This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Hey, hey everybody. Welcome to Prairie Lakes. Um, and, uh, may is, uh, it's done so pretty crazy, but May's been kind of a, a, a crazy weather month here in Iowa. And, uh, and like many of you, I'm sure, um, we have been tracking the story of, of just the recent storms and tornadoes that have, um, made their way through our state and, uh, uh, devastated more, most recently, the town of Greenfield, as well as several other kind of storm systems that, that kind of move there.

But, um, I just wanna share a little bit with you about how we've been engaging there. So, uh, like so many things in this life, in this world that we live in, um, tragedies like, like the one in Greenfield present us with an opportunity. And, uh, it's just an opportunity to demonstrate that, that God is still who he is.

He's still present, he's still a God of love, and he's still good. And, uh, and we're able to demonstrate that in a really tangible way. Um, last Saturday, I used some pictures here of, uh, of our team.

Pri Lakes had a team of about 20 volunteers, um, that, uh, that served with Samaritan's Purse, uh, longtime partner of ours. Um, and we had, we had folks from multiple campuses join, join this team and be deployed. Um, uh, and I just wanna talk to you about this team just for a second.

'cause our, our disaster relief team allows us to reach Iowa in a really kind of unique way. Um, we provide physical assistance, for sure, you're just watching cleanup and stuff like that. But also, we also are able to provide spiritual care for survivors.

Um, and, uh, and, and this particular team served one of the homes where the homeowner lost his life. Um, and so what we were able to do was not only provide physical help, but we were able to provide spiritual support, um, to that family.

And, uh, and of course that led for, um, I don't know, led to an opportunity for one of our volunteers to serve as kind of the safe landing place, um, for the nephew of the homeowner to just kinda share and, um, share about his uncle's life, share about the impact that this loss has had on his family.

And, uh, and to start, begin the process of healing. So, a couple things, okay. Just as your pastor that I, I want you to know, um, first, uh, when you give to Prairie Lakes, um, I want you to know that this is unapologetically a part of how we use that gift.

Um, just allows us to deploy and serve and, and bless our neighbors in crisis. Uh, so that for a second, uh, I'm just asking you to please be in continued prayer for Greenfield and those communities and those families. Um, 'cause they're gonna be recovering for a very long time.

And, uh, and finally, okay, um, if you wanna be on the list of people that gets a text message, when we go to Deploy, and you wanna know when we're gonna do it, and maybe you can pray or give or go or be a part of it, um, just, just text the word relief, uh, to 9 9 5 8 1.

And you can get on that list. I'm on that list. Uh, there's times where I've been able to kind of go, uh, run a saw or, or, or kind of do whatever. And so if that's you, um, we'd love to, to have you apart. Okay? Alright. Hey, uh, we're starting a, a, a new series this weekend.

Um, but rather than just, you know, tell you what it's about, uh, I wanna see if you can guess, okay? Uh, and I, and I know we just, we played the bumper, so you already, you already know that it's called, the series is called Anchors. Right? But I wanna see if you can guess what we, uh, what we mean by that.

All right? And here's how we're gonna do this. I'm gonna give you some clues in the form of, uh, responses or thoughts, all right? Um, and I wanna see if you can guess what we're talking about from these clues. Okay? So here's the first one.

I wish I was more disciplined. I wish I was more disciplined. Second one, um, I know I should do it more often. Uh, third one, uh, I don't get it. I don't get it. Uh, fourth one, I'm not sure where to begin. And then the final one is this.

Uh, sometimes I just, I just feel like it's, it's pretty dry. Okay? So there's the five, right? Um, I don't get it. I know I should do it more often. I wish it was more discipline. I'm not sure where to begin. Sometimes I feel like it's just pretty dry.

Now, if you guessed eating steak, I get it. Okay? It's not, we're not talking about eating steak. Um, but if you did guess something along the lines of, uh, reading the Bible or praying you win, okay? I don't know what you win, but you are a winner in my book. Uh, anyways, um, every single weekend here at, at, at Prairie Lakes, every single weekend we're in the Bible.

