Holiness In A Chaotic, Digital World

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Lord Jesus, we thank you for your substitutionary obedience and death on the cross
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And we thank you for we gather today to celebrate your resurrection and to encourage one another to love and good works
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We thank you for bringing us here safely Would you prepare our hearts to worship you to listen to practice to obey?
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Because you loved us first because we belong to you We pray that you'd be the other ministers today whether they're in other
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Sunday schools with pastor Mike as he teaches and with the various men and women who serve in the nursery and the other ministries here
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I Asked this in the name of Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen so the title of My message which is going to be this is part one is holiness in a chaotic digital and busy world
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Doesn't that sound busy to you? It does doesn't it Now when
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I ask people how you're doing, what's the first thing people say most fun? That's very good because I very rarely hear people say good.
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They'll say I'm super busy I was up late last night studying or I was up late last night watching
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The Hobbit, right? Everybody is extremely busy and as a term that we use a lot
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Some people really say this often and they say I don't have time to really schedule a prioritize
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There's so much to do but don't be scared. This is not a self -help seminar or a
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Or a time management seminar. That's not that's not what this is. But here's the thing that often gets me, right?
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believers often say this that I Don't have much time to really sit and read the word or I do have time to read
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But I don't have a lot of time to think and meditate Because there are so many other things pressing on my time so I don't know what to do
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Often people say and there's nothing wrong with this that the way I do devotions is by driving and listening to a sermon
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Again, there's nothing in and of itself wrong with that, right? But if if our only devotion time is
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Spurgeons what it was called devotions or Makatha sermons as we drive in we're not really sitting down Thinking over the text, right?
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So that's that's a bit of an issue the other thing that people often say and this is one of the things
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I'll talk about today is I'm too busy to prepare for Sunday worship
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I'm too busy to prepare for Sunday worship. And if you've If you have taken the moment to do that before you know
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How different your attitude is is when you come is when you come on Sunday morning, right? So just to be clear, no, this is not a talk on time management or a self -help seminar
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No I'm not going to be legalistic about what it means to be saved And how you can be saved if you prioritize everything and put everything in perfect order.
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No, that's not what I'm gonna do I'm not gonna say anything here that you Don't know from the scriptures, but it's an area that I have struggled with How do you manage?
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Your time and manage priorities and requirements that people and the world constantly keep putting at you
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How do you manage it? Well, how do you manage it in a holy manner and how do you do it without offending people, right?
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All of these things is what I'm going to talk about today We live in a very fast -paced world not just in the
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United States wherever you go today Everybody wants their coffee in 30 seconds. You want your car polished in 10?
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You want to find a bride in 10 minutes, right? Everybody wants their kids diapers to be changed and not more than 60 seconds you go more than 60 seconds
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You're a bad dad or a bad mom, right? It's everywhere We live in a culture where everything has to be instant and everything has to be gratified quickly
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Now if you were here the last two weeks with Eric Johansson as he was preaching through Holiness and he was talking about Don Whitney's book
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You've already got a good background into all of that I'm going to talk about today, but I cannot talk about busyness and Prioritizing without actually talking about Christ and holiness first.
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Otherwise, this is going to sound like a huge legalistic Throw on you and I don't want to do that But as Christians, have you noticed that we prefer quick sanctification?
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Right. We really prefer that our sanctification would be as quick as our justification. All right
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Christ died on the cross. I'm immediately saved. I've got his righteousness. I'm done now Why do we need to do anything else right?
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I'm done, but we often do like really really quick We don't realize that that's not the way the scripture talks about it, right?
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we do like to We do like drive -by sanctification That is we just like we pick up our coffee and in the drive -by whether it's gourmet doughnuts or Dunkin Donuts We want to go to church on Sunday have a quick sermon right get a quick boost of sanctification and for the rest of the week we prefer really not to sit down and read the word and Meditate on it, right?
