WEBVTT 00:00:00.660 --> 00:00:04.900 Kevin and Susan, it's a great joy to be with you and your family and friends and fellow ministers. 00:00:05.139 --> 00:00:09.179 I hope you'll look around and just see. It's really wonderful and joyful to be here. 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:12.620 And I haven't met your family. Susan, is this your parents? Hi. 00:00:13.419 --> 00:00:21.980 Greg and I don't know your name, but Mary Ellen? Mary Kay. Okay, good, good. Thanks. Welcome. 00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:23.059 Glad you're here. 00:00:23.059 --> 00:00:34.060 This is a joyous and celebratory service. We prayed in the litany before that the Lord would increase the number of ministers in his church, that the gospel might be spread. 00:00:34.780 --> 00:00:36.820 And tonight, this is an answer to that prayer. 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:44.619 And I want to direct my thoughts towards you, Kevin, but I encourage all the rest of you to listen and pick up what you can. 00:00:44.679 --> 00:00:47.039 I believe that there will be application for all of us here. 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:53.280 But I want to start by just sharing with you a spiritual practice that the Lord has given me something in the last few years. 00:00:53.399 --> 00:00:58.119 And I hope it's useful to you. It's something that's deeply shaped my life in ministry. 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:04.079 And that is simply a particular psalm that comes as a regular prayer to start pretty much every day. 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:11.579 The Lord has called me to that, and it has done more to change and shape my life and my imagination than I ever dreamed possible. 00:01:11.579 --> 00:01:21.039 And I've been for about four or five years now praying the same psalm, just the same few verses of a psalm, not every day, but virtually every day. 00:01:21.140 --> 00:01:23.900 And for me, it's Psalm 90, 12 through 17. 00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:28.180 And it sets the basic course of my soul day after day. 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:30.379 It's really shaped my thinking about life in general. 00:01:31.159 --> 00:01:33.560 I don't mind sharing that same psalm with you. 00:01:33.640 --> 00:01:35.280 I do not own the copyright to it. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:42.560 But I'm going to suggest that you consider a different psalm because we just read it, okay? 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:44.760 And it's alert in our minds. 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:50.260 When I read this psalm in preparation for tonight, it jumped off the page for me. 00:01:50.379 --> 00:01:57.200 And I thought it was an incredibly appropriate psalm to come in to you to do the same thing that I do for me. 00:01:57.319 --> 00:01:59.579 And so I just encourage you to at least consider it. 00:01:59.579 --> 00:02:05.980 If I wasn't so grounded in Psalm 90, I might consider this text from Psalm 119. 00:02:06.579 --> 00:02:09.960 I know that you guys are all robed up and all that kind of stuff. 00:02:10.039 --> 00:02:12.340 But if you have a Bible, turn to Psalm 119. 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:13.680 Or if you have your phone, take it out. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:18.539 Just make sure your little ringy thing is off because I will be walking our way through the psalm. 00:02:18.599 --> 00:02:20.479 And so I think it would be helpful for you. 00:02:21.139 --> 00:02:26.979 And as we follow along, Psalm 119, it starts in verse 33. 00:02:26.979 --> 00:02:32.919 The first comment I want to make is self-evident. 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:36.079 It's so much so that it's easy to miss. 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:39.479 It's sort of a forest for the trees kind of a statement. 00:02:39.939 --> 00:02:42.339 And that is simply that this psalm is what? 00:02:42.439 --> 00:02:43.139 It is a prayer. 00:02:44.039 --> 00:02:52.780 So when you consider a life of ministry, what is it if it is not an act, a process, and a walk of constant prayer? 00:02:52.780 --> 00:03:04.460 And even before we jump into any specifics, I want to just stop and think that this psalmist is praying for a life of constant communion and conversation and transformation with God. 00:03:05.620 --> 00:03:09.420 Communion, conversation, transformation from God. 00:03:09.780 --> 00:03:10.360 Teach me. 00:03:10.759 --> 00:03:11.659 Give me understanding. 00:03:11.920 --> 00:03:12.360 Lead me. 00:03:12.500 --> 00:03:13.379 Incline my heart. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:14.840 Confirm your promise. 00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:23.159 And he's praying a prayer built around an image of seeking the Lord at every turn and listening to him literally at every step of the way. 00:03:23.920 --> 00:03:26.960 Literally doing life as devotion and prayer. 00:03:27.740 --> 00:03:33.640 So I was reading that and it led me to wonder about the possibility of ministry as prayer. 00:03:34.340 --> 00:03:35.240 Full stop. 00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:47.520 Praying in the context of ministry, as I think about that, it makes me imagine many things that I would call aspects of ministry, sort of tools or practices of ministry. 00:03:47.760 --> 00:03:50.219 Intercession, supplication, healing. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:52.140 These are the work of ministry. 00:03:52.219 --> 00:03:54.080 And I can imagine praying around those. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:04:00.400 But I think underneath it, I want to pause and consider the attitudes of a heart or a life of prayer. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:05.800 And the ones that jumped to my mind as I was reflecting on this, four words. 00:04:06.900 --> 00:04:11.920 Dependence, humility, receptivity, and gratitude. 00:04:12.340 --> 00:04:15.860 So those are the ground of a soul underneath prayer. 00:04:16.360 --> 00:04:19.379 Dependence, humility, receptivity, and gratitude. 00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:24.680 And that's the four words that I think will generate a life of prayer. 00:04:24.680 --> 00:04:30.420 Now, I struggle because those four words are a sermon in themselves and I'd never actually get to the psalm. 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:30.720 Okay? 00:04:31.280 --> 00:04:34.000 So I'm going to resist preaching that sermon. 00:04:34.620 --> 00:04:40.860 But I urge you, and I literally, Kevin, plead with you to write those four words into your mind. 00:04:41.019 --> 00:04:42.160 Your notes, your phone. 00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:44.000 Ask Susan to be your scribe. 00:04:44.060 --> 00:04:44.819 Whatever you need to do. 00:04:44.840 --> 00:04:45.079 Okay? 00:04:45.379 --> 00:04:47.079 But come back to those words. 00:04:47.420 --> 00:04:49.300 And I mean literally dwell with those words. 00:04:49.620 --> 00:04:51.079 A life of dependence. 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:53.740 A life of humility. 00:04:54.259 --> 00:04:56.159 A life of receptivity. 00:04:56.359 --> 00:04:57.479 And a life of gratitude. 00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:00.339 I do not think you can escape them. 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:02.339 You may try. 00:05:03.039 --> 00:05:04.139 It won't work. 00:05:04.819 --> 00:05:07.120 If you want to be a minister of the gospel. 00:05:07.699 --> 00:05:13.599 If you want to be about the work that God has called you to do, you won't be able to escape them. 00:05:14.439 --> 00:05:16.899 So I'm just going to leave those four words with you for right now. 00:05:17.659 --> 00:05:19.439 We can talk about them later if you want to. 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:21.540 We can have a one-on-one. 00:05:21.639 --> 00:05:22.279 Whatever you want to do. 00:05:22.360 --> 00:05:22.600 Okay? 00:05:23.180 --> 00:05:24.800 Because there's a lot to those four words. 00:05:25.639 --> 00:05:30.339 But I do want to just have time to make sure that we walk through the specific petitions of the prayer. 00:05:30.699 --> 00:05:37.459 Because this psalm to me, and I say this to all of us, is a marvelous psalm to me that weaves us deeper and deeper before the Lord. 00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:38.800 It starts with something. 00:05:39.079 --> 00:05:40.399 And I'll tell you what it is. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:45.339 And it just then goes from that something and it travels to the next and to the next and to the next. 00:05:45.659 --> 00:05:52.359 And it's digging deeper into your soul as a man or into our souls as people, as men or women before God. 00:05:52.479 --> 00:05:56.579 And causing us to really reflect on what it means to have a life of prayer. 00:05:56.579 --> 00:06:00.180 I'm going to walk through this psalm in couplets. 00:06:00.439 --> 00:06:01.539 Two petitions at a time. 00:06:02.539 --> 00:06:04.539 First, verse 33 and 34. 00:06:04.740 --> 00:06:09.439 Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will keep it to the end. 00:06:09.860 --> 00:06:13.879 Give me understanding that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. 00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:26.199 So together, the psalmist is praying for the reformation of his mind so that the understanding will be changed and that begins to sink into his heart. 00:06:26.279 --> 00:06:28.759 So mind, understanding, into heart. 00:06:28.980 --> 00:06:32.519 And it begins with simply a request for God to teach us. 00:06:33.019 --> 00:06:34.379 Lord, I need you to be my teacher. 00:06:34.980 --> 00:06:39.639 Which is reflective of the passage from Isaiah that we read earlier before. 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:45.979 But below the words, below the actions, what do I need God to do as my teacher? 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:54.199 And he says, not teach me your statutes, but teach me the way of your statutes. 00:06:55.519 --> 00:07:02.680 Open to me my mind so that I can see beneath the words of direct instruction the way or the path. 00:07:02.899 --> 00:07:07.180 Not only the what, but the why and the how of what you're telling me to do. 00:07:07.459 --> 00:07:09.039 Give me understanding then. 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:14.080 So open the eyes of my heart to the truth underneath the instructions of God. 00:07:14.080 --> 00:07:20.800 So that my obedience, my walking with God, is not the walking of a mule led by a bitten bridle. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:24.680 But the walking of a man alongside God as a friend and partner. 00:07:24.840 --> 00:07:29.860 Because I understand or I'm beginning to understand the beauty of what you're telling me to do. 00:07:31.080 --> 00:07:36.740 So this is a prayer really for understanding the beauty of the truths of God. 00:07:36.740 --> 00:07:39.680 Let me just give you one example that pops to my mind. 00:07:39.840 --> 00:07:42.960 You can pick any particular instruction, but I'll pick a virtue. 