Be Still and Know

(If you are looking for the study for June 29 it is directly below this post)

-Dallas Willard in "The Spirit of the Disciplines" wrote, "Silence is frightening because it strips us as nothing else does, throwing us upon the stark realities of our life."

Psalm 46 says, "Be still and know that I am God." Even when you are doing Christian stuff, being busy can rob you of the very walk and communion with God that provides the kind of depth that, in the busyness, people are looking to you for.

I heard a pastor once say,

"Christians are the only people on the planet who, as they walk into frenzied situations, should have about them an aroma of Christ, a steadiness, and a strength that doesn't look nervous, frenzied, or overly fretful. People ought to detect that, though everyone else is nervous and running around, the Christian in the room seems to have roots sunk down into something solid. The wind is blowing, but the Christian isn't on the verge of uprooting.

It is really important that we keep our roots sunk deep and our branches spread high in the glory of God so that there is a peace and a steadiness about us as Christians."

Let us plan times of silence and solitude for the purpose of godliness this week.

Silence and Solitude

(Here is the study for this Sunday, June 29)

Silence and Solitude
The Discipline in Focus
The practice of being silent and of solitude involves scheduling enough uninterrupted time in a distraction-free environment that you experience isolation and are alone with God. This practice includes giving God time that is not in competition with social contact, noise and stimulation, taking a retreat, observing the Sabbath by abstaining from constant interaction with others, information and activities, addressing any lustful desire to be seen or heard by others or have the attention of others, and practicing other spiritual disciplines alone: study, prayer, journaling and etc….

Solitude and Silence is the spiritual discipline (for the purpose of godliness) that is a voluntary and temporary withdrawing to privacy for spiritual purposes. Being alone with God whether its for minutes or hours.

Purposes of Silence and Solitude and Scripture to Study
1. The practice of Silence and Solitude as exampled by Jesus – Matthew 4:1, Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:35, Luke 4:42. (To be like Jesus it is important to find time for silence and solitude.)
2. Helps us hear the voice of God better – 1 Kings 19:11-13, Galatians 1:17.
3. To express worship to God – Worship can consist of God-focused stillness. Habakkuk 2:20, Zephaniah 1:7. It is not just silence that we are seeking but it is silence before God.
4. To express faith in God – Psalm 62. The simple act of silence before God instead of a nervous wordiness can be a demonstration of faith in Him. Isaiah 30:15.
5. To seek the salvation of the Lord – A time of silence and solitude to seek the salvation of the Lord can refer either to a nonChristian seeking salvation from sin and guilt in Christ or to a believer seeking God’s salvation from certain circumstances. Lamentations 3:25-28. It is important not to minimize the importance of silence and solitude when one is considering the state of his soul.
6. To be physically and spiritually restored – Mark 6:31.
7. To regain a spiritual perspective – Silence and Solitude can help us gain a less worldly perspective. Luke 1:20.
8. To seek the will of God – Luke 6:12-13. God often makes his will clear in public places but there are times when He shows us in private.
9. To learn control of the tongue – Being silent for extended amounts of time can help us control our tongue in public. Proverbs 17:27-28. James 1:19. In a period of silence you may discern that many of the things you think you need to say you really don’t need to say. We learn to trust and rely on God’s control rather than trying to control the a situation through our words.

A Practical Response
1. If silence is new for you, begin with being silent for 10 minutes. Set a timer if you need to. Take the opportunity to think about Christ and enjoy being in God’s presence through Christ’s work on the cross.
2. Get away for times of silence – Find an empty room in the house or at the church.
3. Read a passage of Scripture and then stop and think about it. Spend time in private worship of the Creator.
4. Help someone else in your family or a close friend find time alone with God. Ask them to help you. Take on their responsibilities or chores for a specified amount of time so they can spend some time with the Lord and vice versa.



Respond
1. Besides sleeping, how much time this past week did you spend alone in silence (no music, tv, game system, other people)?
2. Does silence bother you? Do you get bored quick? Why?
3. In your words what would be the purpose of spending time in silence and solitude?
4. Why do you think people resist being alone?
5. What tends to pop into your mind when you are alone?
6. When have you felt most comfortable being alone? Uncomfortable?
7. Do you think God values time with you in silence? Explain.

