423: John Perks - Creating Time and Space

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:03

   Welcome to Good Christadelphian Talks. Thank you for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our daily news feed. Each week, we post a talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world. Then, we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk.

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   And now, let's talk more about this week's talk. Hello and welcome back. This is Brother Chris. For this week, we're listening to a talk from a series that was given at the Idlewild Bible School this past summer by our brother John Perks. Overall, his series was called Becoming Disciples of Christ. And I've picked class three to be the one that we listen to because I feel it is the best standalone class for you to listen to.

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   He has some foundation that he pulls from the first two classes as well as setting the stage for some of what he will do later in classes four and five. Part of what made it a little hard to pick is all five of these classes are fantastic. I really, really enjoyed them. Brother John has a very engaging style.

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   He's a teacher by trade, and you can tell definitely in his way that he teaches. For the third class, why I ended up picking it is because I think it really hits at the core issue that we have in the modern world. The title of the class is Creating Time and Space. And I think even before things like artificial intelligence and personal assistance and things that have been coming out in the last year or two, technology, social media, smart devices had already led to a pace of life just going faster and faster than it had ever gone in any time in history.

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   And it creates this kind of effect where it feels like you can't slow down. You have to keep going. There's always more. And in this class, Brother John is really focusing on why creating time and space instead of just feeding into almost the rat race is so important. I know it's something that I've looked at personally in both balancing my work, my spiritual and my personal and everything about that.

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   But I've been looking at it for at least 20 years as something that I've been focusing on. And it was really refreshing to hear Brother John talk about this at the Bible School. I was super excited to listen to them, and I was thrilled to be able to share these ones and that no one else had grabbed it.

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   So I was able to share this for the podcast this week. So I hope you really enjoy this. Take a moment, take some time, take some space, really consider what's being laid before you. And I would also encourage you to listen to the entire series on the extended feed, which will go up after this goes live, because all five classes are excellent.

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   The latter half gives you much more practical things to work on. And the first half establishes some of the principles and the reasons why this matters. So I hope you find it as encouraging and changing for you as I have, looking at this topic and considering the ideas of slowing down and having this time and space.

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   So with that, I'm going to turn it over to our Brother John Perks for class three of his series on Becoming Disciples of Christ that was given at Idlewild 2026. The title of this class is Creating Time and Space. So let's do a little recap. Day one, we talked about how we've been called to be disciples, to be learners, to apprentice under Jesus.

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    And we've been promised that this is a lighter or an easier yoke, a lighter life, rest for our souls, peace. Our King has told us that this is a better way to live.

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    But in our lives, we might see a bit of a dilemma. Well, I'm not feeling that. I'm not seeing that in my life. I'm not seeing it in our ecclesia. We're struggling with a lot of things. And we're going to as disciples and as we learn and grow.

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    But is there a solution? Is there something that we can do to improve the situation? And we talked about how intentional discipleship, not just assuming that we're going to gradually become more like Christ. In my class, grade five, six, they should have learned their multiplication tables by now. Most of them haven't. And I have to tell them, there is no math fairy who's going to come in and sprinkle knowledge while they're sleeping, and then they'll know them.

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    You actually have to do something to learn your math facts. And I would say the same thing. It's just not going to naturally happen to become more and more like Christ unless we're intentional about it, especially in the world we live in. And that's why I've put this picture of this couple in this canoe without paddles.

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    They know what way they want to go, but maybe they're not being intentional. Maybe they don't have the tools to actually get them where they need to go. And the world is just going to sweep us into its way of thinking, into its practices.

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    And then yesterday we talked about character development is important. The way to transform ourselves is to start with our heart and our mind. And where are we setting our mind? And to be intentional about where we're setting our mind. And so we talked about taking on the mind of Christ and how he humbled himself, made himself of no reputation.

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    And I just want to go back, if you could turn quickly to Philippians chapter two, which we read quite often during a memorial service.

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    And I didn't read yesterday, but should have read the first four verses of chapter two. And Paul says, therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any affection and mercy fulfill my joy, being like -minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, have the same mind.

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    You all have to approach things with the same mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look, look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. And then he goes into, okay, what is that mind?

