Treasures of the Journey - Part 3: A With-God Life | Pastor Phil Holcomb

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshipping together. We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website, ecb.asia, or our mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. Well, good morning, good morning. I am loving the cold weather,

the cooler weather, right? Yeah. But there's a problem with this weather. And there's an

age-old conflict in the Holcomb household, one where my wife tends to over-prepare and

I tend to under-prepare. Actually, let me rephrase that. She over-prepares and I prepare

in the right amount. She just said, okay, see, you can feel it. We have this tub in

our home with winter clothes in it, like a stocking cap and some gloves and long sleeves.

And when we were moving to Bangkok, we had this conversation and she's packing these

things and I'm like, I don't think we're going to need that there. And of course, you know,

she's over-preparing, so she's getting this ready. So as cool as the weather has been

right now, I'm actually sweating, not because of the temperature, but because I'm concerned

that I may be wrong and I'm going to have to pull out those gloves at some point and

apologize to her. As we step into 2025 and with Chinese New Year coming up this next

month as well, right around the corner, unexpected things like this cold weather, we know that

we're going to be stepping into a new year, right? So we have started this series called

Treasures of the Journey. And what is this series? It's four of us that have shared different

treasures of our own journey, treasures of following Jesus. Pastor Pablo started this

out and he said, hey, the most important thing that he's been learning is not simply about

can I trust God, but can God trust me? In other words, a faithful response like we saw

in Abraham. Last week, we had one of our ministry heads, Zach Wiley, share. And he gave us an

account of Levi, Matthew the tax collector. And what do we see in this story? That Jesus

encounters this liar, this thief, this cheat with a radical invitation. And not only that,

but he provides a transformational hospitality that we get to walk in. So those are a couple

of the treasures that we have had. Now, my wife and I will often as we transition from

one year to the next, we will take some time to reflect back on the previous year. Many

of you probably do the same thing. And we'll try to discern, you know, what word, what

word captures the last year. And the word for 2024 for us is unexpected. Not the word

is unexpected, or not that the word we chose was unexpected. Actually, the word is unexpected.

There was a lot that happened in this year that was very unexpected. Take for example,

the fires that you may have been seeing in the Los Angeles area. That was right in our

neighborhood where we used to live and favorite coffee shops and our dental clinic and things

like that are gone forever. Unexpected, right? Now I want to share a story with you really

an allegory or an illustration from my own childhood. As many of you know, I grew up

in the wonderful country of Kenya, we have some Kenyans here. And my brothers and I,

we have two other brothers, so three of us total, we knew of this river. But we didn't

know much about it. And one day we decided it would be a good idea to get some tubes,

some inner tubes. So you know, inside a tire there's this tube and you blow it up. We're

going to go to this river and float down and just enjoy ourselves, right? There's a couple

problems with this. Number one, we've never been down this river before. We don't know

where the journey is taking us. Again, remember frontal lobes have not developed for young

boys. The second problem was we invited a bunch of our friends along with us, many of

whom did not know how to swim. And then the third problem was that we only had enough

tubes for some of us, so we're sharing tubes as well. But as you're going down this river

and you come around the corner and you hear the rapids, right, that sound of like, not

like a clang, but this rushing river, something within you is restless. And you react to that

in a way that is like, what am I going to do here? I don't know what's happening with

me. Now, I remember at one point coming around and the noise was particularly loud and the

friend who was on the tube with me had kind of finally had enough and loud sound and he

actually used me as a stepping stool to jump to a rock to then to get out of the river

and he was using all of what he could do to escape this journey that he was on. And I

want to say we all made it. Obviously I survived, all of our friends survived as well, and if

there's children here, please don't try that at home, again, especially in the clangs of