00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:49.500 God encourages and teaches and instructs us around the virtue of generosity. 00:07:50.600 --> 00:07:51.960 Share your bread with the needy, right? 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:53.620 There's the what. 00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:54.460 Share your bread. 00:07:54.579 --> 00:07:55.060 Share your gifts. 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:55.920 Share your offerings. 00:07:56.400 --> 00:07:57.620 We on your tithes. 00:07:57.900 --> 00:07:58.960 Give alms to the poor. 00:07:59.060 --> 00:08:00.000 All those kinds of things. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:02.699 But what is the way underneath that? 00:08:03.259 --> 00:08:05.480 What is the understanding underneath that? 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:08.959 And that opens us up to all sorts of principles in the word of God. 00:08:09.480 --> 00:08:11.240 Underneath the call to generosity. 00:08:12.100 --> 00:08:14.600 We have nothing but what we have received, right? 00:08:15.259 --> 00:08:16.759 That's the truth from the word of God. 00:08:17.620 --> 00:08:18.899 All things come from thee, O Lord. 00:08:18.980 --> 00:08:20.879 And of thy own have we given back to you. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:25.000 Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father above. 00:08:26.159 --> 00:08:26.920 Ridiculously generous. 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:28.040 What father among you? 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:31.379 If his son asks for a snake and fish, will he give him a snake? 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:33.980 Or if he asks for bread, will he give him a stone? 00:08:34.899 --> 00:08:41.240 If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to you? 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:49.799 So all of those principles of the radical generosity of God standing behind our call to participate in the life of generosity. 00:08:50.060 --> 00:08:52.039 So it's an understanding of who God is, right? 00:08:53.220 --> 00:08:56.000 And then there's also seeing the needy person as a person. 00:08:56.680 --> 00:08:59.440 So we begin to attend to the person behind the need. 00:08:59.659 --> 00:09:05.159 So this is a person not just who has a need for bread or for money or for whatever we may want to give them. 00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:07.659 But this is a person who has a deeper need. 00:09:07.779 --> 00:09:09.100 Jesus sort of got onto that, right? 00:09:09.580 --> 00:09:10.879 Give me a drink of water. 00:09:11.940 --> 00:09:15.060 If I give you, you know, and then the water kind of what is underneath the soul. 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:21.019 If you knew the one who asked you, you would ask for something more, right? 00:09:22.899 --> 00:09:27.600 So we begin to see people differently if we see according to the way of God. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:35.259 And then there's the whole principle of 2 Corinthians chapter 9 and 8, but particularly chapter 9, 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:39.659 where we have the opportunity to participate in the bounty of God to the world. 00:09:39.659 --> 00:09:47.339 And God will give us the seed that we need for sowing into the lives of others so that a ridiculously huge harvest will be produced. 00:09:47.639 --> 00:09:49.079 And so God is giving the seed. 00:09:49.259 --> 00:09:52.259 He's bringing out the life, but we get to be the sower of the process. 00:09:52.259 --> 00:09:56.639 So we get to join in and participate in the work of God. 00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:01.519 So, so far under generosity, we've seen the character of God. 00:10:01.620 --> 00:10:03.240 We've seen the value of the other person. 00:10:03.340 --> 00:10:06.779 We've seen the participation that we have to be able to be in the work of God. 00:10:06.779 --> 00:10:13.339 And then also underneath the principle of generosity, we have to get eventually down to a perspective on material possessions, right? 00:10:14.699 --> 00:10:17.240 We live in a culture that says, hold back on nothing. 00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:19.679 If you can, do it. 00:10:21.179 --> 00:10:28.259 The distance between the rich and the poor get further and further, gets further and further as the rich do everything within their grasp, 00:10:28.860 --> 00:10:31.480 including levels of debt that are beyond all expectation. 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:40.580 But the deeper problem underneath a lack of generosity in our world, I think, is a definition, is a problem with the definition of life itself. 00:10:41.740 --> 00:10:44.700 Because we believe that this life is all there is. 00:10:44.779 --> 00:10:49.899 And therefore, if we don't grab the pleasures for now, we've missed our opportunity. 00:10:50.659 --> 00:10:52.600 But that's the way of death, right? 00:10:52.600 --> 00:11:02.860 Because that's not only failure of generosity, it's failure of understanding who we are as human beings and what life is meant to be for us in an eternal perspective. 00:11:03.980 --> 00:11:11.320 So all I'm doing by way of instruction and by way of example, Kevin, and for all of us, is just take one concept of generosity, 00:11:11.580 --> 00:11:18.019 which is an instruction from God, and seeing underneath it the layers of principles that you can begin to dig apart. 