1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,000 Sure today comes from Deuteronomy 8 one through 5. 2 00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:07,000 Carefully follow every command I'm giving you today so that you 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:10,320 may live and increase and may enter and take possession of the 4 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:12,600 land the Lord swear to your ancestors. 5 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:16,680 Remember that the Lord your God LED you on a journey these 40 6 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:19,960 years in the wilderness so He might humble you and test you to 7 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:23,960 know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep 8 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:26,440 His commands. He humbled you by letting you go 9 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:28,280 hungry. Then He gave you mana to eat, 10 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:34,160 which you and your ancestors had not known, so that you may learn 11 00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:36,720 that man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that 12 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:38,280 comes from the mouth of the Lord. 13 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:41,760 Your clothing did not wear out and your feet did not swell. 14 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,840 These 40 years, keep in mind that the Lord your God has been 15 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:48,040 discipling you just as men disciples His Son. 16 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:51,480 This is the word of the Lord. Amen. 17 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:57,880 As we begin, I want to talk about this amazing technological 18 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:01,160 feat called the noise cancelling headphone. 19 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:04,680 Anybody. My wife recently bought me a 20 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:08,120 pair not too long ago as a gift of these babies right here. 21 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:11,280 They're Sony's, so they're pretty nice noise cancelling 22 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:13,240 headphones. I don't usually buy myself nice 23 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,160 things, but she loves me so much she was willing to get these. 24 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,840 And if you've never tried a good pair of noise cancelling 25 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:22,080 headphones, it'll change your life. 26 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,720 OK, It's pretty amazing the first time you actually put 27 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:30,360 these on and activate the noise cancelling feature, it's like a 28 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:31,960 different world. Do you guys know what I'm 29 00:01:31,960 --> 00:01:33,360 talking about? You ever had one of these? 30 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:36,800 And it's pretty amazing. How it works is basically 31 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:40,080 there's microphones in the speakers picking up the ambient 32 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:42,800 noise around you. And then what it does is it 33 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:47,120 produces the exact opposite frequency of the noise around 34 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,360 you, thus cancelling it out so you don't actually hear the 35 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:51,920 noise. How cool is that? 36 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:53,920 It's amazing. OK, I, I'm a technology nerd, 37 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:55,920 but it's great. And so it's great. 38 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:59,320 Like I'll be working in a coffee shop and I'll put these on and I 39 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,440 can just concentrate and it, it drowns out the noise around it. 40 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,440 And so I liked it so much, I actually bought Susan a pair of 41 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:08,840 noise cancelling headphones and which she uses sometimes when 42 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:12,120 like the kids TV shows are getting maybe a little like 43 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:14,960 jarring on the nerves, you know what I'm saying, moms, And just 44 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:17,240 just slip those babies on and enter into your own world. 45 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:21,320 And she seems to love it. So the thing about noise 46 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:25,440 cancelling headphones is that you don't even realize sometimes 47 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:31,680 how noisy the outside world is until you actually enter into 48 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,400 the quiet. You don't realize how many 49 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:38,280 distractions there are around you until all of a sudden the 50 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:42,440 HVAC is no longer humming and the murmur of the crowd can't be 51 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:44,880 heard, or the traffic outside, or whatever. 52 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:48,000 And to be honest with you, it can be a little bit unnerving at 53 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,520 first because you can hear your own breath. 54 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,200 You can sometimes even like feel and hear your heartbeat. 55 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,640 And it's a very strange phenomenon to suddenly be in 56 00:02:57,640 --> 00:03:03,640 such quiet can actually feel a bit uncomfortable at first. 57 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:09,800 The reality is this, our world around us is very, very fast and 58 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:13,880 it's very, very loud, even even literally. 59 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,760 There's studies being done about noise pollution and the effects 60 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:20,600 it's having on our psyche and our minds, but not just the the 61 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,960 physical loudness, but just the noise that each of us have to 62 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:28,040 deal with every single day. Our world is speeding up 63 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:30,400 constantly. In fact, Doctor Gloria Mark, 64 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:34,040 she's been tracking attention spans for the last two decades. 65 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:36,400 Any guesses on how attention spans are trending? 66 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:39,560 In a recent American Psychological Association 67 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,120 podcast, she shared the findings from her research. 68 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,640 Again, over 2 decades, she said our average or the the findings 69 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:49,480 were that our average attention span on screens has declined 70 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:54,360 from 2.5 minutes in 2004. OK, so you're on, you're on your 71 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:56,640 screen, you're working. How many different times are you 72 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,040 multitasking and going to different screens? 73 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:04,640 So in 2004 is 2.5 minutes, 2 1/2 minutes, and now today it's gone 74 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,120 down all the way to just 47 seconds. 75 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:10,000 OK. And I'm guessing it's even worse 76 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,800 in today's day and age with Reels and TikTok and so on and 77 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:17,000 so forth. And her research actually shows 78 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:23,040 that this rapid switching comes with the cost, increased stress, 79 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,120 more errors and slower performance. 80 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,120 We think we're getting better. We think we're by by speeding up 81 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:34,240 and and taking on more, but we're actually getting worse. 