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    It's the mind of Christ. He humbled himself. He made himself of no reputation. He became obedient even to the cross. And so we have to take on that mind so that we can

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    esteem others better than ourselves. Look after the interests of others. If we're trying to hold tight to our reputation and developing an idea of who we are and holding tight to that, we can't let go and look after the needs of others and esteem others better than ourselves. So taking on the mind of Christ is the most important step, the first step, in actually transforming our lives to be more like Christ.

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    So today we're going to talk a little bit about discipleship and what that actually means. And then we're going to talk about creating some time and space so that we can be disciples. So in Matthew 11 verse 29, Jesus says, you know, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. And that word learn is a Greek word that is tied closely to the idea of discipleship.

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    So a disciple is a learner. And we see this in society all around us. In the trades, people are called apprentices. As a doctor, you might have intern or residents that are learning. A lawyer, I assume I'm not great at it. A practitioner, is that what lawyers are called, who are practicing under a lawyer?

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    An athlete, you'd be in training and perhaps with better athletes. In acting, you'd be in understudy. And in Christ, we're called disciples. It all means the same thing. You're learning from somebody who's better than you and watching them, coming alongside of them.

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    And I love this picture of this young boy who's learning how to be a cobbler, learning how to deal with shoes and make shoes. And he's learning from the master. And he's going to sit there and he's going to make mistakes. And the master's going to say, no, you don't do it that way.

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    You do it this way. And you got to hold it here. And they grow in their relationship. And gradually, he gets better and better and better. And it's not an instant thing. It's a long -term relationship. And we have to view discipleship like that. I am going to take the rest of my life and learn from Christ.

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    Christ. And the purpose of discipleship, of coming underneath Christ, or coming alongside him and learning from him, is so that the things that are impossible for you today will one day come naturally to you. Just think about this in the commands of Jesus, the things He's asked of us. And we need to be intentional and look at what He's telling us to do to be obedient to.

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    And here's just some examples. Maybe right now it's impossible for you to be a peacemaker. You see conflict and you naturally run away from it. And I'm kind of that kind of person. I don't like conflict. But we're told to be obedient to Christ. And He's saying, I need you to be peacemakers.

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    So you start. I do get to be a peacemaker daily as a teacher. There's conflicts all the time. And I have to step in and try to make things okay for both parties. Otherwise I'm going to get letters from parents or phone calls. And so you go in and you have to be a peacemaker.

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    And I'm practicing. And then hopefully I can take that in situations in the ecclesia and be a peacemaker. I'm not good at it right now. But hopefully by intentional practice I will get better at it. Maybe you struggle at being a light in the world. At work you kind of keep your beliefs hidden.

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    Again, but Jesus says you have to be a light in this world. And say, okay, as a disciple I'm going to start practicing that. I'm going to start doing it in the grocery store. I'm going to do it at Costco. We're going to talk about Costco. An excellent training ground for being a disciple in Christ.

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    And gradually you get better. And you become a light in the world. But you just don't say. There was a hockey player who played for the Ottawa Senators. And he used to do these crazy amazing passes that worked once in a while. But it usually went to another player on the other team.

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    And it resulted in them scoring. And he said to a reporter one day, that's just part of my game. It's like, oh. We can't say, oh, I'm not a light in the world. That's just part of my game. It's part of my decision. No. These are things, Jesus says, to learn from me.

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    First, be reconciled to your brother. Difficult. This has not come naturally to us. But we have to practice. And hopefully it becomes more and more natural. Letting your yes be yes and your no be no. So, loving your enemies. These are big challenges. And we need to take them seriously. And read slowly through his commandments.

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    And think about how can I start to intentionally make this a part of my life. Not worrying about tomorrow. So that's discipleship. Things that are impossible today will hopefully become natural. A lifelong process.

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    But now we have to talk about time and space. What is the biggest threat? One of the biggest threats to our discipleship. And I think it's time and space. And I want to think about it in two ways. One way is at the moment. So in the moment, when there's a pressure to let our light shine.

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    Or to turn the other cheek. Sometimes we're in situations where there is no time and space. You know, we have to react right away. And I've never been a tremendous athlete. And I think the reason is, I don't act quickly. If you've played hockey or if you've played football, you have to make decisions quickly.