And every single weekend we pray. Um, and the reason that we do both of those things is that, and we, and we do 'em every single weekend, is, is because Bible reading and prayer, and a few others, these are like anchors, um, in our relationship with God.

They, they, they are, they are one of the, a few things that kind of keep us from drifting that keep us connected, uh, to him. Keep us close to him. Okay? So here's, here's where we're going in this series, right? Um, as we just, just try to live these practices that keep us, uh, from drifting away from God, um, uh, you and God this weekend, uh, next weekend, you and God's family, uh, week three, uh, you and God's mission.

And just a great way for us to kinda kick off, uh, kick off this summers, okay? Just talk about these practices that keep us connected. Keep us from drifting. Okay? Alright, so let's jump into here. Week one. Um, we're gonna be talking about Bible reading and prayer when it comes to just us and God, these two anchors of Bible reading and prayer, okay?

Um, as we do, okay, I don't, I don't know if you've got this file folder in your brain, um, but I've got it in mine. I've got a file folder in my brain, not a literal one, a metaphorical one, keep up. Um, but, um, here's what it's labeled.

It's labeled Unsafe Assumptions. Okay? I get this file folder in my brain labeled unsafe assumptions. Well, what's in that file you ask. I'm so glad that you did. Um, several things for me are, are in that, but I just wanna make sure that you know what I mean by unsafe assumptions before we talk about what's in it.

So here's, here's what I mean by it, okay? Um, couple, a couple of things. Uh, unsafe assumptions happen, I think when we think there's strong agreement, but there isn't. We thought we all on the same page, but we're not. Okay?

So some, some stuff was like that. And then number two, um, sometimes unsafe assumptions happen when there's a big gap between who we appear to be and who we are. And so I thought you were this way, so I assumed some things about you, but it turns out you're not that way.

So those were not safe assumptions, okay? That's that what I mean. All right? Um, uh, number one, um, here's some examples. Uh, let's say you make a joke with the phrase phone book in it, and there's someone under the age of 25 around the table, and you thought they knew, and they look at you like, I don't understand.

Right? Right? Or how about this? Maybe you're out to dinner with someone, or there's some people there that are on the table that you don't know, or, or, or someone comes over to your house or whatever, and you make a joke that's kind of politically informed or socially informed or whatever, right?

And you just assume everybody's, we all think the same way, and then you find out later, uh, no, no, they do not. Ooh, right. Okay. Okay. Um, but I also think, I also think some unsafe assumptions happen, um, when who we appear to be is different than who we actually are.

And so we just kind of look around and we just kind of think, yeah, yeah, we're all, we all are about the same. And then you realize, woo, no, no, no, we're not. And here's my example. Okay? Back in 2017, back in 2017, um, the Christian, uh, research firm and pollster, uh, Barner research did a, a, a massive study.

And then they've done this concurrent, I mean, they've done this every, like five years or so, uh, called bible mindedness. They, they tried to measure, get a pulse on Bible mindedness across our whole country. And what they do is they divide the country into media markets.

So they use kind of like ni Nielsen media markets. And, uh, and then they ask each media market a set of questions designed to test their Bible mindedness. What do people believe? And what are people practicing and what are their thoughts? Just trying to get a look at almost a, a, a pulse on faith, um, belief in practice across the nation.

All right? And then they rank each community from least, least bible minded to, to most bible minded. All right? And so here's, here's what they found in terms of the least bible minded communities. These are the people whose belief and practice are. So they just, there's just not a lot of it. Okay?

Um, alright, so here's 100 out of 100 least bible minded communities coming in at number 100, the least minded community is shocker, right? The Northeast, okay? Albany, um, number 100, number 99, shocker, Boston, right?

Uh, number 98, shocker Providence, which of course means number 97. Wait, there should be another oh, oh, What, 97 Cedar Rapids. Waterloo. Well, how about, what's 96?

