Summer 2025 | Clothed with Christ - Galatians 3:25-27 | June 15

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Welcome back, family. It's a lot easier to get somebody to say something when

there's more people, but everybody decided to travel today.

As I mentioned, we are taking a break from the book of Acts.

We've almost halfway through the book of Acts, and we're going to get back to

that in August, and we're going forward to it.

But we're going to push pause on that, not because it doesn't matter or because

we're done with it, but because in this season of summer, what we want to do

is take some time to intentionally do something, embrace something that many

of us don't make time for.

And that's not necessarily reading the Word of God, but rest in general.

And not the kind of rest that comes from beach days or vacation trips or all

the things that this season normally we think about,

which also includes the spiritual drift that comes as our routines are interrupted.

But we're talking about the kind of soul rest that brings righteousness,

that brings peace, that brings joy, the kind of rest that only comes when we

soak ourselves daily in the Word of God,

when we spend time in that relationship that we've been made for,

to be in relationship with Jesus.

And we opened up last week, Isaiah chapter 55,

Isaiah 55 · chapter mention

and we saw how we talked about the Word of God, and we talked about how it gives

life, it gives strength, it fills our hearts with joy, and how God sends out

his word and it always accomplishes what he wills for it.

It never comes back empty, but it always accomplishes what he wants to accomplish, always.

And so when we open the scriptures, we're not just reading for entertainment.

We're not just looking for some sort of inspiring life quote.

We're not even, for the most part, or maybe not for the most part,

But we're not even just reading for understanding, to gain understanding.

That's not the only goal.

We're reading to hear the voice of the living God, which means,

as a result, we don't have to always get everything.

We don't have to have it all figured out.

And we don't have to walk away every time that we read the Bible or engage in

Scripture or on a Sunday morning. We don't have to always walk away with this

earth-shattering insight that changes everything.

Hopefully those come throughout our lives, but that doesn't have to happen every

single time because what we do is we read and we trust and over time,

God changes us as his words come into our hearts.

So there's this part of Isaiah 55 that we didn't get to sit with as much last week.

In verse eight, God says, my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts and my

ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than

your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

And so see, a part of what it means to soak in the word of God is to realize

that God thinks differently than we do.

That there's a gap, that ever since Eden, there is something in us that is bent,

it's off, it's skewed, and we don't naturally think the way that God thinks in our minds.

There's something fundamentally different about the way that God thinks and the way that we think.

In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, it says, The natural person does not accept the

1 Corinthians 2:14

things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to

understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

That we are all predestined, not predestined, that's not the word I'm looking for, predisposed.

We are all predisposed apart from the Spirit of God in us to reject God's thoughts,

to wander from His truth, and to close our minds to His message of hope and life that He gives us.

Apart from the Spirit, we're all predisposed this way. And if we follow that

path, if we follow that thinking to its conclusion,

what we end up with is we darken our hearts, we close our eyes,

and what we find there is death and not the life that God offers us.

This is the opposite of what God offers when we give ourselves over to the futility

of our thoughts in that regard.

Proverbs 14.12 says that there is a way that appears to be right,

but in the end it leads to death.

And as I was thinking about this, there's this idea that there is a right path.

And all throughout the Old Testament, there's this idea of do not turn to the

right or to the left. It's repeated over and over again.

I was thinking about how in the 15 years of our marriage, there's no place that

Jenny and I get in more arguments than in the car traveling.

And I've probably mentioned that before. But I tend to get dizzy in a car, so I drive.

And it's easier for me anyway. it helps the time pass. But what that means is

that Jenny's often the navigator.

And so she's supposed to be interpreting the map for me. And I'm not saying

that when we take a wrong direction, it's her fault.

I might be thinking that, but I'm not saying that out loud.

But in reality, what really happens, that's not really the truth,

but what really happens, right, is the GPS, Google Maps, whatever it is, gives us a direction.

