Be Still and Know | Navigating Chaos With Faith | Psalm 46:1-11

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in

practical ways. Well, hey, everybody, good morning. My name is

Chris and I'm Katlan, and we today are the Bible

Guys are because Jeff is out of town and so

he's out of the country and so we've done this

thing that I think has been very fun. Throughout the week,

We've had a different guest every single day, and today

we have Katlan uh and and by the way, it's

it's an unusual name. I've never heard of it. So

how do you spell Catlan?

Catlin? The spell C A T L I N D T.

So it's Katlan, that's what That's a joke, yes, yes,

but the T represents the cross. My dad wanted a

gud to follow me all the days of my life,

and so it would have been weird to put in

and n T, so he put a D in between

them and then made them both silent.

Wow. So Catlan and with the DT, which is extremely cool.

Thank you.

So, by the way, it wouldn't have worked if you

weren't like, if you didn't have like cool vibes, if

you were like the nerdy kind like, hey, my name

is Katlin. Maybe work I agree, But you know, you

walk in and you're you're all smooth and you're like Catlin.

They're like, oh, he's so cool. That's a cool name.

Thank you.

Yeah, it wouldn't work on me though. So okay, So

you have been on staff with us at Heritage Church

at our main campus as production directory. So so in

a sentence, what do you what do you do? What

is that title?

I am?

Thanks so much for having me. First of all, you

and Pastor Jeff. For sure, this is really really cool.

I'm usually on the other side of the camera, so

to be on this side, it's pretty cool.

You went for Christmas, right, Christmas we featured you. Yeah, this,

which is really cool. So some people probably really know

you from that.

Yeah, yeah, that's cool. But to your point, I am

the production director, so I'm in charge of all of

the worship experience, so all things audio, all things video,

and all things lights. Now do I do all of

the simultaneously?

No.

We have a phenomenal team yep, to do what it

is that God has graced us to do.

But the buck stops here, which with things go great,

you're the hero right and when things go bad, uh oh,

we look out.

Yes, everything rises and falls on leadership, which I know

you know all about.

Yeah for sure.

Well that's cool. So it's it's a thrill to have

you and we are going to launch right into our

first segment, which, by the way, I've advertised this every day,

so I don't want to forget today. If you're in

the area and you want to drive to Inla City

to see the Bible Guys live, it's gonna be Jeff

and I on April twenty fourth at the La City Campus.

You got to get tickets, but they're free. Just to

reserve your spot. There's only two hundred spots. But go

to Herodichurch dot com slash events and we're doing an

actual Bible Guys episode live on stage and it's gonna

be really cool. We're gonna have some other fun as well,

and there's no agenda. It's just have fun. So it's

just to celebrate, get to meet some people, and you

can waltz in and out. You don't have to worry

about knowing anybody, but just drive there, especially if you're

from the Sterling Heights campus and you want to go

out there. Especially that'd be a great invitation or the

Stony Creek campus. Yeah as well. Right, so here we go.

So here is what I call the crazy question segment

that Desiree has done for all of you. Guys. Catlin

is the production director's and he has the coolest style.

So she's even acknowledging that you're cool.

Very humbled by that.

So here is today's question. What would your kids say

you're cool?

Yeah? Absolutely?

Okay, good, good, all right. So what's the funniest or

most random fashion trend that you secretly wish you could

make a comeback even though you might get weird looks?

What a crazy question?

Yeah, thanks Desiree. I really appreciate you on that one.

Yeah yeah, what would I say crazy comeback versus style?

I'll probably say the whole I'm going to answer it

this way.

Yep. So chivery chivalry. I'm a millennial.

Yeah yeah, and the generation before me I saw many

examples of that chivalry chivalry. So guys walking on the

edge of the sidewalk.

Oh, you're going, but you know what, your brain does

work this way every.

Time we're in creative going somewhere.

Yeah you no, No, I'm complimenting you, because it is

so much deeper than my brain. My brain would be like,

fashion trend means bell bottoms, right, and you're like, no, no, no, chivalry, Yeah,

is a trend. Is a fashion trend?

Yes, because what your attire comes with that persona, with

that perspective.

