Gateway Church's Podcast
Happy New You
A Gateway Sermon
are you thinking about new years the other day I was in them I'd been given a gift card from Barnes and Noble for my birthday it's also Barnes and Noble just spending someone else's money which is the best way to do that and I was in the checkout line and there was a magazine sitting there and a couple of articles on the cover that really intrigued me and I bought the magazine and I want you to know that for three and a half dollars now all my resolutions you've taken care of and it's it's really a good thing it says so right here that I can have a new life in just eight hours so I'm really looking forward to that and you know one of these days probably wins their Thursday all under go eight hours of pretty hard work and and I'll be holding me another article in here same job less stress so I'm gonna pass that around the office when I'm done with it as well and and you know I'm amazed at how easy it can be to have some New Year's resolutions there was a it was a gallon TV this past week that somebody stuck a microphone in his face and said what's your New Year's resolution and he said well for me he said I like to keep mine attainable and so he said I only have one New Year's resolution for 2003 and that's this that all year long I won't fall down one time and I thought as I listened to that it occurred to me you know we really do tend to be very very shallow and superficial in the way that we make goals and plans for the future and I wonder what it would be like if the people of God did something completely different than everybody else on earth and so while I want to say to you this morning that that New Year's resolutions are a good thing it's a good thing to make a plan to to lose 30 pounds or to clean out the garage or to to stop speeding or to stop biting your nails or to exercise every day these are good things I want to encourage you to do those things but in addition to those could we think about some spiritual things as well because God has a very very specific and high purpose for your life that will never be seen or understood outside of relationship with him and so I want to encourage you this morning that as you begin to think about some some New Year's resolutions that you think about a couple of things I want to be very very specific this morning about two areas specifically these are very very practical very very attainable things for you and me for the new year two rock solid resolutions and number one is this that you plan to love Jesus more I want to encourage you open your bottles to Joshua chapter one we're going to read from the first chapter of the book of Joshua here in just a minute but as you turn let me explain what the difference is between a resolution and a plan a resolution simply is a commitment to a purpose it simply says that what my goal is is that I'm going to lose 30 pounds or exercise every day or whatever it is a plan says here's how I'm going to accomplish this resolution this commitment and as as good it is as it is for us to make resolutions and to think about how are we going to better ourselves next year I wonder friends if we've made a plan that we're going to love Jesus more over the next 12 months because you know I think one of the great deceptions in the church today is the spirituality is one of those things it just sort of happens because well we showed up God was pretty lucky that today I was on his team I came to his house and I sang him a few songs and you know what that is not the way spirituality takes place friends today you need a plan to love Jesus more what's your plan let me give you two things specifically to carry out your plan to love Jesus more number one is pray it's not rocket science it's very very simple but if you're like me you found that though it's simple it's not that easy and I want you to know this morning I'm not going to preach one of those guilt-ridden sermons because I don't believe people start to pray out of guilt for me it'll last three four maybe five days max because I feel guilty but it won't have any lasting effect at all I don't believe it will on you too and I don't think that's the way God wants people to be motivated to pray about little over eight years ago my wife and I moved to a little town in Texas Panhandle named Pampa and started my very first pastor there and the Lord supernaturally brought into my life another pastor in that city who became something of a mentor to me he taught me how to pray and fast and one day he handed me a book and when one of your mentors and your book you take it pretty seriously because there's not a lot of people that you allow that place in your life and so this this book was by a man named Leonard Ravenhill who died in 1994 but the name of the book is why revival Terry's and I went home and I read the whole book but when I got the page 19 the first 30 minutes or so that I was in the book I read two statements on page 19 that absolutely ruined me forever here's what page 19 says ministers who do not spend two hours a day in prayer are not worth a dime a dozen degree or no degrees by our attitude to prayer we tell God that what was begun in the spirit we can finish in the flesh now let me tell you one thing about Leonard Ravenhill he wasn't being legalistic about no less or no more than two hours in prayer what he was saying was is that if a person's going to be entrusted by heaven with leading a flock of God's people if his relationship with God does not warrant a couple hours a day in his presence that he will very quickly encounter some things that he can no longer handle and I took it seriously so that night I set my alarm from 4 a.m. and I was excited and at my alarm clock went off at 4 a.m. and I got vertical pretty quick that's the biggest thing what's your vertical it's it's easy from there right and I was really excited because I knew today I'm turning over a new league my life will not be the same after today because today marks a brand new day that I'm gonna be available to God to do some things in my life that he I've never made myself available