And sometimes if we're not paying attention, we can take a turn assuming that

we're following the correct direction.

And then we get the voice that tells us that it's recalculating because we've

obviously made a mistake.

And so we hear what we think is correct, but maybe there's two turns and maybe

it's the earlier turn or maybe it's the latter turn, right?

And maybe if we don't just pause and double check, and this is what I tell her

all the time, like there's an actual map we can look at.

Why do we miss a turn? Because we can just look at the blue line that shows

us which one we should go on.

So if we just paused for a moment and looked at the map and looked at what we

were actually supposed to be doing, assuming that GPS is correct,

because we all realize that sometimes it can get wrong,

but we're not back in the days of TomTom anymore. It's pretty good these days.

So assuming the GPS is right, we can always just look at the map.

And this is what we so often do with our spiritual life.

We respond to what feels right. We respond to our gut, to what the moment is

telling us, to what we think we remember about the truth of God.

We don't tend to stop and compare what we're hearing with God's word.

We don't tend to stop and pause and reflect and ask God to fill our thoughts

with his thoughts so that we know we are making the right turn and we're not just assuming.

And so this is where we have to begin with this acknowledgement,

as Isaiah 55 says, that God's thoughts are not our thoughts,

that our natural thoughts and God's thoughts are different.

And what seems right to us in the moment, as we read in Proverbs,

isn't necessarily what God is calling us to.

That God thinks differently than we do. And unless his thoughts replace our

thoughts, then we're going to keep slipping into this way of thinking where

what feels right is where we go.

But if we follow that to its natural conclusion, then we're walking away from what God is offering.

And so the question becomes, how do we close that gap?

How do we move from the old patterns of thinking? How do we move into a place

where our mind is filled with the thoughts of God, where our mind is in Christ?

And it starts by soaking daily, slowly in the Word of God, clothing ourselves

in the Word of God each and every morning.

Imagine you wake up every morning, hopefully you wake up, and you get dressed.

But imagine that you don't put on the clothes that fit your activities for the day.

Imagine you put on your only and nicest suit to go dig ditches in the mud.

Imagine that you wear your pajamas to the most important job interview of your life.

Imagine that you reach out and pick the torn and stained clothes from the bottom

of the hamper rather than the nice new clothes that have been set out for you.

We don't do that physically.

We don't make those choices when we dress ourselves every morning.

But so often, this is exactly what we do spiritually, day after day.

We wake up and we put on anxiety.

We wake up and we dress ourselves in shame and we get dressed in our own self-sufficiency,

rather than the identity that God gives us.

Instead, we get dressed in the identity that Jesus took off of us.

We get dressed in those old clothes in the bottom of the hamper.

All the while, God is offering us something better. He's offering us himself to clothe ourselves.

In 2 Corinthians 5.17, this is a very popular verse.

I'm sure you've heard it before. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation. Behold, the old has passed away, the new has come.

It's not that he is becoming to be a new creation.

It's not that she is working toward it.

It says that he is, she is, it's a present tense, done, finished.

You are a new creation. This is already who you are.

Everything that used to define your life apart from Christ, your sin,

your shame, your guilt, your striving, your status, your past wounds,

your past patterns and habits, all of these things have passed away.

Your old identity, your old record of sin, your old habits, they were nailed

to the cross with Jesus. And so they don't get to follow us into our new life.

And this is so important for us to understand because so many times we live

like God forgave us, but then left us the same.

We try and resurrect those old parts of us that have been put to death,

that have been put in the grave.

But this verse says, the new has come.

The old has passed away. The new has come. And we just need to stop and take

that in, that you're not someone who is trying to live a better life. That is not who you are.

You are someone who was dead and has been made alive.

This is the difference between what the Bible teaches us. This is what baptism is all about.

You are not invited into start trying to live better, to be nicer,

to be more patient. You are invited into a new life that has been given to you

because the old has been put to death.

