Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Word Of God To Renewing Your Mind- Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: I really appreciate this opportunity that you give me each
- 0:05Speaker 1: week to study the Bible and share ideas with you.
- 0:07Speaker 1: We're tackling this whole theme of anxiety because I really
- 0:12Speaker 1: believe that we can win the war on worry. Anxiety
- 0:15Speaker 1: has its place. It comes with life, but it doesn't
- 0:21Speaker 1: have to run our lives. And God has a prescription
- 0:24Speaker 1: for worry. He has a solution, an antidote for anxiety.
- 0:29Speaker 1: And it's in the book of Philippians. In the summer,
- 0:31Speaker 1: we're dissecting it phrase by phrase. The words are about
- 0:35Speaker 1: to appear on the screen. Many of you have memorized
- 0:37Speaker 1: the passage. If you'd like to look at the screen
- 0:41Speaker 1: for the words, you can. Let's all read it and
- 0:43Speaker 1: cite it together. And I want you to sit up straight.
- 0:46Speaker 1: Put your shoulders back and fill your lungs with air
- 0:49Speaker 1: and your hearts with hope. Let's say it like we
- 0:51Speaker 1: mean it. Are you ready? Rejoice in the Lord always. Again,
- 0:57Speaker 1: I say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all men.
- 1:02Speaker 1: The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for it. And
- 1:15Speaker 1: the peace of God will guard your.
- 1:24Speaker 1: Finally, brethren....
- 1:30Speaker 3: Whatever things are noble, whatever things.
- 1:39Speaker 1: Are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely,
- 1:41Speaker 1: whatever things are beautiful, Lord, if there is anything, praise you.
- 1:44Speaker 1: Meditate on these things. Yes, Lord, grant that we could
- 1:46Speaker 1: do just this. Would you please take the anxiety out,
- 1:51Speaker 1: replace it, Lord, with meditation on good things. We would
- 1:56Speaker 1: request this peace that passes understanding. We lift up to
- 2:00Speaker 1: you all of our requests, but we do so with
- 2:02Speaker 1: thanksgiving and gratitude for all the good that you have
- 2:05Speaker 1: done for us. Forgive our speaker today. His sins are many.
- 2:09Speaker 1: Help us to see Christ, just Christ. Through Christ we pray.
- 2:15Speaker 1: And all the church said. You might consider adding to
- 2:19Speaker 1: your summer reading a wonderful book that just came out.
- 2:22Speaker 1: It's called Called for Life. authored by Kent and Amber Brantley.
- 2:31Speaker 1: You may remember their story this time last year. Dr.
- 2:35Speaker 1: Brantley's name was in the news. In fact, it was
- 2:39Speaker 1: on Wednesday evening, July 23rd, 2014, that Dr. Brantley took
- 2:45Speaker 1: a seat on his couch and he opened his journal
- 2:48Speaker 1: and he needed to collect his thoughts because he had
- 2:51Speaker 1: spent the day feeling the effects of an illness. that
- 2:55Speaker 1: he knew would either be malaria or Ebola. And he
- 3:01Speaker 1: was praying for malaria. He was a medical missionary in Liberia,
- 3:07Speaker 1: waging a war on the cruelest of viruses, Ebola. There
- 3:12Speaker 1: was no sure cure. The epidemic was killing people by
- 3:16Speaker 1: the thousands. And as much as any person in the world, Dr.
- 3:21Speaker 1: Brantley knew the consequences of the disease, He had treated
- 3:24Speaker 1: dozens and dozens of cases. He knew the symptoms, the
- 3:28Speaker 1: soaring fevers, the severe diarrhea, the nausea. He had seen
- 3:33Speaker 1: the results of the virus, and yet, for the first time,
- 3:37Speaker 1: he was feeling them himself. His colleagues had drawn blood
- 3:41Speaker 1: and begun the tests, yet it would be three days
- 3:44Speaker 1: before anyone knew the results. Dr. Brantley quarantined himself in
- 3:50Speaker 1: his cinderblock house, and he waited, his friends, Wife and
- 3:53Speaker 1: family were across the ocean. His colleagues were not permitted
- 3:58Speaker 1: to enter the residence. He was quite literally alone with
- 4:02Speaker 1: his thoughts. And in that moment, he opened his Bible.
