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Well good morning good morning Happy New Year is it too late in the year to be saying that um most of you haven't seen since last year which when you use that phrase it sounds like a um long time ago it's only a couple of weeks but the year's flying already um seems to be anyway last year um which as I say sounds like a long time ago can't remember the exact date I was going to check but I didn't um Dylan preached on a topic and um it was our church anniversary weekend and Dylan presented uh from the church Council what the church Council believed was going to be was to be um our theme verse for the year now hands up those who remember what that verse was have a look around Dylan okay see a few okay let me help you um Psalm 46:1 and it says be still and know that I am God so my encouragement to you is is to um is to memorize that and not just to memorize it but to put it into practice as well so when we were just discussing Dylan and Dave and I were talking about my preaching I said anything particular that you'd like me to preach on the suggestion from those guys said how about you set us off in reminding us what our theme verse for the year is so um so that's what it is be still and know that I am God um I put up in a few different versions there so the I think it's CV contemporary English version says our God says calm down and Loom that I am God well the Amplified version says be still and know recognize and understand that I am God then there's the DV do not the D is David ler version go to the CHP of the past the it hasn't done the whole Bible yet but but this is uh my understanding of the verse this stop cease doing things your way and put your trust in God now when you stop and think about that is that not a a worthy themed verse for the coming year to stop stop doing things your way stop doing things my way stop doing things our way and put our trust in God so there only 11 verses in Psalm 46 I'd like to read them to you and um if you've got your Bibles you might like to follow it through now you will probably remember most of the Psalms written by David this one is not so if you see um at the top it says for the directed music of the sons of Kora according to uh Alamo moth a song here it is Psalm 46 God is our refuge and strength and everpresent help in trouble therefore we will not fear though the Earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea though its Waters Roar and fame and the mountains Quake with their surging CA there is a river whose dreams make glad the city of God the holy place where the most high dwells God is within her she will not fall God will not help her at break of day nations are in uproar kingdoms fall he lifts his voice the Earth melts the Lord Almighty is with us the god of Jacob is our Fortress word occurs again CA come and see the works of the Lord the desolations he brought on the earth he makes Wars cease to the ends of the Earth he breaks the bow and shatters the spear he burns the shields with fire and here it is fol be still and know that I am God I'll be exalted among the Nations I'll be exalted in the Earth the Lord Almighty is with us the god of Jacob is our Fortress CA now purposely reading that word CA because when I was going through this and preparing I've noted that some versions don't include the word CA in them in fact even the NIV has a few different additions and certainly one of the additions that I looked at the NIV does not include the word CA so what is CA what does it mean well nobody knows and that's probably why some of the versions omitted so generally speaking some people think it probably means pause and reflect or like this one's a song some people think well it's probably some uh musical um instruction like with emphasis or something like that uh whatever it is it's uh the ca means that there's a break there of some description and so it's helpful for us I'm not going to uh redo Psalm 46 go back and listen to Dylan sermon it'll be there but it break what it means is that it breaks down this Psalm into these three sections verses 1 to 3 ending in Sila Verses 4 to7 ending in Sila and verses 8 to1 ending in Sila and so it's helpful then well I found it helpful to try to find out or to look at say what is the theme in each of these sections and this is my understanding these are the themes that I came up with when you read it um and and uh study it I come up with different themes but this is what I came up with verses 1 to three the emphasis there is that God is our refuge verses 4-7 the emphasis there is God is our security and verses 8 to 11 God is our peace now when you put those three together we get this amazing picture of God that God is our refuge God is our security God is our peace and so is it not worthwhile when we consider these three qualities of God that we take on board those words of uh Psalm 4610 be still stop be still and know that I am God I'm The God Who is your Refuge God who is your security God who is your peace our our God our refuge our security our Peace So the very fact that this verse starts off with um be still um generally well implied in that is that if the command comes to you to be still to stop means that something is going on you agree and so try to stop and think well what is going on round about that uh this command the God says to the people in this pm to be still and there's all sorts of things we can come up with I tried to think of a an all-encompassing word that um that talks about all the stuff that's going