Sermon Tone Analysis

Week 2: Overcoming Spiritual A.D.D. How do I communicate with God?

(Wear one boxing glove.)

Have you ever felt that talking with God can seem like a boxing match with yourself?

At the end of it you feel more beat up then blessed about spending time with the God of the universe.

Here is what I mean.

Dear God, Thank you for this day.

(This gets you thinking…) Oh man I have a lot going on today.

I’ve got that appointment and I need to do a load of wash and … Oh man, I’m supposed to be praying.

(Punch yourself with the glove.)

Focus.

Focus.

Focus.

Okay, God, sorry about that.

I’d just want to say how grateful I am for all the blessings you sent my way yesterday.

(This gets you thinking…) Although I’m still pretty ticked John got the promotion over me since I am waaaay more qualified and everybody knows John takes two-hour lunches and…ahhh.

(Punch yourself with the glove again.)

Come on, man, get it together, you’re talking to God.

Okay, I just want to pray for my missionary friends in Papua New Guinea (which gets you thinking…) ahhh man, I could really go for a Papa John’s pizza right now.

Ummm, pizza.

(Punch yourself with the glove.)

Oh man, look what time it is.

Okay, God … good talk.

(Punch yourself one last time.)

Ahhh, I should have prayed longer.

Don’t get me started when it comes to reading the Bible sometimes.

Wait, what did I just read?

(Punch.)

What the heck does that even mean?

(Punch.)

What am I supposed to do with that?

(Punch.)

Can anybody connect with that at all?

Today is for you.

Eighty-four percent of Americans say they have prayed in the past week, so wherever you are in your spiritual journey, this is extremely relevant.

I call this frustration/illness Spiritual A.D.D. Obviously we want to talk to God, so desire is not the problem.

The issue is more in the “how.”

You’ve probably sat down with somebody and had an awkward conversation before.

You know those people that answer every one of your questions with five words or less and don’t seem to know they are allowed to ask you questions back.

In those moments, the clock ticks so slowly, and you’re looking for any kind of excuse to end your time because it’s AWKWARD.

Just think, if it’s difficult to have a conversation with a real live person sitting across from you that you can see, smell, hear and touch, how much more difficult might it be to chat it up with a God who you can’t physically see, hear or touch?

Last week, we said that we need to understand God wants you to grow in spiritual maturity.

He loves you just the way you are, but he doesn’t want you to stay where you are.

It’s just like how you see your kids.

God wants you to grow.

As we look through the Bible at the lives of some really Godly people, by far the most-used spiritual disciplines are prayer and reading of Scripture.

While this definitely can and should take place in community, there is something about spending time with God—just you and Him.

Check out these characters in the Bible.

“Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.”

–

“Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem.

Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.”

–

“About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.” –

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”

–

Obviously these guys and so many others over the past 2,000 years have found spending alone time with God to not be exhausting but exhilarating.

This is definitely my story, as well.

Over the years I’ve learned some powerful and practical habits that have transformed my time with God into something that I can’t wait for and could definitely not live without.

If you grew up in the church you’ve probably heard of a “quiet time” before, but let me give you a definition.

A “quiet time” is a daily time I set aside to be alone with God, to get to know Him through the Bible and prayer.

This spiritual habit is crucial because we were created to have a relationship with God.

This is where we receive our source of strength.

It’s where we receive our marching orders from God for the day, and it’s when we grow closer and closer in relationship with our Maker.

Nobody modeled this better than Jesus.

At the most tense time in his life, the night before he would be crucified, Jesus went out to have a quiet time in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Listen to part of his prayer time:

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.

And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

–

· Time with God drains me of my own weakness and fills me with God’s strength.

· Time with God drains me of my own will and fills me with God’s will.

· Time with God drains me of me and fills me with God.

So we are going to get really practical on how to overcome Spiritual A.D.D. by letting God speak to you through his Word and experiencing powerful times of prayer.

In , it says, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.

Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

We are promised that if we will really meditate on what is written in the Bible and do our best to apply to our lives what we read, God will make us prosperous and successful.

New Hope Christian Fellowship in Hawaii created a very simple acronym that is a great place to start with Bible reading.

Before we even dive into it, I want to encourage you to get a couple tools that will greatly help you in your quiet time with God.

1) A pen

2) A notebook

The difference between reading the Bible and studying the Bible is that you write something down.

Joshua tells us to meditate on His Word.

Studies show we remember far more when we write down what we’re learning than when we just hope it stays in our brain.

3) A Bible reading plan

I talk to so many people that love to just close their eyes and randomly open the Bible to a page and start writing.

While there’s definitely nothing inherently wrong with this approach, it’s also not the best.

Notice

Joshua says we are called to do “everything written in it.”

If we just skip around, we will miss much of what God wants to say to us.

Use the acronym S.O.A.P to help you get started.

As you begin your quiet time, write the date at the top of the page, and then under it write an S. The S stands for Scripture.

Write down the passage of Scripture you are going to read that day.

For example, you might write down .

Then write the letter O.

The O stands for Observation.

As you read the passage, just write down anything that you observe.

The observations don’t need to be deep; just include stuff that sticks out to you.

For example, says we were ALL at one time dead in our transgressions.

Write that down.

It says in verse 5 that God made us alive in Christ.

Write that down, too.

There is no rule as to how many observations you make—some days there could be ten, others two—just write down what you observe.

After you’ve written some observations down, write the letter A. The A stands for Application, which simply means, “So what are you going to do about it?”