Going Deeper

Going Deeper Hebrews 5:12 – 6:1

Introduction: Paul scolded the Hebrew Christians for remaining shallow believers and not growing deeper in their Christian experience. They remained superficial believers. He challenges them to go on to maturity. Christ called Peter to “Lauch out into the deep and to let down his nets for a catch.” When he obeyed the result was amazing. Christ calls us to go deeper with Him where greater riches and service lie and stop wading in the shallows. Why don’t Christians want to go deeper? How can they go deeper? What are the benefits of going deeper?

I. Why people don't want to Go Deeper

A. It calls them to leave their comfort zone

1. There is a fear of the deep

2. There is a fear of being different

B. It calls for a greater commitment

1. It takes work

2. It takes time

C. It requires consecration –

1. It may call for sacrifice

2. It may call for the giving up something

3. One writer of a blog penned, “I've been fearful to go deeper with God because I thought it would include deep pain, you know, walking through the fire to be refined. It might.”

D. It requires Accountability –

1. It calls for availability

2. Luke 12:48 “everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

II. What is the Path of Going Deeper

A. Intensive Bible Study

1. 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

2. John 5:39a “Search the Scriptures…” – Pore over, Examine

3. Picture a scientist going about some great work. He or she is searching for the cure for some horrible disease, or making a marvelous new discovery. First, the scientist digs for facts, looking deeply, studying carefully, investigating every clue, relentlessly hunting for any and every fact that will make the discovery deeper, richer, and more accurate. Then, the scientist ponders what the facts mean, finally coming up with a theory. After much more testing, the scientist is ready to put the theory into practice, to apply it. This is a picture of “inductive” study. “Inductive” means going from the particular to the general, from the facts to the thesis or teaching.

4. Inductive Bible Study. - Bob Grahmann

a. OBSERVATION - What does the text say?

b. INTERPRETATION - What does it mean?

c. APPLICATION - What does it mean to us?

5. “Inductive Bible study” starts with the facts of the Bible gleaned through careful observation of the text. After observing everything that can be seen in the text, inductive study then asks what the facts mean. This is “interpretation.” Then, after we understand the teaching or point of the passage, we apply the text to our lives. – copied

6. Acts 17:11 “These (Christians in Berea) were nobler than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

B. Intimate Prayer

1. If revival in our church and our country depended solely on our prayer life, would it break out?

2. James 4:2-3 “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”

3. "Every Christian has a direct line of communication with God, available at ALL TIMES. But most Christians never lift the phone off the hook and often forget the line exists until an emergency arises." - Bill Bright, "How You Can Pray With Confidence"

4. Colossians 4:2a “Continue earnestly in prayer”

5. To walk with God, we must make it a practice to talk with God. -

Gary Heard, Melbourne, Australia

6. Jeremiah 29:13 “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

7. If the desire of your heart is to have abundant life, have a deeper love for God, have the power of Christ flowing in you, become a stronger Christian, having the Holy Spirit directing your steps, to be more conformed to the person God created you to be, you must "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

C. Intentional Living

1. Genesis 6:9 “This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.”

2. Amos 3:3 “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?”

3. As believers walk with God each day in humble submission, they are renewed little by little into the image of Christ through the process of sanctification, a work of God within the regenerate person through the indwelling Holy Spirit, in which the believer by faith grows into deeper walk with God in a way that is pleasing to Him.