Spiritual Disciplines: The Word
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Intro:
Scripture Intro:
If you remember a few years back (2023),
we started the New Year with a series called Gospel Reset.
An opportunity to recalibrate our lives according to the Gospel.
Last year, we did a series on prayer to start 2025.
To start 2026,
we are doing a short series on Spiritual Disciplines.
Regular habits of a believer that are needed to bolster our faith.
Our 3 Topics:
The Word, Worship, Giving.
The Word...
Read through the Bible in a Year
If you haven’t jumped in with us,
start today
start wherever you begin
Genesis 1-11
First half of Job.
Scan the QR code to join the GP group
Today’s reading —- Job 29-31
One of the chapters from Friday’s reading was Job 23...
so we’ll use that as our passage to challenge us about the Discipline of the “The Word” in our lives.
Scripture Reading (“Please stand…”)
“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind.
Pray...
(20 minutes left ???)
Intro:
Intro:
William Cowper - hymn writer in the middle part of the 1700’s.
Filled with suffering and loss.
Suffered with deep depression.
Entered what they called an “insane asylum”
Through his depression,
Cowper discovered his love for poetry.
In the asylum,
a doctor taught him about God’s word and the power of the Gospel.
Embraced Christ.
As he left the asylum,
and met his friend, John Newton (who wrote Amazing Grace).
Newton asked Cowper to help him write a hymnal.
“God Moves in a Mysterious Way,”
At one point he was convinced God had rejected him forever.
Wrestled with God and his word.
Cowper couldn’t see God, but God saw him and used him.
“God works his sovereign will”
“Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;”
“behind a frowning providence
he hides a smiling face.”
“His purposes will ripen fast...
the bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flow'r.”
“Blind unbelief is sure to err,
and scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
and he will make it plain.”
God’s Word Becomes Our Treasure
God’s Word Becomes Our Treasure
(15 minutes left ??)
When We Can’t See Him
When We Can’t See Him
“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
Job is looking for him.
Where are you God?
Forward… Backward… Left… Right
“he is not there”
“I do not perceive him”
“I do not behold him”
“I do not see him”
Have you ever had this experience?
That you don’t “feel” God
You can’t “see” God
He feels distant or silent.
It typically happens when life is disorienting.
Struggle, loss, discouragement.
It can happen in times of prosperity and gain too.
Maybe even blinded by life going well.
God can feel distant
God can be hard to find
You will not always feel God's presence
BUT he is working
App. The Danger of Interpreting Life according to Our Experience
How we interpret our circumstances...
that is shaped by many different things.
Our culture
Telling you what life is all about.
So when your life doesn’t line up with it,
there must be something wrong.
People around you
Telling you all sorts of things.
Job’s wife - “curse God and die”
Job’s friends - you must have done something wrong to bring this on yourself.
If your only lens of understanding your life is culture and people around you,
you are in great danger.
God’s word gives us an understanding of God, of ourselves, and of life in this broken world.
God’s word tells us...
When we can’t “see” him...
he sees us.
… he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him. But he knows the way that I take;
Where do we remind ourselves of this?
In God’s word.
So the struggles of life,
becomes a motivator for you to pursue perspective on the difficulties of this life.
When you “can’t feel God”...
let that drive you to his word.
When you “can’t see God”...
you need to hear his voice.
“God’s Word Becomes Our Treasure”
When I can't find God, He sees me
When I can't find God, I keep walking
When I can't find God, I treasure his word
When Our Faith is Tested
When Our Faith is Tested
The struggles of this life are far more than roadblocks or hurdles.
If you know Christ,
they are from the hand of God.
Under his sovereign care.
Don’t miss the second half of verse 10.
But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
“tried me”
To test metals by melting.
To examine
To something (someone) to the test
App. When your faith is tested,
this is often the time when we run from the word of God.
We lack motivation for it.
We don’t understand what God is doing...
so we avoid his word.
Instead, this is precisely when we need God’s word.
If he is refining us through examination,
then we need to hear from him all the more.
ILL. The Refining of Gold
Ancient goldsmiths heated gold.
The impurities would rise to the surface.
They would skim off the impurities.
They knew the gold was pure...
when they could see their reflection in it.
Job - “I shall come out as gold”
I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
In the middle of suffering and difficulty,
God’s word becomes our treasure.
“Treasure”
Root - “hide, keep, save up”
“Treasure” - “stored up” (hidden)
I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
NIV - “I have hidden your word in my heart”
App. How do you “store up” God’s word?
How do you treasure it (hold onto it like you cannot live without it)?
Read it… regularly.
Study it. Examine it.
Search it for depth.
Read it in context of all of the Word (not that verse only)
Wrestle with it.
Embrace it
What to do
What to think
What to change
How to feel
God’s Word is Our Treasure
God’s Word is Our Treasure
(7 minutes left ??)
As We Learn How to Live
As We Learn How to Live
What we see in this passage is Job speaking about his faith in action.
Jesus said, ““If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
Here Job (in the middle of great turmoil) is seeking to keep the commandments of God.
Often, we give ourselves a pass when life gets hard.
Not Job.
My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
God’s word… God’s commandments...
are more needful to him than food (daily provision).
Knowing God
Knowing how to live
App. Read it daily.
“What do these verses reveal about humanity – our needs, sins, fears, or hopes?”
“What can you apply to your life today in light of your reading?”
“What sins do these passages warn you about?”
“How might these passages guide how we love one another?"
“Where do you feel resistance to what these passages teach? Why?”
“What do these passages invite us to be thankful for?”
“What is God calling you to do or to change?”
As We Know God’s Heart for Us
As We Know God’s Heart for Us
When life is hard,
we need to be reoriented.
God’s word.
“Know God’s Heart for Us”
But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind.
In the word, we know the character of God.
(v. 13) “unchanging”
All-powerful - “who can turn him back?”
Accomplishes his will - “what he desires, that he does.”
(v. 14) God’s sovereign plan - “he will complete”
God’s plan for my life - “what he appoints for me”
And even more - “many such things are in his mind.”
He knows me, when I can't see him
He understands, when I don't understand
He can be trusted, when I feel like he can't be trusted
He is unchangeable, when I am swaying back and forth
He does what he desires... and it is always good
He will bring his plan and purpose to completion
App. Wrestle with God’s word.
Think about Job.
Blessed beyond measure and Walking with the Lord in righteousness.
Then, loses everything.
How would you wrestle with - “what he appoints for me”?
Honesty of Job:
When all the blessings of his life were taken away,
He cursed the day he was born.
Wished he had never lived.
So when Job says,
“He will complete what he appoints for me...”
It allows for the verses that FOLLOW AFTER v. 14.
Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me;
Yet...
yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.
The Spiritual Discipline of being in the word.
Making the word your treasure
Hiding it in your heart.
Read it
Examine it
Memorize it (so you can have it with you wherever you go).
** On Communion Sunday...
If after 10:30,
go straight to the Lord’s Supper.
Close in Prayer
Close in Prayer
Closing Song:
Closing Song:
Benediction:
Benediction:
