Become 2026: Meet with God Daily, part 1: Waging War on Busyness

I just want to start with a question, and that is this. What is the biggest

obstacle in your life to being an everyday disciple of Jesus,

assuming you want to be one?

I'm sure you can think—you know, I'm not going to push you there, but it is important.

I'm sure you can think of a lot of things ranging from, you know,

just like generalized sin to just like unique parts of your own character, your own personality.

But if you were to ask me what I think your greatest obstacle is to being an

everyday disciple of Jesus, I would actually say your biggest challenge is what we all share.

And that is that in our culture, there are some just major challenges just right

off the bat for everybody in being a disciple.

One of my favorite theologians is a guy named Leslie Newbigin.

He's been dead for a while, but he points out that the challenge of modern life

is that we have a culture, which is enormously productive of means,

but unable to speak about ends.

It is fertile in finding new ways to do things, but incapable of answering the

questions what things are worth doing. I think I have a slide that says that.

It's, yeah, it's too good to not put on a slide, you know.

And I believe the biggest challenge to following Jesus in our time is that we've

just become exactly like you're saying. We've become massively competent at doing things.

We can accomplish a lot. We can solve any problem.

And now that AI is here, we can create problems and then solve them or think about solving them.

We are good at solving problems, making money, maximizing everything.

But I think it is true that we have no idea. We do not have a way of figuring out what is worth doing.

And I think that creates a situation in life where just people are exhausted.

Because there's infinite number of options. and we're told that we can do everything,

we can reach for the stars, that our arms are tired.

And so when we listen to Jesus say what he says so often throughout the Gospels,

I mean, he offers up peace and life.

Like he says in John 10, 10, he says, I've come that they may have life and

have it in abundance or in other translations, have it to the full.

We find that compelling. I think just naturally Jesus speaks to a great need

that we have for rest, for peace, for joy, for an abundant, satisfying, full kind of life.

We've been pursuing that with all of our options and all of our abilities,

but Jesus says you can have that and have it through a different means.

And as we look at the life that Jesus lived, we can see that he just,

I mean, exuded this confidence about what life is for and what makes life good.

As he speaks about God and about life and what's right, people around him were totally compelled.

Because even in that day, before iPhones and before computers and before electricity,

people had this longing for a full life.

And they found the options being given to them very unsatisfying.

So people found Jesus' words about life and peace and hope and joy very compelling.

I mean, we read this throughout the Gospels, but people noticed that they found

his teaching compelling because he spoke as one who had authority.

He had authority about what life is for.

So we looked at that in Matthew previously. But Jesus lived and spoke as if

he knew what life was all about and as if he knew what was worth doing in life.

And people found that very interesting.

He knows what's worth doing. He knows what kinds of things that everyone thinks

are worth doing are actually not worth doing and ignoring and maybe even laughing at a little bit.

In Luke 5, I think we see a great example of how Jesus embodied that kind of

life authority and that confidence towards God, which is just like so astounding to people.

In Luke 5, we read this, verse 15.

The good news, this is the beginning of his ministry. Things are going out,

things are going well. The good news about him spread even more,

and large crowds would come together to hear him, to be healed by their sickness.

Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.

This is a man who knows what's worth doing, even as people around him have lots

of ideas about what he should be doing.

They're coming to him. They're seeking a good thing. They want to be healed

and helped and taught by him.

And he does that. And yet also in the midst of the great demands put on him

and his life, what does he do? He withdraws and he prays often.

See, on the one hand, Jesus is a lot like us. He is productive,

extremely productive. He was very efficient.

He was competent. He could solve problems. He could help people.

But even in the midst of a very active and demanding life, he is able to withdraw. He leaves the crowds.

He abandons his busyness, which by the standards of our day,

and I think actually, if you read the Gospels, even by the standards of his

day, seems a little irresponsible.

Seems like he's kind of disappointing people.

Instead, he chooses to withdraw. He quiets himself. He gets alone with God.

