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Transcription
The purpose of spiritual discipline is to become closer to Jesus and be transformed to be more like Him. It takes effort and intentional living to disconnect from worldly distractions and focus on our relationship with Christ. Spiritual discipline involves training ourselves to align with God's desires and intentionally grow in our faith. It requires discipline, like prayer and fasting, and is necessary for becoming fully devoted disciples of Jesus. It is important to sow spiritual actions in order to reap spiritual results. We live in a culture of convenience and instant gratification, but spiritual growth requires effort and discomfort. The purpose of spiritual discipline is simple to become closer to Jesus and to become more like him in a word Transformation something that we all want. We all want to become more like Christ. We all want to be transformed We all want for this flesh that's always pulling at us to be silent, but it's going to take some effort It's going to take some intentional living on our part Welcome to Elevate from Authentic Life Church in Mobile, Alabama with Pastor John DeQuatro We hope it builds your faith and helps you to live a life of God that you've always wanted to live We hope it inspires you to be a wholly devoted, authentic follower of Jesus Christ Enjoy the message and welcome to Elevate. We started our series the week before Airplane mode and then we got interrupted right away so we're going to get back into that this week and the idea of airplane mode here is the disciplines of Discipleship now we all have airplane mode on our phones and the purpose of airplane mode is to disconnect us It disconnects us from Wi-Fi Disconnects us from Bluetooth and everything that we are connected to that that that we're constantly Looking at on our phones on a plane We use that so that it doesn't interfere with the navigation system Practically we can use airplane mode anytime We don't want to be inundated with texts with phone calls with emails with notifications and it allows us to disconnect Ourselves and divert our attention to what is really important to us sleep date night Family time whatever it is. That's important to you airplane mode will help you do it And I believe that we need an airplane mode for our lives To disconnect from this world so that we can focus on what is or what should be Important to us, which is our relationship with Jesus Christ We need time. We need time to unplug from all of the distractions from the stress From the frustrations caused by family and work and bills and school and money and all those things I Don't I don't believe that we were ever meant to be able to handle the amount of information that comes to us on a regular Basis, I don't think our brains are created to be able to do that We need to disconnect from that stuff and allow things to settle in this airplane mode this airplane mode in our lives It's called spiritual discipline spiritual discipline I'm gonna read in 1st Corinthians chapter 9 beginning in verse 24 in the New Living Translation It says this don't you realize that in a race? Everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize to run to win All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away But we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I'm not just shadow boxing I discipline my body like an athlete Training it to do what it should otherwise. I fear that after preaching to others. I myself Might be disqualified. I Discipline my body. I train myself to do what I ought to do this word spiritual discipline Sometimes it might sound like a oh, I don't want any parts of that discipline That sounds like a bad word But discipline simply means this to train oneself to do something in a controlled and habitual way Brushing your teeth and showering daily takes discipline Getting up on time for work is a discipline practicing an instrument Training for a sport all of those things require Discipline because we can't expect to have good hygiene. We can't expect to get good at a sport We can't expect to become good at an instrument without the intentional efforts that it takes to accomplish These things and our growth in Christ is the same way it's intentional It's very intentional You know Our mission statement for the church is that we want to build a community of fully devoted authentic Followers of Jesus Christ in a word we are committed to being and making disciples Disciples and if you notice Disciple is the root word of The word discipline in order to be a disciple you must be disciplined Discipleship cannot exist without discipline because it's a training of yourself It's a it's a it's a aligning of yourself to get away from your flesh And when we say flesh, right? We're talking about all of your wants all of your desires all the things that are trying to pull you Away from God and how many of you know? Your if you just listen to your flesh I mean It's constantly pulling at your wants and your desires naturally are not the ones and desires that God has for you So growing in Christ, it's a very intentional thing and you cannot expect To grow in Christ by saying a prayer and coming to church once a week There are disciplines that you must embrace and employ in your life in order to grow in Christ So that you can become more like him Look at what it says in Galatians chapter 6 beginning in verse 7. It says do not be deceived God cannot be mocked a man reaps what he sows Whoever sows to please their flesh from the flesh will reap destruction Whoever sows to please the Spirit from the Spirit will reap eternal life Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time We will reap a harvest if we do not give up Reaping what you sow? It's a universal principle people that are not in the word people that are not believers understand the principle of sowing and reaping It's a universal Principle you get out of something what you put into it And so if you want spiritual results in your life You're gonna have to do spiritual things If I'll say that again if you want spiritual results in your life You're going to have to do spiritual things so two weeks ago we talked about the