Bangkok. But that experience, it mirrors life, right? We're kind of moving along and we go

moment by moment, day by day, and we come across these experiences, these situations

that bring us to an awareness that something is not right. There's this restless thing

that kind of pops up within us. The loss of a job, it could be conflict with others, health

situations. The treasure that I want to share with you this morning is actually captured

in this quote by a guy who lived quite a few years ago. My clicker doesn't seem to be working

if you could go forward one. And here is what Augustine said. He said, because God has made

us for himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in him. Because God has made us

for himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in him. I want you to take a moment

and just digest that. What first came to your mind when you read that quote? What would

it look like for your heart to rest more fully in God? I want you to think about the last

week. When was the last time your heart was in a state of rest? What brought about that

rest? And where do you turn or what do you grasp for when you're aware that something

is off, something is not right? Will you join me in prayer? Father, we ask that you, through

the power of your Holy Spirit, would open our eyes to see you more clearly. You would

open our ears to hear you. You would open our heart to receive you more nearly. Do what

you need to do in this time and this space. And we declare, even at the beginning, that

you are a good and trustworthy God who is about rest for us. So thank you. In Jesus'

name. Amen.

Well, the Bible tells the story of this man named Elijah. So nearly 3,000 years ago, there's

this guy who lives in Israel. I'd like the experience of careening down that river that

I told you about. Elijah's story, through his life, has lots of experiences and scenarios

that brought up a sense of unrest within him. And there's times when he became aware that

things aren't right. His story captures what it looks like to move in a direction where

you know that God is your rest to where you increasingly experience within your very life

that God is your rest. Now, because his story is pretty lengthy, I'm not going to read all

these chapters. In fact, I'm just going to retell some of the story and capture highlights

from it. So Elijah lives in this time of incredible uncertainty. There's a lot of mess around him.

Things are not going well for God's people. They've walked away from him. And there's

this king that is absolutely a horrible leader. His name is Ahab. And in fact, let's take

a look at his resume here. It says, in the 38th year of Asa, king of Judah, Ahab, son

of Omri, became king of Israel. And he reigned in Samaria over Israel 22 years. Okay. So

he's reigning for quite a long time. But listen to this part. Ahab, son of Omri, did more

evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. That's quite the accomplishment,

right? Now, there's only one person alive at that time that we know of that was more

evil than him. And it happened to be the wife that he chose, Jezebel. And so this makes

a power couple in all the wrong ways. And they journey through life together following

the demonic presence of Baal and absolutely determined to destroy God and his truth in

his ways. So that's where we find our friend Elijah in the middle of that mess. And so

God has brought Elijah to call out a famine across the land. And this famine now is making

things at least for a moment even worse. My father-in-law works for World Vision. And

so he does food distribution. And he talks regularly about hangry. You need to feed someone

before you can engage them deeply. This is the exact opposite situation. The land is

hungry. These people are desperate. And so there's a lot going on that's not right. And

so this is where we find our friend Elijah. He's a spokesperson of God in the middle of

that. And he's going to do incredible things that we're going to see. So despite the evil

leadership of Ahab and Jezebel and all that they're doing to work against God, God works

through Elijah for great impact. The story's full of power, full of wonder. Elijah is miraculously

fed by some birds. There's this jar of flour and oil that no matter how much you use them,

they don't disappear. There's a boy in that same household that actually dies and Elijah

helps to raise him from the dead. Significant. There's a standoff between Ahab and the false

god Baal and all of these prophets and Elijah and the one true god where Ahab and all these

false prophets get completely shamed. God is doing these incredible things through this

man Elijah. So then Elijah comes to the point and he calls off the famine because God has

asked him to do so, builds this altar, calls the people back to follow him or to follow

