All right, it's me again.
You may be seated. Thank you again so much to our singers, our musicians. Thank you so much for showing up, for everybody else. I appreciate you guys being here today. We're going to dig into God's Word together. First I want to kind of in way of introductions just talk about how awesome the men's cookout was yesterday.
Fantastic. So it was a fantastic mix of guys. There was some delicious food, a few minor softball injuries. My neck's hurting a little bit. I feel like Batman when he wears a suit.
You just got to like turn your whole midsection or whatever just to look a different direction. But definitely a lot of laughs too. We had a lot of laughs.
Speaking of just like injuries, as we get older over the years and you graduates, this will start sinking in here shortly. But I played a lot of, kickball is one of my favorite sports. You guys play kickball? I played in a very competitive league when we lived in Chattanooga. And we actually started a league for churches that we'd play all summer, but then I also played an adult kickball league that we had.
And so just to kind of talk to you about the progression of how things used to go. So Shanna, my wife, she would, she was such a great fan and a great support of me early on in kickball. And she'd be like showing up, cheering, getting signs and just having the kids be there and running on the field and give me high fives. Maybe there's a little bit of exaggerating there, but she was totally in my corner.
And then it got to the point in the last couple of years where she would just stay at home and basically on my way out the door, instead of saying, I hope you do great. Hope you have fun times. Just don't get hurt. Don't get hurt.
So that's just kind of the progression of a kickball. So I understand the injuries and how those things can kind of happen. But another thing that I saw yesterday at the men's thing, which was so encouraging is that it was such a great picture of what men need. We need time together with other men. We need time together with other men to grow. Here's kind of the difference between ladies and guys.
And I hope you guys know there are a few differences. Ladies thrive knee to knee in groups where they're sharing their feelings and learning together. It's a little bit different than guys. Guys, shoulder to shoulder is kind of their posture.
Shoulder to shoulder. Doing things together. Doing hard things.
Doing fun things. Those are some great things that I saw yesterday. So thank you to Andy Lineback. All who set up. All who cooked it up. All who showed up.
And then all who cleaned up. Yesterday was just awesome. It was great. It was very encouraging and it was such an awesome day.
So now, silky transition coming here. We're now going to talk through what we've been talking about for the last three weeks and just a little bit of review. We've been talking about God and the details.
God and the details of our lives. We have talked already about work. We've talked about community. We've talked about family.
And then if you guys are with us at Bible Fellowship, we had like a bonus episode of money. So we talked about money. God being in the details of all those things. Today, we're going to talk about God and the details of my decisions. So all of us personally, our decisions. We want God involved in every aspect of our lives.
And that's really what we've been saying each week in the middle of this series. We don't want God to be just a top priority. Should He be our top priority? Absolutely. But all of His, we should be able to trace His fingerprints in every single aspect of our lives. We want Him involved in every way possible.
And He created each of us on purpose, with purpose, and for a purpose. So who knows better than Him, right? Who knows better than Him? Some decisions are difficult.
As we talked today about God and the details of our decision-making, some decisions are difficult. Which food truck to eat from? Not a difficult decision. Just eat from all of them. And that's what I did. I'm happy to report that I once again had Monopoly on all of the food trucks. I had something from each one on Friday night. So, well, maybe I'm excited about it.
Okay, great. I had a great time and I enjoyed it. And I was still able to sleep through the night. So that was good.
No crazy heartburn or anything. But that was a fun time as well on Friday night. So even though that's not a difficult decision, there are some difficult ones. Our toughest decisions in life aren't choosing good over bad. Instead, it's saying no to good things in order to say yes to God's best. I'm gonna read that one more time.
It's saying no to good things in order to say yes to God's best. And that's tough. That's tough.
It's difficult. I've learned that everyone has opinions about what we all should do. Like everyone wants to, they have an opinion and they want to kind of force that on us. Everyone has opinions about what we all should do. And opinions are like armpits. This is something that one of my associate pastors at previous churches say. Everyone has them and they're like armpits.
Most people have two of them and they both stink. That's how opinions are like armpits. So then, how do we invite God into our decision making? How do we do that? How do we do that? Well, here's what I want to pitch to you guys.
Did you get my softball reference? Okay, all right. I want to pitch this to you guys. Our big idea for today is this. It's just three simple words. Stop, know, and join.
Big idea for today. Stop, know, and join. And we're going to be in Psalm 46 10.
