WEBVTT 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:07.440 Hello everyone. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:08.960 This is Pastor Benjamin. 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:12.000 You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, Orlando. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.439 At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:20.079 For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:26.480 Go ahead and stand for our prayer of illumination and scripture reading. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:34.000 Eternal God, the grass withers and the flower fades, but your word will stand forever. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:38.159 Holy Spirit, help us to love and trust your word. 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:40.560 Through Jesus Christ we pray. 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:41.520 Amen. 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:46.240 Our scripture reading this morning today comes from Psalm 46. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:52.159 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 00:00:52.159 --> 00:01:02.159 Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:07.760 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:10.799 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:13.280 God will help her when the morning dawns. 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:18.719 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter, he utters his voice, the earth melts. 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:23.359 The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress. 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:27.920 Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:30.560 He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:36.239 He burns the chariots with fire, or he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the chariots with fire. 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:39.040 Be still and know that I am God. 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:44.079 I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:46.319 The Lord of hosts is with us. 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:48.879 The God of Jacob is our fortress. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:50.560 This is God's word. 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:53.439 You may be seated. 00:01:54.319 --> 00:01:55.359 Good morning. 00:01:55.359 --> 00:02:08.000 My name is Eric Stitz, and uh no, I'm not a pastor here, uh, but I am a pastor, uh pastor in our denomination, and uh lead a ministry called Crosstown Ministries. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:09.439 Uh every time, oh thank you. 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:10.800 We'll keep the woo's going. 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:25.280 Uh every time I come up here, you know, uh some of you have been here for uh many years uh and heard this story, and yet uh every time I come to the new city, uh each week I just see more and more people that uh I don't recognize. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:32.159 And so uh this ministry is a ministry that New City um launched, helped birth. 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:37.199 Uh, and we are in the Paramour community, um just a few miles uh from here. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:45.360 Uh and the way we say it is we're cultivating a gospel environment where loved uh people uh love people. 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:50.800 And um, I'm gonna take a moment just to give you an update because I'm up here and you can't stop me. 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:56.080 So um, but uh we've been working hard sort of behind the scenes. 00:02:56.080 --> 00:03:01.360 Um, a year and a half ago, we purchased a building, uh, which has been an incredible thing. 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:05.360 And also, like when you buy a house, you realize that there's things that you gotta work on and get it right. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:06.800 And so we've been doing that. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:11.840 Um, last time I was up here, I think this was the last time, maybe it was a couple times ago, I don't remember. 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:14.080 Uh, but uh we had a sewer problem. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:21.520 Um, we're still working on that and getting it fixed, but we should have it fixed um uh by the uh end of the summer, uh Lord willing. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:24.560 But I'm telling you that because it's something you continue to uh pray for. 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:29.840 Also, one of the last times I was up here, I told you all that we would uh let you know how you can help us. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:40.400 Um, we haven't done that yet, uh, but as we get to the end of the summer, I want to let you know that we'll have some things that you can help participate in so that we can get ready uh for the school year. 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:44.960 So hopefully you'll be hearing about that uh in the coming uh weeks as well. 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:51.039 Um and so as always, um I thank you all for uh getting to be a kingdom partner of New City. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:52.159 I don't take that lightly. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:57.199 Um, and so getting to come here and share the word with you uh truly is um a privilege. 00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:12.319 Um I also uh since we're talking about being still and knowing God from Psalm 46, there's a group of people um that are here today that I would assume are extremely exhausted because they've been hanging out with students for the last two weeks. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:18.800 Um and I'm saying this because I have two students uh who are there who got to benefit from y'all's love. 