82 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:39,680 These studies are finding how can we actively as believers, 83 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:43,240 cancel out the noise and the hurry of the world around us so 84 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:46,800 we can actually hear the quiet voice of God? 85 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:51,000 And what would it look like for us to to pause long enough to 86 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,200 actually hear what God has for us? 87 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:57,880 And what if the intentional soul level stripping back of our 88 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:02,040 comforts could expose the very things that are debilitating us 89 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:06,720 every single day? How can we as believers deal 90 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:09,520 with the hurry and the anxiety and the noise that's all around 91 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:11,640 us? What would it look like for us 92 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,000 to set intentional time to step into this? 93 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:19,600 Well, today we're kicking off a brand new sermon series called 94 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:24,800 Wisdom in the Desert, and we're doing this right before we begin 95 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,840 the season of Lent. If you've never heard of Lent 96 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:32,800 before, it's this window of time in church history between Ash 97 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:36,920 Wednesday and Easter Sunday. So the Lent season, according to 98 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,320 the church calendar, actually begins this coming Wednesday. 99 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:44,000 And so as a church, we're going to be intentionally slowing down 100 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:48,000 and taking some time during Lent to focus in on quieting out the 101 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:52,440 noise and listening to God. Now, if you've never heard of 102 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:57,320 Lent before, that is totally OK. If I can confess something to 103 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:00,640 you, when I first started hearing about Lent and the idea 104 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:04,920 of fasting for 40 days and stripping things away for 40 105 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,040 days, to be honest, I was like, that sounds like a major bummer. 106 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:12,440 And I don't want to do it. You know, for me, Lent, you 107 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:14,520 know, felt like something that was just like this old and 108 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:17,880 irrelevant thing that, you know, Catholics or some other 109 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,960 denominations practice. And I I didn't really like the 110 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:24,880 idea of others sort of enforcing how I was meant to experience 111 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:27,200 God. If I'm honest, it felt like one 112 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:31,640 more big ought to when it comes to your faith, one more things I 113 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,280 one more thing I should be doing, but I'm not actually 114 00:06:34,280 --> 00:06:37,960 practicing. And when I heard about the idea 115 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:41,320 of like, fasting for 40 days, I'm like, that is something that 116 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:45,280 only spiritual giants do, you know, like it made me ask the 117 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:47,400 question, does anyone actually do that? 118 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:49,680 Or do they just say that they do? 119 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:55,840 And when I did try to engage in Lent, historically, it ended up 120 00:06:55,840 --> 00:06:59,280 being this sort of like, how long can I go until I eventually 121 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:02,960 fizzle out, sort of like power through the pain exercise. 122 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:04,480 I'm going to fast as long as I can. 123 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:07,400 So it's like this weird success, shame thing and failure. 124 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:12,640 And what I didn't realize was that it was my own ignorance and 125 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:15,920 my own unwillingness to really understand what Lent was about 126 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:17,720 that caused me to actually avoid it. 127 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:20,400 OK, I didn't really understand it. 128 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:23,880 So we're going to take some time to really begin to understand 129 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:27,080 the heart of Lent and see if there's a way like in our modern 130 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:30,920 age that that we can learn from it and engage with it in a 131 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:34,240 healthy way to hear God's voice. So let's begin. 132 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:40,320 Like I said, Lent marks the 40 days of between being Ash 133 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:43,440 Wednesday and Easter Sunday where we choose to intentionally 134 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:50,120 slow down, to fast, to pray, and to give our alms or alms giving, 135 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:52,440 which is just basically generosity, especially to the 136 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:54,600 poor. Now, why 40? 137 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:58,200 The number 40 is pretty significant throughout the Bible 138 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:03,400 #1 the 40 days are modeled after Jesus when he went out into the 139 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:06,280 wilderness to be tempted by the enemy. 140 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,760 And he was out there and he prayed and he fasted for 40 days 141 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:14,360 and 40 nights. Now, that story of Jesus is also 142 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:16,880 connected to an earlier story in the Bible. 143 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:21,360 It's found with the Israelites where they had to travel through 144 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,800 the desert for how many years, 40 years? 145 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:29,120 You catching a theme here, 40 days of Lent, 40 days Jesus in 146 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:33,360 the wilderness, connected to 40 years in the wilderness from the 147 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:36,039 Israelites. So we have to understand 148 00:08:36,039 --> 00:08:38,440 something. The number 40 in Scripture is 149 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:42,880 often used symbolically to represent periods of testing, 150 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:48,600 preparation, or expected waiting on God. 151 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:54,080 So again, we're going to be in Matthew chapter 4 today. 152 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:58,000 Matthew chapter 4 is where we find Jesus being tempted in the 153 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,960 wilderness. Now, a little bit of background, 154 00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:04,760 right before Jesus is being tempted, he's actually baptized. 155 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:07,200 It's sort of the beginning of his public ministry. 156 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:10,720 It's this amazing moment where Jesus goes into the water and 157 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:15,000 then he hears the voice of God from heaven who says this is my 158 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:19,560 son whom I love with him. I am well pleased. 159 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:23,000 Beautiful passage. All of us want to hear God say 160 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,080 that about us. This is my son with whom I'm 161 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:26,320 well pleased. I love him. 162 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,160 Immediately after that in Matthew's Gospel, he goes out 163 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:32,080 into the wilderness again for 40 days. 164 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:33,640 I'm going to read the passage here. 165 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:40,360 Beginning in verse one says then Jesus was led by the Spirit into 166 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:42,280 the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 167 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,760 After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. 168 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:49,560 The tempter came to him and said, if you are the Son of God, 169 00:09:49,560 --> 00:09:51,000 tell these stones to become bread. 170 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:56,880 Jesus answered It is written, Man shall not live on bread 171 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:00,240 alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. 172 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:03,680 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand in 173 00:10:03,680 --> 00:10:07,440 the highest point in the temple. If you are the Son of God, he 174 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:12,840 said, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command 175 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,440 his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their 176 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:18,120 hands, so that you will not strike your foot against the 177 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:22,680 stone. Jesus answered him, It is also 178 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:27,760 written, Do not put the Lord your God to the test again. 