discipline of prayer and Fasting and and I and we were about to go into a fast And so I wanted to make sure that we did some teaching on that. However This week I just want to back up a little bit and do more of an overview of Why we do spiritual disciplines? So that you have a greater framework as we move on from here and then we will begin to move on to all kinds of disciplines that we can employ in our life because the purpose of Spiritual discipline is simple to become closer to Jesus and to become more like him in a word transformation Something that we all want we all want to become more like Christ. We all want to be transformed We all want for this flesh that's always pulling at us to be silenced But it's going to take some effort and it's going to take some intentional living on our parts, let's look at Hebrews chapter 11 And we're going to look here at verse 6 it says this without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and That he rewards those who earnestly seek him everybody say earnestly seek him Now we're going to come back to here in a moment, but does anyone remember? when we did not Have a device in every hand we like to refer to those as simpler times You know growing up my parents often did not know where I was And even if you thought you did you probably still didn't But no the way it was is I would leave after breakfast I'd go to my friend's house We'd ride bikes through the woods or around the neighborhood I I come home when I heard mom calling from the door and Then I'd come home and I'd eat lunch and then I'd go back out and play till the streetlights Came on. Can I hear it from my Gen Xers? Amen If I needed information, I'd go to the bookshelf where we had the Funkin Wagnalls Encyclopedia Maybe some of you had Britannica Right or God forbid. I actually had to go to the library If I didn't know the lyrics to a song some of you are going to remember this You stick that cassette in there You hit play you write down as many as you can't stop. I didn't quite get that one rewind play Oh, yeah, I don't remember this that's how you got the lyrics to a song When I got home one, excuse me when I got older if I wasn't home I was unreachable We had an answering machine the the precursor to voicemail And we got home We look at the look at the answer machine to try to find a little blinking light Would tell us that somebody was trying to to reach us, but then you'd call them back and they might not be home. I Mean you think you have good games of phone tag now These games could last for days and weeks Trying to get ahold of somebody but we're not there anymore Those were the good old days Someone say okay grandpa We Live now in a culture of convenience I Mean if you want to know how old Britney Spears was when she wrote hit me baby one more time Y'all you got to do is Google it You can settle any argument in seconds now just Google if you want to watch a TV show You just binge it on Netflix and there's no waiting week after week to find out what happens next and Yet somehow we feel busier than we've ever felt We still click on those that clickbait that says a thousand and one ways to save time in 2024 as As though we need things to go any quicker for us But we're not used to anymore. We're not used to dealing with things that require effort or that cause discomfort Are you bored play a game on your phone instant gratification? stressed binge watch an entire series of your favorite show on Netflix Uncomfortable. Well order your food online send a text message anything to avoid human contact Now there's some good things about this new reality, right I Didn't have to wait until the class reunion to find out that the bully ended up in prison or still works at the movie theater. I I Don't have to wait for the Sunday paper for coupons. So just go online find a coupon code. I Don't have to really shop anymore. Just pick out the food. I want online and shipped delivers it to my house And of course, there's Amazon. So all the malls are empty at Christmas time But there are downsides to this way of life as well kids can Google answers to their homework Right short-circuiting the learning process and we're also because of social media getting increasingly Comfortable having no real interaction with people quick text social media message snapchat Just put yourself out there. And this is what this is what it's caused. We want a quick solution without the investment That's what this way of life has taught us Right, it used to be that to save money you invested time scouring Sales and clipping coupons in order to develop a relationship with somebody you talked on the phone You spent time together. You wrote letters To find answers or do research you spent time In the library reading more information than you needed in order to mine the gold of what you were researching But now there's no investment you meet somebody you connect on Facebook or Instagram And you have the entirety of their life right at your fingertips No need to invest time learning about somebody you just Just look them up. You need information Google is there for you in this culture of Instant solution without the investment has crept its way into the church and it's how the way that we relate to God This has become our habit quick solution minimal investment Our quick fix mentality Has robbed us of the drive and passion To invest in our relationship with God We pop on Caleb on the way to work and we call that worship We come to our 90-minute Service on Sunday and call that worship We come to our 90-minute Service on Sunday and call that discipleship and encountering God We talked for five minutes with somebody after church and we call that fellowship We say a quick prayer for somebody and we call that intercession Guilty me too This series and this message in particular challenges me You know that I'm a technology junkie But I'm always looking for the quick fix. I live my life that way. I like my news delivered to my device. I like To wait until an entire season has been released on Hulu or Netflix before I start watching I I very easily settled into this new reality Personally, I love it But you know what has happened to many of us in this reality is that