January 15, 2023 – Sermon Transcript

Pastor Mike (00:00):

Because a lot of times we’re the ones that are sabotaging ourselves. You know, we get mad at people for doing all this stuff into us that make us feel a little just uncomfortable, and we feel like there are places where they shouldn’t be, and then we’re mad that they’re there. But actually, you’re right, they are where they shouldn’t be, but we are the ones who left them in.

Hannah Hunter (00:17):

Hey, beautiful people. Welcome back to Sundays with a gathering. I’m Hannah Hunter, the director of Digital Beach here at The Gathering Place in Palm Beach Gardens. This week, pastor Mike brings us a message on boundaries, what they are, why we need them, and how we can create space from the chaos of our lives.

Pastor Mike (00:33):

So what we’re gonna do today is we’re going to, we’re gonna look at the one of the, one of the first of two creation stories in the Bible. And we’re looking at day two. And my hope is that just by looking at simply day two, that, um, a few things will happen is that one, maybe we can start imitating God through God’s works, but also, I mean, every person I talk to says, you know, I want to get in the Bible a little bit better. I wanna read the Bible. But, um, one thing that stinks about a lot of these, like Bible reading programs, is that they throw us in all these different places in the Bible and we don’t have any context what we’re even reading sometimes. I dunno, have you, have you been that? Like, where you, you read that and you’re like, what the heck did I just, I read the Bible, but, but what the heck did I just read?

(01:17):

You know? And it gets a, a little bit confusing. And so I’m hoping that you’ll also have a little bit of tools today on how to read the Bible. So that’s, that’s where we’re gonna go today. It’s gonna be, um, you know, a nice diet, I think. So, uh, we’re gonna jump into Genesis chapter one, verse six through eight, and that’s where we’re gonna stay today. So listen to these words. And God said, let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water. So God made the vault and separate the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so God called the vault sky, and there was evening and there was warning the second day. Wow. How exciting. Right? <laugh>, no, I didn’t get a lot of amens on that, but <laugh>. But, but you know, remember I said the first thing I want us to do is kind of get some tools on, on learning how to read the Bible.

(02:13):

And, and one, one thing that we can see just from these two verses is, I mean, this is a good place for us to kind of get some spiritual tools to equip us on how to read the Bible. When I read the Bible and, and, and I, and I was taught to read the Bible slowly, um, I was in this season when I’d read the Bible fast and I’d be like, I’ve reading my one year Bible reading plan, and I would just like, push through, read the Bible fast. And I went through probably about three and a half to four years of not knowing what I was reading. Um, but then when someone said, Hey, Mike, you know, slow it down a little bit and try to pay attention and be present in the scriptures, I found that God was talking to me a lot more.

(02:47):

So I do wanna stress to all of you as you’re, as you’re venturing out in your Bible reading, devotion stuff, um, you know, just try to focus on the quality more than the quantity. And so if you don’t get all of it right away, it’s okay. Um, but one thing that I do is I, I look for words that stand out that are kind of weird out of place or are repeated often. So just take a look at this. I’m gonna read it again and just, just sit with me and say, okay, what words, okay, we’re talking about the beginning of the world, okay? The beginning of the creation of the world. And, and, and this is these, these two verses. It says, in God said, let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water. So God made the vault and separate the water under the vault from the water above it.

(03:32):

And it was so, so God called the vault sky. And there was evening and there was morning the second day. Does anything like, look a little strange to you when you, when you read that and you think about creation, beginning of the world vaults, right? Like what the heck’s a vault? You know, like, why does God make it a safe in the very beginning of the world? You know, it just, it doesn’t make sense. Another thing, um, that, that jumped out to me, again, things that are repeated often, um, I saw the word separate and I saw the word water, okay? So vault, separate and water were the things that I focus on. So many times when you and I read scripture, and I think this is the reason why we sometimes we’re a little biblically dense, is because, you know, we, we just go through it.