You're saying, chivalry determines actual attire. Yes, because if you're

going to interrupted you too early.

Yeah, a little bit, but it's okay, it's a conversation.

It's cool.

So so when you probably when you go out with

your wife, she has on a nice dress, you make

sure that your tire is suitable for her.

Sure, Like you just had a birthday, happy but lated birthday.

So when she took you out, you didn't have on

flip flops and some jeans and the regal shirt. You

had a tire that was befitting of not only the

venue that you were at, but complimentary to what she

had on today's day. That's probably a lost art, especially

in my generation and the generations after me, because you

could be out with your lady and she could be dressed,

you know, to the nines or whatever, and the guy

would just have on some flip flops. Right, So I

would bring back to answer your question, I would bring

back just guys looking nice, nice, yeah, versus just getting

up and going out looking like you just walked out

of bed as you walk in with.

A very very swanky looking outfit and I've get a

T shirt off, right, Yeah, so yeah, there you go.

Case endpoints the T shirt Biba guys. So, hey, what

a great answer to the question. Wow, that's really good.

And by the way, my wife surprised me. It was

so great. She actually said, packing over and back. I

didn't know where I was going. We drove from Troy,

Michigan to ann Arbor, so uh so ann Arbor is

a great city. I didn't know what we're gonna do.

We did a massage, like a couple's massage things, so

that was fun.

Do you like massages? I do?

Yeah, I do, yes, very much. And and then you know,

especially since you know you work out and your store

or whatever, it's just it's really it's really great. And

then uh we went back to the tel changed and

she said, now, just nice. Well packed, you know, I

had I knew before I packed, but I had to

wear a jacket. I had no idea where I was

going none. So we dressed up super nice, and she

took me to a live jazz club.

Let's go.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, so it was It was so cool.

In fact, they sent you a video. Was it trumpet

or drums? Sex saxophone? Of course because you play sax But.

It was really cool.

It was cool and the same guy who played the

sacks was a floutist, so he so he did the

live jazz with the flute. And I'm telling you, live

music is my thing. I love it so much. And

I told my wife, who's listening probably right now, I said,

it's one of the most memorable birthdays. Not because it

was like especially like the best live music I've ever heard,

although I loved it, but it was more about because

I love it so much. And it was like when

my family cares about me enough to say, we're going

to do this for you. I mean, holy cow man,

driving us all the way there and doing all this

and doing this just because I love it. I felt

totally love great. It was great.

It was great.

And then and then we went to the most popular

restaurant in arbor. But guess what we found out that

it was actually in our in our arbor. It was

hash week.

Wow.

So it was weed weed week. So as we're walking

through the streets, we're like, why is every smell like marijuana?

Because and it was.

It was a we'd week, and we were like, why

did we come on?

We weed contact high?

And it's so funny, and we were just like we

were coming to our car. It was terrible. All right, well, hey, but.

You made it to live to see another day and

to tell the story.

That's right, that's right. And speaking of getting high, oh wow.

Come on, awkward transition.

You know, we don't need substances in our lives because

we get high on the spirit of God.

Come on, Holy Spirit.

That's it. That's all we need. We don't need nothing else.

That is so good.

It's so awful. Terrible transitions, that's what we're about. Oh man, oh,

I can't believe I even started with that.

Death would appreciate that for sure.

So we're going to jump in the Psalm chapter forty six,

and we're gonna and you are going to read all

eleven verses.

Okay, sweet, So this is a Psalm forty six n

LT right, yes, yes, okay, cool, We'll do one through

eleven correct, Okay, So God is our refuge instruments, always

ready to help in the times of trouble, So we

will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble

into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam, Let

the mountains tremble as the waters surge. Verse four says

a river brings joy to the city of our God,

the sacred home of the most High. Verse five, God

dwells in that city. It cannot be destroyed. From the

very break of the day, God were protected. The nations

are in chaos, and their can kingdoms crumble. God's voice

thunders and the earth melts. The Lord of Heaven's Armies

is here among us. The God of Israel is our fortress.

