SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
SPEAKER_01: My name is Adam Case.
SPEAKER_01: I'm the lead pastor here on staff worship team.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01: Our uh mission is to encounter the love and power of God and give it away to the world.
SPEAKER_01: If you are new or looking to get more connected, the best thing you could do is to fill out a connect card either digitally by scanning the QR code that's on the screen or physically the card that's uh in the seat pocket in front of you, and drop that off either in the offering box or out to the welcome desk.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and we will add you to our weekly email list, uh, which is a great way to know various ministries that are meeting in the upcoming week and other uh upcoming events that we have.
SPEAKER_01: You also should have received a bulletin when you came in that has that same information there for you.
SPEAKER_01: Um and with along with trying to connect anybody who's new, if you are a first-time guest, we have a gift for you.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're brave enough to let us know that you're a first-time guest, one of our greeters will come around and uh bring you a gift.
SPEAKER_01: All right, we've got one back there.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome, glad to have you with us.
SPEAKER_01: All right, well, today is Father's Day, so happy Father's Day to all the fathers here.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: And we're more just gonna do more than just uh cheer for them.
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you stand up?
SPEAKER_01: Fathers, if you are a uh a father, if you're expecting your wife is expecting the first time, if you're a stepfather, why don't you stand?
SPEAKER_01: And we're just gonna bless you uh this morning.
SPEAKER_01: So if you see somebody standing around you, feel free to lay a hand on them or extend a hand in their direction.
SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of these fathers.
SPEAKER_01: Bless them with strength, health, and happiness.
SPEAKER_01: Guide them with your wisdom and help them feel appreciated and loved.
SPEAKER_01: Give them the courage to lead by example and the patience to nurture unconditionally.
SPEAKER_01: When they are tired or overwhelmed, renew their strength.
SPEAKER_01: Surround them with your peace, and may they feel your profound love in all that they do.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: All right, you can have a seat.
SPEAKER_01: Also, I want to recognize that um days like this can also uh can maybe be painful for some of us.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm not gonna ask you to stand, but I do want to pray for those that today might be a difficult day for any reason.
SPEAKER_01: And if you if that's you, I'll pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: If you know of somebody, just hold them in your your heart and your mind as I pray for those who might be experiencing pain today.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we also recognize that today may be difficult, a difficult day for some, for the desire for kids that has not or will not be met, for those who have estranged relationships with their own fathers or their children, for those who are carrying the pain of loss of any kind that is especially poignant today.
SPEAKER_01: We ask for the comfort that only you can provide, and that they would experience you who are the father to the fatherless.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: With that, let's uh stand back up and greet one another.
SPEAKER_01: Uh find somebody you've never met before, smile, tell them I'm glad you are here.
SPEAKER_01: You can make your way back to your seats.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: In addition this morning to a uh the half sheet bulletin that you should have received, also should have received a full uh page handout.
SPEAKER_01: So this morning I've got a decent amount of content that I'm gonna cover and some things that I think would be really helpful that I won't be able to get to.
SPEAKER_01: So um we created this uh extra handout for you that um you can take home as a resource to think about in the coming days.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm gonna do something a little bit different, and I'm gonna start by reading our passage.
SPEAKER_01: Our passage this morning is from John chapter 10, verses uh one to eighteen.
SPEAKER_01: This will be up on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold rather than going through the gate must surely be a thief and a robber.
SPEAKER_01: But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him.
SPEAKER_01: He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
SPEAKER_01: After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.
SPEAKER_01: They won't follow a stranger.
SPEAKER_01: They will run from him because they don't know his voice.
SPEAKER_01: Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn't understand what he meant, so he explained it to them.
SPEAKER_01: I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the true sheep did not listen to them.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I am the gate.
SPEAKER_01: Those who come in through me will be saved.
SPEAKER_01: They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.
SPEAKER_01: The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.
SPEAKER_01: My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
SPEAKER_01: I am the good shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming.
SPEAKER_01: He will abandon the sheep because they don't belong to him and he isn't their shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: So the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock.
