Discipleship week 4

Practicing time with Christ

Ok! Quick reminder from last week, What does the HEAR acronym mean?

Discipleship involves HEARING from God.

But How do I spend time with Jesus?

I get distracted, I get bored, I don’t have time, I don’t know where to begin.

Stop making excuses.

This is something we know that we need in life, so dial down the excuses and just own the fact that spending time with God is not a priority in your life, but you want to make it a priority.

That’s ok. And that’s not a bad thing.

Being honest with yourself and owning the truth helps you move forward in a positive way.

Making excuses and being dishonest with the truth yourself will only leave you frustrated, drained, and likely to give up.

What does it mean to Hear from God?

In order to hear from God,

we have to actually give him our time.

2. Give Jesus unhurried time.

HEAR

Get a journal, get a journaling bible, start on a note on your phone…

Whatever works for you.

read the word and write down your thoughts using this method.

H - Highlight

E - Explain

A - Apply

R - Respond

Highlight - write down verses, highlight them, ask, “What stood out to you the most about that verse?”

Explain - write out what’s going on in the verse in your own words. write down any details you see or truth statements.

A few good resources here:

enduringword.com

gotquestions.org

Apply - We don’t just want facts about scripture in our minds. We aren’t studying for a test. We need to know what to do with this stuff we are reading.

What does this mean today?

What is God saying to me?

What would my life look like if I apply this verse to my life?

How am I not applying this verse in my life?

Don’t rush, sit here a while. GO to God in prayer here.

Respond - We want to people people who obey God and do what He says.

Remember all those times in the OT when we see the Israelites literally do the opposite of what God says?

We always think “Man, they were dumb. I’m not like that...”

Except we are sometimes though…

The point is not to obey out of obligation… the point is, I want to do what God says, because I have seen continually in scripture His grace and mercy.

I pray and talk to God to ask for His help explaining, applying, and obeying His word.

Did anyone work through Matthew 5:13-16 this week?

Ok let’s take time to grab a partner and talk through this.

How can we hear (highlight, explain, apply, respond) to this text?

Talk through Matthew 5:13-16

Matthew 5:13–16 NIV

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Highlight

“You are the salt of the earth...”

You are the light of the world...”

Explain

What is the purpose of salt? What is the purpose of light? How am I like salt and like light?

Salt flavors but it also preserves.

Salt is also valuable and a precious luxury.

It’s up to God’s disciples to have a preserving influence on the culture around us.

We are to give life, sustain, and impact.

We are also to add flavor to life. We literally give life through Jesus.

Apart from jesus everyone is dead.

Light:

We not only receive light, but we give light through our lives.

We need God’s Word, the light it brings, to infiltrate our lives daily that His light may shine out of us to those around us every day.

Quite literally, we are to let our light shine, we do not hide it.

Apply

What is the danger of losing saltiness or not shining my light?

I’m wasting what God has given me.

I’m not living under the purpose God has called me too, to make disciples.

I may not be connected to the light.

What is the reward for being salty and a light?

I have purpose, I impact others, I have life, I make a difference, I bring purpose not only to my life but to the lives of others, I feel the tangible effects of a job well done.

RESPOND:

God use me to be salt and light to those around me. Every moment and every day.

God would you show me a real life moment I can be salt and light to someone this week.

God would you rip me out of my daily schedule and distract me with someone who needs to see your salt and light today from my life?

Would you calm me of frustration when you do so?

AMen.

Let’s do one more verse tonight.

2 Corinthians 12:5–10 “5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

HIGHLIGHT

What would be some good things to highlight here? What stood out to you from these verses?

Paul is suffering from something. He has a thorn, a hardship (vs. 7).

Paul has learned something about grace that affects him deeply. (vs. 9).

Paul’s strength is from God, not from himself. (vs. 10).

EXPLAIN: (Use help! A study bible is great, enduringword.com is incredible.)

What is actually going on here?

There had clearly been some people talking about God in very flashy ways in Corinth.

Some refer to them as “Super apostles.”

Paul mentions in the beginning of chapter 12 there was even a guy who seemed to have died, went to heaven, and came back to talk about it.

But Paul is essentially saying here, “Don’t think of me as a super apostle or someone with an experience that you can’t have.”

He is saying, “I’m weak...” What’s important is not to show how we can overcome our own trials and circumstances, but to see how God works through those difficulties in our lives.

Additionally, Paul seems to discuss this thorn in his flesh that He wished He didn’t have.

However God’s answer for Him is not to remove the thorn, but to remind Paul that He is enough!

That’s not the answer Paul wanted, which tells us, God doesn’t grant our wishes or give us all the gifts we want. - He’s not a fairy and he’s not santa.

He is God. Do we trust His will over our own?

Ultimately, I can’t do this. All of life is too overwhelming to think I can hold it all together. That’s why we need His grace.

It’s Jesus in you and through you, not YOU!

APPLY:

What does this mean today?

Am I confident in me, or in Christ today?

If I am going in to a stressful situation today, remember that it is God’s strength in me, not me, that sustains me.

If I am feeling confident and strong today, remember that It is God in me that is strong today, not me.

Our strength is momentary and can be stripped from us in a second.

Only by God’s grace do I live and move and breathe and have being.

Acts 17:28 “28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’”

RESPOND:

How will I live differently today because of what I’ve just read.

For me personally, one of my biggest struggles right now is just losing my poop over my kids at bed time.

Shut up, go to sleep, stop whining about how you can’t sleep, just try.

But, I forget most of the time… 99% ok, that they are just kids.

It’s one thing to be disobedient, ok that’s a guaranteed no… but it’s another thing to just be kids.

I need to be more graceful in responding to them as their dad.

Last night Roman told me, “Dad, your so mean I hate you cause you hate us...”

Now bear in mind, I literally bought him something yesterday that He’s been wanting for over a year. I got that for Him, but at the same time, I wasn’t responding well at bed time.

That’s on me as the dad to lead, not on him to feel how I want him to feel.

What about you?

Hebrews 12:1-3 and Hebrews 13:5-8 Verses I’m preaching for Sunday morning.

You could begin to look at those verse this week and see what God has to say to you as we prepare for Sunday.

Sample text to practice together:

Spend unhurried time.

use the HEAR method.