(04:13):

We read scripture and we don’t ask questions about it at all. And usually when, when something is out of place or maybe doesn’t make sense or maybe is a little bit unknown to us, um, God’s trying to, to speak to us or get our attention on something. And many times when we’re just plowing through our devotions and we’re just trying to, you know, just get the quantity of scripture in, cuz I read my Bible, I’m getting through the Bible in the ear. We miss a lot of good stuff. And yeah, vault is, is definitely one of those weird things. Um, and other, and other translations will say the expanse, it will say, um, uh, what else? There’s, um, the, the firmament, yeah, that’s another one. The firmament, the expanse. And we’re like, what the heck is that a vault? And we’ll see this theme coming up, this, especially in like, probably the, the first, um, like eight chapters of the Bible will refer to this.

(05:03):

So we have to have a little bit of understanding. So once you start going a little bit deeper, we also have to understand that the rioters of the Bible didn’t live in the same world that you and I live in. They didn’t have the access to the same information that you and I have. And so there’s something going on, and sometimes that helps us also to understand that, that the writers of the Bible had a different context in us. Why is this important? Because so many times that we, Christians will read something from the ancient world and will read it through our modern lens, and we will misapply a lot of things and cause a lot of harm. So how did the ancients understand how the world is created? I mean, they were trying to, to figure this out, okay? And I think it helps us to, to understand about, you know, not, not everybody knew or, or, you know, at least it’s not documented that people knew the world was around.

(05:54):

I mean, you still had a, a flat earth theory, okay? And they were trying to figure out what is this water and sky stuff? I mean, that’s, that’s what we see is happening. Remember Genesis chapter one, it said that the world began with water and there was just lots of chaos. God brings light and that, and that’s the first day, day two. Now God creates a vault. Now I know this is really simplistic, but what color is the sky outside? Blue. Blue, right? Blue sky. So can you imagine an ancient person? And, and, and they’re sitting with God, you know, I mean, the Christian tradition says that Moses wrote this. And, and Moses is sitting out there, you know, he, you know, he’s up on the mountain getting his 10 commandments and everything, and he’s writing all this stuff down and God’s just saying, let me just tell you how it all got created here. And, and he is like, Joe, first I separated the waters and Moses looked up like, dang man, there’s water up there, <laugh>.

(06:51):

Yeah, that, I mean, that’s what they thought. Dang, there’s water up there. How’s that water? Hell, well, God’s like, I got a secret. I create this thing called firmament. What the heck is that? An expanse? You know, there’s, there’s actually like a, a lid or a dome or or a roof over you right now, and it’s all blue. And, and you gotta be careful cause that water can come down any moment. Ah, what is that? God, it’s a vault. <laugh>, I’m separating things. I know it sounds like re ridiculous to our modern mind, but I think it helps us to, to try to understand what the writers of the bible, how they were trying to understand how did God form our world? And and I think one of the lessons that I think we have to understand when we’re reading scripture is that scripture is, is the revelation of God, right?

(07:44):

I mean, it reveals the heart of God. It reveals the work of God. It reveals the, the what God in our world, God interacting with us. And not a lot of times is it really going into the nitty details about the how and where we Christians really get off track and, and sideways a lot of times is that we start thinking about, um, the how so much because we want to defend it. And we think that if we can’t defend things scientifically, um, maybe the Bible is not true, but the Bible is true. It is inspired by God. It is God breathed, God’s speaking to us, and it brings truth that will change our lives. But the, the authors, you know, they were trying to understand and hear God’s truth and, and interpret it through what they understood. And they said, okay, water on the sea is what color?

(08:37):

Blue, right? Blue water, blue sky. There must be water up top. There must be water and bomb. And, and I know if we fast forward things, it actually later on says, you know, this is back when Noah builds the ar says, then the, the vault opened up and water came down and that’s why it rained. So, so I mean, this is the logic that’s going on there, and I think this is important for us to hold onto, because remember, and this is just the, the bi how to read my Bible, segment of the sermon, okay? The Bible’s not a book of science. Remember, it was written by many authors through many different periods in the history of the world, and it was all inspired by God. However, I thought was really fun for me in my study and preparation today, um, of, of getting ready for today that sometimes we get lucky and, um, and, and then the science does like intersect with what is happening in scripture.

