Latest / Fifteen Minutes With Fritz - Where Scripture Meets the Sidewalk / If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got

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If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got · Fifteen Minutes With Fritz - Where Scripture Meets the Sidewalk

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Good morning friends.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking for help when you're feeling down, this fifteen minute podcast could be the answer.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: The podcast is titled Fifteen Minutes with Fritz, and we are challenging listeners to try another alternative to the many to many of the popular ways of finding encouragement for life's daily grind.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: The book we are using as our guide is pretty popular, even though you won't find it on the New York Times bestseller list.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's because the current number one book on that list sells about ten thousand copies a week, while the one we are using sells that amount every hour of every day.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, our book would hold the number one spot permanently, making a list of bestsellers rather moot.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm speaking about the Bible, which sells about eighty to a hundred million copies every single year, and it has been translated into over eight hundred languages so everyone around the world can read it.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now, before you click pause and look for something else to listen to, why not give me fifteen minutes of your time and listen to what the most popular book ever written has to say about encouragement for the daily grind?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm sure there are people listening today who think God is silent.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Here you are in the middle of a difficult situation and God has been completely quiet.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: You might have been pouring your heart out to him, bearing your soul looking for answers, but you hear nothing in return.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: You might think you're doing something wrong.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're not praying properly or you're not asking the right way.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Or perhaps you think that God is too busy to be bothered with your problems when the entire world seems to be falling apart at the seams.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Today I want to try and change all of those feelings.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: I want to reassure you that God isn't being silent, that He isn't ignoring you, that He isn't too busy to listen to your problems, and that He will help you.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to show you two things you can do that will make it abundantly clear that God is actually eager to help you, that He wants to encourage you in your daily grind.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: And both of them will work regardless of your situation.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: No matter how bad it is, no matter how long you've been trapped in it, no matter how hopeless you think things are, these will help.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: And the things I'm going to share with you aren't difficult.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, you can easily try them starting today, immediately after you listen to this podcast.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: They don't cost anything and they are readily available to anyone who wants to try them.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Well, stick around for a few more minutes and find out what they are.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you have a Bible, turn to the very center where the book of Psalms lives.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's the longest book in the Bible, so you should be able to locate it easily.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: There are a hundred and fifty of these Psalms or these poems in the Bible, but we're going to read just one of them.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: It was written by King David, the greatest king in the history of Israel.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Follow along as I read Psalm nineteen.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Day after day they pour forth speech.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: Night after night they display knowledge.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing is hidden from its heat.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: They are more precious than gold than much pure gold.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: By them is your servant warned.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: In keeping them there is great reward.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: Who can discern his errors?
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Forgive my hidden faults, keep your servant also from willful sins, may they not rule over me.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord my rock and my redeemer.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Now to find the first of the two things you can do, we need to look at how this poem begins.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: So the first thing you can do to find encouragement in your situation is to look up.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: By simply walking outside and looking up, you can find help, because according to these words from King David, God's handiwork is on display in the heavens for all to see.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: They declare God's glory and they proclaim his workmanship.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: They do not come into existence by some random big bang event.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: God created them.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now if you happen to be trying this at night, you can probably see about two thousand stars when you look up into the sky.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: And this is actually just a small fraction of the stars.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: In our home galaxy, the Milky Way, there are roughly one hundred billion stars.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: And there are approximately two trillion galaxies beyond our own.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, there are more stars in the universe than there are individual grains of sand on all the beaches and deserts on planet Earth.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: And according to Psalm one hundred forty seven, God calls each of them by name.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: So this gives us an idea of how great God is, but what does it have to do with what we perceive to be his silence?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well that comes from the very next verse.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Day after day they pour forth speech.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: As Chuck Swindall wrote, God's magnificent universe contains a message.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: It is in fact a bold announcement.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: Regardless of the time of day, location, or our native language, if we look up we are able to hear his message.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Notice a few more important things about God's message.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: It is proclaimed day after day and night after night.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: In other words, it is always available to us.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what language you speak, God's message is understandable by anyone and everyone, because there is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't matter where you are because the message is available to everyone everywhere.