Spiritual Disciplines - Conclusion Series

Spiritual Disciplines: Conclusion

August 29, 2021

Today is the final message on the Spiritual Disciplines series. Amazingly, this is message 18. I was asked if I was serious last week when I said - - America is totally lost!! And my answer is 100% YES! And I fully believe the church is the only and final answer for what ails our country and in fact our world.

That’s why spiritual disciplines are so important. That’s why we need to take these disciplines which help us grow to be more Christlike very seriously. You see, many of the ways of the world, are meant to deceive us. I truly believe satan is out to destroy us and that’s one of the curses we’ve experienced throughout this pandemic.

As I said last week, we don’t agree with anyone. We’re angry, bitter, foolish, ignorant, and we state we know the answers, when more often than not, we’re clueless. And that feeds right into what satan wants. Think about it. If we’re arguing amongst ourselves, especially within the church, and if churches are splitting over politics more than theology, we’ve got a problem.

Let me give you 2 examples - - this week as I was cleaning out my spam folder, I noticed a group of emails which were all very similar. They were all in a row.

If you notice, the sender is the same person . . . and they’re telling me I just subscribed to Norton anti-virus protection. Each email is different, with different dollar amounts and different invoice numbers. I know it’s fake. But this fraudulent company wants me to call them so they can gather my information so they can steal it and get my money.

The same is true in the world. There are lots of deceivers, lots of frauds out there. The only way to combat this and to know what’s legit and what’s not, is to draw closer to God. It’s to be led by God, because we know His plan in our lives.

Here’s a 2nd example -- that was totally shocking! Most colleges have chaplains. Take a close look at this picture. There’s a new lead chaplain at Harvard University - - - and the dude is an atheist. How’s he going to help someone with a spiritual problem? Simply say, ‘I know why you’re messed up, you believe in God.’ He was voted in unanimously. We are being led so far away from God, and if we’re not careful, we will slowly get sucked right into their ways.

Oswald Sanders wrote, ‘we are as close to God as we choose to be.’ Man, doesn’t that smack you upside the head? It’s always our choice. And he’s right! What will we choose? How much of Jesus do we want? Are you where you want to be in your relationship with God?

We’ve looked at 10 disciplines - - -

1. Bible Reading 2. Service 3. Confession

4. Celebration 5. Meditation 6. Silence / Solitude

7. Worship 8. Prayer 9. Fasting 10. Fellowship

The disciplines should be making a difference in our lives. Obviously, we can’t do all of the disciplines all of the time. But we should be discovering which ones help us in our everyday lives.

Too often, I sense that we’re discontent with our spiritual life, yet, we just don’t go the extra mile. Maybe we don’t know what to do, or we’re embarrassed about not knowing what to do - - and you don’t want to ask. Maybe, you’re content in a discontented way. You accepted Jesus, so you’re content in that way.

Many of us try to be a better person on our own, using our willpower. But that gets us into trouble, because there’s always that sin nature that pops up. We try, we give it a great effort, but, we don’t succeed. And we beat ourselves up because we feel we’ve failed. So many of us have been down that road, whether it’s patience, spending, anger, control, pride, addictions and so on, they’re all out there - - - and satan loves that.

Instead, we should be using the spiritual resources offered to us by Christ. When we use the God-centered resources, we’ll succeed in God’s power and presence. And we find that connection with God and it changes us, but we must take the step to draw closer to God.

So, what’s making a difference in your life? When we change on the inside, it should lead to external changes as well. When we’re renewed and excited, it needs to be visible to the world, otherwise, I really don’t think we’ve changed. Maybe we’ve gained some head knowledge, but if our actions don’t change, then . . . so what. The world needs to know it’s Jesus who’s at work within you.