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    Because there might be a 300 -pound lineman coming at you. And you have to make decisions quickly. And the best athletes can think really quickly on their feet. Know where to pass the ball. Know where to run. Know where to throw the ball. Well, in discipleship, I think it's the same. But the key is, and I learned, I remember reading this about fighter pilot philosophy.

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    And fighter pilots, there's this book about their philosophy. They say, you don't become a better pilot in life and death situations. Your brain goes back to what you've been training to do.

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    What you've been practicing over and over and over. And if we're going to be able to respond the right way, a Christ -like way, to shine our light, to be salt, we have to have been practicing it over and over. When we're driving, when we're at Costco, in our families, in our meetings.

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    These are the things I've gone over. So when the situation is coming at you quickly, your natural reaction is the right one. The other way creating time and space can help us is to build a relationship with our Heavenly Father. And I created this image to demonstrate, you know, here's this couple. And they want to get to know each other.

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    But they're in a crowded restaurant. There's lots of people. There's lots of noise. They're singing happy birthday to the person next to them. The guy's on his phone. How do you create a relationship in an environment like that?

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    And I think that's sort of a picture of our world. How do we create a relationship with our Heavenly Father and His Son and get to listen to them and get to share our thoughts with them and our worries and our concerns if we don't create time and space? There will not be a relationship.

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    It's impossible to build a relationship with our Heavenly Father unless we don't intentionally, and in this world intentionally, and in this world intentionally create that time and space. Because our world will suck up every last second. And it's getting worse and worse.

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    There's a verse in Jeremiah where God says to Jeremiah, if you've run with men and they've wearied you, how are you going to run with horses? You know, he was prophesying in a time of Josiah, and Josiah's leadership. And Jeremiah was having difficulty. He was getting a lot of pushback. And God's saying, you think this is bad?

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    You're going to have to run with horses. It's going to get a lot worse. And I think our society, maybe if you're older, you've noticed this. You know, as time gets, we're running with horses now. The world is relentless in taking our time and space.

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    So I did this with the young people, and it was nice because we could interact and talk. And I said, imagine a boardroom. And this boardroom is saying, okay, how can we destroy people's relationship with God and with his son? How can we suck up all that time and space and every opportunity to build a relationship?

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    And they came up with all these really good ideas. And it's kind of funny because what they were doing was they were saying, this is what we see in our world. And so we live in a world that's crowded. You know, we live in environments that are crowded. Now, we live in a place called Carlton Place.

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    There's only maybe 15 stoplights. So it's not too crowded. But I go to Costco, and it's crowded. And as soon as I drive in the parking lot, my blood pressure goes up. And Rachel's like, calm down. I've got to get a spot. And it's interesting because when I'm there, my ability to follow the commandments of Christ goes down.

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    Because I'm competing for a cart and for, you know, toilet paper. Remember COVID? Like I walked in, and people are racing. And people, other people are getting angry with you because you're too slow, and you're getting angry with people. And then you go through the, when you're trying to get out of the store, and there's those people, and they're like looking at your receipt.

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    And they're taking forever. And they draw a little smiley face for the little baby. And you're like, stop wasting my time. And then I did that once. I was really mad at the person. And I laughed, and I'm like, what am I doing? And it's just this idea that things are crowded. And in those situations, it becomes very hard to be Christ -like.

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    Like, we live in a now economy. I want something, I order it, and I think in the U .S., you get it the same day. In Canada, we have to wait until the next day. I know, it's hard. But you remember, like, in our age, you'd order something from the back of the magazine, and everything would come to you in six to seven weeks.

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    It was just an expectation, six to seven weeks. But now, our society expects us now. And so wouldn't it be nice if there was a book that said five steps to discipleship, you know, within a week? It doesn't exist. This is a long process. It's a lifetime process. But if we create the expectation of, you know, immediacy, it takes away time and space.

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    There's a blurred line between work and home. You know, you're always expected to be there. I've been very fortunate not to have that, to be able, when I leave work, it's there. And I don't have it on weekends. And I have a nice long summer. But I know that many of you, those pressures are there to take away your time and space.

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    There's constant connectivity. They monetize our attention. They get us, look here, look there. You know, vote this way. Think this way. Entertainment overload. You know, there's Netflix and Disney and Apple and Crave and all sorts of binging, capturing our attention, capturing our time. There's amplification of opinion that makes it difficult to be a disciple.