we've become a little bit numb How do you become numb? Well too much of a good thing The more we have the more we need to get the same Results to get the same high What used to captivate us is kind of dull now The word numb needs to be deprived of physical sensation or the ability to move in capable Incapable of action or feeling emotion and it would be fair to say that some of us have gotten to this place in our walk with God Do you remember when you first came to Christ? Remember what that was like Do you remember that excitement that you felt that? Everything about God was new Some of you are in that place right now. Everything about God is new every sermon you hear everything you read in the word It's just like life to you Worship was exciting prayer was absolutely exhilarating Reading the word was life-changing to you because the words were just leaping right off the page But as we've consumed more and more of church culture as We've settled into the big payoff with minimal investment lifestyle We find ourselves settling into a numbness concerning our relationship with God You know, we've become more concerned with the temperature of the sanctuary than the God who fills the sanctuary We've become more concerned about the worship style rather than focusing on the one that we worship We become concerned about the length of the services, but because we haven't been cultivating our relationship with God all week long We become concerned about the way that people dress rather than being grateful that we've been clothed in righteousness For many of us we've become numb to the centerpiece of this Christian life Jesus Relating to him growing in him Worshipping him And the thing is this God will never force himself on you You can experience as much of his glory as you want But here's the truth without investment There's very little or no relationship And so while our culture is racing away at the speed of life while we can get big payoffs With minimal investment in most areas of our life The truth is that cultivating a relationship with God requires the same investment that it did a hundred years ago 500 years ago 2,000 years ago because God hasn't changed Hebrews 13 8 says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today forever James 117 says every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of heavenly light who does not change Like the shifting shadows God does not change So why do we think that we can relate to God differently because our culture has changed? It's a real problem for us, isn't it? I'm not trying to put anybody under the bus here. I'm right there with you Our culture seems to have made us who we are and listen This isn't just about the Gen Z culture or the youth of today We've all been tempted impacted by this culture of big payoff minimal investment Not all of us were born into this culture. I wasn't born into this culture, but we sure have embraced it We all have microwaves. We all have cell phones. We all Netflix Google social media and we've all changed to embrace it somewhat But listen God does not change So, how is it? How do we break off this numbness from our lives? How do we wake our spirits back up? Let's go back to this verse that we read Hebrews 11 6 it says and without faith It is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who Earnestly seek him. I love other translations say Diligently seek him this phrase earnestly seek is one word in the Greek. It's Exetio it means that's pronounced completely wrong But this word literally means to seek out demand inquire and it carries the connotation of the seeker intensely desiring an outcome This scripture is talking about investment Investing time in seeking the reward. What is the reward? Jesus It's him. He's the reward if you're seeking Jesus, then the reward will be Jesus You know, we all have these apps now where people can meet each other and and form a relationship. You got match.com You've got tinder you've got a harmony you got Christian mingle and farmers only But every one of those things is based on a similar premise you provide a snapshot of who you are and With this little bit of information you decide if this is a person you want to pursue a relationship with They all profess that they'll help you find your soul mates With perfect matching and they tell you that based on that snapshot that they've got it, right And it's easy us for to be for us to be happy with a snapshot of who God is You know, we've got the basic profile We're good with that, right? Jesus loves me. He died for me He wants me to live a basically good life and I get to go to heaven if I believe in him the snapshots And it's easy to just leave things right there. I mean, maybe not that simple But at different levels we some of us have decided that we know enough and the diligent seeking stops we've got the payoff the promise of eternal life and Some hope that he's in control of our life and that's great. But what about the intimacy that he desires with you? What about the purpose the God-given plan for your life that existed before the foundation of the world? What about that purpose? What about his interest in your day-to-day life and your decisions and your interactions with people and your ability to be led by his Spirit because that's what he desires with you and that's what he wants you to desire with him Listen to this song that David wrote when he was in the desert of Judah It's in verse it's in Psalm 63. He says you God or my God Earnestly I seek you I thirst for you. My whole being longs for you in a dry and Parched land where there is no water I've seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power in your glory because your love is better than life My lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live and in your name, I will lift up my hands I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods with singing lips My mouth will praise you on my bed. I remember you I think of you through the watches of the night because you are my help. I sing in the shadow of your wings I cling to you and your right hand upholds me. When's the last time that we felt that way about the Lord? When did we become numb You know the diligence seeking