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Unreliable Signals · The Holy Pause

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: A reading from scripture, Romans chapter 6, verses 8 through 14.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: But if we died with Christ, we have faith that we will also live with him.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: We know that Christ has been raised from the dead and will never die again.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Death has no power over him.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: He died to sin once and for all with his death, but he lives for God with his life.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: In the same way,
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: you also should consider yourselves dead to sin So then,
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: don't let sin rule your body so that you do what it wants.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Don't offer parts of your body to sin to be used as weapons to do wrong.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, present yourself to God as people who have been brought back to life from the dead.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: And offer all the parts of your body to God to be used as weapons to do right.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Sin will have no power over you, because you aren't under law, but under grace.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: So when I was in my 20s, I was diagnosed with a hormonal disorder.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Your hormones are the signals in your body that tell it what it's supposed
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: to be doing,
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: the things that you're not supposed to have to think about,
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: like, am I hungry or not?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Am I thirsty or not?
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Am I tired?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Can I go to sleep?
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: All of those kinds of things.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: I was feeling grumpy all the time.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: I was tired all the time.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's not something you're supposed to be in your 20s and I was hungry all the time
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: and no amount of exercise that I did helped me in any way.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: No amount of eating the right foods or avoiding certain stimulants or any
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: of those kinds of things did any good.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so I went to the doctor.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: The doctor said that this was going to be something I would have to deal
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: with my entire life, that there was no treatment for this disorder.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: It was just something you had to figure out how to cope with.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've spent my life never having those signals give me the right messages.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm hungry, even if I've just eaten.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Or I'm tired in the middle of the day sometimes,
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: even though I slept really well the night before.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Or sometimes I don't sleep at all
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: because there's no hormone that's telling me I'm supposed to sleep, right?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Very frustrating.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: But this is the best way that I have ever been able to figure out
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: to explain how sin affects our brain.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: The way that sin infiltrates our thought processes,
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: the way that we are tempted and led by sin without even being aware
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: that it's happening.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Sin gets into all of those things, but it doesn't declare itself.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't say, hey, I'm sin.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't make it easy for us to avoid it because it's just there, just part of who we are.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so in this passage,
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: when Paul talks about having died to sin and then risen again in Christ,
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: it's both past and future.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: That Christ has died, but we will be risen.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: We're in the in-between.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're in between what caused the sin and the meeting with the doctor to identify
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: the sin and the resolution of that.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: The fullness of God's grace in that day when we experience totally
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: and forever what freedom from sin really feels like.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think people get a little frustrated on those days when sin has
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: a louder voice than they would like.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think people get a little frustrated that as much as they try,
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: they still from time to time give sin too much control over their thought processes.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think people get a little frustrated because we think that
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: if we've been given God's grace and we've been set free from sin,
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: then we should never experience the consequences of it again.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: But it's a lifelong condition.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's something we have to learn to cope with.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a choice we make every day whether or not we're going to do
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: the things we need to do in order to keep sin in its box and under control.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Believe me, I know how frustrating that can be.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: But I also know how good it feels on the days when you make the right choices,
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: when you drink enough water,
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: when you have a good sleep hygiene routine,
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: when you've eaten the healthy foods That fill you up rather than listen to
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: the temptation of the chocolate cake.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sin isn't the behavior.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's the things we do that cause us to make choices which harm us and not help us.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul's promise to us here is that one day that will no longer be a struggle.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's not something we'll have to worry about ever again.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: That day is not yet.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And until that not yet happens,
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: we have to make the choice every day,
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: every moment, every hour to lean into God's grace and not the voice of sin.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And boy, some days that's hard.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I invite you to try it on today.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: As you move through today,
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: notice your behavior,
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  SPEAKER_00: not in a judgmental or critical way,
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: But in a way that notices what is causing your impulse,
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: what is the behavior driver that you are experiencing.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Once you learn how to name and claim what it is that's causing you to do something,
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: it helps us then to make better choices about how to respond to those impulses.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so for today,
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: just today,
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: take a non-judgmental,
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: non-impulsive view of your day and see where the impulses are coming from so
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: that tomorrow maybe we can make different choices.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: God,
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: we know that sin is something we're going to have to deal with our entire lives,
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: that it's a condition which informs our days and our moments.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: It in so many ways defines us, but it is not the definition of us.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so we ask that you allow us to be able to see what it is
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: that is driving our thought patterns and our choices each day.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: And give us the grace to make choices which bring life and not death.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And allow us to live into the promise of the resurrection for that day that will come.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's in your name we pray.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 7:02
  [music]