179 00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:30,040 The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all 180 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:32,200 the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 181 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:39,520 All this I will give to you. He said, If you will bow down 182 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:44,920 and worship me. Jesus said to him, Away from me 183 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:48,120 Satan. For it is written, worship the 184 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:55,600 Lord your God and serve him only then the devil left him and 185 00:10:55,600 --> 00:11:02,560 angels came and attended him. Pretty powerful story a lot that 186 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:04,000 is packed into that short amount. 187 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:07,160 And we're going to begin kind of re examining this story in the 188 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:10,040 weeks ahead. But we what we see here 189 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:13,760 initially is that Jesus is led by the Spirit into the 190 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:17,400 wilderness to be tempted. Now we need to understand 191 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:19,040 something about the word wilderness here. 192 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:23,840 This is the word a Ramos in the Greek has multiple meanings, but 193 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:27,560 it usually means a solitary place or a desert. 194 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:30,640 It's a significant place all throughout Scripture, and we're 195 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:32,120 going to look into that a little bit. 196 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:35,920 But what we see in Jesus's ministry, for instance in Luke 197 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:42,560 5, is that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed That 198 00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:46,680 word there for lonely places is the word a Ramos. 199 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:52,280 It's a place of testing and it's a place to meet God. 200 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:57,720 So Jesus wasn't just going off to lonely places to take a 201 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:01,000 little like me time. OK, this isn't like self-care as 202 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:04,160 we might understand it. Sometimes that's good, but it's 203 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:07,200 not like a relaxation or it's not just like a vacation time. 204 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:12,520 No, Jesus is not retreating from his problems and he's not 205 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:14,720 attempting to escape from reality. 206 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:19,120 Instead, Scripture says that that the Holy Spirit leads him 207 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:23,080 to a solitary place. And in this passage we just 208 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:28,040 read, he's engaging against his temptations of the enemy and 209 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:32,040 he's being tested by God. So when we think of like the 210 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:36,320 spirit leading us or being like a spirit LED church, sometimes 211 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:40,840 spirit LED isn't always just like miracles and warm fuzzies 212 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:43,280 and like, you know, tingles during worship. 213 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:45,760 OK, that's that's not always it or signs and wonders. 214 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:49,840 Sometimes being spirit LED is actually a time where God leads 215 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:55,920 us into a stripping back, leads us into a time of of dryness and 216 00:12:55,920 --> 00:13:00,560 of wilderness. And Jesus was willingly going 217 00:13:00,560 --> 00:13:05,320 into this solitary place, this arraymos, in order to meet God. 218 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:11,160 Like I mentioned before, this 40 days of Jesus in the wilderness 219 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:15,880 was also very much connected to the Israelites wanting for 40 220 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:18,160 years in the desert of their own. 221 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:22,360 This is what it says in Deuteronomy 8 regarding the 222 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:24,240 Israelites. This is God's chosen people. 223 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:28,040 It says, remember how the Lord your God LED you all the way 224 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:31,400 into the wilderness? So their God is again leading 225 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:34,160 people to the wilderness for these 40 years. 226 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:40,000 Why did He do that? To humble and to test you in 227 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:43,200 order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would 228 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:47,800 keep His commands. He humbled you, causing you to 229 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:51,520 hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor 230 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:55,960 your ancestors had known to teach you that man does not live 231 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:59,280 on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth 232 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:03,200 of the Lord. So this is what Jesus is quoting 233 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:05,280 in the wilderness. Man does not live on bread 234 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:07,840 alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the 235 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:11,720 Lord. This story here in the Old 236 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,320 Testament is a direct connection to Jesus in the wilderness. 237 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:18,680 So again, we see the wilderness as a place of testing, as a 238 00:14:18,680 --> 00:14:22,560 place of preparation, and of waiting. 239 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:29,320 The wilderness or the Aramas is a place of necessary separation 240 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:34,600 from culture and the cultural forces around us to reveal whose 241 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:39,640 Kingdom you're actually living for, to reveal what's actually 242 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:43,000 going on in your hearts. And so for the Israelites here, 243 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:46,280 they had a choice to make. They could either keep on living 244 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:49,760 into their former way of life, the Egyptian lifestyle and the 245 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:55,080 Egyptian values, or they could allow God to shape them into 246 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:58,640 Kingdom values, the new values that would be represented in the 247 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:00,800 promised land that they would one day inherit. 248 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:05,000 The wilderness was a time of testing of the hearts to say, 249 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:07,000 who are you really going to follow? 250 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:08,880 Which Kingdom are you going to live into? 251 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:15,360 It says this in Leviticus 26 a little bit earlier, talking 252 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:19,800 about the former way of life in Egypt versus the future 253 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:22,760 lifestyle. It says in verse 12, I will walk 254 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,960 among you and be your God and you will be my people. 255 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:30,640 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt so that 256 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:33,520 you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. 257 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:34,960 That was their former way of life. 258 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:41,400 I broke the bars of your yoke and did what enabled you to walk 259 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:44,400 with heads held high. Wow. 260 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:49,200 So for the Egyptians, they were slaves under Egypt and so they 261 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:51,400 carried the yoke and the burden of slavery. 262 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:53,840 All right. Just imagine like a heavy wooden 263 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:59,200 work tool on your back, a yoke. And they were just, they were 264 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:02,040 just bowing over to their slave masters. 265 00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:04,880 They were under the heavy toil of their Egyptian slave masters. 