SPEAKER_01: The hired hand runs away because he's working only for the money and doesn't really care about the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: I am the good shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my father knows me and I know the Father, so I sacrifice my life for the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: I have other sheep too that are not in the sheepfold.
SPEAKER_01: I must bring them also.
SPEAKER_01: They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life, so I may take it back again.
SPEAKER_01: No one can take my life from me.
SPEAKER_01: I sacrifice it voluntarily, for I have the authority to lay down when I want to, and also to take it up again.
SPEAKER_01: For this is what my father has commanded.
SPEAKER_01: In uh 2011 movie The Help came out based on the 2009 book by the same name by uh Catherine Scott.
SPEAKER_01: If you have not seen the movie very briefly, the premise of it is there is a uh a white recent college graduate.
SPEAKER_01: She was a journalist major, she goes by the nickname Skeeter, uh, and she lived in this town in Mississippi.
SPEAKER_01: It takes place in 1963 in a heavily segregated area, and she um befriends a number of black domestic workers and gets them to tell the stories about how uh their white employers have mistreated them, and these are shared anonymously and kind of exposes what's going on in this town.
SPEAKER_01: And two of the women that lead the way is uh Abilene Clark and Missy Jackson.
SPEAKER_01: They kind of empower their friends and neighbors to tell their stories.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the things about Abilene is she's an incredibly noble character.
SPEAKER_01: She faces a lot of external challenges, but deeply loves uh the children that she cares for, even though she's poorly treated by their parents.
SPEAKER_01: She loves these kids.
SPEAKER_01: And there's this thing, as you can see on the screen, she sits with this little girl named Mae Mobley.
SPEAKER_01: And Abline is actually a better mother and more motherly to Mae Mobley than her own biological mom.
SPEAKER_01: She looks her in the eyes and she smiles and says, You is kind, you is smart, you is important, instills these affirmations within Mae Mobley.
SPEAKER_01: So even though Mae Mobley's mom is embarrassed by her, Abilene communicates love and acceptance.
SPEAKER_01: Characters like Abilene, they stir something up good and hopeful within us.
SPEAKER_01: There's something about this like, I want to be like Abilene.
SPEAKER_01: I want somebody like Abilene in my life.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason for this is that they touch on something that the Bible has shown for millennia, and actually, neuroscientists are recently starting to realize.
SPEAKER_01: It's this idea of secure attachment.
SPEAKER_01: There's three things.
SPEAKER_01: One is joyful connection.
SPEAKER_01: We are designed for joyful connection.
SPEAKER_01: Now, not all neuroscientists will agree, but but the scriptures speak to a joyful connection with God.
SPEAKER_01: That we know no matter what, God is glad to be with us.
SPEAKER_01: We also need joyful connection with other people.
SPEAKER_01: That we have a group of people that we know no matter what, they are glad to be with us.
SPEAKER_01: So this one joyful connection that operates in two different dimensions of intimacy and independence.
SPEAKER_01: Intimacy is the ability to have close relationships with other people.
SPEAKER_01: Independence is the ability to try things out on our own, knowing we've got a safe harbor to return to.
SPEAKER_01: So this one desire manifests in two different directions, and it comes from trying to answer three questions.
SPEAKER_01: Three really important questions.
SPEAKER_01: And that is, are other people available when I need help?
SPEAKER_01: When I'm in a place of needing help, are other people available to me?
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of answering that intimacy question.
SPEAKER_01: Or when I'm in a place of distress, which just means it's beyond our bandwidth to be able to handle on our own.
SPEAKER_01: So it can be something like, you know, parents of young kids, we get overstimulated.
SPEAKER_01: Mom, mom, mommy, mama, mom, look what I can do.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh wow, that's so great.
SPEAKER_01: That was great the other 49 times you did too.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for showing me.
SPEAKER_01: And we just need space.
SPEAKER_01: Or we've not interacted with people for a little while.
SPEAKER_01: We're understimulated, and we need some interaction with other people.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, a couple of weeks ago during VBS on Monday morning, I saw a beautiful picture of this.
SPEAKER_01: I was sitting in the back.