Potentially a familiar verse to you guys. Three very simple just kind of thoughts that we want to talk through. But I say simple but I also mean not easy. Like simple because I think we can understand the words.
I think we even understand what they mean. We are going to unpack them a little bit together. But not easy when it comes to applying them.
Not easy when it comes to applying them. So let's read Psalm 46 10 together. And really we're just going to kind of read the beginning of the verse. Kind of the first phrase. Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am God. Again, these are the three simple just points that we're going to talk through today but they are not easy. And that's why we need help. That's why we need each other. That's why we need encouragement from one another to grow. The first one is be still.
I don't think you guys will be shocked by that. But the first one is be still. Right there at the beginning of the verse. And be still literally means to cease striving, to let go of control, or to relax. So I am two and a half weeks short of being married for 25 years. Shanna has been married the same amount of time because we've been married to each other. And I have learned in those, in that amount of time, and I think part of the reason why we're still married is because I don't tell any woman that I know to relax. Have you ever done that? Or to calm down.
Have you ever done that? That doesn't go well. So just a little bit of advice, relational advice. Don't tell anybody to calm down.
Especially, especially not ladies. So when we talk about being still, we're talking about cease, ceasing to strive. We're talking about letting go of control. And we're talking about relaxing or calming down. So that's what God is telling us. Like quiet your heart before me.
Allow me to take over. And really if you just want to kind of summarize it, the big idea of this specific first part of being still is surrender. Surrendering to God. Almost our entire, I would say, I would say you really could capture the entire Christian life in surrender.
If you want to use like a driving term, use the word yield. Like if you're going to surrender, if you're going to yield everything to God, then you're going to say I'm not in control. And what's so, what's so tricky about control?
I hope you guys know this already, and if not, hopefully this is some good insight for you. The more you feel like you have it and you, and you have a hold of it, the more you realize you never actually had it in the first place. Like God has always been in control, but sometimes we try to grasp at what potentially we can, we can grab onto. And then really we realize that we never had control in the first place. So surrender is the bottom line. God's will and way is much better than mine anyway. But even though we know that, it's still hard, right?
Because it's simple, but it's not easy. So be still is the first one. Number two, and no. And no.
Be still and no. God wants to teach us new things about himself. Everything in life is meant to create a longing in our heart for a deeper knowledge of him. Think about sunrises and sunsets. You guys took those pictures this year, right? Union Grove Gadgets, you took a, you took a sunrise picture, you're yet to take a sunset picture, right? So I mean you, you guys are doing that. So sunrises and sunsets, the seasons, you've got certain things we love about summer, certain things we love about fall.
I don't really care about summer or winter, but some people like those. Food is such a good thing. I'm looking forward to our time to have our Union Grove seniors, the ones who are in my Bible class this year, over to the house this week to eat some steaks and play some games.
We're going to have a good time. So I love food. Food is such a great gift from God.
He could just hook us up to something and just get us the nutrients but instead he allows us to taste it and enjoy it and to realize how awesome it is. So everything in life is meant to create a longing in our heart for a deeper knowledge of God. Here's a great example of knowing God in the Bible and this was, this is from John 11. He got the story of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. So the sisters told Jesus Lazarus was sick. Lazarus and Jesus was in a nearby town. He was talking, he was teaching, he was training his disciples and they told him he was sick and he still waited two days.
He still hung out in that town in two days and then he left and he got to their home in Bethany and guess what happened? Lazarus had died. Lazarus has died and Martha makes this statement, Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died.
If you had, if only you had been here my brother would not have died. And so maybe at first glance when you're thinking through this story and reading through it you might think that Jesus messed up and we know Jesus can't mess up but maybe that would be your first your first thought. Oh but wait, Jesus gets to teach them and us something new about himself because when he finally showed up something awesome happened but he starts this way. He starts by saying I am the resurrection in the life and then he raised Lazarus. That was something new, something he hadn't done yet. So they knew in their minds, in their growth in him, their discipleship if you will as they followed him with their lives, they knew that he could heal people.
They had seen it, they had heard about it, they had physically been there but they hadn't seen resurrection before but that was something new that Jesus was teaching them. He said I'm the resurrection in life and then he raised Lazarus from the dead. This makes me wonder this, what new thing is God teaching me and what new thing is God teaching you about himself? What new thing is he teaching us or things? Maybe he's got you on a collision course or one of those intensives like you go to school sometimes and you're you're trying to wrap everything up in just a couple short weeks or maybe even a couple short days. What does God have you in right now?
