back to index2016-08-28 Spiritual Discipline
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All right, well it's good to be here and it's good to see some faces, some familiar faces. 00:00:10.360 |
And it really is a pleasure just being able to deliver God's Word to you. 00:00:15.680 |
You know, I asked, Pastor Peter asked me a few weeks back now just to speak at the church 00:00:26.920 |
And you know, I agreed and then I realized I was going to be gone for two weeks for vacation. 00:00:31.640 |
So I asked him, "Hey, can you fill in for me?" 00:00:36.760 |
You know, so, so Pastor Peter is going to come and speak for us next week. 00:00:40.520 |
And for that, I am grateful and our church is really excited. 00:00:44.240 |
Well, we've been, our, at Cross Life, I've been going through the book of Titus and it's 00:00:54.440 |
almost been a year and we're almost done with chapter three now. 00:00:59.080 |
So, so our congregation is very patient with me. 00:01:03.160 |
But you know, one of the messages I gave was on spiritual disciplines and you know, they 00:01:08.720 |
And so I figured, you know, this might be a good message to bring to you guys to bless 00:01:12.920 |
So the passage that I'm going to be preaching from is just a single, a single word. 00:01:20.160 |
Okay, so I'm going to preach on a single word today. 00:01:23.600 |
But let's, let's read it in context from verse five to verse nine. 00:01:27.560 |
Do you guys stand for the reading of God's word? 00:01:32.840 |
Hey, let's stand for the reading of God's word. 00:01:36.200 |
I have no idea what, I know what the practice is at, here in Berean. 00:01:41.240 |
Titus chapter one, let's read from verse five to verse nine. 00:01:51.480 |
This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order and appoint 00:01:58.220 |
If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife and his children are believers and 00:02:02.560 |
not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 00:02:05.960 |
For an overseer as God's steward must be above reproach. 00:02:08.440 |
He must be, he must not be arrogant or quick tempered or drunkard or violent or greedy 00:02:12.440 |
for gain, hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 00:02:19.840 |
He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction 00:02:24.120 |
and sound doctrine and also rebuke those who contradict it. 00:02:34.240 |
Dear God, to think about the fact that the words that we have read proceeds from you 00:02:41.680 |
We are not hearing the mere words of man, but the voice of the triune God, the maker 00:02:47.960 |
of the heavens and the earth, the redeemer of mankind, the sustainer of this universe, 00:02:51.800 |
the one who will recreate the heavens and the earth. 00:02:59.120 |
So God, I pray that we would listen to it humbly and that we will give you worship as 00:03:03.880 |
we think about the truth and meditate upon it and think as to how we can apply it in 00:03:12.200 |
Help me God to speak clearly and pierce the hearts of the hearers today. 00:03:25.200 |
So one of the things that you probably noticed from the context is that the apostle Paul 00:03:28.720 |
is telling Titus that he has to appoint elders on the island of Crete. 00:03:35.040 |
And he gives a list of qualifications that these men are supposed to fulfill. 00:03:38.720 |
And so what we, the characteristics that we read about here is directly applicable to 00:03:42.800 |
your pastor, to the elders of the church, but it's still applicable to the rest of the 00:03:47.520 |
congregation because the congregation is called to imitate the pastor. 00:03:51.680 |
And so there's called to discipline, even though it is directed to the elders of the 00:03:59.000 |
And that's what we're going to be talking about. 00:04:01.960 |
In his book, Disciplines of Godly Man, Kent Hughes gives a few examples of men who have 00:04:07.040 |
disciplined their lives for the sake of excellence. 00:04:09.880 |
He says, we wonder at the anatomical perfection of a Da Vinci painting, but we forget that 00:04:14.600 |
Leonardo Da Vinci on one occasion drew a thousand hands, a thousand hands. 00:04:20.920 |
Thomas Edison came up with the incandescent light after a thousand failures. 00:04:25.920 |
He was also speaks about Churchill and he says, in our own time, Winston Churchill has 00:04:29.880 |
been rightly proclaimed the speaker of the century and few who have heard his eloquent 00:04:36.400 |
Still fewer would suspect that he was anything but a natural. 00:04:40.040 |