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This is where part of where preparing for Sunday worship comes into as well, right? but we really like things quick and We prefer to be
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Christ like instantly But again from the scriptures as you see that's not the way it works unless you're
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Christ and you're not That's there's there's no instant
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I mean not that he had to become holy he was always holy but the way God is determined and ordained it is that we are not we don't we are not glorified till glory and We're not in glory.
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So we have to take the time and the effort to work out our salvation So, how do we do that in this busy chaotic and digital world?
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I don't often talk about references in the beginning of A teaching or a session like this, but I want to because I don't again
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I don't want you to get confused as to where I'm getting this from most of it believe it or not is the
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Bible Most of it the second is from some of my own experiences and things that I had to learn myself
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With the help of the elders and and other brothers in the church The this third is holiness by J.
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C. Ryle. Anybody read that before? Phenomenal little book. No, I was not little big very big
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The other is crazy busy by Kevin D. Young. Anybody read that? Okay, good.
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So, oh, I'll say a lot about that saved by grace by Anthony Hokuma Saved by grace some more people who have
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Okay, this is a this is a book written by a woman for women particularly mothers who have little children Loving the little years by Rachel Yankovic No, nobody.
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So those are some of the references that I'll go through and hopefully that'll that'll help you Understand.
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So here's a little bit of a two -minute background to why I'm talking about this. So I Am super busy.
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I often say that to everybody and I scare them away I'm a husband. I'm a father husband of a beautiful woman a father of two young children
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I'm an engineer. I'm a scientist. I'm a homeowner. I'm an investor. I'm in ministry. I'm in discipleship
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So as many of us are I'm not trying to stand out and boast to myself No, many of us are in this category, right?
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So I'm very very busy But something happened on March 18 2012 that kind of set the stage for me the week before that I Had taught at college and career on Tuesday Did I wanna on Wednesday did cornerstone on Thursday?
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Went to home group and taught home group on Friday had this huge moving to do for one of our families here at BBC and Only four of us showed up.
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So we were there from 8 to 5 not a complaint. Just saying how busy I was and I was
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Exhausted by Saturday and I should have gone to sleep Right, but I didn't I woke up I came to church
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I didn't want to miss that that was a good idea spiritually uplifting and Encouraging good to see everybody because I love being with people.
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I love ministering This wasn't those things that I said before nobody forced that on my neck. I did it joyfully.
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I did it gladly I did spend the time to prepare for it. So spiritually I was on a high Whatever good sense that may mean right?
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It was really really good and I Decided to go up and see my fiance that then we were not engaged
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But I went to see her and her family decided to go out and play basketball Now it was March 18th, right?
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It's supposed to be it was 64, but it was still very hot Very very very hot
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My body's exhausted. I'm tired Got a long story short. I had to be airlifted into Boston into Mass General because I had a massive
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Headache and I was absolutely unresponsive for up to 12 hours, right? They did all kinds of things to see what was wrong with me it was it was actually nothing but Just overworking just doing too much, right?
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Just doing too much. Of course. I woke up smiling After 12 to 13 hours and said, how's everybody doing?
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Right and it obviously The nurses and the doctors and my father -in -law and my fiance were all there
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They all jumped up and said, okay, you're alive. You made it. That's fantastic But the moral that story is not to say how much
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I do There are many of us here and I would say all of us to some extent who don't
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Take the rest who don't Want to commit and sometimes over commit and then we we ruin our bodies
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So this to these two weeks are for you They're not for people who don't people who are struggling to commit any time to the ministry at all
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It's for you who do commit a lot of the ministry and who do feel overwhelmed by saying no
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Right and overwhelmed by sometimes even saying yes, and how do you correctly? Prioritize otherwise you could end up being airlifted or you could end up You know hurting yourself even more right?
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I can't afford to do that anymore back then. I was single I have a wife and two children.