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:50.240 But can we just thank uh everybody who uh helped uh you know I don't I don't take it lightly uh when other people obviously are caring and loving on my uh kids, and I know you as parents uh think the same, and I know that uh it was two weeks in a row for a lot of them of grueling work, and uh so just want to uh say thank you um so much to you all. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:52.319 It really uh means a lot to me. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:05:04.959 Um well, listen, uh in our ministry uh at Crosstown, I work uh under this uh assumption um that uh people can actually change. 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:24.480 Um I know that might sound obvious or maybe not, I don't know, but uh but I truly believe that a gospel-centered life um leads to change, that when uh I know that uh when I know what will happen um when the end of life is here, that it actually changes how I live right now. 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:42.399 Um even more than that, the the same Holy Spirit that wakes my uh heart up and regenerates my own heart uh to see my need of Jesus and to receive and rest upon him is the same spirit that's actually changing me every day from, as the Bible says, one degree of glory uh to another. 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:50.720 And I'm bringing this up because sometimes in church um we sort of work under the assumption uh that the whole point is just to make sure we get to heaven when we die. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:56.480 Um and I often tell people uh in our community that sometimes we do that and then we leave people in hell on earth. 00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:58.079 And that's not okay. 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:02.319 That's uh bad theology, if I can say it uh as such. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:09.040 Now, before you start writing me nasty emails, you can put your phone away, all right, because I do believe eternity is real. 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:15.680 Um I do believe that being separated from God is the worst thing that could happen for any of us. 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:23.439 And therefore, we do everything we can to invite people into the hope of this uh gospel that we share week in and week out here. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:26.879 But the question then is what is what is this life right now? 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:41.519 Did God put us here just so we can ask Him in our heart and then be in heaven one day, and then I'm not sure what happens now, or is there more to that dash between the year you were born and the year that you would pass away? 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:43.199 I believe there is. 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:50.560 And I believe that we actually experience a foretaste of heaven here on earth. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:57.519 And I actually think Psalm 46 uh is showing us a little bit of what that is. 00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:03.920 It's taking us on a journey of what Ben uh has called a subversive spirituality. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:16.319 Um, as he put it, as we enter into this spirituality of the Psalms, letting them counterform us, we can step off the treadmill and learn to live a truly with God life. 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:21.920 In Psalm 46, I actually think this treadmill is a little bit more like a river. 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:34.079 Uh it's a little bit more uh like a river where we can uh either choose to surrender to a river of chaos or we can follow the river to the streams of stillness. 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:36.480 The streams uh of stillness. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:51.040 I think Psalm 46 is sort of presenting us with this thing of uh every moment, moment by moment, am I going to uh choose that God is in control, or am I gonna continue to choose that I might be able to be in control? 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:54.079 That's the thing that it puts um in front of us. 00:07:54.079 --> 00:08:13.519 Um, Ben has been up here, different uh pastors over the past several weeks have been up here, and I'm not gonna bore you with like more statistics, but we've heard over and over again that we live um in an incredibly anxious culture, and in a culture that we can't sit still, so much so that we gotta write books like The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:30.319 Um the author Brian Fickert, uh another uh elder in our denomination, wrote the wrote the book Becoming Whole, because he saw that as we were trying to help people, even in a community like the one that I serve, that what we were actually bringing people into was more anxiety. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:39.679 We weren't actually able to save uh and bring them out of a place of poverty, but we're actually bringing them into this culture of anxiety and never having enough. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:46.080 So we're we're trying to figure this out, and I believe Psalm 46 gives us a way forward. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:53.919 It gives us a way that God will get the glory, we'll be free to love, and in turn brings God more glory. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:09:01.039 So uh I have three points for us, and they're all around this idea of um a stream of stillness. 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:02.559 So I want to start today. 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:10.399 Um, you can uh turn in your Bible or get your worship guide out to Psalm uh 46, um, and we'll start in these first three verses. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:15.039 But the first um thing I want to talk about is this ever-changing chaos. 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:18.080 Ever-changing um chaos. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:24.240 The first three verses of Psalm 46 describe um a scene of utter chaos, right? 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:36.480 And in the second half, it talks about mountains being moved into the heart of the sea, uh waters roaring and foaming, and though the mountains um tremble at the at the water, at the as the waters roar and foam. 