on round about us and uh what's all of this that God would say to you and to me today be still well I couldn't come up with a a satisfactory word and maybe you'll be able to helped me and come up with a satisfactory word but I've thought well some of the things the causes of all that's going on around us I initially said noise because noise covers a whole lot of things but it's more than that it's noise and chaos and thoughtless activity now why I'm saying um thoughtless activity because activity in itself is not wrong but thoughtless activity um is is an issue where we just run around and think as long as we're busy then um then then things are going well without stopping and thinking about why am I busy what am I doing does this make sense and more importantly does it make sense as far as God's plan for me does it make sense in that regard so I thought well what's a few things that are causes of chaos thoughtless activity and so on so I've come up with a few and um because there's a million other things I put other there because there's other things in there so I thought about anger anger is one of the things which preoccupies which Causes Chaos I don't know about you but it just seems to me that our society is getting more and more Angry road rage is becoming an increasing problem domestic violence is becoming um well it's always been there but the problem as well as anger has been and that we are living in this Society where people just don't know or are un certain don't have the skills how do I handle this emotion called anger because anger in itself if it's rightly directed whatever um can be a helpful thing but it's out of control it becomes something where God is saying to be still but the opposite of anger it seems to be like fear and just as anger seems to be an increasing problem in our society fear also seems to be um an increasing issue in our society too um was that not one of the key focuses of our state election just a couple of months ago about fear of uh youth crime and a whole lot of other other crimes and so on but the fear of all sorts of things the fear of death the fear of illness the fear of losing our job the fear of losing our home all sorts of things and then I put in this one kosi excuse me to Japanese and I don't know how to say it properly but a few years ago this word became an invogue word and there's a lot of Articles especially in Management areas where this word was being quoted you see in Japan it was recognized that Executives particularly were overwork and just going too hard too fast on things and actually suicide amongst Executives was uh was a key issue because of this overw work and just preoccupation with work and being unable to keep up with uh with work and so there's this Japanese word which if you're in management circus you're probably heard of it and maybe even used it but generally it's understood to be or to involve long working hours job related stress and poor work life balance but while that might be true for employment would you agree that there can be Kashi in a whole range of areas in our life as well um this just where life seems so out of control um there are more and more gadgets that we have in our homes and in our lives which is supposed to make life diff uh easier but in fact it just seems to complicate life more and more and get us more and more busy self-reliance um um entitlement um I deserve this and uh so on in a whole range of things and so a whole range of things are going on round about us and some of these things or other things will be applying to you and to me today so my guess is there are folk here sitting here this morning having issues with anger there are folks sitting here have issues with fear or with uh this whole area of self-reliance of you know it's got to be me who he does it whatever and uh this Kashi where life is just so out of control where life is controlling me rather than I'm controlling life and so this is what's going on round about it and for all of us today there's this noise chaos uh whatever going on round about us and in the middle of all of this you know what God is saying to you God is saying be still and know that I am God remember those three things that we said about God be still and know that I am God I'm Refuge security I am your peace and so we have all of this going on round about us and we Endeavor to address these issues that are going on and we have all sorts of ways of trying to address all of these things you go to any bookstore and see how many self-help uh books are there and tapes and uh Cs and and podcasts whatever else about how to address this noise this chaos in our lives um psychologists talk about a locus of control about what's controlling my life and they talk about Locust of control whether that Locust the location is the Locust the location of that control whether it's within me or whether it's outside of me and so sometimes there's this tendency within us to say there's all this noise going on round about me I can can control it I won't get you to put your hand up at how many of you um set New Year's resolutions um and in the next question obviously how many I still keeping them you see it's it's this and nothing's wrong with New Year's resolutions by the way go for it but this whole idea of that I can have total control of my life and we're told in our society today that whatever you want to do you can do it whatever you want to do you can do it um there's a theological word for that and it's rubbish because that's just not true because you can't