Diving In Deep-Getting Under the Surface

Spiritual Disciplines  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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As we begin this morning, please turn in your copies of God’s Word to Psalm 119, we will be reading verses 1-16 shortly, so please have them marked and ready for that time. As you are turning there, let me tell you a little about this chapter. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, a total of176 verses. In fact, it is longer than 17 of the New Testament Epistles, from Galatians to Jude, with the exception of Hebrews. This chapter revolves around God and His Word like no other chapter in all of Scripture. God is mentioned 176 times, God’s Word, in one form or another is mentioned 182 times (words including "law", "word", "judgments", "testimonies", "commandments", "statutes", and "precepts"), in fact His Word is referenced in 173 of the 176 verses. Prayer is modeled 70 times. The psalmist's focus is on God's word and God himself, and he expresses his love for God's word. 
Before we read from this powerful psalm, let’s go before the Lord in prayer this morning.
Heavenly Father,
Moments ago we sang “I am resolved no longer to linger, charmed by the worlds delight” Father, while this is easy to sing, it is not always easy to live it out. We need help, and You provide us incredible help in the pages of Your Word. The more we “linger” in Your Word, the less we are “charmed by the worlds delight”. In the pages of Your inspired Word we read of “Things that are higher, things that are nobler” and as we meditate on these things, they become that which allures our sight. In reading through the pages of Your Word, we “go to the Savior, leaving (our) sin and strife”. You “are the true One”, You “are the just One”, You “hath the Words of life”. O Father, may we daily “hasten to (You), Hasten so glad and free”. Because “Jesus” is the “greatest”, He is the “highest” and today, we come to You through the pages of Your Word and prayer. And Father, as we look into Your Word corporately this morning, I pray that You will speak to each of us in a powerful way, and that each of us will leave our time in Your Word this morning, committed to time in Your Word each day. That we might be strengthened by it, storing these “words inn our heart, that we might not sin against You.
We pray this in the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Now, would you please stand, in honor of the reading of God’s Word?
Psalm 119:1–16 ESV
Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the Lord! 2 Blessed are those who keep His Testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart, 3 who also do no wrong, but walk in His Ways! 4 You have commanded Your Precepts to be kept diligently. 5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping Your Statutes! 6 Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all Your Commandments. 7 I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. 8 I will keep Your Statutes; do not utterly forsake me! 9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your Word. 10 With my whole heart I seek You; let me not wander from Your Commandments! 11 I have stored up Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You. 12 Blessed are You, O Lord; teach me Your Statutes! 13 With my lips I declare all the rules of Your mouth. 14 In the way of Your Testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on Your Precepts and fix my eyes on Your Ways. 16 I will delight in Your Statutes; I will not forget Your Word.
May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Word, please be seated.
Last Sunday, as we began our look at Diving In Deep-Getting Under the Surface, we looked at the importance of being obedient to God in not neglecting meeting together, as highlighted in Hebrews 10:24-25. How this is a command in Scripture as well as the principle that our fellowship together is not only something each of us need, but also noting that the church needs us as well. How we not only can be impacted by the truths of God’s Word when we meet together, but God also opens up for us opportunities to minister to others, opportunities that we miss if we make a habit of skipping church. Our meeting together is an important step in;
I. Hearing God’s Word
We considered the truth that;
The life of the Christ follower is not a stand alone relationship!
We also looked at the truth that it is not enough just to Hear His Word, we also need to Keep His Word. That each Sunday, as well as anytime we are a part of a Bible study, we should ask;
What is God’s specific message for me, and what do I need to do now?
We also examined to see other ways we can discipline ourselves to hear from God? From phone apps, to books, to audio books, to Christian radio, really the list is endless.
The point is,
We have no excuse for not Hearing from God.
We ended last Sunday by looking at developing a personal time of devotion, what many call a Quiet Time. Noting that this is usually one of the most neglected areas of the Spiritual Disciplines. We looked at the truth that if you are depending on your Pastor on Sunday to provide you enough spiritual food to last you through the week, your in serious trouble.
Our spiritual growth is far more dependent on what we do each day of the week than on what our pastor brings as the message on a Sunday morning.
I developing personal devotions, a personal quiet time with God, one of the first things we need to do is select
The Proper Place
If possible a quiet room where you don’t have to be worried about interruptions.
Next, we need;
The Proper Tools.
In order to get the most of your Quiet time you need the proper tools.
What are the proper tools?
A good Readable Bible with margins wide enough to write some notes down.
Preferably a hard copy of the Bible as opposed to an electronic version. If I am using an actual hard copy of God’s Word, the only notifications I receive are from the God of creation. The whole purpose for digging deeper into the truths of God’s Word is that you hear from Him, Him and no one else.
Next, I suggest you have a;
2. Quiet time Journal.
Bring a quiet time journal. Really, you can use just about anything. Whether its a regular notebook like these.
Or maybe something like this that provides help as you establish a personal quite time’
Daily Kairos
Next let’s look at
The Proper Procedure.
Now we move into the meat and potatoes of our time. First of all,
Get still & quiet.
We read in Psalm 46: 10 to:
Psalm 46:10 (ESV)
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
Sit down in your favorite chair in a quiet place and spend a few moments focusing your mind on the Lord, Who He is, what He has accomplished in your life, think, and I mean really think-
You are actually in the presence of the Mighty God, the Creator of the Universe, Who willingly sacrificed the life of His Own Son because of His love for you.
With that in mind take your Bible, His Love Letter to you, and open it.
