The Year Of Deepening Devotion I

God really missed me when I'm not there. Turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 2, if you would. Just like that was the song for this morning. The song of the 1988 Olympics was the song, Give Me One Moment in Time. Beautiful song. Inspiring in one respect, but I wonder how many of us really would want to adopt that as our own theme song. One moment in time. I can tell you someone who had one moment in time in the Olympics four years ago. A little gymnast about that high. Remember her name? Mary Lou Retton, remember that? Remember the moment when she stood facing that vault platform and the horse thing that she has to jump over and all that? And she needed a perfect 10 to win the individual gold medal in 1984 Olympics. Powerful moment. The whole world is watching as this little gal, four foot 10, needs to run down and do this perfect thing. And I remember this camera just riveted on her face and she's running down there full blast and hits that thing and go, boom, and flipped up in the air. That body did things that are unspeakable to human flesh. And came booming around and slammed down and both feet stuck right in the mat like fly people, boom. And then she arched her back and the crowd, you know, just exploded with this great applause and cheers. And we all knew it, you know? What did she get? 10. She won the gold medal. Tremendous victory. And after that, I mean, more exciting to me, she got a red Corvette, remember that? And then the ultimate award, what? Wheaties box. That's right, she's on the Wheaties box. Now, those are the two moments in time if you really want to get down to it. But let me ask you a question. Where is Mary Lou Retton today? Well, you know, some said she's going to college. Her life's probably, I mean, other than the fact that she's eating Wheaties and driving her Corvette, her life's probably fairly routine in lots of ways. You see, the fact of the matter is God does not create us to live for just one moment in time. In fact, and I want this to be up on the scripture, please, Nancy and Paula. 2 Corinthians 3.18 tells us that God has created us to live in ever increasing glory. In other words, your life is to get better and better and better as life goes on. Is that true for you today? I'll tell you, Pastor, I'm just glad to be alive today. Last year was a disaster. I want you to know something. It isn't that we'll never hit the little valleys, folks. I don't want you to get that impression. But over the long haul of your life, God says you should be increasing in glory. You don't live for one moment back there when you had some emotional thing happen to you. But you live with your eye toward the future, getting better and better and better in God. And I want you to know that there are forces at work in the world today to keep you from reaching your destiny. Whether or not you're a Christian, that's true. Whether or not you believe in God in a personal way through his son, Jesus, I was shocked. I mean, I really was shocked. On Friday's USA Today this week, there's a cute little picture down here of this little girl with her nose lifted up. And I recognized her as having been the little girl in E.T. I don't know if you saw E.T. Remember the cute little girl that chased the little guy around? Well, the big picture up above has a picture of her being as she's released at age 13 from an alcohol rehab center. From the age 8 to 11, she developed an alcohol problem, an addiction, and by the time she was 12, she needed to be admitted. I mean, and the sickest part of it is the tone of the article isn't, you know, that's just the price we pay for being popular and in and with it. I think it's a pathetic, sad story of priorities gone awry and life turned upside down and childhood taken away. And see, those same forces are at work. If you've been around this church this week, there's lots of stories that we've shared. And if you were here Wednesday night, you know what I'm talking about. That there are powers in this nation that work to destroy every life that's here among us. Let's not minimize what the devil would do. Let's understand, let's take him seriously for what he is. Now, you may today not be facing an addictive problem. Maybe life for you isn't really bad. But I wonder on the other side of the coin, are you here today and you say, I would really like to see some changes in my life. I'd like for there to be some growth, some compassion maybe where there wasn't some. I wonder if maybe in my life, there could be less judgmentalism than there was last year. Maybe a little more optimism toward things. Maybe you're here as someone who's faced a tough situation and you're saying, I'd love for things just to go right for me this year. Or maybe you would just say, I want to be more Christ-like. I've had some attitude problems. I've been a little bit hard. I haven't been kind. Let me ask you a point blank question. How many of you, how many of you this morning intend to stop sinning in 1989? There's two hands up. Well, that's a fair question. I mean, either you do intend to or you don't. Don't just say, well, I'm never gonna really change until I get to heaven, so why even try? Do you intend to stop sinning? Well, you don't know. I mean, it's just the way I am. I'm a high C and I'm just prone to sin or whatever it is. I'm Sandy Calkin. But see, if you're like me, I've thought some of these same things about change that I've wanted to change before. In fact, some of the lists in my 1989 change list are the same as they were in 1988. And frankly, 78. And I have to say to you, it's tempting to just want to give up, isn't it? I mean, it's just the way I am. God accepts me. My spouse accepts me. My home group thinks I'm a little strange, but other than that, I'm accepted. But dear ones, can I tell you, the problem is if we accept the way we are, period, and we don't resolve to see what God could do to bring grace into our lives, you will not become more like Christ automatically. How many of you know it's like entropy? Following God is like entropy. If you don't resolve to go after it, you will go the opposite way and you'll become more like the world around you. The