do everything or anything any red-blooded young Australian male who intends to go to heaven always dreamed that one day they'd wear the baggy green and play cricket for Australia yeah you agree except for two of our pastors like Dylan and Dave how did we end up with two guys who don't follow cricket and they still expect to go to heaven um I just don't understand that it's just a dream that one day that I'd play cricket for Australia and there's only one thing that ever stopped me from playing for Australia and that one thing was I just wasn't good enough um you see I just can't do any and everything we have a medical specialist in our church um and let me assure you that if you need to see a medical specialist in his area of expertise you'd much rather go to see him rather than to see me we also have a number of bus drivers I think four or more bus drivers in our in our congregation and I just admire these men and women who just these gigantic Mach machines through the traffic I have trouble parking my wheelbarrow without bumping into things and These Guys these people are just these huge machines are going through you would much rather they were driving you in the bus than me you see I can't do everything and fact it's a reality of Life which we all need to accept is I can't do everything but but I can do something and we need to understand this is that in this chaos round about us is that there are some things which we can do something about but there's a lot of stuff that we can't that's out of our control and so we have these three ideas of things that I can do we have them you know fight that I'm going to stand up and I'm going to address this and I'm going to do it or this flight I'm going to run away and hide from it or Escape it or the faint that I'm just going of fall over and collapse in the presence of it so there's this locus of control internally that I can deal with all this is going on round about us but then there's another locus of control this external one which says I depend on others to help me through and addressing all of these things and so some like therapy uh meditation sometimes Eastern meditation people try or that um medication um substances U all sorts of things people Endeavor to use and once again with a lot of these things not all of them some a lot of them there's nothing wrong with them they're helpful but in all of this in all that's going on round about us God says to us what there's an external local locus of control depending on others or there's an internal a of control that I can do whatever I want but God says be still be still on what and know that I am God these things about God he's our refuge he's our security he's our peace the things in this chaotic World in which we live now I just want to say this as a as a um important note here is that what I'm not saying that abandon all these things and just depend on God there are some sections of the some well-meaning Christians who will tell us that uh don't go to the doctor don't do this don't do that just depend on God folk God will can and will use others from time to time to help us in addressing some of these things so read that note there that if you are currently on medication or seeing a counsel or anything like that don't stop that fake just keep it there but just remember the perspective God first remember that uh that God comes first and that God can and will use some of these other things from time to time as well so there's this noise God saying be still and know that I am God I want to look this very quickly at two case studies um in the Bible about being still and know that uh that God is God the first case study I've chosen is from 1 Kings chapter 18 verse 1 and to chapter 19 and verse 14 you probably know this story it's a story of when Elijah um confronted the prophets of ba and ashra on Mount carel um let me just summarize the story story very quickly um it's a it's an exciting story to read um Elijah he was uh who's the number one Troublemaker in the eyes of the king Ahab and the queen Jezebel so who's the number one Troublemaker in all Israel and um he had a price on his head and uh he had hidden there's also a priest who had stayed true to God but stayed in there his name was Abad he actually rescued some of them hundred of them and sple them into two groups and hid them and fed them and so on but but Ahab and Jezebel were Wicked people leading God's people down to worshiping this uh this false prophet B and so Along Comes Along Comes Elijah to confront these people and um and this uh confrontation takes place on Mount carel And so there's Elijah is one man is man of God and 850 of these other prophets and chapter 18 and verse 21 is a key verse where it says Elijah went before the people and said how long will you waver between two opinions if the Lord is God follow him but if Baal is God follow him folk that's a key verse for you to stop and think about who's in control in your life don't waver between two opinions if God is God follow him whatever else give that a mess and so what happened then is that Elijah says let's set up this competition to see who is really the the true God slaughter a couple of animals put them on a sacrifice 850 uh prophets danced and carried on trying to call down fire from heaven and uh midday came nothing was happening Elijah started to Jer them and say go what's up you B sleep yell a bit louder all that sort of stuff and nothing happened and Elijah then for his sacrifice put on buckets of water more more and more and then it says this