He prays and he does that on the regular.

So the question for you, as we look to the example of Jesus and as we aim to

be disciples is what is worth doing?

And particularly, is prayer worth doing? Is seeking the Lord,

spending time alone with him worth it?

Is carving out time often to meet with God worth it in your own life?

And I'm just going to let you sit with that for a minute.

And then sit with the further question, even if you agree with that,

does that materialize on your calendar and in your time and the way you spend your week?

This series that we're in, Becoming Everyday Disciples, it's like my pastoral

effort to help us all navigate this question, what is worth doing?

And what we're doing on these Sunday mornings is we're talking about six discipleship

habits. You have them written down on a little handout in front of you.

You can take that home. You can do whatever you do with things that you take home.

If in my case, that just ends up in my pocket. But maybe you could do better.

These are not things that we're saying, well, you should do them to make God

happy or earn God's love. This is not any kind of checklist.

That's not the purpose of them. These are habits that I believe will help all

of us kind of push against our cultural inability to know what's important and

help us organize our lives around things that are worth doing.

Things that Jesus would have said were worth doing, things that his disciples

were taught to do, things that will help us to live more like Christ and.

Think more like he thought and live more like he lived and more like he was

teaching his disciples to live.

You know my fondness for Dallas Willard, if you've heard me teach,

he says this, and I think this is kind of the thrust of this,

this whole sermon series is this, he says, you must arrange your days so that

you are experiencing deep contentment, joy, and confidence in your everyday life with God.

Jesus has this on offer, contentment, joy, deep experience of God in your everyday

life, but you have to arrange your days to seek after that.

I think that's what discipleship is. Disciples are people who are modeling their

life after Jesus's lifestyle, and his lifestyle is one of experiencing deep

contentment, joy, and confidence towards God.

That is why he exudes this authority. That is why he is a living demonstration

that people found so compelling of what it's like to walk with God and to know God.

He was doing these things. He teaches us to do these things.

And I mean, we have a new ability to walk into these things because of the Holy

Spirit that has been coming into our lives because of the gospel,

because of the forgiveness of sins. All of this stuff is on offer to us.

And yet we, you know, it's a free gift, but we have to make use of it.

We want to organize our lives around it.

And so what I'm suggesting here in this series is exactly that,

that the life of a disciple is the life of a person who is arranging their life

around experiencing God exactly the way Jesus did.

And the particular practice is the second to last one that we're going to talk

about this morning is to meet with God daily.

And if you don't like that, just say pray. But pray doesn't start with M.

And it's an acronym to become. And so, like, I'm sorry, it has to be an acronym.

That's pastoral law. They take away my license. Otherwise, if we don't use acronyms on the regular.

To meet with God daily, spend time in prayer, spend time having your soul fed

by the Lord every single day, organize your life around that.

So you have contentment, joy, and confidence in God.

Deliberately, I'm telling you to deliberately carve out in time and space,

a place where you can encounter your God, the God who created you,

the God who loves you, and where you can be encouraged by him,

where you can talk to him, where you can worship him,

in the way that you can do it. is the best for you.

I'm not trying to ask you to eat your vegetables. I'm saying, eat the candy.

Do the easy thing every day. Some of us have a very easy time when we turn on

worship music of worshiping God. I am that sort of person.

I really need to spend time in worship every day. It gets me right there.

It's the easiest thing for me.

Some of you guys, you spend time in scripture. You spend some time in the Psalms

and that is your way of getting your heart, your mind, your soul,

bringing it to God, like creating a space where you can talk to him.

I'm saying do whatever works for you, but do it regularly and intentionally. Do it every single day.

Because I think a lot of us have these easy methods. Like we have easy ways

of getting to be with God and all that we're doing is we're saying,

oh yeah, that's good when I need it, but I don't I don't have like in my mind

that I need it often. And what I'm saying is that if you want to be a disciple,

you do. You need to meet with God every day.

