DEVELOPING A LIFE OF DEVOTION / PART 4 SUNDAY / 27 AUGUST ND STREET COMMUNITY CHURCH GREGG LAMM, LEAD PASTOR-TEACHER

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1 DEVELOPING A LIFE OF DEVOTION / PART 4 SUNDAY / 27 AUGUST ND STREET COMMUNITY CHURCH GREGG LAMM, LEAD PASTOR-TEACHER.PPT 1 During August I m sharing with you some of the intentional steps you and I need take in order TO DEVELOP LIVES OF DEVOTION TO GOD. Next Sunday we ll begin a verse-by-verse study of the first of the two New Testament letters written by the Apostle Peter. FIRST PETER is nearly all the way to the right side, or the back of The New Testament, and in its five chapters and 105 verses Pastor Peter offers us some radically practical advice. I encourage you to start reading through FIRST PETER this coming week we re going to move through it over the next few months, and Peter has a whole lot to say to us about who we are as seekers, husbands, doubters, wives, children, citizens, students, and disciples about who we re called to be as the Church, about how to redeem the hard chapters of our lives, and about how to stop being tripped up and smacked down by habitual sin. But back to this final installment of our August focus on DEVELOPING LIVES OF DEVOTON TO GOD..PPT 2 Three Sundays ago we looked at David s direction in PSALM 131 just three little verses loaded with great instruction about the roles HUMILITY, TRUST, and HOPE have got to play in the defining of our our attitudes if want our LIFE OF DEVOTION TO GOD to become more central to who we are, and not just something we re trying to pull off in our own strength..ppt 3 Two Sundays ago we looked at five realities that will begin to grow in us and out of us DEFINING OUR ACTIONS when we get serious about pursuing and living LIVES OF DEVOTION TO GOD. We saw that TO DEVELOP A LIFE OF DEVOTION TO GOD 1. FIRST, WE NEED TO EARNESTLY SEEK GOD FOR HIS FIRE, FOR HIS PASSION THAT IT WOULD BE IGNITED IN US AND BURN HOT. 2. SECOND, WE NEED TO GET INTO GOD'S WORD AND PRAYER WITH AN INTENSITY WE VE NEVER KNOWN. 3. THIRD, WE NEED TO HANG AROUND OTHER PEOPLE WHO BURN WITH THE SAME PASSION FOR GOD WE RE GOING AFTER. 4. FOURTH, WE NEED TO SERIOUSLY REJECT SINFUL CRAVINGS. 5. FIFTH, WE NEED TO GIVE OUR LIVES IN SERVICE TO OTHERS..PPT 4 And then last Sunday we looked at the reality that God doesn t love us just when we re perfect or trying to be perfect but that even when our lives are messy and scribbly, God loves us, and is passionately excited about being in relationship with us. We also saw that WISDOM is applying and living out the WORD of God in the day-to-day realities of life

2 and that we can learn WISDOM directly from God s WORD, and from our own lives, and by watching and learning from the lives of others. And then finally, we looked at the first of six steps to take toward making DAILY DEVOTIONS, OR QUIET TIME WIITH GOD a natural part of who we are, so it begins to FLOW OUT OF OUR LIFE OF DEVOTION to God and isn t just something we do to try and get God to like us..ppt 5 BRENNAN WILL BE SPEAKING AT GFU / NEWBERG CAMPUS SEPTEMBER ON THE TOPIC OF HEALING OUR IMAGE OF GOD AND OURSELVES MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY 10:40 A.M. AND 7:30 P.M. IN BAUMAN 12 NOON AND 7:30 P.M. IN BAUMAN 10:40 A.M. IN BAUMAN In his book The Wisdom of Tenderness, author Brennan Manning tells the story of a man named Edward Farrell who took his two-week vacation to Ireland to celebrate his Uncle Seamus 80th birthday. On the morning of the great day, Ed and his Uncle Seamus got up before dawn, dressed in silence, and went for a walk along the shores of Lake Killarney. Just as the sun rose, his uncle turned and stared straight at the rising orb. Ed stood beside him for nearly 20-minutes with not a single word exchanged. Then his elderly uncle began to skip along the shoreline, a radiant smile on his face. After catching up with him, Ed commented, Uncle Seamus, you look very happy. Do you want to tell my why? Yes, lad, the old man said, tears washing down his face. You see, the Father is fond of me. Ah, me Father is so very fond of me. DEVELOPING AND LIVING OUT A LIFE OF DEVOTION TO GOD must be done with the perspective that we re not trying to earn God s love, God s grace, God s tenderness, God s provision, or God s attention. Rather, DEVELOPING AND LIVING OUT A LIFE OF DEVOTION TO GOD must be done with the understanding that God s already so very fond of us and desires nothing more than for us to return the favor pressing into Him, staying in step with Him, desiring Him above all the other options this world lays at our feet. So TO DEVELOP THE DEVOTIONAL PART OF LIVING A LIFE OF DEVOTION, what do we need to bring with us to the table?.ppt 6 FIRST SECOND THIRD FOURTH FIFTH SIXTH BRING YOUR BIBLE BRING A PEN OR A PENCIL BRING A BIBLE READING PLAN BRING A LIFE JOURNAL LIFE = LISTEN, INQUIRE, FAITH, AND EXPERIENCE BRING A PDA OR CALENDAR BRING SOAP SOAP = SCRIPTURE, OBSERVATION, APPLICATION, AND PRAYER.PPT 7 FIRST, BRING YOUR BIBLE 2