- 4:08Speaker 1: And he found a passage from the book of Hebrews
- 4:11Speaker 1: and began to meditate on it. The passage reads, the
- 4:15Speaker 1: promise of entering his rest still stands, so let us
- 4:19Speaker 1: never give up. Let us therefore make every effort to
- 4:22Speaker 1: enter that rest. Brantley called to mind the phrase, make
- 4:29Speaker 1: every effort, and he circled it and decided, now that's
- 4:32Speaker 1: exactly what I'm going to have to do. He kept reading.
- 4:35Speaker 1: He paused in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 16. Let
- 4:39Speaker 1: us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so
- 4:43Speaker 1: that we may receive mercy and grace to help us
- 4:46Speaker 1: in our time of need. He wrote the verse word
- 4:49Speaker 1: for word in his journal. And when he came to
- 4:51Speaker 1: the word confidence, he wrote it in italics. Then he
- 4:56Speaker 1: closed the journal and waited. The next three days brought
- 5:01Speaker 1: unspeakable discomfort and then brought the news that they feared
- 5:06Speaker 1: he had indeed contracted Ebola. Amber, Kent's wife, was across
- 5:12Speaker 1: the ocean in her hometown of Abilene, Texas. She received
- 5:19Speaker 1: a call from Kent the following Saturday afternoon. When the
- 5:23Speaker 1: phone rang, she stepped into her bedroom to receive it.
- 5:26Speaker 1: She was actually at her parents' house, so she stepped
- 5:29Speaker 1: into her former bedroom. And there Kent went straight to
- 5:33Speaker 1: the point. Over the phone, he said, the test results
- 5:37Speaker 1: came back. It is positive. She began to cry, and
- 5:41Speaker 1: they talked for a few moments until Kent said he
- 5:44Speaker 1: was too tired to talk anymore, but he would call soon.
- 5:48Speaker 1: Now it was up to Amber to process the news.
- 5:52Speaker 1: She told her parents. The three sat on the edge
- 5:55Speaker 1: of her bed, and they wept for several minutes. After
- 5:59Speaker 1: some time, Amber excused herself, and she went outside. And
- 6:03Speaker 1: she walked across a large field toward a mesquite tree
- 6:07Speaker 1: that had a low-hanging branch. She sat on the branch.
- 6:11Speaker 1: She tried to pray, but she found it difficult to
- 6:15Speaker 1: put her concerns in words. So she began to sing
- 6:18Speaker 1: hymns that she had learned as a young girl. She sang,
- 6:23Speaker 1: there is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not,
- 6:27Speaker 1: thy compassions they fail not. As thou hast been, thou
- 6:30Speaker 1: forever will be. That lifted her spirits and so she
- 6:33Speaker 1: sang even louder. I need thee every hour in joy
- 6:37Speaker 1: or pain. Come quickly and abide, our life is in vain.
- 6:41Speaker 1: I need thee, oh I need thee, every hour I
- 6:44Speaker 1: need thee. Come and bless me now, my Savior. I
- 6:48Speaker 1: come to thee. She later wrote these words. I thought
- 6:54Speaker 1: my husband was going to die. I was in pain.
- 6:57Speaker 1: I was afraid. Yet through those hymns, I was able
- 7:00Speaker 1: to connect with God in a meaningful way. Maybe you
- 7:05Speaker 1: remember this story. Maybe you remember watching the news reports
- 7:10Speaker 1: of the Brantley family unfold. Maybe you remember the decision
- 7:14Speaker 1: of the caregivers to give an untested treatment to Kent
- 7:19Speaker 1: because they had no other option. Maybe you remember watching
- 7:23Speaker 1: his transport from Africa to Atlanta, watching him as he
- 7:27Speaker 1: climbed out of the back of the van and was
- 7:30Speaker 1: carefully walked into the hospital. We celebrated the news of
- 7:34Speaker 1: his improved condition. And then we thank God when we
- 7:37Speaker 1: heard the news that Kent was cured of Ebola. But
- 7:43Speaker 1: you know what? I think we can celebrate the curing
- 7:46Speaker 1: of yet another disease. A virus that is every bit
- 7:50Speaker 1: as contagious and every bit as deadly. The unseen virus
- 7:56Speaker 1: of anxiety. Kent and Amber were prime candidates for worry.