And it can look a lot of ways. So again, the principle is not do it this way.

We're going to talk about some things today and next week of what you can do.

We're going to, like we did last week, we're going to do something together,

do like a prayer exercise together.

These are just options, just options, okay?

I just want to put them out there. But I'm saying that you should have something.

Do what feeds your soul is the principle what is helping you grow in contentment

joy and confidence sounds pretty simple right.

But is it? And in our time and place, I think, no, it's not.

At least as I talk to people, people find it difficult to regularly and daily,

carve out time to meet with God. And I think we all know why.

We all know why, which is a little bit scandalous that we know and yet we tolerate it.

And it is because I and you are too busy.

We are too distracted. we are too much, I think, under the spell of our culture

that believing by doing things doing more and more and experiencing more and

taking on the next challenge that that is somehow going to lead us to life and peace,

and we are handicapped by our inability to know what is worth doing I think

that is my experience of these things I think it's just as I look and get to

know people and talk to people I think it is most people's experience.

Those are the conditions of our culture the things that we're up against.

So what can we do about it?

Beyond being prescriptive about how you meet with God every day,

which I don't want to do, I do think there are some things that I can encourage you to grow in.

And this week and then next week, we're going to continue to talking about meeting

with God. And I'm going to offer up two ways of thinking about meeting with God.

This week, we're going to talk about meeting with God by waging war against busyness.

It's a little different. I don't like war analogies. It's not my favorite,

but I think it's like we need to take seriously the challenge of busyness And

then I think next next next week, we're going to talk about meeting god by making

peace with busyness And those yes are contrary.

Yes, they they are different because at different times and in different places

and on different days You're gonna have to try different methods so.

My guess is that each of us needs a little bit of both of these approaches in

our life. But today I want to just think about waging war against busyness because

I think it's the hardest thing.

If only because you have so few allies encouraging you along.

Everyone actually has ideas about more things that you should do.

Your family, your friends, your boss, even your own self. You just come up constantly

with more things that you could fill your day with. That is just all of our lives.

And no one in your life is saying you should do less.

You should take less upon yourself. Very few people in your life are doing that.

But it's really funny because I sort of referenced this earlier,

but if you read the gospel, whenever Jesus steps away, withdraws,

like he did in Luke 5, everyone around him is really bothered by it.

You can kind of read this, see it if you read it slowly.

Remember, we've been going through the book of Matthew before,

and remember just before the feeding of the 5,000, like Jesus is teaching a

bunch of people. And then he's like, I got to get in a boat and I got to go

because nobody can follow me in the boat.

And he like goes to another place, but then people are just running along the

shore, chasing after him. He can't get away.

They're like, you can't not leave us.

And he's, I mean, honestly, like he seems a little bit irritated,

but he looks at them with compassion. And so he powers through.

And then after he heals everybody and cares for them, then he goes and he peaces out.

But you know what? No one is appreciative. of Jesus' need for time with the

Father. The disciples are not either.

Do you remember a couple chapters back, we were in the book of Matthew,

and they were like, Jesus has disappeared. The disciples are kind of left handling

the ministry. And then there's this demon-possessed child.

And then Jesus comes back, and the disciples are like, Where have you been?

This is terrible. You left us with this thing, and we can't solve this problem.

And Jesus is just like, Man...

Stressed out, right? But constantly, as Jesus is getting away,

he is disappointing people. I think we need to understand that that is going to happen.

But Jesus is so determined to meet with God that he is willing to offend,

disappoint, ignore, and let down people around him.

And it's not that he's doing that heartlessly. He's doing this with full compassion,

but he understands his great need to meet with his father on the regular.

And he does this despite massive social and cultural pressures to always be

in it and always be at the beck and call of people.

I think that is Jesus making war against busyness and against the demands of

life to prioritize what matters.

So the question is, for you, is are you willing to do the same?

Are you willing to make some hard choices to carve out some time,

not all your time, but some of your time on a regular basis to meet with God.

