WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.240 we do not know what to do but our eyes are on you that's what they say in that situation of 00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:14.980 facing these threats and not quite knowing what's going to happen 00:00:14.980 --> 00:00:20.600 we do not know what to do lord but our eyes are on you what might that look like 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:30.720 do you ever get an email or a letter from somebody and it ends with that in the the actual letter or 00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:36.740 email they're they're asking you to do something and then there's a phrase at the end of it apparently 00:00:36.740 --> 00:00:43.260 this is a phrase that really really gets on people's nerves okay the phrase is this after 00:00:43.260 --> 00:00:49.420 they've asked you to do something they then sign off by saying thank you in advance 00:00:49.420 --> 00:00:55.359 apparently that's a phrase that we really don't like very much and the reason why we don't like 00:00:55.359 --> 00:01:05.019 it very much is because it's it's loaded it sounds it can sound presumptuous and um it puts the recipient 00:01:05.019 --> 00:01:13.799 under some pressure it's kind of hard to say no to what's being asked uh it demands something of a yes 00:01:13.799 --> 00:01:19.299 and um i was reading about this apparently there were some some suggestions are made as to 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:25.340 alternatives that can be used in that situation an alternative could be um do you think you'll have 00:01:25.340 --> 00:01:34.039 time to do this for me or i appreciate your help in this situation but that phrase thank you in advance 00:01:34.039 --> 00:01:40.859 can be a phrase that can really really get people's backs up my apologies if i've ever signed off an email 00:01:40.859 --> 00:01:49.739 like that question is in this situation we've got the people of god who are surrounded by enemies and 00:01:49.739 --> 00:01:57.379 they're about to be obliterated and their response is to start giving thanks to god to march into that 00:01:57.379 --> 00:02:05.500 situation where humanly speaking it looks like they're about to all be killed and they give thanks 00:02:05.500 --> 00:02:14.120 to god for the victory that they believe he is going to give them they give thanks to god in advance 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:22.659 in anticipation that they are going to be saved from death is there a sense in which it seems to have 00:02:22.659 --> 00:02:26.979 all the signs of a thank you in advance 00:02:26.979 --> 00:02:36.399 what i want to suggest is that there's something really important about faith and thanksgiving that 00:02:36.399 --> 00:02:43.519 actually does involve that sort of prayer that sort of dynamic but not in a presumptuous kind of way 00:02:43.519 --> 00:02:50.299 but rather there's something about that that has something really important when it comes to christian hope 00:02:50.299 --> 00:02:56.099 and christian expectation so let's just unpack this over these next few minutes is what might that 00:02:56.099 --> 00:03:03.299 mean to dare to give thanks to god before we are actually aware of how he's going to resolve a given 00:03:03.299 --> 00:03:12.939 situation the first thing that we need we can pull from this this story is something that is repeated 00:03:12.939 --> 00:03:20.919 as the story unfolds that we must know that the lord will fight this battle that's what they're told 00:03:20.919 --> 00:03:24.419 they're told the lord will fight this battle they don't quite know how it's going to happen 00:03:24.419 --> 00:03:29.299 as it unfolds it turns out that the enemies just turn against each other and wipe each other out but 00:03:29.299 --> 00:03:35.819 they don't know that at this point they're simply told to have faith that the situation that they are 00:03:35.819 --> 00:03:43.979 facing right now does not belong to them the pressure is not something that they need to feel 00:03:43.979 --> 00:03:48.379 themselves because it is god's battle 00:03:48.379 --> 00:03:56.000 now we've got to perhaps be really careful where we how we handle that kind of idea when it comes to 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:01.139 faith facing our daily battles whatever they may be that this is not yours to fight god's going to 00:04:01.139 --> 00:04:05.579 fight it for you it's important we understand that what we're not talking about here is some kind of 00:04:05.579 --> 00:04:11.379 passive spirituality where we just remove ourselves from anything and we just hand it over to god and 00:04:11.379 --> 00:04:14.000 say well it's got nothing to do with me god's just going to sort it out 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:23.519 back in the 1970s there was a brazilian goalkeeper who was a christian and he used to be quite visible 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:29.180 in the way he would pray before matches he didn't pray before he came out onto the field he would 00:04:29.180 --> 00:04:35.800 actually get out to the field get into the goal uh get between the pope the goal posts and get down on 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:40.720 his knees close his eyes look upwards and pray for everyone in the stadium to see 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:49.020 