Latest / Wesley at FSU & TSC / Winter Retreat 2025 // Friday Night // Bryant Manning

Transcript

Winter Retreat 2025 // Friday Night // Bryant Manning · Wesley at FSU & TSC

• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: God, you are so good.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: You are the only thing that is so good.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Whether we're in the mountains or the valleys, whether we're in the highs or the lows, you are still good.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: You promise through your scriptures, God.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: You promise to be with us, God.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: God, we are so grateful, so honored that a God that is so good, a God that is so mighty, would love even us.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: God, as we listen to your word tonight, as we hear the ways in which it might apply to our lives.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: God, we just ask that you would open our ears.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Let your word be a lamp into our feet, a light into our path.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: May it speak to us.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: May it speak through us.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: May we know your goodness within it.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: We give you praise.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Have a seat.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Can you say thank you to the band?
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Ben.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, would you, they're gonna hate this.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Would somebody mind just turn on just the back lights real quick so we can all see each other uh during this?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if you don't know me, hopefully many of you do, but if you don't know me, I am Bryant.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: I am the uh I am the pastor here.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: There we go.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, perfect.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Bella.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Say thank you, Bella.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh I wanna I wanna start tonight by being super honest.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Can we just be super honest?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Not that I'm not always super honest, because those of you who know me know that I pretty much just say what's on my heart.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: But let me just be super honest.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh retreats are my absolute favorite thing that we do.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Amen?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Retreats are super fun.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And um that that's because we get to spend the next couple of days together as one community.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: I get to know a lot of you that I haven't gotten to know uh over the past, you know, however long you've been here, um, anywhere from a week to eight months, whatever.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like I get to know you in ways that I haven't before, so that's pretty awesome.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think you get to know each other in ways that you haven't before.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: You get to spend time uh being annoyed with the person that is snoring in your cabin, right?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: That you didn't know was a snorer.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like you get to experience that sort of stuff.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's really awesome.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: But the other thing about retreats, and this is the honest part, uh retreat, retreats suck.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's so much work.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And particularly winter retreat, because it's like right after the holiday, you know, and uh all the office staff and the interns, give it up for the office staff and interns who have put this together.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's like right after, and we we meet, you know, way ahead of um of time in the fall semester, and and we're like, okay, everybody, we're gonna you're gonna do this, and you're gonna do this, and you're gonna do this, and you're gonna do this, and we're gonna go for two and a half weeks, and we're gonna be gone, we're all gonna come back, and we're all gonna have that stuff done, and all of it gets done, right?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Literally none of it.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, literally none of it.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: It uh none of it gets done in the way that it needs to be done, and we're all like, okay, we got this retreat coming up, you know.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um can I just celebrate though, how many of you signed up to come?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is the biggest group.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is yeah, this is the biggest group since I have been here.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um many of you know kind of the history of Wesley.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's this is so awesome.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it was it is a lot of work.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's like a lot of work.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: A few of us came down last night.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: A few more of us were supposed to come down last night, but a few things got in the way.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so a few of us, a few less of us came down last night.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: It was pretty cool two hours before we found all that out.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that was a joke, that was sarcastic, it was not cool two hours.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: In the midst of that, uh, we had a guest speaker that was gonna come be with us this weekend.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: And uh his name's Derek, he's an alum.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and we were stoked he works up at a yeah, there we go.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Give it up for D, big D.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: He uh he works up in South Carolina at a church, and um it just seemed like in every moment of putting this together, anything that could have gone wrong did.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh Derek had some some car issues, and I was like, you know what, dude, don't worry about it.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna rent you a car, right?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I like went on, we rented him a car, we got a car, he he got to the car place, did not work out.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I looked at the flights because this is 24 hours in advance, and uh that did not work out.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I mean it worked out, but it didn't work out for my my wallet, you know?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so I was like, well, that's I I can't do that, man.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's just no way they didn't pay that much to go on$111, didn't pay that much to come on the trip, you know.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I was just like, man, I I don't know how I'm gonna make this work.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, and then finally I was talking to him yesterday as we were trying to figure out who actually was coming to set up because it was less than we anticipated, and uh, and he was like, Man, I just don't think it's in the cards.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes you gotta listen to the Holy Spirit.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit's speaking to you uh right in this moment, but to me, I'm like, oh, okay.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so that is was the last 24 hours.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: It was a good reminder in that moment that chaos in every situation is inevitable.