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I can't afford to do that right now So I need to be careful right and you don't need to do seven days of ministry in order to be sanctified
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That's not the goal of this talk You don't you don't need that nothing wrong if you do nothing wrong if your body allows you again this is not a strict to -do list that's not what
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I'm here to do, but It's okay. Be calm. We're not Christ We can't save the world first and foremost sit back and just relax and be calm right first and foremost
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The other thing how many of you travel around for conferences? Whether it's whether it's
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Christian conferences whether it's family conferences Conferences on work how many of you normally go away for conferences?
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No You're a few people right? How do you often come back from a conference? How do you feel when you come back from a conference if it's if it's something?
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That's useful Okay Actually, I was hoping to not hear that but okay
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Yes on a high good Often refreshed right you're all you're often refreshed.
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How many of you were with us with to the Shepherds conference this year? Tiring was it was a tiring mark.
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Well, how would you describe coming back? Okay Uplifting many of us come back from conferences
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Feeling that way right whether it's technology conference or a Christian conference. And why is that? Can anybody tell me why apart from the obvious that you're in a fellowship with 4 ,500 men you're
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I can't be overwhelming but it's still very good and you're in the word What are some of the reasons why people most of the time come back from conferences?
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Feeling refreshed right and feeling like they've accomplished or they've learned a lot. What's Yes right
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Right excellent, that's a very good point I joined Johnny was saying that it's because you are kind of disconnected for briefly from the busyness of daily life
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Right to do these other things Anything else any other reason why you may come back from a conference?
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Especially something like Shepherds conference rejuvenated, right? Right. It's exactly right That's that's a very good point because you actually get time to sit and read the word
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Right because you're not and I'm Forgive me for using this word. You're not looking to Make excuses and not be in the word, right?
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You actually do get the time to sit down grab a cup of coffee sit down and read the word in the morning before Meeting all the rest of the guys and go into the conference
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It's the same even in the technology conference I was for work in New York last week and I got a day and a half away from home
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But I'm not saying my home is busy but I was able to sit down and put everything away and just read the word before I went to work in the morning and And read it for an hour an hour and a half again.
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These are not things that you must be doing I'm just saying what what what is the reason that we do these things when we come back from a conference?
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Okay, so let's go straight into Holiness like like I said in the last several weeks
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Okay Let's look at what all has been preached here in the last several weeks Pastor Mike came back and he preached on revelation 5 and how we should focus on the substitutionary atonement of Christ, right?
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Eric Johanson has been preaching Through the importance of what practical holiness and how do you how do you determine areas in your life where you can be holy, right?
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Elder Harry a few weeks ago did a great message on anxious and anxiety, right again.
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What was the focus on the Lord and Pastor Steve has been going to the book of John and it's been wonderful little by little to just see the power and the authority of Christ, right?
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I love that book and and you learn so much from studying the book of John, but How do you define this whole concept of holiness or this idea of holiness?
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How do you define it? Anybody want to want to take a shot at this holiness where I come from it's
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It's being a monk Growing in Christ likeness.
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Okay. Let me rephrase. What is the holiness of God mean when we hear that phrase? What does that mean?
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Like what things first strike your mind, right? Okay being set apart and unique.
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That's very good Yeah, and in a very important term that is there is no other right? There's no other like God, right?
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Yes, indeed. There is no holiness. There's no sorry There's no sin and there's no unrighteousness in God But one thing if you've been at BBC for a few years or even a year, you know
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Pastor Mike and the elders often preach that holiness is when you define holiness
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It is the fact that there's none other like God. There's no comparison to to anybody
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That you see in him Now also one thing I want to talk really quickly about is when you think about holiness of God you cannot
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Do that without primarily looking at the God man Jesus Christ, okay
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So often people have this thing when you think about holiness and they only look at the Old Testament You you can't do that.