00:11:18.019 --> 00:11:25.340 So as I speak to you, Kevin, directly, your whole ministry of teaching and preaching, of counsel and discipleship, 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:31.759 should lead people to dig deeper into the ways of God underneath the instructions of God. 00:11:32.360 --> 00:11:42.600 The understanding that goes underneath it that broadens out and helps them form a view of the entire person of God and the life that he's created us to live. 00:11:42.659 --> 00:11:44.059 That's your opportunity, my brother. 00:11:45.259 --> 00:11:46.240 So pray accordingly. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:52.940 Pray accordingly that God will open up the hearts of people to understand his ways. 00:11:55.539 --> 00:12:03.440 And then at the end of this, he goes on to say that my heart will observe your law. 00:12:03.539 --> 00:12:11.580 So we've moved from mind to understanding in his own prayer to prayer for his heart, which introduces us to the next couplet. 00:12:12.299 --> 00:12:15.519 Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:20.179 Incline my heart to your testimony as not to selfish gain. 00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:30.740 So the psalmist has prayed, first for a change of mind, a growth of understanding, and now a change of heart. 00:12:31.399 --> 00:12:35.840 The first couplet combines obedience with understanding. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:41.139 This couplet connects obedience with heart, with desire. 00:12:41.940 --> 00:12:43.220 I need help with both. 00:12:43.540 --> 00:12:47.639 I need my mind changed, but I need my desires changed. 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:50.019 Even more, I think, in some ways. 00:12:52.019 --> 00:12:55.919 And the psalmist says, as I walk with you, increase and expand my heart. 00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:02.480 Change my desires, my joys towards you, toward God. 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:05.100 Kevin, I know you. 00:13:05.940 --> 00:13:07.100 I know you deeply. 00:13:07.639 --> 00:13:13.120 But I believe, based on what I already know, that you want to walk with God. 00:13:13.680 --> 00:13:14.379 You love the Lord. 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:16.539 He's captured your heart. 00:13:17.100 --> 00:13:17.960 You want to serve him. 00:13:18.899 --> 00:13:20.019 Don't give that up, obviously. 00:13:20.019 --> 00:13:29.539 But as you walk into ministry, any day of ministry, take time with prayer, particularly maybe a prayer like this, at the beginning of each day and often through the day, 00:13:29.539 --> 00:13:40.959 so that you remind yourself through prayer of the necessity of being alert, so that your ears are open to the voice of the shepherd, 00:13:41.319 --> 00:13:51.219 but even more so, and I would even say even more so, that you remind yourself through prayer of the necessity of your affections being constantly reshaped. 00:13:52.339 --> 00:13:57.279 You cannot, I don't think you have the power to transform your heart. 00:13:58.059 --> 00:13:58.879 Only God can. 00:13:59.539 --> 00:14:04.179 And the desires of the heart run deep within our soul. 00:14:05.539 --> 00:14:10.719 God promises in the Old Testament, throughout the Bible, to give us a new heart. 00:14:11.199 --> 00:14:17.240 But I think the prayer for a changed heart is a constant prayer throughout the rest of our lives. 00:14:18.139 --> 00:14:20.139 And with that, the psalmist says, 00:14:20.500 --> 00:14:25.759 And change me so that I no longer am inclined towards selfish gain. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:30.279 And that's the massive alternative desires of our heart, right? 00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:37.240 A desire toward God, alternatively, is a desire toward selfish gain. 00:14:37.240 --> 00:14:45.220 And I want to just pause here again and say doing the ministry can and often is, can be and often is selfish gain. 00:14:45.220 --> 00:14:48.060 We find our identity in ministry. 00:14:48.060 --> 00:15:01.240 I think it's proverbial that people in ministry often thrive on affirmation, from a sense of purpose, from the sense of being so important to other people. 00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:09.200 Selfish gain can be the gain of accomplishment and perfection and a reputation for excellence and dependability. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:10.200 Selfish gain can be the same. 00:15:10.200 --> 00:15:11.620 That happens to be a bit of an idol for me. 00:15:12.280 --> 00:15:16.180 I really want to be known as a person who does my job and does it well. 00:15:16.259 --> 00:15:19.000 And you can depend upon me and I'll fulfill my responsibilities. 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:26.139 And I can be so determined to finish my to-do list that I forget to do ministry because I'm doing my list, not my ministry. 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:38.360 I had a knee replacement in January and there was this incredibly wonderful woman who came to our home for a couple of weeks, maybe three weeks, named Marilyn who did physical therapy. 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:41.419 And, I mean, we just, she was just an awesome lady. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:44.039 We had so much fun with her and talking with her. 00:15:44.059 --> 00:15:45.200 And she just did a great job. 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:46.580 She was such a caring person. 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:51.120 And, but, you know, we never really got, I mean, she works for the University of North Carolina. 