Stewardship (Connect Study for June 15)

Stewardship

The Discipline in Focus

It is a biblical truth beyond all dispute: that all your money is God's (Psalm 24:1) and has been loaned to you as a steward to use in ways that maximize the glorification of God's mercy in the world (Matthew 25:14–30). And it is irrational to think that giving ten percent of that money to the church settles the issue of good stewardship. In a world of such immense need, and in a country of such immense luxury, and under the commission of such a powerful Lord, the issue of stewardship is not: Shall I tithe? but rather, How much of God's trust fund dare I use to surround myself with comforts? The question that Jesus drives us to ask again and again is not, "How much should I give?" but rather, "How much dare I keep?" How much time and money do we spend on ourselves and how much is being used wisely in worship of God.

In this study on Stewardship we want to look at two many areas to be a good steward in: time and money.

Time
When training ourselves for godliness our perfect picture of godliness is Jesus. And he used his time perfectly. So perfectly in fact that he was able to pray and tell God that all the work that had been given him to do he completed (John 17:4). If we desire to be more like Christ then it would be good for us to see reasons why we should be good stewards of our time.
1. Use Time Wisely “Because the days are evil” - Ephesians 5:15-16 - The natural course of our minds, bodies, and world is towards evil. Many things in our world actively try to steal our time and cause us to waste it. Unless we practice self-control we will drift towards time wasting. We need to be aware that we breathe God-ignoring air all day and we must make good use of our time because the days are evil.
2. In Preparation for Eternity - 2 Cor. 6:2 - In this life you must prepare for eternity because there will not be a second chance to prepare once you die. Are you prepared to find yourself standing before God?
3. Time is Short - James 4:14 - How long is your life compared to eternity?
4. Time is Passing - 1 John 2:17 - Time is always passing away. We cannot save time. Now is the time to discipline ourselves for godliness not later.
5. The Remaining Time is Uncertain - Proverbs 27:1 - We do not know how much time we have left on this earth. Our time is in God’s hands. We must plan accordingly.
6. Time Lost Cannot Be Regained - John 9:4 - If you use unwisely the time you have been given you can never get that time back. Do not waste your life.
7. You Are Accountable to God for Your Time - Romans 14:12 - “So then, each one of us will give an account of himself to God.” All people, believers and non believers, will be held accountable for the use of their time. As believers the penalty for our sinful use of time has been paid by Jesus but our eternal reward will be related to our earthly use of time. (see 1 Cor. 3:13-15).
8. Time is so Easily Lost - Proverbs 26:13-14, Proverbs 24:33-34.
9. We Value Time at Death - If you suddenly realized you had no more time left would you regret how you have spent your time?
10. Time’s Value in Eternity - Richard Baxter once said, “Does it not tear their very hearts forever, to think how madly they consumed their lives, and wasted the only time that was given them to prepare for their salvation? Do those in Hell now think them wise that are idling or playing away their time on earth?”

Money
The Bible first wants us to use our money in such a way that our needs and the needs of our family are met (1 Tim. 5:8) Let me qualify that by saying the word “needs” does not refer to those who think they “need” things that they really just lust after (bigger house, Playstation 3, new clothes, jewelry, cell phone, nice car etc).

The way we use our money says a lot about us. It is crucial to our growth in godliness because it is a matter of obedience. We are commanded first not to love money and to use our money for the glory of God and out of love for our neighbor (it is more blessed to give rather than receive).

Here are 10 New Testament Principles on Giving.
1. God Owns Everything - Psalm 24:1, Job 41:11 - We are managers of what God has given us. Everything that we think is ours alone is really owned by God.
2. Giving is an act of worship - Phil 4:18 - We worship through giving in that when we give to God all we have we are saying that we value God above all things.
3. Giving reflects faith in God’s provision - Mark 12:41-44 - The amount of your income (allowance from parents or from a job) that you give back to God reflects how much you trust Him to provide for your needs. We will only give to the extent that we believe God will provide for us.
4. Giving should be sacrificial and generous - 2 Cor. 8:1-5.
5. Giving reflects spiritual trustworthiness - Luke 16:10-13 - If we are not faithful with the use of our money, God will determine that we are untrustworthy to handle spiritual riches. Your giving reflects how much you love Christ.
6. Giving is about Love, not Legalism - 2 Cor. 8:7-8, 9:7 - God does not send out bills. Neither does the church. Giving should be motivated by your love for God. Giving should be measured in the heart and the standard is their love to God.
7. Give Willingly, Thankfully, and Cheerfully - 2 Cor. 9:7 - God does not want you to give begrudgingly. God owns it all and he wants you to give because you want to. God wants you to enjoy giving. You are not giving to a drug lord or a evil political leader, you are giving to a joyful, holy and loving God of all creation.
8. Giving - An appropriate Response to Real Needs - Give to those who are in need. Acts 2:43-45 and Acts 4:32-35 -
9. Giving should be planned and systematic - 1 Cor. 16:1-2.
10. Generous Giving Results in Bountiful Blessing - Luke 6:38, 2 Cor. 9:6-8 - This does not mean that if you give a lot to God He will make you financially rich here on earth. Though blessings will be manifested in other ways here on earth a majority of our blessing will come in the next life. (Instead of “Your Best Life Now” we could say “Your Best Life Later.”) Store up for yourselves treasure in Heaven.