One of these things is not like the other, right? That's another reference that if unless you're over 40, you don't get right. Um, but this isn't what you would assume about our quaint little Midwestern community, right? Especially since we don't really project this, you know, we don't really have this reputation.

I don't, I don't think, and by the way, by the way, if you go like, well, I don't, I don't live in Waterloo or Cedar Rapids, you know, don't give yourself a pass, right? Because this is probably true of where you live as well, okay?

And, and here's, here's the thing. If you were to dive more deeply into the responses, in other words, like how did, how do people answer the questions that they asked, especially in our part of the country, okay? Here's what you'd find in, in our part of, of the country, here's what you find.

You, you, you find, you find our neighbors are much more likely to say, I'm Methodist, or I'm Baptist, or I'm Presbyterian, or, I'm Catholic, or I'm Lutheran, or I'm whatever. Okay? They're much more, they're much more likely, sometimes two to three times more likely to claim a label or to claim an affiliation.

And yet, and yet, when they were a, when they were asked what they actually believed or practiced, not so much, don't believe, don't practice. Yep, I'm, I'm whatever.

But I don't really believe or do any of that to the tune of like the fourth least bible minded community in the entire country. You guys, we beat Vegas. We beat Sin City. And not in a good way. Okay? So, so all of that to say, when it comes to this weekend's topic of Bible reading and prayer, Bible reading and prayer, two huge anchors that, that connect us to God when it comes to that.

Here's what I want you to know. I'm not gonna start from a place of assuming that we're all on the same page. I'm not. Um, because whether we're talking about nationwide data or just just my own kind of subjective experiences, I talk with You.

I've never been more sure of this. We are not on the same page when it comes to these anchors. We, they're, we're just, we're just, we're just not. And so what I wanna do is spend the next 20 minutes just shaming you. I just wanna shame you about that.

Um, I want you walking outta here with some spiritual black eyes, feeling bad about your spiritual practices, you know? No, Um, Here's what I want for you. And, and genuinely, here's what I want.

Um, you walking outta the room with this weekend, I want you to feel inspired. I want you to feel optimistic About jumping into, or jumping back into some of these practices. And I want you to feel like you've got some avenues, you've got some options to explore, alright?

Um, because I know for a lot of us, we start from a place of just, I just, we just don't feel like we measure up. And it's sometimes it's just a little intimidating. It's a little like, it's been so long, it's so weird to, like, it's almost feels even in inauthentic to do it, right? Um, so, so maybe what also I, I want for you is, is, is this, I want you to feel permission to be honest with yourself, Um, about where you're really at, okay?

Um, I, I, I, I, I really would strongly encourage you to not let yourself just go on cruise control, because obviously the pastor wants me to read my Bible more and pray more. And I know that, and I know I should, and I'm probably not gonna, I, I, I want you to give yourself permission to kind of just think your way through this and get, take some stock.

I mean, do you agree or not? You know, do you think about your own practice and belief, or lack thereof? I mean that's, I I I just want you to be honest with yourself. If that's all you do this weekend, I think that's a huge win, just gaining some perspective, okay?

That's what I want for you. Also, some deep shame. No, I'm just kidding. Okay. Alright. So let's, let's, let's start here. When it comes to the why, when it comes to the inspiration bet behind why we, why we ought to want to read the Bible, um, no chapter in the Bible, in my opinion, better captures the why, then a Psalm one 19, okay?

Psalm one 19, um, Psalm, Psalm, the book of Psalms, there's 150 of 'em. They're, they're kind of like, if you have a physical Bible, it's kind of right in the center. Psalm one 19 is the longest, largest chapter in the Bible, too.

So it's pretty relatively easy to find. But as we, uh, read portions of this chapter together, um, here's what I, I'm just asking you to dial into a few things with me. As, as we read Psalm one 19, I want you to ask yourself and try to capture what is the psalmist's mindset about the Bible?