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You need to look at the whole of the New Testament see Christ there as well because that's You need to look at his life his nature his resurrection because all of those things show what his holiness his otherness
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There's no none like him, right? So that is very very important as well Now when you think about Old Testament books on holiness, what are some of your
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Favorite if I may ask that question who you know, if you like if you read the
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Old Testament Isaiah, that's a very good book on holiness Somebody else. I know the whole
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Bible is I know this is not a trick question Just trying to say one of some of your favorite something that you may go back to if you whatever you didn't forget
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Daniel okay with Isaiah we have Daniel Leviticus, okay.
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Very good Joshua So those are those are some very good books now I Put a book down here.
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And yes, I said Leviticus as well And and and here's why when I was sitting at home with my wife and we were going to do the book of Hebrews We thought we needed some more context
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So we went to the book of Leviticus for the desire to learn about the priesthood of Christ But we came away from that in absolute shock because nothing at least for me in the
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Old Testament screams holiness Like the book of Leviticus, right if you've read it, it's it's got an unbelievable attention to detail, right?
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You see one thing you see God's desire for covering why? Because he's holy You see his desire for justice and purity.
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Why? Because he's holy You see his God's desire to separate his people, right?
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We see that throughout the old and New Testaments separation separation from others. Why is he trying to?
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Show the Israeli Israelites that they're wonderful and they need to be separate. They're so good. No They separate them because he is holy
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If you take a look at all the peace burnt burnt offering grain grain offerings and sin offerings
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Again, the attention to detail right? Most people read it and they're scared like why do we need all this detail?
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What does it show? What does it matter to the New Testament believer? Well One thing it can you can learn from that is
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Wow. God is holy This is huge. You see the detail it goes into it's to show how how mighty and holy
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God is the other thing that comes out of it is when you read Leviticus is
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You also notice that it's a type of the sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ If you really want to understand what
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Hebrews is about It's good to go back into Leviticus and take a look and see the holiness of Christ.
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He is the type He's the all of that was the type. He's the anti type Everything is completed finished fulfilled in Christ.
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None of those sacrifices would make any sense without Christ right? So it's it's it's really beautiful to see how it ties together and how the come book comes together
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Okay, New Testament, what are some of your favorite books for holiness? I Gave a hint as to what's mine, but What are some of your favorite books
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Cory, oh, sorry Oh, what do you say revelation?
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Okay. Yes revelation. Yes, that is yeah this no way can come out of that thinking God is smaller lower than us.
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There's no way no way you can do that. Good. So revelation anything any any other books? That stand out that you go back to read when you
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Want to see God's holiness? John there you go. That's another that's one of the Gospels are very very good
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So these books clearly show the focus that we need to be on who can read
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Hebrews 1 1 2 4 and somebody else 9 11 to 12 1 1 2 4 9 11 to 12 and the last one is 10 19 to 25.
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Actually, I'll read the last one. So 1 1 2 4 mark.
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Thank you mark If you don't have a high view of Christ Study this text if you
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Doubt who he is his power his authority if you're having trouble defending who Christ is to unbelievers
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Or even to believers or professing Christians. Here's a good place to start There is you can have commentaries on just these four verses as his five verses, right?
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You can have whole commentaries on them, but you see the focus on Christ and you also see that it there's so many
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Things that varies exalted right spoke to our father's last days. He's spoken to us by his son, right?
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The radiance of the glory of God upholds the universe by the word of his power, but look at the way it ends
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Look at the way it ends After making purification for sins. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high
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Having become as much superior to angels as a name. He has inherited is more excellent than theirs
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This is once again talking about the substitution of Christ. It's a it's a high work.
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It's an important work It's the work with which One of the ways in which he is identified and it is very important to have that view of Christ as We look at this topic of busyness and our schedules and etc, etc
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Okay, who's got 9 11 to 12 Corey Thank you
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Oftentimes you hear people say that when you talk to a Jew the Hebrews is a good book to Talk to them about right because they fully understand
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Leviticus they understand the law and and essentially what you're saying is all of those Goats and and sheeps were and the priests everything
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Just a type Just just a type of who Christ just a shadow of the real Lord of the of the real truth and that is
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God and Christ himself So it's already done. The work is already finished He is a he's greater and and he's great and has more is a more perfect tent right, it's not made with hands, but made with God and He alone is the one who is even in the next words in verse 15.