Scripture
Any of the Scriptures mentioned above

A Practical Response
1. Describe a good steward?
2. Would you say that you are prepared for the end of time? The end of your life?
3. Are you using your time like God wants you to? Do you ever waste time?
4. How are you giving your time and money right now?
5. What does the use of your time and money say about what you love the most in your life?

Connect Study on Fasting (June 22 study)

(This Study is scheduled for June 22. Sunday June 15 will be on Stewardship and will be posted directly above this post. Sorry for the confusion)

The Discipline in Focus

What is Fasting? Fasting can be defined different ways. Simply, fasting is a “Christian’s voluntary absence from food for a spiritual purpose” (Whitney). It is also “the voluntary denial of a normal function for the sake of intense spiritual activity” (Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline). One more definition states that fasting is the “abstinence from anything which is legitimate in and of itself for the sake of some special spiritual purpose” (Martyn-Lloyd Jones).

Fasting, in the Bible, is something that is expected but not commanded. Jesus expected that his followers would fast (Matt 6:16-17), but never says, “You must fast.” However we should see fasting as something expected of us from Jesus for spiritual purposes.

What is the point? What is the purpose of fasting? Fasting must center on God. The point is never to lost weight, get others to notice how spiritual we are, earn God’s favor, or get something we want from God. Without a spiritual purpose fasting can be self-centered and miserable.

Purposes for Fasting (from Donald Whitney)
1. Strengthen Prayer - Fasting is not a hunger strike to get what we want from God but more of a calculated urgency in our praying and it gives a force to our pleading. It is using a God-given means of making his voice heard in earnestness. Ezra 8:23, Daniel 9:3
2. Seek God’s Guidance - Fasting can make us more receptive to the One who is guiding us. Judges 20:26-28, Acts 14:23
3. Express Grief - Fasting can often help communicate grief that words cannot. Fasting can be a means of expressing to God the depths of our feelings. 2 Samuel 1:11-12.
4. Seek Deliverance or Protection - Fasting should be one of our first defenses when we face persecution from people because of our faith. We should appeal to God with fasting for protection and deliverance. 2 Chronicles 20:3-4, Psalm 109, Esther 4:16.
5. Express Repentance and the Return to God - Fasting can signal a commitment to obedience and a new direction. 1 Sam. 7:6, Joel 2:12, Jonah 3:5-8.
6. Humility - Fasting can be a physical expression of humility before God. 1 Kings 21:27-29, Psalm 35:13.
7. Express Concern for the Work of God - Christians may fast and pray for the work of God going on throughout the world. A parent concerned for their child or a church concerned for a tragedy in their town or state. Nehemiah 1:3-4, Daniel 9:3
8. To Minister to the Needs of Others - Read Isaiah 58: 6-7. Perhaps fasting will allow you more time or money to give to others.
9. Overcome Temptation and Dedicate Yourself to God - This is exemplified by Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11. Fasting can be a way of overcoming temptation and dedicating ourselves to God.
10. Express Love and Worship to God - Fasting can be an expression of finding your greatest pleasure and enjoyment in life from God. When we fast it gives us the chance to show that whatever we are fasting from is not our God; that we are not mastered by anything.

More Thoughts on Fasting -

Fasting tests where the heart is. Do I love God or do I love bread (food). What do I love the most? Fasting reveals what we worship. It reveals what satisfies us. When fasting reveals that the heart is with God and not the world, a mighty blow is stuck against Satan. - John Piper

More than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us. - Richard Foster. (Often we cover up what is inside of us with food and other things)

Fasting is a way of revealing to ourselves and confessing to God what is in our hearts. Where do we find our deepest satisfaction - in God or in his gifts? The aim of fasting is that we come to rely less on food and more on God. Every time we fast we are saying with Jesus, “Not by bread alone, but by you, Lord. Not by bread alone but by you Lord.” - John Piper

The goal in fasting should be the glory of God and the passage behind every fast should be Phil. 3:7-8 “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.”

