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| This was how our Aunty Doreen left her quiet time Bible and Notes etc when she died in a nursing home. |
Last Sunday,13/9/15, I once again had the privilege of leading the Uniting Church Service in Renmark and Renmark West.
Here is the order of service and Bible readings and the message.
The message is based on study notes and tapes I have by the late Mr. Frank Hunting.
The alternative title comes from a book by Frank Laubach called "Learning the Vocabulary of God"
He like Frank was also one who was very disciplined in spending time each day with God. Indeed he tried to do that continuously.
If anyone is interested in copies of Frank Hunting's sermons on this subject in Digital form please contact me.
I can also make available a pdf of his Bible study notes that are complimentary to the recorded sermons.
I also recorded this talk digitally at Renmark West and this can be supplied by USB on request.
Geoff Thompson.
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UNITING CHURCH RENMARK SERVICE 13/9/15
ORDER
OF SERVICE
Call to Worship:
Geoff Thompson
Hymn: “Holy,Holy,holy, Lord God Almighty” AHB 65
Prayer of confession praise and thanksgiving
Hymn: “Morning
has broken”
Bible Reading: James
3:13-18;
2 Corinthians 5: 14-21
Hymn: “I heard the voice of Jesus say” AHB 500
Offering:
Sermon: “Learning the Vocabulary of God” or “Our Daily
Quiet Time” Geoff Thompson
Hymn : “Brother
let me be your servant” (Altogether
again 191)(blue cover)
Benediction: as per back of hymn book “May our Lord,God of Peace”
James
3 New International Version (NIV)
Two Kinds of Wisdom
13 Who is wise and understanding among
you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that
comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition
in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven
but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For
where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every
evil practice.
17 But the
wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving,
considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of
righteousness. |
Learning the vocabulary of God or Keeping a Daily Quiet Time
When I spoke here
last,about a month ago, I was talking about the most important question we can
ever ask and we discussed the answer given in the New Testament.
That was about why
and how we become a Christian.
What I must do to
be saved!
I said this next
time I would talk about where do we go from there.
How do we live out
the Christian life and how do we progress in our faith.
The Bible tells us
that when we become Christians we are brand new creations.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has
come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! (NIV)
If that is so, is
it obvious to people looking on that we have become a new creation?
Have our old bad
habits been replaced by a Christian demeanor that attracts people to our
Saviour?
Is our life such a
testimony that people are drawn to the Lord Jesus?
People are
watching us Christians all the time to see if we are real.
If we really do
have something to offer.
Sadly we can all
think of people who we think are letting the team down.
We think they are
not really any different to how they were before they became a Christian.
For example they
might still have a quick temper,
Might be critical
of others and always gossiping.
They may also be quite selfish when it comes to helping
others.
They might always be wanting to put themselves
first, jumping the queue, what about me?
They might not
tolerate or show love to others who are different to us.
Now the thing is
we all have blindnesses about ourselves and the so called “they” may in fact be
us.
So how do we
really allow Jesus to make a difference in our lives?
What next after conversion so that we actually do
become new creations?
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has
come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! (NIV)
For if a man is in Christ he becomes a
new person altogether—the past is finished and gone, everything has become
fresh and new. (Phillips)
17 When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new
person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun! (Living Bible)
Even though some
of us can quote that verse very quickly and surely, it is not automatic that
our old habits, our old behaviours have been changed in an instant at
conversion.
We often use that
in our persuasions of others to become Christians.
No one is an
instant mature Christian at conversion.
Our Christian life
is to be one of change growing more and more like Jesus.
At conversion our
potential has changed, our assurance of salvation has become real but we still
might be pains in the neck to others.
Don’t
misunderstand me.
We have been born
again but we are baby Christians.
Our walk to
Christian maturity is an ongoing thing that should be making us more and more
in the image of Jesus.
We find this idea
of an ongoing journey to Christian maturity
in the passage below.
2
Corinthians 3:18Living Bible (TLB)
18 But we
Christians have no veil over our faces; we can be mirrors that brightly reflect
the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become
more and more like him.
2
Corinthians 3:18Amplified Bible (AMP)
18 And we all,
with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the
Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one
degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the
Spirit.
(Note the Amplified Bible is great to get almost every
possible slant on any passage.)
So what is the
best advice we can be given as a new Christian or should give to a new
Christian.
How do we actually
become new creations?
In other words
after Decision, Conversion, then what?
Well we would hope
we would be encouraged to continue to find a Church to worship in and receive
sound teaching.
We would be advised
to get involved in a group Bible Study.
We would be wise
to regularly read our Bibles and spend time in Prayer.
These you would
think are logical things for the new Christian to do.
The thing that I
believe would be really helpful to us as
new Christians and even if we have been a Christian for years would be to
establish on a regularly basis what some call a quiet time.
Is that familiar
to you?
So why have a quiet time?
A life spent in
regular daily communion with God should be the norm and is not beyond the reach
of any of us.
Please note when I
talk about a quiet time I am not talking about sitting in the sun enjoying
God’s creation with a nice “cuppa”
So here are some
thoughts about our quiet times and what we should be doing in this time that
can be as little as 30mins a day.
If we do this
effectively it will have a huge impact on our lives.
We will become
more and more like Jesus.
These things I am
about to talk about take a lifetime to work at but it is never to late to
start.
So we don’t stop
and say this is all too hard!