Okay? What's, what's the psalmist's mindset? What is the psalmist, um, believe about it, okay? What does the psalmist feel about it? What does he expect to do with it? That's the psalmist mi try to capture, allow the psalm. 'cause that's what he's telling you. He's telling you what his mindset is.

Alright? Um, because here's, here's what I think, and this is why I'm encouraging in this direction, whether you are one of the 260 people who have stepped across the faith line in the last five months at Pray Lakes, maybe that's you. Or maybe you're a grizzled Bible reading veteran, and your Bible's like tattered, and it's got notes and highlights, and you just, it's like your, your prize possession, regardless of where you're at on that spectrum, all of us have a tendency to get stuck in this area.

And when we do get stuck, it's usually in our mindset. That's why I want you to dial into this with me. Okay? So, um, let's start reading in, in, in verse nine. Psalm Psalm one 19, verse nine through 16. It says, how can a young person stand the path of purity?

Well, by living according to your word, I seek you with all my heart. Don't let me stray from your commands. I've hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, Lord. Teach me your decrees with my lips.

I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes at one as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts. I consider your ways I delight in your decrees. I will not neglect Your word. Okay, nine through 16.

So let's unpack what the psalmist mindset is, uh, when it comes to first, what does the psalmist believe about the Bible? What does he believe about it? Well, he believes that it's God's Word.

The psalmist approaches this as though God is Speaking to him. And that's why around here pray lakes, you're gonna hear us use the phrase God's word, synonymously with the Bible whenever we're talking about the Bible. So we talk about, right, we believe it's how God speaks to us, even, even today.

Um, and, and in fact, last fall, we did a whole series on this called Skeptics Guide to the Bible. You can go online and you can grab that. There's a resource there as well. Um, and we did that because obviously with a, with a, with a book like the Bible, which is actually 66 different books that spans across literal millennia, written in different times to different cultures.

There's some interpretive challenges to this thing, right? And we just gotta acknowledge those challenges. We've gotta handle them appropriately because, and this is something I think you just need to rest on, okay? It is an oversimplification to Say, It's an oversimplification to say That You can just pick up the Bible and just listen to God speak to you.

Now, listen, I, I believe that he does through this. I do. But also, if I were to flip to, I don't know, oh gosh, let's go, uh, I don't know. Let's go. Oh, here we go. Here we go. Second Chronicles three, um, or second Chronicles four. He made a bronze altar. 20 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, 10 cubits high, made the sea of cast metal circular shade, measuring 10 cubits from rim to rim, five cubits eye.

It took a line of 30 cbits to measure around it. The word of the Lord, thanks be to God. Right? It's, it's tough sometimes, okay? It is. Um, nevertheless, The psalmist believes That as he Reads the Bible, he's listening to God Speak to him.

And that's the huge reason why he reads it, okay? But it's more than just that. It's, there's, there's not just what he believes about. There's this, there's an emotional component to it as well, and that's a crucial part of his mindset. How, how does the psalmist feel about it?

But here's how he describes some of his feelings in Psalm one 19. He uses the words rejoice. He Uses the words delight, and even some more emotional verbs or phrases like, like, I'm, I'm hiding your word in my Heart.

I'm hiding it. Um, or I'm Seeking you with, with all my heart. I'm meditating on your precepts, or I'm considering your ways. I'm not gonna neglect it. I mean, you really get a sense, how does he feel about the Bible?

You get a sense that it's precious to him, like he feels joy About it. Okay? There's some value here. So this is, this is what he thinks about it. This is how he feels about it. That's what makes up his mindset.

And, and before we go any further, just I, I, again, I want you to take stock. If I asked you to honestly reflect back to me, or just even to yourself, okay? Do you Think about it in this way? Do you feel about it in this kinda way?

Does this reflect your mindset? If you were to authentically and genuinely write down like the psalmist did, but it was you, not, not, not the right answer, your answer. If you were to write your answer down when it comes to your mindset, what would you write?