before and so I went into the den of our home and I set down and I began to pray I prayed for my family and I prayed for the staff at our church and I prayed for our elders and I prayed for the church and I asked God God pour out your spirit there God bring lost people there God let the gospel shine there I prayed everything I knew to pray and I looked up at the clock and it was five after four I thought it's gonna be a long night because I'm out of steam and so by sheer discipline for two hours a day I prayed and it got real real difficult and I want you to know that I have tried every how to have a quiet time on the market every prayer guide every here's how to pray book that ever been written it's on my bookshelf and I've tried it and for me none of them worked let me tell you why those things don't work because God will not dishonor you by allowing you to fetch him with a program you don't fetch God with a program God wants a relationship with you and to the extent that those things build a relationship with God they'll work but I was seeking a program God said I want to honor you that way soon I quit praying and I quit praying because I was bored with God I quit praying because I was growing more more miserable on the inside because I knew that there must be something wrong with me if I am bored with the creator of the universe but I didn't know what to do I'm convinced that one of the reasons that most Americans don't know how to pray is because we are the first people in all the history of God's people to not do it the way everybody else in the history of God's people have done it I'm not talking about another technique this morning all I'm and I'm not coming to you as an expert I'm telling you as one beggar who's telling another beggar where he found bread but I want you to know this morning and hear me very very clearly that none of God's people in all the history of God's people that we're aware of ever had a prayer life that was characterized primarily by thinking we are the first and I think it's because of some unscriptural notion that religion is to be a private thing I don't find that in God's Word when you think all of your prayers your mind wonders does it not and pretty soon you forgot where you were and all of a sudden you feel guilty because there must be something wrong if the creator of the universe cannot hold your attention for more than a few minutes nothing wrong with him got to be something wrong with you right am I the only one that's been through this you know if I if I if I expressed my my love to my wife in only one way I just spoke it to her and that was the only way that I expressed my love to my wife never bought her any gifts occasionally didn't come home after work never hugged their neck you think she could make a valid case that at least if even if it was sincere that the fullness of my love for her was somehow not being realized you think that was that fair enough to say that's all I'm saying and I want to I want to visit with you this morning about about what it is that makes prayer come alive Joshua 1 verses 7 and 8 it's on the screen or if you've got your vitals open read along with me beginning in verse 7 only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left that you may prosper wherever you go this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success now let me let me back in to verse 8 is there anybody in this room this morning that wants to be prosperous and successful let me assure you this is not just talking about financial things that is God's will for your life that you are one of those people of whom it has spoken everything they touch turns to gold his family his relationships his ministry his business that is God's will for your life but what's the key to it look again with me at verse 8 I'm telling you this is this is big here this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success look again with me at Psalm 1 verses 1 to 3 blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the path of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful but here's delight his overwhelming joy the soul affection of his heart is in the law of the Lord and in his law he meditates day and night he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water brings forth its fruit in its season whose leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper I was flying into Amarillo about six or seven years ago on a plane I noticed from the air some things that you can't really see from the ground you know that that's a desert up there you ever been to Amarillo that's a desert but you know what wherever there's water wherever there's a river there are green trees all over the place that's God's word for you that in the midst of whatever desert you find yourself in that you or a person who is like a tree who's planted by streams of living water so number one is prey number two is meditation on God's word what is this thing called meditation on God's word let me assure you it is not some eastern form of religious mysticism that ends up finally in some some state of Nirvana whatever that is I was watching Jay Leno one night Richard dear was on there and and and Richard dear is a devout Buddhist and Jay Leno was asking him about his religion and what difference his religion makes in his life and he said every morning I get up and for one hour I meditate and Jay asked him what is meditation he says it's just a process of emptying just emptying friends that's not biblical meditation biblical meditation is filling it's filling this this English word meditate comes from two Hebrew words and the secondary meaning actually is to think long about something what the primary meaning of these two words is it is the making of low or in articulate sounds translated some places as moan other places as mutter it translated in the Old Testament both as the cooing of a dove and the growling of a lion here's the principle that that in the speaking of God's word there becomes a deepening of your focus into his word in such a way that that your mind and your heart become filled with the knowledge of