And I'm just going to tell you, unless you do that deliberately and you do it a little ruthlessly,

and you carve out some space and some time to give to God exclusively,

so you can give to exclusively him your attention and bring your whole body,

mind, soul, spirit, just sit before him, sit with him, pray with him to the Lord.

Unless you do that, you're going to struggle in your spiritual life.

Most of us, I think, fail to meet with God in our daily life,

not because we're incapable, not because we don't understand that it's important,

but because we won't stop doing other things.

In order to give your attention to God and meet with him, you need to cease

giving your attention and your time to other things, at least for a time.

And again, I'm not talking about your whole day.

It is not your whole day. It could be five minutes. It could be 10 minutes.

It could be 15 minutes of your day.

Start with something. When you arrange your life around meeting with God,

the challenge is, oh, sorry, no, I skipped, I skipped in my notes.

If we're going to do this, though, okay, again, freedom on how you do it.

But I'm saying there are some skills that everyone needs to learn.

The first skill that you all need to learn is you just need to learn to withdraw.

You need to shut everything else off. You need to learn to disappoint people. You need to step away.

And I think it's so important because unless you deliberately carve out time

and space, you just won't be there.

You have to stop in order to pay attention to God. So the risk is that when

you arrange your life around meeting with God, it's just like we've been talking about.

You will trigger voices, some of which only you can hear because it's your inner

monologue that is going to tell you that you can't possibly do that.

You will be assaulted by your guilty thoughts and your feelings about letting

other people down or your expectations about slowing down.

You will tell yourself that if you slow down and if you withdraw you will then

be failing in your responsibilities in some way I think that is the biggest

thing that keeps most of us

from sitting and carving out time because we are caught up in the urgency of

other things the skill of withdrawal I think is the skill to feel that way,

and then still withdraw anyway I'm not saying stop feeling that way you have

no control over how you're going to feel on any given day I have learned this

after 42 years that sometimes I wake up grouchy

and sometimes I wake up happy and it has nothing to do with nothing at all.

And I just need to learn to roll with what happens. Some times I feel bad about

walking away from my responsibilities and sitting with God.

I feel like I'm being lazy. I feel like I'm letting people down,

but you know what? Like I'm gonna feel some kind of way and the skill to withdraw

is the skill to feel however you feel and yet sit and go and be with the Lord anyway.

Why? Because we have been taught by Jesus what is worth doing.

And prayer and meeting with God is worth it, if only because the failure to

pray will cost you so much.

P.T. Forsyth is like a 100-year-old guy. No, he was alive 100 years ago.

He's not currently 100 years old.

He says this, The worst sin is prayerlessness. The history of the saints shows

often that their lapses were the fruit and nemesis of slackness or neglect of prayer.

Their life at seasons also tended to become inhuman by their spiritual solitude.

Not to want to pray, then, is the sin behind the sin, and it ends up in not being able to pray.

That is its punishment. Spiritual dumbness, or at least aphasia and starvation.

We do not take our spiritual food, and so we falter and we dwindle and we die.

I know that that's a little bit drastic, right? But I think it is worth considering

how serious historically people have taken a call to prayer and how in our culture

we've mostly excused ourselves from it.

I think Christians, like prayerlessness is amazing to me. Like we will talk

about tithing, we'll talk about going to church, we'll talk about serving,

but we don't talk often enough about the importance to pray.

And we, I think a lot of times just believe that it's okay if we're just not people who pray.

But I think saints, people called to be in the church, people called to seek

the Lord, people called to worship him, people saved by the gospel,

people who are leaning into the life given to them in salvation,

by the cross, by what Jesus has done, are people who are learning to pray in

greater and greater measure.

I don't think we can stop in the same way we can't stop eating.

We need to learn to grow in prayer. I think the next skill is that we need to learn to be quiet. Okay.

Blaise Pascal, almost 300 years ago, said, All of humanity's problems stem from

man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.