Would you agree? Yes. Would you go like, no, that's not, would you go? Well, that's kind of, you know, if you're a, that's not my mindset or it's kind of my mindset, if that's you, in other words, if you're struggling to feel this kinda way about God's word, um, it might be because you're missing the final and probably most crucial aspect of this mindset.

It kind of all binds it together. And That is what does, what does the psalmist expect to do with it? Look at verse nine. He says, how can a young person stay on the path of purity by living according to your word?

Verse 10, he says, I, I, I don't wanna stray from, it keeps him in the path of purity. It protects him from sin. What, what does the psalmist expect to do with it? Well, he expects to Obey it.

I mean, he's gonna make it his way of life. He's gonna submit to it. I think this is where a lot of us get stuck when it comes to this practice, this anchor of Bible reading. I mean, we approach the Bible as though all we're supposed to do with it is read it.

I mean, we don't really expect that God's gonna speak to it and speak through it to us in such a way That we're gonna be compelled to respond, or that God might need to communicate to us through it for what we're facing that day, what we're facing at home, what we're facing at work.

Instead, I think a lot of us, we kind of, we kind of compartmentalize the Bible, like it's some sort of, um, spiritual snack, uh, that we can either take and eat or not, just depending on our appetite. But when part of our mindset is it doesn't really matter whether I'm hungry for it or not.

What matters is I'm supposed to live it out. When that's part of our mindset, we approach it with this expectation that he might speak to us through it, that he might tell us what obedience looks like, so that we can live our life, even that very day in a way that reflects him in a way that's according to his word.

When we have that mindset, I just, just, just watch, it's gonna start to become precious to you, this word, because God, through it, he's gonna prove himself to you, and he is gonna prove his ways to you. He's gonna prove his wisdom to you. He's gonna prove is righteous to you, but he can only prove that as you follow and do what He says.

He's gonna prove his goodness and love to you as you obey what he's spoken to you. So this is why Jesus teaches his disciples to pray along these lines. In Luke 11, here's what he says. One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.

When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray. Just as John taught his disciples. And he said to them, well, when you pray, say, follow Father Hallelu, be your name, your kingdom come. And then he says this, give us each day our daily bread.

This is our bread, right? It's our, our food, and we eat it not just to feel full, although sometimes me, that's what I wanna do, okay? But we, but we ingest this word to, to live and to move and to have the energy to face the day and the direction that we need to face it.

You know, when you approach God's word with this expectation that he's gonna show you what obedience looks like, you're gonna begin to feel the, the joy and the value of his word as you live that out. And, uh, and as you do that over time, you're just gonna grow more and more confident that, yeah, this is, this is more than just a book.

This is the God of the universe. Speaking specifically personally to you. Uh, in fact, later on in Psalm one 19, um, again, I told you it was a long one. Uh, but go all the way down to like verse 97. Um, the psalmist captures how God uses his word in his life when he says this in verse 97.

Um, oh, how I love your law. I meditate on it all day long. Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. I have more insight than all my teachers. For I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders for I obey your precepts.

There it is. Right? I've got more understanding of that 'cause I read it because I live it out. I've kept my feet from every evil path. So I might obey your word. I'm not departed from your loss. For you yourself have taught me how sweeter your worst to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.

I gain understanding from your precepts. Therefore, I hate every wrong path. And finally, your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path. And I want you to notice those bookends there between 97 verse 97 and 1 0 5, verse 97, he talks about, I meditate on your word God.

And then in verse 1 0 5, he says, it's a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Here's what I want you to see. Okay? There's a connection between praying and reading God's word. There's a connection, a strong One.

I think when we read it with a prayerful mindset and practice. This, Bible's gonna go from a book to a lamp one more time. There's a connection between praying and reading God's word. There's a connection between those.