3 Why bring your Bible and not just a Christian magazine, a devotional book, or some other Christian publication? Because through God s WORD is how God speaks to us most predominately. Trying to move toward becoming a FULLY-DEVOTED FOLLOWER OF JESUS CHRIST, trying to move forward in our life of devotion to God, without consistently spending time in the WORD of God would be like trying to learn Spanish while living in China and not having the Spanish Channel, or a Here s How You Learn Spanish book, or a Taco Bell nearby..ppt 8 SECOND TIMOTHY 3:16-17 / (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE / adapted) 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness; 17 so that the followers of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work..ppt 9 teach reproof correction training in righteousness We re to be in a student-teacher relationship with God and with His WORD. LUKE 6:40 says, A student is not above his teacher, but when he is fully trained, he will be like his teacher. God s WORD shows us where we re wrong, where we re off track, where we re in rebellion. God s WORD shows is how to get back on track, how to get right with Him. God s WORD shows us how to stay on track..ppt 10 Here are some different versions of God s WORD that are worth checking out maybe you just have a King James Version well if you do, then it s time to come into the 21 st Century skipping right past the 17 th, 18 th, 19 th, and the 20 th Centuries NIV/NASB Study Bible, NKJV Nelson Study Bible, English Standard Version, The New Living Translation, The Message, The JB Phillips New Testament in Modern English, New Century Version, Contemporary English Version, The Amplified Bible.PPT 11 SECOND, BRING A PEN OR A PENCIL You need a pen or a pencil to mark up your Bible. NEWS FLASH!!!! the ink on the paper isn t holy. It s what transfers off of the page and into us that s what s holy! Highlight on the page what the Holy Spirit highlights to you from the page. C.T. Studd ( ), the famous 20 th century missionary to China, India and Africa wrote.ppt 12 Forward Ever, backward Never! Some wish to live within the sound of Church or Chapel bell; I want to run a Rescue Shop within a yard of hell. 3

