SPEAKER_01 0:13

Good morning, church. Today's Old Testament reading is taken from the book of Psalms, chapter 46, verse 10. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. This is the word of God. Thanks be to God. Please rise for the Gospel reading. The Gospel reading is taken from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 5, verses 15 and 16. Glory to Christ our Savior. But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. This is the gospel of Christ. Thank you, Casia. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Thank you, Cassia. Appreciate you. Wow, this morning I really appreciate the choice of worship songs that we were singing together just now and remembering how good God has been to us. And I just want to encourage you, especially this morning, if perhaps you're you're having a difficult morning or you're battling some health challenges, reflect back, bring to remembrance just how good God has been, because He has been very good to us. This morning we are looking at silence and solitude as a spiritual discipline. And as we've been learning this year, spiritual disciplines are practices that we cultivate in our lives in order to produce spiritual renewal and maturity. And we look at silence and solitude against a backdrop of perhaps being some of the most lonely generations in recorded history. This is especially true for uh Gen Z and millennials. And so we find ourselves in a paradoxical situation. Uh we can go to the next slide, please. According to the World Population Review for 2026, Singapore has the third highest population density in the world. We really pack a lot of people into a small place. The majority of us, we we live in HDB blocks or condos, and we're surrounded by hundreds of people every minute of every waking hour. We're surrounded by people. And if you take public transport down to town area in the morning, we are surrounded by people. We are crushed in sometimes by the weight of humanity. And yet we are facing a pandemic of loneliness. SMU reports that despite living with their families, four out of five older adults feel isolated. And Duke NUS had a survey in 2017. They say that one out of every three people over the age of 60 experience loneliness. Youth as well, according to a CNA report, over 60% of youth consider themselves lonely as well. And with all this in mind, what are the benefits of silence and solitude? How are they different from loneliness? Church, shall we pray? Precious Lord, as you look down upon us, you look down upon your creation, you look down upon Singapore, you look down upon our church family. Would you speak to us today? Lord, that we may find that we are no longer alone, but we will find comfort in you, that we will be made whole in Christ. Open our ears, Lord, soften our hearts, ready our minds for your word. Pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. Jesus himself, he regularly practiced silence and solitude. But it wasn't because they had nothing better to do. We can go to the next slide here. Take a moment to imagine together with me the world that Jesus lived in. Right? He lived in the Middle East and in Middle Eastern towns. Uh population was generally tightly clustered together. If you can imagine with me, there's the stone streets or dirt streets going through the very narrow. The buildings are made of stone, and there's hustle and bustle, maybe in the center for a market square. And if you go to the outskirts, if there's you know a reliable source of water, then there'll be some agriculture just outside of the town. But beyond that, it would have been dry wilderness. An area with sand and stone and dirt, hills, maybe some winding footpaths, and some sparse vegetation. But inside the town, it was a busy, noisy place. And Jesus was traveling from town to town. He was preaching the coming of the kingdom of God. He was healing the sick, he was delivering the demon-possessed, he was performing miracles, and he was calling his countrymen to repent and return to God. And it was in the midst of these busiest years of his life that he would intentionally withdraw from the crowds and the towns for silence and solitude. And we just heard read by Cassia just now that despite the crowds gathering and great numbers to hear him wherever he went, even then Jesus would intentionally withdraw to desolate places to be still, to embrace silence, and to pray. And so I don't know about you if you've ever wondered what took place during these times of retreat. And what are we supposed to learn from that? Is there something for us to learn today? Well, my first point today is that silence creates space for God's voice. I don't know. For me, I have trouble focusing on a single voice when there's other voices around. And if you've ever tried to have a conversation with me in the I zone, uh you may have noticed I struggle. Sometimes I'll try to turn my good ear, my better ear toward you. I may just try to nonchalant, uh, you know, try to listen a little bit closer. Because with all the voices around, I just have difficulty picking