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Announcer: This broadcast is sponsored by the friends and
partners of Kerry Shook Ministries.
We thank you for helping to spread the love of Christ
throughout the world.
KERRY: Today we're talking about a lost art. We're talking about
an ancient spiritual discipline that has been all but forgotten
in our loud, hectic, fast paced society today. We're talking
about the ancient spiritual discipline of silence, and what
silence does for our lives. And how to spend that moment of
silence with God so that he can fill us up and refresh our
faith, and bring it to life again. We're in this series
we're calling Fresh. Its all about how to get a fresh start
in the new year and the way to do that is to revive some
ancient spiritual disciplines. And there's an amazing benefit
to this discipline of silence. All the great men and women of
faith in the past were tuned into this discipline, and it
helped them tune into God so that they could gain God's
wisdom and strength in their life.
Hey, get ready to be revived.
You're watching a presentation of Kerry Shook Ministries.
[♪♪♪]
[♪♪♪]
Kerry: Silence...
...is a powerful thing.
A few moments of silence seems to scream at us in our
noise saturated society and grab our attention like nothing else.
But silence...
...is an uncomfortable thing. We really struggle with it.
It makes us feel uneasy. Dallas Willard says the hardest
thing to get Americans to do is nothing. We're always busy in
our overcrowded and our overloaded schedules and even
when we are alone, we have the TV blaring or the CD blasting or
we're talking or texting on our cell phones, or we're surfing
the Internet or e-mailing on our computers. We act like silence
and solitude are our worst enemies, but the ancient
discipline of silence and solitude is essential for
spiritual growth and keeping our faith fresh and vibrant. Because
there are times in every one of our lives where our passion and
our walk with the Lord starts to wane and our faith starts
getting stale and the irony is, age old spiritual disciplines
are the real secret to making my faith feel fresh and new and
last week we talked about the Biblical discipline of
meditation and this week I want to talk about the ancient
spiritual discipline of silence and solitude. Now when we think
of the discipline of silence usually we think of a medieval
monk up in a monastery somewhere who has taken a vow of silence
for years, but God doesn't intend for most of us to take a
vow of silence for 30 years, but He does want all of us to
practice the discipline of silence and solitude on a daily
basis. So I want you to open your Bibles to Isaiah chapter
30. It's our key verse today and would you stand in honor of
God's word and let's read this out loud together.
"This is what the sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel
says, in repentance and rest is your salvation.
In quietness and trust is your strength".
Lord I pray today that you would help us just be quiet
and rest in our souls today. Lord we suffer from a
motion sickness of the soul that comes from our busy lifestyles
and this ancient art of silence and solitude is really missing
from most of our churches today and from most of our lives
today, so I pray today you would speak to us in quietness of
these moments in a real powerful way, in a way that grabs our
hearts and our minds and changes us forever so we can be in tune
with You and we can rest in the promises you've given us, for
it's in Jesus name we pray, Amen. You can be seated.
You can be seated.
And I want you to underline the word quietness and then would
you draw an arrow to the word strength in that verse because
quietness strengthens my faith. There are four things about
silence and solitude that I want you to see today. First, silence
reduces my stress and that's a good thing because we live in a
very stressful society. In Lamentations 3:28 it says,
"When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself
and enter the silence".
The anecdote to stress and anxiety is silence and
solitude and one of the reasons it's so hard for us to stay
silent is because we feel so helpless, because words help us
control situations. We use words to try to control circumstances.
We use words to try to control other people and when I'm
anxious and worried it's because I'm trying to control too much
and frankly folks, most of life is out of our control. And the
reason we get anxious and stressed is because we're trying
to control the uncontrollable, but whenever I get quiet,
whenever I get silent and I stop trying and I stop talking, I'm
really acknowledging that I'm not in control and that reduces
my stress right off the bat. I just admit I'm not in control.
When I get silent and calm and quiet and alone I'm saying,
I can't control everything, I can't control anything and I
give up to you. Lord, God, you're in control. Psalm 46:10
says, "be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among
the nations. I will be exalted in the earth". Underline be
still and know that I am God. By the way, that's one of your
assignments this week, is to meditate on this passage and
memorize this passage. Last week we meditated on Psalm chapter 1.
This week it's Psalm 46:10. Take the sermon notes with you
wherever you go and meditate on it and put it into your life.
When I get still and quiet I'm basically saying, I realize I'm
not in control, but God is and he loves me and cares for me.