one particular occasion because everybody knew he did this and um one particular occasion i can't 00:04:49.020 --> 00:04:53.220 remember what team it was they were playing but they were um they wised up to it and they thought 00:04:53.220 --> 00:04:59.760 here's an opportunity so the match started and this guy was still down on his knees with his eyes closed 00:04:59.760 --> 00:05:05.420 praying and somebody from the halfway line decided to chance a shot the pope went straight into the neck 00:05:05.420 --> 00:05:14.620 that's not the kind of image that we're talking about when it comes to handing everything over to god 00:05:14.620 --> 00:05:19.040 it's not about closing our eyes and removing ourselves from the situation 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:26.100 when it comes to to to engage when it comes to handing something over to god 00:05:26.100 --> 00:05:34.300 that's actually a very active thing it takes a huge amount of courage 00:05:34.300 --> 00:05:44.660 to let go of control it's not about giving up but it is about giving over to god 00:05:44.660 --> 00:05:51.980 and we read in verse 17 of that passage um god says to the people look take your position 00:05:51.980 --> 00:06:00.639 and stand still tomorrow go out against them in other words they're being called to go into this 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:06.819 situation to take their position but that position is one of handing over to god 00:06:06.819 --> 00:06:15.500 that might seem quite a challenging thing to do because it is it takes a huge amount of courage to let 00:06:15.500 --> 00:06:22.120 go of control and not to give up but to give it over to god 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:29.699 i'm going to share with you a story which is um i'll be honest with you it's quite a weird one 00:06:29.699 --> 00:06:35.519 and i was in two minds as to whether to use it this morning because it can seem so removed from 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:40.439 perhaps everyday experience including my own that i was thinking does it connect but i think it i think 00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:43.060 it i think it's quite an important story so i'm going to share it with you 00:06:43.060 --> 00:06:50.599 it happened about um 30 years ago when i was a student and i was involved with the christian union 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:58.240 um this is when i was at university and we had a mission uh a mission week to the student community 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:06.640 and um we uh as part of uh that mission week we had a number of different speakers coming to 00:07:06.640 --> 00:07:14.580 uh talk about a number of different subjects we have one particular um person that drew quite a lot of 00:07:14.579 --> 00:07:23.719 attention because of her story because she was previously a witch and she was quite a prominent 00:07:23.719 --> 00:07:32.479 witch and she had an experience of christ she became a christian and her ministry was one of 00:07:32.479 --> 00:07:39.259 going around to various different places sharing her story of how she had turned from witchcraft to 00:07:39.259 --> 00:07:48.199 christ and this particular occasion she was coming to speak um with our christian union to the student 00:07:48.199 --> 00:07:56.779 community now this was the days long before social media but still word got out and um a lot of people 00:07:56.779 --> 00:08:04.759 a lot of students came piled into the uh the the common room that um for this event but also quite a few 00:08:04.759 --> 00:08:13.120 people from the local witch's coven turned up and um there were quite a few of them dotted around the 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:21.060 room and as this woman began to speak and to give her share her story um they began to get quite vocal now 00:08:21.060 --> 00:08:28.639 i need to say there weren't any pointed hats in the room but there were quite a few very very vocal 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:36.480 hecklers and this kind of began to get sort of out of control there was quite a lot of noise quite a lot 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:42.860 of people shouting out i don't eventually um she said okay we're just going to pause now and then we're 00:08:42.860 --> 00:08:47.980 going to come back in a moment hopefully in a more orderly fashion and people can ask me any questions 00:08:47.980 --> 00:08:54.039 now i'd been involved in organizing this event and um just as much she said that and she kind of 00:08:54.039 --> 00:08:58.259 paused everything for a moment she then turned to me and she said you'll be okay to come and uh just 00:08:58.259 --> 00:09:03.340 chair this discussion won't you now i was pretty new to public speaking in those days and i was 00:09:03.340 --> 00:09:09.179 absolutely terrified i had not a clue what i was going to say or what i was going to do and immediately 00:09:09.179 --> 00:09:16.819 i felt plunged a million miles out of my depth i decided to just grab a few moments uh outside just 00:09:16.819 --> 00:09:23.179 somewhere quiet and i i went just outside the moment i did there were two people who i'd never seen 00:09:23.179 --> 00:09:27.720 before or since who just came up to me and they said that we won't worry about introductions