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:40.960 And so it's this it's this picture of all hell breaking loose. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:44.879 That the whole created order is just um falling apart. 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:50.080 And so we read these words, and I I think sometimes as we read the words, we can just kind of go, oh, it's cute. 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:53.919 Um mountains falling into the water, and it sounds kind of crazy. 00:09:53.919 --> 00:10:00.159 Um, every time I I I uh I come up here, I feel like I just went on an epic trip where I went on a hike. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:09.600 Um, so uh last time I was uh I think it was the last time I was up here, I shared uh about going on a on a hike to a 14er. 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:13.679 Uh for those of you who aren't cool and don't know the hiking language. 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:16.720 Um that's a 14,000-foot mountain. 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:17.440 All right. 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:22.320 Um, last time I hiked it with absolutely no um preparation. 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:26.240 Um, and some shoes, maybe just a little bit more better than this. 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:28.480 Uh, somehow made it to the top. 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:35.919 Um, and you would think that I would have learned uh from last year that I should be prepared, but I did not prepare this year either and decided to do it again. 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:42.000 But my son Sam and I um went uh to Mount Elbert um in Colorado. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:49.039 It's actually the highest peak uh in Colorado, 14,000 something feet, too many, it doesn't matter, it was a lot. 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:56.320 Um and so uh we're hiking up this mountain um and uh we get all the way uh to the top. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:59.120 And I wish I had a picture uh of it for you, but I don't. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:06.000 Um but we get to the top, and we are literally looking down at all the peaks that we were just looking up at, right? 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:16.320 I mean, it's a surreal moment uh to look and see that every place we're we're on level ground uh almost with all the other 14,000 foot peaks around us. 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:25.279 And so it's at that point uh when I imagine uh what the psalmist describes as the mountains would be moved into the heart of the sea. 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:27.919 I can't even fathom what that would be like. 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:35.200 Uh and you can't fathom it until you've actually seen it, until you've been to a place where you say, This thing is absolutely immovable. 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:36.799 This mountain's not going anywhere. 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:40.240 The only thing moving is me, and hopefully not just falling down, right? 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:47.200 The only thing that's moving is everything around it, but the mountain itself is not going um anywhere. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:52.480 It wasn't moving, it wasn't gonna yield, um, and it wasn't gonna make this hike any easier for us. 00:11:52.480 --> 00:12:01.279 And so when we read these words, we can take it lightly, but the reality is this is uh an incredible amount of chaos that Psalm 46 is describing. 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:04.480 That mountains would just crumble and fall into the sea. 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:06.879 And so, what is chaos? 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:08.799 What is chaos? 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:18.639 Chaos is, when you look at this, it's a place of confusion, it's a place of disorder, um, of a lack of any kind of organization. 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:23.279 Everything just falling apart, things constantly changing, right? 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:35.360 Uh, if you imagine that mountain, if I was now there were certain places on the mountain, it was so dry where we would put our feet, right, and the rocks underneath us would just sort of crumble and we'd start sliding back down um the mountain. 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:36.480 That's chaos. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:44.080 That's the chaos that nowhere, no matter where I put my foot, I'm not really sure what's uh going to happen or if I've got a sure place to put it. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:46.559 I live in a two-story house. 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:50.799 Um, and sometimes, uh, I won't tell you how often this happens to me. 00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:53.759 Uh as I get older, I feel like it happens a little more often. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:57.279 Um, I get to the bottom of the stairs, maybe it's at night. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:13:01.279 Um, I get to the bottom of the stairs and I think I'm on the last step. 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:08.240 Uh, and so with full force, I put all my weight to come down on that last step because I think it's what? 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:09.440 The ground. 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:12.240 Only to find out there's one more step. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:14.080 Um, this is chaos. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:19.200 The idea that even I would think I know where I'm gonna put my foot. 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:21.279 I know I can stand on this solid ground. 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:23.039 That almost is worse. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:29.120 Thinking I know um that where I'm standing is on solid ground, only to find out um it's not. 