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We see the mediator of a new covenant Since death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant
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So a lot of people look and see there's a difference between God and the old in the
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New Testament But books like Hebrews help you see that. No, that's not the case Okay, I'll read one last verse from our set of verses from Hebrews chapter 10 19 to 25
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Hebrews chapter 10 19 to 25 and this is
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Talking about and and if you look at 10 11 and 12 It talks a lot about Christ's meditatorial work how we can go to him how we can rest in him so just to just to be clear before chapter 10, believe it or not, there are nine chapters and Those nine chapters are sitting exalting
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Christ, right? So by the time you get here, you're all ready to see Okay, how can I worship him more?
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How can I go to him daily? Why should I go to him daily? So don't just go to 10 and think okay. I've got my to -do list for two weeks
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No, this is this is a this is this lot. There's a reason why this is chapter 10, but let's read 19 to 25
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Therefore brothers since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus By the new and living way that opened for us through the through the curtain that is through his flesh and Since we have a great priest over the house of God Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts
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Sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is
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Faithful and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and All the more as you see the day drawing near He's reminding us of the mission of the of the church our desire as individuals as well
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Right, and that is to daily go to him to daily confess to daily depend on him to remember his finished work
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To remember where is he right now? And that's very important, right? We often talk about the resurrection. We often talk about What he's done, but where is
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Christ right now? The place of honor, right?
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He's ascended. We don't talk about the Ascension as much but that is so crucial for our sanctification Isn't it?
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It's so crucial for us to remember where he is as a faithful high priest as our mediator
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So that we can go to so that we can depend on him and so that we can rest in him So Before I can start to identify any problem with business
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It is very important that our foundation is firm in Christ and and that we understand
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What he has done and then how we work together as a church as a unit
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To fulfill the mission and to and to help one another grow in in holiness
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So I'm gonna talk two three things about what JC Ryle talks about holiness because it's I thought he's he's very
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English You know what? I mean, he's brutal in the terms that he says certain things and I had when he read when
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I read some things I had to put it Down and breathe and then pick it up again because it's very very intense So if you don't know
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Ryle, he's the first Anglican Bishop of Liverpool 1816 to 1900 he lived died in 1900.
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He does a very good Excellent book on the topic. So I won't talk much about it, but it's a very good book if you haven't read it before So this look look look at what look at the way he says it
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Ryle in his classic fashion Makes an important statement in his introduction to the book the excerpt
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I'm about to read is equally true of our churches and and sometimes true of us perhaps some of us in this room
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Sound Protestant and evangelical doctrine is useless if it is not accompanied by a holy life
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It is worse than useless. It does positive harm It is despised by Keen -sighted and shrewd men of the world as an unreal and hollow thing and brings religion into contempt
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So we're not saying that in talking about business that we should not be in ministry or we should not work hard for our holiness
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We absolutely should Right. I my parents all my mom always asks me sometimes you look more busy after you became a
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Christian Yes, I am because I'm actually involved in people's lives people who are not related to me
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Right, and that's what we do. We want to serve right people are messy but when you when you're in a church and when you want to Glorify Christ and help others you're going to be constantly with people you're loving you're encouraging you're yourself being encouraged, right?
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So what Ryle is saying one thing is what happened even in England that there around that time was people were running away from each other
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People were running away from they were they knew the doctrines everything was very very good and sound they had a good foundation
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But then they went off and did nothing about it. They did nothing. They said Christ died on the cross.