266 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:08,200 But then what does it say? God says I broke that yoke off 267 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:14,400 of you to do what it says this so that I could enable you to 268 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:18,200 walk with your head held high. Do you see the difference? 269 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:23,120 And so in the wilderness, this is the place where God is 270 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:25,720 teaching them and training them. He's saying you're no longer 271 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:28,600 slaves to your former way of life. 272 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:32,120 I am now lifting your head so you can walk into the promised 273 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:33,280 land. I'm shaping you. 274 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:35,480 I'm testing you. But you have to choose which 275 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:37,160 Kingdom are you going to be living into? 276 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,000 Are you going to let the old ways die out and choose the new 277 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:46,240 ways that I have for you? Church, listen, all of us are, 278 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:50,760 are tempted in many ways to carry the yoke yoke of the 279 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:54,920 culture around us. We're tempted to be burdened and 280 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:58,160 weighed down by the values and the traditions and the 281 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:00,880 expectations of our culture around us. 282 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:06,079 None of us are immune in in America, especially in 2026 and 283 00:17:06,079 --> 00:17:09,720 beyond, right, like our cultural values are very much ones of 284 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:14,200 individualism. It's very much focused on 285 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:19,400 consumerism, materialism. Even in our city, you know, 286 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:22,200 we've identified like what are the, what are like the spiritual 287 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:26,000 forces or like the territorial forces at play even in our 288 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,600 community, in our city here in Ankeny. 289 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:34,080 And there's very much a cultural, spiritual sort of of 290 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,480 weightiness regarding self importance. 291 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:41,880 We think we're really important. We think life is about us. 292 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:45,280 Not only that, but we carry the weight and the yoke of just 293 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:49,440 living in an outrage culture. All the noise, all the all the 294 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:51,400 issues, all the arguing, etcetera. 295 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:56,640 You see, Egypt trained Israel to think like slaves. 296 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:00,040 And maybe in a similar way, America trains us to think like 297 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:04,400 we're this all sovereign consumers in charge of our own 298 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:06,720 lives. But here's the thing. 299 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:10,160 Here's the point. The wilderness retrains us to 300 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:14,960 live like sons and daughters, trusting God for our manna, 301 00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:18,640 trusting God for Our Daily Bread, for provision, for 302 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:24,560 nourishment and direction. Michael Wilkins puts it this 303 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:28,040 way. The desert is a place of the 304 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:32,600 first showdown between competing kingdoms and their rulers, 305 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:36,720 between two figures who lay claim to the hearts and souls of 306 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:40,360 men and women. Rather than retreat, Jesus now 307 00:18:40,360 --> 00:18:47,800 advances the Kingdom of God. In other words, where the 308 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:52,520 Israelites groaned and failed their testing in the wilderness, 309 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:55,960 Jesus is the true Israelite who succeeded. 310 00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:58,120 And he proved it in the wilderness. 311 00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:02,760 He overcame. There was another group in 312 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:06,080 history, a little bit more ancient history, who chose to 313 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:10,240 willingly venture out into the wilderness in the desert, and 314 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:12,480 they were intentionally choosing a different Kingdom than the one 315 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,280 that they were living in. They're called the Desert 316 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:19,600 fathers and the Desert mothers. Many of you have never heard of 317 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:21,760 this bunch. It's it's a bunch of early 318 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:26,600 Christians actually who really arose in the 3rd century AD. 319 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:30,160 And it's a bunch of men and women who began to who leave 320 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:34,480 their sort of sophisticated metropolitan cities of Cairo and 321 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:37,680 Alexandria. And they wanted to pursue deeper 322 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:40,640 lives of prayer and holiness. And they did it out in the 323 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:43,600 wilderness. They were so hungry for holiness 324 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:46,880 and they were so troubled by the compromise state of the church, 325 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:51,160 which was looking less and less like Jesus the more power and 326 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:53,920 prestige it gained. And instead, they chose to 327 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,200 abandon it and wander out into the desert. 328 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:03,280 So they went out into the Wilds of Egypt and Syria and Arabia. 329 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:06,560 And part of the reason was because Christianity was 330 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:10,800 becoming increasingly politicized by Rome and the 331 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:14,000 Roman government, which was sort of the superpower of their day. 332 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:18,440 So it's estimated that like hundreds of thousands of people 333 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:21,640 eventually went out and formed these communities, these 334 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:25,280 monastic cities. They people would, would trek 335 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:27,920 out into the desert in order to seek these desert fathers and 336 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:30,800 mothers, just to learn from them and to hear from them. 337 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:34,240 They went out there to do spiritual warfare, to learn 338 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:38,200 about themselves, to starve their flesh and their desires. 339 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:45,880 They craved silence and solitude and spiritually they were living 340 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:48,200 in a in a world that was busy like ours. 341 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:51,800 It was noisy like ours. So what they did was they chose 342 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:54,640 to live off grid for a simpler, truer life. 343 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,520 And they were modelling this after Jesus, of course, who went 344 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:02,320 out into wilderness. OK, radical group of people. 345 00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:05,480 Radical group. And I'm thinking about like, 346 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:07,560 what's the modern day parallel of this? 347 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:11,160 And I don't know that we really have one, but maybe today this 348 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:13,720 is the the group of people who would be looking at our current 349 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:17,240 cultural moment and they'd be looking at our culture sort of 350 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:23,800 strange mix of political power meets religion meets corruption 351 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:25,640 and moral depravity from the elites. 