So come see the glorious works of the Lord. See

how he brings destruction upon the world. He causes wars

to end throughout the earth. He breaks the bow and

snaps the spear. He burns the shields with fire. He

steal and know that I am God. I'm probably this

is probably my favorite verse out of the so far.

I will be honored by every nation. I will be

hones throughout the world. The Lord of Heaven's Armies is

here among us. The God of Israel is our fortress.

Wow.

And so let's remind our listeners that psalms were written

to music. And you're a musician. Yes, So there's a

sei lah or an interlude, which means a pause right

between verses seven and eight, and then obviously right after

the end and verse eleven, and actually even after verse three.

So this was saying in sort of three chunks, right,

And so let me read the note from the Life

Application of Study. Bible says this, and Psalm forty six

it says the theme is described this way. God is

always there to help, providing refuge, security and peace. God's

power is complete, and his ultimate victory is certain. He

will not fail to rescue those who love him. And

this is a for a choir director. And it's a

song of the descendants of Korra to be so by

soprano voices. How about that? Like so it actually includes

to be sung by sopranos.

Wow?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, So I could sort of imagine it.

I just can't get the melody in my brain, right,

But I bet you back then, you know, I mean,

think about how complicated the Bible describes music, even back then.

In some ways it sounds even more intricate than it

does today. You know, we've sort of lost the beauty

of it with the technology, right and and and nowadays

you can just ask Ai to make you a song

and literally within five seconds they'll put up bangers, I

mean like number one hits, which is crazy. And even

before that, you know, just just you know, just making

your own tracks electronically. But back then, the intricacies of

the voices, the choirs, and it says choir directors, you

can imagine just how beautiful these lyrics must have been. Yeah,

you know what is cool if you have a song

or excuse me, a life appicasion of study Bible, which

is different than what you said. Nlt LT is the

translation that's the new living translation. That's how the that's

the verbidge of being translated from Greek and Hebrew and

Arabic to English, but different words. But the life aupication

of study Bible is how they package that translation, and

they package it with a study so in that it

says there's different songs that have inspired famous hymns, and

it looks like Psalm forty six that you just read

is the one that inspired a mighty fortress. Is our

God which I grew up saying, yeah, right, I don't

even remember. I don't even remember. I really don't. I

bet you've I heard it. I could sing the whole thing,

but it's been so long. But it's one that I

knew I have sung. I think honestly, I think I

sang it in Bible college. But I don't think our

church sang it, like the church I worked at for

seven years, this Baptist church, but we had hymndos in

this church, and I don't think this was one that

we sang. But I know I've sang it, and I

think it was in college. But there's several on here

by the way that that that I do know. But

Psalm twenty three, forty six, sixty one, eighty seven, ninety

one six all are famous.

Yeah.

What I love about this passage, thought ball, is that

Soalms forty six is a poetic reminder. That's how I'm

interpreted and I learned years ago. So in business, there's

this thing called business strategy, right yep. But in Psalms

forty six, I would like to think that this is

a divine strategy that gives us a sort of a

road map in navigating chaos. What do you do when

storms roar, when your back is up against the wall,

what do you do when there's all this sort of

external noise?

Right? And God is literally in verse one telling us

I am your refuge and I am your stress. Right.

Yeah. He takes the most fearful things at that time

for humanity, earthquakes, oceans that you know obviously take out

you know anything, oceans. The strength of the ocean is

to be respected. And he says, hey, let the oceans roar.

I mean, think about that. Think about their sailing capabilities

and how primitive they were. And he says, he says,

no matter what comes at you, God is our refuge

and strength, ready to help us in times of trouble.

And that's an amazing thought that.

He's not distant or late. He's very much so present.

Which is great. Yeah, river brings joy to to the

city of our God. I love that word picture as well.

You said poetic, right, And so as this psalm proclaims

the greatness of God verse number ten, it says, this,

be still and know that I'm God, which is the

one you said stuck out to you, right. This is

what the note says. It says war and destruction are inevitable,

but so is God's final victory. And at that time

we will all stand quietly before the all powerful Lord.