But the truth is Churchill had a distracting lisp, which made him the butt of many jokes 00:04:44.760 |
and resulted in him in his inability to be spontaneous in public speaking. 00:04:49.400 |
Yet he became famous for speeches and his seemingly impromptu remarks. 00:04:55.400 |
Actually Churchill wrote everything out and practiced it. 00:04:58.360 |
He even choreographed the pauses and pretend fumblings for the right phrase. 00:05:03.200 |
He practiced endlessly in front of mirrors, fashioned his retorts and facial expressions. 00:05:08.880 |
Smith said, Winston has spent the best years of his life writing impromptu speeches. 00:05:17.520 |
You don't write impromptu speeches, you know, just do it impromptu. 00:05:21.560 |
But when we think about the best athletes and the musicians and the experts of specific 00:05:26.160 |
fields, you got to ask what makes them the best? 00:05:29.620 |
Maybe natural talent, maybe pure luck, but the common denominator is discipline. 00:05:33.900 |
A person doesn't simply excel in what he sets himself out to do. 00:05:43.420 |
I think about many of you probably took piano lessons in middle school. 00:05:57.420 |
How terrible you are at playing the piano because you probably stopped and complained 00:06:01.700 |
about taking your piano lessons so that you didn't develop your skill over the years. 00:06:17.620 |
Anyways, skills do not develop automatically. 00:06:27.300 |
The reason why this is so important is because we have to get it into our brains that we 00:06:30.620 |
are not just going to grow as Christians just because we have been a Christian for a long 00:06:35.900 |
People think that it happens automatically, that it happens naturally, but that's a lie. 00:06:41.620 |
How many older Christians do you know who are immature in the faith? 00:06:46.340 |
I know a number of people who have been Christians for years, but instead of becoming more like 00:06:49.780 |
Jesus Christ, they have become more like the world. 00:06:51.980 |
And when we hear about church splits, when we hear about problems within the church, 00:07:00.100 |
They're caused by the older people in the church. 00:07:03.700 |
Maturity doesn't automatically come with age. 00:07:09.060 |
Godliness is developed by grace through faith expressed in discipline. 00:07:15.700 |
First Corinthians chapter 9 verse 24 to 27, it says, "Do you not know that in a race all 00:07:19.380 |
the runners run, but only one receives a prize? 00:07:23.580 |
Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. 00:07:25.740 |
They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 00:07:30.420 |
I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control 00:07:34.740 |
lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." 00:07:38.700 |
Today, as we talk about the quality of discipline, there are several things I do want to address. 00:07:47.700 |
Secondly, the danger of an undisciplined life. 00:07:59.980 |
Let's get into the misconceptions about discipline. 00:08:03.460 |
The first misconception is the difference between discipline and legalism. 00:08:08.060 |
There are a number of people who look at spiritual disciplines and they shy away from it because 00:08:10.980 |
they see no difference between discipline and legalism. 00:08:13.860 |
And it might remind them, they might do this because it reminds them of their, I don't 00:08:18.300 |
know, maybe past church life, where faithfulness was equated with performance. 00:08:23.740 |
The fear of man, pressure was the main motivation to serve in the church. 00:08:28.020 |
And so you might see rules and regulation as a system meant to control you. 00:08:35.660 |
Then there are the people who just love their liberties. 00:08:39.100 |
And they hide behind Christian liberties and they label anything and everything as legalistic 00:08:48.100 |
Even though you might not like discipline, you might shy away from it, all of us, we 00:08:52.220 |
Even the people who are bent on their freedom, they're all about their Christian liberties, 00:08:56.900 |
The difference is that these people who don't want to live by rules, they just call the 00:09:01.900 |
rules that they don't like as being legalistic. 00:09:06.420 |
Tell somebody, "Hey, you should read your word. 00:09:10.020 |
"Hey, I think you're drinking a little bit too much. 00:09:39.460 |
The difference between legalism and discipline is the heart. 00:09:43.380 |
Legalism seeks to follow the rules in order to gain merit with God. 00:09:46.700 |