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Chaos is inevitable.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to know that.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, first of all, my last 24 hours proves it.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: But second of all, at the beginning of the entire world, chaos exists.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know that?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: In the creation story, chaos exists, and it's God that brings order to chaos.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a good reminder that chaos is inevitable.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I you probably know that to be true in your own life too.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Even at the highest of parts, even at the like the best times in your life, chaos can seep in.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: I want to show you a story of a biblical character for whom that happens at this point.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to give you some background information on who he is.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: His name is Elijah.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, anybody know anything about Elijah?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: What'd you say?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Big prophet?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, amen.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Give it up for Garen.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Give it up for Garen.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Let me set the stage for what we're gonna learn here in a second.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Elijah's a prophet, which means he is trying to deliver and do the will of God.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: He's delivering literally the voice of God to the Israelite people.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: And at the time that Elijah is uh existing, at the time he's alive, Israelite or the Israelites have a king named Ahab.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Say Ahab?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Ahab a king named Ahab.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so Ahab marries a woman named anybody now?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is the deep cuts, you know.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Ahab marries a woman named Jezebel.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Say, Jezebel.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: But here's but here's the thing.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Ahab is an Israelite, okay?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: And he's the king of the Israelites, and Jezebel is a Phoenician.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Meaning not an Israelite.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you know anything about uh Christian history and Jewish history, you know that Israel has one main, main, main goal, and it's to give glory to Yahweh and Yahweh alone.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: There is no other gods before me, right?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: He says, There is no other gods before me.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's that's the Israelites.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: But the problem is that Ahab has married a non-Israelite, he's married a Phoenician, and she is convinced that they should worship a god named Baal.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And if you really want to say it, you say it Baal, because it's B-A-A-L.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Are you with me?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Are you following all the characters?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you got Ahab, you got the Phoenician Jezebel, and she wants to worship the god Baal, okay?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: We know that God to not be real now, but they didn't.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: So Baal, okay?
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, just as there were prophets for the Israelites, there were prophets for Baal, right?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so those prophets started to um, let's just say, bicker a little bit with the Israelite prophets, of which one was Elijah, yeah, you're following the characters.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: One was Elijah.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: And Elijah meets on top of Mount Carmel, like the syrup you put in your coffee.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: That was a joke.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Mount Carmel bombed, absolutely bombed.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Meets on, thank you, thank you for the laughs.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's good.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Meets on top of Mount Carmel to defeat the prophets of Baal, and he is successful.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Come on.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then he retreats down the mountain, because when you're up the mountain, the only thing you can do is come down the mountain.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: And as he's coming down the mountain, can you imagine like the just absolute height of his energy, right?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, have you ever done something you're just super proud of?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like you, you know, and you're just like you just sit and bask in that glory for a second, like, I can't believe I did that, right?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's the class you passed, whatever, I don't know.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: But like you just finally get to that point, you're like, oh yes, yes, like amazing.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that is Elijah.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then he gets news that Jezebel wants him to be killed.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Close.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is pretty easy.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Why do you why does she who who does she worship?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Baal.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And who got defeated?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the prophets of Baal, yeah.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: So Jezebel goes, uh, this guy gotta die.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's where we end, right?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Until we that's where we are right when we get to this passage here.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I want us to read this together, uh, and I want you to hear what happened.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: So he's at the highest of highs.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: He comes down and he finds out Jezebel wants him murdered.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And Elijah got up and he ate and he drank and went refreshed by that food for 40 days and 40 nights until he arrived at Horeb, God's mountain.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of things I want you to, well, we'll go back about come on, you know.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Elijah got up, ate and drank, and went refreshed by that food for 40 days and 40 nights.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Where else have you heard that before?
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: The desert, Noah's Ark, many other times.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh the desert, you mean Jesus in the desert?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Is that what you're saying?
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Jesus later gets straight.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't exist at this point, but yes, 40 days and 40 nights.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: You're supposed to hear that as some sort of retreat.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Ha ha, we should make this one 40 days.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Until he arrived at Horeb, God's mountain.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Horeb is also known as Mount Sinai.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: What else do you know about Mount Sinai?