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We're all good Thank you, right, but that's that's one of the things that he He talks about here
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The life of a believer he goes on to say is a life of victory and not a failure But the very struggles which go in go on within his bosom the fight that he finds it needful to fight daily the watchful
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Jealousy, which he is obliged to exercise over his inner man The contest between the flesh and the spirit the inward groanings, which no one knows
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But he who has experienced them all all testified the same great truth all show the enormous power and vitality of sin
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But happy is that believer who understands it and while he rejoices in Christ Jesus Has no confidence in the flesh and while he says thanks be unto
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God who gives us the victory Never forgets to watch and pray lest he fall into temptation
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It's a beautiful point, I don't know if I can add much more to that except by saying that We can have we're in a very very good church.
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I'd praise God Right, you're not gonna find churches where there are deacons and elders who can preach the word who can come along our side and help us
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Understand difficult matters, right? Are we taking full advantage of that? Are we going back to our homes and actually thinking about what we're learning here, right?
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Are we meditating on what we study here? Or are we going from one ministry to the other too busy to really think about what we learned before?
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I'm saying that as a major problem. It was a major problem for me till I identified and I said wait a minute I learned about this topic.
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But before I could sit down and talk about it, I went to the next topic. It's good We have a church full of resources
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But are we taking the time to identify our weaknesses or are we making excuses like we're too busy and we're doing too many things
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We're in too many ministries. We have too many children. I don't know. There's so many things that people say, right? we can't make those excuses and Finally before I start the discussion and I know
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I have 15 minutes, but I'm gonna go next week as well So I want to set the foundation in this area What are some of the differences between justification and sanctification
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Question that people talk about this a lot, but I I think it's still good for us to talk a few things about what that may be
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That's excellent, right? I like the way he ended it like you said there's an end So it's not like we're forever going to be in this in this in this flesh, right when we reach glory according to the scriptures
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That process is completed right but till then it's an ongoing process and we're gonna fight whether you're a 70 year old man or it
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Or a 20 year old young man. You have areas to grow in and it's a constant battle, right?
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You're constantly constantly moving from one degree to the other good. I know any others
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Steve right. That's excellent. I have a I have a point here Actually what Ryle says this and he says it very well
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The righteousness that we have by our justification is not our own but the everlasting perfect righteousness of our great mediator
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Christ Imputed to us and made our own by faith the righteousness we have by sanctification
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Is our own righteousness? Imparted inherent and rotten us by the Holy Spirit, but mingled with much infirmity and imperfection
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I don't know about you that gives my heart a little bit of a break It helps me to settle down a little bit and calm down a little bit because I keep telling do
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I have to be perfect Right. I remember getting saved six years ago by the grace of God After hearing the gospel for the first time.
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No, that's that's not true for probably the sixth or seventh time and Yes, I was mean the first person who speaks of gospel to me
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I use logic and made that person cry and the second time it was a woman and I really made her cry.
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I Wasn't mean I didn't punch or hit or anything. I just used logic and I Yes, I was a sinner and still
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I'm still I'm but we see that we think we're going to be instantly perfect, but that's not the truth and I think when we understand that better and we rest in the finished work of Christ and in Our identity in our union with him, which is which is why
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I read the book saved by grace Fantastic book on understanding the doctrines of grace, but also going through what it means to be in you have union with the
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Lord there's a great couple of chapters on that in the book and You can read all about that and read
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Hebrews to that's read Hebrews first and then a book but whichever way you like it in justification our own works have no place at all and like Steve said and simple faith in Christ is the one thing needful in Sanctification our own works and are of vast importance and God bids us fight and watch and pray and strive and take pains and labor
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Does anybody get the impression when we read Paul Paul's accounts that he's sitting around and not doing any of those things
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Especially laboring and working hard for a sanctification. No, he's he rests in his finished work in the finished work of Christ He has faith in that But he still but he still fights
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There's a funny quote that I once heard One of my friends say he was an
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Armenian, but he said Linton both justification and sanctification are by faith alone Well, what does that mean?
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You believe that Lord Jesus is your Savior by faith and you believe on all those doctrines and sanctification
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You don't have to do anything. It's by faith. Remember faith nothing, you know, you don't you don't have to do anything to get that So wait a minute.