How proper then for us to be still now, reverently

honoring him and his power, Majesty, take time to be

still and to honor God. Now are you a person

who you do like a lot of prayer meditation for

a lot of us, add people like myself, it's hard

to do that. There are people that I know their

gift is prayer and they say, oh, you know, the

other day I prayed about ninety minutes into it and

I go and I say to myself, what ninety minutes in? Zoinks?

I'm thinking to myself, like, I am just the worst

Christian ever, right, And to be honest, it's a lot

less you know. So would I do just like any

classic ady d person is, I will do like, hey,

it's better to do quick snippets one hundred times a day, right,

so constantly keep it going, right, So that's what I do.

So I feel like I constantly pray through I got,

you know, throughout the day. And by the way, I

read that with Billy Graham's book, Billy Graham went to

bed in his book just as I am. I think

he said that he was with this other guy and

this other guy was falling around and like, wow, I'm

with the great Billy Graham, and so you know, he's like,

this is one of the most godly men that in

the world. And he says, I was so excited because

he said when we got to the hotel, we're going

to be in the same hotel room. And he goes,

and I was so excited to hear like how Billy

Graham says prayer at night. And he goes, he goes,

this is like, this is like the greatest moment ever.

And he says, we got into the room, we all

got ready, and he says, we got into bed, and

I'm just following his lead. He didn't say anything about prayers.

And he goes, so I just sort of like, you know,

I got into my queen size bed over here. He

got into his queen size bed over there, he says,

and you know, you know, shut off the light and

he says, and Billy Graham said out loud, good night Lord.

And that was it. And then he goes.

The next day, he goes, he asked him and he says,

I got to be honest, because I was expecting like

this big time of prayer and he says that Billy

Graham said, well, for me, there isn't a time when

I'm not praying throughout the day. And he said, I'm

constantly praying. And I heard that when I read the book,

and I thought, I thought, that's me, and that's that's

that's that's what I want to do obviously, right, and

so I want to be that person. But it also

made me feel better about not having like this big Okay,

somebody's praying with Pastor Chris, let's make this bedtime prayer

something to remember, right, right, because that's not me. And

so but anyway, my original question was about you, So

how do you lean?

I lean your way for sure.

A lot of times I am learning in this season

in my life to be what's called an indecessor, if

you will. And so I am getting longer with my prayers.

But those are intentional time for me to pray, and

then that's when I would be you know, longer in that.

But the Bible is very clear when he says, like

meditate on the word day to night, and so to me,

those conversations are intimate moments and times and intentional times

with prayer, like and all thy ways acknowledge me. And

so that's when I'm at work, when I'm dealing with

my family and somebody cuts me off in the middle

of the road, like whatever that is, these are intentional

times for me to literally pray. And so I do

the same thing that you do, because otherwise I'll be honest,

I'll forget, right, I will definitely forget.

It's really easy, and you know this, been thirty years

in ministry.

Is really easy to be to do the work of

God without him, right, right, And so I've learned to.

Yeah, as strange as that sounds, you could be around

the things of God without the presence of God or

connected to the power of the Holy Spirit, because if

your business is church things, then God is all around you.

And if not careful, you can view that as a

substitution for real intimacy with God.

Right, you can make that your idol.

Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, the work of God, right, correct,

which is which is the Bible talks about that the Pharisees.

The Pharisees righteousness was the stumbling block, right right, which

is crazy to think about, but Jesus talks about that,

and that is true. You know, you can make holiness

and real following and routine and rituals and church, you know,

actions and commandments. You could make that your thing without

actually loving the Father, right, right, you know, spending time

with Jesus. So you know, So what did Jesus say?

You know, your loving God is your active worship. It

is what is expected of you, right, just to love God.

And God says in the Old Testament. You know, obedience

is better than sacrifice. God doesn't want sacrifice, David says,

but a broken heart broken in contract heart. He wants

the relational piece of us. So yeah, that's that's all

good stuff. Hey, real quick, I got to tell you

this quick story. Are you familiar with doctor Charles Stanley. Yes, okay,

So I lived in Atlanta for ten years and I

always and growing up I always listen even in Ohio.

I grew up listening to Charles Stanley. My wife loves

Charles Stanley, still does, and so I listened to him

all the time. Listen to me, folks, you know he's

that guy. Well, anyway, he did a message a long

long time ago called Meditation for Transformation and I still remember.