(09:29):

Um, so I I came across this article and I thought this was really neat, is the origins of how life on earth arose remains a deep existential and scientific mystery. And so, um, it has been theorized for a long time that, um, that, that somehow our world came out of water, but they can’t understand how, um, we have this a biological genesis. In other words, how can life come out of no life, right? And so there was actually this study that came back, came out on October 3rd, uh, 2022 from Purdue University. Um, it was, um, it was in the proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists. And, um, and boy, I’m gonna butcher this, but the title is Aqueous Micro Droplets Enable abiotic Synthesis and en chain extension of a unique peptide, Isom from Free Amino Abs, um, acids. Now, you know what got me so excited about this?

(10:28):

Um, this article helped to explain, um, how maybe the world got created. And what they say is they’re like, okay, we, we have this theory that the world began with water, okay? But these amino acids or these peptides, in order for ’em to react, they had to interact in a world without water. And so some kind of reaction had to happen where air was created, where there was like this gap or separation. And then that separation created an opportunity for, um, this reaction to take place. And I’m like, wow, that’s really cool. You know, here we are, going back to my other key word of separate, you know, because we saw a lot of words of separating and water and even science believed that in order for something to happen in, in the beginning of creation, there had to be a separation. There had to be a separation from water, from air, or what we know as sky.

(11:19):

And one thing that now this is the practical life application for you and I, is that by creating some room, some space in the midst of our chaos, it allows God to do something. Remember day one, there was a lot of chaos going on, right? I mean, there was this, and we called it the deep, but now day two, they’re calling the deep water. The spirit of God is hovering. We know that God, in the midst of your cruddy messed up things that are going on, remember the spirit of God is at work and you don’t have to be afraid. But in the midst of that, the next thing that God does is first God brings light. And, and we know that when the light comes into our world, there is truth, there is freedom, right? Because we know that the truth will set us free.

(12:08):

Someone said, I just heard this week though, but first it’ll tick you off first, it’ll tick you off, and then it will set you free. Um, which I thought was really helpful, um, because I didn’t make that connection for a long time in my journey. But what we do see, and that it happens to a lot of us, is this, that we have this whole messed up things all pushed together in our lives. And that’s kind of like how the chaos that, that existed in the beginning of the world. And that’s the chaos that happens right now. And if we’re to try to model God’s order in life, what we need to do is have some separation, create some space from the midst of our chaos. I also like, I mean, golly, uh, it was last week when I was preparing for this. I went down a a rabbits hole with whole water and air thing.

(13:00):

And there’s lots of just looking at the attributes and the, the similarities and differences. But one of the big differences, you know, between water and air is just the density. And, and I started thinking to myself, you know, how many times do you and I get bogged down on things that are just, we allow other people’s problems or that chaos to just weigh us down and we need to have some air to breathe and to come up above all the stuff that, that just, this complicates and ticks us off. So I believe that what God is speaking to us today through this simple passage is that in the midst of our chaos that always kind of pools us down.

(13:42):

We need a clean separation. We need to create space to breathe. We need to get some air. Because once we have a little bit of air, you, you see things a little clearly you. And, and also like what we saw from science. Once you have that space to breathe, you create that air. You, you create that separation from the, the nonsense, the chaos. It creates an environment where God can move. Now, in a very practical life application thing, what does that mean for us? I think we can create some boundaries. So when I, when I read about the, the first creation about, you know, and, and God’s saying, Hey, God, put this vault up there, I see that God created boundaries. You know, he made some separation. And, and, and in all my years as pastoral minister and all my years of being a human being where a lot of things get messed up in my life and the life of people that I’m, I’m with is, is when they have a lot of this really poor or even undefined boundaries in their lives when they, when they kind of just take on things that, that, that are not theirs.

(14:56):

And so what are boundaries? Boundaries are that indivi, indi invisible line that defines what behaviors are acceptable for an individual. Boundaries can be physical like, Hey, don’t touch me. Boundaries can be emotional. Do not lie to me. Boundaries can be based on time or space. For example, if I, if I do this, then please respect my time. I mean, they may can be all kinds of different understandings or I won’t be able to to speak with you. And, um, and we Christians have a hard time with that, especially when we have people in our lives who don’t understand boundaries at all. And what I think is encouraging for me is that from the very beginning of creation, one of the first early acts of God created the world is that God created a vault. God created some boundaries. And, and yet we are afraid to put those off cuz we’re afraid we’re not gonna be nice.

(15:54):

And we’re, and we’re afraid that when we say I’m not gonna be a doormat and I’m not gonna be used and abused and exploited that, that somebody’s not gonna like us or I won’t be Jesus. Like, but yet we see from the very beginning of creation what we see in and all of those that have this healthy understanding of self. And I’m, and I’m going right to Jesus on this one. They had clear boundaries, but yet we as Christians, when we put up those boundaries and we, and we, and we, um, try to live into them, what happens is sometimes in church we feel guilty when we say no to things that we like to do, but we physically just can’t or emotionally just can’t. You know? And I hear that, you know, we, we are, um, you know, we we’re doing some exciting things and there’s a lot going on and, and we all want to be involved in all kinds of things.

(16:40):

But, but one thing we have to embrace is that we all have some limitations. We have time and limitations. We have physical limitations, we have emotional limitations, we have responsibilities and other fear of our lives. And yes, sometimes for a long time, church has taught you to come together and spend all your time with us. But in doing that, you can’t really be extending God’s redeeming love in the world. And so we have to make some decisions and we have to say, okay, I gotta create a vault and I need to separate some of that chaos and create some space for where God can move for me. A book that transformed my life and transformed my ministry. I mean, it’s pretty much one of the Christian classics of it. But, but they did a really good job of, of integrating faith and, and this understanding of boundaries is a book called Boundaries, when to Say Yes, how to Say No, to Take Control of Your Life.

(17:33):

Man, that title does that sound good? Right? It’s written by Dr. Henry Cloud and John Townsend. And a lot of work has been built off of, off of their stuff. And, and I want to encourage you to, to dive into that because we need it so badly. Cuz a lot of times we’re the ones that are sabotaging ourselves. We’re the ones, you know, we get mad at people for doing all this stuff into us. You know, that, that, that, you know, that make us feel a little just uncomfortable. They feel like they’re getting in our business and, and we feel like they’re places where they shouldn’t be. And then we’re mad that they’re there. But actually, you’re right, they are where they shouldn’t be, but we’re the ones who let them in. And so, Dr. Cloud and Dr. Townsend, you know, they, they talk about some different types of boundaries and I thought this is like something, you know, that, you know, and we can see some direct con connections with Jesus.

(18:20):

You know, first of all, they talked about physical boundaries. We have to create physical boundaries because they help you determine who may touch you and under what circumstances. You know, what I am tired of, of being in, in creating this, these church environments where everybody has to like physically act the same way. So I’ve been in churches where if you’re not just jumping up and down, hallelujah, doing the, the, the charismatic jig or whatever, there’s something wrong with you. Um, but let’s take it off to, to another say, okay, I get it. Some of us like to raise hands, some of us don’t. That’s fine. Some of us like to sit and contemplate while we’re hearing a song. Some of us like to stand up and shout and sing, that’s okay. But let’s take it even to a more more personal level. You know, if we’re called to be a place where fe people can feel the love of Jesus, they have to be able to feel safe, not just within the four walls of the church, but outside the church, four walls of the church.

(19:16):

And, and we have to condition ourselves to respect other people’s boundaries. And some people are very sensitive to touch. And what that means is that some people don’t feel comfortable giving out hugs. And I remember, I mean, I, I met some really good intention Christians, I’d be like, oh, but I just need a hug. But it’s, it’s not about your need, right? It’s not about you feeling all touchy-feely and all that stuff. And you have the need to hug, you know, if you, if you need a hug, go grab a pillow, you know, and get a Jesus pillow and just hold onto it, hug it, squeeze it, and all that kind of stuff. But you don’t have to encroach on somebody else’s boundaries. But we have a hard time doing that. And so in order to understand where people’s boundaries are, one, you have to be sensitive and say, okay, you know, I accept that some people are just cool with just a handshake.

