns and cares for his sheep. 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:45.680 We will all be owned by something or someone, and we will all have a shepherd. 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:47.520 None of us get out of that. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:51.360 I always love this Henri Nowan quote about belonging. 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:54.400 We've read it before, it came to mind this week for me. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:04:04.400 As long as we belong to this world, we will remain subject to its competitive ways and expect to be rewarded for all the good we do. 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:10.879 But when we belong to God, who loves us without conditions, we can live as He does. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:18.160 The great conversion called for by Jesus is to move from belonging to the world to belonging to God. 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:24.319 So when David says, the Lord is my shepherd, he's saying, I belong to God. 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:26.000 I belong to the Lord. 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:30.639 Now, when we belong to the world, we create our identity and worth. 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:36.720 Maybe we're trying to earn forgiveness or earn our righteousness by our ability and to keep up the pace. 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:38.079 And it works for a while. 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:38.879 It really does. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:39.920 It does work for a while. 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:44.560 We can all put together a few good years at a time. 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:47.040 All of us have put together a few good years. 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:51.120 Maybe you're in the middle of those years, but we will all come to the end of those years. 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:53.759 We all eventually come to the end of ourselves. 00:04:54.079 --> 00:05:00.240 As the saying goes, the truth, many of us have discovered, is that God's office is at the end of our rope. 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:09.199 Because it's there that we finally see what is true, and that is we belong to God. 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:13.759 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:26.959 The idea of Lord as shepherd is this idea of being surrendered and guided and allowing yourself, and to me this is the hardest part of it, allowing myself to be cared for by him. 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:35.519 I mean, for me to kind of verbalize and say, Oh, I'm surrendered to God, you know, oh, he guides me and attend church on Sunday, I can actually do that pretty well. 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:44.399 What's hard for me is to very functionally throughout the week from my heart to actually be cared for by him rather than the world. 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:48.959 Point number two is this the shepherd supplies abundantly all we need. 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:51.600 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:55.680 The word want means to not lack for something you need. 00:05:55.759 --> 00:06:03.839 So it doesn't mean the$1.2 billion lottery this week that I know half of us bought a ticket, including me, okay? 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:05.600 And I didn't win. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:08.639 Breaker, and I'm guessing you didn't win. 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:11.040 I'm really thinking you wouldn't be here if you won. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:15.040 Maybe you'd be here thinking God did it, and you'd be like here, like owing it back to God. 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:16.800 I didn't win. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:18.000 1.2 billion. 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:20.639 It's not about like God's gonna do that. 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:23.600 Although you may come into provision, but you may not. 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:26.399 You may come into provision at certain parts of your life and then lose at other ports. 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:28.560 You might lose a lot and then come into a lot. 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:30.000 That's what David's saying. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:31.360 Paul says it in Philippians. 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:34.240 Like, I've had a lot, I've had a little, but I've learned. 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:36.319 I've learned what it means to be content. 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:40.000 The word want means to not lack for something you need. 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:43.360 It's talking about something much deeper than$1.2 billion. 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:47.199 It's talking about the primary needs of your heart. 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:51.439 That we wouldn't lack the needs of our hearts. 00:06:52.240 --> 00:07:01.199 And David says in the shepherd's care, in the shepherd's care, we can actually be utterly content. 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:08.720 So the question that hit me this week is who actually shepherds my heart? 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:12.319 That's not a guilting question. 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:14.000 I don't ask that to guilt you or shame you. 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:22.000 That's a question in grace for your heart's well-being, for deep contentment, as we possibly could know more lavishly the shepherd. 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:27.120 Am I shepherded by the 24-hour news cycle? 00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:29.600 Is that what shepherds me day to day? 00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:32.560 Am I shepherded by my bank account? 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:33.759 Really great. 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:36.720 Starting to be really good again, right? 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:39.279 It'll probably be really horrible again this week. 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:48.879 Most days I'm pretty sure that my fourth pair of Hoka running shoes would be the pair that's gonna finally put me at peace. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:50.959 I have three pairs of Hoka running shoes. 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:57.920 I will confess that in front of you, but I'm pretty sure the fourth pair, I saw a guy wearing a pair at a coffee shop and the colors were great. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:00.160 And I'm like, oh, that pair. 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:01.199 Like it's that pair. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:10.079 The other three, for whatever reason, they didn't do it, but this pair, the fourth pair, will definitely finally bring me healing in my heart and everlasting peace. 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:14.000 I actually think these things, and so do you. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:20.959 Am I realizing growing contentment, that quiet calm of heart? 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:27.040 Do I allow him to shepherd me, to care for me? 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:32.720 I read Anderson Cooper's new book on his family, the Vanderbelts, over the summer. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:37.200 So the Vanderbelts, we all know the Vanderbelts were one of the wealthiest families. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:39.600 They were the wealthiest family in our country at one point. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:43.120 Now, what I didn't realize until I got into the book is that the wealth is all gone now. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:44.480 There's no wealth left. 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:48.559 There's no Vanderbilt left that's actually wealthy because of the wealth. 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:49.039 It's all gone. 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:50.960 It's been diluted and wasted. 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:57.440 Several chapters are given to Elva Vanderbilt, who was a Southern woman in the 1800s. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:08:59.360 Here she is, in the 1800s. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:04.159 She was a Southern woman that married into the third generation of the Vanderbilt. 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:07.519 And in third generation, the Vanderbilts were doing very well. 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:13.919 They were all, this whole generation of the Vanderbilts, they were all the wealthiest people in our country. 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:16.080 They were mega rich. 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:19.279 Jeff Bezos type of wealth. 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:20.799 But they were new money. 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:24.960 And in New York at the time, new money was not old money, it wasn't European money. 00:09:25.039 --> 00:09:26.799 So they had no social status. 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:30.720 And this drove Elva crazy. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:37.039 And so Elva in the 1880s decided to throw a ball to overwhelm everybody with her wealth. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:40.000 It became known as the party of the century. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:51.440 It was a ball, one night, eight-course meal, food and drinks, every surface was covered with flowers and orchids and palms and roses and fountains. 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:54.399 They created the fountain, paper lanterns. 00:09:54.639 --> 00:10:02.559 She spent, in the 1880s, she spent$250,000 on a party one night. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:06.480 That is equal to spending on a party one night right now. 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:12.240 Today's money,$6.4 million in one night. 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:18.480 After the party, another socialite in New York said this. 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:38.559 Leaped boldly up to 10 millions, 50 millions, 100 million, and the necessities and luxuries followed suit. 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:39.759 So what's he saying? 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:43.600 Well, he's saying it's never enough. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:46.639 It just keeps jumping up. 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:53.679 And they never are empowered to actually say what David said, what Paul said in Philippians 4. 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:58.399 And that is, whether I have plenty or I just I don't have any. 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:07.360 I have utter contentment of heart. 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:14.399 The following year, Elva finally got invited to Caroline Astor's Opera Ball. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:18.480 I mean that's that's that is the party. 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:24.960 Like that that you have arrived if you are invited to Caroline's party, the opera ball. 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:26.799 So it worked. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:28.720 It worked for Elva. 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:31.840 And it works for us to some degree. 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:34.399 Like we can put it together. 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:37.200 We can use some money for happiness for a little bit. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:40.559 The problem is not that money can't buy happiness for a little bit. 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:42.639 We would all say, well, of course that works. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:45.600 The problem is it just doesn't last. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:46.879 It's just not solid. 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:48.000 It's not stable. 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:51.200 It's not quite enough for our hearts. 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:57.440 So the question for Elva would have been: did Elva know profound peace for her heart? 00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:00.559 Not did she get invited to Caroline Astor's party. 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:06.159 Well, if you go online and you read about Elva's life, you read about, she did some great work for women. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:06.879 It's all true. 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:07.919 Great work. 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:14.000 Even more articles about her wealth, just articles drooling over the wealth. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:16.639 But what you don't read a lot about is her. 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:27.279 And the book was quite different in this regard because Cooper really paints a picture of a woman who never has enough to be enough. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:29.679 Just always searching. 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:35.200 Never has quiet calm or deep peace or profound contentment. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:38.559 This brings us back to that word. 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:42.480 I feel like for the last two years, keep revisiting this word, behold. 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:45.600 The Lord is my shepherd. 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:50.320 I'm beholding the Lord to pause, to take in, to relish. 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:52.480 David beheld the Lord. 00:12:53.600 --> 00:12:55.440 There's a place out on the Kennesaw Trails. 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:57.120 I'm not going to tell you where because it's my place. 00:12:57.200 --> 00:12:57.679 It's not yours. 00:12:57.759 --> 00:12:59.039 I don't want to see you there. 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:04.559 And I round this corner, and it's right before the trail declines. 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:06.639 Some trees have fallen. 