God. And things are looking pretty good, right? Well, Ahab goes to Jezebel and he says, hey,

this is what just happened. So Jezebel doubles down on her desire to kill Elijah and says,

if he makes a vow, I'm going to kill you. Now, if that was your journey, Elijah, and

what you had just participated in, don't you think that you would be a sense of confidence

and you get this threat and you would just sit there, right? I just saw God do all these

amazing things. I just helped him raise somebody from the dead. You can come and threat me,

you crazy lady, that you're going to take my life, but I'm okay. But that's not at all

what he does, is it? You know the story. Elijah is terrified and he flees for his life. He

had followed the game plan. Things were going as they should, but then he finds himself

in the face of this threat and it's fear that moves him. So Elijah's response of taking

things into his own hand, it reveals a restless heart. A restless heart. And we may find ourselves

relating to God primarily as a cosmic life coach. What do I mean by that? Well, when

we learn to use his gifts, gifts of success and impact and power and control, to experience

rest actually through control, we end up putting our weight on something that actually isn't

going to support us long term. Now you may say, wait, Pastor Phil, but these are the

gifts of God. Can't we fully trust them? But God is up to something here. He wants us to

actually trust him. He's calling us to a deeper trust. And so even though Elijah has found

himself in this place of his life being threatened, this is an invitation where God is calling

into something more. I had a friend named Steve who was a running partner actually in

the Los Angeles area and he was a hospice chaplain. And Steve's job was to sit with

people and provide comfort in their most difficult and final days of life. I asked him, you know,

how did you prepare for this? And he said, well, one of the things that he did was he

had a mentor who had him take some time to list out and actually write down all of the

things that brought him joy. So it's hobbies that he may have or family members or food

that he particularly enjoys, places he likes to visit. And he listed all these things down.

And then this mentor told Steve, he said, now I want you to imagine each one of these

disappearing. So cross it out one at a time. So he goes through and he crosses out these

things one at a time. Now imagine your life with all of that gone. That's the type of

people that you are going to be sitting with. They have come to the end of their rope in

this situation. And maybe like Elijah in this situation, what God seems to be doing is to

allowing Elijah's fear, allow the fear that is coming out, actually to call him to a deeper

rest, a deeper rest in him. So moved by his fear, Elijah actually flees and he runs into

the wilderness to hide. He finds this tree and under this he goes and he pouts. As he

sits under the tree in despair, he says the following words to God. He says, I've had

enough, oh Lord, take my life. I'm no better than any of my ancestors. Then he lay down

under the bush and he fell asleep. Anyone relate to this? Or is that just me? He's well aware

of the restless and weary state of his heart. And so there's this time that he thinks, well,

possibly I can distract myself from this. But not just a normal distraction, but the

ultimate version of a distraction where I am no longer conscious about the fears and

the problems that I face in the world around me. Distraction, right? It's something we

turn to quite regularly. Now watch what God does. He responds by kindly allowing Elijah

to sleep. And then he wakes him up and he gives him some food and lets him rest and

he restores him. He nourishes him and he provides for him. And it's almost as though we're having

a therapeutic session right here, right? And Elijah's just like, God, I can't take it anymore.

All this despair and I'm bringing it out before you. And God sits there with him and listens

to all of this and provides for him and cares for him. You see, we can relate to God as

a cosmic therapist. We can use his gifts just to feel better or experience rest through

distraction. And that does help. God is about our emotional healing. He wants to fix those

things, but he also wants to call us to a different way of relating to him that's even

deeper than that. So God gives all these gifts to Elijah and he prepares him and he takes

him 40 days and 40 nights into the wilderness. Jonas, I don't know if you had the song, the

desert song. What a beautiful song. My wife actually reached over and she goes, did she

know where you were heading with the sermon? So thank you, Jonas and team for that song.

So where does God lead our friend Elijah? Not just to any mountain, but to the mountain

that God had taken Moses and Elijah's ancestors, brought him into this mountain and said, hey,

I'm going to bind myself to you in an everlasting covenant. I'm going to be with you. And so

that's the mountain that he takes him to, right? So he takes him up to this mountain.