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:32.399 We look around us, can he even mention it today? 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:35.360 We look around us and we see chaos. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:47.360 So we see wars uh breaking out throughout the world, Ukraine and Russia still going at it, the Iran-US-Israel um conflict happening, Strait of Hormuz. 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:56.080 Um, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight uh to all of this uh conflict all around us, chaos breaking out. 00:13:56.080 --> 00:14:04.240 June 8th, right here in Orlando, apparently, I wasn't I didn't feel this, but there was an earthquake in Cuba. 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:07.039 And people said they felt it here, right? 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:09.120 In the middle of the state. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:18.000 And so when we see uh Psalm 46 writing about uh chaos breaking out, um, even here, uh, we experience it. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:34.000 Just a couple weeks ago, um, actually it was last week, I think, I uh went to the beach only to hear that the day before we got there, uh, two young men had uh been taken out by a riptide out to uh the farthest reaches and not able to swim. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:40.960 And one of them, uh a young man actually from Orlando passed away uh in the midst of this riptide. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:44.399 This is exactly what Psalm 46 is talking about. 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:48.799 Waters roaring and foaming, and us having no place to put our feet. 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:52.960 And so we know what it is to see this chaos. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:56.480 And so a question for you all this morning is what's yours? 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:59.679 Uh what's what's your uh chaos? 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:07.840 Uh I know for me uh growing up, um I had an alcoholic father, and so chaos felt like normal. 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:18.559 Um, never really quite knowing what was going to happen, never really quite knowing uh where he would be at, what would be going on, what to expect from him, what type of emotional state he might be in. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:27.360 And so, as a young man, uh not knowing that uh creates fear, creates anxiety, creates uncertainty, right? 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:29.759 Uh maybe that's you. 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:33.519 Uh every day I see the chaos of poverty. 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:44.879 Poverty creates a sense of chaos, uh, ever-changing uh living situations, not sure where I might be the next day or the next week or the next month, and what does that lead to? 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:58.720 Not knowing what school I might be at, not knowing what uh friends I might need to make or what friends I thought I had that I don't have anymore, um, different houses, one paycheck away from another change. 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:00.080 It creates chaos. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:03.600 Uh maybe it's the chaos of family dynamics. 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:09.759 Um, a spouse who's essentially abandoned the marriage or is emotionally just not there. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:12.480 Um, what does that create? 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:20.000 Kids who are making bad decisions, um, and you've worked your whole life to try to figure all this out and do all the right things. 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:21.919 Um, chaos. 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:24.480 Maybe it's the chaos of money. 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:26.240 Where is it? 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:28.320 Um, how much do we have? 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:29.519 I don't even know. 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:31.120 Um, what is enough? 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:32.480 How do I get more? 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:35.039 Um, do I really need that renovation? 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:35.759 Right? 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:38.240 The chaos of money. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:48.480 Um, the chaos of this, the chaos of your phone, um, social media, the the endless scrolling. 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:56.799 Um, you know, I it's really sad, but as I get older, I feel like I can actually say back in my day um and not feel uh like I'm that old. 00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:06.960 But um uh my wife and I talk about sometimes that you know, back in our day, you actually had to go to the store, and what was at the store was what you had to pick from. 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:15.680 On Amazon, I can literally search for the same exact thing and find 15,000 versions of the same one and read 15,000 reviews. 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:20.079 I don't read any of them, but you can read 15,000 reviews and figure out which one is the right one. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:25.519 And while this sounds silly, this is why we're writing books about an anxious generation. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:28.640 Because we we can't figure it out. 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:32.400 There's so many things out there, so many available things. 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:35.680 Um, maybe chaos is just your dinner table. 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:39.359 Uh maybe you have kids like I do, and we're trying to figure it out. 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:45.920 Um, it's the chaos of bedtime, it's trying to bring to order um all of these things. 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:48.400 Ever-changing chaos. 