(20:01):

Some just a nod. Some will hug you. You know, some people, uh, a side hug is more appropriate than a, you know, full, you know, bear hug. It’s okay. But sometimes we Christians, you know, we create these, these ridiculous standards on people and we say, you know what? This is what you have to, to do in order to fit in. Let’s get rid of that junk. Okay? Another thing they talk about is mental boundaries, because they give you the freedom to have your own thoughts and opinions. I mean, doesn’t this sound ridiculous? Wow. You, we need to actually have boundaries that have our own thoughts and own opinions, but yet it, those boundaries are lacking so many in so many places in our world, and especially inside the traditional boundaries of the church, because we want people, we like it when everybody thinks the same thing and has one opinion of everything.

(20:50):

Now I understand. And, and for a scope of mission, I think it’s really important that we do commit ourselves to extending God’s redeeming love. But we also have to create some grace there and say, okay, extending God’s redeeming love can be interpreted and experienced in a lot of different ways. And b okay with that, what scares me is that when we, when we have these faith communities that just wants to brainwash people to say that we all have to think exactly the same way. And if I have an opinion that is different from the pastor, there is something wrong with me. And I cannot tell you how many people I’ve encountered that have been burned and hurt and abused in churches because someone has had the exact, you know, didn’t align with the, the, the leadership’s opinion.

(21:39):

You guys have been alive for a while, right? Has your opinions ever changed about something? Have you had those moments? Do you remember when you were like, just dead set on something? Like, this is the way, this is the only way it can be. And then all of a sudden, maybe a few years later, you’re like, do I can’t? I mean, you’re almost embarrassed, <laugh>. I mean, like, you, you almost, you either want a shame and hide, or you, or you just wanna laugh at yourself. I’d rather give yourself permission to laugh at yourself because it’s, it’s a lot better than, than living in shame. But go ahead and give yourself that permission to laugh at yourself. And it’s like, oh my gosh, that was ridiculous, wasn’t I? Where I feel though, the shame though is I realize how many people I hurt because of that narrow minded thinking or trying to force somebody to fit in a box that, that God didn’t have for them.

(22:26):

So boundaries help us to give us that, that that freedom to express your own thoughts and opinions, emotional boundaries. They help you deal with your own emotions and disengage from harmful, manipulative emotions from others. This is a big deal. I mean, right now it’s being played out in so many scenarios because, um, we have this problem with understanding emotional boundaries because what happens, especially in, in faith circles, but it happens in our families a lot too. That’s the other place that happens. And, and again, church and family, there’s, there’s a, there’s a lot of correlation there, but basically how it plays out is, you know, someone has an issue, they have a beef with somebody, they have an offense or whatever, and it’s their problem, but they expect everybody else to have that same problem. They expect everyone else to be ticked off of that relative, or they expect everyone else to, to feel like they need to fight for that.

(23:22):

Cause they, they expect everyone else like, I’m offended. So therefore you need to be offended too, brothers and sisters, you cannot be a safe person if you’re, if that’s the way you operate. God has called you for something a lot more. And so, I mean, when I, when I started reading this, you know, and again, I’m, I’m, I’m just imagining that image of, you know, what Moses and others that were, you know, writing this, or maybe the scribes that were rewriting this, and they’re like, okay man, there’s all this chaos and junk. You know what I mean? There’s this water and it’s drowning people and all that stuff. And then God’s like, oh, gotta create a vault. You know what I mean? We gotta separate the two and we gotta create some space to breathe. And, and, and, and that just gives me go what? I’m sorry.

Speaker 3 (24:08):

Oh, SkyWater

Pastor Mike (24:09):

And groundwater. Yeah, SkyWater and groundwater, you know. Um, but no, I, I I love <laugh>. I love con I’m sorry, I’m a conversational person, so I was just starting to jump in there and I’ll, we’ll talk after church if we need talk water. But, but anyways, but, but to me, I just love that image of creating a space to get above the junk and blow junk. And in other words, I don’t have to have everybody reigning on my parade, you know? And I think a lot of us need to have that spiritual vault in our lives, those boundaries in our lives, which then also we need spiritual boundaries. And spiritual boundaries helps us to distinguish God’s will from our own.