Fasting in not a “no” to the goodness of food or the generosity of God in providing it. Rather it is a way of saying from time to time that having more of the Giver surpasses having the gift. From time to time we need to test ourselves to see if we have begun to love his gifts in place of God. - Piper

Scripture to Study
Psalm 73: 25-26, Matthew 9:14-17, 1 Cor. 6:12, Acts 13:1-4.

A Practical Response
1. What is fasting? Have you ever known of someone who fasted?
2. Why should Christians fast?
3. What is the purpose of fasting?
4. What is something you could fast from? Why? When?

Two Angels

(If you are looking for the connect study for this week it is posted directly below this post)

Donald Whitney, in his book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, describes a short illustration told by John Newton, the slave trader who became a pastor and wrote the hymn Amazing Grace. The story goes like this...

- If two angels were to receive at the same moment a commission from God, one to go down and rule earth's grandest empire, the other to go and sweep the streets of its meanest village, it would be a matter of entire indifference to each which service fell to his lot, the post of the ruler or the post of scavenger; for the joy of the angels lies only in obedience to God's will. -

Joy in serving lies not in the task itself but in the obedience to our perfectly wise and good Father who asks us to do these tasks. Obedience, no matter the task, great or small, no matter the recognition, praise of men or invisibility, and no matter what the earthly reward, riches or rags; obedience is what were called to.

Connect Study - Serving

Serving

The Discipline in Focus

Serving is not something that comes easily to humans. It is difficult to work behind the scenes, be rarely acknowledged while performing lowly tasks. It is often something we have to do intentionally. If we do not constantly seek opportunities to serve (and take advantage of them) then we will find ourselves expecting others to serve us.

Jesus is our greatest example on servanthood and to be a servant we must follow his lead. Often when God chose to connect with humans he did so as a servant. Jesus came to serve not to be served (“even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28). We were lost in our sin and could not on our own find favor with God. Jesus served us by making a way that we might have peace with God.

Serving others is not just something we do, but as followers of Christ it is what we are. As Christians, those becoming like Christ, it is found in our identity. We are servants (check out Matthew 25: 31-46). Serving others includes sacrificing my time and money for someone I don’t know; thinking of others more highly than myself, putting other’s needs before my own, and not expecting any recognition while doing these things.

When we serve the goal is not for our own greatness or recognition, but for God’s glory and our godliness. We serve because we love God and love others. In fact, Christ valued serving so much that he said to the disciples, “whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:26).

If Jesus’ life can be characterized as being a servant then our lives must be as well. How do our lives look when compared to the life of Jesus in John 13? In this passage we find Jesus serving the disciples with great humility by washing their feet. The King of King was doing something that was generally performed by the lowliest servant in the household. Jesus calls us to follow his example when he says, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

Scripture
John 13:1-20
Matthew 20: 20-28
Luke 22:24-27
Hebrews 9:14 “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
Psalm 100:2 “Serve the Lord with gladness.”




Motivations for Serving (from Donald Whitney)
1.Obedience – Deut 13:4 We are expected to serve. Our first motivation for serving should be our desire to be obedient to God. Not to serve God is sin.
2.Gratitude – 1 Sam. 12:24 How great the Lord has been to us! He has saved us from eternal wrath to eternal satisfaction and joy in Jesus Christ. We should be forever thankful and serve with gladness and joy no matter what the task.
3.Gladness – Psalm 100:2 God wants servants who serve with joy and not with a complaining attitude or with quiet objection. Serving the Lord begrudgingly should always raise a caution as to your spiritual health.
4.Forgivness not Guilt – Isaiah 6 The people of God do not serve God to be forgiven but because we are forgiven. We are not prisoners who serve God to pay a penalty, but we serve as sons and daughters whose Father has saved them from eternal punishment and are set free to serve Him in His house.
5.Humility – John 13: 12-16 We serve with the humility that Christ showed us in washing the disciples feet.
6.Love – Galatians 5:13 We serve others because we love them. Not because of what they can do for us or give us but out of love.

A Practical Response

1.What would be your definition of a servant? If a second grader asked you, “What does a servant do?” what would you tell them?
2.Have you served anyone this past week? What was your motivation?
3.Lets say a leader in the church called you and a friend into their office. He asked your friend to lead a group of students in a bible study or mission project and he asked you to sweep the wow room on Thursday morning when no one was there, how would you feel? What would you rather do? Why?
4.Does your joy in serving come in being recognized or acknowledged or in simply being obedient?
5.What are some ways that you can serve others (parents, siblings, friends, enemies) this week?