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:52.000 So, what is your chaos? 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:54.000 And now I have another question. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:56.160 What's your relationship with it? 00:17:56.160 --> 00:18:00.160 What's your relationship uh to the chaos um in your world? 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:02.319 I've got some ugly truths, all right? 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:06.160 Uh the first one is I think some of us are actually addicted to it. 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:10.240 We're so used to it, we actually kind of like it a little bit. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:15.359 We're so used to this just being the norm that it it it almost feels good. 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:18.000 It almost is our warm blanket. 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:20.880 Uh we can gossip about other people's chaos. 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:22.880 Can you believe they did this? 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:25.599 Uh we can gossip about our own pet chaos. 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:27.519 Can you believe I did this? 00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:29.119 I kind of like that. 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:30.880 Um, and why? 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:34.079 Because we don't have to slow down. 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:38.480 When we enjoy when we when we live this way, we don't have to slow down, we don't have to reflect. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:41.920 Um we don't even really have to take any responsibility for all the chaos around us. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:43.359 We just kind of keep living into it. 00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:46.960 Just turn a blind eye, stick our head in the sand, and maybe it'll get better. 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:47.680 I don't know. 00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:50.400 And I'm telling you, that's not be still and no. 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:52.160 That's not that. 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:58.640 Second ugly truth is that uh uh with our with the chaos in our world is that we've just surrendered to it. 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:02.000 Um we're we don't feel like there's anything that we can do about it. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:12.400 Um this was me and my uh family with my my father was feeling like I can't really do anything um about this, and so surrendering uh to the chaos in my world. 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:18.079 The third one, uh, ugly truth would be some of us try to control it. 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:24.960 And the and the key here is we control it ourselves, um, in our own strength, and we try and try. 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:30.799 If I control the outside uh chaos outside of myself, I can have stillness inside of myself. 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:32.799 And that's a big lie. 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:38.640 So, what do you feel um in these moments of uh chaos? 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:44.799 The Bible tells us in Psalm 46, it's clear, that the uh that oftentimes we're gonna be afraid. 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:50.160 That's why uh the second verse says, We will not fear, though the earth give way. 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:57.119 Because it's acknowledging that when things feel like they are completely out of control, uh, we begin to feel afraid. 00:19:57.119 --> 00:20:00.720 And so when that happens, we protect ourselves, we turn inward. 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:07.440 Uh, when we're feeling like this is uh happening, we can turn out and attack others when we're violated. 00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:18.480 I was in Israel um uh several months ago, and um our guide spoke of this type of thing where he said, uh, you know, you've heard of a cold war. 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:21.039 Uh we actually have a cold peace. 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:23.119 It's not really peace. 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:25.519 We're all just sort of waiting for something to happen, right? 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:27.119 And what is that rooted in? 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:28.559 Fear. 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:29.839 Fear. 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:33.519 Fear of the chaos of everything just uh letting loose. 00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:37.119 Now, so what's your chaos? 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:37.839 What is it? 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:40.000 What does it make you feel in those moments? 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:42.640 And now, what does Psalm 46 have to say about all that? 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:45.039 Does it have um anything to say? 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:51.839 Interestingly, um, in these first few verses, um, the promise is actually that there will be chaos. 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:55.920 Uh it doesn't say that God's gonna make it go away. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:01.200 It doesn't say he's just gonna uh take the chaos and just uh put it away in these first three verses. 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:03.599 He simply tells us the truth in verse one. 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:09.039 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:15.279 You see, trouble is assumed, but where we turn when we're in trouble is the question. 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:18.559 And so God is our refuge and strength. 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:19.519 That's the truth. 