1 00:00:01,735 --> 00:00:04,738 Psalm chapter 19. 2 00:00:05,372 --> 00:00:09,559 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 3 00:00:09,859 --> 00:00:13,797 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 4 00:00:14,147 --> 00:00:17,967 There is no speech, nor are there words whose voice is not heard. 5 00:00:18,234 --> 00:00:22,288 Their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. 6 00:00:22,622 --> 00:00:26,993 In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom 7 00:00:26,993 --> 00:00:31,681 leaving his chamber, and like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 8 00:00:31,915 --> 00:00:36,753 Its rising is from the ends of the heaven and its circuit to the ends of them. 9 00:00:36,986 --> 00:00:38,872 And there is nothing hidden from its heat. 10 00:00:38,872 --> 00:00:40,757 The law of the Lord is perfect. 11 00:00:40,757 --> 00:00:42,108 Reviving the soul. 12 00:00:42,108 --> 00:00:44,511 The testimony of the Lord is sure. 13 00:00:44,511 --> 00:00:46,312 Making wise the simple. 14 00:00:46,312 --> 00:00:49,549 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. 15 00:00:49,849 --> 00:00:53,119 The commandment of the Lord is pure and enlightening the eyes. 16 00:00:53,453 --> 00:00:56,973 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. 17 00:00:57,407 --> 00:01:01,194 The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 18 00:01:01,678 --> 00:01:04,681 More to be desired are they than gold. 19 00:01:04,697 --> 00:01:07,917 Even much finegold sweeter also than honey. 20 00:01:07,917 --> 00:01:10,053 And drippings of the honeycomb. 21 00:01:10,053 --> 00:01:12,806 Moreover by them is your servant warned. 22 00:01:12,806 --> 00:01:15,692 In keeping them there is great reward. 23 00:01:15,692 --> 00:01:17,761 Who can discern his errors? 24 00:01:17,761 --> 00:01:20,029 Declare me innocent from hidden faults. 25 00:01:20,029 --> 00:01:23,066 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. 26 00:01:23,299 --> 00:01:25,702 Let them not have dominion over me. 27 00:01:25,702 --> 00:01:29,489 Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression. 28 00:01:30,023 --> 00:01:33,393 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart 29 00:01:33,393 --> 00:01:37,130 be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. 30 00:01:40,316 --> 00:01:40,667 Hi everybody, 31 00:01:40,667 --> 00:01:43,103 good morning and welcome to Christ Community Chapel. 32 00:01:43,103 --> 00:01:46,106 My name is Joe. I'm one of the pastors here. 33 00:01:46,256 --> 00:01:47,941 Thanks for coming. 34 00:01:47,941 --> 00:01:48,108 All right. 35 00:01:48,108 --> 00:01:51,077 This is the second week of our visions series. 36 00:01:51,077 --> 00:01:53,429 We have a theme for this year in. 37 00:01:53,429 --> 00:01:56,699 Our theme is More Life. 38 00:01:56,749 --> 00:01:57,684 That's it. 39 00:01:57,684 --> 00:01:59,552 Simply More Life. 40 00:01:59,552 --> 00:02:02,422 And I got to tell you, we feel pretty good about this theme 41 00:02:02,422 --> 00:02:06,092 because we have taken it right from John chapter ten, verse ten, 42 00:02:06,709 --> 00:02:11,214 where Jesus gives us his mission statement, his reason for coming. 43 00:02:11,598 --> 00:02:14,033 Jesus says, I came. 44 00:02:14,033 --> 00:02:17,987 I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly. 45 00:02:18,805 --> 00:02:22,675 Jesus wants you to have more life, 46 00:02:22,859 --> 00:02:26,462 a fuller life, an abundant life. 47 00:02:27,380 --> 00:02:31,551 What we want as a church is that by the time we get to December 48 00:02:31,951 --> 00:02:36,723 of this year, to look back on 2026 and say it was the best year ever, 49 00:02:37,257 --> 00:02:39,776 not because of things that happened externally, 50 00:02:39,776 --> 00:02:44,597 but because of something that happened deep down inside of us. 51 00:02:45,481 --> 00:02:49,352 The passage we just had read to us is Psalm 19, 52 00:02:49,969 --> 00:02:54,557 and it was written about a thousand years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. 53 00:02:55,225 --> 00:02:58,678 And one of the reasons that we wanted to look at Psalm 19 is 54 00:02:59,212 --> 00:03:02,215 Jesus wasn't introducing something new 55 00:03:02,398 --> 00:03:04,767 in John chapter ten. 56 00:03:04,767 --> 00:03:09,439 Jesus wasn't saying before God wanted you to have less life. 57 00:03:09,439 --> 00:03:10,590 He wanted to limit you. 58 00:03:10,590 --> 00:03:13,593 But now I've come and I'm changing the program. 59 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:16,412 That's not what Jesus was saying. 60 00:03:16,412 --> 00:03:19,399 God has always wanted you to flourish. 61 00:03:19,532 --> 00:03:23,336 God has always wanted you to have more life. 62 00:03:24,170 --> 00:03:29,809 So if 2026 is going to be a time where our lives are more full, 63 00:03:29,809 --> 00:03:32,812 where we have abundant life, how do we do it? 64 00:03:32,812 --> 00:03:34,430 What do we need to do? 65 00:03:34,430 --> 00:03:36,983 Well, the psalmist gives us three things to do if you want 66 00:03:36,983 --> 00:03:40,103 2026 have more life in 2026. 67 00:03:40,103 --> 00:03:42,772 This is what he says to do. Here are three things. 68 00:03:42,772 --> 00:03:45,775 First, he says, look for amazing. 69 00:03:46,259 --> 00:03:47,727 Look for amazing. 70 00:03:47,727 --> 00:03:49,529 Second is read for life. 71 00:03:50,513 --> 00:03:53,216 And the third is pray for hard, 72 00:03:53,216 --> 00:03:56,219 look for amazing, read for life. 73 00:03:56,336 --> 00:03:57,387 Pray for heart. 74 00:03:57,387 --> 00:03:57,654 All right. 75 00:03:57,654 --> 00:03:59,339 First look for amazing. 76 00:03:59,339 --> 00:04:02,008 This is what he starts out saying. 77 00:04:02,008 --> 00:04:04,227 The heavens declare the glory of God 78 00:04:04,227 --> 00:04:07,463 and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 79 00:04:07,463 --> 00:04:08,281 Day to day. 80 00:04:08,281 --> 00:04:11,901 Pours out speech night to night reveals knowledge. 81 00:04:12,619 --> 00:04:16,489 There is no speech, nor are there words whose voice is not heard. 82 00:04:17,273 --> 00:04:20,927 Their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. 83 00:04:21,377 --> 00:04:25,732 In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom, 84 00:04:25,732 --> 00:04:29,452 leaving his chamber like a strong man runs its course with joy. 85 00:04:29,902 --> 00:04:33,773 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and it's circuit to the end of them. 86 00:04:34,223 --> 00:04:36,893 And there is nothing hidden from its heat. 87 00:04:38,511 --> 00:04:39,712 Our team does an 88 00:04:39,712 --> 00:04:42,749 incredible job decorating for Christmas every year. 89 00:04:42,749 --> 00:04:46,436 And if you were here during advent this past year, we're out in the atrium. 90 00:04:46,436 --> 00:04:50,840 You saw a Christmas tree that was unlike any Christmas tree I'd ever seen. 91 00:04:50,857 --> 00:04:53,860 It was made entirely of presents. 92 00:04:53,910 --> 00:04:55,828 It looked like this. 93 00:04:55,828 --> 00:04:58,731 And, you know, I like to hang out in the atrium. 94 00:04:58,731 --> 00:05:02,402 And, when I was out there, more than one of you came up to me 95 00:05:02,402 --> 00:05:05,605 and said, hey, Pastor Joe, did you wrap all these presents? 96 00:05:05,905 --> 00:05:06,839 Right? 97 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:09,776 And of course, I didn't wrap any of them. 98 00:05:09,776 --> 00:05:12,111 But if I had if I had not just 99 00:05:12,111 --> 00:05:17,000 wrapped those boxes, but I had placed gifts inside 100 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:20,036 of every one of those boxes, 101 00:05:20,837 --> 00:05:23,840 and the gifts were wonderful gifts. 102 00:05:24,173 --> 00:05:26,843 And I said to you, yeah, I know, I wrap those. 103 00:05:26,843 --> 00:05:30,830 I filled them with gifts and they're all for you. 104 00:05:31,831 --> 00:05:33,750 They're all for you. 105 00:05:33,750 --> 00:05:36,202 What would that tell you about me? 106 00:05:36,202 --> 00:05:40,139 Well, it would tell you that I had a lot of resources and that I was generous. 107 00:05:40,406 --> 00:05:43,409 Being rich and generous should always go together. 108 00:05:43,910 --> 00:05:48,681 It would tell you that I was imaginative and creative and that I cared about you. 109 00:05:49,699 --> 00:05:52,585 So the psalmist is saying that 110 00:05:52,585 --> 00:05:55,371 all of creation is saying something, 111 00:05:55,371 --> 00:05:58,524 telling us something about God. 112 00:05:59,208 --> 00:06:02,362 And then the psalmist uses the sun as an example, 113 00:06:02,362 --> 00:06:05,448 that the rising in the setting of the sun, 114 00:06:05,481 --> 00:06:08,901 he says, nothing can hide from his heat. 115 00:06:09,719 --> 00:06:12,722 And, the Hvac unit, 116 00:06:12,922 --> 00:06:15,925 that is over our offices, 117 00:06:15,958 --> 00:06:19,128 went on the blink about a week and a half ago, 118 00:06:19,128 --> 00:06:22,832 and for four days I was 54 degrees in my office. 119 00:06:23,516 --> 00:06:25,885 Not not optimal, right. 120 00:06:25,885 --> 00:06:28,438 But the Hvac units are ten years old. 121 00:06:28,438 --> 00:06:31,340 They're kind of glitchy. So what are you going to do? 122 00:06:31,340 --> 00:06:35,812 But it made me think of the sun, so I did a little research. 123 00:06:35,812 --> 00:06:38,815 You know, the way you get heat is, 124 00:06:38,881 --> 00:06:42,318 you have to convert matter into energy 125 00:06:42,919 --> 00:06:46,189 and, like, if I light this match, that's what's happening. 126 00:06:46,789 --> 00:06:47,757 Is that matter? 127 00:06:47,757 --> 00:06:52,311 Which is the match stick is being converted into energy, 128 00:06:52,311 --> 00:06:54,680 which is the flame which gives heat. 129 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,683 That's what happens with the sun. 130 00:06:57,717 --> 00:06:59,569 But this is what I found out about the sun. 131 00:07:00,770 --> 00:07:03,656 The sun is converting 132 00:07:03,656 --> 00:07:09,328 4 million tons of matter into energy 133 00:07:10,163 --> 00:07:13,349 every second of every day. 134 00:07:13,850 --> 00:07:17,637 And it will do that for the next 5 billion years. 135 00:07:18,471 --> 00:07:20,740 That's God's Hvac unit. 136 00:07:20,740 --> 00:07:22,158 All right, let me say that again. 137 00:07:22,158 --> 00:07:25,228 I had to look it up several different times to make sure I got this right. 138 00:07:26,729 --> 00:07:28,397 The sun converts 139 00:07:28,397 --> 00:07:32,718 4 million tons of matter into energy 140 00:07:33,469 --> 00:07:36,472 every second of every day, 141 00:07:37,173 --> 00:07:40,159 and it will do it for the next 4 billion years. 142 00:07:40,593 --> 00:07:43,162 5 billion years. 143 00:07:43,162 --> 00:07:45,932 What does that tell you about God? 144 00:07:45,932 --> 00:07:48,918 What it tells you God is not small, 145 00:07:49,702 --> 00:07:53,940 but God is saying, I am faithful, I am consistent, 146 00:07:54,707 --> 00:07:58,578 I am powerful, I am here, I am present, 147 00:07:59,812 --> 00:08:02,215 I am caring, right? 148 00:08:02,215 --> 00:08:06,469 Every morning the sun will come up, every evening 149 00:08:06,469 --> 00:08:10,406 the sun will set and it will do that every day of your life. 150 00:08:11,491 --> 00:08:14,093 And there is nothing that is hidden 151 00:08:14,093 --> 00:08:16,162 from the sun, 152 00:08:16,162 --> 00:08:16,979 right? 153 00:08:16,979 --> 00:08:20,733 The reason I use the picture of the Christmas tree is that the 154 00:08:21,384 --> 00:08:25,771 the psalmist uses the sun, but creation and creation, 155 00:08:25,771 --> 00:08:30,543 there are a million different gifts that God gives every single day, 156 00:08:31,527 --> 00:08:34,981 from the explosion of flavor that happens in your mouth 157 00:08:35,064 --> 00:08:38,901 when you bite into your favorite food, to the beauty 158 00:08:38,901 --> 00:08:43,439 and majesty of a mountain range, to the sound of a baby laughing. 159 00:08:44,423 --> 00:08:47,159 Everything is a gift. 160 00:08:47,159 --> 00:08:47,927 The psalmist says. 161 00:08:47,927 --> 00:08:50,580 You want more life in 2026. 162 00:08:50,580 --> 00:08:53,583 The first thing is look for amazing. 163 00:08:53,883 --> 00:08:56,869 It's there all the time. 164 00:08:56,969 --> 00:08:59,989 That perspective matters for everybody. 165 00:08:59,989 --> 00:09:01,674 Perspective matters for you. 166 00:09:01,674 --> 00:09:04,760 I always think of the the story of the ten year old little girl 167 00:09:04,794 --> 00:09:07,129 who fell out of a tree and she broke her arm. 168 00:09:07,129 --> 00:09:13,703 70 years later, the same girl she is, a woman falls, breaks her hip 169 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:18,241 when she's 80 and she's heard saying, first my arm, now my hip. 170 00:09:18,241 --> 00:09:21,227 Everything always happens to me, right? 171 00:09:21,527 --> 00:09:22,578 And we laugh about that. 172 00:09:22,578 --> 00:09:26,899 But I wonder how many of us are a little bit more like that woman 173 00:09:26,899 --> 00:09:31,971 than we care to think that God is giving us is filling our lives 174 00:09:32,221 --> 00:09:35,207 with a million different gifts that we take for granted, 175 00:09:35,791 --> 00:09:40,713 and then things go wrong and we think, why does this always happen to me, 176 00:09:42,048 --> 00:09:44,250 perspective matters. 177 00:09:44,250 --> 00:09:47,536 And one of the things the psalmist says is you want to have more life, 178 00:09:48,621 --> 00:09:50,273 look for amazing. 179 00:09:50,273 --> 00:09:54,443 And every time you see something amazing, ask yourself, what's this? 180 00:09:54,443 --> 00:09:57,113 Tell me about God. 181 00:09:57,113 --> 00:10:00,499 I looked out my backyard like Wednesday 182 00:10:01,284 --> 00:10:03,619 and there were six deer in my backyard. 183 00:10:03,619 --> 00:10:07,890 Six right now I just, I just smile because I've been looking 184 00:10:07,890 --> 00:10:11,310 for amazing all week since I started studying this. 185 00:10:11,310 --> 00:10:14,297 And I was just going, oh God, 186 00:10:14,330 --> 00:10:15,898 well, what did I skip? 187 00:10:15,898 --> 00:10:18,901 Now, some of you who are hunters might have a different feel 188 00:10:19,368 --> 00:10:21,020 about having six deer in your backyard. 189 00:10:21,020 --> 00:10:24,023 I just found it, fascinating. 190 00:10:24,190 --> 00:10:25,141 Right? 191 00:10:25,141 --> 00:10:27,593 Look for amazing. That's the first thing. 192 00:10:27,593 --> 00:10:30,813 The second thing is read for life. 193 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:33,232 Read for life. 194 00:10:33,232 --> 00:10:36,235 You know, there's a limit to what you can know about God from creation. 195 00:10:36,769 --> 00:10:39,772 So that's why the psalmist moves right to Scripture. 196 00:10:39,839 --> 00:10:42,558 Yes, guys, what is this for? 197 00:10:42,558 --> 00:10:45,211 Why do we even have the Bible? 198 00:10:45,211 --> 00:10:48,948 If you read the Bible and somewhere to ask you, why do you read the Bible? 199 00:10:48,948 --> 00:10:51,917 What would you save if you don't read the Bible, 200 00:10:51,917 --> 00:10:54,920 someone would ask you, why don't you read the Bible? 201 00:10:55,705 --> 00:10:56,539 What would you say? 202 00:10:57,540 --> 00:10:59,191 But the psalmist gives us 203 00:10:59,191 --> 00:11:04,080 four things that the Bible does for us, that Scripture does for us. 204 00:11:04,647 --> 00:11:06,382 And he starts it in verse seven. 205 00:11:06,382 --> 00:11:10,102 He says, the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving 206 00:11:10,770 --> 00:11:13,773 the soul, reviving the soul. 207 00:11:13,823 --> 00:11:16,592 Life can be exhausting, 208 00:11:16,592 --> 00:11:16,792 right? 209 00:11:16,792 --> 00:11:21,714 From work to marriage to children to family to relationship. 210 00:11:21,714 --> 00:11:26,519 Sometimes you get what happens when it's your body 211 00:11:26,519 --> 00:11:30,990 isn't just the thing that's tired, but your soul is weary. 212 00:11:30,990 --> 00:11:33,993 What do you do if you're like me, 213 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:37,496 you might settle for distractions. 214 00:11:37,496 --> 00:11:40,499 You might binge on Netflix, or you. 215 00:11:40,549 --> 00:11:43,052 You begin to just flip 216 00:11:43,052 --> 00:11:46,922 through social media, or you go down a rabbit hole on the internet, 217 00:11:46,922 --> 00:11:50,760 or you get to your hobby and bury yourself in your hobby. 218 00:11:52,161 --> 00:11:54,313 What happens when you come out of the distraction? 219 00:11:54,313 --> 00:11:57,299 Your soul is still weary. 220 00:11:57,500 --> 00:12:01,737 Your soul will not be refreshed until it gets the food for which it was created. 221 00:12:02,238 --> 00:12:05,841 That's why the psalmist says, this is like like honey, there's a reason 222 00:12:05,858 --> 00:12:09,929 that that Jesus says in Matthew chapter 11, come to me, 223 00:12:10,112 --> 00:12:14,600 all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 224 00:12:15,418 --> 00:12:18,687 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, 225 00:12:19,021 --> 00:12:22,825 for I am gentle and lowly, and you will find rest 226 00:12:23,843 --> 00:12:25,644 for your souls. 227 00:12:25,644 --> 00:12:27,146 That's the first thing. 228 00:12:27,146 --> 00:12:31,066 The second thing the psalmist says is this the testimony of the Lord is sure, 229 00:12:31,066 --> 00:12:35,304 making wise the simple, where do you go for wisdom? 230 00:12:35,304 --> 00:12:35,938 Where do you go? 231 00:12:35,938 --> 00:12:37,823 Go for what is true. 232 00:12:37,823 --> 00:12:40,743 To find out what is true. 233 00:12:40,743 --> 00:12:43,729 Zach said last week that the further we get from God, 234 00:12:43,946 --> 00:12:47,032 it seems like the crazier our culture gets. 235 00:12:47,900 --> 00:12:49,552 I watched it, 236 00:12:49,552 --> 00:12:54,390 a hearing earlier this week where a senator was asking 237 00:12:54,390 --> 00:12:57,393 a medical doctor this question 238 00:12:58,194 --> 00:13:01,647 can a biological man get pregnant? 239 00:13:03,199 --> 00:13:06,202 And the doctor could not answer that question. 240 00:13:07,319 --> 00:13:09,772 She said, that's a complicated question. 241 00:13:09,772 --> 00:13:11,273 And that the senator is going. 242 00:13:11,273 --> 00:13:13,142 It's not complicated. 243 00:13:13,142 --> 00:13:16,128 Can a biological man get pregnant? 244 00:13:16,412 --> 00:13:18,047 What happened? 245 00:13:18,047 --> 00:13:19,315 How do we get there? 246 00:13:19,315 --> 00:13:21,450 I looked up in ChatGPT. 247 00:13:21,450 --> 00:13:23,219 How many genders are there? 248 00:13:23,219 --> 00:13:23,903 Spits out. 249 00:13:23,903 --> 00:13:27,173 There are 72 genders other than male and female. 250 00:13:28,340 --> 00:13:31,610 You untether yourself from the wisdom of God. 251 00:13:31,627 --> 00:13:34,113 There's no telling where you go. 252 00:13:34,113 --> 00:13:34,914 And then you read. 253 00:13:34,914 --> 00:13:38,717 In the beginning, God made them male and female, 254 00:13:39,051 --> 00:13:42,822 and it's like you sigh a sigh of relief and feel like I'm. 255 00:13:42,838 --> 00:13:43,789 I'm finally back. 256 00:13:43,789 --> 00:13:46,759 I'm on solid ground. 257 00:13:46,759 --> 00:13:51,997 The psalmist says, this is to make you give wisdom to the simple. 258 00:13:52,014 --> 00:13:55,017 You want to know what's true? Look here, 259 00:13:55,017 --> 00:13:59,722 then he says, the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. 260 00:14:00,589 --> 00:14:03,592 If you came to church on Christmas Eve, this year, 261 00:14:03,893 --> 00:14:07,580 our text was in Luke chapter 15, the parable of the Lost Sheep. 262 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:13,102 If you were at one of the services where I spoke, you heard me talk about how 263 00:14:13,102 --> 00:14:17,239 I would use that story to tell that story to my children when they were little. 264 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:22,044 And now I tell it tell that story to my grandchildren as they're little. 265 00:14:22,828 --> 00:14:24,713 And whenever I do it, I personalize it. 266 00:14:24,713 --> 00:14:28,617 I like I have a two year old grandson named Malachi, and I would say, 267 00:14:29,418 --> 00:14:33,622 I will grab him, pull him up close and say, hey, Malachi, 268 00:14:33,656 --> 00:14:36,959 there was a shepherd with a hundred sheep, and one of them was named Malachi. 269 00:14:36,959 --> 00:14:38,177 Sheep. 270 00:14:38,177 --> 00:14:41,146 And then I talk about how Malachi sheep wandered off. 271 00:14:41,146 --> 00:14:45,534 And the shepherd look, for what I'm trying to do is rejoice his little heart, 272 00:14:46,802 --> 00:14:47,820 because there's a 273 00:14:47,820 --> 00:14:52,107 neuroscientist named Kurt Thompson who is fond of saying this. 274 00:14:52,441 --> 00:14:55,494 Every single one of us, we come out of the womb 275 00:14:56,095 --> 00:14:59,098 looking for someone who is looking for us. 276 00:14:59,632 --> 00:15:03,752 You came out of the womb looking for someone, looking for you. 277 00:15:04,770 --> 00:15:07,773 Where Jesus is telling us in Luke chapter 15, 278 00:15:08,207 --> 00:15:11,994 the God of the universe is the one who is looking for you, 279 00:15:12,711 --> 00:15:17,249 who searches for you, who loves you, who rejoices over you, 280 00:15:18,117 --> 00:15:22,705 and then finally, the psalmist says, the fear of the Lord 281 00:15:22,705 --> 00:15:27,092 or the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. 282 00:15:27,977 --> 00:15:29,929 That means every once in a while you're going to be reading the Bible. 283 00:15:29,929 --> 00:15:32,932 You're going to see something you've never seen before. 284 00:15:33,265 --> 00:15:38,187 One of the great things about preaching is that you get to spend so much time 285 00:15:38,187 --> 00:15:41,507 on a passage that I will have at least one 286 00:15:42,241 --> 00:15:45,060 moment, and then I get to share it with you. 287 00:15:45,060 --> 00:15:49,982 For this week, it was that that information about the son, 288 00:15:51,050 --> 00:15:53,252 that the son is converting 289 00:15:53,252 --> 00:15:56,989 4 million tonnes of matter into energy every second. 290 00:15:57,239 --> 00:16:00,242 We'll do that for the next 5 billion years. 291 00:16:00,392 --> 00:16:04,413 Ever since I read that, I go outside in the morning 292 00:16:04,413 --> 00:16:09,118 just to see the sunrise, because it's like God's saying, good morning, Joe. 293 00:16:09,985 --> 00:16:12,988 And I get to say, good morning, Lord. 294 00:16:12,988 --> 00:16:15,357 And every time the sun sets, 295 00:16:15,357 --> 00:16:18,293 it's like God saying, good night, Joe. 296 00:16:18,293 --> 00:16:20,996 And I get to say good night, Lord. 297 00:16:20,996 --> 00:16:24,149 And that will happen every day of my life. 298 00:16:24,149 --> 00:16:27,152 It will happen every day of yours. 299 00:16:27,269 --> 00:16:28,671 Listen, 300 00:16:28,671 --> 00:16:32,875 if you want more life in 2026, if I could give you a pill 301 00:16:33,892 --> 00:16:37,162 that would give you wisdom, that would refresh 302 00:16:37,162 --> 00:16:40,883 your soul, that would rejoice your heart, 303 00:16:41,817 --> 00:16:44,453 that would give you an moment with no side effects. 304 00:16:44,453 --> 00:16:46,889 You would take that pill every single day. 305 00:16:48,107 --> 00:16:50,809 And so the psalmist says, you want more life in 2026. 306 00:16:50,809 --> 00:16:52,711 Read this. 307 00:16:52,711 --> 00:16:55,230 Read it for life. 308 00:16:55,230 --> 00:16:57,716 Then the the final thing the psalmist 309 00:16:57,716 --> 00:17:00,719 says, it's pray for heart. 310 00:17:00,753 --> 00:17:03,739 Look for amazing, read for life. 311 00:17:03,772 --> 00:17:04,673 Pray for heart. 312 00:17:04,673 --> 00:17:05,941 Now I say pray for heart. 313 00:17:05,941 --> 00:17:08,927 I don't mean pray for life to get more difficult. 314 00:17:09,511 --> 00:17:13,382 I'm not saying to pray that life would give you more challenges. 315 00:17:14,099 --> 00:17:15,150 I'm talking about the 316 00:17:15,150 --> 00:17:18,537 what the psalmist asked God to do towards the end of this psalm. 317 00:17:19,138 --> 00:17:19,488 Sweet. 318 00:17:19,488 --> 00:17:24,259 The psalmist says, verse 12 and 13, who can discern his errors? 319 00:17:24,860 --> 00:17:27,863 Declare me innocent from hidden faults. 320 00:17:27,863 --> 00:17:30,866 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. 321 00:17:31,350 --> 00:17:34,353 Let them not have dominion over me. 322 00:17:35,337 --> 00:17:38,874 There are two things that the psalmist is asking God to do 323 00:17:39,525 --> 00:17:44,396 is to keep, to give him more life, to keep him from moving away from life. 324 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:47,299 And what he says is, show me, stop me. 325 00:17:47,299 --> 00:17:48,951 Those are the two things. 326 00:17:48,951 --> 00:17:51,120 Show me, stop me. 327 00:17:51,120 --> 00:17:54,123 When the psalmist says, who can discern his errors? 328 00:17:54,123 --> 00:17:57,659 There's some real insight there with the psalmist is saying is, I have blind spots. 329 00:17:58,494 --> 00:18:02,748 Show me my blind spots become before they become 330 00:18:02,931 --> 00:18:07,469 so serious that they drain my my life away. 331 00:18:08,487 --> 00:18:10,255 So I'm 66 years old now. 332 00:18:10,255 --> 00:18:12,024 I'll be 67 in a couple of months. 333 00:18:12,024 --> 00:18:15,627 I don't know if this is normal, but I don't know when this started to happen. 334 00:18:15,627 --> 00:18:17,546 But as I've gotten older, I start to realize that 335 00:18:17,546 --> 00:18:22,484 every time I get a new pain, I wonder if how serious it is. 336 00:18:22,501 --> 00:18:25,587 Like I get a headache and I wonder what a tumor feels like, 337 00:18:27,806 --> 00:18:30,843 I don't know, I don't know if it's normal, but this is what I know. 338 00:18:31,343 --> 00:18:34,346 I know that diseases don't happen spontaneously. 339 00:18:35,597 --> 00:18:39,017 I know that arteries clog over time 340 00:18:40,352 --> 00:18:43,322 before you when you don't realize it. 341 00:18:43,322 --> 00:18:48,594 I know that cancer cells grow over time, and it happens before. 342 00:18:48,627 --> 00:18:51,780 You know, now that I've made everyone terribly self-conscious 343 00:18:52,648 --> 00:18:55,317 and concerned 344 00:18:55,317 --> 00:18:57,836 what's happening deep down in your soul, do you know, 345 00:18:59,454 --> 00:19:00,322 are there 346 00:19:00,322 --> 00:19:03,325 are there spiritual habits that you have 347 00:19:03,625 --> 00:19:06,061 that are doing damage, that are killing you 348 00:19:06,061 --> 00:19:09,081 softly, but you just don't know? 349 00:19:09,081 --> 00:19:11,717 That's what the psalmist is saying. 350 00:19:11,717 --> 00:19:16,288 The psalmist is saying, listen, I know you want more life for me. 351 00:19:16,972 --> 00:19:21,326 I want more life for me, but I have blind spots. 352 00:19:21,326 --> 00:19:23,212 Would you show me? 353 00:19:23,212 --> 00:19:26,632 Show me if there is a a small sin that I don't see, 354 00:19:26,632 --> 00:19:30,018 if I'm becoming more comfortable being critical of people 355 00:19:30,419 --> 00:19:33,922 show me if I am embellishing and exaggerating. 356 00:19:34,289 --> 00:19:37,826 And it doesn't seem like a big deal, but it will be. 357 00:19:37,826 --> 00:19:40,829 Show me if I'm becoming more selfish 358 00:19:40,829 --> 00:19:43,832 and more anxious and more fearful and more prideful. 359 00:19:44,750 --> 00:19:47,569 Show me what is happening 360 00:19:47,569 --> 00:19:50,572 so I can keep it from becoming a disease 361 00:19:51,139 --> 00:19:53,842 deep down in my soul. 362 00:19:53,842 --> 00:19:56,695 Will you show me right? 363 00:19:56,695 --> 00:20:01,283 Listen, I just want you to know, in all the years that I have been 364 00:20:01,283 --> 00:20:05,871 a pastor, I have seen this happen more times than I want to count. 365 00:20:06,955 --> 00:20:08,073 Where something starts, 366 00:20:08,073 --> 00:20:11,059 like a small thing, a little bit of a critical spirit. 367 00:20:12,277 --> 00:20:17,883 A grudge that someone cannot, will not forgive. 368 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:20,485 A little pride. 369 00:20:20,485 --> 00:20:25,157 And then it starts to grow until it absolutely wipes someone out. 370 00:20:25,857 --> 00:20:29,661 So your spiritual health is like your physical health. 371 00:20:29,661 --> 00:20:32,664 It is connected to not just what you do, 372 00:20:32,664 --> 00:20:35,667 but also what you don't do. 373 00:20:36,001 --> 00:20:41,640 And that's why the second prayer of the psalmist is stop me, stop me. 374 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:44,643 This is verse 13 when he says, 375 00:20:45,143 --> 00:20:49,081 keep, keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. 376 00:20:49,081 --> 00:20:52,067 A presumptuous sin is a is something you know is a sin, 377 00:20:53,418 --> 00:20:55,771 and you don't think it's that serious. 