4 He d be fun to have at a dinner party! Well the story is told that it was about 1:00 a.m. and CT was furiously thumbing through his Bible by candlelight. His friend woke up and said, Studd, bro, what are you doing? It s time to be in bed. Blow out that candle for crying out loud. To which CT answered, and this part isn t paraphrased Something is wrong in my heart and in my soul. And then pointing to his Bible CT said, I don t know what the problem is, but what I do know is that the answer is in here somewhere! So underline things in your Bible. Get a Bible with margins wide enough to write stuff in. And when the Holy Spirit makes something jump out at you, as a teaching, as a reproof, as a correction, or as a point of the personal work of training in righteousness then highlight on the page what God s highlighting in your heart. Invite what s come to life on the page to come alive inside your mind and inside your heart, so it can begin to be practically lived out in your words, and in your actions..ppt 13 THIRD, BRING A BIBLE READING PLAN Using a Bible Reading Plan will help you stop reading the Bible randomly or just reading your favorite passages and books over and over again. Because the reality is that people who read the Bible this way usually, eventually stop reading it altogether. I think that the four best Internet sites for Bible Reading Plans and Bible Study Tools are.ppt 14 At this site they have Bible Reading Plans that are chronological, historical, OT NT beginning to end, and OT-NT blended. bible.crosswalk.com (no www. preceding the word bible ) Many versions, many options, big text / good links to other Bible Study sites, commentaries, word studies and other devotional writings and tools. I d encourage you to begin using the Bible Reading Plan that s in your Program each Sunday (Street Talk and on the 2 nd Street Web Site) because then you won t just read through the Bible randomly, always reading your favorite parts and always skipping your not-sofavorite parts. Using a Bible Reading Plan will give you a deep-and-wide view of God s WORD. And you ll even find yourself going to visit the houses of the old, lonely guys in the back of The Old Testament, the Minor Prophets There are some major messages hiding out in the minor prophets (the last 12 books of The Old Testament HOSEA to MALACHI). The Minor Prophets are the ones who, if they could talk, would always be saying, Nobody comes to my house! I m sick and tired of David this and Abraham that! And John this and Paul that! I want people to visit me too! And as you read through a Bible Reading Plan, you can mark off what you ve read and it will be such a huge encouragement to you as you check off each chapter 4

5 .PPT 15 FOURTH, BRING A LIFE JOURNAL A LIFE JOURNAL can be on paper or on a computer. But God s goal for us as we read His WORD, is for us to write down leadings, lessons, thoughts, and to train our hearts and minds to focus and center. How can a LIFE JOURNAL help you? LIFE = LISTEN, INQUIRE, FAITH AND EXPERIENCE.PPT 16 LIFE = LISTEN LISTEN PSALM 32:8 (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE) 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. PSALM 32 is a song that David wrote to celebrate the blessedness of forgiveness and of trust in God. In PSALM 32 David writes about the interrelatedness of confession, forgiveness, grace, mercy, trust and an ability and a desire to listen to God. David wanted us to know that God is speaking and He wants to walk daily with you. Keeping a LIFE JOURNAL will help us capture the lessons God s teaching in a way that will help us grow and help create a twoway conversation between God and us..ppt 17 LIFE = LISTEN, INQUIRE INQUIRE JEREMIAH 29:13 (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE) 13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. The book of JEREMIAH combines history, biography, and prophecy and is the longest book in the Bible. PSALMS has more chapters, but when it comes to sheer volume of words, JEREMIAH wins hands down. In JEREMIAH we read about a nation in crisis and about the leader God raised up to lead it s people back to God. Jeremiah was born about 650 B.C. into a priestly family from the little village of Anathoth, about three miles North of Jerusalem. Anathoth was to Jerusalem, what Dundee is to Newberg. I wonder if they had a by-pass? Well when Jeremiah was in his early 20s a godly king, by the name of Josiah, came into power in Israel. Josiah called the people away from their idols worship and back to the true God. But after Josiah died, the people went right back to their idols. And it was at this point in time when God, came to Jeremiah and challenged him to step up to the plate and call people back to God. And of course, after Jeremiah said yes and started traveling this road, he was arrested, and imprisoned. And then the Babylonian King a rascal by the name of Nebuchadnezzar, captured Jerusalem and took Israel s new King, King Jehoiachin into exile. Jeremiah kept trying to negotiate for the release of King Jehoiachin, but eventually in 587 BC, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and took all of its inhabitants into captivity. And it s about this exact time that we come to JEREMIAH 29 And it s in JEREMIAH 31:31-34 that Jeremiah utters God s plans for a new covenant and what many people have called The Gospel before the Gospel. 5

