Spiritual Formation (2)
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
The habit of resignation is the root of peace. A godly child has a ring given him by his mother, and he greatly prized it, but on a sudden he unhappily lost his ring, and he cried bitterly. Recollecting himself, he stepped aside and prayed; after which his sister laughingly said to him, “Brother, what is the good of praying about a ring? Will praying bring back your ring”.“No,” said he, “sister, perhaps not, but praying has done this for me, it has made me quite willing to do without the ring if it is God’s will; and is not that almost as good as having it?”
Sometimes we think more is better but often less is better. Somethings in our lives we should resign from.
Sometimes we have to say like Paul. “I count everything but lost so I can gain Christ.”
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
Or “for nothing be anxious.”
Kenneth Weust - Stop worrying about even one thing, but in everything by prayer whose essence is that of worship and devotion and by supplication which is a cry for your personal needs, with thanksgiving let your requests for the things asked for be made known in the presence of God, and the peace of God which surpasses all power of comprehension shall mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Anxious means I have a distracting care in my life.
This care is so heavy and so prominent it distracts me from important cares of this life.
It distracts me from my relationship with God, me become a disciple, my properly being a good example to my kids. Me living a pure and holy life.
A distracting care.
Theres a big distraction in just knowing everything.
-The internet is one the greatest distraction of our day and leads us to become very anxious.
- Essentially anything we can think of we can google.
- whats the weather in Maryland
- whats the weather in New York
- Whats the weather in Arkansas
- Whats the weather in Dubai
- Next thing you know you’ve spent 40 min on going around the world trying to find weather is different places.
Cease from an excessive desire of knowing, for you will find much distraction and delusion in it.
Thomas à Kempis (Ascetical Writer)
I have to know what this person is doing
What happened with this Pastor
We are being distracted all the time to consume our great asset which is time.
This kind of anxiousness has to do with spoiling your life with needless anxieties.
Then you find yourself emotionally invested with things and people that you don’t even know.
the root of distraction is our quest and lust for knowledge.
Lust is not just a mere desire for something evil but a oversized desire for something good.
Whether it be sex, money, respect etc.
Lust is void of any contentment
And the lack of contentment causes anxiousness
‘be anxious for nothing’ is translated ‘dismiss all anxiety from your minds’
But in everything - what ever the matter, “tell God all your desires of every kind”
In prayer- which means pray with a worshipful attitude and feeling.
With Thanksgiving -referring to a thankful heart. This is referring to thanksgiving as a quality.
A thankful spirit implies thankfulness for what He has done.
Thankfulness of what He has withheld from us
Thankfulness recognizing that what He gives is for our good.
and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
The peace of God surpasses all understanding. That means it excels all understanding
The peace of God surpasses our understanding in value.
The meaning is absolute uniqueness, not merely superiority.
Anyone who has the firm conviction that he will never be forsaken by the Lord will not be unduly anxious, because he will depend on his providence.
John Calvin (French Reformer)
Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.
Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have no bread.”
But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened?
Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?
When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.”
“Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?” And they said, “Seven.”
So He said to them, “How is it you do not understand?”
Jesus just finished feeding the 4,000
Jesus used a one word parable here which is leaven.
Leaven is a pervasive, a spreading that contaminates the whole.
Jesus said be careful and watch for the yeast/
You ever had biscuits from red lobster, or those rolls from Texas road house, Or the bread from outback steak house? They are so good because of the leaven or yeast.
Yeast brings out the flavour.
In the scriptures leaven means wrong or evil teaching it never meant the gospel.
Leaven was added to make the bread taste good.
So leaven is the process of making something taste good to the natural man.
Leaven is mixing wrong teaching with the truth of the gospel.
The only message we can receive is a leaven filled message.
The Pharisees and the Herodian where the two religious and political circles of that day.
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!
In the OT Israel has been warned of the gulf between mans thinking and Gods thinking
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
I’m thinking about the new AI and you can put things about God and references to scripture but it still has it bent to it. It still has a specific agenda that its pushing and a narrative.
It can be dogmatic or objective. And it has its bias based on the algorithm and the agenda thats its trying to push.
Even something thats seemingly as complex as AI its still not God thoughts.
No amount of AI can compare to His thoughts.
The disciples mirror humanity-at-large, which is so stuck in its own world and cares that it is blind and deaf to God. The disciples are anxious about lack of bread, but Jesus is anxious about their lack of faith.
James R. Edwards
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?