sad thing I began to discover was that the world always has its claw out there to pull you into its web, as Romans 12, 1 and 2 says, conforming us to its image. And you know, it doesn't work just to try to tack down one little part of my character. Have you found that? I found that to be true. You know, we have this bed we've got as a wedding gift. It's 11, 18 years old now, OK? I was going to say 11 feet wide. It's not exactly right. But and when I go to put a sheet on that bed, I'm not as skilled as my wife because she does it all the time. But that thing, you know, I pop up one end and I curl it around there and then it pops off the other end. Have you ever had that happen? You know, the guys understand. But that's really a problem. And I found my life is like that. You know, if I just try to put a little tack in this weakness in my character, boy, it pops up somewhere else. I mean, I resolved to be really nice in one area this day and boom, not this. And what I began to discover was that we had better see ourselves as being influenced heavily by the world. And what it's going to take is a way of changing our lifestyle so that the world's grip will be broken off of us. I was startled this week as I read an article that was passed on to me about the acceleration syndrome. You see, everything, the pace in our life is so fast. I mean, things that we do because we've got to have it now, we get caught up into it, you know? I mean, how many of you have car phones that didn't have them two years ago and you just don't know how you can live without one now so that you don't waste time in the car? You ever find yourself doing things, you're such in a hurry to keep, ever get like this by the microwave? It would have taken you an hour to do what you're doing in three minutes before. I mean, this morning, just this morning, I caught myself, my big Christmas present this year was a garage door opener. I mean, it was wonderful. I'm sitting in my car and I push the button, that thing's going, I'm saying, can't this go any faster than this? What is this, you know? And we're like that. I mean, and we get going so fast that we're not able to even hear what the Lord is saying to adjust our character, to adjust our faith. You know, it's like this, we've all read these things, the one minute manager and the one minute this and one minute that. I found one here called the one minute pastor. Now, I relate to this one, all right? The one minute pastor rises at 5.30 AM and gulps down an instant breakfast. Then off to my study for my one minute quiet time. Of course, this includes one minute of prayer and intercession followed by one minute Bible reading, one minute meditation and one minute application. Not a one minute sermon preparation for Sunday's one minute message, following one minute praise and worship. Time for lunch. I'll tell my secretary I'll be back in a minute and head off to the local fast food drive-through. There's a new one in town that can drive by 35 miles an hour and blow the food into the window if you call it ahead. That's what it's coming to. And I might go through my day and as you might've guessed, our family dinner hour has been shaved by 59 minutes. And so before putting the children to bed, we have a one minute family time. You see, one minute fathering is all that there's time for. And with the children asleep, I can now relax. And as the one minute husband, of course, my wife is entitled to some time with me. One minute. And I'm ready for some television and remote control switch is essential here so as not to waste time getting up to flip through the channels every minute or so. And in a minute, I'm ready to go to bed and begin again the next day. Yeah, you see, this kind of a pace, and believe me, more than we know, we have lost the capacity to slow down enough to hear what God is saying that will truly change our lives and bring grace into our hearts. When I began to prayerfully look at what was going on in my life, I realized that unwittingly we fall into these things and unknowingly it isn't long before God is just kind of waiting, wondering if we're really going to give him the time of day in order to speak into us and to tell us what needs to change in us. What is going to change us after all? Trying harder, more effort? It's the grace of God. How many of you would say you are what you are because of the grace of God? We all say that, but you know, that can be an easy little reason to just sort of kick back and say, therefore, what difference does it make? Can I share with you some scriptures I'd like the gals to put up? Romans 5.17 tells us that we're going to go on in grace and receive God's abundant provision of grace and then reign in life. The victory key that all of us hear about so often is God's grace in daily living. It isn't just when we first came to receive him or when we had the baptism in his spirit or when we went to the conference. And no, no, the grace of God in daily living. That's the key to the victory you're searching for. How about in your weaknesses? Look at the next scripture. The Bible says, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. Oh God. You see, what's going to change that defeat, that struggle, that agony that you go through from time to time? The grace of God coming in at your weakest point. And what about the time when you have these needs you can't figure out? Well, Hebrews 4.16 tells us, let us approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time. How are you getting the message that grace didn't just happen when you came to the cross the first time, but grace is there every day for you to live victoriously, to not just spend one moment in time, but to grow more and more like Jesus. But the question is, how do I get there? How do I get there? Well, here's what the Lord began to show me. He said, if you want to have my character, how many want God's character in your life? The Lord said to me, if you want my power in situations, how many want God's power? He said, then you have to have my life. And my lifestyle. And that's where the Lord began to get my attention. I never thought of it in terms of a lifestyle, a lifestyle of devotion to God. And I began to