SPEAKER_01: There were a couple of kids that came in, and their mom was dropping off.
SPEAKER_01: They don't come to church, but they're connected to somebody at the church, and the kids had tears.
SPEAKER_01: Lots of tears.
SPEAKER_01: And mom had to go to work.
SPEAKER_01: And after about 45 seconds or so, the son, who was probably around four or five, realized mom wasn't there, and so he runs out of the room.
SPEAKER_01: And somebody who knows the boy saw this and sprinted after.
SPEAKER_01: She was like Flojo or Felix Jones, who I don't know, most recent, Usain Bolt, some sprinter, determined.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_01: She didn't grab them and bring them back in.
SPEAKER_01: Often we see adults doing that while they were flailing around and crying.
SPEAKER_01: We bring them back into this place of distress.
SPEAKER_01: She stayed with them and helped them know that somebody would be there with them in the midst of their distress.
SPEAKER_01: So we need to know are others available?
SPEAKER_01: Will this stress be alleviated?
SPEAKER_01: And then do I have agency?
SPEAKER_01: Am I able to influence those, the the world around me?
SPEAKER_01: And this develops uh independence.
SPEAKER_01: So we all, like I said earlier, we all want to be able, or we want an aboleine in our lives, but it's often not the case.
SPEAKER_01: So why is that?
SPEAKER_01: What is our experience?
SPEAKER_01: And is it possible to live in the way that we're meant to live?
SPEAKER_01: We're doing a series that we're calling life to the fullest, where we're talking about mental health because God cares about that.
SPEAKER_01: He wants us to live life to the fullest, and part of that is addressing anything that uh impedes our mental health.
SPEAKER_01: And we we really want to lower the stigma that this would be a place that it's safe to talk about if we're not doing well uh mentally, and that it's not a reflection of a lack of faith, uh, but rather just a part of being a human in the world.
SPEAKER_01: We've looked through, looked at a number of things that mental health is a part of soul care, that with regard to our pain, we can either be a victim or be a witness to God's work in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: We've seen that God heals broken hearts through an encounter with Jesus or through his people.
SPEAKER_01: We talked about the role of grief and lament, that the Father's heart is to bring healing.
SPEAKER_01: We heard a very powerful testimony about that.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then that uh the role of confession and how that can help us in uh coming to a more mentally healthy place.
SPEAKER_01: So before any we go any further, I'm gonna pray for us.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray along with Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
SPEAKER_01: We acknowledge that this doesn't always feel true, and it may rarely feel true for some of us.
SPEAKER_01: Often the circumstances of life feel more true than your presence and your word.
SPEAKER_01: So we ask you to help us see where we are and how to trust your leading into the place where you restore our soul.
SPEAKER_01: We ask this in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So our main takeaway from this morning is that we would see that the Good Shepherd meets us where we are and moves us into the pasture of joy and peace.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk about uh and and kind of locate these default landscapes and then envision the pasture of joy and peace.
SPEAKER_01: As we go through, I want to say, give credit to where where credit is due.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of this is informed by a uh fairly new book called Landscapes of the Soul, written by a married couple, uh Sid and Jeff Holesclaw.
SPEAKER_01: They um are happen to be vineyard pastors up in Grand Rapids.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Jeff is also a um a seminary professor, and Sid is a spiritual director.
SPEAKER_01: And as we go through this, let me just say uh that this might feel like you're getting your mail read and not in a fun way.
SPEAKER_01: All right, this is not a personality profile.
SPEAKER_01: Um this is uh not to um degrade our caregivers or blame our challenges on them, but to just recognize how that may have influenced where the ways that we navigate the world today.
SPEAKER_01: So this is um ideas just now informed by the questions I asked earlier.
SPEAKER_01: Are others available?
SPEAKER_01: Will my distress be alleviated?
SPEAKER_01: And do I have agency?
SPEAKER_01: Now, to a word to parents of young children, this is also not to cause stress or make you freak out about how you're impacting your kids.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to be perfect.
SPEAKER_01: So as we go through the brief sketch of these landscapes, it's a reminder that we live in a world deeply impacted by sin, which is really simply just a wandering off from the path that of life that God has designed for us.