God's spirit is in you. This is the glorious truth at the center of your story

now, that the spirit of God lives in you.

You belong to a new kingdom. You've been given a new heart, new desires,

new priorities, and a new future.

And so we all know that tension. The tension there is that many of us,

we still cling to our old thoughts, our old patterns, our old habits.

We fall back into our old identities because that's what we're used to.

And have you ever caught yourself in those spirals of thinking, right?

Saying, I'm not enough. I'll never change. I always ruin everything.

And hopefully you later realize that that's not the voice of God.

That's just your voice in your own head on repeat over and over again.

Because this is what the world is really good at. This is what Satan is good

at. This is what our flesh is good at.

It's good at reminding us and telling us, it takes our greatest,

deepest struggles and it says, this is who you are. I've diagnosed you.

You're no longer someone who experiences depression.

I've diagnosed you. You are now depressed. You're not someone who struggles

with addiction. You are an addict.

And so the world takes our struggles and labels us by them. It calls us by them

until we begin to believe that that's who we are.

So what Satan does is he calls us by our sin.

But what God does is he comes along and he calls us by name. He says, I know you.

This is not who you are. I know you. You are my child. You are my beloved. I know who you are.

And this is why we have to replace those looping lies in our head with the truth

of what God says. Not inspirational quotes.

Not the power of positive thinking. not some life mantra, but we must walk in

the newness of life that God has given us.

And we do that by replacing our thoughts with His, by allowing our thoughts

to be overcome by God's thoughts.

And this is an intentional daily practice.

I don't know about you guys, but I can only speak for myself.

If I don't do this all the time, then what I will think are my thoughts.

And what I will default to are my thoughts, which condemn, which are my worst enemy.

And this has to be a daily meditative practice, not just reading God's word,

but repeating it in our minds.

The Bible is Jewish meditation literature.

It was literally written to be chewed on, to be returned to,

to be re-read over and over again, forwards and backwards, inside and out,

upside and down, that every morning,

every day, day by day, we would soak ourselves in the word of God,

that we would get dressed with Christ, that we would put on as new clothes,

his mercies every morning.

This is Galatians chapter three, verses 25 to 27.

It says, but now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian for

in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

And the NLT version, I like how it says it because it even puts it more specifically

into what we're aiming at here and what is trying to be communicated.

It says, and all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ

like putting on new clothes.

The old ones are taken off so they don't belong to you anymore.

We get dressed with Jesus. We shed our old, torn, self-sufficient,

self-protective layers.

And we put on robes of righteousness, robes that you didn't earn.

Robes that he bought for you, the price of his blood.

And this is not a costume. This is not a British fancy dress party.

This is not a costume. This is not a disguise.

This is not something we put over top of those old clothes.

This is our truest self in him, our truest identity.

That to be clothed in Christ, Christ, Christ.

Okay, I'll lisp real quick. To be clothed in Christ, I guess it's because of

clothed. That's what it was.

It means that you walk into your workplace covered in his peace.

It means that as you parent, you parent covered in patience.

We always, patience tends to be something that many of us ask for, right?

And then we always get that, oh, don't ask God for patience because this is

going to put you in situations where you're going to have to be patient.

But God has given you patience. We talk about the fruits of the Spirit.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, good. Kids, what are the fruits of the Spirit?

You have to talk loudly for me to hear you. That's my mama. Love,

joy, peace, patience, kindness, good. Y'all know them. You're just...

Determine to not participate this morning. You're hungry.

The fruits of the Spirit. These are things that the Spirit gives us,

which means what? They're already yours.

We just need to be who we are rather than trying to be something that we'll never attain.

You want patience, you have it. So we walk and we parent our kids covered in patience.

We speak into conflict with gentleness.

You walk into every moment, not as the old you, but as a new creation.

God has created you in Christ Jesus.

We all get dressed physically every morning, which I hope we do.

We're all dressed now, so thank you for that.