00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:25.200 Um, and the truth I want to put in front of you is we all have a choice in the ever-changing chaos. 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:29.359 For me, I didn't think I had a choice for so many for so many years. 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:32.559 But the psalmist is letting us know no, you have a choice. 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:37.440 Our God is the refuge and strength, an ever-present help uh in trouble. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:41.519 And so that choice is to find a strength that's not your own. 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:50.640 It may not change the chaos, it changes how you see the chaos, it changes how you approach the chaos, it changes how you walk through the chaos. 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:57.200 And so that's why it's important that we can name it because some of us are choosing chaos and we don't even realize it. 00:21:57.200 --> 00:21:59.920 And the psalm is letting us know there's another way to do it. 00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:04.640 This and so it's not a one-time thing, all right. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:08.880 This isn't this moment where I say, All right, I've chosen God, everything else is I I got it now. 00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:10.640 I know how to approach it. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:14.480 No, it's not just a let go and let God. 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:22.640 This is a seasonal, a daily, an hourly, a minute by minute of where will I run? 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:25.279 Will I run to the refuge? 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:27.680 Evil doesn't want you to. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:36.960 Evil wants you to choose yourself, wants you to choose to fight your own trouble, to see chaos through your eyes, and in that way the enemy's won already. 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:41.519 Once he gets us uh to do that, he's deceived us once again. 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:44.319 The psalm invites us out of this. 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:52.000 The psalm invites us out of this trickery, it invites us that you have a chain, a choice in the ever-changing chaos. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:54.799 You can run to the refuge. 00:22:54.799 --> 00:23:03.839 So listen, your choice uh is to run from uh the ever-changing chaos to the one who is the refuge. 00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:18.799 And so, in this uh uh river of life um that is presented in front of us, where there's the rivers that are uh the water that's roaring and foaming, uh uh God presents us with another option that you can get on this stream that's leading you to stillness. 00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:27.759 And so the second point that I want to make today is that the stream of stillness uh leads us to an unchanging city. 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:30.960 Uh an unchanging city. 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:44.799 So as we uh leave uh that the the roaring and foaming water that that can uh be destructive, uh we're invited to the stream of stillness, and verses four through seven say that what we find there is a city of God. 00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:51.200 See, Psalms 46 puts these two wildly different pictures in front of us. 00:23:51.200 --> 00:24:00.799 The first three verses is utter chaos, the world falling in on itself, and then verses four through seven, we have a city of God, and all of a sudden it's like everything's just going to craziness and just shh. 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:10.319 And there's a place of stillness, of peace, of life and flourishing, of certainty. 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:12.799 It's unshakable. 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:21.039 The psalmist uses the word move several times here in these first several verses to emphasize that there's a difference. 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:27.440 Everything else is moving and changing, even the things that aren't supposed to move and change. 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:32.720 Where Mount Elbert, where I was standing on top of it, can just crumble and fall into the sea. 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:40.319 All of a sudden we're faced with that shouldn't happen, but in God's city, this is a place that will not move, will not change. 00:24:40.319 --> 00:24:42.400 It's rooted, anchored, and grounded. 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:45.359 There's chaos outside, but it's stillness inside. 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:49.279 So he's inviting us, come, come here to this place. 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:51.519 And how is that? 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:55.920 How does God create a city where there's stillness? 00:24:55.920 --> 00:24:59.359 Is it because he's got bigger guns than the other guy? 00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:04.000 Uh is because he wrote the perfect peace treaty with everyone outside. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:07.519 Is it because he built a bigger wall that can keep everyone out? 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:09.200 What does the Bible say? 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:12.559 What is uh verse five says? 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:16.079 The reason is because God is in the midst of her. 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:19.200 She shall not be moved. 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:27.200 It's nothing but the sheer presence of God in this place that would say, This is what brings stillness and peace. 00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:42.799 It goes on, it says that uh his voice in verse 6, he utters his voice, even though the kingdoms are fighting with one another, it's his words, literally his words, that melt um everything around it and bring that peace. 00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:45.039 Sounds good, right? 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:47.200 I want to be in that place. 