352 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:28,160 And this is be a group of people who said, you know, I don't know 353 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:31,520 that I want any of that. I want to seek a different 354 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:33,960 lifestyle. So this would be the group 355 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:37,440 modern day where rather than arguing over which Super Bowl 356 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:41,520 halftime show was the most righteous, this would be the 357 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:42,800 group of people who said, you know what? 358 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:45,560 I'm not sure I really see Jesus in either of them. 359 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,400 I'm not sure I'm seeing Jesus in anything that I'm witnessing out 360 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:51,680 in the culture and what it values. 361 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:54,960 So I'm going to choose instead to retreat and go off and truly 362 00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:57,680 seek the way of Jesus. So be the group of people who 363 00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:00,600 like that, go out into the the desert of Nevada with tents, you 364 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:05,280 know, to really figure out what is the sin that drives mankind, 365 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,360 the sin that's actually living in me and how can I be free of 366 00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:11,080 it? How can I take on a new way, the 367 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:14,440 way of Jesus? How can I actually see him? 368 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:19,040 And so they went out and people followed radical group. 369 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:21,080 I'm not saying all of their practices were good. 370 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:24,520 They were ascetics. So they would, you know, starve 371 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:26,560 themselves essentially and do radical practices. 372 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,280 But there was a ton of great wisdom that came out of this 373 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:31,480 era. One of them was named Anthony 374 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:35,640 the Great, probably one of the most famous of the Desert 375 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:37,200 Fathers. And he wrote this. 376 00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:39,800 See if this kind of makes sense for our time. 377 00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:44,840 A time is coming when men will go mad and when they see someone 378 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:49,280 who is not mad, they will attack him saying you are mad, you are 379 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:53,360 not like us. Many times if we're actually 380 00:22:53,360 --> 00:22:56,680 trying to live the way of Jesus in our current cultural moment, 381 00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:59,560 people are going to look around at us and they're going to say 382 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,840 you guys are a bunch of crazies. What are you doing living in 383 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:05,600 community together? What are you doing sacrificing 384 00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:08,600 for others? What do you mean holiness? 385 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:14,880 In a time where anything goes, when it comes to God leading 386 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:19,520 Israel to the desert, when it comes to Jesus willingly going 387 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:22,840 to the wilderness to be tempted, and even when it comes to the 388 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,120 desert fathers, here's something I think we can learn. 389 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:30,480 Intentional separation from the world is often necessary for 390 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:32,400 spiritual formation and for growth. 391 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,680 Intentional separation is often necessary if we really want to 392 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:43,840 grow in Christ likeness. This is not just on a macro 393 00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:45,360 level, but even on a micro level. 394 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:48,320 Jesus encouraged us. In Matthew 6. 395 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:53,080 He says when you pray, go into your room, close the door and 396 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:55,320 pray to your Father who is unseen. 397 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:59,320 Then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward 398 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:01,680 you. The context here is not 399 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,240 performing like your righteousness in front of 400 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:08,280 others, but I think there's also something to be said about going 401 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:10,880 off into a distraction free environment where you can really 402 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:15,160 actually meet the Lord. Again, in Luke 5, Jesus often 403 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,800 withdrew to solitary places, a Ramos like environment so he 404 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:22,600 could connect with God. You and I also, we need this 405 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:25,080 kind of separation from distraction and disruption. 406 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:27,760 We live in an age of distraction. 407 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:30,520 Hurry, hustle, go, go, go, go, go. 408 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:34,280 Years ago, Richard Foster put it this way. 409 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:38,840 In contemporary society, our adversary majors on three 410 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:43,520 things. Noise, hurry and crowds. 411 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:49,080 If he can keep us engaged in muchness and manyness, he will 412 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:53,280 rest satisfied. How many of us like our default, 413 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:58,720 is muchness and manyness squeezing it All in all the 414 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:00,240 time? I know I'm prey to it. 415 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:03,520 And what we see here is that the enemy loves to prey on our 416 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:06,120 fears, especially when it comes to survival. 417 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:10,440 The enemy loves to whisper lies into our ears and say you won't 418 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:15,920 survive unless you can keep up. And what he does is he sort of 419 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:17,920 creates this hurricane of activity. 420 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,560 In this hurricane of noise, we have to find a way to distance 421 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:23,560 ourselves from it. How are we going to hear God's 422 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:25,520 voice if we're living in hurricane winds? 423 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:30,520 I really enjoy swimming with my kids. 424 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:32,240 They take swim lessons every summer. 425 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:36,120 At least Jane does. And when it comes to teaching 426 00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:40,080 anyone how to swim, it's not usually a good idea to throw 427 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:43,120 them into the wave pool to learn how to do their strokes right. 428 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:47,200 That's a bad idea. If you're teaching someone how 429 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:51,560 to swim, first bring them to calm, quiet waters. 430 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:56,280 Teach them how to swim where they can actually hear your 431 00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:59,400 voice and learn the motions without being tossed around all 432 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:01,760 the time. Look, you and I, church, we are 433 00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:05,400 in a wave pool of culture all the time. 434 00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:09,880 You and I are constantly being pushed and pulled by the voices 435 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:14,640 all around us. And so holy separation from the 436 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:18,120 world provides those kind of still waters. 437 00:26:18,120 --> 00:26:22,800 We need to learn how to swim, to learn how to actually hear God's 438 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,960 voice so we will be anchored in the chaos waters of this world. 439 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:31,480 We need to learn how to trust the voice of Jesus, who is quote 440 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:37,120 the anchor for our soul, firm and secure as Hebrew says, the 441 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:39,600 anchor for our soul. It's the only way. 442 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:43,440 Because if you're, it's only until you're you're anchored 443 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:45,760 that you realize how far you've been drifting. 