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    Everybody has an opinion and you get to hear them all if you're on social media. Now, what do we do? If we're not intentional, we buy into it and we become angry. I think it would be possible. I wouldn't be the expert, but I'm sure there's experts who could say, I want to, I have a few questions for you.

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    And from those questions, I'll be able to tell you what news site you go to, what podcast you listen to, what music you listen to, because that's what you're taking in.

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    And so opinions are amplified, entertainment overload. There's this need to keep up. And we live in this society that's been developed over time, that points us away from God and away from his son and says, you don't have time for that. There's all these other things that we can be doing. And it results in this.

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    We have a saying in schools that with many of our children that their bucket is full. And what that means is their home life, they may not have had breakfast, maybe not dinner the night before. There may be violence in the home or a lot of yelling and screaming. They may have stayed up till two in the morning playing video games because nobody's telling them not to.

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    It might be unclean and unsafe. And then they come to school with all these worries and all these concerns and they're tired and you say one thing to them like, I need you to finish this page. And they blow up. Or they shut down. Or they just start sobbing because they don't have any space to deal with anything in life.

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    And if we don't create time and space in our lives, our buckets are full and we do not have the space to be like Christ. When something happens, we become angry instead of long -suffering and forgiving. When we see something, we become envious instead of saying, you know what, I'm content with what I have.

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    We don't have space for it. And some of these things are necessary parts of life. But we need to be intentional to do something about this situation. Otherwise, it's just going to continue.

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    It's very, very hard to be obedient to Christ's commands in this state when our buckets are full. And so we need to be intentional about emptying them, creating some space. And that's what we're going to talk about today.

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    So we're going to talk about today and tomorrow a variety of spiritual practices. And I want you to look at these not as things that you have to do. This is not something that you now have to squeeze into your already busy schedule. Thank you a lot, Brother John.

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    I want you to view these as spiritual gifts, just like as if you went to a farmer's market and there's all these wonderful gifts, beautiful fruits and vegetables that you get to enjoy, that are nutritious, that are good for you. Because as we read through Scripture, Jesus teaches about these things, lives these things, the disciples pick up on them, and they follow them as well.

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    In 1 Timothy 4, verse 7, Paul says to Timothy, train yourself to be godly. And I want us, during this Bible school, to stop and think, where is the training in our lives? Where is the discipline in our discipleship?

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    Now, that's a lot. What we're going to do today is just talk about, we'll see how far we get with some of these. But there's an important point about discipleship. It's a very simple thing to remember. And it's that for there to be a yes to discipleship, there has to be a no to other things.

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    Anything in life, you want to learn to play the piano? As a kid, in order to say yes to the piano and actually get good at it, you have to say no to going outside with your buddies sometime and doing other things, watching TV. You have to say yes to this, but first you have to say no to that.

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    It's the same with discipleship. And you look at men and women in Scripture who were godly, Abraham had to say no to Mesopotamia to say yes to God. Moses had to say no to the temptations of Egypt to say yes to God. Some of the disciples had to say no to fishing to follow Christ or no to being a tax collector and the status and wealth that that brought to say yes to Christ.

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    In Ezra 6, we won't go there, but they've just finished the temple. And they're going to have a Passover celebration. And it says in verse 21, Then the children of Israel who had returned from the captivity ate together with all who had separated themselves from the filth of the nations in order to seek the Lord God of Israel.

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    They had to say no to the filth of the nations to seek the Lord God of Israel. And so what we're going to go over, I'm asking you, not telling you, you can decide to listen to none of this, but you might say, you know, this is a good time to recalibrate and commit myself to some of these things so I can build this relationship with God and his son.

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    So I can seek the Lord God of Israel. So that's a little bit better picture. We'll see how many we can get through. But one of the main things this is going to do is it's going to help us, using these things, help us to break the world's hold on us. Because the world does have a hold.

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    It's holding on tight to us. And we have to let go. So we can be a true disciple. Once again, this was nice with the teams because I could ask them, why do we need Sabbath? So I'll just ask you, and you can maybe talk to the person beside you or just think or jot down some notes.

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    Why in the world that we live in, which is consuming all our time and space, should we recommit to a Sabbath? Sabbath. I like it. It's discussion.

