Lord Take Me Deeper: Direction
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 528 viewsNotes
Transcript
Intro:
For the month of January, we’ve discussed the topic [Lord, Take Me Deeper]. The subject of today’s message is [Direction].
I’ve asked this nearly every week, but who wants to go deeper in God? Each week we affirmed we want to go deeper. However, it is not enough to desire to go deeper, we have to take the right direction.
When I think of direction, I think of driving. I’ve learned there are two types of people who give directions. There are those like me who are detailed. When I give direction, I use the name of the street, highway, or interstate.
I like to tell about how many miles they will be on said road. I prefer to give a step-by-step explanation of how they will get to where they want go.
Not everyone is this way. The other type of person I’ve met are those who use landmarks. They will say get on this road, and you will pass a tower on the right, two roads later on your left you will see a decorative turtle in front of a white house with blue shutters. Don’t turn there, it is the road right after that.
I remember trying to find a house in Salem. The people said, it is the third gravel road after the Oak tree! Here I was trying to remember the difference between an oak and maple tree. Needless to say, I didn’t find the house!
Whether people give detailed directions or use landmarks, its most important we get going on the right direction. If we do not, we will eventually get lost.
In our walk with God, we are always going in some direction. The question is, are we going the right direction. No one goes deeper in God by accident.
7 Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me.
Psalms 42:
It is God’s desire to take us deeper. And from the depths of God’s Spirit, He calls to us, come deeper in my presence and Spirit. I have great things to show my people, but you will only experience them if you go deeper.
As we’ve fasted, I had this thought, “we are always going deeper. Our direction will determine whether we go deeper in God’s plan for our lives or deeper in the enemies plan.”
If we determine, I know God has a lot for me, but I am content where I am. I am not sure if I want to go deeper in my commitment with Him. I am pretty content and satisfied.
If we have this mindset, what we will soon discover is we will slide deeper in a pit of despair and distance from God.
However, when we decide, God I want more of you, I want to go deeper in you. He will help move us in the right direction.
Today as we study , want us to see the inevitable paths for everyone. Either we will go deeper in Godliness. Or we will go deeper in ungodliness.
Either will go deeper in God’s blessings. Or we will go deeper in struggles and discouragement.
Either we will go deeper in the Spirit. Or we will go deeper in a cycle of self-reliance.
Who will cry out with me, LORD, TAKE ME DEEPER?
Then we have to go the right way. Let’s look at three directions, [A Faithful Direction], [A Flawed Direction], and [A Future Direction].
Let’s begin
1. A Faithful Direction
1. A Faithful Direction
1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
The word blessed in the Hebrew describes someone who is privileged or happy. Therefore, if we want to be happy/blessed, then we need to go the right direction.
To explain what we should not do, the Psalmist describes three actions, walk, stand, and sit. We will be happy in our relationship with God if we do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.
Before the days of cars and modern transportation, people walked where they wanted to go. Can we see what the Psalmist is saying? Long before we end up far from God, it starts by walking with the ungodly.
While we walk them, before we know it, we stand with them. People look and see us in the wrong crowd. And we might think, but no, I am not doing what they are doing. We are different.
The Psalmist continues the progression. When we starting walking with sinners, before we know we’re standing with them. It won’t take long until we are sitting with them, indulging in their activities.
Therefore, if we want to have a joyous life, we will start going in the right direction.
Instead of walking with the ungodly we will rememebr:
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
As we walk in the Spirit, we will:
13 Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.
3 And when I come, whomever you approve by your letters I will send to bear your gift to Jerusalem.
With the foundation of the Spirit and strong faith we will be:
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
What will happen when we go the right direction?
As we walk, stand, and sit with God, going deeper in Him, God will be everything to us. No long will He be a weekend attraction. He will become a daily focus.
When we get this spiritual depth, the Psalmist compares us to a tree. I do not know much about trees. I have learned more about them since I’ve lived in Vulcan. Especially when I hunt morel mushrooms!
But I do know trees need water to live. When we go deeper in God, we become like trees planted by the rivers of water. We will prosper spiritually, emotionally, and relationally.
Who would like this type of walk with God? One where we prosper? Then we have to follow the right direction!
But what happens if we choose not go deeper in God? I say that because very few “Christians” would defiantly tell God they no, but their actions might indicate that.
2. A Flawed Direction
2. A Flawed Direction
Unlike the Godly who live a prosperous life, the ungodly do not have that benefit. Without being rooted in the things of God, they are not like trees, instead they are like chaff.