that Elijah prayed and he prayed and the fire came down and um and and his prayer was just simply this oh Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel let it be known today that you are God in Israel that I am your servant have done all these things at your command when that happened all the people saw this verse 39 I fell down and I cried out the Lord he is God the Lord he is God the Lord he is God the Lord he is God who's this one the one who says be still and know that I am God well Elijah ordered all these prophets to be killed Ahab went told his wife Jezebel Queen and Jezebel made this statement by this time tomorrow Elijah is going to be dead Elijah hears this and he runs off scared he's just faced 850 people prophets of these false prophets but one woman he runs away from Fear scared why did he run what should he have done he should have at that time immediately said be still and know that I am God well it's easy for you and me to say that because we weren't in that situation had we been in that situation we might have gone maybe even a bit faster than Elijah ran out into the desert and anyway so there after him Elijah goes out he's exhausted God treats him a special way and then God Appears to him and then this is what happens this is what happens uh a great God says I'm going to verse 11 chapter 19 lord said go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by Great and Powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the Rocks before the Lord but the Lord wasn't in the wind after the wind there was an earthquake but the Lord wasn't in the earthquake after the earthquake came a fire but the Lord wasn't in the fire and after the fire came away no V says a gentle whisper um we've often understood it after that came they still Small Voice um you see we need to understand that f is that often we are looking for the spectacular to um to hear God and sometimes we hear reports the spectacular things or observe them and say hey God must really be there look what's happening in that place I want to say this is that well God might appear in the spectacular mostly mostly mostly God comes to you and to me in I still small voice and that's why he says to us to be still and to know that I'm God don't worry about seeking after the activity and the spectacular and all the rest of it just stop where you are to be still and to know that I'm God and God spoke to Elijah in that still Small Voice and twice he said to Elijah what are you doing here twice he says that what are you doing here Elijah is full of self-pity I'm the only one left and God says I've actually reserved 5,000 whatever other people who haven't bended their KN there's stacks of people you're not alone but sometimes when we stop and we listen to the still Small Voice God is going to be saying to you what are you doing here what are you doing here what are you doing here is may be something that God wants to say to you and to me today second case study is in the book in the New Testament example in Mark Mark chapter 4 another story you know well Jesus has been teaching all day and um after the teaching gets his disciples aside and as is his model there's the action of the teaching then there's the reflection he reflects with his disciples at the end of that it's been a full day he says look let's go the other side of the lake and they all get into the boat and Jesus is fast asleep in the back of the boat now you think huh he's just been talking all day what's the issue like I just want you to re realize this is that is that actually preaching and teaching really takes it out of you um you talk to any of the pastors anybody who preaches and I'll tell you that often we brain dead afterwards I remember reading once I can't remember where but they said that half hour preaching you use as much energy as doing a half a day's physical labor now I think that's probably more true for some preachers than for others for sure but Jesus has been at it all day and he says to his disciples let's go the other side L they hop in the boat Jesus is fast asleep other boats are with them so there's this Fleet of boats going over and this amazing storm uh this huge storm comes up and uh so so big a storm the waves are breaking into the boat who are experienced fishermen experienced boat people out there they are afraid so imagine what it must be like to be in something like that I bit of a thing on the but here's stuff where experience fish his face all sorts of things they are scared Jesus is s asleep why on Earth is he sleeping so they wake him up and say Jesus aren't you really concerned about what's going on here do you think don't you care that we all going to perish Jesus wakes up and he says speaks to the storm and what's he say be still and what was the result the storm calmed my sense is implied in this is that Jesus not was was not only saying to the storm to be still and to be calm but also speaking to the disciples as well because when he calms the storm he turns to them and he says where's your faith guys what's going on you just gone through a whole day of teaching and I've reflected with you and here we are facing a storm and and and you're scared you've got the King of Kings the Lord of lords in the boat with you what can happen Jesus is with you and it sometimes seems to me that Jesus wants to remind us as well is that when we're in the biggest storm of Our Lives that sometimes he'll calm the storm round about us and he steals the storm whatever that might be but he also turns to us and says where's