Shirt, shoes, wallet, watch, whatever our attire is. But are we clothing ourselves spiritually?

Do we put the same intentionality every day, every morning in getting clothed

in Christ and putting on Christ and soaking in the word of God?

Because if we're not, what we're doing is walking into a war zone in our pajamas.

The old you, the anxious you, the defensive you, the bitter you, that you is gone.

And if we don't daily return to Jesus, will keep living like the old self still has power.

So the goal is that his words would replace our words, that his thoughts would overcome our thoughts.

Romans 12.2, don't copy the behavior and customs of this world,

but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

And then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good,

pleasing, and perfect. That he would change the way we think.

2 Corinthians 10.5, we destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God.

We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

This is what Paul talks about as spiritual warfare in Corinthians.

Colossians 3.2, Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.

I think we've used this analogy a long time ago, but having our heads in the

clouds and our feet on the ground, essentially.

That we're not disconnected from life on earth, but that our thoughts and our

minds and our eyes are fixed in heaven.

Philippians 4.8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.

Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable.

Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

There's nothing more true, more perfect, more honorable, more right,

and more pure than God himself.

So we have to stop trusting our feelings. The Bible says the heart is deceptive above all.

We must stop trusting every thought that comes into our brain just because we thought it.

We have to start believing God's truth over it all.

And if we don't reject those false thoughts, We just keep falling back into the flesh.

Even though we're already made new, we'll just keep falling back into the flesh.

And this is the point of today, putting on Christ by putting his words in our

mind, that we don't win the battle in our heads, the battle in our thoughts,

the battle for our minds by trying harder.

We don't win it by positive thinking. We win it by replacing our thoughts with God's thoughts.

In the book Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard. There's an entire chapter dedicated to this.

Chapter five is called The Mind, Thoughts, Feelings, and Emotions.

And the idea is that real transformation begins in the mind.

We kind of hinted at that in Romans.

What we consistently choose to dwell on will ultimately shape who we'll become.

This is continuing that thought of last week. that Ada mentioned,

that you are what you eat.

What we continually dwell on in our minds is what we become.

We are shaping ourselves with every thought. He writes, the ultimate freedom

we have as human beings is the power to select what we allow or require our minds to dwell upon.

This is the battleground, our thoughts. It's not our behavior.

It's not necessarily our feelings, but our thoughts, what we dwell on,

what we rehearse over and over again in our minds, what we tell ourselves in the quiet.

This is where the battleground is. And the good news is that you don't have

to be ruled by your thoughts.

If you are in Christ, you are new.

You've been given the mind of Christ. We just have to let our minds,

our thoughts catch up to the truth of who we are.

Jenny Allen wrote a book about this too. She says, we don't have to let our thoughts run wild.

We can stop the spiral and choose hope, choose joy, and choose Jesus.

But we're not going to just stumble into that on accident. We're not going to

drift upward passively.

And that's why God invites us, and actually he commands us to soak in his word,

to return to it day after day, to replace our natural thoughts with his supernatural

ones and to clothe ourselves with Christ, to put on Christ.

So we dress up, we clothe ourselves in Jesus every single day, day by day,

not just once a week on a Sunday, not just when our anxieties spike,

not just as a last resort, but we do it in preparation in advance for whatever may come.

We do it before we need it because we know that we will every day.

We don't just soak in the word of God as medicine when we are experiencing symptoms

of our disease, but we take it as a prebiotic or whatever those things are that

people who are much healthier than I take.

We soak in the word of God because we need it every day.

And what I wanted to do as we ended our time together, because it's a little

bit shorter this week, is actually give you a way that you can do this.

This is something that I do several times a week.

And I mean, I use it like a memorization exercise as well. I'm a big fan of memorization.

And there's no other way to internalize the Word of God than actually literally remembering it.

But this doesn't have to be memorization. You will eventually memorize these

verses as you repeat them over and over again.

This is just some way to meditate on the Word of God and to let it change you as you reflect.