And what does Elijah do? Elijah goes and he finds a cave to hide in. God seems to have

a sense of humor because what he does is he asks Elijah a question. He says, what are

you doing here? Now remember, God has been with Elijah the entire time and Elijah is

aware of a lot of what's been going on. And so they're going and now you are aware of

this. And so everyone knows why he's here. God led him here, right? And it's almost as

though God is saying to him, do you remember the amazing, powerful things I did? Do you

remember that I supernaturally turned the world right side up, not only in front of

you but actually through you? I fed you through birds. Who else can claim that? I had raised

someone to the dead through you. I shamed the most powerful man in the land. And I gave

you authority to guide my people into what's good, right, true, and beautiful. Then when

you heard someone wanted to kill you, you ran away in despair and wanted to die. And

I joined you as you ran away. Then I brought you to the very mountain that symbolizes my

presence with you. So we have this understanding, right, God and Elijah. He knows all of that

and so he says, what are you doing here? Hiding in this cave. God has and will always uncompromisingly

invite you to something more, to something better, to something deeper. And he's asking

a much bigger question than just, okay, well, I ran away and now you led me up to this mountain

and I needed a place to sleep. He's asking deep, profound questions. Elijah, what brought

you to this point in your life? It's a good question for us to ask ourselves, right? What

brought us to this point in our life? How'd you get here? It's as though God is saying,

I want you to take a moment and ponder what brought you to this cave. And here's Elijah's

response. I've been working my heart out for the God of angel armies, said Elijah. The

people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed the places of worship, murdered

your prophets and I'm the only one and now they're trying to kill me. Again, can we relate

with him? I'm the only one who's following you, God, in the way that you've asked me

to. Elijah's response reminds us that when we relate to God as our cosmic boss, we end

up using God's gifts of new life and mission to experience rest through approval. Approval

vertically from him and approval horizontally from others. Now, last week when Zach was

sharing, if you haven't listened to that sermon, I encourage you to go back and tune into that.

And he said a mentor had given him a picture that a church community can be either like

a hospital waiting room or a room that you're waiting for an interview. And when you relate

to God like a cosmic boss, then you're trying to up your resume as Zach shared last week,

right? And you don't want to share the other parts about you. It's always about, am I doing

better than the person on my right and the person on my left? And so perhaps this is

what Elijah has fallen into here. It seems like it from his response. I'll find myself

comparing my own life and the life of other employees of God as a cosmic boss and I'm

wondering what am I doing that is better or worse than they are. But friends, that's an

exhausting place to be. So as you seek approval from God and others, God encounters you and

invites you to something more, again, to something better, to a true rest, true rest in him.

So God calls Elijah to go out of the cave, out from his hiding, away from the controlling,

distracting and working for approval. He's not doing this to shame him, but he's calling

him to something better. And what happens outside of this cave? Now what we're going

to find out is Elijah doesn't actually obey God, it seems, because he comes out of the

cave after these things happen. So God has asked him to come out and I think he still

stays in the cave and God does what he needs to do out there. So this strong wind comes

and it tears the mountain apart and it breaks the rocks and power is on display, yet God

was not in the wind. Next, an earthquake shatters and rattles the world. There's impact, yet

God was not in the earthquake. Then what comes next? A fire. A fire passes in front of Elijah

and as the worries of our day are consumed by these distractions, reasons to worry, we're

told once more God was not in the fire. Finally, after all these three promising things come

and go, there remains one thing, a gentle and quiet whisper. We read, when Elijah heard

the quiet voice, he muffled his face with his great cloak and he went to the mountain

of the cave and he stood there. A quiet voice asked, so Elijah, now tell me, what are you

doing here? Same question. He's just drawing him out to an increasing awareness of God's

presence with him. And that's where true rest is found. It's in an honest and vulnerable

communion with God. His presence is most often and most deeply experienced in the small unseen

and hidden ways. Why does God do that? Because when his gifts are so loud and we're holding

on to those, we've placed our rest upon something that is actually his gifts rather than him.