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:56.620 And the University of North Carolina does not allow you to say the word prayer or God or you'll get fired, you know, that kind of stuff. 00:15:56.820 --> 00:15:59.940 But anyway, and I'm not joking. 00:16:00.520 --> 00:16:09.820 I mean, I've been with doctors who tried to say, they almost said, well, if you were, I mean, if you're thinking about this, you know, because they know if they said prayer, I could probably sue them on the spot kind of a thing. 00:16:10.640 --> 00:16:14.920 So anyway, Marilyn was just a great person, but she was very neutral in all her affect and so on. 00:16:14.919 --> 00:16:17.379 And, but we had a lot of fun, joked around, laughed a lot. 00:16:17.459 --> 00:16:18.399 It was her last day. 00:16:18.699 --> 00:16:24.039 And that was the day that I was finally getting back to the place where I was really, you know, kind of ginning back in with ministry. 00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:25.699 And my to-do list was going. 00:16:25.799 --> 00:16:29.599 And I think I'd awakened that day with, you know, just a thousand things I wanted to do. 00:16:29.639 --> 00:16:31.579 And I needed to get this physical therapy done. 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:33.919 And it was like, okay, Marilyn, come on, let's get it done. 00:16:33.979 --> 00:16:34.539 I'm doing well. 00:16:34.599 --> 00:16:35.459 Let's get it over with. 00:16:35.599 --> 00:16:36.559 And then see you later. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:37.819 And I got to get back to my work. 00:16:37.860 --> 00:16:38.139 Okay. 00:16:38.139 --> 00:16:45.179 Well, so I'm not working with Marilyn and right in the middle of this conversation with Marilyn and this work with Marilyn, the Lord says, pray with her. 00:16:46.740 --> 00:16:47.899 Ask her to pray with you. 00:16:48.679 --> 00:16:51.519 And I really resisted because I had too much to do. 00:16:52.580 --> 00:16:53.480 And I'm being it. 00:16:53.539 --> 00:16:54.100 I'm dead serious. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:55.620 I had so much on my mind. 00:16:55.659 --> 00:16:57.500 I'm going, I don't have time for that. 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:01.379 But the Lord stopped me, pushed me a little bit harder. 00:17:01.480 --> 00:17:02.080 And I stopped. 00:17:02.340 --> 00:17:03.179 Okay, I will. 00:17:03.779 --> 00:17:07.839 So I said, Marilyn, I don't know if you're comfortable with us or not, but I'd really like to pray with you. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:09.140 This is our last time together. 00:17:09.220 --> 00:17:10.240 Would you like to pray with me? 00:17:10.779 --> 00:17:13.599 She said, oh, I would love to pray with you. 00:17:13.640 --> 00:17:14.900 Would you please pray with me? 00:17:15.140 --> 00:17:20.960 So I started praying with her and I prayed with her in reflection on things that she had told me a little bit about herself along the way. 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:26.039 And by the time we finished praying, which was a good 10 or 15 minutes later, tears were streaming down her face. 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:30.160 And she said, this has been the most important moment I've had in so long. 00:17:30.220 --> 00:17:30.980 I can't tell you. 00:17:32.039 --> 00:17:33.440 Well, it's a simple illustration. 00:17:33.600 --> 00:17:37.180 And I bet you probably many, many of the people in this room could give a similar illustration. 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:45.200 But I'm saying to you that that question for me was a question of selfish gain, i.e. accomplishing a lot, 00:17:46.140 --> 00:17:50.360 versus allowing myself to incline my heart toward the Lord. 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:59.079 And I think that that line can be particularly subtle in a man like you, or a man like Tommy, or a man like Jim, 00:17:59.140 --> 00:18:01.759 or any of us who are doing ministry. 00:18:04.440 --> 00:18:07.220 Selfish gain, what does it bring us? 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:13.620 What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but to lose his soul? 00:18:13.619 --> 00:18:26.179 So we pray for instruction that's rooted in understanding, our changed mind, obedience that's rooted really in love, emotions. 00:18:27.139 --> 00:18:29.399 And I think you can anticipate where the next couple goes. 00:18:30.099 --> 00:18:34.919 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and give me life in your ways. 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:38.119 Confirm to your servant your promise that you may be feared. 00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:40.739 We're still touching on the mind. 00:18:40.739 --> 00:18:49.359 These prayers are interlaced between mind and emotion and understanding and now will. 00:18:50.299 --> 00:18:52.719 But this one, I think, begins to really focus on the will. 00:18:53.859 --> 00:18:58.639 And maybe I'm putting too much on it, but it says, the psalmist says, 00:18:58.899 --> 00:19:00.059 Lord, turn my eyes. 00:19:00.239 --> 00:19:01.479 You turn my eyes. 00:19:01.480 --> 00:19:10.380 Now, I think the point is, is that I can't expect for God to turn my eyes if I don't start to glance in the right direction. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:19.279 But what it's acknowledging is that as we turn, the psalmist is saying, Lord, as I begin to turn, then you really turn me. 00:19:19.380 --> 00:19:22.279 I mean, give me muscles I never dreamed I had in my neck. 