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    So what I hope to do through each of these is say, A, why we need it, and I think we all know why we need it. Look at it that this is a scriptural principle. These are things that we see the disciples doing or Jesus doing. And then just think about what this would look like.

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    So the reason we need it is we've gone from a society where Sabbath was important. You know, stores didn't open on Sundays. And there was a time for rest. And in fact, when we were in Germany, there's still that principle. I think bakeries and coffee shops were still open, yeah?

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    Which is good. But pretty much, it's shut down. And it does create this feeling of quietness. And I think they have something with trucks can't go through cities. Yeah, I got some nods back there. But then we've gone to sort of 7 -11, open 11 hours a day, seven days a week. And now we talk about how we live in a 24 -7 world.

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    All the time is consumed. And yet Jesus says, Sabbath was made for man. You know, the Jews tried to make it theirs and make all these rituals around it and what you could and couldn't do. And Jesus says, no, no, no. This is a gift from God. This is for you. And we need to view it that way.

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    And I was reading one historian. He said, this was absolutely revolutionary. No king, no master would ever say to his slaves or his people, hey, take a day off.

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    No Greek god would say, hey, you need a day of rest. And so he says, this changed history. This idea of a day of rest. It is meant to serve us.

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    And what we can do in that day is hopefully cultivate an unhurried life. Now we as Christadelphians do take our Sundays and we go to meeting and Sunday school. And hopefully we can carry that on the rest of the day and say as a family or as an Ecclesia, we're going to do things together.

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    We're going to go for walks. We're going to play games. We're going to turn the world off. We're going to celebrate what we have instead of just diving straight back into the world. But we have to be intentional about it. You know, I always joke with Rachel, on the way home from a meeting, we go by a Chick -fil -A.

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    And just about every Sunday I say, hey, you want to stop for some waffle fries? And for the first four or five weeks, she'd be like, they're not open on Sundays.

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    I just keep on going. But what a novel idea to just stop and allow time to take that bucket that is so full that makes it hard to follow Christ and empty it out. Try to reset. Now there was a young guy in the teens, he said it's an opportunity to recalibrate, to clean our filters, and to get things, you know, reset.

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    And I liked, he comes up with a lot of really good analogies. So Sabbath could be a practice that we are intentional. Because if we're not intentional, if we just go, our world will just sweep that day away.

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    What about fasting? We read about fasting. You know, Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, when you fast. Right? There's an assumption, when you pray, when you perform charitable acts. But fasting, let's ask, how many people, put up your hand if you want, have practiced fasting? Now, not for health reasons, for spiritual reasons.

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    Fantastic. You need to go and talk to other people about what you've learned from fasting. So I didn't want to come up here and talk about the importance of fasting without doing it myself. And you get to create it however you can. I have to take medication every day, so I have to eat food to take that medication.

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    So what I do, my practice is, once a month, I wake up before sunrise, I have a meal, take my medication, and then I can go from sunrise to sunset, which is really easy in December in Canada. Not so easy in June. Not so easy in June. But to give it a try.

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    And it's no surprise that in the world we live in, this has sort of fallen aside, fasting. But I would really encourage each of you, your families, to work something out. Maybe it's only a couple of hours. Maybe it's half a day. As a family, put this into practice. And the greatest lessons, first of all, it requires discipline.

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    But I love how practical it is, because your body says, you're hungry, eat. There's this impulse. And when you're fasting, what you have to do is say, I'm not listening to my impulses. I am in charge, not my feelings, not those impulses. And you think then about how that can carry on into the rest of your life.

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    I'm feeling anger. I don't have to listen to that voice. I'm feeling lust. I can put that impulse away. I'm in control, not that impulse. And I found that very powerful, because I like to eat. And I do get those pangs when you're fasting, and it's repeated throughout the day. No, I'm not listening to you.

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    I'm in control. What a great discipline for the rest of things. I feel like doing this. No, that's a feeling. I don't have to follow it. No, it's a living metaphor. And we see that it was practiced quite often in the New Testament. And so it's this training to say no. And you create some time and space in your day.

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    And then there's other benefits from it. Every time you feel a hunger, and you're like, this is uncomfortable. Maybe you think about brothers and sisters, like we heard about the other night, who are hungry every day. And you're coming alongside of them in a small way and saying, I understand what you're going through.