I think when you read it with this prayerful mindset and this prayerful Practice, It's gonna go from just a book to, to a lamp for your feet, for your life. And so, here's what I wanna do, and this is how we're, we're gonna, we're gonna close.

Um, I wanna, I wanna share with you just practically about how me, um, when I'm at my best, at least, okay? So this isn't consistent all the time. I'm spiritual superman. Um, but at my best, here's how I approach my time with God's word, with a prayerful mindset and practice.

And, and, and I just wanna give you a snapshot, a really clear snapshot of how it looks for me, okay? So, and here's where it starts, okay? When, if I, if I'm reading God's word of peripheral mindset and practice, I start by trying to make the time and space sacred.

And I've got a, I got an illustration for you how this is gonna work. It's gonna require me to, to do a couple things, okay? And so I listen, I know we got a bunch of sixth graders in the room, okay? So when you're in sixth grade, when you're in sixth grade, um, you go from like little kid pajamas to like basketball shorts.

And I, and I'm someone who has had the same set of pajamas, not literally, but the same uniform ever since I was in sixth grade. I do basketball shorts. Um, in fact, I'm gonna, I'm gonna show you, I, and I promise I have basketball shorts on, okay?

I promise you. But this is, yep, it's happening. Okay? I have basketball shorts on. I have basketball shorts on. Don't get, don't be weird about this, okay? But I, I make this time sacred in the mornings, okay?

And, uh, that wasn't awkward at all. Just move on, move on. Um, I, I just wanna give you a, I wanna give you a sense of what this looks like. And, uh, so here's, oh, yeah, this is me every single morning.

Of course, maybe you can see 'em down here. Gotta make sure I got the Yankee slippers on. Oh, so, so good. Now, this obviously is not like my, my real chair, okay? In fact, if I tried to like, move my wheelchair, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't make the trip.

Uh, it's kind of in that kind of shape. Um, but this is how it looks for me, okay? Every single morning, this is how it looks for me. This is how I set some time apart for, um, just the rest of, of my day. How I protect it, my time with God, from the stress, from the noise, uh, from the distractions that are inevitably gonna come my my way.

This is how I make my time and my space sacred. And it's in the mornings. Now, I'm not a morning person. I'm not, I never have been. I never will be, I don't think, okay? Um, I'm a night person, but, but nights, nights are not sacred to me.

Nights are not sacred to me. Um, nights of the time when I'm trying to wind down, um, slow down, decompress, maybe I've got a meeting or something, or maybe I'm doing some work, stuff that doesn't get done, you know, in the day or whatever. It's just not mornings, even though not a morning person.

Mornings are a little bit more sacred. And so that's when I set apart time to spend with God and his word. And it looks a lot, it looks a lot like this. I've got my chair. I've got coffee on a timer, okay? So that's all ready for me.

Um, I've got my living room lamps, I've got in my house. I've got smart bulbs in my living room that they turn on at 30%, at six 30 every morning by design, right? It's gonna creates an environment. Nobody else is up yet. The alarm goes off at, at, at six 30, and I just, and I settle in, okay?

Um, and for me, um, I do, um, the Bible app on my phone. That's what I do. And so if you have not downloaded the Bible app, just go to your app store, whatever it is, type in Bible download. It's, it's from a company called You version.

Um, and then there's a bunch of plans on there that, that you can sort through. For me, and I've done this for the last probably four or five years, I just pull up the Bible project Bible in a year plan. And what I love about it, we've used Bible project videos around here.

What I love about it is it kind of helps me span the gap between what I'm reading and my, and my world today, because there's videos and then there's context, and there's just some stuff that I just, it's really engaging to kind of know. And it's also three or four chapters a day, which I like, you know?

But then this is just me, okay? This is how, this is how I, this is how I do it. Um, I make this time in this space sacred, number one. Number two, I approach my time with God conversationally, okay? I approach it conversationally, which means, again, at my best, I talk to God before.