The reason why they follow the things in Scripture is because they want to get the holy points. 00:09:50.180 |
And they think the better that he performed before God, the more God is going to love 00:09:54.980 |
And so there's a lot of pride associated with legalism because God loves them more than 00:10:01.060 |
They judge everyone else who doesn't measure up to their standard of living. 00:10:05.740 |
But discipline is a matter of following the rules, abiding by the truth revealed in Scripture 00:10:11.060 |
because of a love for God, a desire to honor him. 00:10:14.940 |
It's not about the actions and the rules in and of itself. 00:10:17.700 |
It's about the heart behind fulfilling those rules. 00:10:23.260 |
So there is a huge difference between discipline and legalism. 00:10:28.540 |
The second misconception I want to talk about is discipline and hypocrisy. 00:10:35.340 |
Some people think that unless you do something with a wholehearted desire, then you're not 00:10:40.140 |
being genuine so that you become a hypocrite. 00:10:43.260 |
I've heard a number of people say, "I just can't read the Word of God because my heart's 00:10:49.700 |
I don't want to go to church because my heart's not into it and I don't want to be a hypocrite." 00:10:55.860 |
The Bible says this, in General Myles chapter 17 verse 9, "The heart is deceitful above 00:11:01.980 |
The reason why your heart doesn't want to do it, it's not into it, is because your heart's 00:11:05.060 |
And it would be foolish for you to listen to your heart when your heart is telling you 00:11:10.780 |
And furthermore, doing something when you don't feel like doing it, that's not even 00:11:24.220 |
I think about it, who in the world loves waking up at 6 o'clock in the morning? 00:11:36.140 |
Unless you have been damaged by the fall deeply, I mean, you don't love waking up at 6 o'clock 00:11:43.260 |
But if you have some responsibility to fulfill, some meeting to attend, you have work to go 00:11:53.980 |
Nobody hears the alarm at 6 o'clock in the morning, "Oh my goodness, I don't want to 00:12:04.540 |
We do what we are called to do, and that is considered being responsible. 00:12:09.900 |
Yet why does responsibility become hypocrisy when we speak about spiritual matters? 00:12:14.420 |
Doing something when you don't feel like it does not mean that you are being hypocritical. 00:12:19.140 |
Hypocrisy is when you do something with ulterior motives. 00:12:23.420 |
A perfect example of hypocrites are the Pharisees. 00:12:29.340 |
"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for 00:12:33.980 |
then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 00:12:37.100 |
Thus when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in 00:12:40.940 |
the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. 00:12:44.300 |
Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. 00:12:47.980 |
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is 00:12:51.040 |
doing so that your giving may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward 00:12:56.700 |
I mean, see the problems with the Pharisees, they were just like so self-righteous, it 00:13:03.700 |
They sound a trumpet, doo doo doo doo, you know, and then here's your five bucks. 00:13:09.780 |
They did good things, not for the sake of God, but for the sake of their own ego. 00:13:14.540 |
So you would be a hypocrite if you use God for anyone else but God. 00:13:20.220 |
It's coming to church because, only because you want to impress that person you like, 00:13:25.180 |
or it's leading praise because you want to show off your skills so that people can see 00:13:29.380 |
how wonderful you are on the instrument that you play. 00:13:33.140 |
Or it's being faithful, faithful, and getting involved in all different kinds of ministries, 00:13:38.180 |
leading different ministries so that people can look up to you, so that you can caress 00:13:45.140 |
But when you discipline yourself to do what is good, holy, and righteous, in spite of 00:13:49.500 |
what you might feel, it doesn't make you a hypocrite, it makes you responsible, faithful, 00:13:57.260 |
So those are the misconceptions about hypocrisy, misconceptions that you must avoid. 00:14:01.180 |
Now the second thing I want to talk about is the dangers of an undisciplined life. 00:14:13.180 |
He says, "First, in today's world and church, disciplined Christian lives are the exception, 00:14:21.500 |
This goes for men, women, and the professional clergy." 00:14:28.580 |