So it's in the quiet places that God begins to do his deepest work by connecting himself

to us. And so it's that choir whisper that draws Elijah out of the cave. And you can

imagine God telling Elijah this, Elijah, you were made for me and your heart is going to

remain restless until it rests in me. Now at this moment, at the end of this part of

the story, God tells Elijah, hey, next year, during the course of this time, so as you're

looking ahead into 2025, God tells him, hey, this is what's going to happen. You're going

to get replaced by another prophet. Remember that King Ahab and Jezebel, their lives are

going to be taken, their leaders are going to come into that place. And remember your

argument about nobody else is following God. Well, there's thousands that have maintained

their allegiance to me. And Elijah goes on in life more or less like he had before, things

happening through him until Elisha takes his place. But you know what happens at the end

of his life? He gets taken up in a whirlwind into the presence of God. He doesn't die.

He simply moves to increasing presence to where God actually snatches him up. And he's

in what we would call heaven, paradise, forever and ever fully reconnected with God. What

a beautiful story, incredible story. Now there's a parallel in my own journey, my own journey

with God, and I want to share with you just part of it. We could spend a lot of time,

and again, maybe the stool is helpful for that. But I'm just going to capture a couple

parts of this story for you to show how we can end up putting our leaning into rest in

a place that is not actually what gives us true rest. I had a mentor early on in my following

of Jesus who, incredible man of God, he had memorized huge portions of scripture. And

in fact, he had made a decision not to do a PhD because he said, I'm going to devote

the same amount of time to memorize God's word. So it just flowed out of him. And of

course, if he's mentoring me, he's constantly inviting me and encouraging me into memorizing.

And so this was life transformative. It really, really changed my life and it was wonderful.

One of the things that I memorized was the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6 and 7. This

is the most complete accounts of really Jesus's teaching, right? So we're to go into all the

world and to follow and obey all of what Jesus commands. And so I memorized this and I began

to live it out and there was massive change in my life. It was quite wonderful. But again,

remember God calls us to something more. And what he wanted me to see is, Phil, you are

actually trusting more in the gifts that I have given rather than me myself. So how did

he do this? Well, it's sometimes painful. I had a colleague, a ministry partner that

we worked together for quite a long time and we were doing really wonderful things together.

And he was a friend of mine. But at one point we began to see a different vision in life.

You know how this goes, right? So we had hours of conversation to try to figure out, well,

where are we going? How are we going to get there? And in all of those conversations,

we even invited a mediator in to really help us work through this. And there was a point

where we realized there's no moving beyond this. We just can't. There's a block in it.

And my friend told me at this point, he said, let me pause right there and go to this. Any

of you recognize, raise your hand, this bracelet, what would Jesus do? Remember these? You were

aware of it. And it was a reminder, right, to follow what Jesus asked you to do. But

when my friend told me, as he said, Phil, as I go about my day and we're working together,

you know what the question that's going through my mind is? What would Phil do? Of course,

you can place that blame back on him and like, oh, you have some problems and that's why

you're doing that. But you know what this revealed? I had taken God's gifts and I had

brought them in with so much of my own effort and so much of my own trying that he was receiving

me as my own kingdom, not God's kingdom through me. I can know everything about God without

actually knowing God. And so as much as that hurt, that was a great invitation to take

account for what was happening in my own life. Please don't hear me wrong. I'm not saying

don't memorize scripture. Do so. Read God's word. This is why we gather like this. But

don't learn it just to learn about God. Engage with it to learn or to actually know God and

to be with him. Another thing that happened in this time is, is I had started this initiative

for a family that was receiving, had gone through persecution and you're trying to

make it possible for their son to go to school. So you put up a GoFundMe thing and you're

trying to rally people to participate in this. And for whatever reason, a number of people

didn't respond. And these were friends of mine and I knew them and I knew so they're

buying a hot tub during Christmas rather than supporting this kid going to school, right?

What's my response in that situation? Lord, you're in control, right? No, I'm in control.