I stop trying, I stop talking, I stop trying to control
everything and I rest in his care and control. Whenever I'm
trying to control too much, I'm really trying to be God and
there's no way that I can be the general manager of the universe
without getting stressed out. That's a burden I can't handle.
This week I was really busy. A lot of seemingly important
things were coming my way and it didn't take very long into the
week before my to do list got so long I was just overwhelmed.
You know what I mean.
It happens to you every week as well. And so
many things were just pulling at me and I thought I need to be
here, but I need to be there, and I need to be here and I need
to be there, I need to meet this person's needs and meet that
person's needs and I just felt pulled from all
directions and stressed,
I can't meet everyone's needs. I can't be everywhere at once
and it's okay because God is in control.
I remember when my son Ryan was a little baby he hated to
fall asleep and he would just fight it and so whenever he
would get tired I would pick him up and walk him around and kind
of bounce him around and his little head would just bob
around. He'd do everything he could to keep that head up and
it was so heavy and his eyes would start to shut and he would
make this noise, uhh, uhh, uhh, uhh, uhh, uhh, uhh, doing
whatever he could to stay awake until finally he couldn't hold
his head up any longer, he couldn't keep his eyes open any
longer and he couldn't make any more noise and he would just
rest his head against my chest and fall asleep. Some of you,
you just need to stop and you just need to rest your head
against your heavenly Father's chest and know that He's in
control. You're not God. You can't control it. Try to control
that situation. Try to control that person. Try to change that
circumstance. Gotta come to the place where finally you stop in
silence and solitude and you place your head on you heavenly
Father's chest and you rest in his care and control. Silence
and solitude reduces my stress level. But then secondly,
silence expresses my faith. Expressing worship to God does
not always require words or songs or actions. Some of the
most powerful worship is wordless worship. Sometimes no
words can adequately express the love I feel for the Lord God and
I just have to kneel in silence. Other times I'm passionless and
it seems as if any word that would come out of my mouth would
be hypocritical and I just have to kneel in silence before my
God. David understood this wordless worship. In Psalms 62:1
he said, "For God alone my soul waits in silence. From him comes
my salvation." Silence shows that my faith is in his
salvation, that I'm trusting him to come through for me.
In Psalms 62:5, "David said, for God alone my soul waits in
silence for my hope is from him". Underline God alone and
underline hope and connect the two because silence shows that
my hope is not in my own strength. Silence shows that my
hope is not in someone else. Silence shows that my hope is
not in my circumstances. Silence shows that my hope is in God
alone. Sometimes words aren't enough to express worship to
God. In Ecclesiastes 5:7 the writer says, "Many words are
meaningless; therefore stand in awe of God". Silence recognizes
the awe and the wonder and the mystery of God. Something it
seems that we've forgotten about and lost in our churches today,
that God is so holy and powerful and just and yet so merciful and
loving that words cannot explain him adequately. That he is
incomprehensible. See we don't worship things we fully
understand. That's why human beings don't worship the moon or
the sun anymore. Through astronomy and science we
understand those things, but we cannot understand fully and
comprehend God. He is too great. And words can't adequately
express who he is and what he does and that's the awe and the
mystery of God and silence expresses worship to God
powerfully because it recognizes the awe of God. Probably the
most overused word in the English language today is the
word awesome. I use it all the time. That game was awesome.
That ice cream is awesome. That movie was awesome. Awesome,
awesome, awesome, but what we need is some awe for God.
Scripture says we're only to be in awe of God. That awe, where
we can't totally fathom the mystery of God, so we just have
to stay in silence and stand before him or kneel before him
with wordless worship. The awe of God. Look what this next
verse says in Psalms 49:16, "Do not be overawed when a man grows
rich, when the splendor of his house increases, for he will
take nothing with him when he dies. His splendor will not
descend with him. Scripture says we're not to be in awe of any
man, not to be in awe of anyone but God. We're not to be in awe
of wealthy people. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are amazing
business people. I admire them very much, but we're not to be
in awe of them because the moment they die they don't take
a dime with them. They're just human beings like you and me.
We're not to be in awe of talented people. Michael Phelps
amazes me. I love watching him swim and win all those, he's
going for his 9th gold medal tonight. [Laughter]
No, I'm just kidding. [Laughter] I mean, I would believe it.
The guy is amazing.
