Resource Two - A Pure Heart
Notes
Transcript
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
Instruction to a pastor
Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
Instruction to a pastor’s wife
But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
Pastoral trait
That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
Older teaching younger
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Gird up - Dressed in flowing garments - when they needed to get some where quickly they would gather up the flowing parts of their garment and tuck that into a belt
Mental state that is sloppy, all over, and it slows one down
Gird up the sloppy thinking
But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Spiritually unaware
Thinking clearly with maturity
Approaching life carefully with purpose
See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
All directions at once
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
Cleaning out the garage you need some things:
Broom
Shop vac
Bin liners
Dust pan
Trolley
10 Weeks:
5 weeks of tools
5 weeks of process
Dangerous activity - free climbing - prepare, plan
Setting up a tool box
Parenting
Love God
Biblical framework for decisions
What will be your process for decision making
What will you do with this?
I’m glad I did rather than I wish I had
I’m glad I didn’t rather than I wish I hadn’t
Don’t look back - Can you think about decisions that you regret?
Paul & Peter came back to this theme is a sober mind
The tendency towards decision making
Guided by:
Emotions
Circumstances
and NOT Biblical principle
The world states an inner voice
God often leads the harder way - step out by faith
A sober mind is one that steps back, assesses the situation, and prayerfully looks to what God desires in this decision
Mine field -
Dennis Rainey - Parenting Today’s Adolescent - 20+ years old - first story of the book
Bear traps across the platform - Blind fold his primary school age son
He walked across the platform and said “Walk to me”
His wife was freaking out
Guide him - take a step straight ahead - step left
Parenting tool, but also a decision making illustration
The decision might look good, but you do not know how it will go
It may be a regret
We can look at the statistical probabilities - but those are not always correct!
Marriage - it’s always harder than you think it will be - it’s about ministering to that other person - because they are really broken
Dating - hiding all that
Child rearing - It can’t be that hard! Then the cries come. The sleepless nights. The care that is nearly constant.
Lots of options - but out of the million different things I could do, there is one that is the will of God.
What do you trust most?
Feelings or emotions
Statistics
Pros/cons
We are walking blind, not knowing the outcome
We Are Decisional Beings
We Are Decisional Beings
Blessed is the man That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; And in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That bringeth forth his fruit in his season; His leaf also shall not wither; And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Discerning man
We are on a journey - consequences of a long string of decisions put together
The ungodly - get it as fast as you can get it as easy as you can
Right decisions - like planting a seed and watching it grow
I love them that love me; And those that seek me early shall find me.
Educational
Vocational
Relational
Familial
Financial
Practical
Geographical
Directional - what will I live for
Spiritual
Missional - what will the mission of my life be? what will the mission of my family be?
I and others around me are subject to the longterm outcomes of my decisions.
This should enlarge our sobriety
A. C. Green - NBA basketball player - a Christian
Rampant fornication in the NBA - mistresses, prostitutes
Made the decision to be faithful to his wife
Teammates riled on him for his decision
Hired prostitutes to be in his hotel room away from home waiting for him when he put his key in the door and opened it up to go into his room
Magic Johnson - HIV - everyone on the team would be tested
I don’t need to be tested
Every human being is given the power of choice. One we make our choice, that choice often has the power over us.
We Are Dependant
We Are Dependant
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Timothy struggled with fear
We need direction in our lives
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: And he delighteth in his way.
My way is awesome - God’s way stinks.
Type of thinking that God’s way strips us of all that we’d ever want to do or desire to do and we end up living in a hut in a third-world country sleeping on a dirt floor with lizards and spiders crawling all over inside
Your way is guaranteed regret.
God’s way is blessing! It completes us!
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Sober mind states that decisions are big, and I can’t just flip a coin to see which way I should go.
A humble heart weighs the decision and is dependant upon God
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
God does not hide His will
Easter egg hunt
Depend upon Me and I will show you
Seek Me
We Are Destined
We Are Destined
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Not according to our works - we don’t do anything to deserve this
God’s calling upon you was orchestrated in eternity past! How valuable does this make you to God?
God’s will happen with or without you.
He’s given a role. Do you want in? Do you want eternal significance? Do you want to just pay bills and die?
God has called us with an holy calling. God has decided to put value upon you!
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
It was a hard a destiny, but it was his and his to live.
For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
God’s writing this to people who are going to Babylon and go through trials. I know the outcome, and will bring you back. His heart and purposes can be trusted!
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Marvellous are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Chosen before the foundation of the world
God knows what are choices will be, yet He still gives them to us and those choices are ours to make.
Every person that is saved has a predestined
Oswald Chambers - If Thou Hadst Known!
If thou hadst known…in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. - Luke 19:42
“If thou hadst known” — God goes direct to the heart, with the tears of Jesus behind. These words imply culpable responsibility; God holds us responsible for what we do not see. “Now they are hid from thine eyes” — because the disposition has never been yielded. The unfathomable sadness of the “might have been”! God never opens doors that have been closed. He opens other doors, but He reminds us that there are doors which we have shut, doors which need never have been shut, imaginations which need never have been sullied. Never be afraid when God brings back the past. Let memory have its way. It is a minister of God with its rebuke and chastisement and sorrow. God will turn the “might have been” into a wonderful culture for the future.
God teaches us to have a sober mind as we enter the decision making process.