will come when the reward is so desirable to you that you can't live without it David said these words. We just ran along for you like my thirst when I'm in a desert He says your love is better than life He says I cling to you Lord I cling to you How do we get back to that place? How do we get back to that place when we first met Christ? How do we get back to that place where David seems to be right here? Well think about this We hear about the we hear about the stock market on the news, right? We know that lately it's remained fairly stable But it's usually an indicator of the health of our economy So we pay a little bit of attention to it. We know when the Dow Jones takes a big deep big dip, right? We know when when when it's booming we pay a little bit of attention to it But that very loose snapshot of the stock market that we know becomes much more important to us when what? When we own stocks See when we've invested in the stock market all of a sudden we're watching that thing like a hawk Right. We're checking on our stocks. We're interested in what they're doing It's not no it's no longer just some kind of like Background thing that we're just kind of sort of aware of it directly affects our livelihood and our future This is why the Bible says this in Matthew 6 21 it says for where your treasure is there your heart will be also See without investment There's no passion. You could care less about the stock market unless you're invested in it Then all of a sudden you're passionate about that thing It's 2024 and it's time to reignite that passion and the only way to do it is to invest in Your relationship with him the disciplines of discipleship doing those things that are going to draw us closer and closer to God To become more like him To accomplish what he's put us on this earth to do Acts chapter 2 tells us this when the day of Pentecost came they were all together in one place Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them You realize these people waited for ten days earnestly seeking the promise They were in that upper room for ten days Just praying and trusting God that the promise of the Holy Spirit would come and when it came it lit them up So like fire came down from heaven It consumed them So, what are we going to do What are we going to do to invest in our walk with God so that we can be lit up like that once again? Are you willing to do what it takes Are you willing to do what it takes to disconnect from this world and to connect with your father? To connect with the one that has saved you with the one that has a plan for you with the one that has good things in store for you Are you willing to spend time with him daily? Worshiping pray Reading the word or are you willing to get involved in a small group and pursue greater growth? In your relationship with God, are you willing to be just be consistent in your church attendance? Are you willing to find a place to serve and pray for the area in which you serve? Are you willing to do these things that draw you deeper and deeper into your relationship with Christ? Here's here's the deal. Do you want to love people more invest in people? Do you want a stronger prayer life? Invest in prayer. Do you want to hear God better? Unplug from your phone and get quiet before him and listen Here's the very cool thing You see unlike things that gratify our flesh We don't find ourselves getting numb when we spend time with God See our flesh just always wants more and more and more Right, it's like Chinese food You eat it an hour later you need more But those are the things that we do we just keep binging on On our flesh and then it's what we were doing this isn't enough it's how alcoholics become alcoholics This amount was was enough for them, but now I need more But when you invest in your relationship with God, you don't you don't become numb like that The reverse happens the more that you invest in this relationship the greater and more satisfying it becomes Let me leave you with this John 15 5 through 8 says this I'm the vine You are the branches Whoever abides in me and I in him He it is that bears much fruit for apart from me. You can do nothing if anyone does not abide in me He's thrown away like a branch and withers and the branches are gathered thrown into the fire and burned if you abide in me and My words abide in you Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you by this My father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples This is why we're doing this series airplane mode So that we can learn to abide in him We can learn to live our lives every day connected to the source Connected to the vine It's so easy because of all that is handed to us Church culture, right? It's handed to us come to church sing the songs hear the message Give your Giving whatever you give and then that becomes our relationship with God. It's so easy But I have to tell you what he wants is for you to abide in him There's an abiding that he just so longs and desires from us because it's in that abiding that those things that keep pulling us away that sin that keeps Creeping in that we keep trying to we keep trying to Use our willpower to stop Like no you just abide in me come in you do these disciplines that that bring to such seek me daily and as you do It as you do it these things are going to fall off of you you're not going to be worried about this thing pulling at you and that thing pulling at you because what you're doing is you're just You're staring intently at the life giver Rather than focusing on everything in this world and just trying our best to be good He's wanting us to abide Thank you for listening to elevate we hope this message encouraged inspired and challenged you authentic life church is located at 3750 michael boulevard in mobile alabama visit our website Authentic life.tv for more information about authentic life church to find out what we have going on or to make a donation You can also find us on facebook. We'd love for you to join us on sundays at 10 a.m For our weekend service. We have excellent children's nursery and youth programs So bring the family for pastor. John de cuatro. I'm scott chestnut. Thanks again for listening and god bless you