6 Gang, God wants to use our LIFE JOURNAL, whether it s handwritten, on our computer, or our PDA, to train us to LISTEN, and then to INQUIRE So again JEREMIAH 29:13 wrote You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. And so in the midst of this persecution in the midst of a nation being held captive by outside forces and by inside forces, by other nations and by other religions, Jeremiah tells his people that if they will inquire of God, if they will seek God that they will find Him when they search for Him with all their hearts. We won t find God with divided hearts or with halfway hearts. Keeping a LIFE JOURNAL gives us a way to consistently LISTEN TO GOD, SEEK OUT GOD, AND INQUIRE OF GOD. And the amazing reality of all of this is that when we seek out God, we always find that God is waiting for us. He s right there ready, willing and able to connect with us, instruct us and shepherd us into deeper places of intimacy and maturity with Him..PPT 18 LIFE = LISTEN, INQUIRE, FAITH FAITH FIRST TIMOTHY 4:7b (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE) 7b Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. FIRST & SECOND TIMOTHY are pastoral letters written by Paul to Timothy. Timothy was the pastor-teacher of the church at Ephesus and when he received them, Bible Scholars tell us that Timothy was a young man; about 25 years old. Paul wanted Timothy to know God s blueprint for the kinds of lives that leaders, disciples, and people who were going to make a difference for God and for the Gospel of Jesus Christ would look like how they would talk, how they would think, and what kind of lives they would live. In this verse Paul tells Timothy to Discipline himself for the purpose of godliness. The NEW CENTURY VERSION of the Bible says, Train yourself to serve God. Our faith grows as we get to know God more. Keeping a journal will help add the substance of faith to our lives. ROMANS 12:3 says that everyone who is in a relationship with God is given a measure of faith at the beginning of their God hook-up. God gives all of us the same measure of faith when we first come to Him. But whether that measure of faith increases or decreases? Gang, that s up to us. That depends on the daily choices you and I make to live for Him or to live for ourselves..ppt 19 LIFE = LISTEN, INQUIRE, FAITH AND EXPERIENCE EXPERIENCE JOHN 13:17 (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE) 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. JOHN 13 begins with Jesus and His Disciples going into the upper room, and Jesus washing their feet and it ends with Jesus telling the Disciples that one of them would betray Him. Jesus knew that if the Disciples didn t take on the attitude, the heart, the mind, the actions of servants, the way He d done, that there was no way they d be able to do what God was going to ask them to do which was to take the Message of the Gospel out into the world after His death and resurrection. 6

7 ILLUSTRATION JESUS GOES BACK TO HEAVEN PLAN B? Like I taught last week, it s not KNOWING GOD S TRUTH that builds our wisdom and our faith it s APPLYING AND LIVING OUT GOD S TRUTH and the lessons God is teaching us that will build our faith, that will bring blessings into our lives and into the lives of those we re connected with and that God can use to turn the world upside down. (cf., ACTS 17:6)..PPT 20 THE BIBLE READING PLAN TABLE OF CONTENTS PRAYER LIST MY LIFE JOURNAL And so how does keeping a LIFE JOURNAL help us become A MORE DEVOTED FOLLOWER OF JESUS CHRIST? LISTEN INQUIRE FAITH EXPERIENCE It will help us LISTEN. It will help us INQUIRE. It will help our FAITH grow. It will help us EXPERIENCE God equipping us to let our inward faith turn outward..ppt 21 FIRST SECOND THIRD FOURTH FIFTH BRING YOUR BIBLE BRING A PEN OR A PENCIL BRING A BIBLE READING PLAN BRING A LIFE JOURNAL BRING A PLANNER Also bring your PDA, a calendar, your planner, or at least a piece of scrap paper to get thoughts out of your head and move back to the reading of God s WORD. Then the God gems will be in our LIFE JOURNAL, and your to-do list will be in your planner or on your scrap of paper, waiting for you to do them once you re done..ppt 22 SIXTH BRING SOAP SCRIPTURE, OBSERVATION, APPLICATION AND PRAYER.PPT 23 S FOR SCRIPTURE Open your Bible to the reading found under today's date of your Bible book-mark. Take time reading and allow God to speak to you. When you're done, look for a verse that God clearly spoke to you through that day, and write it out in your LIFE JOURNAL..PPT 24 7