Now, I would say that this shouldn't completely replace just reading as well,

because the goal of reading is to read the Word of God over and over again and

to let that change you over time.

This is just an additional, this is how we capture every thought, like the Bible says.

We just review the truth of what he says.

Even if our prayer is, God, I don't feel like that right now,

but I'm going to trust that what you say is true.

And so despite what I'm feeling in this moment, I'm going to replace that thought

with what you say, because I believe it is more true than what I'm thinking

right now. So even if that's the prayer that comes out of it.

So here's some verses. I'll just run through some of them quickly.

There's a couple I think that are super relevant for us this morning.

Actually, if you want, write it down, take as many cards as you want,

or like a dollar, so you can take it as you want.

John 1.16, for from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace.

And so what I do is I write down the reference and I write down the verse,

and I have a certain number of times that I'll repeat it each day,

and that will change, and I'll read it, and then I'll repeat it once a day for

a while, then I'll repeat it once a month for a while, or once a week for a while.

But for from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace.

We can just repeat that throughout the day over and over again. Put it somewhere.

Put it on the lock screen of your phone. Put it somewhere where you see it all the time.

From his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. God is not empty. He doesn't lack.

He is full of abundance. He has more than we need.

He has more than everybody who has ever lived and existed or who ever will live or exist.

He has more than enough to satisfy every single person, which means he has more

than enough to satisfy and fulfill you, that he has nothing but grace for you.

Typically, we're the ones who condemn, but God meets us with grace,

grace upon grace, and that's from his fullness.

So God, we thank you for your abundance.

We thank you that you are not a small God, and we just want to receive,

even if we don't feel like we can or deserve it. That's the beauty of grace.

So we thank you for your fullness God 2 Corinthians 5 17 we just did that one

right therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old has passed

away behold the new has come Galatians 3 we did that one as well.

Hebrews 4.12, we mentioned this last week.

The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword,

piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow,

discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

God's word is alive. That's how he can say it doesn't return to him empty.

It always accomplishes what he sends it out.

God's word goes into us and it does stuff. I could simplify it to a three-year-old level.

God's word does stuff in us when we read it.

It's really important stuff, right? It exposes the truth. We talk about feelings.

What are feelings for if the Bible says that the heart is deceptive of all?

Our feelings give us kind of a temperature check of what we are valuing and what we're desiring.

And so when we bring in the word of God, we're like, oh, I'm really idolizing

my comfort in this moment because I'm really upset that I don't get to sleep

in because my kid woke me up at four o'clock in the morning.

Our feelings expose what we are holding on to.

And the truth of God's word interjects in that and cuts into it.

Hebrews 4.12, Ecclesiastes 12.13. There's some old ones in here too.

It's not just New Testament.

Everything's been heard. Fear God and obey his, keep his commandments.

For this is the whole duty of man.

We were made, we were made to live in awe and reverence of a holy God.

And we were made for our lives to be about him.

That's what we were created for. And this is what Solomon's writing these words

like, every other thing falls short. It doesn't satisfy.

The end of it all, everything he's tried, the end of it all is this, fear God, love God.

God, help us to love you. Fill us with your word that our hearts may fear you

that we might stand in awe and wonder of all that you are. It may not be lost

on us, the greatness of you.

So one of these rules is that the verse has to fit on a 4x6 card.

This is not memorizing whole chapters, although Psalm 117 is in here,

and that's a whole chapter, but it's two verses.

So I have Psalm 20 broken up into three cards. Actually, I skipped two verses

because I didn't want to memorize those ones.

But Psalm 20, 1-3.

Like I said, you don't have to memorize them. You can read them over and over

again. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble.

May the name of God, the God of Jacob, protect you. May he send you help from

the sanctuary and give you support from Zion.

May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices.

I think if we're just going through a hard time, God, just send,

I need help. Send me help.

You promised that you will never leave us or forsake us. I need you now,

God. I'm not, I don't feel it.