- 8:05Speaker 1: Yet they reacted to the presence of anxiety with the
- 8:08Speaker 1: same deliberate resolve that they reacted to the presence of
- 8:13Speaker 1: the Ebola virus. They went on the offensive. They took
- 8:17Speaker 1: control of their thoughts. Kent opened his Bible. Amber opened
- 8:22Speaker 1: her heart. They pondered scriptures. They meditated on hymns. Before
- 8:27Speaker 1: anxiety could get a hold of them, they got a
- 8:30Speaker 1: hold of the anxiety and they marched it out. They
- 8:33Speaker 1: did exactly what the apostle prescribed in Philippians chapter 4
- 8:38Speaker 1: and verse 8.
- 8:52Speaker 1: If the Bible has a
- 8:59Speaker 1: recommended diet for the mind, This is it. These are
- 9:05Speaker 1: the green vegetables for the soul. My wife, Dean Lynn,
- 9:09Speaker 1: likes green vegetables. I don't, but she does. And she
- 9:14Speaker 1: has a list of vegetables that are good for the body.
- 9:18Speaker 1: It includes things like broccoli and asparagus and lettuce. As
- 9:22Speaker 1: I read over the list, I don't see anything that
- 9:25Speaker 1: I think is a health food. Donuts and Barbecue potato
- 9:29Speaker 1: chips and Oreo cookies and ice cream. But I don't
- 9:34Speaker 1: ask why. I know the answer. I've heard all the slogans.
- 9:41Speaker 1: What tastes good on the lips does not look good
- 9:44Speaker 1: on the... How did you know that already? If you
- 9:49Speaker 1: want to feel good tomorrow, then eat good today. These
- 9:52Speaker 1: are principles of a healthy diet, but they are also
- 9:57Speaker 1: principles of a healthy mind. It is good to be
- 10:02Speaker 1: a picky eater. It's equally good to be a picky thinker.
- 10:09Speaker 1: And the Apostle Paul sets himself up here as our
- 10:12Speaker 1: thought dietician. Because just as not every food qualifies to
- 10:19Speaker 1: be eaten, not every thought qualifies to be thought. It
- 10:25Speaker 1: must meet a standard. And he gives us the nine standards.
- 10:31Speaker 1: First of all, it must be true. It must be
- 10:33Speaker 1: based on God's word. It must align itself with scripture.
- 10:36Speaker 1: It must be noble. The word here means worthy of respect. Boy,
- 10:40Speaker 1: that eliminates everything that's immoral or inappropriate. It must be just.
- 10:46Speaker 1: It advocates fairness to all parties involved. It must be pure.
- 10:51Speaker 1: This is a call for high and lofty thoughts. It
- 10:54Speaker 1: must be lovely. Lovely thoughts focus on whatever beauty can
- 10:58Speaker 1: be found in any situation. It must be of good report.
- 11:01Speaker 1: No need for slander or gossip. It must be of
- 11:05Speaker 1: good report. It must be of good virtue. It must
- 11:07Speaker 1: be praiseworthy. So we welcome any ideas that promote the
- 11:12Speaker 1: best of life. High ethics, lofty goodness. We meditate on
- 11:17Speaker 1: these things. And as we turn our thoughts toward these things,
- 11:22Speaker 1: a wonderful thing happens. We turn our backs on their opposites.
- 11:27Speaker 1: As we fill our minds with veggies, we avoid a
- 11:30Speaker 1: junk food diet of deceit. Unsavory thoughts, ugly thoughts, dishonest thoughts,
- 11:37Speaker 1: where you tend to rose a thistle cannot grow We
- 11:41Speaker 1: focus our thoughts on good things so the weedy thoughts
- 11:44Speaker 1: do not have room. So just as some people are
- 11:47Speaker 1: picky eaters, we choose on purpose to be picky thinkers.
- 11:53Speaker 1: The big idea in this passage is simply this. Meditate
- 11:58Speaker 1: on good things. Meditate on good things. You want to
- 12:03Speaker 1: treat anxiety? Turn your thoughts toward good things. This word
- 12:08Speaker 1: in Greek, as you know, the Bible was written, New
- 12:10Speaker 1: Testament was written in Greek. This word in Greek is
- 12:13Speaker 1: a great word. Look at it. Logizomai. Meditate. Logizomai. Do
- 12:17Speaker 1: you see an English word, the roots of an English
- 12:20Speaker 1: word inside that? Anyone? Logic. Logic. We meditate on good things.