8 O FOR OBSERVATION What do you hear (think, sense, discern) God is saying to you in this verse? Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and reveal Jesus to you through the verse and God's instruction to you. Paraphrase and write this verse down in your own words, in your LIFE JOURNAL..PPT 25 A FOR APPLICATION Personalize what you've read, by asking yourself how it applies to your life right now. Perhaps it is instruction, encouragement, revelation of a new promise, or corrections for a particular area of your life. Write how the instruction from this verse can apply to you today..ppt 26 P FOR PRAYER This can be as simple as asking God to help you use (live into, experience, apply) this verse, or it might be a greater insight on what He may be revealing to you. We ll talk more about the power of prayer and the role of prayer as we move into the instruction Pastor Peter offers us in FIRST PETER this fall. But for now, remember, prayer is a two-way conversation, so be sure to listen to what God has to say! Write out your prayers in your LIFE JOURNAL, AND what you sense God saying back to you as you take time to listen and learn from Him. Suppose I took a jazz piano class. I loved it, but it was a big class and there we re several students in the class without any musical background at all, so the professor was always having to slow down to spend more time with them. Let s say that the professor of this class was a world renowned jazz piano player, like a guy I love listening to named Keith Jarrett. And suppose that one day after class Keith Jarrett came to me and he said, Gregg, I see a lot of potential in you. I really believe you have what it takes to become a world-class jazz pianist. And then imagine Keith Jarrett saying to me, Gregg, you can keep taking group lessons from me in this class for one hour a week. Or, because of the potential I see in you, I m willing to mentor you, and meet with you one-on-one for a private lesson every day. Well, there wouldn t be any problem making that decision. And so every day I d sit with Keith Jarrett, my piano teacher! And he d teach me his phrasing, his voicing, and his mood, his tempo, his fingerings, his arpeggios, and his runs. Man, I d be in seventh-heaven getting this kind of attention and instruction. Well it probably wouldn t be more than a year before somebody would hear me playing and they d say, Dude, where did you learn to play like that? And I d reply, Oh, I took a class, one hour a week. And they d say, Oh ya, you ve had some classes I can tell that. But what I just heard you playing there s no way you learned that in any class. No way. No, I hear in your playing, the voice and the phrasing of the piano jazz great Keith Jarrett. You didn t learn that from a class. You ve been studying with the master himself. I can see it. I can hear it. Gang, there s a huge difference between going to church an hour a week and hearing the WORD of God taught, and spending time every day at the feet of the Master, inviting Him to 8

9 teach us, reprove us, correct us, and train us in righteousness through His WORD and by becoming schooled in prayer as a way of life And when you and I begin to develop this DEVOTIONAL LIFE, this LIFE OF DEVOTION it won t take long, probably not even a year before someone will hear you give advice to your son or you daughter, or to your husband or your wife, or to a co-worker or to a friend and they ll say, Where did you get that WISDOM? And you ll say, Oh, I go to 2 nd Street and our pastor, Gregg Lamm, he teaches us the WORD of God every Sunday. He teaches us to look into God s WORD and not just at God s WORD. And they ll say, Oh, sure pastor Gregg, he s a stand-up guy, but you can t kid me. I know when I m hearing the words of someone who s been spending time with the Master Himself. You didn t get that from Gregg. I can tell that you ve been spending time with Jesus Himself..PPT 27 Friends, there s a world of difference between being a church-goer and being a disciple who sits at Jesus feet every day. Listen to me there s never been a church-goer who s changed the world or turned it upside down! (cf., ACTS 17:6). Never a one. It s devoted disciples of Jesus Christ who change the world. And as we sit as His feet each day, we ll begin to develop ears that hear what He s saying, so that we can start joining Him in what He s up to in the world..ppt 28 FIRST SECOND THIRD FOURTH FIFTH SIXTH BRING YOUR BIBLE BRING A PEN OR A PENCIL BRING A BIBLE READING PLAN BRING A LIFE JOURNAL LIFE = LISTEN, INQUIRE, FAITH AND EXPERIENCE BRING A PLANNER BRING SOAP SOAP = SCRIPTURE, OBSERVATION, APPLICATION AND PRAYER.PPT MATTHEW 7:24-29 (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE) 24 Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 "The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell and great was its fall. 9

10 28 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. ILLUSTRATION DVD TWO SETS OF JONES BIG TENT REVIVAL We all have choices to make. Everyone of us. And when it comes to our with-god life we choose to either build on the rock and make living a LIFE OF DEVOTION TO GOD a priority, or we choose to build on the sand and we don t make living a LIFE OF DEVOTION TO GOD a priority. The choice is ours to make. But know this like the Apostle Paul said in The New Testament book of GALATIANS, we reap.ppt 31 THE FIRST TEACHING FROM FIRST PETER READ THROUGH THE BOOK AND COME PRAYING AND EXPECTING! CLOSING PRAYER AND THE BLESSING 10