So this deep anger comes out of me towards other people. And it's at that point that

you know, you realize I've been sitting on something that I thought was my own relationship

with God, but it was actually more of the gifts of God. And God is slowly inviting me

to take out the legs from underneath, which is disconcerting for a time, right? To remind

me that the most important, the most valuable thing that we can ever do is be with God.

That's the end of all of the story. So let's look at God's word just real quickly from

beginning to end. It begins with God's people in communion with him. And then we know the

story Adam and Eve, they sin, they rebel against God. And what happens right after that? Here's

what we find in Genesis three. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God

as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And what did they do? Did they

run towards God? They hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden, go into that

cave. But the Lord God called to the man just like he did with Elijah, just like he does

with me, just like he does with you. Where are you? What are you doing? And he answered,

I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. So I hid. There's this

hiding and covering that we do, right? Like Adam and Eve and like Elijah, we all do it.

But God is there and he's slowly calling us out to be more aware of his own presence with

us and saying, where are you? So again, as you step into this next year, take time to

think through that. Now we're going to fast forward to the middle of the story here. And

Jesus comes as God with us, Emmanuel, showing that that is the end goal of all things. And

we have this great story of Mary and Martha. We know this story, right? It's recounted

in Luke 10, 38 through 42. And these two ladies welcomed Jesus into their home and they approach

him in two different ways, right? Martha receives Jesus by continuing in her old habits of doing

and she serves Jesus. Is that a bad thing? No, it's not a bad thing. But Mary, on the

other hand, sits at the feet of Jesus and receives his presence. Now, Martha gets frustrated,

right? So now this is the sign that something you're putting your rest in something different.

She gets frustrated and like Elijah, she expresses a similar statement. She goes, God, I'm working

my heart out for you. And what is that person doing over there? And while God was near,

she was missing the greatest gift. And so here's what Jesus says back to her. He says,

Martha, Martha, the Lord answers, you are worried and upset about many things, but few

things are needed or only indeed one. Mary has chosen what's better. And it's not going

to be taken away from her. Mary has chosen what is better. Now, fast forward to the end

of the story. And if you're again, like my wife who hates to know the endings of movies

or books, spoiler alert, I'm going to tell you what happens at the very end of it. Actually,

God will. And here's what he says in Revelation 21. This is where our culmination is, where

we will end up for those who are in God. I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

look, God's dwelling place is now among the people. Among. And he will dwell with them.

They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. And it's in

this closeness, this nearness, this awareness of God that every tear is gone. Every heartache,

all the loneliness, all of what requires us to toil and to work so hard in the life around

us, it's all gone. And it even says in this passage that there's no more need for sun

or moon because God himself takes this place. He is the light in that space. And that is

where we are created, created for that union with God. So real quickly, created for union

with God, right? Then we've lost that union with God. But then God journeys with us forever

to restore that union. And we're invited to actually step towards that and receive it,

to come out of the cave and receive that union. So once again, here's that quote from Augustine.

Because God has made us for himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in him. Let me

invite you to something with this. If your heart doesn't respond to say, absolutely,

100%. Bring that to God, just like Elijah did in the cave, just like he did under the

tree. God's there, he already knows it. So bring it to him because that's where that

transformation happens. Again, what Zach was sharing, it's in that hospitality of God that

we are in his presence that the formation and transformation and reformation takes place,

not outside of that hospitality. So what does it look like to increasingly grow in an

awareness of a with God life? Here's the first thing that we can see. Not just here, but

know that what God is up to is that in all of your life, he is slowly drawing you, not

just the good things, but even the hard things. He's drawing you closer to himself. And like

the story of God with Elijah, God has and is and will always be working for that end.

He isn't following you around to punish you because you've sat in a seat and rested yourself

on something that doesn't actually provide that eternal rest that you're longing for.

He instead helps you to see what it is and how to draw it out from you so that you can

rest in him more deeply. How might we welcome or embrace God's rest? How do we actually

step towards that? Well, one thing is that it often feels like you're going backwards.