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:27.240 Because I want to turn, and all of a sudden, okay, I need you to really give me strength. 00:19:27.240 --> 00:19:33.160 Give me the ability in my will to do what you call me to do. 00:19:33.799 --> 00:19:35.940 From mind to heart to will. 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:45.839 And after the growth of understanding and the development of desire, we need the literal help and hand of God to give muscle to our weak will. 00:19:47.819 --> 00:19:50.480 Now, I may be more recalcitrant than you. 00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:58.079 I've been in active pastoral ministry, some clear level of leadership in ministry since 1970. 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:05.279 But I still, true confessions, have to make decisions on a daily basis to do the will of God. 00:20:05.360 --> 00:20:06.900 Am I the only person? 00:20:10.099 --> 00:20:16.099 I still have to make a decision pretty much many times a day to believe that his will is life itself. 00:20:16.099 --> 00:20:22.119 Most often, that battle of belief is not played out in cosmic philosophical terms. 00:20:23.099 --> 00:20:24.579 The big ones. 00:20:25.879 --> 00:20:27.819 Or the big moral sins. 00:20:28.980 --> 00:20:30.399 Most often, it's a lot more simple. 00:20:31.059 --> 00:20:32.379 Will I do what he just told me to do? 00:20:32.679 --> 00:20:34.279 Like, pray with Marilyn, right? 00:20:34.980 --> 00:20:36.619 Will I turn away from worthless things? 00:20:36.699 --> 00:20:40.419 Will I pray at his promptings rather than power through in my energy? 00:20:41.319 --> 00:20:43.599 Will I accept his interruptions of my agenda? 00:20:43.699 --> 00:20:44.779 Now, that's a really hard one. 00:20:44.779 --> 00:20:47.579 Will I turn off the TV at the end of my day? 00:20:48.220 --> 00:20:49.680 And I don't watch a lot of TV. 00:20:49.899 --> 00:20:55.359 But when I am watching TV, will I turn it off and end my day with examine and prayer? 00:20:55.420 --> 00:20:56.519 Will I pray with my wife? 00:20:57.960 --> 00:20:58.960 Let me get more practical. 00:20:59.299 --> 00:21:01.339 I go through seasons when I play Words with Friends. 00:21:04.059 --> 00:21:07.319 Now, about 100 years ago, I was born and raised in Texas. 00:21:07.559 --> 00:21:10.139 And I can be as competitive as any Texan in the room. 00:21:10.140 --> 00:21:14.040 And I get into Words with Friends. 00:21:14.120 --> 00:21:16.120 And I can be playing about 12 people at a time. 00:21:17.820 --> 00:21:19.720 And, man, I can play a lot of people. 00:21:19.980 --> 00:21:24.840 But, man, my desire to beat my middle son, Stephen, 00:21:25.360 --> 00:21:30.320 my desire to beat my brother, Jim, who has a double PhD, 00:21:31.180 --> 00:21:31.980 I mean, we're talking. 00:21:32.100 --> 00:21:32.680 It's fierce. 00:21:32.680 --> 00:21:33.120 Okay? 00:21:34.320 --> 00:21:36.759 I get to the place where I can wake up in the middle of the night 00:21:36.759 --> 00:21:41.420 and start dreaming and thinking about the next play where I'm going to beat them. 00:21:41.900 --> 00:21:44.560 I start imagining how I'm going to make the letters work. 00:21:44.779 --> 00:21:47.080 And I wake up in the morning when I'm in this place, 00:21:47.360 --> 00:21:48.620 and is it Bible or phone? 00:21:48.740 --> 00:21:49.600 Bible or phone? 00:21:49.700 --> 00:21:50.400 Bible or phone? 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:54.580 And I have to decide in that moment my will. 00:21:55.340 --> 00:21:56.180 Simple obedience. 00:21:56.519 --> 00:22:00.120 Because I have made a decision that I need the Bible before I need a screen. 00:22:01.220 --> 00:22:02.740 And I believe it's important for me. 00:22:02.900 --> 00:22:05.000 I'm not going to evaluate that for you. 00:22:05.940 --> 00:22:10.380 But it's those little habits of the heart where I think the shaping and the will. 00:22:11.160 --> 00:22:15.240 And I think for us, even in ministry, and maybe especially in ministry, 00:22:15.780 --> 00:22:19.440 the little decisions can be so subtle that we think they're no big deal. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:21.000 And actually they are. 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:24.779 Give us the strength of will to obey you. 00:22:26.120 --> 00:22:27.759 Finally, verses 39 and 40. 00:22:27.900 --> 00:22:31.100 Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good. 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:34.740 Behold, I long for your precepts, and your righteousness give me life. 00:22:36.140 --> 00:22:41.400 And again, I don't want to over-organize this prayer into mind, will, emotions, you know, 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:42.900 in some strict category. 00:22:43.019 --> 00:22:44.519 Because as I mentioned a moment before, 00:22:44.740 --> 00:22:46.660 these things are lacing in and amongst themselves. 00:22:46.660 --> 00:22:48.759 They sort of draw from one to the other. 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:52.819 But here we do touch on what I consider to be a new category for prayer. 00:22:53.180 --> 00:22:55.779 And that is the fears within our soul. 00:22:57.500 --> 00:22:59.259 And at that point, we're sort of deep. 00:22:59.640 --> 00:23:04.019 We're kind of in some very, very mysterious territory. 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:06.640 Not the fears of what others may do to us, 00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:10.720 but the fears of what we will do to ourselves and our ministries. 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:12.879 The fear of our defaulting. 