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:50.240 Uh, but I'm not. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:53.839 I don't know where that city is, right? 00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:55.279 Uh where is it? 00:25:55.279 --> 00:26:01.039 Uh at the time of uh of the psalmist writing this, this would have been Jerusalem. 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:04.319 Jerusalem was not a mighty city. 00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:11.680 Jerusalem was this kind of little place that didn't really have a lot of significance at the time. 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:19.680 And so even in uh even in naming this as the place where God would uh would reside was would have been alarming. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:26.559 But it was it wasn't the refuge that came from the strength of this city, it was the refuge because God was there. 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:28.799 So, what about now though? 00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:32.559 Do I gotta go over there to get to the city of God? 00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:34.160 I was just there. 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:36.000 I was in Jerusalem. 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:37.440 It's not it. 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:43.200 That's not the city of peace right now, and the Bible doesn't see it that way. 00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:51.359 There are people waiting for a Messiah to come and reinstate this as a his holy city, but we know the Messiah has come. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:53.599 The kingdom of God is here. 00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:56.319 Not just the city of God, the kingdom of God. 00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:59.759 And so there's not an actual city we run uh to refuge. 00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:02.960 We're waiting for that day when there will be a new city. 00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:07.359 When there will be a new city that will come down out of heaven. 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:09.119 That's what we're waiting for. 00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:12.880 That's that's the city we're waiting for, where there's a city of God, where there's a place of peace. 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:17.200 Now, last time I checked when you walked in the doors, what's this place called? 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.119 New city. 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:22.240 Whee, it's an ambitious name. 00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:26.559 I remember uh 15 years ago uh when I was in seminary. 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:27.839 Uh is that right? 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:29.200 Yeah, that's a long time ago. 00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:37.119 When I was in seminary and New City was just a little church plant, um, where you did know everyone, Kenny, um, like you said. 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:38.720 15 years ago, right? 00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:41.680 I remember thinking, what's up with this new city thing? 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:49.119 I remember turning to the book of Revelation, because when you turn to the end of the book, you find out that this is where it all ends up. 00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:57.680 A city where God says that there will be no more crying, there will be no more pain, that he will wipe away every tear for from our eyes. 00:27:57.680 --> 00:27:59.920 There will be no more death or mourning. 00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:05.680 And he says, To the thirsty, I'll give water without cost uh from the spring of the water of life. 00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:07.279 That's the vision. 00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:08.880 That's where all of this is headed. 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:11.440 And I remember thinking, that's where I want to be. 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:12.880 And so what do we do? 00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:19.839 In the meantime, between uh where where the psalmist would say there's a city of God, and now we're here, we don't know where that city is. 00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:21.119 What is it? 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:23.599 It's us. 00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:25.359 It's us. 00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:30.480 It's it's us, the gathering of uh God's people in this place. 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:34.319 When we're gathered together and sent out, God is in our midst. 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:44.559 So much so that when someone who is in the ever-changing chaos of the world is with us, they should experience him as refuge and strength and ever-present help and trouble when they're with us. 00:28:44.559 --> 00:28:48.480 So let me say it another way. 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:54.480 God is using the church to get his life-giving water to a thirsty, chaotic world. 00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:57.759 You look at verse four. 00:28:57.759 --> 00:29:02.559 There's a river whose streams make glad the city of God. 00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:06.640 And so in verse three, water is this destructive force. 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:11.519 Water is the uh the riptide that's taking young men out to sea to their demise. 00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:14.720 And all of a sudden in verse four, it's changed. 00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:17.839 Water becomes the source of life. 00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:22.880 You see, water for a city is is absolutely non-negotiable, especially in the ancient world. 