Ep 126: The Day the World Stopped Turning (w/ Richard Harp)

What can some September 11th reflections remind us about seeking God? Our guest this morning will tell us all about that here in a sec.

Welcome to the show. I'm Daniel Dalp, and this is For Your Sunday Morning Drive, the short podcast with the goal of providing some motivation, encouragement, and helping you recenter your mind on those spiritual things on a hectic Sunday morning or whenever you listen.

This morning, we're joined by Richard Harp. Richard was born in New Zealand to parents who were serving as missionaries. I met Richard years ago at Western Kentucky Youth Camp. Richard met his wife, Mary, at Freed-Hardeman University, and after school they moved to Scotland and served as missionaries there for several years.

Nowadays, he serves at the Deerfoot Church of Christ in Trussville, Alabama. I'm thankful for the opportunity to reconnect with Richard, and I'm so grateful he agreed to share some thoughts with us this morning. I really encourage you to dwell on them.

Richard, thanks for joining us this morning. Let's go ahead and get the show on the road.

This is Episode 126, "The Day the World Stopped Turning."

Let's go to church.

On your morning drive to worship, I would generally encourage you to take all worldly thoughts out of your mind in preparation. But this morning, I want you to do the opposite. I actually want you to direct your mind to the world.

As Alan Jackson sang, "the world stopped turning" that September day. Where were you when the world stopped turning?

You see, Friday was 25 years since 9/11, as you know. But I want to direct your mind to the Sunday after that Tuesday in 2001.

It's a Sunday I will never forget.

All the planes were grounded. My family and I lived in Atlanta at the time, and there was a flight path directly over the house where we lived. And I remember it got so routine that we never even heard the planes until they were grounded, because that silence was deafening.

But it was that Sunday that I noticed something different.

There was traffic on the way to worship. Cars left driveways and garages that I had never seen leave before. And we passed church buildings on the way, and their parking lots were full.

And as we approached the Fayetteville Church of Christ parking lot, it was just as full. I met people that morning that I had never met before. You could barely find a seat in the building for several weeks.

This has told me years since that the sobering reminder of personal mortality caused the masses to try to make things right with their Maker. Worshiping God was a perfect place to begin.

After a few months, though, the parking lots were less crowded. It would seem that when the world started turning again, the world turned back to old habits.

By nature, we tend to forget our reason for approaching the throne of God, don't we?

This morning, we're one-quarter of a century removed from a tragic national event being a purpose to approach the throne of God. So I think it's important to ask: Why are you seeking God this morning?

Is it out of obligation? Is it out of habit?

Do you leave at the same time each week to go and sit in the same seat and sing songs of praise, hear a lesson, take the Lord's Supper, and then leave?

We seem perfectly content at times to view worship service as an adjective or a noun. Worship simply describes what kind of service we're taking part in for the next hour.

New Testament worship, though, is not either one of these. It's an action verb. It means to express an attitude or gesture one's complete dependence on or submission to God: to fall down.

Worship is to pay homage, to prostrate oneself before, to reverence, to welcome respectfully.

This morning, why do you seek to worship Him?

No one can do this for you. It's between you and God in participation with your brothers and sisters collectively.

This morning, will you welcome God into your consciousness, turning off autopilot in His presence? Will you purpose to give Him your heart for all that He has given you?

This is a great place to start, especially in your morning, preparing your mind for worship to God.

What if your world has recently stopped turning?

Well, I'm glad you're choosing your morning drive to be spiritual in nature. I'm glad you're choosing to turn to God.

The sons of Korah gave a powerful reason for approaching the throne of God. They experienced their own Ground Zero, if you will.

In Numbers 16, we're told that they lost their father, Korah, because he led a rebellion against God and Moses. The earth literally opened up and swallowed the rebels, but some of Korah's sons would not follow.

The young men chose to turn to their Father in heaven instead of their father in the earth. They turned to God when their world stopped turning.

And I would like to read Psalm 84 to show this is a psalm of the sons of Korah and a perspective that they had in the presence of God.

"How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

"Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise.

"Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.

"O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!

"For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

"For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

"O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you."

The sons of Korah trusted in God. They made their dwelling place with God in His courts. They were like a swallow finding her home in her nest.

I love that it says that their highway was to Zion, and you're on the highway on the way to worship on this morning drive.

I want to encourage you: Blessed are we who go to dwell in God's courts today, and may we never stop turning to God, even when the world stops turning.

God bless you.

Richard gave us a lot to think about this morning. Now it's time for us to talk about it.

Our discussion questions for today are:

Why do difficult circumstances sometimes cause people to seek God more seriously?

Why is it important to ask ourselves why we are seeking God?

What can we learn from the sons of Korah about turning to God when our world falls apart?

And here's Evelyn with today's kids question:

Why do you think worshiping God is important?

Hey, thanks for listening. Thank you so much to Richard for being on the show.

Always remember why you started seeking God, and never stop doing it.

I hope you have a fantastic week, and I'll see you Sunday.