444 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:48,960 The waves and the tides will pull you all over the place. 445 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:53,040 We need a firm and secure anchor for our souls so we can remain 446 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:57,360 resolute even in the face of changing culture around us. 447 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:01,400 This is the invitation of the wilderness. 448 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:08,120 This is the invitation of Jesus. And so practically speaking, as 449 00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:12,800 a church, we would like to invite you to take the next 40 450 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:16,720 days of Lent to seek calmer waters. 451 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:21,400 The invitation during Lent is to shut the door and to go out into 452 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:24,440 the wilderness for an intentional time of holy 453 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:28,680 separation. We're asking the question, what 454 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:32,640 if we could disengage for a short window of time so that we 455 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:36,600 can re engage? Well, what does it look like to 456 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:39,360 retreat so we can come back more, healthy, more free, more, 457 00:27:39,360 --> 00:27:42,160 and walk and in tune with the Spirit so we can engage the 458 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:47,440 broken world around us. Not so that we can retreat so we 459 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:52,600 can hide or pretend like there's no problems in the world, but 460 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:57,840 actually allow God to shape and amorphous into people of love so 461 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:00,640 we can engage in the world around us. 462 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:04,200 So our church invites you to come with us in the wilderness 463 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:09,040 to do three things. Number one is to detach from the 464 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:13,480 patterns of this world. Romans 12/2 says do not conform 465 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:16,480 to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the 466 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,240 renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test 467 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:22,680 and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing and perfect 468 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:25,760 will. We need to find a way to to 469 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:30,440 detach from the noise. To detach from all the patterns 470 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:35,640 in the cultural norms that we find ourselves in #2 is to 471 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:38,080 starve the flesh's unhealthy appetites. 472 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:42,040 What do I mean by that? All of us have many cravings of 473 00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:45,040 many kinds. It's not just Valentine 474 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:47,520 chocolates, right? It's not just McDonald's. 475 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,240 It's not just the entertainment and Netflix, right? 476 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:54,560 All of us have fleshly desires are primal urges that we wrestle 477 00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:58,560 with every single day. And so Lent is an invitation to 478 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:01,000 starve those unhealthy appetites. 479 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:04,800 Galatians. Galatians 5 says for the flesh 480 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,720 desires what is contrary to the spirit. 481 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:12,520 We have to find a way to say no so we can walk in the spirit. 482 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,520 And finally, the third goal of this season is to confront the 483 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:17,200 lies and temptations of the devil. 484 00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:21,560 Scripture says that the the native language of the devil, 485 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:25,440 who is a very real sentient adversary for every single one 486 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:28,320 of us, he's not just this mythical figure. 487 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,360 It's an actual diabolical entity. 488 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:36,880 It says that the native language of the enemy is lies. 489 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:40,600 The native language is lies. Constantly whispering in our 490 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:41,840 ears. Go faster. 491 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:45,680 You won't be able to keep up. There won't be enough. 492 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:48,720 You're getting left behind. You're not doing good enough. 493 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:50,280 You need to be more. You need to be better. 494 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:51,960 On and on and on. It whispers lies. 495 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:56,880 And so how do we identify those lies and instead bring the truth 496 00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:01,720 of God's Word to them? So we're going to be engaging in 497 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,360 a few different practices or spiritual disciplines through 498 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:07,200 this through these next 40-40 days. 499 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:10,240 So each of you should have a piece of paper next to you. 500 00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:12,120 It looks something like this on the screen here. 501 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:16,880 This is an invitation for you. This is not mandatory. 502 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:18,320 We can't force you to do any of us. 503 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:21,520 This is just an opportunity to step into this Lenten practice. 504 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:24,560 I want to kind of walk through what this is. 505 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:28,120 It's an invitation to step into solitude, into fasting, into 506 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:31,840 prayer. One of the ways that we can 507 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:36,440 detach from the world is through the practice of silence and 508 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:39,240 solitude. Silence and solitude is 509 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:45,760 basically going off by yourself, being alone and not having any 510 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:49,680 distractions around you. At first. 511 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:54,200 If you go off all by yourself with no phone, no screens, it 512 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:58,360 may feel agonizing at first. OK, you're going to be left 513 00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:00,560 alone with your thoughts. And you might find that there's 514 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:04,320 a lot of thoughts, OK. But the spiritual discipline of 515 00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:07,440 silence and solitude is just our way of going out and meeting 516 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:09,960 with God. It's sort of like going off into 517 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:13,200 the wilderness. The other day I tried to 518 00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:16,200 practice this. I had a a meeting on Wednesday 519 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:19,920 that got cancelled. And normally my temptation in 520 00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:22,360 that those moments is like, Oh yeah, I just got another hour 521 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:24,400 and a half to, to get stuff done, baby. 522 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:26,480 Right, I'm going to keep grinding. 523 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:28,320 I'm going to keep moving. I'm going to keep, you know, get 524 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:30,440 ahead or whatever. And instead the Lord just kind 525 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,600 of met me and he's just like, hey, no, actually, what would it 526 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:36,360 look like for you to take this hour and a half and just just 527 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:40,960 go, go be alone. And so I did. 528 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:43,960 I turned my phone all the way off so no one could track me. 529 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:48,400 Sorry, government, right? I turned my phone all the way 530 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:49,920 off included. My wife couldn't even track me. 531 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:51,400 She didn't know where I was. Sorry. 