Trusting. You said you were always here. I believe it.

May he grant you your heart's desires. This is Psalm 24-5. May he grant you

your heart's desires and fulfill all your plans.

That sounds pretty good. May we shout for joy at your salvation and in the name

of our God, raise up, set up our banners.

May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

You just need to remember through this verse that God hears us. Then he answers.

He's not silent. Even when we, in our finite understanding, believe that we

can't hear him, God is answering us and he's listening. We are not lost to him.

Psalm 27, this is one of my favorite verses. Some trust in chariots,

some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

There's so many things we can put our trust in. Our jobs, our finances, our family, our health.

Israel tried to trust in all those things. We're called to put our trust in God.

Everything else is temporary. He alone is eternal. We just replace that thought.

God, I don't want to trust in my own ability. I want to trust in you.

What does that look like, God?

Some trust in chariots. I don't want to trust in my physical might. Some trust in horses.

I don't want to trust in my ability to collect technology or to rely on others.

I want to trust in you, God.

We just replace that thought day after day, day by day.

Hebrews 5, 7, in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications

with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death.

And he was heard because of his reverence.

God, I just want to pray like Jesus, with trust, with desperation.

I want to pray like Jesus, knowing that I'm praying to a father who hears me

and who answers me and who loves me.

And you can save me from death if that's your will.

But like the gentleman in Daniel, even if we die, God's still good. We trust in him.

We replace our thoughts with the truth of who God is.

Acts 6.4, we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

These are things that I should devote myself to. God, I want to be devoted to

your word. I want you to be devoted to prayer.

2 Chronicles 7.14. This is what I'll do. I'll just run through these verses.

Sometimes I stop and pause on them and pray, and sometimes I remind myself what those truths are.

Sometimes I just remember them and know that in the moment I need them, God will bring them.

If my people were called by my name.

Hear my voice, when they humble themselves, when they pray, when they seek my

face, and they turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven,

and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.

For me, that's just a verse to remember.

God will heal us. We stop running after our own ways. God's right there waiting.

He will heal us. If we just turn, here's a whole chapter, Psalm 117.

You guys can memorize a whole chapter just today. You ready?

Praise the Lord all nations, extol him all peoples, for great is his steadfast

love towards us and faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.

Whole chapter of the Bible. Praise the Lord.

John 10, 14 and 15. I am the good shepherd.

I know my own and my own know me just as the Father knows me and I know the

Father and I lay down my life for the sheep.

I think it's both important for us to understand the idea of the sheep of God.

Jesus' sheep know his voice.

We are tuning ourselves to know the word of God, to listen to his voice.

It's also equally important to realize that Jesus calls him to help the good

shepherd, and to realize what he's saying in that, that he lays down his life

for the sheep, that he comforts, that he disciplines, that he leads them. Psalm 23, right?

He's the good shepherd. He leads us beside still waters. He restores our soul.

This becomes a prayer so easily, something we need to remember in the valley

of the shadow of death. He prepares a feast.

All of those things in my mind happen in the valley of the shadow of death,

that he leads us beside still waters, that he leads us to green pastures,

that this is all happening in the valley of the shadow of death.

God is there. He never leaves us. He never forsakes us. He's leading us on.

John 17, 3, this then is eternal life that they know you, the only true God

and Jesus Christ, him you have sent.

Eternal life is now as we get to know God more and more.

Heaven can come to earth in a bit, and then we just get to step into the fullness

of what that is soon to come.

John 14, 23, I love repeating this one as well. This is one I hang out with a bit.

Jesus answered him, if anyone loves me, he will keep, wait, what is it?

I need to read this one. Oh, this is the wrong one.

Wait, sorry. I'm shuffling.

Yeah. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My father will love him and

we will come to him and make our home with him.

Comes and dwells in us. He makes his home with us, not just beside us, but he inhabits us.

