Come and Talk with Me

In one paragraph

Brian preached on December 30, sitting in the quiet stretch between Christmas and New Year's. Using Psalm 27 as the text, he made the case that this in-between week does not have to be a spiritual dead zone, and that the Lord's invitation to "come and talk with me" is as open now as at any other time of year. Brian opened with a picture from his years as a ski instructor. A beginner skier can get...

Read together

1. Psalm 27 Read aloud in full by members of the congregation as the foundation for the whole sermon
2. Psalm 27:8 The key verse of the sermon: 'My heart has heard you say, come and talk with me. And my heart responds, Lord, I am coming'
3. Jeremiah 12:5 Read aloud and applied as a personal word to a woman named Maddie about being trained to run with horses

What was said

• Put on instrumental worship music first thing in the morning before checking your phone, and sit in it long enough to quiet your mind.
• Read through Psalm 27 more than once, and wherever David mentions enemies, replace that word with whatever pressure or struggle you are actually facing right now.
• Sit quietly after the music and the reading and listen, not with your five senses but with your spirit, for whatever the Lord wants to say to you.
• If something comes to mind during that quiet time, write it down, even if it is just a memory of a moment in 2024 where you felt God carry you through something.
• Try all four of these steps on December 30, 31, and January 1, treating it as a three-day experiment before the new year begins.

Talk about it

1. Brian used the ski instructor pizza drill to talk about going through the motions without really engaging. Where in your faith life do you notice yourself doing that, and what does it feel like when you break out of it?
2. Psalm 27:8 says 'my heart has heard you say, come and talk with me.' When is the last time you sensed that invitation from the Lord, and how did you respond to it?
3. Brian described a tension between resting and slipping into what he called the doldrums, where you have the sail down and no forward momentum. How do you personally know when rest has crossed that line?
4. The four practical steps Brian suggested were putting on worship music, setting aside time each morning, reading through Psalm 27, and sitting quietly to listen. Which of those feels most natural to you, and which feels hardest, and why?
5. Brian prayed over Maddie with Jeremiah 12:5, the idea that God trains some people to run with horses rather than holding them to the standard he has for others. Has there been a season in your life where you felt God was preparing you for something harder than what the people around you were facing?