Hey everybody and welcome back to I Just Want to talk about the Bible.

If this is your first time joining us, then let me just welcome you and say that I am so glad that you're here.

My name is Christian Keeter and I live in the southeast of the United States of America with my amazing, beautiful, godly wife Lacey,

and our two wonderful daughters, Felicity and Serenity. Okay, so today we are talking about something

really scary, something very, very frightening. What is it? Vulnerability. Today we are talking about vulnerability, transparency.

And I'm going to go ahead and at the outset here, just state outright, kind of one of the overarching points that we're going to be looking at in this episode.

And that's this. If we want to heal and grow spiritually, we must be transparent and vulnerable in community.

If we want to heal and grow spiritually, we must be transparent and vulnerable in community.

Not we should, but we must.

Now, before proceeding, let me just draw a quick distinction between solitude and isolation here.

Because, I mean, right there, the last two words of that sentence that is read were in community.

We must be transparent and vulnerable in community.

So when we're talking about community and interacting with other people,

let's talk about the difference between solitude and isolation. So without a doubt, I mean, beyond the shadow of

a doubt, solitude is a crucial part of our spiritual lives. It is a crucial part of seeking the Lord,

of growing in intimacy with him, and it should be a recurring ongoing practice,

the practice of withdrawing to be alone with the Lord.

Let me just give you a couple of verses.

Luke 515 through 16 says, but now even more, the report about him went abroad, and great

crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed

of their infirmities but he would withdraw to desolate places and pray you hear there but he would

withdraw to desolate places and pray implies not just a one-time act but kind of a recurring rhythm mark Mark 135 says, and rising very early in the morning

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