- 12:28Speaker 1: We treat our anxiety with logical thinking, with clear thinking,
- 12:33Speaker 1: with rational thinking. Easier said than done. The consequence of
- 12:39Speaker 1: anxiety for many is muddled or unclear thinking, if we
- 12:43Speaker 1: think at all. In July 1943, a British army officer
- 12:47Speaker 1: by the name of Lionel Wygram studied the reaction of
- 12:51Speaker 1: soldiers to intense battle. He noted a predictable pattern. He
- 12:56Speaker 1: said in a typical platoon of 22 men, there will
- 13:00Speaker 1: be a small number who respond in courage and There
- 13:04Speaker 1: will be a small number who respond in panic. The
- 13:07Speaker 1: vast number of the men will go into mental neutral.
- 13:11Speaker 1: He called them sheep, bewildered sheep. They will quit thinking.
- 13:15Speaker 1: He writes, every platoon can be analyzed as follows. Six
- 13:19Speaker 1: men who will go anywhere, 12 sheep who will follow
- 13:23Speaker 1: a short distance behind, and four to six men who
- 13:26Speaker 1: do not have what it takes. Another psychologist by the
- 13:30Speaker 1: name of John Leach has spent the last couple of
- 13:33Speaker 1: decades studying the human response to sudden stress like airplane
- 13:38Speaker 1: turbulence or economic downfalls. According to his studies, about 10
- 13:43Speaker 1: to 20% of us remain cool and composed under stress.
- 13:48Speaker 1: Another 10 to 15% freak out. But about 70 to
- 13:53Speaker 1: 80% of us become what he calls mentally paralyzed. We
- 13:59Speaker 1: stop thinking. Well, long before this research, the Apostle Paul
- 14:03Speaker 1: was calling on us to mind our minds in times
- 14:06Speaker 1: in which we're anxious to be careful what we think.
- 14:10Speaker 1: Our most valuable weapon against anxiety weighs 2.7 pounds and
- 14:15Speaker 1: it sits right here between our ears. This was the
- 14:19Speaker 1: point of Jesus in the most famous sermon ever preached
- 14:24Speaker 1: on the topic of anxiety. He begins the sermon by
- 14:27Speaker 1: telling us, quite bluntly do not worry about your life
- 14:33Speaker 1: what you will eat or what you will drink or
- 14:35Speaker 1: about your body what you will put on and then
- 14:38Speaker 1: he gives us two commands with which to fulfill the
- 14:41Speaker 1: first he says look and consider first of all he
- 14:47Speaker 1: says look look at the birds of the air he
- 14:51Speaker 1: invites us to go outside and just look at the
- 14:53Speaker 1: ravens or look at the at the cardinals look at
- 14:56Speaker 1: the birds And when we do, we notice something. They're
- 14:59Speaker 1: not grumpy. They don't frown. They don't look sleep deprived.
- 15:07Speaker 1: They're not lonely. In fact, they appear just the opposite.
- 15:12Speaker 1: They're quite happy. They sing. They soar. They whistle. And
- 15:19Speaker 1: then Jesus says, they don't sow or gather in the barns.
- 15:23Speaker 1: In other words, they don't work. They don't save money.
- 15:29Speaker 1: They don't get stressed out in occupations, but they look happy.
- 15:35Speaker 1: And then he tells us to lower our gaze from
- 15:37Speaker 1: the birds and look out over the valley. He says,
- 15:41Speaker 1: consider what? The lilies. Consider the lilies. Remember, he's helping
- 15:47Speaker 1: us treat anxiety. So he tells us to look at
- 15:50Speaker 1: the birds and now consider the lilies. Same point. They
- 15:54Speaker 1: don't look unhappy. They really are very beautiful. In fact,
- 15:59Speaker 1: Jesus says, even though their lifespan is short, they're here
- 16:02Speaker 1: today and tomorrow they're going to be thrown into the fire.
- 16:07Speaker 1: Even Solomon in all of his glory was not dressed
- 16:09Speaker 1: up like one of these. He's the richest king in history.
- 16:12Speaker 1: And a field of lilies is prettier than he was.