Perhaps at this time pray a simple prayer. Often times my prayer will go something like this: Lord Jesus, I love You today! As I open Your Word, I am asking that You will speak to me in a special way this morning. I have read Your Word many times, would You open my eyes to see something that perhaps I have never noticed before? Would You open up the eyes of my mind that I would understand Your Word, and would You open the eyes if my heart that I would apply what You show me today to my life, that I might be changed by our time together? I pray this in Your Holy Name, Amen.
If this is new to you, may I suggest starting in the Gospel of John, or maybe with Paul’s Epistles, which begins with Galatians. Don’t worry about covering a large amount of territory, they key is not quantity, its quality. As you are reading, if something key catches your attention, stop and write down your thoughts in your journal. Let’s say you are in Galatians 1 and you read in verse 1
Galatians 1:1 (ESV)
Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, Who raised Him from the dead—
As I read that verse, there are a couple keys I notice right away.
note
Paul was an Apostle. That means he was hand picked for a key role in the early church.
He wasn’t picked by men, he points out very specifically that he was chosen by God Himself, through Jesus Christ
Whom God the Father raised from the dead.
That’s pretty significant, so I am going to record this in my journal. This is my habit as I read through His Word.
As you are reading, perhaps you could ask at these questions;
5 important questions:
Is there a command to obey?
Is there a promise to claim?
Is there a sin to avoid?
Is there a lesson to learn?
Is there a truth to carry with me?
As you are going, record what God gives you. Don’t worry about impressing anyone with fancy words or anything like that. This isn’t for publication or to impress other people. It is your personal thoughts from God’s Word.
Then close your time with prayer. Pour out your soul to God. Don’t worry about sounding churchy in your prayers, God is perfectly capable at understanding your every day lingo. To be honest, I don’t get the impression God has ever been impressed with the Thees, Thous and Thy’s in prayer. If you are pouring out your heart and soul to Him, I believe He is brimming with excitement.
Can I ask you to do one more thing?
Begin to share with others out of your quiet time.
Adrian Rogers wrote:
“God did not make us to be reservoirs; He made us to be conduits.” Adrian Rogers
Tell others what God is showing you through your time in His Word. This accomplishes many significant things.
It gives you an opportunity to review in your own mind what God is teaching you.
It gets you comfortable sharing with others.
It can be a great encouragement to those you share with.
Let’s say, for example, you happen to be sharing with a friend who is secretly struggling with deep anxiety, overcome with many of life’s worries. And that morning you were in the Book of 1 Peter chapter 5. A verse that really ministered to your heart today was 1 Peter 5:7 which says;
1 Peter 5:7 (ESV)
..casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.
As you share with your friend, it dawns on them that they have been holding on to their anxieties and worries, they can’t remember the last time they have given these things over to God. Now, because you took the time to share with them, they spend some time in prayer, casting their anxieties on Him being reminded that He cares for them. Without even realizing it, God opened up the door for you to do a work of ministry in their life.
I believe that God gives us opportunities like this all the time, but to much of the time we miss out on them because we don’t take the time to share. Not only do we miss an opportunity to minister, we also miss out on an opportunity to be blessed because of our sharing. There are few things more encouraging to me that when God gives me the opportunity to be used by Him to minister to someone who has really been struggling. The next significant thing sharing your time in God’s Word accomplishes is:
It can challenge one of your Christian friends, who has not been spending time in God’s Word to establish this habit in their own life.
Now, truth be told, from time to time all of us have times that are spiritually dry, so;
What about the spiritually dry periods in life when we may struggle getting into God’s Word?
Perhaps a few of you out there have had the habit of a daily time in God’s Word in the past but recently you quit or backed away, it just hasn’t been the same lately for one reason or another and you can’t seem to pinpoint why. Let me share with you from my own experience when I have been faced with similar periods.
While this isn’t always the case, many times those times when I have really struggled spending time in God’s Word, the # 1 reason has been sin in my life. I’m not talking earth shattering sins, but they were sin’s non-the-less. Oftentimes these sins brought about times where I pushed them back and refused to deal with them. But they were always there with their accompanying stench. And with them came some guilt. It is hard stepping into the presence of God when there is hidden sin in your life. The Bible says in Psalm 66:18;
Psalm 66:18 (ESV)
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
There are times we need to take Jesus to that stench filled area and ask Him to clean it out for us! He lovingly leads us to repentance and removes our guilt and we are able to approach His Word clothed not in our own righteousness, but in His. I have discovered that when that takes place I have a renewed excitement opening His Word.
When God laid on my heart to do a sermon series on The Spiritual Disciplines, I marked out this mornings message as perhaps the most important of all of them. You see I believe that;
The Spiritual Discipline of our time in God’s Word, is the key that unlocks all of the other disciplines.
As I close in prayer this morning, I’m going to do something I have not done here before. I am going to stop praying out loud and to allow some time of silence, for each of us to think over things from this morning’s message. Perhaps you have been particularly challenged by the something this morning.
It could be that you have never committed to a daily time in God’s Word before and you want to change that this morning. The time of silence in the closing prayer is your opportunity to… to commit to changing that from this point forward.
Or maybe you’ve got a closet sin item you need to deal with, one that has greatly affected your ability to have a quality time in God’s Word each day. The time of silence in the closing prayer is your opportunity to bring that area before God with an attitude of repentance.
Now is a time to bring these things to the Lord.
With those thoughts in mind, let’s close in prayer.
Prayer of Commitment.
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