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:11.200 And it's just enough for the sun to break through the canopy of the forest. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:14.240 And so grass grows up right in that little area. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:16.159 It's just this beautiful little spot. 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:19.440 And every time I turn that corner, it kind of takes me. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:21.200 I kind of pause. 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:23.120 I behold, right? 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:24.159 I relish it. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:24.720 I take it in. 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:33.279 What I'm realizing is happening is not so much me beholding it as if I have power over it. 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:37.360 But actually, as I behold it, it takes power over me. 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:40.639 The Lord is my shepherd. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:44.720 As I behold the Lord as shepherd, I actually become held. 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:52.559 Or more theologically correct, we realize we have always been held. 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:56.559 Lavishly cared for deep in our souls. 00:13:56.639 --> 00:14:00.080 And will we allow Him to be that shepherd to us? 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:01.519 Point number three. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:11.039 While circumstances can grant moments of contentment, even seasons, the good shepherd creates contentment of heart. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:35.600 So let's just say it's a Thursday, it's lunchtime, you pull up to the Marietta Market for lunch, and your 1996 Toyota Camry, and you park it, and as you park it, you look over, and there's a shiny new Tesla with the doors that go like this, right? 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:38.159 Not this, these doors. 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:44.639 And you're in your 96 Camry and you look over and you think, oh man. 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:47.519 If I had that. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:14:59.120 Everlasting peace. 00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:00.960 Like that would be it. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:12.240 Now, what's also true, we don't talk about it a lot a lot, is that maybe you pull up in the Tesla, you know, these doors, and you see the 1996 Toyota Cameron. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:25.360 And you remember when you drove that in high school and you had the windows down, and you did have everlasting peace, and you're playing Dave Matthews Band, and you think to yourself, boy, I wish I was in that car. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:28.080 Isn't that crazy how we do that? 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:40.000 Or you're walking up into the market and you look over, there's a 22-year-old beautiful human being over there, perfectly smooth skin, lush, brown hair. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:41.840 It's all all brown. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:49.919 That doesn't have all this silver that has started in the mind, this little gray, you got this little really this big gray thing right here. 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:53.519 Just a beautiful human being. 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:56.399 Their body probably never hurts. 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:04.720 And you think, man, to be beautiful like that again, that must be wonderful. 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:14.320 But you know, the 22-year-old's probably sitting there and sees me hobbling up there with all my brown and gray hair, and my muscles don't really show that much anymore. 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:21.440 And they see me with my three girls and my wife, and they think, oh, to build a family like that. 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:25.279 We just keep doing this to ourselves. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:36.000 Like whatever we're in right now, today, present moment, the gifts we have now, we like trick ourselves that it's not enough. 00:16:38.639 --> 00:16:41.840 That he's not enough in where we're at right now. 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:44.879 Single or married, family, no family. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:49.200 We're torturing ourselves. 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:53.759 And this is where the Lord is my shepherd, can mean everything. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:17:05.279 Because it rescues us from this sin, really, and this coping and these futile attempts to try to get contentment from things that will never love us back. 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:08.480 Or they're just total disillusionment. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:11.839 Jesus says in John 10, 11, I am the good shepherd. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:14.720 The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:16.240 That's the kind of shepherd we have. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:18.559 Unto death, the shepherd will love you. 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:24.079 The shepherd will spare nothing, not even himself, to provide contentment for you. 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:27.119 The cross is the place that we see ultimate love. 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:29.599 We'd say grace or one-way love. 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:32.319 Meaning that you are loved. 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:37.279 And a Tesla won't love you like this, and neither will a 96 Camry, neither one will. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:42.640 That you are loved when you don't deserve it and you didn't earn it. 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:46.079 And there's nothing expected or required in response to it. 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:49.920 That's immaculate. 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:50.960 It's sufficient. 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:58.160 It's why a heart can know peace even when the heart is struggling or we're in a broken world. 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:03.920 That we can know that kind of lavish love and belonging and an inner validation. 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:06.559 How does this happen? 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:08.240 I ran into this quote this week. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:10.720 Tim Keller on contentment says this. 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:20.079 If grace has really changed our hearts, we don't ultimately care if life goes the way we want it. 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:22.000 Now, I don't love that phrase, I'll just be honest. 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:25.279 It'll pause in the middle of that and I'll read it again, but I don't like it. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:30.480 We don't ultimately care if life goes the way we want it, as long as we have him. 