- 16:16Speaker 1: The point, we disarm anxiety by looking and by considering,
- 16:21Speaker 1: by thinking, by processing. We look at the birds. We
- 16:25Speaker 1: look at at the lilies. We don't get lost in
- 16:29Speaker 1: our negative downward spiral of thoughts, nor do we get
- 16:32Speaker 1: frozen in no thinking. We stop, we collect ourselves, we
- 16:36Speaker 1: look at the birds, we consider the lilies, we manage
- 16:40Speaker 1: anxiety by managing our thoughts. We manage anxiety by managing
- 16:46Speaker 1: our thoughts. Now, maybe you wanted something that was a
- 16:48Speaker 1: little more mystical, a little more supernatural. a little more angelic,
- 16:54Speaker 1: maybe some heavenly visitations or chariots of fire. Maybe you
- 16:58Speaker 1: thought that God treated anxiety through these supernatural visions. Paul
- 17:04Speaker 1: and Jesus would tell you otherwise. The key to peace
- 17:10Speaker 1: is not in the emotion you feel, but in the
- 17:12Speaker 1: thoughts you think. The key to peace is It's not
- 17:16Speaker 1: in the emotions you feel, but in the thoughts you think.
- 17:19Speaker 1: Do you want to feel peace tomorrow? Then think godly
- 17:22Speaker 1: thoughts today. Meditate on good things. Years ago, a renowned
- 17:29Speaker 1: British pastor by the name of D. Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote
- 17:33Speaker 1: these words about the passage in Matthew chapter 6 that
- 17:36Speaker 1: we just looked at. Faith, according to our Lord's teaching
- 17:41Speaker 1: in this paragraph, is primarily thinking about And the whole
- 17:45Speaker 1: trouble with a man of little faith is that he
- 17:48Speaker 1: forgets to think. He allows circumstances to bludgeon him. The
- 17:53Speaker 1: way to avoid that, according to our Lord, is to think,
- 17:57Speaker 1: to look at the birds, to think about them, to
- 18:00Speaker 1: draw your deductions, to look at the grass, at the
- 18:03Speaker 1: lilies of the field, consider them. The trouble with a
- 18:06Speaker 1: person of little faith is that instead of controlling his
- 18:09Speaker 1: own thought, his thought is being controlled by something else.
- 18:13Speaker 1: And he goes round and round in circles. This is
- 18:16Speaker 1: the essence of worry. That is not thought. That is
- 18:21Speaker 1: the absence of thought. That is a failure to think.
- 18:26Speaker 1: Paul elsewhere said, Kent, set your mind on things above,
- 18:31Speaker 1: not on things of the earth. There is a time
- 18:33Speaker 1: in which we intentionally and deliberately set our mind on
- 18:38Speaker 1: things above. That's what Kent Brantley did when he was
- 18:43Speaker 1: about to spend three days waiting on the results from
- 18:46Speaker 1: the Ebola test, he set his mind on things above.
- 18:49Speaker 1: That's what his wife Amber did when she got news
- 18:53Speaker 1: of her husband's positive diagnosis. She didn't panic. It was
- 18:58Speaker 1: not easy, but she did deliberate things. She took deliberate
- 19:02Speaker 1: steps to set her mind on good things. I did
- 19:07Speaker 1: something like this once. And it had to do with
- 19:12Speaker 1: a little lemon And a little phrase that was written
- 19:16Speaker 1: on the lemon that I had attached to the dashboard
- 19:20Speaker 1: of my car. One of the most difficult days of
- 19:23Speaker 1: my life happened when I was 19 years old. And
- 19:27Speaker 1: I was in a town called Dalton in the state
- 19:31Speaker 1: of Georgia. I had never been to Dalton. I didn't
- 19:36Speaker 1: know anyone in Georgia. And I wondered what in the
- 19:39Speaker 1: world had happened there. I was 19 years of age.
- 19:43Speaker 1: This was the summer of my first year in college.
- 19:48Speaker 1: I found myself sleeping in the cellar. Army because it
- 19:51Speaker 1: was cheap and the night before a person who had
- 19:56Speaker 1: had too much to drink rolled over in his bunk
- 19:59Speaker 1: up above mine and vomited right down on the floor
- 20:04Speaker 1: I was so homesick If homesickness was water, I was soaked.