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Moses gets the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty big place in history.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Y'all didn't know Garin is a biblical scholar.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, here we go.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Elijah.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Then we went into, then he went into a cave and he spent the night.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord's word came to him and said, Why are you here, Elijah?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's interesting, just like you know me, Hannah.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's interesting, it says the Lord's word came to him and said, Why are you here, Elijah?
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: The prophets were known as God's word.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: They were known as God's voice, right?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord's voice, the Lord's word came to the prophet and said, Why are you here, Elijah?
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good reminder that even those who you feel like have spiritual kind of authority over you still need a question asked of them, right?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's pretty cool.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: All right, next.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Elijah replied, I've been very passionate for the Lord God of heavenly forces because the Israelites have abandoned your covenant.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna keep going, Hannah.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm throwing her off.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: They have torn down your altars and they have murdered your prophets with the sword.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the only one left, and now they want to take my life too.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: He's talking about Jezebel wanting to come for him.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord said, Go out and stand at the mountain before the Lord, the Lord is passing by.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord talks in the third person.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Go back, go back, go back.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord said, Go out and stand at the mountain before the Lord, the Lord is passing by.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Bryant said, Go out and stand at the mountain before the Bryant, and the Bryant is passing by.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: All right, next.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm not the Lord.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: A very strong wind tore through the mountains and broke apart the stones.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: That would be a pretty strong wind to break apart stones before the Lord.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: But the Lord wasn't in the wind.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord wasn't in the earthquake.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Next.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: After the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord wasn't in the fire.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And after the fire, there was a sound.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: A thin, quiet sound.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his coat.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: He went out and he stood at the cave's entrance.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: And a voice came to him and said, Why are you here, Elijah?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Elijah's at the height of his ministry, his career, his life.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's at the pinnacle.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: He's at the and it happens to happen on a mountain.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Get it?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Metaphoric, yeah?
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Then he finds out he's wanted to be killed, and he's suddenly at the lowest of the lowest, and he retreats down.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: He goes for 40 days and 40 nights, and then he goes into a cave, which is, I guess, where we could do a retreat.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Goes into a cave.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then he starts and he hears somebody say something to him, the voice, the word of the Lord, and he says, Hey, go back out there, dude.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Something's about to happen.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: And he looks for the wind.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: A big wind comes.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: It was a strong enough wind that it broke what?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Stones, rocks.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty strong wind.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord wasn't in the wind.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then an earthquake comes.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now hear me out.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you if you saw a wind that was strong enough to break rocks, I'm talking hurricane-style wind here.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then the next moment is an earthquake.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'd probably start running.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: But he knows that even in that, God's not there.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Then a fire comes, and then God is not in that.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, after all of the big chaotic things happen, where does God appear?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: And the silent voice.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: The silent voice.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you are monotaskers?
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no one wants to admit it.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, thank you.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you just know what you do and you know what you're good at, and that's what you do.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to distract yourselves with 40 different things.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: I am a monotasker who thinks I am a multitasker.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's the worst combination.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because you think that you can handle all that stuff, but really all it does is create what?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Chaos.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Stress.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm also, you know, undiagnosed ADHD, and so I get super hyperfixated on very little things.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I care very deeply that things go well.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: I care very deeply that things go excellent.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Those of you who have been around me right before a retreat know that if you come ask me a question, it better be a good one.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because I've got this and this and this, and I'm trying, and I'm a really bad multitasker.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I've got to focus here to do the excellent work that I can do, and all the other stuff is just chaos and stress.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I am so convinced that we all live in that world of chaos and stress in our own lives that just adds to the anxiety of our day-to-day lives.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because you now have devices that can interrupt your lives, and you grew up with them, but for a long time, like nobody had the right to interrupt your life with a text message during the day, with an expectation that you respond immediately.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Does that not add anxiety to your life?
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Stress.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: For God's sakes, your Snapchat streaks?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, does that not add?