The chaff was the part of the grain that was useless. In ancient times, they took a winnowing fan or fork and separate the wheat/grain which was useful, from the chaff which was useless.
-SHOW PICTURE
As they did this, the grain would go to the ground and the wing would blow the chaff away.
What is the Psalmist saying? If people adopt the mindset that says, I do not need to go deeper in God. I have all there is to have. I am content where I am. I do not need God or His help.
God makes a distinction, those on the right direction are like the wheat. Those going the wrong direction are like the chaff.
Those who take the flawed direction of self-reliance instead of total dependance on God delve deeper into a mindset that does not really know what it believes.
Paul encouraged us in:
14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
Those without spiritual weight, the chaff, will not stand before God to receive their rewards. Instead, their sins will condemn them on judgment day.
Epheisans 4:14
The congregation of the righteous is more than the sanctuary. It means the generation of God’s people. Their name will be absent from the names of God’s children.
As we read this, some might think, well that is harsh. Why would God speak so blunt about the unrighteous.
Something we must always remember, God has provided a way to escape sin. When we willing walk in disobedience, we are going deeper, just not in God.
I once read, “direction, not intention, determines our destination.”
We can have good intentions to live right. However if we do follow the direction and leading of the Holy Spirit, we will lack substance and the winds of satan’s tactics will blow us away.
3. A Future Direction
3. A Future Direction
6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
As we read the descriptions of those taking the faithful direction and the flawed direction, there is something we must remember. God does not look on the outside like we do.
From an outside perspective, there are many people who look successful. They have wealth, they seem to have the perfect marriage, family, and life.
There are millions of people following flawed directions in our world. However, God does not look at what they have, He looks at who they are. Are they following Him or not?
Likewise, those taking the faithful direction may not look like much on the outside. The world often considers them religious fanatics, clinging to a God they cannot see.
However, God looks at those who are faithful and He honors them with blessings from heaven that are out of this world.
Therefore today we have to determine our future direction. To describe this, I want to go back to the thought of being like a tree firmly planted by the rivers of water.
Scripture often compares us to trees. What type of tree are we and what fruit do we produce? That is what God sees.
18 Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.
18 Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away. 20 And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?”
When we take the flawed direction of walking, standing, and sitting with unbelievers, before we know it, we may be a tree, but we will not produce any fruit.
Matthew
What is the problem with being unfruitful? In scripture, unrepentant people are often compared to unfruitful trees. By cursing the fig tree, Jesus shows the eventual state of those who take the flawed direction.
Before they know it, they are like the fig tree. Having potential for spiritual growth, but never going deep enough to bear fruit. Take it from me, we do not want God to compare us to this fig tree.
What about
what happens when we become faithful? We will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water!
12 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
I love the imagery of this passage. We will flourish like a palm tree and we will grow like the cedar trees. I looked up the root system of these two trees.
Palm Trees- unlike other trees, Palm Trees have thin roots that go at least three feet in the ground. However, they can travel as far as fifty feet away from the trunk to find water.
Cedar trees, in the right conditions, can dig their roots as far as twenty feet into the ground. How deep the trees go determines their strength.
Likewise, as Christians, our spiritual depth determines how we will make it as a follower of Christ. If we have a shallow walk with God, the moment the winds blow, we will bend and break!
How deep the trees go determines their strength.
However, if we will answer Jesus’ invitation:
37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
He will provide an undercurrent of supernatural power that will help us in everything we face! We will have a bright future because our strength will come from the depths of our soul.
Close:
Lord, Take Me Deeper. This has been my prayer all month. I have said it over and over, but there is so much to God, and we have yet to scratch the surface.
So I want to ask an important question, will we be like the fig tree? Or will we flourish like the palm and cedar trees?
I noticed something about these scriptures in light of our desire to go deeper. Whether we like it or not, we are ALWAYS going deeper in something.
We either go deeper in God’s plan or we fall deeper in the traps sent by Satan.
We will go deeper in faith or in fear.
We will go deeper in the Spirit or in a cynical mindset.
We will go deeper in Word of God, or in the opinions of others.
And here is the beauty of this, we get to decide how we will go deeper. When we begin to walk with Jesus, stand in His presence, and sit with Him, we will go deeper in God.
It all depends our direction. And our actions determine our direction. How and if we pray determines, go to church, or read the word if we really want to go deeper in God.
Whether we like it or not, ALL of us are going deeper. Which direction will we take?