- 20:10Speaker 1: What had I gotten myself into? Well, on the promise
- 20:15Speaker 1: of some fast cash and some new sites, I had
- 20:20Speaker 1: joined up with two buddies and signed on to sell
- 20:24Speaker 1: books door to door. We went to sales school. My
- 20:29Speaker 1: friends went home during sales school. Left me to go
- 20:32Speaker 1: to Georgia all by myself. I went to the field
- 20:36Speaker 1: after sales school, and the first day I discovered something.
- 20:40Speaker 1: People don't like door-to-door salesmen. They don't. Not even when
- 20:46Speaker 1: they're a nice kid from West Texas. That first day
- 20:50Speaker 1: was terrible. Hello, I'm Max. Slam. Hello, I'm Max. Slam. Hello,
- 21:00Speaker 1: I'm Max. Slam. The second day was just as bad.
- 21:06Speaker 1: I didn't know if I was going to make it.
- 21:08Speaker 1: I couldn't envision going through a whole summer like that.
- 21:11Speaker 1: So I ended up at that diner for lunch and
- 21:14Speaker 1: I ordered a hamburger and I treated my bruised ego.
- 21:20Speaker 1: And as I was paying for my burger, checking out
- 21:23Speaker 1: at the cash register, I noticed that to the right
- 21:26Speaker 1: of the cash register, there was this display. And upon
- 21:30Speaker 1: this display was a collection of of rubberized, magnetized truisms.
- 21:39Speaker 1: The kind that you stick on a refrigerator door. Do
- 21:42Speaker 1: you know what I'm talking about? Little statements. And there
- 21:45Speaker 1: was one of them that was shaped like a lemon.
- 21:50Speaker 1: And on that rubberized lemon, these words appeared. I bet
- 21:56Speaker 1: you know what I'm about to say. When life gives
- 22:00Speaker 1: you a lemon, make lemonade. Well, it's old, it's a
- 22:09Speaker 1: shop horn, it's corny, but I'd never heard that before.
- 22:15Speaker 1: And that was exactly what I needed. That little slogan
- 22:19Speaker 1: told me that my problem was not my problems. My
- 22:22Speaker 1: problem was the way I was looking at my problems.
- 22:26Speaker 1: And it was just enough to convince me to stay
- 22:29Speaker 1: on the job. I bought that little thing. And I
- 22:33Speaker 1: took it out to my Plymouth Duster. My Plymouth Duster
- 22:37Speaker 1: had a metal strip on the dashboard. And I stuck
- 22:40Speaker 1: that magnetized lemon on that metal strip. And every day,
- 22:46Speaker 1: at least a dozen times, I would reach up and
- 22:48Speaker 1: I'd rub my thumb across it. And I'd think, okay.
- 22:55Speaker 1: I can either be miserable or I can make some lemonade.
- 23:00Speaker 1: I survived the summer. That's been 40 years. Much has happened.
- 23:09Speaker 1: Much has changed. But friends, this much has not. Life
- 23:16Speaker 1: still gives lemons.
- 23:19Speaker 4: It does.
- 23:21Speaker 1: It does. And my prospects of a miserable summer are
- 23:26Speaker 1: nothing compared to the lemons that some of you have received.
- 23:32Speaker 1: Just a few days ago, I found myself in a
- 23:34Speaker 1: conversation with an elderly lady whose husband has been diagnosed
- 23:39Speaker 1: with dementia. And she's going to have to tell him
- 23:45Speaker 1: he can no longer drive. And she was telling me
- 23:47Speaker 1: how she was going to have to take the car
- 23:49Speaker 1: keys away. Life has given her a lemon. I found
- 23:53Speaker 1: myself in a conversation with a young mom. She already
- 23:56Speaker 1: has one child and now she has a newborn. And
- 23:59Speaker 1: it seems like she can't remember the last time she
- 24:01Speaker 1: had a good night's sleep. And she's really worried if
- 24:06Speaker 1: she'll be a good parent. I had lunch not too
- 24:10Speaker 1: long ago with a fellow who's trying to get through
- 24:15Speaker 1: a very, very difficult divorce. He underestimated the damage it
- 24:20Speaker 1: would do. And he's worried about his kids. He's worried
- 24:24Speaker 1: about himself. If he'll ever be happy again. Life gives lemons,
- 24:29Speaker 1: doesn't it? Has life given you a lemon lately? Life
- 24:35Speaker 1: gives lemons to good people. Life gives lemons to bad people.