look at the life of Jesus for a moment and think about the ways in which his lifestyle prepared him to live the life that was pleasing to the Father. You know, in our lives, when something serious has to happen, we do serious things, do we not? There's a couple, I don't know if they're here in this service today or not, Herman and Shirley Sayre, dear couple. They were here at North Way for several years. And, you know, Shirley has a very severe case of arthritis and God has not healed it. And it's very painful. There are days when she can literally not get out of bed. Well, for months and months and months, they prayed, they came faithfully to prayer. They finally decided that something had to be done. And you know what they did? They moved their home from up here in Zenopole all the way out to the warmest, driest part of the country, which is Arizona. They radically changed their lifestyle. They left family. They left the church that they love because they had to do something to address this pain. And I want to say to us today, let's consider how much we really do want to change. Do we want to change enough that will radically alter our lifestyle? Jamie Buckingham, a great author, I recommend him to you, was overweight for months and years and years and could never change. And he said, one day I realized that I had to do something. And he writes an interesting article about how he changed his whole lifestyle. He just didn't go on to die. His whole lifestyle changed. He dropped 60 pounds in six months and has been able to maintain it. Why? Because he changed his whole lifestyle. He started from a certain point on, he just said, no more. I'm just not going to let it happen anymore. Well, you see, all of us have areas that we struggle with. The question is, will we change our lifestyle or not? Because if we try to call upon some reserved power in there at a time of need, guess what, dear ones? It oftentimes isn't there. And when we want to change, when we want something not to come out of our mouth anymore, or we want something positive to come out and it's not there, you know why? Because we've been kind of floating along. Boy, did I have this graphically illustrated in my own life a month ago. I was heavily recruited by the over 30s Basketball League as a mascot. And they wanted me to come and be part of the team. Well, I think it was the second game I played. And I played basketball in high school, a little bit in college. And I've always enjoyed it. And I do enough running, enough aerobics. I have some basic wind left. But basketball is a different kind of a sport. And I discovered, we were in the second half of the game. And I went to make a cut toward the basket. No one touched me. I mean, you know, I thought, and I felt someone hit my leg in the back with a brick. God, I turned around. You're laughing. I was really crying. I'm saying, I appreciate your compassion out there. I mean, something sunk. And I hobbled off, you know. And I couldn't even stay around. I was hurting so bad. I went home. And I go driving home in the car, as bad as the pain was physically. You don't know what's happening in my spirit. I mean, my sports career was over. I'm going to pass this on to my kids now. Dad's over there. But you know what I discovered was that the muscles that needed to be called upon in that moment of basketball weren't ready for the job. And they rebelled, boom, and pulled out. And I pulled this calf muscle pretty bad. Can I say to you that many of us are kind of running through our aerobics of doing the things of going to church and all. But God is saying, now it's time to do this and time to do that. And we are not ready for it. And when we go to pull up that grace, it just isn't there. And we fall flat in our face. And a lot of people here today with spiritual muscles have been pulled. And you're hurting. And you wonder why. Can I just submit to you, we've got to change our life. See, I have to change my lifestyle. I'm changing. I'm getting back on that basketball court. I'm not dead yet, OK? I'm changing some things about my lifestyle. I'm going to alter some things because I believe I can do it again. And I want to say to us, it's time for us to believe that God would let us change enough about our lifestyle that the things that we want to see happen in us will begin to take place when we call upon it. Let me say to you that 1988, in many respects for the body of Christ, was a very difficult year. How many remember just last February? You know, Jimmy Swaggart and on the heels of the other scandals and lots of other ministries, big name ministries, down the chute. And the credibility of the church at large went, I mean, just went off the scale in the eyes of the world. In addition to the fact that many churches struggled just with commitment and the whole rest. It's as though, you know, all around us things were becoming a bit unraveled. And yet last year, God enabled our church to continue to grow. I tell you, I stood up here in the second service and my eyes just began to fill with tears because I realized that, I don't know why, but God just keeps bringing people in this place. Keeps bringing people. But I want to say this, as much as we rejoice in the growth and your attendance and your participation, in my life, I hear God saying something. I hear Jesus saying that in this church, we need to be careful that we don't leave our first life. That we don't get away from that sweet, tender voice of communion with Him. Jesus looked at the church in Ephesus, in the book of Revelation, chapter two, verse seven, and said, I have this against you. You've left your first love. You've wandered off. I don't want to be one of those. And that's my charge to us today, dear ones. Will we remember God? Will we return to our devotion, our devotional lifestyle? Let me conclude the message with this. Acts 2.42, turn there if you would. I know you're in Acts two. Just flip to that page, verse 42. What can happen when a whole church gets devoted to God? Acts 2.42, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. Hold it right there. How many want the miraculous signs and wonders? Then read the verse before it, okay? Oh, please don't miss