It's amazing, but Michael Phelps is just a man. I thought he was
a fish several times, but he is just a man. [Laughter]
They've checked Him for gills. He's just a man.
It's amazing and I love to watch talented people do
their thing, but we're not to be in awe of any person.
We're only to be in awe of God. Silence expresses my worship.
Emphasizing the awe and the mystery and the wonder of
God that he's beyond my comprehension and it leaves me
speechless. And when I'm speechless God can speak to me.
So your main assignment is week is sometime, every day this
week, spend 15 minutes alone in silence. Practicing this ancient
spiritual discipline of silence and solitude, 15 minutes in the
morning or at night or whenever you can, 15 minutes in silence
and solitude and for the first part of that don't even pray to
God silently, just listen. We're always praying to God, asking
him to meet our needs and telling him what we want and
that's great, he loves that, but we need to listen to God speak
to us. So for the first part just listen to God. Listen to
the still small voice and those impressions he places in your
heart. Just listen to him speak. Now what will happen if you're
like me is you'll have worried thoughts come into your head
first and when you do have those worried thoughts come into your
mind, just pray about it silently and give it to God.
God, that situation is yours; I can't handle it, and then start
listening again and just listen to God. Take a deep breath and
just listen, and then just say, God I'm not in control, but you
are, I trust you. It's amazing the benefits that come about in
our life when we practice these ancient disciplines. It's the
secret to keeping out faith fresh and alive. Well, silence
also empowers my communication. It not only reduces my stress
and expresses my faith, but it empowers my communication, my
relationships today. It allows me to listen to God. It also
allows me to listen to others. In James 1:19 it says, "My dear
brothers, take note of this, everyone should be quick to
listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry". Underline that
phrase quick to listen and the phrase slow to speak. We usually
get that turned around. We're quick to speak and slow to
listen. Most of us are terrible listeners and it causes so many
problems in our relationships. Usually in a conversation we're
thinking about what we're going to say next rather than really
listening. We're hearing, but we're not really listening.
Let me give you some more homework.
This week, with a co-worker, best friend, a spouse, sit down
with them and in your conversation don't talk,
just listen. Just listen. Maybe ask them, what's going on in
your life or what are your needs and just listen, I mean really
listen, and in your relationships this week
concentrate on really listening.
Don't interrupt; don't think about what you're going to say
next. I mean just really focus on the discipline of listening.
And then practice the drive through principle. When you go
through a drive through and they ask for your order and then
afterwards they always say, let me make sure I got this
straight. You ordered a cheeseburger and French fries, a
diet coke, and they always repeat it back. And so do that
same thing. Repeat back what your spouse has said. I hear you
saying that when I do this it makes you feel devalued. And I
hear you saying, and just repeat back what they said, don't
defend, don't accuse, don't jump in, just repeat it back, you'll
be amazed. This speaker/listener technique is so effective
because nobody listens today. And we have used it over and
over again in our marriage counseling and it's amazing what
it does because you have married couples who have never listened
to each other for 20 years and they start really listening and
they got somewhere in their arguments. They start listening
and they go to new levels in the relationship. Simple, but
profound. Big difference between hearing and listening. We're
always hearing, but we're rarely listening. Silence empowers my
communication, but then fourthly, silence, it increases
my sensitivity.
There's an old proverb that says, the man who
opens his mouth, shuts his eyes. And the more I talk the less I
see the needs in other people's lives. The discipline of
silence, though, opens my eyes to the needs of others because I
have an eye problem and most of us do. I'm thinking about the
needs I have. I'm thinking about the desires I have. I'm thinking
about the problems I have. I'm thinking about the circumstances
I have. But when I get alone and silent before God, he makes my
heart so much more sensitive to others and he opens my eyes to
the needs of others. It's amazing what it does. Our hearts
and our minds get desensitized to the needs of others and we
miss it completely, but when we get alone with God, it sharpens
our spiritual senses. You're in for a real treat today because
my son, Ryan, just completed his latest short film. It's called
Picture Perfect and it really is about the fact that things you
see on the outside aren't really what's going on on the inside
and we need to be more sensitive to the needs of hurting people.
Because of things on the outside usually look great, but
everybody carries a hidden hurt. And it's a silent film because
that silence speaks so much louder than any words, so here
is the premiere of the short film Picture Perfect.