00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:24.240 Couldn't survive without it. 00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:29.119 Needed it to drink, to grow crops, needed it to have life. 00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:37.759 And so the picture that the psalmist is painting is that even though everything else going on outside of the city is utter chaos, inside the city it is still. 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:43.680 While everything outside is dying, the city of God has life literally coursing through its veins. 00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:47.519 And so he paints an even clearer picture of this river. 00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:53.599 Because this river doesn't just kind of flow on the side of the city, sort of meandering its way, right? 00:29:53.599 --> 00:29:55.279 It's a little bit like Orlando. 00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:59.039 We don't have a cool city flowing through the middle of the city. 00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:02.720 We'd be so much cooler if we had a uh a river right in the middle of us. 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:04.640 The closest we get is Sanford, right? 00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:05.039 St. 00:30:05.039 --> 00:30:06.960 John's River, you gotta go all the way up there. 00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:07.920 It's not fair. 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:10.720 But listen, this is not this is not what he's talking about. 00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:18.079 The streams, uh uh, the river, sorry, that that he is speaking of uh flows right in the middle of the city. 00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:26.400 But even as close as that is, you see, there would still be people who would get to have that riverfront property, right? 00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:33.759 Because there's only so much you can have of the river, even if it flows right through the city, you have some people building their houses right on it to say, I got mine. 00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:34.960 Right? 00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:38.079 You'd have people fighting over it, fighting for access to the river. 00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:44.319 We want to be close to the to the water, paying top dollar to have that riverfront uh property. 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:47.680 We'd be arguing, we'd be paying for who has the rights to live there. 00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:51.200 But the river in the city of God is different. 00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:54.240 This river has streams. 00:30:54.240 --> 00:30:56.640 There's a reason both words are there. 00:30:56.640 --> 00:30:58.880 This isn't just another poetic way to talk about the river. 00:30:58.880 --> 00:31:00.319 Oh, it's a river and it has streams. 00:31:00.319 --> 00:31:01.440 Oh, it's nice, it's cute. 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:02.240 No, no, no. 00:31:02.240 --> 00:31:11.519 The streams are actually the little canals that branch off from the river that bring that life-giving water to literally every little part of the city. 00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:18.799 It reaches into every street, reaches into every garden, every field, every home. 00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:25.279 And as one commentator puts it, literally reaches every heart of every person in that city. 00:31:25.279 --> 00:31:27.119 This is the city of God. 00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:30.880 This is the river that has streams that make it glad. 00:31:30.880 --> 00:31:42.640 So much so, the Bible says in this verse, this water is so good that it's not just water that helps the city barely make it out of trouble. 00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:46.720 It's not just water that helps it to suffer but still survive. 00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:54.480 The Bible says this water is so good that the people in the city are having a party while everyone outside is in chaos. 00:31:54.480 --> 00:31:59.839 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. 00:31:59.839 --> 00:32:06.079 So, in the middle of all the chaos, the people in the city are enjoying life. 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:07.119 That's what it says. 00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:11.839 There is a joy they have inside, amidst the chaos outside. 00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:18.799 So now, hundreds of years after this was written, God uh put skin on. 00:32:18.799 --> 00:32:22.319 And he comes and lives on the earth. 00:32:22.319 --> 00:32:26.720 Jesus Christ Himself had some things to say about water. 00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:38.160 He speaks to a Samaritan woman at a well in John chapter 4, and he told her that there's a water that you're looking for here at this well that I have. 00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:42.960 And it's a water that when you drink of it, you'll never thirst again, he says. 00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:50.319 He told her that uh it's a spring of water that will well up uh to eternal life. 00:32:50.319 --> 00:33:00.960 Jesus cut out a canal that crossed every barrier that would have been known at that time that would have said this water should never get to her. 00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:04.400 It was a barrier, it was she's a Samaritan woman. 00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:08.079 He's crossing the social, religious barriers that should have never been crossed. 00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:08.880 She's a woman. 00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:13.200 He's crossing this barrier to speak to a woman and share with her. 00:33:13.200 --> 00:33:18.160 He is connecting her by cutting a canal so the waters of life can flow to her. 00:33:18.160 --> 00:33:28.160 Listen, as the city of God, the people who have God in our midst, what does this mean for us? 00:33:28.160 --> 00:33:36.079 It means that we get to participate with God and in digging out the canals that could connect others to the streams of God. 00:33:36.079 --> 00:33:47.519