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: I wake up every morning, I'm like, I gotta do Wordle because I don't want to lose my streak.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: That adds anxiety and stress to my life.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot about the influence of the news and the media, and how if something happens, you don't hear about it two days later, you hear about it in the moment because it sends you a notification to your phone.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think the world is forcing us to be multitaskers when we're all monotaskers.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that creates chaos.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: I love the visual of Elijah at his highest point, ending up in his lowest point, and then all the big things that God's been known for to exist within come to be there.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because God previously in scripture has shown up in the wind.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: God previously in scripture has shown up in the earthquakes.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: God previously in scripture has shown up in the fire.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: And Elijah knows that.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he knows that and he knows that.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I if I'm Elijah, I'm sitting there looking for that chaos, that big thing.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, God's gotta be here.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: God's gonna bring order through that.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: God's gonna be there because that's where God has shown up before.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: But in that moment, what happens?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's a shift, guys.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's a shift.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: What happens is that God is not there in the earthquake.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: God is not there in the wind.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: God is not there.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: God is not there in your Snapchat streaks, God is not there in those text messages that have added up and added up and added up that you haven't uh that you've ignored, you know.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: God is not there in that.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Where is God?
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: God is in the stillness, the small voice.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that is so countercultural to what we are taught, what's expected of us, how we interact with the world.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: I love what we do up here, our music's dope.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: And we spent a lot of time setting up these fancy lights, and some of them had bad attitudes, and we adjusted them and we moved them and we reprogrammed them, and Ben spent hours after hours adding all the cues into the thing, and I love it.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm here for it.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's amazing, but I can't help but think that worship seems like it's gotta get bigger and bigger all the time, just like the rest of your life, just like the next app that you have to download, just like that next thing you're gonna watch on YouTube and get stuck in for years.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's just this next thing always, always adding to the chaos and the stress.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: And we often look for God in those things because that's the way we think it will be.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: But my question for you is where.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Where is God in the stillness?
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I should ask it this way.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Where is God in your stillness?
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have some time over the next couple days to spend with each other.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have some time to uh explore this gorgeous property, and you'll find out how gorgeous it is yesterday.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Tomorrow yesterday?
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's late.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Tomorrow when the sun comes up.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have an opportunity to do that.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: And uh you're gonna have a time to enjoy with to get together in small groups, and we we have a lot of programming on this.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: We've got a service activity, we've got a kickball game.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's enough, yes.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think it'll be fun.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we were unsure.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: But let me encourage you to do something this weekend.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Find places and times for stillness this weekend.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: I thought about programming it that way.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like I thought about just like, hey, just come and chill.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't think you would enjoy that very much.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna have some ways to do that.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: Tomorrow we're gonna do some workshops and we're gonna talk about different ways in which you can find God in those moments in the stillness.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's gonna be dope.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and and you're gonna have two chances to go to those, so you'll you won't, you know, you'll get to go to as much as you want, which would be cool.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you're gonna have a lot of conversations about this in your small group.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: But for a lot of you, you you're not used to quiet.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: I know that because I work with you.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of you, if like I I noticed this whenever, whenever we're gonna do something, I noticed this in my own life.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: Lot last night I was setting up that projector rig back there and and the lights and changing it 14 times and whatever.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: And what did I do?
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, because Phil was playing John Mayer up front, I I turned I turned on the only thing that I know to turn on when I gotta do a task, and that's the office.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I watched season four, you know.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I noticed as I as I left last night, as I walked back to my cabin, it was so quiet.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: There wasn't even light pollution, and that's visual.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: There was no noise.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: It was like one in the morning, but it was there was no noise.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I realized I had been listening to stuff and we had been setting stuff up, and we had been talking, and everything had just been going.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Where is God in my stillness?
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: I found it last night walking back to the cabin.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: Even in those moments, you can find that.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna encourage you to do that uh this weekend.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: After we're gonna sing a couple more songs, and after the songs, uh, I'm gonna come up and give you some instructions and some announcements, and we're gonna split into small groups.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let me give you, let me just give you some encouragement.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been uncomfortable in silence, use this chance to pull through that.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: Just give it a shot.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Allow yourself to be a little bit uncomfortable in this stillness this weekend.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think God will speak to you just as God did to Elijah.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: When God spoke to Elijah, he asked one thing.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you here?
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that might be what God's asking you as well this weekend.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: God, our world is so loud.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: With everybody needing something from us, wanting something from us.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's so overwhelming.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: God, our prayer this weekend is that you would meet us in the stillness, in the silence, in the rest, in the Sabbath.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: That you would speak to us a new word that we haven't heard before, that you would encourage us.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: God, we are so thankful to be here.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: We're thankful we got here safely.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: We pray for those who are coming a little bit later that we pray that their travels will be safe as well.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: But mostly, God, this weekend, we pray that you speak into our lives.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: We love you.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: We give you all honor, praise, and glory.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.