Transcript

Praise Shouts · The Holy Pause

0:01
SPEAKER_00: I
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SPEAKER_00: thank my God every time I remember you.
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SPEAKER_00: In all my prayers for all of you,
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SPEAKER_00: I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day
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SPEAKER_00: until now,
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SPEAKER_00: being confident of this,
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SPEAKER_00: that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to the completion until
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SPEAKER_00: the day of Jesus Christ.
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SPEAKER_00: It is right for me to feel this way about all of you since I have you in my heart.
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SPEAKER_00: And whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel,
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SPEAKER_00: all of you share in God's grace with me.
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SPEAKER_00: God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: And this is my prayer,
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SPEAKER_00: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: I had one of those surreal parenting moments where you were both engaging in
0:59
SPEAKER_00: the conversation and able to see your own behavior at the same time.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: We were talking about something innocuous at the dinner table.
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SPEAKER_00: I honestly don't remember what it was.
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SPEAKER_00: When my daughter made the face.
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SPEAKER_00: My kids all started laughing and pointing, telling her she was making the mom face.
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SPEAKER_00: To which I replied, do I look like that?
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SPEAKER_00: They said, it's your mom face.
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SPEAKER_00: The one you make when you are mad about something.
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SPEAKER_00: I do not like that face.
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SPEAKER_00: Mostly because it looked too much like my own mother's mom face.
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SPEAKER_00: And because it made me wonder if that was the face they saw most often from me.
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SPEAKER_00: My kids are amazing.
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SPEAKER_00: They make me laugh on a regular basis.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm often impressed by their bravery and curiosity,
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SPEAKER_00: by one child's friendliness and another child's kindness.
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SPEAKER_00: I notice how they support each other and play together well, most of the time.
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SPEAKER_00: I see them becoming the best version of themselves as they grow up and I celebrate.
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SPEAKER_00: But I wonder if I ever actually told them any of those things.
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SPEAKER_00: So over the last few weeks,
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SPEAKER_00: I've greatly reduced the appearance of the mom face in exchange
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SPEAKER_00: for celebration mode.
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SPEAKER_00: I've been intentional about telling them when they do amazing things.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm leading with the positive of what just happened instead of immediately leaping
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SPEAKER_00: towards the mistakes.
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SPEAKER_00: I've given them more freedom and laid off the micromanaging.
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SPEAKER_00: It turns out we are all much happier with this arrangement.
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SPEAKER_00: And we're all flourishing too.
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SPEAKER_00: Too often we only mention or point out when things go wrong, either with each other or with God.
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SPEAKER_00: But Paul challenges here to make a point of noticing the good in each other and
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SPEAKER_00: then taking the extra step of telling them.
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SPEAKER_00: It seems so obvious, but we are much quicker with condemnation than praise.
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SPEAKER_00: If we shifted towards a praise mindset instead of a critical one,
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SPEAKER_00: and we chose to speak the words of thanksgiving instead of the words of anger
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SPEAKER_00: and bitterness,
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SPEAKER_00: I wonder how our lives may change,
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SPEAKER_00: and how our attitudes, the way we see the world, might be different.
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SPEAKER_00: Which do you find yourself doing more often?
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SPEAKER_00: Criticizing or celebrating?
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SPEAKER_00: Today, try and take a different tactic and let someone know how much you appreciate
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SPEAKER_00: the good thing they did.
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SPEAKER_00: Don't just think it.
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SPEAKER_00: Say it.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: Moving God Sometimes in life we feel out of control and want to make a change.
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SPEAKER_00: This podcast was written and recorded by Rev.
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SPEAKER_00: Elizabeth Troyer.
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SPEAKER_00: With audio engineering and editing assistance from Jermaine Taylor.
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SPEAKER_00: These podcasts will always be free.
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SPEAKER_00: But if you would like to support our online ministry,
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SPEAKER_00: you can donate using the link in the bio or at wakeforestpres.org.