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:40.400 The joys of acclaim, wealth, and power are nothing compared to the eternal acclaim, wealth, and power we have in him. 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:56.319 A weaned child, talking about being weaned from the world, a weaned child is not just someone who knows this in principle, but who has worked gospel truths into his or her soul as spiritually sensed realities. 00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:02.640 Internally, this quiets the soul into profound contentment and poise. 00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:10.960 So, what does it mean to work gospel truths into our heart? 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:15.680 Well, let's just pretend like we're Elva Vanderbilt with a lot less money, apparently. 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:17.119 Well, yes, just true. 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:19.680 Or we're just floundering in unpeace. 00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:24.000 All kind of swirly and tense. 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:29.680 I think working gospel truths into us can look like a bunch of things. 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:33.519 For me, it tends to look like just slowing down a bit to pray. 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:41.119 And a couple prayers here just for framework, not for ritual or repetition, but just for framework. 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:45.039 A first prayer could be something like a prayer of repentance in God's grace. 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:46.799 God's kindness leads us to repentance. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:51.519 We know that, so we can pray something like Heavenly Father, reveal my heart's desire. 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:54.400 Reveal what my heart's doing. 00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:57.680 That will never bring my heart peace. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:05.200 That I might confess more and grow more astonished of your abundant supply for my heart. 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:07.519 Help me see what I'm doing. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:12.240 That's so messed up or toxic or coping or unhelpful. 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:20.960 Help me see it so I can just confess it and help me to see how much you actually abundantly supply for my heart. 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:26.079 Moving into a second prayer, just following right up, is receiving God's grace. 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:27.920 Heavenly Father, remind me. 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:34.799 This is just kind of preaching the gospel to yourself, in Christ, help God remind me, in Christ I'm already forgiven. 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:37.839 I don't have to work for my forgiveness. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:41.279 Remind me, in Christ, I'm already righteous. 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:45.359 I don't have to obsessively analyze my own righteousness report. 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:49.039 Heavenly Father, remind me, in Christ I'm already enough. 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:52.160 I don't have to earn enough or have enough or be enough. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:53.839 In Christ, I already belong. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:56.559 I don't have to find belonging in the world as to belong. 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:01.839 In Christ, I'm lavishly loved and I'm doted over by you. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:05.359 That you want to be my shepherd. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:16.640 And one of the wonderful things about church, and there are wonderful things about church, is the preached word over you and to you. 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:20.319 The reformers called it the normal means of grace. 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:23.839 The preached word and receiving communion. 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:28.880 That you come and we just need something from outside of ourselves. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:37.599 Sometimes I pray and I leave the prayer and it's like I didn't even do anything, I just said words. 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:40.799 And sometimes I pray and it's like I feel amazingly relieved. 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:46.240 The wonderful thing about church is that you get to receive a word from outside of you. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:50.720 And you get to receive it, and it gets to be spoken to you as truth. 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:52.720 And that's powerful. 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:55.039 That's a powerful practice. 00:21:57.599 --> 00:22:10.160 And then you get to come forward with empty hands to receive communion as a reminder that we all come empty-handed before God. 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:21.519 And at the cross, empty-handed, we receive all the love we need, all the forgiveness we need, all the righteousness we need because of his word for us, not our work for him. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:26.720 This is actually how God provides for us in the core of our hearts. 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:31.039 It changes everything when it comes to our worth, our forgiveness, our righteousness. 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:32.960 We have it all in Jesus. 00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:35.039 It's the beginning of our contentment. 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:42.240 That He, the Lord, is my shepherd, is actually utter contentment for us. 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:44.640 Let's pray together. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:48.079 God, I pray that you would grow us in this truth. 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:58.319 Not that we have arrived by any means, or that we will in this world arrive at utter contentment and everlasting peace, but help us to taste it more. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:00.880 Help us to grow in grace. 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:04.720 Help us to grow in trust of how sufficient you are. 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:11.839 Help wean us from this world to the belonging we have in you that is powerful for our hearts and our souls. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:15.839 That we wouldn't need the world to feel important. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:20.960 We wouldn't need the world for us to feel like we have some peace, but actually we'd be free from it. 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:23.279 So we are at peace in the world. 00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:34.799 God, we thank you for the gift of Jesus on the cross that takes all of our sin, all of our guilt and all of our shame for full forgiveness. 00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:38.319 And we have your full righteousness given to us. 00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:40.079 So we are forever yours. 00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:41.599 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:42.400 Amen.