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:14.819 The fear of our turning away. 00:23:14.819 --> 00:23:17.960 One of my very favorite songs that we sing is, 00:23:18.379 --> 00:23:20.980 In thy mercy, Lord, good Lord, deliver me. 00:23:20.980 --> 00:23:27.660 The secret fears of reproach are buried deep within each of us sitting on this front row. 00:23:28.440 --> 00:23:29.599 And each of us in this room. 00:23:31.400 --> 00:23:33.039 We know that we don't want to admit, 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:35.380 We know what we don't want to admit aloud to anybody else. 00:23:35.799 --> 00:23:38.099 We know our struggles with doubt or unbelief. 00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:39.940 We know our besetting sins. 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:41.000 We know our temptations. 00:23:41.500 --> 00:23:43.640 We know our weaknesses, our failures of courage. 00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:49.920 And we work and we hope and we seek to follow God faithfully. 00:23:51.820 --> 00:23:52.840 But do we pray? 00:23:53.600 --> 00:23:54.560 I'm sure we do. 00:23:55.400 --> 00:23:59.840 But do we center our hopes of finishing well in prayer? 00:24:01.080 --> 00:24:05.700 Or do we center our hopes in finishing well in our energies and ourselves? 00:24:05.700 --> 00:24:12.940 Do we not need the Lord in the end to infuse in us a life we do not have in ourselves to the end? 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:15.299 Let me say that again. 00:24:15.620 --> 00:24:22.980 Do we not need the Lord to infuse in us a life that we do not have within ourselves to the end? 00:24:23.799 --> 00:24:25.299 And the answer is yes. 00:24:27.779 --> 00:24:31.660 I love the way Paul begins to wind his ways toward the end of life. 00:24:31.660 --> 00:24:35.640 It's full of joy and gratitude. 00:24:36.580 --> 00:24:38.660 But he's constantly very to the end saying, 00:24:38.840 --> 00:24:39.440 I need some help. 00:24:39.580 --> 00:24:42.560 Would you bring me a blanket? 00:24:42.660 --> 00:24:43.180 I'm cold. 00:24:43.480 --> 00:24:44.060 You know, a coat. 00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:46.460 Would you go do this and go do that? 00:24:46.519 --> 00:24:47.560 Because I need your help. 00:24:47.640 --> 00:24:50.040 And he's calling upon the body of Christ to say, 00:24:50.120 --> 00:24:51.000 I need your help. 00:24:51.300 --> 00:24:51.779 I need you. 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:54.279 He's constantly at the end of his letters. 00:24:54.680 --> 00:24:56.300 Pray for me that I'll stay firm. 00:24:56.940 --> 00:24:58.140 Pray for me that I'll stay firm. 00:24:58.640 --> 00:24:59.900 And then toward the end, 00:24:59.940 --> 00:25:01.340 I think as he can see the finish line, 00:25:01.339 --> 00:25:03.699 there is a little bit of a triumph and a satisfaction. 00:25:03.899 --> 00:25:04.819 And I think a little bit of a, 00:25:05.159 --> 00:25:05.399 you know, 00:25:05.699 --> 00:25:06.419 I don't know. 00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:07.779 Paul's kind of getting up with it. 00:25:07.980 --> 00:25:08.879 I fought the fight. 00:25:09.439 --> 00:25:10.599 I finished the race. 00:25:10.679 --> 00:25:11.480 I've kept the faith. 00:25:11.819 --> 00:25:13.019 But I don't sense pride in that. 00:25:13.059 --> 00:25:14.199 I sense just sheer joy. 00:25:14.939 --> 00:25:15.279 I sense, 00:25:15.539 --> 00:25:17.839 I am so grateful because I see the finish line. 00:25:18.539 --> 00:25:20.759 Because God has kept me. 00:25:23.319 --> 00:25:23.720 Kevin, 00:25:23.939 --> 00:25:25.959 I just encourage you 00:25:25.959 --> 00:25:29.199 to realize that you can go to the Lord with your deepest fears. 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:32.940 Your deepest fears of your own self-reproach. 00:25:33.819 --> 00:25:35.160 And hide nothing from him. 00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:37.200 Hide nothing from him, 00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:39.620 but give it all to him. 00:25:40.299 --> 00:25:41.680 And release it to him. 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:43.640 So that he may heal it, 00:25:44.039 --> 00:25:44.740 take it, 00:25:44.740 --> 00:25:47.599 and restore you. 00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:52.460 So my message to you is prayer. 00:25:53.400 --> 00:25:55.640 Prayer regarding your mind, 00:25:56.319 --> 00:25:56.900 your heart, 00:25:57.460 --> 00:25:58.039 your will, 00:25:58.620 --> 00:26:00.120 the deepest elements of your soul 00:26:00.120 --> 00:26:02.220 as the starting point 00:26:02.220 --> 00:26:04.359 and the continuing core 00:26:04.359 --> 00:26:05.819 of your ministry. 00:26:05.819 --> 00:26:09.139 So I'm going to swing back 00:26:09.139 --> 00:26:10.599 and return to the four words 00:26:10.599 --> 00:26:12.559 that underlie this life. 00:26:12.700 --> 00:26:13.259 Now you didn't think 00:26:13.259 --> 00:26:14.240 you'd get away with me 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:15.419 not talking about these again, right? 00:26:16.639 --> 00:26:17.039 Dependence, 00:26:17.139 --> 00:26:17.519 humility, 00:26:18.279 --> 00:26:18.779 receptivity, 00:26:18.839 --> 00:26:19.259 and gratitude. 00:26:21.179 --> 00:26:21.559 Dependence, 00:26:21.619 --> 00:26:23.019 how will you accomplish your ministry? 00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:24.480 Simple as that. 00:26:25.259 --> 00:26:26.839 What will it mean to do ministry? 00:26:27.460 --> 00:26:28.399 You have gifts. 