Creating Space for God in our Lives
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Introduction:
John Hus- Priest in Prague, Bohemia
He taught most of his life at Charles University
He preached regularly at Bethlehem Chapel in Prague
Wycliffe’s writings made there way into the University
Hus began to study those works and began to adopt them as his own
It was during this time that the protestant movement was starting to take hold
There were many who disagreed with various policies within the Catholic church
Hus was one of them that began to disagree
He came under persecution from the Catholic Church
Hus saw a chasm between what the bible taught, and the humility of Christ, and with how some of the popes were living and being treated by people within the church
Hus emphasized personal piety and purity of life
Hus stressed the role of the bible as authority in the church
Beloved, I thank God on hearing of your desire for God’s word and your faithful progress therein; and I pray that it may please Him to give you a perfect understanding that you may recognise the wiles and deceits of Antichrist and his ministers and not suffer yourselves to be drawn away from God’s truth.
I trust that in His mercy He will fulfil the good work that has been begun in you and will not allow you to stray from His truth. Many have forsaken it in fear of danger, being in terror of miserable man rather than of Almighty God, Who hath the power to kill and make alive, to destroy and to save, and to preserve His faithful ones in divers sore perils, and to grant unto them the eternal life with joy unspeakable in return for a little momentary suffering.
Not to long after these words were written that John Hus was sent to be burned at the stake alive
How do people like John Hus remain faithful in the face of pressure, persecution, and death?
It begins by creating space in our lives for God to work
People do not become spiritual giants over night
But as we create space in our lives, God begins to fill those spaces, and those spaces begin to expand
We begin to renovate our lives, and our love and desire begin to align with the mission of God
So how do we create this space in our lives
How do we become radical for God
Turn to (Page )
Body
Moses is last seen sitting on Mount Nebo
As God had promised Moses would not be able to enter the land
But he got to see the people enter, and he entrusted the people to his protege
Joshua prepares to enter the land with the people, God prepares Joshua’s heart for the journey
Verse 7
Be strong and courageous
A familiar term in the OT, usually connected to military
Not to be strong and courageous in military matters
But to be strong and courageous in Spiritual matters
Throughout the scripture we are reminded to be S&C
Why? Because God is with us, and He will not leave us nor forsake us
He will guide our path
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”
We don’t need to be afraid, because is making a way for us
He will provide for us, he will meet our need
Therefore find your strength and your courage not in yourself, but in what God will do in your midst
Commit your self to the Word of God
HUGH OF ST. VICTOR, a french theologian wrote “To hunger after God’s Word is to desire to hear it. Many there are that hear holy reading and go empty away. They have no devout feeling towards it; they lack all taste for it, and therefore easily lose all that they have heard. The very fact of hearing in this manner is a judgment upon them.… We must then first exercise our heart in desiring and hungering after God’s Word, so that divine grace may come to pervade our whole being, to refresh us with spiritual savor and sweetness.”
HUGH OF ST. VICTOR, a french theologian wrote “To hunger after God’s Word is to desire to hear it. Many there are that hear holy reading and go empty away. They have no devout feeling towards it; they lack all taste for it, and therefore easily lose all that they have heard. The very fact of hearing in this manner is a judgment upon them.… We must then first exercise our heart in desiring and hungering after God’s Word, so that divine grace may come to pervade our whole being, to refresh us with spiritual savor and sweetness.”
Be careful to obey
Elliot Ritzema and Rebecca Brant, eds., 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Medieval Church, Pastorum Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013).
Be careful to obey
We need to observe what the scripture’s say
Not merely read through it in a cursory manner, but to read with the intent of the living God speaking to our hearts
DO WE SPEND TIME IN THE WORD
Sunday’s is not enough
DTS Bible Study Methods
The Bible was written not to satisfy your curiosity but to help you conform to Christ's image. Not to make you a smarter sinner but to make you like the Saviour. Not to fill your head with a collection of biblical facts but to transform your life.
So it is with scripture. The word of God is there, able to transform your life. But you must probe for it. You have to penetrate the surface with more than just a cursory glance.
The Bible was written not to satisfy your curiosity but to help you conform to Christ's image. Not to make you a smarter sinner but to make you like the Saviour. Not to fill your head with a collection of biblical facts but to transform your life.
The Bible was written not to satisfy your curiosity but to help you conform to Christ's image. Not to make you a smarter sinner but to make you like the Saviour. Not to fill your head with a collection of biblicalfacts but to transform your life.
Praying for the Lord to open our hearts and give us a ferocious appetite for it
To bring my life inline with his character
And then we need to put into action what the Spirit is revealing to us
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
We begin to create the space in our hearts as the Spirit begins to renovate our lives for his glory
We begin to create the space in our hearts as the Spirit begins to renovate our lives for his glory
All of the law my servant has given you
We are to be people of the word
And the word of God needs to direct our steps
Do not even move to the left or the right of what God’s word states, stay inline with it
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you
“The steps of man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way.
“Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
We will have success where ever we go
Notice its not in whatever you do, but where you go
Success in this passage has to do with obedience to God’s word, and wherever we end up, if we are living by God’s word, we will enjoy the success of completing God’s will in the areas in which he has placed us.
Success in fulfilling the mission that God has called us too, not what man deems as successful
Keeping the Law on our lips, saturating our minds and meditating on the revelation of who God is through what the Spirit reveals to us through our reading of him.
Keep it- Do not loose the desire for the goodness of God’s word
Meditate upon it
Mediation in ANE was quiet different than how we think about things today
People are always saying clear your mind
Get to a place of calm where we looses all ideas
Notice here, we are to fill our minds with God’s word, and to think about it, to contemplate about what we are reading
Day and night
it needs to become such a part of our life, as much as food is a part of our life
We need to be people of the word
“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (, NIV)
He reiterates once again, prosper and be successful in the spiritual growth of the people
God’s desire was to set a part a people for himself, a people who knew him, like he knows us
“I knew you before I formed you in your mothers womb.
God desires to have an intimate relationship with you
people get excited about knowing people
name dropping
But do we get excited by the fact that the savior of the world knows you, and desires to have a relationship with you?
Joshua learned from Moses
He spent time with Moses
He knew the ins and outs of the people of Israel
But Joshua now needed to not just witness the relationship that Moses had with the Lord,
He needed to create space in his life to let God in and know him personally as he leads these people
---God is standing at the door, wanting to come in and dine with us, share life with us, to commune with us, so we can know him, and then make him know to the world
If we will make space in our lives for the Lord to come in,
HE will transform us
He will lead us
and we will be doers of his word.