[♪Piano playing]
[♪Piano playing]
[♪Piano playing]
[♪Piano playing]
[♪piano + vocals]
[♪piano + vocals]
[♪piano + vocals]
[♪piano + vocals]
[♪♪♪]
[♪♪♪]
[♪piano + vocals]
[♪piano + vocals]
[♪piano + vocals]
[♪piano + vocals]
[♪cello playing with piano in the background]
[♪cello playing with piano in the background]
[♪ percussion instrument + strings playing]
[♪ percussion instrument + strings playing]
[♪ percussion instrument + strings playing]
[♪ percussion instrument + strings playing]
[End shortfilm]
What really grabbed me was, as the story goes
backwards, you see all the people that came across this
young man's path, but they didn't say a word, they didn't
notice. Of course, the film is silent, there are no words, and
that's the whole point. There's a time to say the right thing,
but you'll never know to do that unless you practice the ancient
discipline of solitude and silence. I want you to look at
the last verse.
It says, A word happly spoken is like apples of gold in settings
of silver. When we practice the discipline of silence,
we're affective when we speak and one word can change
everything. There's a time to speak, but only when we've been
silent and our spiritual senses are sharpened and that's when
we see someone coming across our path the holy spirit of God can
prompt us to speak a word of encouragement. One word of hope,
one word that can change the destiny forever. Words are
powerful. One word is powerful if it's spoken at the right
time. And I have to be silent so I'll know when and how
and where to speak.
Kerry: This is one of the most creative, life-changing series
that we ever did at Woodlands Church. We want to get you this
series so you can put it into your life and remember it. Keep
practicing these principles because Satan is always trying
to steal the amazing things that God has giving us and wants for
our lives. God has a purpose and a plan. I just want to say,
thank you. Thank you for supporting the ministry here as
we get the message of Jesus Christ out all over the world in
a creative credible way that makes an impact in lives. Thank
you for your support. Thank you for what God is doing through
you. Thank you for your prayers because we are touching the
world with the words of life from Jesus Christ, and than the
works of life following up with our missions. Going all over the
world to feed people, to make an impact with medical facilities
with clean water, all the missions of Woodlands Church.
I thank God for you because you are part of it.
Announcer: In his series called Fresh, Reviving Stale Faith,
Pastor Kerry Shook invites you on a journey of discovering the
ancient but powerful practices of fasting, meditation and
silence. On this journey you'll learn how these neglected
disciplines play an amazing role in keeping you wholy connected
to the power and presence of God. Right now, this
transformational 3-message series on DVD is our special
thank you for your gift of support for the outreaches of
Kerry Shook Ministries. If you are able to share a gift of $85
or more we like to send a bundle of special resources we call,
The Fresh Faith Power Kit, containing the series on both CD
and DVD. The companion personal study guide and a beautiful
leather bound journal. Our stress filled media saturated
world is doing everything possible to choke the life out
of your faith and render your relationship with God dry, stale
and powerless. Don't let it happen! Request Fresh, Reviving
Stale Faith, today at www.kerryshook.org or send your
request to Kerry Shook Ministries. P.O. box 131444,
The Woodlands, Texas 77393.
KERRY: The most important decision you could ever
make is to receive Christ into your life. You see,
it's not about religion. It's about a relationship with God
through his son, Jesus Christ. In fact, I don't like religion,
to be honest. Religion is really man trying to work our way up to
God. It's humankind trying to do enough good works and to follow
rules, rituals, and regulations so that God looks down at us and
says, "Okay, I accept you." But the problem is God is perfect
and holy, and we're all sinners. None of us are perfect, but
that's why Christ came. He came and he became one of us and he
died on a cross. And I don't understand it completely, but I
know this with all my heart- what he did on that cross gives
me forgiveness of all my sins. It just takes away my guilt and
it's about a relationship with Christ. It's not about religion.
It's a relationship with Jesus, and all you have to do is just
say, "Jesus Christ, I need you. I can't save myself, so I ask
you to come into my life and save me. Forgive me of all my
sins and just be the Lord of my life." And when you do that,
Christ comes into your life and he says, "I'll never leave you
and never forsake you." It's not about how good you are, It's not
about what you can do for Him, it's all about what He has done
for you. And all you have to do is just receive it by Faith.
Receive Him and follow Him and He wants you to follow Him and
to obey Him because He has a good plan for your life.
Announcer: ♪Thank you for joining us today and being a
part of the Kerry Shook Ministries. ♪