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    And then hopefully that creates generosity. And you say, because I understand what you're going through in a small way, maybe I'm going to be more generous to help you with that. So there's lots of benefits from fasting. It is not something you have to do. It's a gift that God has given us that we can choose to do, however you want to do it.

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    But I would highly encourage it. What about abstinence? This is choosing not to engage in an activity. And I'm going to leave chastity for later, because I'm hoping we don't have to get to that one.

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    But it is mentioned in the Bible. But abstinence. Choosing not to engage in an activity. Why is that important in our society? I'll give you a second to talk to the person beside you.

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    All right. I'm going to have to. As a teacher, that's painful to do, because that sounded like really good interaction. So why do we need it? Well, we live in a world that makes gods out of everything. Things that are in control of you, and you're not in control of it. There are thousands of distractions.

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    That get in between us and our Heavenly Father. And any time, it seems like any time we might have an opportunity for some time and space, there's so many things that can distract us now. We just pull out. You look at doctor's offices, where there used to be some magazines that aren't worth reading.

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    But there was some time to just sit and think. I heard of one fellow. He said, in those spaces that he used to have in his day, he memorized all of Colossians. And he was saying, I'll never be able to do that anymore. Because in the car, with his phone, the busyness of life has taken it all away.

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    Unfortunately, he could have said, I just have to be more intentional about it now. But I can do it. And we can do it. And one of the important things that we're going to get to tomorrow is we're creating this time and space, but then we're filling it with things. And we're going to talk about the great heritage of Christadelphians, and hopefully bring some intentionality, because some of those things can just become habits.

100. 37:47

     But why those things are so important, what we've been raised with, are so important to fill these times and spaces. But all these things that are calling us can begin to control us if we're not careful. And so Paul talks about abstaining from every appearance of evil. Peter talks about abstaining from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.

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     This idea of just putting those things away. But we have to practice this. We have to be intentional. We have to be disciplined, because it's not just going to happen. Again,

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     something, now, has anyone ever done this with their family? Said, okay, for a week, or for one day a week, from this time to this time, we're not going to have the TV on, no iPads, no phones. Has anyone ever practiced something like this? So some hands. That's great. It's important to do, especially if you have kids.

103. 38:53

     Start that practice. We're being disciplined. Discipleship doesn't come easy. So, from 4 o 'clock until the next day, no phones. From 7 to whatever, we're not doing that. We're putting these things away. And we're doing, we'll talk about it, doing something else.

104. 39:15

     Solitude. Now, this is different from loneliness. We have an epidemic of loneliness. This is different. This is choosing to be alone. Why do we need this in our society? The opportunity to just take some time by ourselves. Just maybe just discuss that for, I'll give you one minute.

105. 39:51

     All right, we'll come back. So, like we've been talking about, our world wants to consume all our time. It wants to get in between us and our God and His Son. There's a million distractions, and to be able to take time to just be alone. And it can be easier in our state where our kids are gone.

106. 40:15

     It can be more difficult if you've got little kids, but maybe you have to work something out with grandparents or your spouse and just say, I need half an hour. I need an hour to just be alone.

107. 40:30

     And you help each other build some time to be with God in that state. Solitude is about not letting anything come between you and God.

108. 40:47

     No phone, no other person, no Walkman. No tasks, no lists, nothing between you and God. And it was a regular practice of Jesus. Of all the things we read about, this one is, without a doubt, something He practiced regularly. And we'll look at that in the next slide.

109. 41:15

     I was talking to Nick yesterday, and I should have changed this little quote. You don't have to talk to him. But it's an opportunity to be still and just know that there's God, to be with Him, to be with His Son. And once again, we fill this time with different things. So let's just look at how Christ used it.

110. 41:40

     So after Jesus was baptized, He spent 40 days in the wilderness, that time alone, and really preparing for a major task, you know, His ministry. Sometimes to recharge after hard work. So when He sent the 12 disciples out to do ministry, and when they returned, He encouraged them, let's go away by ourselves.

111. 42:05

     Let's rest. To work through grief. When He found out John the Baptist had been beheaded, He went away by Himself. Before making important decisions. So before He chose the 12 disciples, it says He spent the whole night alone.