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That's not true Just you see throughout the book and throughout the Bible that you have to work out your salvation and what's one area where you know that What's the which book talks about faith without works is dead.
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Do we have something like in the Bible? James right. There's a huge there's a big book on that.
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So that's important too and Finally justification and this is where I close this topic
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Justification is the act of God about us and is not easily discerned by others. Bear with me and It's not easily discerned by others that's justification
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Sanctification is the work of God within us and cannot be hid in its outward manifestation
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From the eyes of men. Does that make sense? Right? It does right B. That doesn't mean we should be going around Marking each other, you know, okay.
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You're a one. Okay. You're a ten based on your sanctification level, right? You're not that's not what this is saying
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You don't go around rating people based on how high they are But it still says that our sanctification we do see fruit, right?
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We do see not perfection But what it's a trend it's a it's your lifestyle moving towards a
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Christ likeness more and more Okay, so now that we have the foundation set
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Primarily in understanding the holiness of Christ Now we can start our discussion on this whole thing of busyness.
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Okay. So first, let's identify the busy people I've picked up some of these questions from Kevin D Young's book crazy busy
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Not all of it, but some of it. Do you so this is a question and answer section? Do you regularly work 30 minutes a day longer than your contracted hours?
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Right and So the funny answer is what does that have to do with anything? I have a lot to do So I have to work a lot of hours
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You don't have to raise hands this is not what this is This is remember the goal of this is not to is to calm you down and to show and to make you relax and to Show you that you don't have to be doing everything at the same time.
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There is a sinful issue here There is a pride issue here Which I'll go dive into a lot more next week and we need to identify the problem so that we can
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Confess our sins we can go to Christ and we can seek help from one another right? That's my point here It's not to beat you up with anything.
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I Like this do you check work emails and phone regularly at home and phone messages regularly at home and the answer is
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Are you serious? Have you been around much this millennium? Okay, do you feel tired during the day or do you find your neck and shoulders aching
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Most people say not a problem tons of Mountain Dew and tons of ibuprofen Do you often exceed the speed limit while driving?
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Again, there's signs of you're super busy, right? And the answer is depends on whether I'm trying to eat french fries at the same time
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Do you eat together as a family or household at least once a day? The answer more or less when one person's eating
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Usually someone else is at the house at the same time. Do you pray with your children regularly?
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Answer I never turn them down when they ask do you have enough time to pray?
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I'm more of a pray continually kind of person I don't need to set aside specific times to pray because I'm always in communion with God Sounds like Buddha.
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Those are those are some of the things that we often hear people say and often hear people do when when we ask them if they're busy, so I don't know if any of that relates to resonates with you guys, but Most of that did resonate with me when two years ago
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I realized I had a problem right and I have to deal with it correctly again. We're not trying to be legalistic
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We're not trying to push I don't have a 12 to do list here But I have some warning some exhortations right to give you that'll probably help you so I'll stop with this and that is one very important area
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That I think that that I think we should address is How do you prepare for Sunday worship?
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right when I was a single it was a lot easier to get up in the morning to pray go over the sermon and You know listen to the sermon and then go back and then pray a little bit more
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And you know you feel like you're getting the Sun you feel like you're prepared right? But sometimes when you have a family you need to you can do that so easily right you still need to send that time
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But how do you do it right so people make a lot of excuses and whether you're single whether you're married whether you have children people
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Often struggle to prepare for Sunday worship right they absolutely do I don't know about you, but if you've been in high school or a college or even if you've not
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Have you noticed it's much better to go to class prepared Have you noticed you ask more questions you think more you?
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Understand better when you actually go reading what the text is before you go to class
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Have you noticed that I have every time I haven't I? Was overwhelmed right and to be honest
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That's how I feel when I come without preparing for Sunday morning worship, and when I say prepare
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What do I what do I mean well first thing is do we take the time to pray pray for what that God is glorified?