that. The reason why there aren't more miraculous signs and wonders and healings and deliverances and great and mighty things, dear ones, is because there's not enough of the devotedness. Do you see it there? And all the believers were together and had everything in common, selling their possessions and goods. They gave to anyone as they had need. And every day they continued to work. That's the same word. They devoted themselves to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. What does it mean to be devoted? We have a definition for you. Literally, the Greek word proskaktero means steadfast and single-minded fidelity to a certain course of action. Note that, folks. Steadfast, I mean, continual. Continual, just pressing on, pressing on, pressing on. Single-minded fidelity or faithfulness to a certain course of thought, right? Action. These are actions we're talking about here. To be devoted means to take action. Now, let's look at what they did very quickly. Number one, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. We had a marvelous time here Wednesday night talking about the Bible and how it affects our life. And I got the nicest letter from someone. I think she's here in this service. I won't tell your name, but she said this. Prior to my knowing Jesus Christ as my personal Lord, I walked around with a shopping bag full of self-help books, a different book to handle every crisis in life. You know people like that? I mean, and there's enough of them out there. You could fill up a shopping bag full of these. So, and she said, little did I know that all I ever needed was one book. Are you devoted to the Word of God in 1989? Are you just, is it sitting there on the shelf? Or have you taken some steps to get yourself into it? I want to urge you, get the tape from Wednesday night. It's out there available today. Find someone to get you plugged in. We have Bible study plans and all the rest that you can have. And number two, apostles' teaching, by the way, just a second before we do that. The apostles' teaching meant that they came and heard the Word of God proclaimed. And, you know, we make a commitment here in this staff and eldership that you'll hear the Word of God proclaimed up here Sundays and Wednesdays. If there's not time in your schedule on Wednesday night to come and hear the Word, to hear 1 Corinthians exposited faithfully, then examine your life. Is it really what you're doing Wednesday night that important that you can miss the teaching of the Word of God? Number two, they devoted themselves to fellowship. To be devoted means that the fellowship takes a priority in your life. Notice it says the fellowship. How many Bibles say the? There's a definite article there, not just a fellowship, not just fellowship like going to McDonald's after church, the fellowship, the fellowship. Here at North Way, I'll tell you, we work hard at giving you opportunities for the fellowship, home group ministry, great ministry, women's ministry, things that happen all the time around here. But this is something you will not find at North Way or Ross Park Mall or at the health spa. Or at the neighborhood bar. Koinonia only happens in the local church because the Spirit of God is here. You need to devote yourself to fellowship. You need to make time to be with God's people. Number three, that in five minutes, we're going to all share communion together. We're going to take these elements that Jesus set apart. Dear ones, let me ask you a question. If you miss communion, do you ache inside? Do you wish that someone would come and serve you communion when you miss it? You should be hungering for the bread of life. We encourage our home group leaders to have communion in their home groups. And if you're not doing that, tell your home group leader you want to have communion. We want to draw upon the grace. We want to break bread together. But by the way, did you ever sit in a church, some of you, for months or years and take communion every week and it didn't mean a thing? See, it's no guarantee. Your faith has to be applied to it. And then when faith comes without understanding, boom, grace comes into your life. Number four, they devoted themselves to prayer. You know, it says that also in Acts 114, in Acts 6, verse 4, it talks about being devoted to prayer in the early church. How many of you wish that wasn't in there? Oh God, I wish it didn't say be devoted to prayer. Wouldn't it be a relief if Jay didn't get up and say you ought to be at prayer again? Well, I can only tell you this because God keeps coming back to me and saying, the reason why we are growing personally and corporately is because we haven't let the prayer flame die. And I want to say it's time for us to devote ourselves. I want you to take heart. If you've been flopping around and it's been already a bad year to get started in, we're going to look, this is going to be the focus of our next few weeks of teaching, developing our prayer life. And I've chosen this title, High Impact Praerobics. We're talking about a course of action here. Are we right? And I'm going to give you one. High Impact Praerobics starting next Sunday. Because you see, the disciples didn't say to Jesus, Lord, teach me to turn the other cheek or teach me to be kind and forgiving. The disciples didn't say, Lord, teach us how to work miracles. What did they say? Lord, teach us to pray. Why did they say that? Because they observed Jesus going off to the place of prayer and then meeting with his father and coming back and doing these things. And they knew, they weren't dummies. They knew that that was the place where they would find the power. May God help us to be devoted to prayer in 1989. And all this, dear ones, isn't trying to bring you into some recruitment for the program. What I'm saying to us is, God is calling our church to be devoted to him, to deepen our devotional lifestyle so that we can draw on his grace so that we don't live in some moment of time back in history, but we're ever increasing in glory, more and more like Jesus. So that when we go out into that world, we have something to give. It's not an empty world, but a full one. Do you want that? Amen. Let's stand as we pray.