112. 42:29

     In times of distress. So before His arrest, we know He went to be alone. His disciples were there, but He went off by Himself to be with God. To pray.

113. 42:43

     And then there's so many times just to focus on prayer. And so this isn't like the Eastern practices where you try to empty yourself of everything. This is filling yourself with the Word of God. And maybe you're working on memorization. Maybe you're meditating on some Scripture, on the Lord's Prayer. One thing I do when I get to, I drive part of my way to work, and then I hop on my bike.

114. 43:09

     And it's a fantastic time to work on memorization of different parts of Scripture. I'm going over it in my head. Just that time alone.

115. 43:22

     So I'll move to just a couple more. I might be able to get a couple more in before our time's up. Silence. I was talking to a young guy in our meeting about the importance of silence and how we live in a world with a million voices and a million opinions, and everyone loves to share their opinions.

116. 43:42

     When I was a kid, I used to think it would be a neat superpower to be able to read everyone's mind. But then we got Twitter, and you realize, I don't want to know what everyone's thinking.

117. 43:57

     And all these voices and opinions seem to be getting more and more polarized, more and more angry, and I don't have any social media. I don't know if WhatsApp is social media. If it is, I do have that. But I hear people talking about what other Christadelphians are saying, and sometimes it's disturbing.

118. 44:18

     Why are we engaging in that? And one of the things we can do is practice silence. We don't have to have an opinion on everything. Or we can, but we don't have to share it with everyone. That Dallas Willard that I talked about the other day, he was a professor, and in one of his classes, somebody was challenging him on his Christian beliefs.

119. 44:41

     And he clearly could have, you know, taken this kid to task and defeated the argument. But he just said, okay, thank you for your thoughts, and left. And somebody came up to him, why didn't you respond? And he said, I'm practicing the discipline of not having to have the last word. I thought that was interesting.

120. 45:02

     Just this ability to just be silent sometimes. We can read through the Proverbs the importance of being in control of our speech, of our tongue, the things we say.

121. 45:19

     1 Thessalonians 4, verse 11 says, make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. And so we nurture our humility, our self -control through times of silence. Think about Jesus before Pilate and Herod in those times where he didn't say anything, and how that must have just been very strange for them. You know, they had tried other people and crucified other people, and I imagine those other people would have pleaded and cried and screamed and yelled anger and curses, and here's Christ, and he's quiet before them.

122. 45:59

     And that would have just astounded them. But I don't think he could have done that if it wasn't something he had been practicing, the ability to be silent. We'll just finish with this one. The importance of frugality, the importance to be careful with what we have, the resources that we have. We live in a society that says you are defined by what you have.

123. 46:28

     We live in a society that consumes. We live in a society that is huge in posting pictures of what we do and what we have, and it makes it look like this is what life is about. And so to create some space in our finances so that we can be more generous, it's not about being stingy, it's about being a good steward.

124. 46:57

     And so it can be simple things putting into practice like not buying a lunch every day but bringing your lunch, about not spending on things that you don't have to have. And on Thursday night, we're going to take a little bit of a humorous look at materialism. But it is a serious thing that we can be disciplined about so that we can be better disciples of Christ.

125. 47:23

     And Jesus tells us, take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. So we'll just have to skip some of these. So disciples.

126. 47:40

     Some of the words that I was using and just about being disciplined. We have to cultivate. We have to train. We have to practice. We have to exercise. We have to learn. We have to nurture. We have to be disciplined in our practice and following of Christ because the world will just sweep over us and take us downstream.

127. 48:04

     So hopefully, maybe some of these things, you might be like, you know, that one thing, in a small way, I'll start. I see the need to create time and space so I can be with God and his son. So I can, as we'll see tomorrow, pray and read and memorize and meditate and fill that time with learning about our Heavenly Father.

128. 48:24

     And I just think about the disciples and how they would have watched Jesus throughout his ministry and the strange things that he was doing. Like, why is he doing that? Why is he talking to those kids and holding them or stopping for that poor person, the leper? Why is he doing these things?

129. 48:45

     And as they watched, they began to understand and they knew that relationships are built through time and space. We need to break the world's hold on us because our choices become habits and our habits become behaviors.

130. 49:20

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131. 49:40

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132. 50:00

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