Just Keep Swimming!

Aaron Newell

Dog Days • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

Psalm 119:9–16

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dog days

pl.n.1. The hot, sultry period of summer between early July and early September.2. A period of stagnation.

dog days

pl.n.1. The hot, sultry period of summer between early July and early September.2. A period of stagnation.

Today I want to talk about the idea the concept that is so clearly defined in the second part of the definition you see. A period of stagnation.

One of the most dangerous things in a persons life, especially in a Christ Followers life is when they stop, the worst part about it though is that many times they don’t realize that they have stopped, many times they think things are fine because they are of course doing all the things that they are supposed to do only to realize that things are not where they should be. Which brings us to a passage in Psalms we are going to read it more than once so lets get started.

Psalm 119:9–16 HCSB

How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping Your word. I have sought You with all my heart; don’t let me wander from Your commands. I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You. Lord, may You be praised; teach me Your statutes. With my lips I proclaim all the judgments from Your mouth. I rejoice in the way revealed by Your decrees as much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts and think about Your ways. I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.

A robust faith is what we are all called to have, in fact our faith should inform our lives on a daily basis, but how does that work? What’s it take to have a living breathing, daily faith?

Check out the way the Message renders the same few verses

Psalm 119:9–16 The Message

How can a young person live a clean life? By carefully reading the map of your Word. I’m single-minded in pursuit of you; don’t let me miss the road signs you’ve posted. I’ve banked your promises in the vault of my heart so I won’t sin myself bankrupt. Be blessed, God; train me in your ways of wise living. I’ll transfer to my lips all the counsel that comes from your mouth; I delight far more in what you tell me about living than in gathering a pile of riches. I ponder every morsel of wisdom from you, I attentively watch how you’ve done it. I relish everything you’ve told me of life, I won’t forget a word of it.

So in order to not be stagnant, the answer is simple, just move. Take the first step to break out of the muck.

1. Follow the Map

a. Maps have been around for a very long time, the earliest known map is a map of the sky found in 16,500 BC on the walls of the Lascaux caves, the points mapped out including the three bright stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair(the Summer Triangle asterism), as well as the Pleiades star cluster. Maps have been around for a long time. Cartography is still around today.

I remember years ago whenever we went on a trip across the country we would head to the AAA office and get a trip tic, these handy little maps were great for going places, as they left out all the extra’s. as you went from road to road you would just flip the page over if you wanted a bit more information you could open each page to a wider view of what was around you. Fast forward a few years and mapquest came along, this was a new way of doing things, planning trips became easier, even if the directions were a bit off…(Tell Frank Frank story Corn Maze trip) which leads to our first GPS it was pretty cool, you could ask it for directions, a few years later every smart phone comes equipped with some sort of mapping technology, put in a destination or several destinations and it will take you where you want to go programming stops along the way as well as giving you a view of places to eat, attractions to see and how bad the traffic is and at times even rerouting you around construction or accidents. Maps all have one things in common, they are designed to help people get from point A to point B. They guide us, keep us on the right track and if followed properly always end in the same space.

Some people call the Bible a road map, some basic instructions, it’s a manual of sorts for how to live a life that is pleasing to God, and yet so many people ignore it all together. There are reasons for doing so. Following instructions is not something that people always want to do. We all know the jokes about guys refusing to stop for directions, and people having a few screws left over when they put together something from Ikea…but our faith is so much more important than making a wrong turn, or having a wobbly bench. Our faith in Christ deserves a willingness to follow the one who promises to lead us.

The Holman Christian Standard Bible Psalm 37

23 A man’s steps are established by the LORD,

and He takes pleasure in his way.

The map is God’s word, it’s what we have to guide us, following the map is an important part of the foundation of our Faith as we read it and study it and then put the things we read and learn into practice we will find the spots that God is directing us, and we will see his fingerprints in each detail of our lives. The reason we miss those prints is because we don’t follow the directions.

1. Stay Focused…

Stay Focused

The next part of these scriptures is important, both translations bring up interesting points. We have to focus on our relationship with God.

Psalm 119:10–11 HCSB

I have sought You with all my heart; don’t let me wander from Your commands. I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You.

don’t let me wander from Your commands.

11 I have treasured Your word in my heart

so that I may not sin against You.

The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009. Print.