SPEAKER_01: So our own sin and the sin of others impacts us.
SPEAKER_01: This is why we're not all able, or why we don't all have an abling in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And as we go through those questions that I asked about are others available?
SPEAKER_01: Would this distress be alleviated?
SPEAKER_01: Do I have agency?
SPEAKER_01: If you answered or would only be able to answer maybe or no, there's a good chance we've got insecure attachment.
SPEAKER_01: And so realizing where we are can bring us to a place of confession and healing, like Randy talked about a couple of weeks ago, and that confession of our own wandering off the path, or confession of how others did, and that negatively impact us, impacted us.
SPEAKER_01: So again, the Good Shepherd meets us where we are and moves us into the pasture of joy and peace.
SPEAKER_01: So let's locate our default landscapes.
SPEAKER_01: One of the reasons there isn't a one-size-fits-all spirituality and path toward growth is because we don't all start in the same place and have the same needs.
SPEAKER_01: We all have the same destination and the same shepherd who's guiding us, but we have different things for him to address.
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to look at these landscapes of insecure attachment and how they impact our view of God.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to say these are not hard and fast, and likely some of the things I talk about, you might find yourself in different places, but wherever kind of most resonates with you is where your default landscape would be.
SPEAKER_01: Also, if you find yourself justifying any of the things that I'm saying, might be an indication that's your default landscape.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to use kind of first person plural as we go through this.
SPEAKER_01: The first landscape is the jungle.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the jungle is stunningly gorgeous, but it's wild and unpredictable.
SPEAKER_01: It can go from blue skies to a torrential downpour in the snap of a finger.
SPEAKER_01: There's lots of life, but there's lots of scary things too, like howler monkeys waking you up at five in the morning.
SPEAKER_01: They sound massive, they're not real big.
SPEAKER_01: Life in the jungle is noisy.
SPEAKER_01: There's an over-emphasis on intimacy.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, I talked about these two different dimensions of intimacy and independence.
SPEAKER_01: Well, if we live in the jungle, there's an over-emphasis on intimacy, but it's not real intimacy.
SPEAKER_01: We actually give our power away to others.
SPEAKER_01: It's also called anxious attachment.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it can lead us to hyper-vigilance.
SPEAKER_01: That's the clinical term for it.
SPEAKER_01: Which means we only experience joyful connection by constantly watching other people and waiting to know when's the right time to connect with them and when we need to keep our distance.
SPEAKER_01: As we live this way, nonverbally scanning other people, it drains our nervous system.
SPEAKER_01: It wipes us out, it's exhausting.
SPEAKER_01: Trying to figure out if other people are approachable or not.
SPEAKER_01: We try to be a mind reader or an empath.
SPEAKER_01: And we think we know what someone is thinking just based on their nonverbal cues.
SPEAKER_01: And the challenging thing is that we're accurate enough times to reinforce continue doing it.
SPEAKER_01: This can lead to false rejection.
SPEAKER_01: So if somebody's hungry and they're demonstrating the nonverbal cues of being hungry, we interpret that they're angry.
SPEAKER_01: Angry with us or with somebody else.
SPEAKER_01: If they're exhausted, we interpret that as they're disinterested.
SPEAKER_01: And if they're indifferent about something, then we perceive that as disgust.
SPEAKER_01: So this can lead to, again, really high levels of anxiety and little sense of agency because my life is only okay if the people I'm closest to are okay.
SPEAKER_01: So how did this happen?
SPEAKER_01: Well, growing up, when we asked the question, are other people available for me when I need help?
SPEAKER_01: the answer we got was maybe.
SPEAKER_01: Much of our life was maybe.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe our caregivers are available, maybe they're not.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe my accomplishes accomplishments will be celebrated, maybe not.
SPEAKER_01: Our primary caregivers were inconsistently attuned to our needs.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they were available for joyful connection, but most of the time they were not.
SPEAKER_01: Again, young parents, a brief respite and some good news.
SPEAKER_01: If you can be uh attuned about 50% of the time, that's good enough parenting.