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Anyone who struggles with the mystery of divine silence, Swindal writes, whether it's while picking up the pieces after a disaster or recovering from the loss of a loved one or trying to find a burst of hope to go on beyond a divorce, we need only to look up.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: God is speaking.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: So one thing you can do to help you climb out of a difficult situation is to go outside and look up.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: There's a second thing you can do, and it's just as easy as looking up.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: As we just saw, David talks about God's creation in verses one through six, but in verse seven he abruptly turns his attention to God's word.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: This is the second thing.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: Look in.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Look in God's Word.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: Because according to the old saying, prayer is how we speak to God, but Scripture is how God speaks to us.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're thinking that God seems silent, you need to do more than just pray.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: You need to look in God's Word, which is where He speaks to us.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: Now, before you dismiss that idea because you think the Bible is just a dusty old book that sits on your coffee table, you need to recognize a few things, a few amazing things about it.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: The Bible literally contains the words of God.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, it was penned by forty different authors over the course of fifteen hundred years, but each one of the writers was carried along by the Holy Spirit, as Peter tells us.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: In other words, God spoke to them through his Spirit, telling them the exact message he wanted to convey.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: The Apostle Paul uses the phrase God breathed to get this point across.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: And if you have concerns about how a book written so long ago can possibly have any relevance to today's world, listen to what it says about itself.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: The Bible is living and active.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's not dead.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: It continues to be relevant to events that are happening two thousand years after it was written.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: The language David uses in verses seven to eleven express important attributes about the Bible.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: It is perfect.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: There are no errors.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: It is trustworthy.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: I can believe everything it says.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: It is right.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: In other words, it provides a solid moral compass that guides us.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: It is sure and altogether righteous.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: It is the word of God.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, but how does all this help me in my time of trouble?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Well, for each one of these attributes describing God's Word, David supplies a specific benefit.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Listen to these and see if they aren't something you might be looking for in the midst of your troubles.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: According to verse seven, when we're feeling down and out, reading the Word of God can revive us, it can invigorate us, it can restore us.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's as if we are coming back to life, climbing out of the depths of despair.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: A trial often makes us feel inadequate, questioning our understanding of what's going on.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: But also in verse seven we read that wisdom is one of the benefits we get from reading the scriptures.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Happiness is one of the first things we lose when we're in a valley of misery.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: But in verse eight, David assures us that reading the Bible brings joy to our hearts.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: Finally, it gives light to our eyes.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: In other words, our eyes can be opened to see God's hand at work in our lives.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: So look up and see the awesomeness of God, and look in to experience the wisdom and love that He has for us.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, with this in mind, let me ask you one question.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: In the last week, how much time have you dedicated to thinking about the valley you are in?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: How much time have you spent thinking it through from beginning to end trying to climb out of it yourself?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: I want to challenge you to change your priorities this week.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now, of course, you still need to work through a situation, but every time your thoughts turn in this direction, the first thing I want you to do is to walk outside and look up.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to take in the grandeur of God's marvelous creation.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to think about what God is capable of doing, and I want you to bring your problem to Him.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: He already knows what it is, but tell Him anyway in just a few words.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Then I want you to sit down and look in.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to open up a Bible app on your phone or your tablet or your computer.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: You can even open up a real Bible.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I want you to read Psalm nineteen from beginning to end.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's only fourteen verses, so it won't take you long.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Look up and look in.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Two simple things, but I guarantee that if you do them, you will discover that God is not silent, that He is not ignoring your problems.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: He does care about what you're going through.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Henry Ford once said, If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so I want to challenge you to try something different this week.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Look up and look in.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: I lift up my eyes to the hills.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: Where does my help come from?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: He will not let your foot slip.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: He who watches over you will not slumber.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord will keep you from all harm.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: He will watch over your life.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is the end of our podcast, but it's not the end of our story.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening.