The spiritual discipline that I want to look at tonight is “service” as a Christian we should serve the local body of believers…that means we should be volunteering for ministries or a ministry on a consistent basis. We should be serving it is a discipline.
What I want to do tonight is give a staunch reminder of the fact that as we “serve” we are actually enlisted in battle and it is a spiritual battle.
Let me just inform you…the Spiritual discipline of serving the Lord is actually going to battle for Him because there are spiritual forces against you.
I think if we start looking at our service to the Lord in the light of the fact that we are battling the spiritual forces of evil we will start to take it more seriously.
As I have done the past three weeks I want to look at the concept of “Battle” through the eyes of what Jesus says the greatest commandment is. Love the Lord you God…
-Our Heart has to be in the right place to do battle. Acts 5:3 Satan “filled” control or influence his heart and not only did they lie but it damaged his service to the Lord. Their lie was to cover up selfishness…many times we do not serve the Lord because we are selfish.
Sometimes because we are selfish we act like what we are doing is serving the Lord but it really serving our own ego.
This become extremely dangerous for those of you that have been in the faith for a while. Psalm 55:20-22 we learn how to say the and do the right things but our heart is waging war.
How? Proverbs 20:9 Who can say, "I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin"? Only the Lord can make our hearts pure first of all in Salvation GOSPEL.
As a Christian we need to be reading His Word, spend time in prayer and repenting of and confessing sin.
Now as a Christian who’s heart has been made pure and who is practicing the 3 disciplines we discussed in the last three weeks we are ready for Battle.
-We do battle with our mind- 2 Cor 10:3-5 Notice Paul is saying here that we destroy arguments against God by…using our mind to take “every thought captive” This helps us to understand that when you have a doubt you put it to the test. (I don’t know enough to talk to others)
2 Corinthians 2:10-12 “outwitted” The Puritan Thomas Brookes wrote a book based on verse 11 called “Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices”
Here is Brookes remedies when “Satan casts in vain thoughts while we are seeking to serve God”
1. The God we serve is great, holy, majestic and glorious.
2. Despite wandering thoughts it is needful to be resolute in service.
3. Vain and useless thoughts that Satan casts in are not sins if they are resisted and disclaimed.
4. Watching against and resisting sinful thoughts are evidences of grace and sincerity of our hearts.
5. We must labor (serve) to be filled with the fullness of God.
6. We must labor (serve) to keep up holy and spiritual affections.
7. We must labor (serve) to avoid worldly cares.
It is about having an understanding what is going on when you serve.
Examples:
-“I am going to feed the homeless”: Realize that the homeless are people that need to hear the good news, they may feel that the Lord has rejected them like society has, they may not realize that there is a spiritual stronghold from Satan and his demons that is keeping them from getting out of their situation.
-“I volunteer for nursery”: Realize that those babies need to be safe and cared for and Satan and his demons want them to be uncomfortable and not want to stay in the nursery, therefore the parents don’t feel comfortable leaving them down there and then they don’t stay for service.
-“I clean the church”: Realize that when you are cleaning you are making the church look good so when new people walk through the doors they don’t feel that they are in a place that no one cares about. Satan and his demons will use that to defame the name of the Lord and His people.
-“I run a Community Group”: Realize how welcoming you are can impact the people that come out. How you keep people on track with what you are doing will assist in a helpful meeting for everyone. Satan and his demons don’t want them coming to your house for spiritual development so he will try to get in the way and cause them to act on their bad attitude or their frustration when the group is not doing just what they think it should.
With our mind we purpose to serve the Lord
-We do battle with our strength Eph 6:10-12 God equips us with the strength
David said in 2 Samuel 22:39-41 that the Lord equipped him with strength for battle.
How? Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
The battle is for souls.
Interestingly enough, as a Christian Satan’s number one battle against us is to lead us into sin. As Brookes tells us he “hides the hook with the bait”
Remedies from Brookes
1. Keep greatest distance from sin and playing with the bait.
2. Understand sin is bitter sweet.
3. Understand sin will usher the greatest and saddest loses.
4. Understand sin is deceitful and bewitching.
5. Understand sin is losing the battle.
1 Peter 5:1-9 sums up our service or battle plan.
Emphasis on verse 8 We battle for the Lord because it is over Souls. The very souls of our friends and family members, the people at work and at school, the person next door, the stranger.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Spiritual Disciplines Series: "The Trash"
Mark 12:28-34 Communication Prayer/meditation
As John Grassmick says in the Bible Knowledge Commentary on these verses…”It is a commitment to the Lord that is comprehensive and whole hearted. The heart, as the control center of your life, the soul as your self consciousness, the mind our thought capacity and strength our bodily powers”
And when we learn how to love the Lord like this the result is love for others.
As we talked about the last two weeks a Christian should be in the Word daily and praying daily
Today we are going to look at personal sin
For the sake of us realizing the magnitude of sin I am calling it “trash”
The trash gets in the way of us loving the Lord, it breaks fellowship with Him and can also break our relationships with others.
• What causes the trash?
The first step is to admit you have a problem, we have to understand what is going on within us.
We sin because…
-Our heart condition – hard heart
Eph 4:17-20 Paul speaks to the believers and reminds them not to be as they used to be having hard hearts and continue in sinful ways.
Application Heb 4:7 “if you hear His voice do not harden your heart”
-Our mind is warped blinded – Eph 4:17-20 Talks about how our minds used to be darkened and we should not revert to that type of thinking.
Application Rom 12:2 Says that we should renew our mind and not be conformed to the worldly thinking.
-We are drawing on our own strength- Eph 4:21-24
We think we are strong enough or sometimes worse yet we think we are immune to what sin is capable of.
Gary Richmond, a former zoo keeper, had this to say: Raccoons go through a glandular change at about 24 months. After that they often attack their owners. Since a 30-pound raccoon can be equal to a 100-pound dog in a scrap, I felt compelled to mention the change coming to a pet raccoon owned by a young friend of mine, Julie. She listened politely as I explained the coming danger. I'll never forget her answer. "It will be different for me. . ." And she smiled as she added, "Bandit wouldn't hurt me. He just wouldn't." Three months later Julie underwent plastic surgery for facial lacerations sustained when her adult raccoon attacked her for no apparent reason. Bandit was released into the wild. Sin, too, often comes dressed in an adorable guise, and as we play with it, how easy it is to say, "It will be different for me." The results are predictable.
Application: Rely on the Lord for Him to give you strength. 2 Cor. 1:8-10
-Our soul is troubled. Psalm 6:3 Helps us to realize that at times our soul is troubled. Maybe because something happened to us, or in a relationship or we are just bummed
The temptation is to get involved in sinful behaviors to make ourselves feel better. Like revenge, substance abuse etc.
Application: 1 Peter 2:11 says that these things actually “wage war against our souls”
• How do we take the trash out?
Every sin that we commit is an offense to Jesus…as Christians Jesus does not only call us to love Him but to love others. Some of the sins we commit may have hurt others and we need to go to them...repent and confess to them… James 5:16 says confess your sins to one another. And if someone is confessing to you, you forgive.
1. Repentance = a change of mind which leads to a change of heart.
Rom 2:4 “God’s kindness is meant to lead to repentance”
2 Cor 7:10 “Godly sorrow leads to repentance”
2. Confession- To admit… The good news is that we can go right to the Lord Jesus 1 Tim 2:5
Psalm 32:5
Psalm 38:18 “I confess my iniquity, I am sorry for my sin”
• Where does the trash go? Jesus is willing to absorb the trash GOSPEL Rom 10:9 If “you confess and believe”
We have a loving Father who is so willing to forgive us that He would give His Son to prove it. We have a such a loving Savior that He is willing to take our wrath/trash on Himself and forgive us.
Proverbs 28:13 “The one who confesses and forsakes his sins will obtain mercy”
1 John 1:9 the promise “If you confess your sins He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”
As Christians we should develop the discipline of Repentance and Confession
As John Grassmick says in the Bible Knowledge Commentary on these verses…”It is a commitment to the Lord that is comprehensive and whole hearted. The heart, as the control center of your life, the soul as your self consciousness, the mind our thought capacity and strength our bodily powers”
And when we learn how to love the Lord like this the result is love for others.