It was like ten things to do, you know, set aside,

quiet time, be still, you know, all these different things.

And I've taught that many, many many at times, and

I still have the notes for it. But I've always

known him as that guy, and he talks about prayer closets.

I've read his books and he talks about just being

a man of prayer and all these kinds of things. Well,

somewhere around nineteen ninety eight or so, I was in

my small little Baptist church in my Baptist world at

the time, and he was a part of First Baptist

Church in downtown Atlanta, but they had just moved to

the Avon Center on the north side of the city,

and they were quite big, you know. I don't know

what it was, twenty thirty thousand people, whatever it is

at the time. But I knew somebody on staff who said,

would you like to interview for a job here at

First Baptist Church, And I was like, yeah, So I

drove up there, and I won't tell you about all

that stuff, but because there's a lot of observations about that,

it was very interesting. But what I will say is

this in Charles Stanley's office. He had built at this

new facility a prayer closet. Wow, And so it was

in his office and so he was just that guy.

And so they said, oh, this is the doc's office.

They called him the doc, and they said, and this

is his prayer closet, and they just wanted to move on.

I said, I'm sorry, excuse me. I said, is there

any way I could open up and look at his

prayer closet? And he goes, well, I'm not sure anybody's

ever asked that before. And I said, how could anybody

not ask that? I said, could I please? And it

was pretty basic, but it was this wonderful, beautiful thing

with pillows on the ground, blankets everywhere. Pretty basic. There

was nothing on the walls in terms of literature, but

there were photos and paintings like Psalm twenty three and

Shepherds and things like this, just images. And there were

blankets and pillows, but there were Bible verses everywhere everywhere.

That's amazing everywhere, and and and and and and what

I noticed was there wasn't a chair. There's only pillows

in a blanket, which means this eighty year old man

at the time I think was on his knees.

Uh.

And I've read his books, so I know that he's

you know, he'll spend hours in there. And I got

to tell you, man, there's something about that and so

that so when I read be Still and Know that

I'm God, that's where my mind goes. My mind goes

like I need to force myself into a prayer closet moment,

whether it's an actual closet or not. And I need

to recognize the weight of this verse. Right, And in

the midst of everything, they're talking about victory and war

and thunder God's voice thunders, the Lord's armies are among us,

you know, all of these great word pictures, and then

he says, be still and know that I'm God.

Yeah, Yeah, I don't think it's it's about literally being quiet.

Is I literally think it's like letting go of.

Control and reminding your problems of your God, versus reminding

God of your problems like he doesn't already know. Right,

So I think I think it's like Pauls before he's saying,

be still and know that I'm God, Like Paus before

you panic cat, Pauls to reflect, think of think, think

of who I am my divine being. Think, Think that

I know I had a purpose and plan for you

before you were even born, before your mom and your

dad even knew of each other. I I knew and

had a purpose of planning for you. So think about

that before you go off the deep end when you're

faced with whatever you're face in. So like and and

also trade control for confidence. Like when my children when

it's when it when they want something to eat, they

never asked me, uh, are we to eat today?

They never asked me that are we going to eat today? Why?

Because I feed them every day? Right, their only question

is what are we going to eat? They never come

to me and say or their mother and say, oh,

are we going to eat today? I just want to

make sure.

Because you know inside note thank God, right right?

Crazy God? Absolutely.

So it's like them saying, I'm training my control for confidence.

I'm confident in my natural father that he's going to

provide food. So I feel like God is saying, hey,

as your heavenly father, be still and just know that

I am God. Like, remember the last time you got

into a pickle? Did I not get you out of that?

That's good, that's good, but hey, that is that is

our time, and I think that's a great place to end.

So thank you for Catlin, for being here, Callen, and

and by the way, I love that your dad added

the tea for the cross. It's so cool in servey

time you write it or see it in print, you're

reminded of that sentiment of your dad, which is so cool.

But anyway, thank you for being here, and hopefully we

will see you next week. Jeff will be joining us

again and again maybe live on the twenty fourth at

MLA City for the Bible guys, But we'll see you then.