I haven’t arrived
at anywhere near I would like to be with my quiet time.
So what are the
elements of an adequate quiet time.
What I am about to
share is drawn from Frank Hunting’s bible study on this subject and as brought
out in his sermons.
No. 1 The Object of our Quiet Time:
To meet Jesus face to face.
Most of us will
find this a difficult concept to grasp.
We cannot become
more like someone unless we spend time with them.
Our youngest son
was the last to leave our home and he was starting to get worried as he started
cracking the same type of jokes that I did before he left.
He was becoming a
lot like me.
Some of it good,
some not.
A good technique to enable us to visualise Jesus in our
quiet time is by sitting opposite an empty chair and by faith realizing Jesus is
there with us.
When we come into
this place we know Jesus is here with us because the Bible tells us He is.
We are that 2 or 3
or more gathered in His name.
No. 2 Confession
and Repentance
Confession an
repentance plays an important part in our quiet time.
We constantly fail
in life….we constantly need fresh starts.
God has provided
for this in I John 1:6-9
Note all the Ifs’
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we
lie, and do not the truth:
7 but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The new start is available immediately.
Verse 7 tells us
the way to live in continuous right relationship with God and our fellow men.
7 but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we
have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us
from all sin.
3. Bring who we are to Jesus
There will be no
growth,no change,no Christian maturity unless we do.
Bring what we are
to Jesus
Some of these things we need to bring to Jesus.
Inferiority
feelings
Self sympathy
Anxieties
A critical nature
Lusts- not just
sexual
Fear of
responsibility
Unforgiveness
Unlove
Fears
Doubts
Dominating nature
Guilt
Hardness
Spiritual Laziness
And whatever else
makes us what we are.
These and others
are the things which God may show you about yourself, are the things from which
Jesus saves us.
This is where our
salvation becomes “full!”
IF WE TAKE THEM TO HIM!
Ask Him to change us in the depths of our being
4.Study the Word of God
The emphasis is on
the word study.
Amazing results
will come over a lifetime if we just spend half an hour each day of real study.
Soaking in what
Jesus said.
Which means going
to the gospels time and time again and also
Studying what the
apostles did and taught.
We learn hoe God
thinks,
How Jesus thinks.
In 2 Timothy 3:16 we are told the following
16 The whole
Bible[b]
was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true
and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and
helps us do what is right. 17 It is God’s way of making us well
prepared at every point, fully equipped to do good to everyone.
5. PRAY
Prayer has to be
part of our quiet time.
It has to go
beyond what might be called baby prayers.
We need to learn
how to pray the way Jesus taught.
It has to be
praying that enables God to work.
Enables Jesus to
be in the battles people are having.
We have to learn
how to “faith things into being”
We also need to
pray to God bringing our own needs to Him and allowing God to deal with us.
We have already
touched on that.
6. We need to learn to listen.
In Mark 9 v7 after
the amazing experience Peter,James and John had on the mount of
transfiguration.
God spoke to them
after the others had gone and said.
“this is my
beloved Son, listen to Him”
7 But while he was still speaking these words, a cloud
covered them, blotting out the sun, and a voice from the cloud said, “This
is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
8 Then suddenly they looked around and Moses and Elijah were gone, and
only Jesus was with them.
Learning to be
guided by God,
listening to
Jesus,
has to become part
of our Christian experience.
Learning what is
His plan for our lives.
(Gave
demonstration here of tuning in a radio. We can’t see radio waves but if we
tune in we can hear what we can’t see.)
We tune in by
using the Bible, not a radio.
The Holy Spirit
will speak to us through what we read.
Now we might have
already been following God’s plan for our lives for many years and have known
His direction, but it is helpful to revise where we are at.
For most of us,
who are getting on, we need to seek his guidance for the rest of the allocated
time we are given.
The actual mechanics of keeping and conducting a quiet
time will include the following.
devotional helps,
Such as "My Utmost
for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers, "Our Daily Bread", "Everyday with Jesus",
"Streams in the Desert" and many others.
"Awake my Heart" by
Sidlow Baxter is very good.
a variety of Bible Versions
Not just one. A
red letter new testament is great to concentrate on the words of Jesus Himself.
There are many
versions of the Bible these days.
It’s a good idea
to use a few to get all the possible meanings from the passage you study.
A parallel Bible
is great to compare passages with up to 6 versions printed side by side.
using a notebook
A notebook is great
to be able to keep a list of prayer points, write the guidance you think God is
giving you,identifying things you need to get right and repent of.
It can be a
spiritual diary that charts your growth to Christian maturity.
Getting God’s Guidance
We need to get
God’s guidance and find His plan for our lives.
There are methods
of guidance you can use but they must include checking against the scriptures
so that your guidance does not conflict with God’s word.
It is is important
to seek the counsel of mature Christians you trust to mainly makes sure your
self is taken out of the equation.
In other words is
that what you think God really wants you to do or is it just your own ego interfering.
Write down what you
think God is saying to you.
With experience
getting His guidance will become easier but often we are sure of our guidance
only by looking back on the actions we have taken.
Conclusion
Well I hope that
today our appetite has been stimulated to get down to business with God.
That we will make
a decision that whatever stage we are at with God and our Christian walk, that we resolve to make Jesus truly Lord of our lives.
Not just our
Saviour.
That we will go on
to Christian Maturity
That we will spend
time with Him each day.
That we keep
working at keeping our quiet time.