As we talked about the last two weeks a Christian should be in the Word daily and praying daily
Today we are going to look at personal sin
For the sake of us realizing the magnitude of sin I am calling it “trash”
The trash gets in the way of us loving the Lord, it breaks fellowship with Him and can also break our relationships with others.
• What causes the trash?
The first step is to admit you have a problem, we have to understand what is going on within us.
We sin because…
-Our heart condition – hard heart
Eph 4:17-20 Paul speaks to the believers and reminds them not to be as they used to be having hard hearts and continue in sinful ways.
Application Heb 4:7 “if you hear His voice do not harden your heart”
-Our mind is warped blinded – Eph 4:17-20 Talks about how our minds used to be darkened and we should not revert to that type of thinking.
Application Rom 12:2 Says that we should renew our mind and not be conformed to the worldly thinking.
-We are drawing on our own strength- Eph 4:21-24
We think we are strong enough or sometimes worse yet we think we are immune to what sin is capable of.
Gary Richmond, a former zoo keeper, had this to say: Raccoons go through a glandular change at about 24 months. After that they often attack their owners. Since a 30-pound raccoon can be equal to a 100-pound dog in a scrap, I felt compelled to mention the change coming to a pet raccoon owned by a young friend of mine, Julie. She listened politely as I explained the coming danger. I'll never forget her answer. "It will be different for me. . ." And she smiled as she added, "Bandit wouldn't hurt me. He just wouldn't." Three months later Julie underwent plastic surgery for facial lacerations sustained when her adult raccoon attacked her for no apparent reason. Bandit was released into the wild. Sin, too, often comes dressed in an adorable guise, and as we play with it, how easy it is to say, "It will be different for me." The results are predictable.
Application: Rely on the Lord for Him to give you strength. 2 Cor. 1:8-10
-Our soul is troubled. Psalm 6:3 Helps us to realize that at times our soul is troubled. Maybe because something happened to us, or in a relationship or we are just bummed
The temptation is to get involved in sinful behaviors to make ourselves feel better. Like revenge, substance abuse etc.
Application: 1 Peter 2:11 says that these things actually “wage war against our souls”
• How do we take the trash out?
Every sin that we commit is an offense to Jesus…as Christians Jesus does not only call us to love Him but to love others. Some of the sins we commit may have hurt others and we need to go to them...repent and confess to them… James 5:16 says confess your sins to one another. And if someone is confessing to you, you forgive.
1. Repentance = a change of mind which leads to a change of heart.
Rom 2:4 “God’s kindness is meant to lead to repentance”
2 Cor 7:10 “Godly sorrow leads to repentance”
2. Confession- To admit… The good news is that we can go right to the Lord Jesus 1 Tim 2:5
Psalm 32:5
Psalm 38:18 “I confess my iniquity, I am sorry for my sin”
• Where does the trash go? Jesus is willing to absorb the trash GOSPEL Rom 10:9 If “you confess and believe”
We have a loving Father who is so willing to forgive us that He would give His Son to prove it. We have a such a loving Savior that He is willing to take our wrath/trash on Himself and forgive us.
Proverbs 28:13 “The one who confesses and forsakes his sins will obtain mercy”
1 John 1:9 the promise “If you confess your sins He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”
As Christians we should develop the discipline of Repentance and Confession
Monday, August 1, 2011
Spiritual Disciplines Series: "Communication"
Mark 12:28-34 Communication Prayer/meditation
As John Grassmick says in the Bible Knowledge Commentary on these verses…”It is a commitment to the Lord that is comprehensive and whole hearted. The heart, as the control center of your life, the soul as your self consciousness, the mind our thought capacity and strength our bodily powers”
And when we learn how to love the Lord like this the result is love for others.
So in this series what I would like to do is help us understand that this type of loving God comes from instituting Spiritual Disciplines in our life.
Tonight we will look at prayer and how it impacts our heart, mind, strength and soul.
When we look at all the people of great faith in Bible…they prayed…Jesus prayed…He went off often early in the morning and prayed and in the account of Luke 11 when he came back from praying one of the disciples said “teach us to pray”, then Jesus taught what we call the Lord’s Prayer, which is an outline for prayer.