SPEAKER_01: 50% for us growing up, sometimes there were clear.
SPEAKER_01: Boundaries and other times there weren't.
SPEAKER_01: And if we live life in the jungle, we develop survival skills.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to go through those, but those are on the handout.
SPEAKER_01: Really helpful to think about how we navigate the word the world, putting language to what we do, and also might help give an indicator if you're still uncertain, am I living in the jungle or not?
SPEAKER_01: Well, this obviously impacts our view of God and with others.
SPEAKER_01: So if we live in the jungle, we worship and serve a jungle God.
SPEAKER_01: We're uncertain if he's available.
SPEAKER_01: If we feel his presence, then we're good.
SPEAKER_01: Life is good.
SPEAKER_01: If not, then we must have done something wrong.
SPEAKER_01: And we've got to search our hearts feverishly to know how did I sin?
SPEAKER_01: What did I not do that God asked me to do?
SPEAKER_01: And that's why he's like withholding his presence from me.
SPEAKER_01: If a group or a church felt good, we stayed.
SPEAKER_01: As soon as the feeling left, so did we.
SPEAKER_01: Vibes and feels are the North Star of those who live in the jungle.
SPEAKER_01: That's the North Star with God and with others.
SPEAKER_01: We often carry around a lot of guilt with not doing enough.
SPEAKER_01: As uh a couple of years ago, Carrie and I got to spend a little time in Costa Rica, got to have real life experience with life in the jungle.
SPEAKER_01: I had told the story about uh these fruit, these little fruits that we found on the beach that looked good and smelled good, but if we ate it, we would have gotten really sick or died.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we also got to tour a national park that had a volcano, and there was a tour guide, and he found these different animals, a snake or uh frogs.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, look at that, don't touch it, you'll die.
SPEAKER_01: It's like it, but it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: Like, stay away from this plant, you'll get sick.
SPEAKER_01: That's life in the jungle.
SPEAKER_01: The other landscape we might find ourselves in is the desert.
SPEAKER_01: The desert is very quiet and void of life.
SPEAKER_01: We survive by keeping every inch of our body covered.
SPEAKER_01: We have to follow the rules to survive.
SPEAKER_01: There's an over-emphasis on independence, but it's not true independence itself protection.
SPEAKER_01: We we do what's called avoiding attachment.
SPEAKER_01: We protect ourselves by keeping other people at a distance.
SPEAKER_01: My life is in my brain.
SPEAKER_01: So what I think is more important than what I feel.
SPEAKER_01: That's how we navigate the world.
SPEAKER_01: So, how did this happen?
SPEAKER_01: Well, when we asked if other people were available for me when we needed help, the answer we got was no.
SPEAKER_01: Now, our caregivers may have met our physical needs, but our emotional needs were not.
SPEAKER_01: We were praised for being good, for following the rules, and that what that developed within us kind of a performance mentality.
SPEAKER_01: We learned to not connect with others and instead rely on ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: There's survival skills that we develop within the desert.
SPEAKER_01: Again, that's on the handout and for you to look through and perhaps help you as you consider your own life.
SPEAKER_01: So, how did this how does this impact our view of God and others?
SPEAKER_01: Well, the desert God is a God of rules and order.
SPEAKER_01: His will must be followed.
SPEAKER_01: The logical disciplines, Bible study, Bible reading, praying about circumstances, not people, fasting, those sorts of things make a lot of sense, and they're how we're able to connect with God, but not the things as much that touch on emotions.
SPEAKER_01: We're also far more comfortable serving others than being served by other people.
SPEAKER_01: We highly esteem doctrinal purity over church unity.
SPEAKER_01: So we uh hold the truth over relationships.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you don't follow the rules, you're to blame when something goes wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Life in the desert, pretty straightforward.
SPEAKER_01: Growing up, being thoroughly a Midwesterner, I never quite connected with in the in the Bible where it talks about the wilderness, because the wilderness in the Midwest is not super dangerous.
SPEAKER_01: There's still water available, there's plenty of shade, there's not many animals out there that can kill us.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: But when over the last few years we've been able to take uh several trips out west, and that's where it connected.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, if we don't have water, we're dead.