I know, I was, you know, when I preached this to my congregation, I just looked at them, 00:14:42.180 |
That a majority of Christians do not live a disciplined life. 00:14:47.900 |
It's dangerous if you do not live a disciplined life, because you will not be able to handle 00:14:53.980 |
trials when they come to you, trials that will make you suffer. 00:14:58.540 |
And because you don't have the disciplines to deal with those trials, you will suffer 00:15:03.700 |
And this is dangerous because it might lead you to a place of bitterness. 00:15:11.380 |
It might even lead you to a place where you run away from God. 00:15:17.080 |
Those who lack discipline will eventually bear the fruit of their neglectful lifestyle. 00:15:24.380 |
I don't know if there's any military people here. 00:15:36.100 |
Boot camp is supposed to be physically and psychologically demanding because it's meant 00:15:41.900 |
to prepare soldiers for war, which is psychologically and physically demanding. 00:15:47.020 |
Now imagine a soldier who just skips out on everything. 00:15:55.580 |
He doesn't learn how to shoot his assault rifle or to cock back his handgun. 00:16:01.700 |
And he sneaks in all this junk food while everyone is doing what they're doing. 00:16:05.660 |
And he doesn't think it's a big deal because he's getting along just fine. 00:16:09.500 |
He sees everybody running, everybody training. 00:16:11.860 |
He's just hanging out, hiding and eating his potato chips. 00:16:20.020 |
But what happens when he's sent to the front lines? 00:16:26.180 |
He doesn't have the stamina to keep up with his platoon. 00:16:28.620 |
He endangers himself and he endangers other people because of his incompetence. 00:16:37.300 |
And worst of all, he doesn't realize that it is his lack of discipline that is the problem. 00:16:45.300 |
And for sure, war is the problem, but war is inevitable. 00:16:49.840 |
And so many Christians are like this delinquent soldiers. 00:16:51.900 |
They don't train themselves in season of peace. 00:16:54.300 |
They don't train themselves in times when they are not trying. 00:16:56.940 |
They content themselves with just living a life that just gets by. 00:17:00.580 |
They don't have a healthy diet in the Word of God, but they consume the dribble of this 00:17:04.620 |
And it's not necessarily things that are immediately bad, but things that will slow them down, 00:17:09.740 |
They don't exercise in the service of prayer so that they have no stamina to maintain a 00:17:19.140 |
They are okay because they get along just fine. 00:17:22.980 |
But then they're thrown into the heat of war. 00:17:25.820 |
You come face to face with the pain of the fall. 00:17:28.020 |
You're bombarded with artillery of life's trouble, and you scurry and you panic, oblivious 00:17:31.840 |
as to how you should be getting around this problem. 00:17:35.640 |
You suffer more than you have to because you have not developed the disciplines to carry 00:17:41.660 |
But instead of realizing that the problem is your lack of discipline, that your spiritual 00:17:45.940 |
nonchalance is the reason for your excessive pain. 00:17:48.860 |
You end up blaming things on the things that happen to you. 00:17:52.180 |
The anxiety of family problems, pressure, expectations, maybe marital problems, parental 00:17:58.220 |
problems, the isolation of a post-college life, the loneliness of being single, the 00:18:03.580 |
drag of work, the difficulty of working with your coworkers, and the difficulty of working 00:18:08.460 |
with your supervisor, the anxiety of maybe finding a job. 00:18:11.940 |
Whatever the problem might be, when you come across it, you think you're not doing well 00:18:15.420 |
because you have these problems in your life. 00:18:19.540 |
And it doesn't occur to you that maybe you are the problem. 00:18:23.100 |
Your lack of discipline has cultivated a heart that does not know how to trust God when the 00:18:27.500 |
Your ignorance of the word of God leaves you clueless as to how you are to navigate through 00:18:31.900 |
Your failure to meditate upon the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ leaves you in a 00:18:37.580 |
Your lack of stamina in prayer leaves you helpless to call upon the powers of heaven 00:18:42.500 |
You blame things on all the bad stuff that happened to you. 00:18:48.580 |
In 1 Peter 4, verse 12, it says, "Beloved, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery 00:18:53.820 |
trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to 00:18:59.260 |
Don't be surprised as if this is weird, as if it's off. 00:19:02.800 |
This is normal because when you are a soldier in war, you are going to fight. 00:19:06.860 |
When you are a soldier in war, people are going to hurt you. 00:19:10.480 |
When you are a soldier, you are going to suffer. 00:19:16.100 |
It's for that reason it's so important for you to realize as a Christian that to be doing 00:19:22.600 |
well spiritually does not necessarily mean for you to fix the problem, to change the 00:19:35.260 |
Because what happens if you can't change the problem? 00:19:46.700 |
If you doing well is dependent upon the circumstances and the circumstances being changed, the problems 00:19:53.420 |
being resolved, then you will lose yourself to despair. 00:19:59.740 |
I've had a number of friends just lose themselves to like depression or bitterness. 00:20:04.620 |
They get so bitter at God because of what life throws at them. 00:20:10.380 |
I've even lost a friend to suicide because of the fact that he felt so lost in his struggles. 00:20:23.420 |
So many Christians take it easy when times aren't pressing. 00:20:27.220 |
They neglect their calling during their boot camps so they lose themselves when the war 00:20:32.780 |
Regardless of the trial, regardless of the suffering, every single Christian is called 00:20:38.220 |
to persevere and to rejoice in the gospel of the Lord Jesus. 00:20:43.220 |
Philippians chapter 4 verse 11 to 13, "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I 00:20:47.020 |
have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 00:20:50.660 |
I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. 00:20:54.940 |
I have learned the secrets of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 00:20:59.460 |
I can do all things through him who strengthens me." 00:21:02.900 |
See, the reason why spiritual disciplines are so important is because it carries you 00:21:11.140 |
I don't want any of you to suffer more than you have to when the hard times come. 00:21:17.180 |
And I don't want you to be scared off so that you end up picking the path of least resistance. 00:21:24.980 |
They pick the path of least resistance instead of choosing the path that most glorifies God 00:21:31.060 |
regardless of whether or not that path is wrought with trials and pain. 00:21:37.660 |
My fear is that many people have become accustomed to a life of laziness and neglect. 00:21:42.620 |
Prayer is done superficially, no depth, no great lengths of communing with God because 00:21:50.100 |
You're just pushing off prayer, pushing off prayer, and then late at night you pray, but 00:21:54.820 |
you're so tired you cut a short, you throw your hands up in the air and say, "At least 00:22:01.380 |
You nibble on bits and pieces at the banquet feast of truth. 00:22:05.420 |
You dip your feet in the ocean of divine revelation. 00:22:08.900 |
Sometimes people, the only time they open up the Word of God is on Sundays. 00:22:12.780 |
Meditation is non-existent because it takes time to meditate on such a short passage. 00:22:18.860 |
Busy with family, busy with work, busy with school. 00:22:24.780 |
There's no reflection and examining weaknesses because we've got along just fine with the 00:22:31.040 |
There's no search for accountability because, again, we're a busy people. 00:22:38.660 |
Because we've had a long day and fighting sin is hard. 00:22:43.140 |
There are too many Christians who have no regular discipline in their life. 00:22:46.820 |
They have a blasé attitude when it comes down to the spiritual things. 00:22:49.500 |
No intensity, no resolve, no fire, no will, no resolution. 00:22:56.140 |
And I feel like it's okay right now when things are easy, when there are no problems, but 00:23:00.180 |
you will realize that it is not okay when the trials come into your life. 00:23:11.300 |
My hope is that my brothers and sisters will prepare themselves when that time does come. 00:23:23.060 |
I want to exhort you guys to discipline your lives. 00:23:25.660 |
See, our hearts are naturally wired to rebel against God. 00:23:40.380 |
We are inclined to overlook the beauty of the cross. 00:23:43.540 |
We're inclined to forget about the blood that washed away our sins. 00:23:46.580 |
We're inclined to run away from the one who loved us by giving up everything for us. 00:23:51.260 |
And unless we buffet our body, we beat our flesh into submission, sin will entice, sin 00:23:58.540 |
Pastor Steve Lawson gives this definition of discipline. 00:24:00.940 |
He says, "Self-discipline means the exercise of power over oneself. 00:24:06.020 |
It is the ability to keep oneself under control. 00:24:09.340 |
The word indicates self-mastery over one's inner desire, thoughts, actions, and word. 00:24:13.340 |
It is the control a believer must exercise over his life." 00:24:17.580 |
The Bible likens spiritual discipline to athletic training. 00:24:20.700 |
First Timothy chapter four, verse seven, "Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. 00:24:27.860 |
In Hebrews chapter 12, verse one, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud 00:24:31.980 |
of witness, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us 00:24:36.740 |
run with endurance the race that is set before us." 00:24:39.340 |
Every professional athlete beats his body into submission. 00:24:42.780 |
He trims his fat, he increases his muscle, he increases his stamina, he refines his strength, 00:24:48.340 |
he eliminates his weaknesses, he watches his intakes, and cares more about the nutrients 00:24:53.740 |
And there's a massive exertion of energy and pinpointed precision in directing that 00:25:00.100 |
And when the competition comes, when the competition comes, the time of testing comes, he performs 00:25:06.580 |
And he accomplishes feats that seem humanly impossible. 00:25:11.020 |
And this is the calling of the Christian, trimming off the things that slow you down 00:25:16.380 |
Not things that are necessarily sinful, but things that slow you down. 00:25:21.860 |
Strengthening your stamina in prayer, increasing your knowledge of scripture, strengthening 00:25:26.300 |
your resolve against sin, committing yourself to service. 00:25:29.420 |
Just as an athlete disciplines his body, so every Christian is called to discipline their 00:25:36.660 |
Now before you all are convicted to start a Bible reading program or read articles on 00:25:45.180 |
prayer, it's very important for you to focus on the goal. 00:25:49.580 |
It's very, it's imperative for you to focus on the purpose for why you discipline your 00:25:55.980 |
Remember the difference between legalism and discipline is the heart. 00:26:01.100 |
The heart behind discipline does not seek to elevate the self, it seeks to elevate God. 00:26:08.300 |
In 1 Corinthians 9 24 to 27 it says, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, 00:26:17.720 |
Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. 00:26:20.380 |
They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we are imperishable. 00:26:23.860 |
So I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body, 00:26:27.820 |
keep it under control, as after preaching to others I myself should not be disqualified. 00:26:39.900 |
I'm running towards the finish line where my God is waiting for me, where my Savior 00:26:44.460 |
So I have a goal, a finish line, a purpose in mind. 00:26:48.300 |
And if that goal is not there, your discipline is going to mutate into legalism or it's going 00:26:54.040 |
You know, one of the things I hate doing is running. 00:27:08.080 |
It's agonizing and my hatred for running is compounded when I have to run in laps, you 00:27:15.540 |
know, run through laps, because I'm literally running in circles. 00:27:29.640 |
It's not because the pain disappears, but because the goal eclipses the pain. 00:27:36.540 |
The goal makes all the difference, even if it's as primitive as putting a ball inside 00:27:42.760 |
Now, I don't in any way want to imply that I'm good at basketball. 00:27:49.760 |
But, yeah, I mean, I enjoy playing regardless. 00:28:00.720 |
I want us to reflect upon the activity of basketball. 00:28:04.760 |
Just putting a ball inside of a basket within the vastness of this universe, the complexity 00:28:08.720 |
of nature and the mysteries of this world, putting a ball inside of a basket is enough. 00:28:20.400 |
Yet that purpose has become so elevated that it consumes the lives of the greatest athletes. 00:28:27.240 |
The best of athletes, they train their bodies, they lift weights, spend hours at the gym 00:28:34.960 |
When you take a step back, it's pretty ludicrous, right? 00:28:56.240 |
They cut through two defenders and with a burst of energy, they rise as if they're reaching 00:29:04.340 |
Or they, you know, it's the fourth quarter, the game is tight, the clock is counting down. 00:29:11.700 |
You take your ball from half court and you throw it into the air. 00:29:15.740 |
And to your disbelief, you see the most glorious sight you have ever seen. 00:29:24.380 |