Psalm 119:9–11 The Message

don’t let me miss the road signs you’ve posted.

I’ve banked your promises in the vault of my heart

so I won’t sin myself bankrupt.

If you ask people who are successful, who are great at what they do, Athletes at the top of their Game, business people who lead fortune 500 companies, artists who do amazing things, they all have something in common, they stay focused on their goal. When things don’t work the way they want them to, they keep looking, when things get hard they dig in and work harder, when success comes they enjoy it for what it is and then keep pushing to the next level, they focus on a goal and work at it till they have met that goal.

Our Christian life should be the same. Far from being a one and done solution, or fire insurance as some jokingly refer to it, our relationship with God needs to be practiced, nurtured, and fed. We need to watch for the places God has marked in our lives, always looking for what he has for us, always seeing where we are most able to be Jesus with Skin to the people around us. When we fall or fail or make a mistake we need to get back up, we need to look for the signs that will lead us back to the path we were on, we need to ask for help from the one who made us, we need to read and study the map so that we can keep the focus clear. God has given us his word to help us remain focused on him.

Growing up there were 2 movies that were shown interchangeably at youth movie nights. Chariots of Fire and Hoosiers. Each of these movies speak volumes to the principles we are talking about. Each talks about perseverance, focus, and following directions, of the two I like Chariots of Fire best.

Eric Liddle is one of the many men we see running in the opening sequence, that familiar theme playing as the men run along the beach. The thing that is so fascinating about this man is that he is also a Christ Follower, a missionary and a man who followed God no matter where that following took him. That path took him to the 1924 Olympic Games in France, one of his races was to be the 100 meters, the preliminary heat was to be run on a Sunday, Liddle refused to run as it went against his understanding of what Sunday was to mean, of note to me in this story is not the refusal to run, but the refusal to compromise his beliefes, and his refusal to force those same beliefes on fellow athletes, some of whom may have also been Christians. He remained focused on the tasks at hand, and on his relationship with God throughout his life. In his book the Discplines of the Christian Life we find this: “You will know as much of God, and only as much of God, as you are willing to put into practice.” Eric Liddle put God in practice in his daily life, he remained focused on his relationship with him and doing so left a legacy that is still spoken of today. Oh that we could have the same focus…

Keep Learning

a. The last thing that I want to talk about is the importance of continuing to learn.

Psalm 119:15–16 HCSB

I will meditate on Your precepts and think about Your ways. I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.

15 I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways. 16 I will delight in your decrees and not forget your word.

It’s simple really, the way we maintain a solid relationship with God is by continuing to read and study his word, to keep looking to it when we have questions or concerns, to spend time listening to good teaching, to spend time digging in on our own. Continuing education is a part of most professions today, teachers have it, nurses and doctors have it, social workers have it, staying on top of the lastest trends and what is coming down the road is one of the most important things a person can do to remain relevant and employable. Microsoft is arguably one of the most recongnizable brand names in history, and yet it found itself floundering in a way, resting in what they felt was the safety of installed user base, and name recognition, things began to look not so great though, Steve Jobs came along and resurrected Apple from it’s death bed, google quietly chugged along as the little search engine that could until it became the huge company that is, the web took off, smartphones became the norm, and touch began to rule the way we interact with computers. Microsoft was losing ground and so as Steve Ballmer retired Sataya Nadella took over as ceo. He has made changes to the company, moving away from exclusivity, embracing multiple platforms, and eyeing the open source movement for some of it’s projects. He keeps learning, keeps observing, watches the trends, listens to people and is willing to make tuff decisions based on what he learns. The same needs to be true of us when we look at our Christian life. As we begin to live our faith daily as opposed to sporadically, as we follow the map where it leads, and focus on what God shows us in the pages of that map, we will find ourselves having to make decisions that we used to take for granted, we will find ourselves questioning why we do things, who we should reach, how much we should give, and what more can we learn…

These three steps are the beginning of a robust relationship with God, and while there are other things that we can do to enhance our relationship, worship, and service, and giving, these are the foundational tools needed to maintain something meaningful.

This Week’s Challenge

Get a Bible. Buy one, download one, ask us for one if you need help getting a Bible talk to one of the board members and we will be sure you have one. You will NEED a Bible for the challenges coming up in September.

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