SPEAKER_01: Then the Israelites grumbling finally made sense.
SPEAKER_01: Because life in the desert, you you gotta be really calculated with every move.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta make sure all of your personal needs are met.
SPEAKER_01: The third insecure landscape is called the war zone.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the first two landscapes are relatively predictable and consistent, but not the war zone.
SPEAKER_01: Because in the war zone, we can be neither intimate nor independent.
SPEAKER_01: Life is way too unpredictable, it's way too chaotic, there are no rules, there's no pattern for survival.
SPEAKER_01: Everything's random and completely unexpected.
SPEAKER_01: If somebody grew up in a situation where they would most identify with the war zone, it's been really difficult to find a church because it's hard to believe and trust the words and actions of another person.
SPEAKER_01: So, how did this happen?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we grew up in a family where family secrets had to be kept.
SPEAKER_01: We couldn't share what was happening with anybody outside the family.
SPEAKER_01: There was likely long-term trauma and abuse, often from our parents.
SPEAKER_01: We grew up in a situation where we had to care for our parent or parents as a child instead of vice versa, them caring for us.
SPEAKER_01: We were the ones attuned to their needs, not them attuned to us, because they were often on the verge of a breakdown.
SPEAKER_01: We maybe even had to care for their physical needs.
SPEAKER_01: We found ourselves as their therapist or confidant, something that should have been another adult, uh, but it was sort of outsourced to us, their kids.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in the jungle, it can it can be hot or cold, and we're trying to figure out which it is.
SPEAKER_01: In the war zone, it's both simultaneously.
SPEAKER_01: Like what was communicated to us is that we're both loved and cherished, and at the same time hated and despised.
SPEAKER_01: There's this constant, unpredictable, simultaneous push and pull.
SPEAKER_01: Like they were saying, come close and yet keeping us away.
SPEAKER_01: Come close.
SPEAKER_01: And we we didn't know what to do.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the survival skills of somebody in a war zone has to use everything from the jungle and the desert.
SPEAKER_01: So, how does this impact our view of God and others?
SPEAKER_01: Well, naturally, there's a war zone God, and we both want to draw near to this God, and we're absolutely terrified.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't mean reverent fear that the Bible talks about, but like thinking we can't possibly get close.
SPEAKER_01: We love the idea of a loving God, and we feel way too much shame to be able to receive it.
SPEAKER_01: We take delight in God judging sinners because those who abused us will finally get theirs.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of uh self-judgment if we live or grew up in the war zone.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to say the fact that a person who whose default is the war zone is in a church is actually miraculous.
SPEAKER_01: Because God and others are so unpredictable.
SPEAKER_01: That's what they learn.
SPEAKER_01: So that that somebody from that background would be able to be at home or comfortable enough to show up at a church is significant.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Jesus can enter the war zone and meet us if we find ourselves there.
SPEAKER_01: He can meet us in the jungle, he can meet us in the desert.
SPEAKER_01: Now, a majority of us live life from one of these landscapes of insecure attachment.
SPEAKER_01: But that's not all there is because there's good news.
SPEAKER_01: The Good Shepherd meets us where we are and moves us into the pasture of joy and peace.
SPEAKER_01: So let's spend some time envisioning the pasture of joy and peace.
SPEAKER_01: If uh we're able to live from secure attachment, if the answer to those three questions, uh distress be alleviated?
SPEAKER_01: Are others available?
SPEAKER_01: Do I have agency?
SPEAKER_01: Um, if we're able to answer yes.
SPEAKER_01: Now the reality is some of us, if as I went through and you said, No, I can't answer no, or maybe, well, praise God, you grew up in a secure uh home.
SPEAKER_01: And there's an opportunity for you to grow in greater security and connection with God and with others.
SPEAKER_01: Um, or if you've already done a good amount of healing in your life, then you probably are able to live from a place of this pasture as well.
SPEAKER_01: So, as I said, Jesus is more than capable of meeting each and every one of us wherever we are, and he loves us way too much to not experience life to the fullest, abundant life, a rich and satisfying life.
SPEAKER_01: John 10 10 is the reason we called this series what we did life to the fullest.
SPEAKER_01: So if we are living primarily in one of these other landscapes, we're actually just surviving.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus wants us to thrive.
SPEAKER_01: We're meant to be primarily dwelling in the pasture of joy and peace.
SPEAKER_01: Now the Lord will stay with us in our insecure attachment places, and he wants to move us to the pasture.
SPEAKER_01: But guess what?
SPEAKER_01: He won't force us.
SPEAKER_01: We've got to partner with him.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, to find those who are in the jungle, the desert, and the war zone.
SPEAKER_01: He laid down his life and he took it up again in order to uh to bring us into his sheepfold.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 23 and John 10 are just beautiful pictures of the Lord moving us and what the pasture of joy and peace looks like.
SPEAKER_01: They're reminders that the good shepherd is always glad to be with us, no matter what.
SPEAKER_01: In Psalm 23, we see we're in a place where we know our needs are met.
SPEAKER_01: I'll be sharing more about that in the email this week.
SPEAKER_01: If we're in the pasture, that doesn't mean that we don't experience distress, but it takes us longer to get to that place of distress, and we return to a place of regulation quicker.
SPEAKER_01: We replace to joyful connection quicker if we're really le living from the pasture of joy and peace.
SPEAKER_01: Look at some of the things that uh Jesus says about being in the pasture with the Good Shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: We get to hear his voice.
SPEAKER_01: We're led by him, we're saved and secure and brought between the pasture and the sheepfold.
SPEAKER_01: So there's this protection and provision.
SPEAKER_01: He moves us back and forth as we need it.
SPEAKER_01: And we're ultimately protected from wolves.
SPEAKER_01: They may harm us and may even kill us, but they can't ultimately separate us from the care of the Good Shepherd because He's already laid down His life for us and taken it back again.
SPEAKER_01: Again, this doesn't mean that life is always amazing, but that we can always experience joyful connection or return to that place regardless of circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: So if we find ourselves as a jungle person, we can learn true intimacy and learn independence.
SPEAKER_01: If we find ourselves as a desert person, we can learn true independence and the ability to experience intimacy.
SPEAKER_01: If we're a war zone person, we can be freed from the chaos and experience the consistency of intimacy and independence.
SPEAKER_01: I want us to watch uh a quick two-minute video from uh the psychiatrist named Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Daniel Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Now, um, before we watch it, I just want to say a couple of things.
SPEAKER_01: He is a believer, uh, but as he's talking through, he's uh sharing how, as he meditated on the Lord's Prayer, these different things that it actually can do to our brain as we pray it.
SPEAKER_01: Now, he's not reducing uh the Lord's prayer to just this kind of life hack to get to uh help your brain, but rather I think what's really interesting is realizing that this prayer that Jesus gave us actually has this physiological and emotional impact on our lives.
SPEAKER_01: So let's go ahead and watch the video.
SPEAKER_00: Your kingdom come lights up the dopamine-driven hope network, helping your brain imagine a better future.
SPEAKER_00: Your will be done, calms the amygdala and reduces stress by releasing the burden of control.
SPEAKER_00: Give us today our daily bread, anchors attention in the present, reducing catastrophic future thinking in your amygdala.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, activates the empathy network, temporal parietal junction, medial prefrontal cortex, and decreases cortisol by releasing resentment.
SPEAKER_00: Lead us not into temptation, strengthens the prefrontal inhibitory circuits that help you resist triggers before they hit, and deliver us from evil, boost courage by activating and reminding your brain you are not alone.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord's Prayer isn't just spiritual, it's a neurological transformation, one intentional line at a time.
SPEAKER_01: Man, it makes me think Jesus might have been the smartest person who ever lived.
SPEAKER_01: And like maybe he created us.
SPEAKER_01: I know it got a bit technical in there as he's talking about like the parts of the brain, but hopefully you picked up on what these different aspects of the prayer actually can do for us.
SPEAKER_01: Amazing.