(24:53):

And, and I, and, and one thing that you’ll understand, I mean, sometimes people get afraid when we, when we bring in just like this modern science, especially like science from psychology, and we integrate with faith, we get a little bit scared. But, but what I see is that these things are very complimentary and they help us have a more complete faith, a faith that we can actually also, you know, interact with people that are outside the faith and they can see that we respect them and that we’re not trying to just, you know, make everybody conform to some little small image of God. But, but actually we’re, we’re trying to introduce people to a God that is so amazing, great. That yes, it is very, I mean, God is so vast that, that we just have this small bit of a comprehension, just like, you know, like Paul says, it’s kind of like, you know, we’re looking into that glass and it’s just, you know, it’s like kind of just a little bit foggy and murky, you know, murky, and we see a little bit, but we don’t see completely.

(25:50):

And I’m telling you, if we can do that, it will change everything. It’ll help you actually, you know, know that you are a child of God, person of worth, and you can, you know, and you can, and you can treat other people like that. But also it’s important because it’s good for us. You see, what I love about the creation story from the very beginning is it shows us that these things had to be in place for creation to thrive. Not just exist, but to thrive, to multiply, to experience the goodness that God created and God’s way of goodness was a vault separation.

(26:33):

We have a hard time with this. Um, now this is, this is, this is bringing in from a, from article, from a University of Chicago. But like, why do we need these healthy boundaries? Because one, it’s a form of self-care. And we Christians, we, we stink at that. Let’s be honest. We, I mean, we, we, we, we, we are this, you know, um, you know, cause we wanna model after Jesus’ life. And, and, and we, and, and yes, you know, the early church did put a high price on martyrdom, but, but Jesus’s suffering was suffering with people. You see, that was the key. Jesus was about doing life with people, not not judging people, not condemning people, but entering in with them and saying, Hey, I’m gonna sit with you. I’m gonna be with you. And we have a hard time of, we want to care for everybody else, but we have a hard time taking care of ourselves. And that’s a gift. And so if there is something going on in your life or someone in your life or whatever that, that is just encroaching on your boundaries and, and you, and you, you just realize I need, you need a volt, I want you to know it’s okay to have that vault. You need to have that protection because God is giving you permission to say it’s okay to take care of yourself. Why? Boundaries are also important, because it helps give clear guidelines or rules or limits of how you would like to be treated.

(28:04):

If you’re a part of this community, I want you to know it’s okay to say no. And it’s okay to say, Hey, I’m comfortable with this type of ministry or get involved in, or be it relationship with this people at this kind of level. And there are some things that I’m not okay with. I just can’t go there. I have a different opinion or whatever it is. Okay? Um, they let others know what is and what is not acceptable or, or, okay. And it honors our needs and wants so that we can feel respected and safe. I I think one thing that, that is needed in faith circles today is a culture of honor. You know, that, that we can really value people. And if we can get a point of like really valuing people, um, it helps ’em when we have a, a healthy understanding of ourselves and we can say, you know what, you know, I want to do this.

(28:56):

So that way people can also, um, know where I stand because I, I want you to know it. 99.5% of the time, people are not out to get you, okay? Like, they, they, they really didn’t do that just to tick you off, okay? I mean, I mean, if they did, I mean they, a lot of times, I mean, sometimes people do I get that? But, but, but most of the time when people do something that really gets us mad sometimes they didn’t understand that, that they crossed a boundary in your life. They didn’t, they, they didn’t do that. And so, and, and, and, and we get all mad because we didn’t communicate it clearly. You know, like, I mean, like, God, we see in, in the, in, in the scripture, you know, God created a lot of boundaries and rules and regulations because, you know, these are things that, you know, people thought, this is what I need to do not to take God off.

(29:40):

And I thought that was pretty helpful. You know, I’d like to know what not, doesn’t tick God off <laugh>. Um, but, but, but again, this was their, their view. This was their, their lens, you know what I mean? Like, they, they, they, they were trying to interpret the world like, hey, there’s water up there behind that, that, that invisible ceiling over there. I mean, like, I mean, but this is what they thought. And we have to be okay to laugh about it and say, okay, you know, they, they, they were kind of, they, they had good intentions, but they’re a little off, right? Um, these are importance for, for boundaries. But I think this is also something that’s really important. So they’re important about creating that, that respect and that safety that we all need and we want other people to have. But also, um, boundaries are really helpful to avoid burnout.