And during this time, um, I talk to him before I open up my Bible to read, and I talk to him while here's what that looks like, okay? And, and, and just get a, get a sense of this. If this book, this Bible actually is how God speaks to us today, if it's actually true, we probably should interact with him while we're reading it.

Um, so, so I take some time before I, I, I dive in. I, I create some space for myself to become like, present in prayer with him. Um, sometimes I do a little bit of confession. Sometimes I just tell him what's on my mind. Sometimes just allow that to come to the forefront of my mind.

Um, I'll ask him stuff. Um, I'll ask him to show himself, you know, those kinds of things. And then while I read, I, I gotta remember, I'm not just reading a book. I, I'm, I'm having a conversation with God, which, which, which, which means it's not just a one-way relationship.

Um, it's, it's a two-way conversation. And, and, and, and so if I'm confused by what I'm reading, I'll stop. And I'll like, what is that? What does that mean? You know? Or at least note it. I'll, I'll slow down and I'll try to capture that, that confusion.

Um, or I'll try to do what the psalmist did. I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll like meditate on it. Like if there's something that stands out to me, I'm not just gonna keep zooming past. I'm gonna just pause and just kind of consider that, think about that for a second.

There's some interesting thoughts. Maybe write some of those things down. I mean, the god of the universe is speaking to me through this. I should approach it that way. Number two. And finally, at my best, here's, here's how I approach my time with, with God in his word.

Okay? If I'm doing this prayerful mindset and this practice, number three, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna share it in some way. Um, now you, you, you, you might say that's not really a, a prayerful thing to do. It's more of an active thing to do, and that, that's not wrong.

But I still think it's a prayerful thing. And, and here's what I mean by that. I think, I think when you approach your Bible reading conversationally with a prayerful practice and a prayerful mindset, and God speaks to you and you like acknowledge that and you participate in that, I think one of the outcomes of that a lot of times is you feel like you've got something real to share with someone else.

'cause the God of the universe shared something with you. I mean, it, it, it, sometimes it's, it's wisdom or advice or admonishment or loving corrections. Sometimes it's just a story of how God's been good to you. Um, but it's a, it's a wonderful thing to watch God use these gifts that he gives us in someone else's life as you share it with, with them.

Um, but again, that's only gonna happen if you approach God in his word with a prayerful mindset. Um, so here's what I wanna do. I'm gonna leave you with, with Jesus's words from, from Luke 11. As he, as he talks about this.

Here's, here's how Jesus describes this. He says, no one lights the lamp and puts it in place where it's gonna be hidden under a bowl. Instead of, they put it on its stands so that those who come in may see the light.

It's pretty obvious, Hey, you don't have a lamp in your house, and then throw a shade over it that covers it all up so it can't shine. Obviously, you want it shining, right? And then he says this, your eye is the lamp of your body.

And so when your eyes are healthy, your body is also full of light. Meaning, if my eyes are working right and I'm looking at the light, I'm gonna be able to see that's how it's designed. And then he says this, but when your eyes are unhealthy, your body is also full of darkness.

Meaning, when I'm not looking at the light, I'm not gonna see where to go. And so it's a see to it then that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light and no part of it is dark, it's just gonna be, it'll be just as full of light as when the lamp shines a light on you again.

Meaning, boy, if we set our focus every single day on the light of God's word with this prayerful mindset, you better believe it's gonna go from a book to this to a lamp. And that's, that's, that's, that's an anchor.

That's an anchor. Okay? So again, I hope you get a chance to kind of dive back into this or dive into the first time your, your weekend host is gonna have some really practical thoughts here.

Let me just pray us to that end. Okay? Father in heaven, um, thank you for your word. Um, God, I, I, I know there's a lot of barriers, uh, that stand in the way sometimes for a lot of us when it comes to this practice, this anchor, uh, God. I, I just ask, um, in a way that only you can, could you help us, um, be connected or be reconnected with, with your word, and bless us, God, as we do Jesus.

In your name we pray, amen.