your faith I'm with you remember I'm with you be still remember I I'm The God Who is your Refuge I'm the God of Peace I'm The God Who is your security I'm with you where's your faith in all of this and so he says to be still and know that I am God well folk we're just about to set off on the rest of the year the church Council in hearing from God says folk both as the church and as individuals this is our Focus for 2025 Psalm 4610 which says on 212 be still that means everybody say that Al loud on two one two be still and know that I am God Five Lessons and I'm done here they are number one is this to make God your first choice not your last resort um isn't it so too often that in life we try everything else when nothing else works we so I better pray about about this fact make God your first choice not your last resort when faced with chaos stop look and listen before you start acting faced with chaos all of these other things we've been mentioning and other things we haven't mentioned just stop don't depend on yourself and others that can come later but stop and look around and listen God is there's something that you want to say to me in all of this number three the spectacular does not mean spiritual or God at work it may but it more than likely doesn't so forget it look for God in the still small voice in The Quiet Moments not in the in the big Ry things um number four God may appear in the spectacular but Mac is a still small voice and the sacred trust in God God is mine what did we hear from Psalm 46 God is my what my refuge my security and my peace to be still and to know I'm God but know that you followed just short story and I'm done um it followed about this young guy he got lost in the snowy mountains for 13 days he and a couple of mates went out he decided to take a few photos went away from the group got lost so for 13 days he was lost and he was discovered just this last week and uh Amazing Story without going into all that it's interesting that as I was reading that there's an article uh parallel to it says this is what you do when you're lost have you ever seen a kid get separated from Mom and Dad in the shopping center maybe it happened to you or your kids we've seen it but kids get lost or they think they're lost what they do they start running and screaming and yelling mom mom dad dad whatever exactly what we do as adults uh but in a different way but it's interesting this article said if you get lost you know what you do the first thing you do is you stop and take stock of the situation and you start to look at all your options we live in a chaotic World round about us all sorts of noise all sorts of things happening round about us and God says to you and to me stop be still and know that I'm god let's pray is not wrong right that we should stop so we've just been talking about silly to run on now we only get a pause for a couple of seconds now when you go home you might need to sleep away somewhere and spend a five minutes or an hour some of you will need a whole day away some will even need a week away to be still till list listen to God so God speak to me I'm here your servant wanting to hear your voice want to do that today and I'm just wondering whether even here this morning there might be a person who has never ever ever trusted God as you've been talking today in the chaos of sin in your life you've realized I've got to stop and to recognize God if God is God follow him what I'm doing now is just not working right where you are you can give your life to Jesus if you do that share it with one of the pastors or somebody else in leadership in the church that you can pray and share together many of us we just rushing rushing rushing through life God is saying stop be still and know that I'm God we're going to close with two songs we're going to sing Ancient of Days and then a hymn please stand and sing with us [Music] the Nations rage kingdoms rise and fall there is still one king raining over all so I will not fear for this truth remains that my God is the Ancient of Days n above before him all in his hands for his shall remain in heav [Music] all the power all the glory I will trust in his name for my God is the an all days oh The Dread of night overwhel my soul he is here with me I am not alone all his love is sure and he knows my name for my God is the Ancient of Days not above him now before him all the time in his for his TR it shall remain [Music] ever all the power all the glory I will trust in his name for my God is the Ancient of Days [Music] though I may not see what the brings I will watch and wait for myor King and my joy come standing face to face in the presence of creation [Music] days above him not before him all the time in his for his TR it shall remain all the power all the glory I will trust in his name for my God is the anent of [Music] days for my God is the Ancient of Days [Music] be thou my vision oh lord of my heart not be all else to me say that th down my best by day or by Night waking or sleeping thy presence thy might be thou my V be thou my true I ever with and th with me down my great father and I th true son th in it dwelling and iing he w whiches i he not no hands empty Gra my inheritance now with the always th and down only be first in my high King Of Heaven my treasure there God Be My Everything be my Del be Jesus my glory my soul s is oh God Be My Everything be might de be Jesus my glory my soul s [Music] my king of Heaven Victory is one may I reach heaven Jo oh Bright Heaven of my own heart whatever still be my VIs