I mean, you see full grown men going, "Ahhhh." 00:29:28.980 |
It's not like they found a cure for some deadly disease or ventured into the deep space. 00:29:34.260 |
They put a ball inside a basket and they're like, "Ahhhh." 00:29:43.020 |
Now, if a goal as simple as this is enough to merit national attention and call forth 00:29:48.660 |
men and women to lay down their energy, their money, and their resources, their lives for 00:29:52.140 |
this purpose, how much more passion should consume a believer whose goal far surpasses 00:29:59.700 |
The goal of their glory that will be shared in Christ. 00:30:03.300 |
The goal of their resurrection from the dead. 00:30:05.820 |
The witness of the recreation of the new heavens and the new earth. 00:30:08.300 |
The realization of divine righteousness and the damnation of the devil. 00:30:13.260 |
Their reign with the king of kings and their fellowship with the Savior who laid down everything 00:30:19.340 |
It is for this goal and for this purpose why we as Christians, we discipline our bodies. 00:30:26.740 |
We discipline ourselves in the reading and the meditation of the word. 00:30:33.480 |
We discipline ourselves in the service of the church. 00:30:35.780 |
We discipline our lives in all aspects for the sake of this goal. 00:30:44.780 |
Waiting for the day when we will see our Savior face to face. 00:30:47.460 |
When we see the new Jerusalem descend from heaven. 00:30:50.500 |
When we will see the new heavens and the new earth created. 00:30:52.860 |
When we hear the voice of our Savior, the voice of our Master, well done good and faithful 00:31:05.940 |
God has given you one life and he has redeemed that life through the blood of his own Son. 00:31:09.180 |
He does not expect you to squander it upon yourself but upon his glory. 00:31:15.980 |
"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief and the heavens will pass away with 00:31:19.620 |
war and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works 00:31:26.380 |
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people are you to be in lives 00:31:32.060 |
Waiting for hastening the coming of the day of God because which of the heavens will be 00:31:35.660 |
set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. 00:31:39.500 |
But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness 00:31:55.100 |
Now, um, brothers and sisters, it's um, I have, I have no idea how your spiritual state 00:32:06.620 |
this might, I might be just preaching to the choir here and uh, knowing this, this wonderful 00:32:12.000 |
ministry and what Pastor Peter has been doing along with Pastor Mark and the elders here, 00:32:15.700 |
it's uh, I'm confident that there are many of you faithfully fighting and persevering 00:32:21.980 |
through the trials of life and, and committing your life for the things of God. 00:32:26.140 |
But I'm also confident that there are some of you here who are struggling, who have not 00:32:32.820 |
committed your life to live for the Lord, even though you professed him as your savior. 00:32:38.900 |
And I do want to exhort you guys to think, think beyond what lies tomorrow, project your 00:32:48.580 |
sight to eternity future and what will come and live for that moment when you will see 00:32:57.140 |
Um, I do want to give you guys some resources. 00:33:07.020 |
There are some good books out there and uh, one book that was very helpful to me is Disciplines 00:33:15.300 |
There's also a one by his wife called Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes. 00:33:21.340 |
It's a, it's at the Pre-Titus too, which talks about women, discipling women and stuff. 00:33:26.540 |
Um, I found out at the end of the day, they teach the same Bible, right? 00:33:30.900 |
And they just say the same thing, but they just, anyways, not exactly the same thing, 00:33:36.900 |
There's also a good book called Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald 00:33:41.700 |
And uh, Spiritual Disciplines for Christians, for Christian Life, for the Christian Life 00:33:48.180 |
And I'm sure you can find a number of articles that will help. 00:33:51.500 |
But you know, the practice of Christian discipline doesn't have to be crazy unless you really 00:33:58.540 |
Uh, I think it's good to set a realistic goal that you can practice, practice regularly. 00:34:02.700 |
Uh, we know one thing I say is try to spend 15 minutes with the Lord. 00:34:10.420 |
I want to five minutes in the word, you know, read, read the word and then five minutes 00:34:17.380 |