out the voice of the person I'm trying to listen to. Maybe it's because slowly I'm aging, maybe it's because earlier on in life I worked a lot of warehouse jobs that it was noisy. Whatever it is, that's what I experience now. I need a quiet environment to hear you properly. And it's the same when we listen for God's voice. It's easiest to find his voice and to recognize it and to focus on it when we're in a place of silence. In the Old Testament, there's an event where a prophet of God named Elijah, he had a showdown with 400 diff uh prophets of a false god called Baal. And in this showdown, uh there was a bunch of wood that was piled on two altars, one for Baal and one for the Lord God. And so the contest was the God who lit this uh the wood on fire and burnt up the offering that had been prepared, this would be recognized as the strongest and greatest God. And so the 450 prophets of Baal, they did their thing, they chanted, they prayed, they shouted, they even cut themselves. They were at it for hours until they were limping from marching around and trying to call on their God to set this thing on fire. But this false God wasn't able to do it. Elijah actually started mocking them, and things were getting a bit ugly. Then it was Elijah's turn. And Elijah, he was feeling it. He had confidence in God, he he could sense that God was going to show up and make himself known in a big way. And so he didn't just ask God to set fire on things. He said, All right, get some jars of water, dump it on the wood. More, more, bring some more. Until this thing was soaking, and around the altar there was water just standing there. There was so much water that had been poured on it. And then he prayed, and whoosh, the fire of God came down and burnt up this offering. Everything. The wood was burnt up, the water evaporated, everything had been covered in flames. And it's amazing, right? Everyone there, they went crazy. Clearly, Elijah's God was the greatest of all gods, and so they all started shouting and worshiping him. And, well, to make a long story short, Elijah directed the crowd to seize all the prophets of this false God, and they were taken away and they were killed. And soon after that, Elijah ran away. He had been feeling on the mountaintop such an amazing event, but he was afraid that when the news reached the king, he was going to be in big, big trouble. So he ran away to a mountain and he hid in a cave. He was probably depressed, he was angry, he was afraid, and Elijah needed to hear from God. So listen with me to what God spoke to Elijah, and this is from 1 Kings chapter 19. He said, Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak, and he went out, and he stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah? Silence creates space for God's voice. The wind, the earthquake, the fire, they are loud, they are dramatic. But Elijah only heard God's gentle whisper in the silence that followed. Many of us today I find we are a bit uncomfortable with silence. Even if we're home alone, we might turn on the television, not to watch it, not to pay any attention, but just to have some kind of noise. And I think especially in such a population, dense nation like Singapore, we just become very uncomfortable with silence. But silence creates space for God's voice. Jesus likewise, he'd regularly retreat from his busy ministry to hear the Father speak to him. Brothers and sisters, I wonder when is the last time you sought out silence and intentionally listened for the Lord to speak. The second point that I want to make is that biblical solitude leads to renewal, not loneliness. Philosopher and theologian Paul Tillich said, Our language has wisely sensed the two sides of being alone. It is created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone, and it has created the word solitude to express the glory of being alone. Church, biblical solitude leads to renewal, not loneliness. And loneliness is actually, if we try to put it into words, it can be a bit difficult. Because it's kind of this painful sense of being unseen, of being disconnected, of being unwanted, or without any meaningful companionship or friendship. You can feel lonely in a crowd. You can feel lonely in a marriage. You can feel lonely in a church. It's not just about being physically alone. Solitude, however, is different. Solitude is this intentional, temporary withdrawal from people in order to rest, to think, and to pray to the Lord and to meditate on his word without all the ordinary distractions. It's a purposeful time apart from others. We see solitude in Psalm 23, the most famous of Psalms, where David writes, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. As David reflected on his life, he recognized that the Lord Himself would lead him to solitary places of restoration and renewal. To lie down in green pastures. The imagery of that, to just to just stop, to lay down, to listen to the cool breeze blow past you, to go beside still waters, that calmness, to experience soul renewal. Jesus also, he sought out quite regularly solitary