It's closer than anything. It's closer than our own breath.

That's just something I need to remember. I'm not alone.

All of us at times in our lives, maybe even now, struggle with loneliness,

even when we're surrounded by people, especially when we're surrounded by people, right?

The truth that God is with us is true, regardless of whether we feel lonely or not.

Like, if we feel lonely, it's not because God has left us.

There is a truth there that we need to remember. God is here with me. I'm not alone.

Tori, can you skip to 1 Peter? 1 Peter 1, 8 and 9.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him,

you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with

glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Whether we are experiencing or seeing Jesus in our moments, we love him. We believe in him.

He brings us joy that we can't understand.

And then maybe this last one for our time this morning.

And I just encourage you, like what I do is when I hear a verse or read a verse,

and I'm like, oh yeah, that's something I should meditate on.

I'll write it down on my phone or even on a card and maybe I don't do it that

day, but maybe I add it to the collection the next day or the next week.

I just have a list and your list will grow infinitely.

Well, not infinitely because there's like 1,800 and some verses in the Bible.

So it'll grow to the extent of that there are verses in the Bible.

Chapter 4 23 to 27 keep your heart with all vigilant vigilance for from it flows

the spirit the springs of life like we have to guard our hearts with the truth of god's word,

because that's where god springs up life jesus talked about how from within

you you have springs of living water if you ask for a drink from him he will

give you everlasting water that becomes within you a well that springs up to eternal life.

Must guard our hearts. This is where the springs of life are.

Put away from you crooked speech and put devious talk far from you.

Let your eyes look directly forward and your gaze be straight before you.

Lord, don't let my eyes wander to lesser things.

Don't let me be fixated on the walls, on the danger, on the desires and enticing

things that go around me. Let me be fixed on you, Jesus.

Ponder the path of your feet, then all of your ways we'll be sure. This is prudence.

This is where we think about that idea of being careful.

Jesus says in the Gospels, talking about how our speech is careless,

like we'll be held account for every careless speech. So be careful.

So be full of care. So be aware of every place that we're stepping.

I mentioned this before, but I don't remember why.

If a cat is walking on unsure ground, I think typically this is just how cats walk.

This is not me advocating for cats. This is just an observation in nature.

They put their back feet in the same footprint as where their front foot was

because they know that that place is firm, that place is sure.

I had a professor, a Hebrew Bible professor, who often went to Israel as a Hebrew

Bible professor should because that's what they love.

And he talked a story about how he was in Jerusalem or wherever.

They were sitting on a cliff.

I can't remember the exact location. And you know the mountain goats or the

ibex or whatever they are.

There's that psalm that talks about, make my feet like the feet of the deer.

And what he saw that day was one of these...

Or whatever, walk off a cliff.

And he goes, no, no, no, you don't understand. It walked off the cliff and then

it walked back over the cliff.

It's like the word of God gives us such a firm foundation.

We ponder the path of our feet. We step on what's firm and what's sure.

We don't step on our own thoughts and the things that are shaky and temporary

around us. Do not swerve to the right or to the left.

Turn your foot away from evil. We follow in the path that God leads us.

And we find their life, we find their joy, we find their peace and righteousness.

That is what God has for us. That is what has already been given to you.

That is what is already yours in Christ Jesus.

So we're going to sing, and the song we're going to sing is a song we haven't done in a long time.

Some of you might not know it. I think the last time we've done it,

there were probably quite a few of you who weren't here the last time we did it.

This is a song written from God speaking to us. So feel free to not sing it,

but to receive God's words for you.

But if you want to sing as a way of just internalizing that,

you are welcome to do that as well.

And in this moment, as we receive the truth of what God says,

I also just want to invite you to receive communion.

We do that every week as the early church did as well.

Every time we gather, because we need to be reminded every day, every moment.

So we take communion, there's the same reason we need to meditate on scripture

because we need to remember the love that Jesus has for us because it's so easy to forget.

Music.