It often feels like you're slowing down rather than going forward. So one of the keys is,

like Elijah, is to know that when you end up heading into the wilderness and you end

up pouting at this tree and you end up in this cave with God, God's doing a deep work

even in that space. And it's okay for it to feel like it's going backwards before God

then takes you maybe into another season where it moves forward again. So welcome that and

embrace that. And I can tell you, brothers and sisters, that I hate this. I resist it

and my wife knows very well, like I will tell her in the home, I'll say, why did God have

to make it this way, right? But it's so good and so perfect and so true because it's in

that space that I've been resting and sitting on something that I thought was moving me

forward that God pulls that out and aligns me with what is more important and more valuable.

So I welcome it with one hand and I kind of resist it with the other, right? Lord, help

me. Here is an invitation for you for this coming year, something I want to invite you

to do. I want to invite you to take a retreat. This isn't a conference where you learn more

information and you study something new. This is a time and a space where you remove control

and distraction, where you remove any sense of accomplishment and approval that you can

receive from God and you just sit there with Him. Again, it's going to feel like you're

going backwards. You may say, I don't have time for this, but that's exactly the space

that means you need to take a retreat. This could be 24 hours. It could be a couple of

days. Go alone and spend some time doing the following. Psalm 46, 10 says, be still and

know that I am God. Just come and be still before Him. And I don't know if it's a problem

with you, but for me, my mind always engages and I begin to think, okay, how do I move

forward? How do I change something? How do I grasp whatever is next? And so this has

been actually kind of feels like a ripping for me to just sit there and to be still and

know that He is God. You know what He's doing though? He's saying, Phil, why don't you stop

pretending to be God and just take a seat with me? And you just kind of sit there and

it feels like nothing is happening for that moment. But as you're sitting there, I want

to remind you or invite you to something else. There's another story of a priest in the Old

Testament, Eli, and he's mentoring this guy named Samuel. And God is calling out Samuel

to take Eli's place. And so the Lord speaks to him a number of times and Samuel keeps

getting it wrong and he keeps going to Eli and is like, hey, what do you need? So what

does Eli do? Eli tells Samuel, he says, go back. And this time, when you hear a voice,

say, speak, Lord, your servant is listening. So as you're sitting there in your stillness

before God, you can use that to say, speak, Lord, your servant is listening. Again, what

you're doing is you're sitting there and just receiving from God who he is. All of that

time of memorizing scripture and reading it and participating in all the classes and everything

that has been so good for you, it'll come back to you in that moment. And the Holy Spirit

will use it to minister to you and to bring you to a great healing and a rest in him.

There's this time in the last few years that when faced with an opportunity, an invitation

for stillness before God, I remember my heart saying, I don't have time for this. And it

was as though God said, you have time to breathe, don't you, Phil? Of course I have time to

breathe, God, if I don't breathe, what's going to happen? And I think God was inviting

me in that moment to say, I need you, Lord, every moment, every hour, which is a song

we're going to just sing here in a moment here. I need you. Whether or not I'm aware

of it or not, you're with me and would you increase that awareness to need you more?

And God is always there and he's gently calling us into that deeper space with him. What a

good God, what a wonderful God, what a God that we can actually trust and put our weight

in as we journey through life. Lord, we confess that at times our heart is looking for rest

in a number of things, things that sometimes are clearly not right, but other times are

confusing because they seem to be so good and so right and so true. But like resting

in a river and just heading down, we ask that you would hold us, that you would be the one

to bring us into a greater and deeper rest in you, God. What a treasure that is. Thank

you for calling us out of whatever cave we have hidden. Thank you for continuing to do

that. And we ask that we would do so even this morning. And so as we join the team in

worshiping these words that we need you, God, may those be true expressions of what is going

on in our hearts. And whatever needs to continue to change, do so. Holy Spirit, continue to

do that work. We love you, God, and we declare that you are worthy. In Jesus' name, amen.

Thank you for tuning in to the ECB Sermon Podcast. Whether near or far, if you are looking

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