Many times we look at prayer as a thing that is on its own. What I would suggest is that you add prayer to your time of reading the Word. This way it becomes more like a conversation. You then start to develop a time each day of silence and solitude. You talk with Jesus and He talks with you.
So then applying last week we read God’s Word, then meditate on God’s Word then pray God’s Word in request to God that we can apply God’s Word.
If I should neglect prayer but a single day, I should lose a great deal of the fire of faith. Martin Luther
First
• Prayer…calms our heart (Heart love) (control seat)
When our heart is restless and troubled what do we do? Many times we feel good when you are able to get things off your chest, someone to talk to. But it feels much better when you not only are able to talk with someone who will listen, but someone who can actually do something about it.
Philippians 4:4-7 roles to mind
Jesus said “let not your heart be troubled”
• Prayer…is a discipline of the mind (Mind Love)
Be sober minded, for the sake of your prayers 1 Peter 4:7,
Contemplative/meditative 1 Cor 14:14-15
-We use our mind to realize Jesus can use any means He chooses…
crossing the Atlantic on an ocean liner, F.B. Meyer was asked to address the first class passengers. At the captain's request he spoke on "Answered Prayer." An agnostic who was present at the service was asked by his friends, "What did you think of Dr. Meyer's sermon?" He answered, "I didn't believe a word of it." That afternoon Meyer went to speak to the steerage passengers. Many of the listeners at his morning address went along, including the agnostic, who claimed he just wanted to hear "what the babbler had to say."
Before starting for the service, the agnostic put two oranges in his pocket. On his way he passed an elderly woman sitting in her deck chair fast asleep. Her hands were open. In the spirit of fun, the agnostic put the two oranges in her outstretched palms. After the meeting, he saw the old lady happily eating one of the pieces of fruit. "You seem to be enjoying that orange," he remarked with a smile. "Yes, sir," she replied, "My Father is very good to me." "Your father? Surely your father can't be still alive!" "Praise God," she replied, "He is very much alive." "What do you mean?" pressed the agnostic. She explained, "I'll tell you, sir. I have been seasick for days. I was asking God somehow to send me an orange. I suppose I fell asleep while I was praying. When I awoke, I found He had not only sent me one orange but two!" The agnostic was speechless. Later he was converted to Christ. Yes, praying in God's will brings an answer.
-We use our mind to believe Jesus can… Matt 7:7-11
Alexander the Great –Asked by a general if he would pay for his daughters wedding…I have been a faithful general. Fine ask my treasurer to discuss the cost. The general went to the treasurer and asked for a crazy amount of money. The treasurer went to Alexander and said you are not gonna believe this he wants this much money. Alexander smiled and said give it to him…the treasurer said why? Alexander said don’t you realize that by him asking for this crazy amount of money...he believes I am both rich and generous.
We pray in faith that Jesus can change our relationships, change our finances, change our attitudes etc.
We all have to come to the point that Reinhold Niebuhr when He prayed what most of you know as the “Serenity prayer”
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
At some point in life you will have to accept that Jesus can… but He didn’t at this time you need the next point the most.
• Prayer…gives us strength (Strength love) it also takes strength
Luke 21:36 Jesus here is telling us that the most important place to turn when it comes to strength is to be prayed up.
"Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A person is powerful on his knees." Corrie ten Boom
This displays the strength love for God
Another aspect of this strength love in prayer.. is that in order to pray we need to come to the conclusion that we are weak. That is difficult for many of us. Because we want to do everything humanly possible rather then rely on the Lord. Paul said “when I am weak He is strong”
Hudson Taylor said
"The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God's standing challenge, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!'"
• Prayer…heals our soul. When our soul is healed we are more inclined to love Him with our soul. Psalm 116:4 “Oh Lord deliver my soul” GOSPEL “everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved” Rom 10:13
As John Grassmick says in the Bible Knowledge Commentary on these verses…”It is a commitment to the Lord that is comprehensive and whole hearted. The heart, as the control center of your life, the soul as your self consciousness, the mind our thought capacity and strength our bodily powers”
And when we learn how to love the Lord like this the result is love for others.
So in this series what I would like to do is help us understand that this type of loving God comes from instituting Spiritual Disciplines in our life.