532 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:56,520 And I just, I hopped in the car and I just drove out to nature 533 00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:02,800 and it was only like 45 minutes by myself, just me and the Lord. 534 00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:08,120 And in those moments, it wasn't as if like heaven opened up and, 535 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:10,680 you know, angels descended and like comforted me or anything 536 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:12,600 like that. OK, It wasn't this euphoric, 537 00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:16,760 like majestic thing. But for me, it was just a moment 538 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:20,920 that I could offer the Lord and say, here I am God, just you and 539 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:24,000 me. I'm not even going to say I like 540 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,120 heard his voice or anything like that. 541 00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:29,120 But there was this sense of his presence and I just sat there 542 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,320 offering myself to him, silence and solitude. 543 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:36,920 And so maybe for you, you would like to step into that spiritual 544 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:38,640 practice. And there's lots of amazing 545 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:41,800 resources we could give you about learning more about those. 546 00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:44,680 Just let us know if you're interested, but maybe you want 547 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:47,760 to make a commitment in the next 40 days to to practice this. 548 00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:50,520 Maybe it's once a week you find an hour just to get away 549 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:53,720 completely alone. Moms, I know that's hard for 550 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:55,600 you, especially have young if you have young children, right, 551 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:57,120 an hour away from the kids somehow. 552 00:32:57,400 --> 00:32:59,840 And maybe that's not totally feasible right now in your stage 553 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:03,600 of life, but even finding 15 minutes to go into the closet 554 00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:08,720 with God detaching from the world #2 starving the flesh is 555 00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:11,520 unhealthy appetites. We're going to do this by 556 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:14,560 encouraging some time of intentional fasting and 557 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:19,080 intentional abstinence. Again, a short word on each 558 00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:23,640 Fasting is basically going without food or water for an 559 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:28,200 intentional set amount of time. Sometimes in church history, 560 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:34,000 this is means going going once a week without food for for 561 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:37,920 breakfast and for lunch. For me and my community, we 562 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:41,120 oftentimes try to fast. For instance, on Wednesdays we 563 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:44,520 will eat maybe a meal on Tuesday and then we will eat on 564 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:46,720 Wednesday night. Again, this is just something 565 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:49,240 we've been trying to get into that the habit and rhythm of 566 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:52,400 together. The reason we intentionally go 567 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:57,120 without food is really simple. It's to increase our hunger for 568 00:33:57,120 --> 00:34:00,760 God. We increase our physical hunger 569 00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:04,480 in order to increase our spiritual hunger for God. 570 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:09,040 Man does not live on bread alone, but he lives on every 571 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:11,360 word that comes from the mouth of God. 572 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:14,639 And so from you. Maybe you'd like to try that out 573 00:34:14,639 --> 00:34:17,719 for the first time. Again, disclaimer, it may feel 574 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:19,719 really uncomfortable when you first start it out. 575 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:23,840 These spiritual practices are not something that we do in 576 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:26,600 order to earn God's favor. It does not make you more holy. 577 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:31,120 It does not save you, but rather it's just an opportunity for us 578 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:34,440 to open up ourselves to the transformative work of God. 579 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:38,560 And so we encourage you. Again, we have resources on how 580 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:40,000 to fast. But maybe you just say, you 581 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:44,199 know, I'm one meal, one meal a day, or maybe I'm going to pick 582 00:34:44,199 --> 00:34:48,320 one whole day during the week. Many of us probably won't go 583 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:52,000 like the full, full 40 days of Lent without food. 584 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:56,080 OK, although it can be done. Let me know if you try that out, 585 00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:57,840 by the way, because I will be praying for you. 586 00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:03,360 OK, But actually then we say 40 days of fasting. 587 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:08,280 There's actually 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter because 588 00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:11,640 we encourage you to take one day a week to not fast. 589 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:15,200 Traditionally it's on Sunday if that's your Sabbath, or it can 590 00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:17,840 be Saturday depending on on your flow of the week. 591 00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:20,360 If you're not familiar with what Sabbath is or anything like 592 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:23,200 that, that's OK. You're you're totally good. 593 00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:26,160 But the point is this maybe choose to have a day where you 594 00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:28,480 feast and celebrate. For instance, we're going to 595 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:30,400 have AI think we're going to have a potluck as a church 596 00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:32,400 coming up on on Sunday in a few weeks here. 597 00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:37,800 The point is this intentionally removing the comfort of food in 598 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:39,840 order to starve the flesh spiritually. 599 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:43,160 Now, for some of you, maybe you can't fast from food, and so you 600 00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:46,440 may instead choose abstinence, which is basically just saying 601 00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:50,000 no to various comforts for a season of time. 602 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:53,640 So some people say, you know what, this season of Lent, I'm 603 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:56,760 just going to try going without social media for 40 days. 604 00:35:57,400 --> 00:35:58,400 Do you guys think you could do that? 605 00:35:58,640 --> 00:35:59,640 Some of you're like, yeah, no sweat. 606 00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:04,400 Or maybe you choose to go without sugary foods or meats or 607 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:08,000 whatever it may be. Bottom line, it's basically 608 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:11,720 saying no to something and offering that over to the Lord. 609 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:15,080 So again, maybe it's shopping or mindless TV, what have you. 610 00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:18,000 We just encourage you to prayerfully consider abstaining 611 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:19,760 from something during this season. 612 00:36:21,720 --> 00:36:26,480 Whatever you choose to do, the goal is this to increase our 613 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:30,360 hunger in God alone. We're going to have 614 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,360 opportunities, for instance, with the worship night coming up 615 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:37,520 again a week from Tuesday, and we encourage you to to press 616 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:39,480 into God's Word during this time as well. 617 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:41,280 We have Bible reading plans in the back. 618 00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:45,040 Basically, this is sort of like a choose your own adventure sort 619 00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:47,120 of deal. Whatever you choose to step 620 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:50,560 into, and all of this is Invitational, all of this is 621 00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:53,120 just. If you choose to step into it, 622 00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:56,840 don't be like me where you felt pressured into it, you felt like 623 00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:00,760 you had to do certain things, but instead just listen like 624 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:02,320 God. How might you be calling me to 625 00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:05,360 step into this next season of beginning on Wednesday? 