- 24:39Speaker 1: Life gives lemons to old people. Life gives lemons to
- 24:43Speaker 1: young people. Life gives lemons to medical missionaries. Life comes
- 24:49Speaker 1: with lemons, but we don't have to suck on them.
- 25:03Speaker 1: This is the point of the Apostle Paul. You can
- 25:07Speaker 1: read your Bible from beginning to end. You can capitalize
- 25:11Speaker 1: every letter in the epistles of Paul. And you will
- 25:14Speaker 1: never find a promise that says, fall across and you'll
- 25:17Speaker 1: have no lemons. It's just not there. But there is
- 25:22Speaker 1: this promise that when life gives you a lemon, God
- 25:27Speaker 1: will show you how to respond to it. How to
- 25:30Speaker 1: handle it. When life gives you a bucket full of anxiety,
- 25:36Speaker 1: Christ will show you a way to respond to that
- 25:40Speaker 1: anxiety so that that anxiety does not get to you.
- 25:46Speaker 1: This is the promise that God gives. That you can
- 25:50Speaker 1: cast all your cares upon him because he cares about you.
- 25:54Speaker 1: That you can be anxious for nothing. but in everything
- 25:56Speaker 1: by prayer and supplication. You can make your requests known
- 26:00Speaker 1: to God. Life comes with a bushel full of lemons.
- 26:05Speaker 1: But if you're sucking on them, they're going to make
- 26:09Speaker 1: you sour. But you can respond to them in a
- 26:13Speaker 1: better way. Meditate on good things. The passage one more time.
- 26:18Speaker 1: Read it out loud with me as the words appear
- 26:20Speaker 1: on the screen.
- 26:22Speaker 4: Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, Whatever things
- 26:27Speaker 4: are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely,
- 26:32Speaker 4: whatever things.
- 26:33Speaker 1: Are of good report, if there is any virtue, and
- 26:36Speaker 1: if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. Lord,
- 26:42Speaker 1: would you grant us this? Thank you. so so.
- 29:44Speaker 4: Thank you. Thank you.
- 30:19Speaker 1: For watching.
- 32:05Speaker 5: Thank you.
- 32:44Speaker 3: You don't have to be near me.
- 32:50Speaker 5: You don't have to stay close. As long as you're
- 32:57Speaker 5: somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
- 33:02Speaker 6: I don't need to hold you near me.
- 33:10Speaker 5: Don't need promises to keep.
- 33:13Speaker 6: Just the thought that you are breathing Somewhere in this
- 33:17Speaker 6: world I see Even if I'm not beside you Even
- 33:24Speaker 6: if you never know There's a quiet kind of comfort
- 33:29Speaker 6: Just in knowing you still glow I don't need forever
- 33:40Speaker 6: I just need you to exist You don't have to
- 33:46Speaker 6: stay with me.
- 33:48Speaker 1: You don't have to feel the same.
- 33:52Speaker 6: Just as long as you're still out there calling softly
- 33:56Speaker 6: through my days.
- 33:58Speaker 5: You don't have.
- 33:59Speaker 1: To look my way.
- 34:02Speaker 6: You don't have to be my home. It's enough to
- 34:06Speaker 6: know you're living in a world I'm not alone.
- 34:15Speaker 5: I won't chase you through the distance.
- 34:18Speaker 6: Won't disturb your chosen life. I'll just keep you in
- 34:23Speaker 6: my silence like a star that shines at night.
- 34:29Speaker 5: Through the dark and through the blue.
- 34:36Speaker 3: I still think of you. You don't have to be
- 34:45Speaker 3: my home.
- 34:47Speaker 6: It's enough to know you're living in a world.
- 34:49Speaker 2: I'm not alone.
- 35:22Speaker 5: I don't need to be your light I don't need
- 35:26Speaker 5: to cross your.
- 35:27Speaker 6: Mind All I need is just the truth That you're somewhere.
- 35:34Speaker 5: Still alive.
- 35:38Speaker 1: You don't have to.
- 35:39Speaker 2: Stay with me you don't have to feel the same
- 35:44Speaker 2: just as long as you're still out there calling softly
- 35:49Speaker 2: through my days you don't have to look my way
- 35:55Speaker 2: you don't have to be my home it's enough to
- 36:00Speaker 2: know you're living
- 36:04Speaker 6: In a world I'm not alone