Tonight we will look at prayer and how it impacts our heart, mind, strength and soul.
When we look at all the people of great faith in Bible…they prayed…Jesus prayed…He went off often early in the morning and prayed and in the account of Luke 11 when he came back from praying one of the disciples said “teach us to pray”, then Jesus taught what we call the Lord’s Prayer, which is an outline for prayer.
Many times we look at prayer as a thing that is on its own. What I would suggest is that you add prayer to your time of reading the Word. This way it becomes more like a conversation. You then start to develop a time each day of silence and solitude. You talk with Jesus and He talks with you.
So then applying last week we read God’s Word, then meditate on God’s Word then pray God’s Word in request to God that we can apply God’s Word.
If I should neglect prayer but a single day, I should lose a great deal of the fire of faith. Martin Luther
First
• Prayer…calms our heart (Heart love) (control seat)
When our heart is restless and troubled what do we do? Many times we feel good when you are able to get things off your chest, someone to talk to. But it feels much better when you not only are able to talk with someone who will listen, but someone who can actually do something about it.
Philippians 4:4-7 roles to mind
Jesus said “let not your heart be troubled”
• Prayer…is a discipline of the mind (Mind Love)
Be sober minded, for the sake of your prayers 1 Peter 4:7,
Contemplative/meditative 1 Cor 14:14-15
-We use our mind to realize Jesus can use any means He chooses…
crossing the Atlantic on an ocean liner, F.B. Meyer was asked to address the first class passengers. At the captain's request he spoke on "Answered Prayer." An agnostic who was present at the service was asked by his friends, "What did you think of Dr. Meyer's sermon?" He answered, "I didn't believe a word of it." That afternoon Meyer went to speak to the steerage passengers. Many of the listeners at his morning address went along, including the agnostic, who claimed he just wanted to hear "what the babbler had to say."
Before starting for the service, the agnostic put two oranges in his pocket. On his way he passed an elderly woman sitting in her deck chair fast asleep. Her hands were open. In the spirit of fun, the agnostic put the two oranges in her outstretched palms. After the meeting, he saw the old lady happily eating one of the pieces of fruit. "You seem to be enjoying that orange," he remarked with a smile. "Yes, sir," she replied, "My Father is very good to me." "Your father? Surely your father can't be still alive!" "Praise God," she replied, "He is very much alive." "What do you mean?" pressed the agnostic. She explained, "I'll tell you, sir. I have been seasick for days. I was asking God somehow to send me an orange. I suppose I fell asleep while I was praying. When I awoke, I found He had not only sent me one orange but two!" The agnostic was speechless. Later he was converted to Christ. Yes, praying in God's will brings an answer.
-We use our mind to believe Jesus can… Matt 7:7-11
Alexander the Great –Asked by a general if he would pay for his daughters wedding…I have been a faithful general. Fine ask my treasurer to discuss the cost. The general went to the treasurer and asked for a crazy amount of money. The treasurer went to Alexander and said you are not gonna believe this he wants this much money. Alexander smiled and said give it to him…the treasurer said why? Alexander said don’t you realize that by him asking for this crazy amount of money...he believes I am both rich and generous.
We pray in faith that Jesus can change our relationships, change our finances, change our attitudes etc.
We all have to come to the point that Reinhold Niebuhr when He prayed what most of you know as the “Serenity prayer”
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
At some point in life you will have to accept that Jesus can… but He didn’t at this time you need the next point the most.
• Prayer…gives us strength (Strength love) it also takes strength
Luke 21:36 Jesus here is telling us that the most important place to turn when it comes to strength is to be prayed up.
"Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A person is powerful on his knees." Corrie ten Boom
This displays the strength love for God
Another aspect of this strength love in prayer.. is that in order to pray we need to come to the conclusion that we are weak. That is difficult for many of us. Because we want to do everything humanly possible rather then rely on the Lord. Paul said “when I am weak He is strong”
Hudson Taylor said
"The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God's standing challenge, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!'"
• Prayer…heals our soul. When our soul is healed we are more inclined to love Him with our soul. Psalm 116:4 “Oh Lord deliver my soul” GOSPEL “everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved” Rom 10:13
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