626 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:15,160 So all of this, all of the spiritual disciplines, is a way 627 00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:18,480 of us practicing active noise cancellation. 628 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:22,840 It's like putting on the noise cancelling headphones and it's 629 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:28,520 allowing God to produce the exact opposite frequency of our 630 00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:31,880 surroundings. Not so that we can ignore the 631 00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:34,560 world or drown it out, but instead so that we can learn to 632 00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:38,000 listen and obey to the Lord's instructions, so that we can 633 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:43,600 learn to obey him when he says, be still and know that I am God. 634 00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:47,240 This is not earned salvation for us. 635 00:37:47,240 --> 00:37:50,240 It is only by grace that you have been saved through faith 636 00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:52,800 and it is not from yourselves. It's a gift of God. 637 00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:55,880 It's only through the cross and resurrection of Jesus that we 638 00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:58,680 can be saved. But the spiritual disciplines 639 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:01,800 are tried and true practices throughout church history for us 640 00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:04,920 to engage in the transformative work that he wants to continue 641 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:10,560 to do in each of us. And so we begin this week, if 642 00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:15,920 you'd like my encouragement to you, it's starting today to just 643 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:21,000 lift the foot off of the accelerator of your life and 644 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:25,760 begin to slow down into Ash Wednesday coming up and allow 645 00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:29,360 God to lead you out into the wilderness to pray and to 646 00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:33,000 encounter Him. We want to encourage you if 647 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:35,400 you'd like. There's this entire series is 648 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:40,120 based on content from the Lectio 365 organization. 649 00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:41,640 They're an incredible organization. 650 00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:46,040 Along with 24/7 prayer, there is an app that has daily prompts 651 00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:49,400 for you to follow along with. The QR code is on your sheet as 652 00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:51,200 well. And we just encourage you, 653 00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:54,200 whatever it is, find a way to to daily engage with God. 654 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:57,440 My wife and I have used this app many times. 655 00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:00,960 They have a great sort of guided prayer that we use in the 656 00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:03,600 evenings as well. But I just want to put that 657 00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:05,560 resource out in front of you today. 658 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:09,480 Real quick at our upcoming series, as we're laying in the 659 00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:12,920 plane here, these are the weeks that we're going to be looking 660 00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:16,240 at ahead week, next week, we're going to talk about intensifying 661 00:39:16,240 --> 00:39:19,280 our hunger for holiness. We'll talk more about what 662 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,000 silence and solitude is. Talk about the idea of 663 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:24,560 renunciation. What is that? 664 00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:29,120 OK, And the beauty of that overcoming temptation, choosing 665 00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:31,720 the way of humility. And then we'll be into Holy 666 00:39:31,720 --> 00:39:33,960 Week. But I really, really encourage 667 00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:36,040 you to come back for the next few weeks. 668 00:39:36,040 --> 00:39:38,520 I think God's going to do a transformative work in US. 669 00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:41,760 We're going to have more time of just like slowing down and 670 00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:44,880 interaction and listening to the Spirit as well. 671 00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:51,120 OK, as we close, I just want to ask a question. 672 00:39:53,400 --> 00:40:00,360 What could God do with a little bit of separation from the noise 673 00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:05,520 of the world around us? What is God longing to do in our 674 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:10,880 spirits? Let's follow Jesus into the 675 00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:14,640 wilderness this Lenten season. Let's slow down. 676 00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:20,360 Let's strip away. Let's deny our comforts. 677 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:26,160 And choose to allow God to quote, humble, and test you in 678 00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:27,760 order to know what is in your heart. 679 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:34,000 This season of Lent is an opportunity for us to go from 680 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:38,200 having our our heads down being burdened by the expectation of 681 00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:41,040 the world around us. And it's an opportunity to allow 682 00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:44,600 God to lift our heads like He did his own children. 683 00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:51,280 Because every single one of us, we worship a God who longs to be 684 00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:54,600 with us. He longs to guide us. 685 00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:59,320 And as Scripture reminds us, he longs to be our people. 686 00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:04,240 That's what's on offer. God loves each and everyone of 687 00:41:04,240 --> 00:41:11,720 you so much and he longs to have a real thriving relationship 688 00:41:11,720 --> 00:41:15,600 with you and that's only available through the cross of 689 00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:17,280 Jesus. And so if you're here today and 690 00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:20,800 you haven't yet accepted Christ as your Savior, if you haven't 691 00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:22,320 yet surrendered and said, you know what? 692 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:26,440 I'm a, I'm a Sinner. I've made so many mistakes. 693 00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:29,040 I can't right my own wrongs. I need something higher, more 694 00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:31,960 powerful than me. I need Jesus in the power of the 695 00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:35,120 resurrection in my life. That invitation is for for you 696 00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:37,560 today. You can accept that and become a 697 00:41:37,560 --> 00:41:43,800 Christian in a moment, and it's going to take a lifetime of 698 00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:47,280 figuring out what that means and figuring out how to more and 699 00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:50,240 more walk into the way of Jesus. But know this, God loves you 700 00:41:50,240 --> 00:41:52,040 deeply and he wants relationship with you. 701 00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:58,560 So what's on offer is Wilderness or Ramos. 702 00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:02,800 What's on offer is a little bit of separation to have actual 703 00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:06,320 space where we can hear the voice of God. 704 00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:12,400 We can open ourselves up to Him and live into everything that He 705 00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:15,600 has for us, the full freedom and life that He has. 706 00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:20,160 Life to the full. And so, as the world rages and 707 00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:25,040 spins faster and louder, may we choose now to enter the quiet 708 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:28,280 with our Savior and in the wilderness. 709 00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:32,320 May God test us, refine us, and refresh us. 710 00:42:33,720 --> 00:42:37,360 May we find wisdom in the desert during the season of Lent.