What season does he have you in right now? What does he want to teach you? And this would be for you college graduates because you got a journal today but also for anybody in the room, graduates or not. But this might be something good to journal about, something good to say hey God might be teaching me something, let me pay attention, let me notice what he could have for me and what I should be learning. So first we had be still, the idea is see striving and surrender. Second we had and know God wants to teach us something new and we want to make sure that we're paying attention right. God wants to teach us something new so we want to make sure that we're paying attention. And then the last one, number three for today, know that I am God. This is the most fundamental and the most foundational concept that we need to grasp because when we admit that he's God, you know what else we're also saying? That means I'm not. God is God and I am not.
So we need to grasp that. It feels so freeing to say this and to believe it because it means that God's in control. God has everything handled. He's got all the details. He knows graduates where you're going to school. He has known that for a long time. He knows what you're going to do with your life, who's going to be in your family, if you are able and God has chosen for you to get married one day. There's so many things that God has planned out. It's everything.
It's everything. He already has it all worked out. But it's so freeing to say that. He's in control and he wants what is best for me. That's why we can trust him. We don't have to wonder like okay I know he has it all worked out and he's in control but the hope comes because we know that he has what's best for us in mind. It's all for our good but ultimately for his his glory.
So he wants to be involved in our decision making. Be still. Know that I am God.
Here's our big idea to remind us. Stop which is to cease striving and surrender all of me. Cease striving and surrender all of me. And then know new things that God is teaching me about himself and then join. Remember that he is God.
I am not. He's got the best plan. His plan and purposes are way greater than mine and so that's why I need to trust him and follow him.
He has already figured out and I should follow him. Maybe you've heard about this book. There was a book about this book. There was a book called Experiencing God written by Henry Blackaby. That's the favorite devotional that I've ever been through. I went through it when I was a teenager and youth group and then also went through it again as a college student and his big statement is you look around you see I'm paraphrasing a little bit you look around you see where God's working and you join them. You jump in and you do the things that God is already working and doing and a lot of times you can look around and see or a great example would be look around and see what God's doing in this community. This community that our church is planted in and you see what God's doing and you jump on board and you serve along with him and you join him or also for you graduates you guys that are getting ready to go off to school or even if you're staying in town but you're going to be in a new and different environment with that specific school over the one that you're currently or the one you're graduating from so see what God's up to there. See what God's up to there. See what God's up to in your friend group at your work inside of your family. All the things that we've talked about over the last few weeks as we've been talking about God in the details so we want to stop know and join. Now I want to move us to a just like kind of a reflect and respond time just to give us a chance to think through allow the Holy Spirit to to search our hearts and here here are the questions that we want to talk through today and what's so good is the Holy Spirit guides us in this like I'm going to throw out two questions but this is not an exhaustive list of every question that you could be asking coming out of what we've talked about today or or specific action steps to take based on what we've talked about today and when we open up for prayer whether you want to come forward or whether you want to stay in your seat we really we as humans don't really have the right to say okay this is the beginning of the invitation and this is the end like we really may put a pause on it so we can kind of wrap up service stuff this morning but I want you to know that you've got pastors you've got bible fellowship teachers you've got family members and people who would be open to having those conversations at any time like okay I think I clearly now know what God wants me to do next but what's like how do I kind of get that going how do I get that process rolling so we'd love to have conversations about that but let me ask you guys to bow your head and close your eyes and this just helps us we do this a lot on Sunday mornings we try to do this as students when we meet on Wednesday nights and this just helps us focus we talked about with the graduates specifically how important fighting distractions is here's and so that's what we want to do right now we'll kind of put aside distractions and be encouraged and make sure that we're listening to what God has to say so our first question is how can I know God better during this season of life how can I know God better during this season of life so I want to invite you to just pray ask God that question maybe the Holy Spirit is dealing with your heart about something else totally fine totally fine this is to kind of get us started and I think I think it's a great place to start but not a great place to end like there's other things that God could be dealing with so that's the first one how can I know God better during this season of life and then the second one is this how do I choose God's best for me over something good good things are just that they're good but God has chosen us to follow him to know him to join him and that starts with being still so we want to practice that even in this moment this morning I'll read those two questions to you again and then give you a couple moments just to kind of pray through and think through how do I choose God's best for me over something good that was the second one and then the first one how can I know God better during this season of life well use those in addition to anything else the Holy Spirit is putting on your heart to pray to him to talk with him I'll give you a few moments of me not talking and then I'll wrap up our time together by praying for us