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That if they're unbelievers that they are saved That our eyes would be open to the text because these are deep meaning text.
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This is not fluffy material, right? This is this requires Really requires dependence on God to really understand and to chew on this
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And we need to pray that we would be edified as we come Do we pray for the lastest we have to pray that we're not distracted, right?
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every time And every time somebody stands up or the door opens are we looking or looking for a reason not to pay attention, right?
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But I can go on but the list can be as big and small as you as you need it What it is what you need to pray for is your list that's for you to do do as you please
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But I won't exhort you to pray Next do we read it's wonderful to have expository teaching because you can read ahead
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Before you come to church right as we were going through the book of John We had so much fun at home
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Just reading before and after the text and reading the text as we were going to read it because we knew what we knew the
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Context even though pastor Steve does a good job and the elders do a good job, right giving us the context It is so helpful to read beforehand
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What we're going to study right we have more what anticipation then we're excited to come in and listen to it
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Repent we do we confess our sins Regularly right. This is not just a Sunday only thing, but it helps significantly
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Even on Sunday there are two things of two things if we're not mindful of who we are and we don't regularly confess our sins
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Have you noticed that we? We point to others a lot We judge others look at what that person's wearing.
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Look at what that person's saying. Did you see that children that that child? She was doing hula hoops in the church
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I mean, there's all kinds of things that we focus on We're not if we don't if you're not a humble and repentant for ourselves, right?
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So one area is we need to confess and repent of our sins regularly And we must pray that God would expose our sin and that and then what's the importance of confessing sin?
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What's the other thing before we come to God? It's an Old Testament principle, but it's also used in the New Testament, right?
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What is that? Can somebody help? Before you Make your sacrifice
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Confess your sins. What was the other thing? We also know we have to deal with If you're fighting with your brothers
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What do you do go buy them Dunkin Donuts? Sorry Exactly, right you yours
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You're so busy looking at the at this at the speck in your brother's eye that you can't see this huge Four by four in your eye and your ears and everywhere, right?
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It's it's that's what it's essentially saying Right confess your sins that you yourselves said your worship is acceptable to God but so that you're not constantly looking at what other people are saying and doing and finally
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Finally, you know you you you anticipate right you're looking forward to it I don't know if you I don't know if you've ever been to a football game without knowing what anybody's who the teams are and Who everybody is right?
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I had no idea what baseball is But thank God my wife came along and explained to me the rules and the players so I was prepared went to a
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Red Sox game had much too much fun at it because I understood what people were doing and Why they're doing those funny things between those
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Square things right you understand that but see so if you study and you prepare you're anticipating
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So do you how do you go to church? Do you go to church in anticipation? anticipation to hear the word anticipation to to fellowship with others anticipation to come alongside others and I have to stop so Anticipation to to fellowship with others and anticipation to help others, right?
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If we come and we run out of the service, we have no Opportunity to bear each other's burdens so come with anticipation to be blessed and to bless and finally
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Do you look forward to implementing the sermon or or looking putting it into practice?
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I don't know about you, but if I hear a sermon and go away and don't do it. I Can't I don't even remember what the sermon was about I can't
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I can't even tell you like my parents asked me a few weeks ago. What was a sermon about? It was about Christ And you know, unfortunately, that's what the preschoolers say, right so how is that different from what they say so you have to Encourage you and preparation for a
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Sunday worship when you go home Pray about the sermon and try to implement it not just on Sunday, but regularly, right?
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That's the way if you look at Hebrews, it says practice what you say Otherwise lest you what be hard of hearing and become what apostate so there's a big problem there and not just being able to practice
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What you hear? So next week we will look at some what are some of the causes of busyness and How that affects our spiritual lives
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We will also look at technology it technology can help and I'll actually give you some apps that can help you not
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Don't look at it like there's apps for sanctification Don't look at it like that But apps that help you whether it's prayer or scripture that have been
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Huge to me and I'll try to I'll try to I'll try to talk about that next week But that's that's all