And I like that. And how much more so is that true now?

We need to learn to be quiet. We need to learn to slow down.

We need to learn to withdraw. And it's hard.

Because, again, we get attacked. This is a war.

When you start to wage war against busyness, busyness fights back.

You will be attacked with distractions and demands that seem to appear out of

nowhere the minute you try to quiet yourself and to calm down.

You will be bombarded with desires to find, and you'll find that something.

Within you actually likes to be busy all the time. You're a little addicted to it, as am I.

And you will be shocked and disturbed to find that you don't like particularly

what happens when you get quiet. You don't like the thoughts you think and the

way you feel, the quieter you get.

And that's normal. I want to say that is very normal.

John Mark Comer has a new book coming out because I'm a big deal.

I got it early. No, he just gave it to pastors early. So I was able to read

it, but it's coming out, I think, Tuesday. It's all about being quiet.

And he talks a lot about why quiet is hard. He says this, When we go into solitude,

rather than feeling happy or at peace, the first thing that often happens is

what we call the unloading of the unconscious.

Pet scans reveal, so actual scans of the brain when you get quiet reveal,

that when we're alone, our brains switch over in what neuroscientists call the default mode network.

The part of our brains that is most focused on the inner world of our thoughts

and feelings, especially our negative ones.

Once external stimulation goes away or even just slows down,

we become more aware of our internal sensations and its smarts.

When we stop, we begin to feel. And he goes on to explain what Christians have

known for a long time, that when we quiet ourselves, we are surprised at what comes out.

Because we have this idea, oh, it'll be so serene to be alone and to be quiet.

And then we step into it and we don't experience it. And what he points out

is that oftentimes we're surprised by what we feel in our pursuit of the Lord.

And as we quiet ourselves, we oftentimes feel exhaustion.

We feel fear. We feel shame. We feel sadness and we feel anger.

Which, if you're not prepared for that, if you don't think or understand that

that's normal, I think I have a slide with those on them.

If you don't understand that those are normal things to feel,

then you're going to freak out and you're going to say, I'm never going to do that again.

All the initial incentives, because the minute you slow down,

these things just start to kind of come out of nowhere, are against this.

But I think that what we have to understand, what Jesus understood,

he kept withdrawing, kept seeking the Lord.

Like he was a normal person in the respects that he had a body, He had a mind.

I know it's hard to look at Jesus and say, well, he's Jesus,

right? I mean, he's God himself in the flesh. I understand all this is true,

but we know from scripture that he experienced the temptations and the difficulties

and all the weaknesses that we also feel.

And so I can only imagine that when he was going through life and as he slowed

himself down, he could have been surprised. Like he would have to have pressed

through some of the difficulties that would come up, some of the worries that

would come up and bring those things to the Father.

So we are surprised that when we quiet ourselves, we're met by these things.

But we have to understand that going through these things and sitting with them,

like bringing these feelings to God is our way to have this conversation,

this understanding. It's a way into prayer.

And it's really important that we press through these things.

Learning to be quiet is learning not to run from these feelings and not to like

feel bad about these feelings, I think, but also just like going to God with

them and starting a conversation.

God, why do I feel this way? Like, what's going on?

Like, what am I holding on to? What am I angry about? What do I need to forgive

someone of? Like, what is it that I'm not believing about your perfect love,

which casts out fear within me?

Like, what is it that I'm sitting with that I'm feeling shameful of?

How is it? How do I need to receive from your Holy Spirit? Like it says in Roman

5, Like, how do I need to have your Holy Spirit pour out love in my heart? Like, what's in the way?

We sit with God and we talk about what's coming out of us, and we learn to wait.

We need to learn to do that.

Psalm 131, 1 through 3 says, Lord, my heart is not proud.

My eyes are not haughty. I don't get involved with things too great or wondrous

for me. Instead, I've calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother.

And I think this is, I mean, the Psalms are a prayer book.