378 00:20:55,771 --> 00:20:57,239 And there are people that will tell me 379 00:20:57,239 --> 00:21:00,292 this and tell Zach this, all of our pastors, they'll say, yeah, 380 00:21:00,292 --> 00:21:04,796 I know God doesn't want me to do this, but but I don't think it's that bad. 381 00:21:04,796 --> 00:21:07,199 I'm just going to keep doing it. 382 00:21:07,199 --> 00:21:09,001 And what the psalmist says is, stop me. 383 00:21:09,001 --> 00:21:10,152 You know, there's an old saying 384 00:21:10,152 --> 00:21:14,339 that you can choose your sin, but you can't choose the consequences. 385 00:21:14,339 --> 00:21:19,161 You don't know when you're about when a sin is going to lead you over a cliff. 386 00:21:19,161 --> 00:21:21,229 That's what the psalmist has said. 387 00:21:21,229 --> 00:21:25,067 So what you're doing when you pray stop me is saying, God, I give you permission 388 00:21:25,917 --> 00:21:28,270 to do spiritual surgery in my life. 389 00:21:28,270 --> 00:21:29,087 If there is something 390 00:21:29,087 --> 00:21:32,341 I am doing that I know I'm doing, I don't think it's a big thing. 391 00:21:32,341 --> 00:21:32,991 You can. 392 00:21:32,991 --> 00:21:36,812 You have my permission to do whatever you need to do to intervene to stop it. 393 00:21:36,812 --> 00:21:40,248 That may mean somebody picking up your phone and seeing a window 394 00:21:40,248 --> 00:21:43,251 open that you thought you had closed, 395 00:21:43,518 --> 00:21:47,639 but that would eventually lead you into an affair 396 00:21:48,657 --> 00:21:50,993 that would destroy your life. 397 00:21:50,993 --> 00:21:56,214 It may mean you starting to wanting to share a piece of gossip to a friend 398 00:21:56,214 --> 00:22:01,019 about a mutual friend, and then that person gets distracted 399 00:22:01,019 --> 00:22:05,007 and walks away, and you realize that what you were about to do 400 00:22:05,190 --> 00:22:09,261 if it got back to your other friend would destroy your relationship for years. 401 00:22:11,063 --> 00:22:12,597 Listen, 402 00:22:12,597 --> 00:22:16,468 if you want more life in 2026, 403 00:22:18,053 --> 00:22:19,588 this is how. 404 00:22:19,588 --> 00:22:20,639 What do you want to do? 405 00:22:20,639 --> 00:22:23,342 What do you want to see when you look back and December 406 00:22:23,342 --> 00:22:27,145 from on this year, I'll tell you what Jesus wants to see. 407 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:31,433 You, want you to see more life, more 408 00:22:32,451 --> 00:22:35,454 flourishing, more abundance, 409 00:22:36,388 --> 00:22:39,391 and the way to do that look for amazing. 410 00:22:39,691 --> 00:22:42,444 It's there every day, every day. 411 00:22:42,444 --> 00:22:45,197 Look for amazing read for life. 412 00:22:46,498 --> 00:22:48,617 Pray for hard. 413 00:22:48,617 --> 00:22:51,620 Ask God, show me, stop me. 414 00:22:52,371 --> 00:22:54,923 All week I've been writing my journal. 415 00:22:54,923 --> 00:22:57,959 Those three things show me amazing. 416 00:22:58,293 --> 00:23:01,163 And every day I see something, 417 00:23:01,163 --> 00:23:04,166 I say let me read for life. 418 00:23:04,199 --> 00:23:07,319 And every day God gives me something in His Word. 419 00:23:08,336 --> 00:23:11,339 And then I say, show me and stop me 420 00:23:12,090 --> 00:23:15,560 because I want 2026 to be the best year ever. 421 00:23:16,711 --> 00:23:21,650 It's like Jesus, give all of us more life, abundant life. 422 00:23:21,650 --> 00:23:24,269 Would you pray with me, 423 00:23:24,269 --> 00:23:25,404 father in heaven, to come to you? 424 00:23:25,404 --> 00:23:28,407 And I'm so grateful for, Psalm 19. 425 00:23:29,191 --> 00:23:33,478 I'm grateful that you have filled creation with amazing. 426 00:23:33,478 --> 00:23:36,481 I pray that you would help us, all of us, 427 00:23:36,565 --> 00:23:39,568 to give us eyes to see it. 428 00:23:39,835 --> 00:23:43,155 And then I pray that you would help us to read for life to 429 00:23:43,572 --> 00:23:47,459 to let you refresh us and encourage us and strengthen us, 430 00:23:48,410 --> 00:23:50,612 give us wisdom. 431 00:23:50,612 --> 00:23:54,599 And then I pray for all of us that you would show us our blind spots 432 00:23:55,350 --> 00:23:58,069 and stop us from any sin 433 00:23:58,069 --> 00:24:01,072 that would destroy our lives, 434 00:24:01,373 --> 00:24:02,657 give us abundant life. 435 00:24:02,657 --> 00:24:04,893 We pray 436 00:24:04,893 --> 00:24:06,711 in Christ's name. Amen.