we're just 00:09:27.720 --> 00:09:33.080 from one of the local churches and uh we know what's going on here we know that you've just got 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:40.100 to go out and and um try to sort of deal with this situation um don't worry about saying anything we're 00:09:40.100 --> 00:09:48.960 just going to pray for you and they did now i can't remember what they prayed and i can't actually 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:55.980 remember what subsequently uh i said when when i went out for the the second half 00:09:55.980 --> 00:10:04.139 what i can remember is that in that moment this mysterious sense of peace that is beyond all 00:10:04.139 --> 00:10:10.700 understanding came beyond me it came upon me and whilst i can't remember what those words were i do 00:10:10.700 --> 00:10:12.460 remember that i was given the words to say 00:10:12.460 --> 00:10:16.860 and the witches shut up 00:10:16.860 --> 00:10:28.000 i told you it was a weird story but i share it with you because i think it's important to understand 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:33.420 that whilst that situation probably doesn't happen most days of our lives 00:10:33.419 --> 00:10:41.439 plenty of other situations do where we face uncertainty and stress and anxiety we think 00:10:41.439 --> 00:10:45.919 what earth is going to happen i feel totally out of my depth in this situation i don't know what i'm 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:53.979 going to do i don't know what i'm going to do and we need to be reminded in those situations and hold 00:10:53.979 --> 00:10:59.059 close to this promise that those battles that we face when we trust in jesus are not ours 00:10:59.059 --> 00:11:05.779 they're his now that doesn't mean to say that we step back in some passive recipient way and do 00:11:05.779 --> 00:11:13.799 nothing the very opposite but it does mean a letting go of control in a way that perhaps is much easier 00:11:13.799 --> 00:11:21.279 to say than it is to do but nevertheless is something that we need to do that's the first thing the second 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:27.759 thing that i think we can learn from this story is to take note of the way that in this situation 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:33.259 where these people were suddenly surrounded by armies threatening to wipe them out 00:11:33.259 --> 00:11:39.120 they sought out the lord immediately it was the first thing they did 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:45.919 now that's important because it generally tends to be the last thing that we do 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:49.759 prayer we tend to think of as the last resort rather than the first one 00:11:49.759 --> 00:12:00.799 a few years ago um before we had children uh tamara and i were going on holiday uh to a place that we 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:08.659 needed to go and have some we need to have some vaccinations before we went and um tamara used to 00:12:08.659 --> 00:12:12.480 kind of by the way before i go on before i continue let me just reassure you in case you're feeling 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:15.840 uncomfortable about this i have her full permission to share this story 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:21.280 we had the conversation a few weeks ago remember yeah she's shaking her head all right 00:12:21.280 --> 00:12:29.160 tamara used to have a problem with with with injections and with needles for for many years 00:12:29.160 --> 00:12:34.720 but then three children later and lots of vaccinations and uh and blood tests and things uh no more but 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:40.180 but but but this these days back in those days this was it was a thing and we sort of uh tamara would 00:12:40.180 --> 00:12:44.660 faint when uh at the side of a needle or when when an injection was about to happen and so 00:12:44.659 --> 00:12:52.039 we went to the the the the gp to to have our our vaccinations and um we explained um i explained 00:12:52.039 --> 00:12:58.539 the situation this is why i'm here in case in case she happens to faint and uh he kind of looked a 00:12:58.539 --> 00:13:03.860 little bit blank but said no so seriously she needs to lie down while this happens and um and i'll just 00:13:03.860 --> 00:13:08.459 be here in the room so he said fair enough so he went on and gave the injections and sure enough 00:13:08.460 --> 00:13:15.460 tamara fainted for a very long time in fact it was a really long time and the doctor was there talking 00:13:15.460 --> 00:13:21.560 to her and it felt like a really really really long time uh and uh and he was sort of waiting for her 00:13:21.560 --> 00:13:27.639 to come around and then sort of turned around to me and i i said what can i do anything and he said 00:13:27.639 --> 00:13:30.340 with a really serious look on his face pray 00:13:30.340 --> 00:13:39.160 now when your doctor tells you that you need to start praying you really really worry now absolutely 00:13:39.160 --> 00:13:45.060 everything was fine uh but the point is is that 00:13:45.060 --> 00:13:55.220 most of the time prayer is regarded as something that you actually only turn to when you've absolutely 00:13:55.220 --> 00:14:06.200 exhausted all the other