And when you meditate, think about what you read. 00:34:21.160 |
Think about the ways in which you can apply it. 00:34:24.660 |
Sometimes I feel like guys get really excited in the beginning and they make all these lofty 00:34:27.740 |
goals and aren't able to sustain that level of commitment and commitment. 00:34:31.020 |
They get discouraged and they chuck everything out the door. 00:34:39.060 |
They're trying to, you know, wander through that. 00:34:43.260 |
You know, it's just, uh, and it's, you know, so people get discouraged. 00:34:47.460 |
They stop and then they start over again in Genesis thinking they could do it and they 00:34:53.220 |
Um, so I mean, if that's hard, just read the New Testament. 00:34:59.180 |
Develop a habit in doing all this stuff so that when there comes a day where you don't 00:35:04.340 |
do it, you feel like there's something off because you've been so regular in spending 00:35:09.260 |
Um, you know, R. Kent Hughes, he, uh, he gives a story of a man named William Harrison. 00:35:19.700 |
He says, "Lieutenant General William K. Harrison was the most decorated soldier in the 30th 00:35:27.180 |
Infantry Division, rated by General Eisenhower as the number one infantry division in World 00:35:33.460 |
General Harrison was the first American to enter Belgium, which he did at the head of 00:35:38.820 |
He received every decoration for valor except the Congressional Medal of Honor. 00:35:42.340 |
Being honored with the distinguished Silver Cross, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for 00:35:46.020 |
valor, and the Purple Heart, he was one of the few generals to be wounded in action. 00:35:49.940 |
When the Korean War began, he served as Chief of Staff in the United Nations Command, and 00:35:54.900 |
because of his character and self-control, was ultimately President Eisenhower's choice 00:35:58.380 |
to head the long and tedious negotiations to end the war. 00:36:03.660 |
General Harrison was a soldier's soldier who led a busy, ultra-kinetic life, but he was 00:36:11.780 |
When he was a 20-year-old West Point cadet, he began reading the Old Testament through 00:36:15.440 |
once a year and the New Testament four times. 00:36:18.620 |
General Harrison did this until the end of his life. 00:36:21.220 |
Even in the thick of war, he maintained his commitment by catching up during the two 00:36:24.440 |
and three day respites for replacement and refitting, which followed battles, so that 00:36:29.220 |
when the war ended, he was right on schedule. 00:36:32.820 |
When at the age of 90, his failing eyesight no longer permitted his discipline, he had 00:36:37.540 |
read the Old Testament 70 times and the New Testament 280 times. 00:36:50.900 |
But this guy's saying, "Hey, people are trying to kill me." 00:36:57.620 |
He understands how precious it is to hear the voice of his God. 00:37:04.940 |
And this is why we discipline our lives, because we want to spend time with our God. 00:37:12.660 |
This is not a legalistic call for you to start doing things and marking things off, checking 00:37:17.260 |
boxes in your reading, spending a certain quota of time in prayer. 00:37:21.900 |
This is spending time with the one whom you love, the one who loved you by sending his 00:37:27.340 |
So the calling is strong, and I pray that you answer that call by spending time with 00:37:34.220 |
your Lord and your Savior, disciplining your life, living for him. 00:37:52.940 |
And you are worthy because you have created the heavens and the earth, that you sustain 00:38:00.620 |
this universe, and you are worthy because you have redeemed us and saved us through 00:38:05.900 |
the blood of your Son and through the power of his resurrection. 00:38:12.780 |
We were created and then recreated to live for your glory. 00:38:17.500 |
And I pray for my brothers and sisters here, my friends at Berean, that you would help 00:38:23.340 |
them to continue living a life of discipline for those who are faithfully loving you and 00:38:29.740 |
And that for those that are not, that you would convict them and help them to understand 00:38:34.340 |
the severity of their neglect, and that they would answer the call to love you. 00:38:41.020 |
Lord, the greatest command is to love you with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength. 00:38:45.420 |
Would your grace be upon all of us, that we may fulfill that command. 00:38:50.220 |
Lord, we pray this all in the name of your Son, our Lord and Savior, our King, Jesus