00:26:29.139 --> 00:26:30.559 You're a gifted man. 00:26:30.639 --> 00:26:31.599 You are an intelligent man. 00:26:31.679 --> 00:26:33.139 You're a well-trained man. 00:26:33.140 --> 00:26:35.180 You're an energetic man. 00:26:36.620 --> 00:26:38.340 But is that going 00:26:38.340 --> 00:26:39.820 to change people's lives? 00:26:41.060 --> 00:26:41.900 No. 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:43.660 God does. 00:26:46.160 --> 00:26:47.000 Humility. 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:49.800 Humility is not a technique. 00:26:50.980 --> 00:26:52.060 It's the truth. 00:26:53.300 --> 00:26:56.759 It's a word that shares a root 00:26:56.759 --> 00:26:58.080 with the word humus, 00:26:58.920 --> 00:26:59.460 dirt, 00:27:00.520 --> 00:27:00.780 soil. 00:27:00.779 --> 00:27:03.180 It also shares with 00:27:03.180 --> 00:27:04.259 our language 00:27:04.259 --> 00:27:05.519 the word human. 00:27:06.879 --> 00:27:07.539 We are human, 00:27:07.660 --> 00:27:08.259 made from dirt. 00:27:09.819 --> 00:27:11.039 Let me quote something 00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:12.319 from a man named 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:13.039 Anthony Bloom. 00:27:13.700 --> 00:27:14.160 Basically, 00:27:14.399 --> 00:27:15.819 humility is the attitude 00:27:15.819 --> 00:27:16.859 of one who stands 00:27:16.859 --> 00:27:17.879 constantly under 00:27:17.879 --> 00:27:18.879 the judgment of God. 00:27:19.799 --> 00:27:20.899 It is the attitude 00:27:20.899 --> 00:27:21.859 of one who is like 00:27:21.859 --> 00:27:22.440 the soil. 00:27:23.579 --> 00:27:24.539 Humility comes from 00:27:24.539 --> 00:27:25.779 the Latin word humus, 00:27:26.019 --> 00:27:26.639 fertile ground. 00:27:27.660 --> 00:27:28.440 The fertile ground 00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:28.899 is there, 00:27:29.019 --> 00:27:29.579 unnoticed, 00:27:29.700 --> 00:27:30.500 taken for granted, 00:27:30.500 --> 00:27:31.559 always there to be 00:27:31.559 --> 00:27:32.359 trodden upon. 00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:33.700 It is silent, 00:27:34.039 --> 00:27:34.940 inconspicuous, 00:27:35.339 --> 00:27:35.740 dark, 00:27:35.940 --> 00:27:37.319 and yet it is always 00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:38.519 ready to receive 00:27:38.519 --> 00:27:39.539 any seed, 00:27:39.819 --> 00:27:40.619 ready to give it 00:27:40.619 --> 00:27:41.720 substance and life. 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:42.940 The more lowly, 00:27:43.099 --> 00:27:43.880 the more fruitful 00:27:43.880 --> 00:27:44.819 because it becomes 00:27:44.819 --> 00:27:45.680 really fertile 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:46.819 when it accepts 00:27:46.819 --> 00:27:47.859 all the refuse 00:27:47.859 --> 00:27:48.680 of the earth. 00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:52.380 It is so low 00:27:52.380 --> 00:27:53.039 that nothing can 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:53.500 soil it. 00:27:54.700 --> 00:27:55.420 Nothing can 00:27:55.420 --> 00:27:56.019 abase it. 00:27:56.759 --> 00:27:57.400 Nothing can 00:27:57.400 --> 00:27:58.180 humiliate it. 00:27:58.180 --> 00:27:59.740 It is accepted 00:27:59.740 --> 00:28:00.680 the last place 00:28:00.680 --> 00:28:01.160 and it cannot 00:28:01.160 --> 00:28:01.880 go any lower. 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:04.200 In that position, 00:28:04.440 --> 00:28:05.060 nothing can 00:28:05.060 --> 00:28:06.480 shatter the soul's 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:07.019 serenity, 00:28:07.660 --> 00:28:08.279 its peace, 00:28:08.620 --> 00:28:09.580 its joy, 00:28:09.580 --> 00:28:11.200 or deny 00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:12.460 its fruitfulness. 00:28:14.360 --> 00:28:14.960 Humility. 00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:17.600 Receptivity. 00:28:19.660 --> 00:28:21.100 Core to our humanity 00:28:21.100 --> 00:28:22.140 is receiving life 00:28:22.140 --> 00:28:23.220 rather than taking life. 00:28:23.220 --> 00:28:26.360 we do it every Sunday. 00:28:27.339 --> 00:28:28.279 Every Sunday 00:28:28.279 --> 00:28:29.200 we receive, 00:28:29.559 --> 00:28:30.460 we do not take. 00:28:31.720 --> 00:28:32.839 Let that be a lesson 00:28:32.839 --> 00:28:33.279 to you. 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:35.039 Gratitude. 00:28:36.220 --> 00:28:37.100 I urge you 00:28:37.100 --> 00:28:37.620 to consider 00:28:37.620 --> 00:28:38.440 the practice 00:28:38.440 --> 00:28:40.440 of Ignatian 00:28:40.440 --> 00:28:40.940 examen 00:28:40.940 --> 00:28:41.360 as a way 00:28:41.360 --> 00:28:41.860 of grooving 00:28:41.860 --> 00:28:42.299 gratitude 00:28:42.299 --> 00:28:43.059 into your soul. 00:28:44.519 --> 00:28:45.120 End your day 00:28:45.120 --> 00:28:46.460 with your journal 00:28:46.460 --> 00:28:47.900 and a list 00:28:47.900 --> 00:28:48.600 of things 00:28:48.600 --> 00:28:49.019 for which 00:28:49.019 --> 00:28:49.839 you are grateful for. 00:28:51.400 --> 00:28:52.319 Do ministry 00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:53.059 as prayer. 00:28:54.179 --> 00:28:54.659 Walking, 00:28:55.579 --> 00:28:56.119 independence, 00:28:57.119 --> 00:28:57.559 humility, 00:28:58.500 --> 00:28:59.139 receptivity, 00:28:59.799 --> 00:29:00.259 and gratitude. 00:29:02.500 --> 00:29:02.980 Brother, 00:29:03.079 --> 00:29:03.899 may God bless you. 00:29:04.259 --> 00:29:04.819 May he do 00:29:04.819 --> 00:29:05.700 far abundantly 00:29:05.700 --> 00:29:06.299 beyond all 00:29:06.299 --> 00:29:06.919 that you can ask 00:29:06.919 --> 00:29:07.259 or think. 00:29:07.619 --> 00:29:07.899 Amen. 00:29:08.119 --> 00:29:08.319 Amen. 00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:08.439 Amen.