options it's the last resort this passage tells us that in fact if we're to 00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:13.920 take ownership of faith and to let go and to let god prayer is the first place we need to go to 00:14:13.920 --> 00:14:20.660 which is also the last and everything else in between but it's our first resort and not our last resort 00:14:20.659 --> 00:14:26.100 and the last thing that we can pick up from this story 00:14:26.100 --> 00:14:36.100 is that we need to know what happens when they go out and they face these vast vast armies that are 00:14:36.100 --> 00:14:36.959 threatening to kill 00:14:36.959 --> 00:14:42.919 because we read how they position their own armies 00:14:42.919 --> 00:14:49.799 you would think that they would put their strongest and their biggest and their best soldiers 00:14:49.799 --> 00:14:51.000 on the front line 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:53.740 but they don't 00:14:53.740 --> 00:14:55.939 in fact 00:14:55.939 --> 00:14:59.359 they don't put any soldiers on the front line at all 00:14:59.359 --> 00:15:03.519 what they choose to do 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:07.139 is set their worship leaders 00:15:07.139 --> 00:15:09.139 on the front line 00:15:09.139 --> 00:15:11.059 how about that 00:15:11.059 --> 00:15:14.039 the singers go in front 00:15:14.039 --> 00:15:17.419 singing give thanks to the lord 00:15:17.419 --> 00:15:20.819 for his love endures forever 00:15:20.819 --> 00:15:27.219 what we've got there is a picture of what it is to go into our daily battles 00:15:27.219 --> 00:15:31.339 when we put worship first 00:15:31.339 --> 00:15:35.219 when we put prayer first 00:15:35.219 --> 00:15:38.679 we don't understand what's going to happen to us 00:15:38.679 --> 00:15:40.179 but we can be reassured 00:15:40.179 --> 00:15:42.199 that we go there 00:15:42.199 --> 00:15:44.179 with god first 00:15:44.179 --> 00:15:47.219 and that's his promise 00:15:47.219 --> 00:15:50.979 that though we do know what is going to happen 00:15:50.979 --> 00:15:53.000 he's there 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:55.120 and he will fight those battles 00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:59.519 we do not know what to do 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:01.759 but our eyes 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:04.099 are on you 00:16:04.099 --> 00:16:07.639 let's fix our eyes 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:09.399 onto jesus 00:16:09.399 --> 00:16:13.679 let's do that in prayer now 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:15.740 if you can ask the music team perhaps to 00:16:15.740 --> 00:16:17.740 come to lead us in a moment 00:16:17.740 --> 00:16:19.279 let's take a few moments 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:24.439 as we come before god in prayer 00:16:24.439 --> 00:16:25.159 and as we 00:16:25.159 --> 00:16:30.059 perhaps think of whatever battles we may be facing 00:16:30.059 --> 00:16:32.899 whatever that might look like 00:16:32.899 --> 00:16:33.659 whatever it is 00:16:33.659 --> 00:16:34.659 whatever it means 00:16:34.659 --> 00:16:43.480 whatever situations that we're facing 00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:45.799 over the coming days or weeks or months 00:16:45.799 --> 00:16:46.980 or maybe they're longer term 00:16:46.980 --> 00:16:48.259 things 00:16:48.259 --> 00:16:52.100 hold these before god 00:16:52.100 --> 00:16:53.699 in prayer now 00:16:53.700 --> 00:17:05.299 we ask that he would 00:17:05.299 --> 00:17:07.920 give us that deeper reassurance 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:12.400 that those battles are not ours to face 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:15.000 they are in his hands 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:21.779 lord god we thank you that you are always so much bigger and greater 00:17:21.779 --> 00:17:24.099 than any battle that we may face 00:17:24.099 --> 00:17:30.700 forgive us for those times 00:17:30.700 --> 00:17:34.079 when prayer and worship becomes 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:36.259 the point of last resort 00:17:36.259 --> 00:17:38.599 rather than the first place that we go 00:17:38.599 --> 00:17:48.160 lord as we face whatever pressures or fears 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:50.039 that we have in our daily lives 00:17:50.039 --> 00:17:53.359 so we ask that you would station your heavenly armies around us 00:17:53.359 --> 00:18:00.119 keep our eyes focused on you 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:04.240 help us to trust you and to know 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:07.000 that the battle belongs to you 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:11.639 and to dare to give thanks 00:18:11.639 --> 00:18:13.960 in advance 00:18:13.960 --> 00:18:19.660 so lord we thank you that you are sovereign 00:18:19.660 --> 00:18:26.160 we thank you that you know our future even when we don't 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:28.579 help us to trust 00:18:28.579 --> 00:18:32.779 help us to focus our hearts 00:18:32.779 --> 00:18:35.220 not on the battles 00:18:35.220 --> 00:18:37.500 but upon you 00:18:37.500 --> 00:18:41.140 amen 00:18:41.140 --> 00:18:41.160 amen 00:18:41.160 --> 00:18:42.160 Amen.