That's the whole prayer, that line, those lines right there,

that's the entire psalm. Psalm 131 is just three verses.

To sit with the Lord, to calm ourselves before Him, to quiet ourselves before

Him, just sit in His presence is a worthy and valuable thing in prayer.

People have known this for a long time.

And then the final thing we need to learn is just to wait, just to wait, and just to be patient.

And I think waiting is totally counter-cultural. See, we think,

even if we accept, okay, I need to learn, I need to learn to quiet myself,

I need to learn to withdraw, we think once I do those two things,

should get some immediate results, you know?

I should start to move on to progress. I should start to get what I'm after here.

But the truth is that meeting with God can feel like just a waste of time if

we haven't learned to be patient, if we haven't learned to just wait, just wait.

Psalm 27 i've skipped a little bit in the middle of 27 but it says this i've

asked the lord for one i've asked for one thing from the lord,

it is what i desire to dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life

gazing on the beauty of the lord and seeking him in his temple,

that's what we're setting out for that's like this is what we're after when

we want to be with god when we're meeting with god of course we want to see

him we want to know him we want to follow him all the days of our life.

But how does that happen? Well, he goes on. Skipping ahead a little bit, verse four.

Lord, hear my voice when I call. Be gracious to me when I answer.

My heart said this about you. Seek his face.

Lord, I will seek your face. Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn from

your servant away in anger.

You have been my helper. Do not leave me or abandon me, God of my salvation.

Even if my father and mother abandons me, the Lord cares for me.

This desperate plea, this desperate cry to seek the Lord, to be in God's presence.

That's what's driving us into prayer, into waiting, into quiet.

And then he finishes up, skipping ahead in verse 13.

I am certain that I will see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living.

So how, what is my response? It is wait for the Lord.

Be strong and let your heart be courageous. Wait for the Lord.

So often, I think we are thinking that if we work ourselves up into enough of

a desire, and I mean, desire and passion, and these things are all important and they're valuable.

They're part of you as a person, and you do need to steward your wants,

and you can sort of train yourself to want the Lord more and more.

We tend to think, I think evangelicals especially tend to think,

if I feel a certain way, then I'm going to get what I want.

And what God is saying, yeah, cultivate that longing to be with God,

pursue God, seek the kingdom first, do all the things that we know are valuable.

And then when you do that, wait and wait and continue to wait.

And the confidence that we have is that we're going to meet with God in the

midst of that. But understand that that's going to come through maybe waiting,

seasons of waiting. We are impatient people.

We are impatient people. I am an impatient person. And I think that if we don't

learn to just sit and wait and seek the Lord, in the midst of waiting and in

the midst of quiet, we are never going to move forward much in prayer.

So learn to wait, learn to withdraw, learn to quiet yourself.

We're going to do a prayer exercise together. Griffin is going to come up,

everybody. Well, not everybody. If you don't know Griffin, that's Griffin.

Hi, Griffin. Yeah, yes. Applause. Yes, he loves that. He really appreciates the applause.

I wanted Griffin to be a part of this because I didn't want to do it.

No, no, no, no, it's true, it's true. I'm part of it, no.

No, because Griffin is a guy who has learned to experiment in prayer and should

grow a little bit into quiet too.

So I'm excited about him just leading us in this. And this is,

again, all we're trying to do is to offer up some ways.

If some of this stuff works for you, that's great. If it doesn't,

that's great. We're going to do some waiting here in a bit too.

Everybody's got to wait. You all got to wait.

Okay, Griffin, have at it. Hi.

Like Trey said, so we're going to do a written prayer. We're just going to read through it.

And there is some waiting in it. And it's a way that I have found that I really connect with God.

I love doing this. And I think the curious piece on that is that I come from

a church background where that wasn't taught.

It wasn't really offered. And so I think that's one of the things I like when

Trey was like, hey, would you like to do this?

I said, yes, because it wasn't part of the culture that I grew up in.