(30:24):

Does anybody know what I’m talking about? Burnout, being stressed, being anxious, or even overcommitting ourselves. And I mean, sometimes I, I know Christians are getting these financial commitments that are, that God didn’t even ask ’em to do, but they’re trying to always bail out other people, poor boundaries. All right, I’m gonna go real fast now, how to, how to set boundaries. First of all, we need to recognize, and, and that we all need to be treated with respect. And also, you are a person who is worthy to be treated as respect. We have to get understand our worth and our worth comes for who we are when God, another thing is, now this is the part where you need to take some time. This is some homework. Take some time to acknowledge, um, what boundaries, uh, you have or what me you might not have in your relationships.

(31:10):

I mean, so the p and the base best way to do, it’s like, you know what? Like, who’s ticking me off today? <laugh>, you know what I mean? Or, or who’s like making me feel uncomfortable? Who, who do I feel bullied about? Who do I don’t feel uncomfortable in their presence? You know, if there’s people like that in your life, just take a step and say, Hmm, maybe I’d eat some boundaries. Do some of that work, you know? And then, and then try to imagine what would it look like if you were to put some boundaries in place, like what is needed? And once you’ve done that work in a nice way. I’m not saying nice, I’m not talking about like a groveling way, but I’m just saying like being respectful because you can be straight and be respectful at the same time. Okay?

(31:53):

You let people know where, where your boundaries are. You know, you don’t be like, don’t touch me. You know, you don’t do that kind of stuff, but yeah. But, but you, you, you create that space and say, Hey, you know, this is when I’m available, or Hey, I, I’m, I’m not a hugger. Or, you know what, um, hey, I don’t do early morning prayer groups, or whatever that is. You know what I mean? Like, you, you set those expectations and the scientific benefits are amazing. You know, you have approved emotional health. It will greatly change your relationships. You’ll have clear expectations for others. It will decrease your stress. Um, it will help you to be better at taking care of yourself. And I think it’s important also that it’ll help you to respect others too, and, and respect and care for them. It also just helps wards off, um, burnout, which I think is really important.

(32:47):

So going back to that creation, the crazy waters, right? How many of you just been swimming in some crazy waters lately? And you need God to create that vault, that, that space? Cuz when you do this, don’t be afraid of boundaries. Cuz what we see in science and even in the, in the biblical creation stories, that once that vault was created, that separation was made, and there’s air to breathe, it creates space for God to do some new things. And some of us need some space for God to do some new things in our life. So what is God saying to you today? God’s talking to you. Take some time to listen. Do you see that vault when you get outta the church today? Look at the sky and say, man, can you imagine what the writer was thinking? He said, man, I hope that vault doesn’t dump on me anytime soon.

(33:50):

You know, <laugh>. And the cool thing is we know it’s gonna be okay, right? Let us pray. So, Lord, we thank you just from taking some time to sit in the two verses of scripture, that there’s so much that we can learn by observing creation and also paying attention to how other people have interacted with your scriptures and observe their creation. But God, you’re speaking new things to us today, and I ask you, God, that you’ll keep speaking to us. Show us how to pay attention to those little out of place, place words in the scriptures or things that are repeated and help us to not just run over ’em, but just to take time to inquire, to have curiosity, to speak to us. Jesus, some of us are having a bunch of chaos right now, and instead of having that air, we feel like we’re drowning in the water. Jesus, show us what we need to do to allow you to come in and create that expanse, that that vault, that shield over us so that we can have room to breathe. And so that you have a place to create and do new things. Welcome Lord Jesus, have your way. Amen.

Hannah Hunter (35:18):

Hey beautiful people. This is Hannah Hunter. I’m the director of Digital Breach here at Gathering Place in Palm Beach Gardens. Thank you for joining us this week. We love getting to share our journey in Christ and community with you. And if you’re in the Palm Beach area, we’d love to get to connect with you in person at our Sunday Worship service at 1115. For more information about our community in faith, check out our website at the gathering place fl org. Thanks for listening.