SPEAKER_01: Of all the things Jesus could have taught us about praying, gives us this short, incredibly memorable prayer and the impact uh that it can have on us.
SPEAKER_01: So, also, as I said earlier, the Lord does not make us move.
SPEAKER_01: If we're content to stay in one of these uh insecure landscapes, he'll still meet with us, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's our choice.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but we are missing out.
SPEAKER_01: We're we're just surviving as opposed to thriving, like he wants us to do.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the ways that we partner is just doing various practices that are in the scriptures uh that the church has used for thousands of years.
SPEAKER_01: Uh so I've included some of those in the handout.
SPEAKER_01: Um one specific if you find yourself in the jungle or the desert.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you find yourself as a war zone person, um, just pick one or two of any of those that stand out to you.
SPEAKER_01: And the other thing, um, if you've never done this before, would be to find a trauma-informed therapist andor trauma-informed spiritual director to help you navigate uh some of the things that you've experienced.
SPEAKER_01: So as we look through this place of safety and security is the pasture of joy and peace that the Lord wants to move us to.
SPEAKER_01: It's what He has available to us no matter what's going on in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And that ultimately helps in our mental health to know we can be intimate and independent, that we can navigate in the world and still stay connected to other people, which only strengthens mental health.
SPEAKER_01: So as we conclude as a reminder that the Good Shepherd meets us where we are and he moves us into the pasture of joy and peace.
SPEAKER_01: We located ourselves in our default landscape.
SPEAKER_01: So looking at the anxious life of the jungle, the avoidant life of the desert, and the chaotic life of the war zone, and how Jesus is able to meet us in any of those places.
SPEAKER_01: And then we also envision the pasture of joy and peace, that the place where we grow in joyful connection with each person of the Trinity and with others, that we grow in intimacy and independence because we know that others are available to us when we need help, that whatever current distress we're in will be alleviated, and that we know how to use our agency amid the distress.
SPEAKER_01: So, Nancy, if you could come on up.
SPEAKER_01: Why don't we all uh stand?
SPEAKER_01: Want to give us an opportunity to respond this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Any ministry team folks that are available if you could come forward.
SPEAKER_01: So I think we've got a number of things that we can um respond to this morning as we were going through, maybe you realized what is your uh default landscape of the jungle or the desert, and it's possible a few of us um the war zone, and that the Lord wants to meet with you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Um that if you might be a jungle person that the Lord wants to teach you just true intimacy and increase within you the your independence.
SPEAKER_01: Now it's a process, but I think the Lord can meet us here and start something right now.
SPEAKER_01: If we find ourselves as a desert person, um, that we could learn true independence and uh the ability to have intimate relationships with other people.
SPEAKER_01: Um if there's some or even the war zone that the Lord can work through chaos and bring us to a place of greater safety.
SPEAKER_01: So if any of that resonates, um our teams would be glad to pray with you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we're praying this morning, had a sense that somebody's feeling uh pain in their right hip, outside of their hip.
SPEAKER_01: So if that's you, I think the Lord wants to bring healing.
SPEAKER_01: Great way of growing in intimacy or independence.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord sees you, he knows you.
SPEAKER_01: Um I had a sense maybe even throughout, uh, as we were worshiping this morning, that you were feeling pain kind of move in multiple places throughout.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if that's you, might be a spirit of infirmity, that's okay, Jesus can get rid of that.
SPEAKER_01: Um and so just come forward and let the teams know, and they can they can pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I also felt like maybe there's some, just as we were worshiping together and throughout the morning, just felt energy and life and excitement increasing.
SPEAKER_01: That's great.
SPEAKER_01: We can bless that.
SPEAKER_01: So if that's you, tell somebody near you and just ask them to bless what the Lord's doing, or come forward and have one of the ministry teams pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: So if any of that resonates, come forward, get prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Uh if there's anything else that you have, physical, emotional, spiritual needs, our teams love to pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: As we say, they're not spiritual counselors, they're they're uh ministry team.
SPEAKER_01: They're here to listen and share, listen to you, listen to God, and share what they sense that He's leading them.