And yet it's a way that I have found that I personally really connect with God.

It's like, I want to try and offer it to other people.

I know there's people here who do connect with God this way,

but on the off chance you've never experienced it. That was a big, big part of this.

The other piece on a written prayer or a guided prayer is that sometimes like

Trey was saying, life is so busy.

I can only speak for myself, but sometimes I feel overwhelmed.

It's like, okay, I need to talk to God.

How? Like, well, how do I start this? And so to have a pattern where you can

just sit and just start with something that you know and trust and that leads

you into a place where you're slowing down,

sometimes by doing that, then all of a sudden it's like, okay,

then I get enough of the world off of me, enough of the busyness just kind of

set aside that I can then just open up to God and whatever.

So that's where we're going to go. I don't even know if we have it here.

So what we're going to do is we're going to, there's a little bit of reading.

We're just going to read all this. I'm going to put the microphone down.

So you're not listening to me. I'd like all of us to read this.

And there's a point, does it say waiting with God?

Sitting with Jesus or something? Okay. It's after the Lord's prayer.

And what I'll do is I'll just set a timer on my phone for, Is it four minutes

or five minutes? Four minutes.

And I do that when I do this, when I sit with God, that way it's really easy.

Because we're so busy, we have no concept of time if we're honestly just being quiet.

And that just will free our minds. It's like, we're not worried.

Has it been one minute? Has it been 30 minutes? Whatever. You just set a timer,

and trust that when the timer goes off, it's good.

And then there's a couple more verses after that. And then I think Trey's coming

back up. So do you guys want to join me?

Father God, creator of the covenant earth, God of Israel, God,

of Israel, God of the Lord, Savior, Jesus Christ, Father, surely let me die,

to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Mother, my soul, wonderful, you know, sliver, mighty God, ever without his small Father.

Princess of Beasts, darling with us, have our seed, and hear our prayers.

Lord, what do I need to sit in our house, and clean the old bread,

who always in the Father, is in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit?

For the bloods and the communion, this now will be forever after. Amen. Hallelujah.

O Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be to thee.

And I am come, that I will be the honor of this heaven.

Give us this day, our given brethren.

Forgive us our trust of the houses, and see where we can those who trespass

against us. Give us God into the kingdom.

All right, I'm going to set a timer for four minutes, and you'll hear hopefully

gentle temple bells when it's done, and then we'll do a little more.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless the Holy Name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, we forget you, our husband.

Thank you. That's a misplaced question mark.

Supposed to be an exclamation point. That happens. Thank you. Thank you. Cool.

Hopefully we made you wait just enough to feel a little awkward. That was the goal.

And I think, again, like when we quiet ourselves, oftentimes we feel condemned or we feel off.

And that's a great time to remind ourselves that we are God's children,

that Jesus demonstrates his love for us in this while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

And so like, we don't come before God with all of our greatness.

We come before God as loved by Him.

And so, is it 1 John, like, if our hearts condemn us, He's greater than our hearts?

We can remind ourselves of the gospel.

And that it's true that we never had standing or love or we never earned anything

from God, but we are just recipients of His grace and His kindness.

And I think taking that time in waiting, like settling ourselves,

is just speaking the gospel, reminding ourselves over that.

Just one final word. You know, a lot of this is just scripture.

It's Psalms. Psalms are a really great way to just read through and then wait,

and create some time to pray.

Some people like, there's like resources out there, like Every Moment Holy is

a popular liturgy book. You know, like, again, do what works for you.

Maybe this isn't the sort of thing that works for you. That's fine.

We're not going to do this every Sunday.

But I do encourage you, figure out how to lean in and to seek the Lord.

Worship team's coming up here.

We're going to go ahead and worship together, and then we will wrap up.

Yeah, we're okay on time.

We have the prayer team. I'm going to be up here.

More prayer team in the back. If you have something in that time of waiting

that's just brought up that you want something.