places for that same reason to rest, to think, to reflect, to spend time with the Heavenly Father. It was this hidden source of strength for his ministry. It's how we didn't get burnt out from the crowds and the busyness and the healings and the confrontations with religious leaders. Solitude is intentional, temporary withdrawal from people. And we all need regular times of solitude. Whether you're an extrovert who feels recharged with people, or you're an introvert who needs to step away, we all need regular times of solitude. And the final point I want to make this morning is that it's in solitude that we find direction, purpose, and resolve. It's difficult to find solitude in Singapore, all right? My own family, we live in a three-room flat, one bedroom for my wife and I, one bedroom for our three daughters. And the living room is usually used for study and dealing with school matters. The only place for escape is the toilet. And even then you can't escape for very long before I'm waiting. I found a couple things that helped me. And since uh our family will be leaving Singapore soon, I will share my secret with you so I don't have to worry about bumping into you in these uh spots of mine. Two secret spots. The first is National Gallery, located by City Hall MRT. And for me, there are times where I'll happily just hop on the train, head down, especially in the morning on a weekday, there are very few people there. But just in case, put in some earbuds. Doesn't actually have to be anything playing. Just put in the earbuds and quietly walk through. And I'll pray a little bit, but it's not a time for, I don't want to fill the time with praying and speaking and speaking. It's a time for listening. And so this is one one of my secret places for silence and solitude. Just to slow down, to take deep breaths, to listen for the Lord to speak. The other is Windsor Park and the treetop walk. How many have gone for the treetop walk, Windsor Park? Okay. Only a few hands. That's why it's been a secret. There are two circuits you can walk, and the shorter one, depending on your pace, it may only take about an hour. The other one is quite long, about three and a half to four hours. That's quite a time commitment. But this is another place where if I need to get away, and it's so hard to get away from people, going there and going out for a walk, I just able to get away from everything, start to hear the sounds of nature, start to decompress. And for me, my mind tends to be quite noisy with thoughts. I don't know about you. And it takes a time, it takes at least a good half hour to an hour to slowly just quiet down and to be able to listen. And whether I feel that the Lord has spoken something very clear to me or not, I come back renewed. I come back feeling more centered, more at peace. You know, I feel like my reserves have been topped up again. And so I'm more patient with the people around me. I'm slower to get upset with people. It's easier for me to extend grace to others. For me, these little mini retreats are a way to find direction, purpose, and resolve. And it's in solitude that we find that. We find direction, purpose, and resolve. And so I especially recommend retreating for a time of solitude. If you have a big decision coming up, you have something important coming up. It's going to be in silence and solitude that God will give you the peace. He will give you that what is needed to be able to make the tough decisions in life. Now, my secret spots may not work for you, and especially those of us who are still working, not so easy to take off a weekday morning. Maybe possible, but not so easy. But you know what? If you drive, sometimes going for a long drive can be very refreshing. You don't have to be a certain place at a certain time. You're not in a rush. You don't have to, you don't actually have to pass every car in front of you. You don't have to. And it can be just a time of being refreshed, trying to find silence and solitude, a bit of time alone. Could be trying once in a while to get away to Pulau Ubin. All right. I haven't been there in quite a while. But it's another place where you can escape the crowds, you can escape the noise, find some peace, find some space. Or can even be planning to catch a sunrise or a sunset at East Coast Park. Just find a quiet bench to sit on. Whatever you do, when we pursue silence and solitude is part of our spiritual discipline, part of what we need to keep us renewed on the inside. Don't fill it with distractions. Maybe you've got a lot going on. Don't fill the time just praying and praying and speaking and praying and praying and then going back. Because the renewal comes in the silence and in the solitude, being alone in the Lord's presence. Psalm 46, verse 10, it says, Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. And so, brothers and sisters, when was the last time you sought out silence and solitude and intentionally listened for God to speak? We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Ishun Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.