God's word here's two keys to meditation number one is there is sound coming out of your mouth here is the way that God made you that God uses your mouth to direct your mind to affect your heart that's the way you're made God never planned that you would be a person in whom the fullness of your relationship with him would only happen between your ears it's not the way God made you friends God made you in such a way that he uses your mouth to direct your mind to affect your heart and as you begin to speak his word and to pray his word something in your heart begins to to beat faster and there's a there's a passion that begins to grow there I uh that there's two keys to this one is that there's sound coming out of your mouth the second is that it happens day and night when we when we find meditation in God's word what it talks about is both both Joshua 1 and Psalm 1 is he meditates on it day and night and I studied this in the Hebrew you know what day and night means you guys are scholars if you're visiting it gateway I want to tell you that everybody who's a member here reads Greek and Hebrew in the original languages and we're all about them just kidding day and night you know it really means day and night it really means all the time and here there's a couple of reasons for this one is is that if God is able to have your undivided attention every 12 hours you're not very likely to backslide now Jeremiah affirms that your heart and mind is deceitful above all things that even you don't know the filth and the evil that's bound up in your heart you don't know those things but God does but I want to tell you that if God has your undivided attention in the morning and at night that you're not very likely to backslide another thing that happens is is that when we set our affections on God that there becomes a thinking about God whether we're disciplining our kids or driving the work in the morning or going to bed at night there becomes a there becomes a constant affection for God you wake up first thing it's on your mind is him you go to bed at night the last thing you think about it's him look at look at two two verses of scripture with me one Psalm 55 17 these are the words of David listen to what David said evening and morning and at noon I will pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice look at Daniel 6 verse 10 this is just after Daniel's death sentence in the lines then has been written when Daniel knew that the writing was signed now the writing incidentally said that if anyone worships any God other than the king of Persia that he's killed when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went home and in his upper room with his windows open toward Jerusalem he knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as was his custom since early days since September 11th we've seen a lot of Muslim religion on TV I was at the airport one day and I saw over I saw Muslim man he was very being very private about it but but he was serious about it he was he was bowing down toward Mecca had his prayer shawl over his shoulders and he was he was on its face do you know where they get that they get that from God's people every Muslim religious ritual they got from God's people but it's amazing to me that what they do out of legalism most of God's people won't do out of grace my point here is not being legalistic about how long you pray friends but that you begin to pursue God in a way that you never have pursued him before all I'm encouraging you to do friends today is just show up just show up when you show up just open his word and begin to pray out loud what you see there and go for long it won't be out of discipline there will there is a line that that happens in the spirit that you cross over where eventually you can't live without it anymore it's not out of discipline it's out of love and you can't label it out it anymore let me tell you one of things that that happened to me about a year ago I called the flu a friend of mine called me on the phone he said have you read the word I saw read the word every day and he said no I mean have you read the word over yourself and I said what you mean he said just go read find something that that excites you and read it so I opened the Bible to Psalm 103 and I began to read out loud bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name and forget not all of his benefits who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases and I started jumping up and down and by the time I went to bed that night I didn't have the flu anymore friends there is power and there is a 40 in the word of God do you realize that that the Apostle John the one whom Jesus loved six times five times in the gospel and another time in 1st John 5 John said this that anything we pray according to God's will the answer is yes how do you know what God's will is God's word God's word is God's will whatever you pray according to God's will you have what you ask I remember the very first scripture that ever really grabbed my attention praying scripture with Ephesians 1 17 to 19 I didn't know I've never prayed scripture before and I was really struggling with this whole thing about you know I can't I can't pray for 15 minutes I don't know what to pray for I came across Ephesians 1 17 where Paul says I pray and I thought okay we're gonna pray here that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of Lord I'm tracking with you now God that you may give whoa what's this that you may give to me a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you oh God oh this is good that God will give me a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that I know him better that's God's will that the eyes of my understanding would be enlightened yes Lord I need that oh God that I would know the hope of your calling the riches of the glory of your inheritance in me and what is the exceeding greatness of your power toward me because I believe according to the working of your mighty power I began to read scripture I was one of the principles one of the good things that I did learn from all those how to have a quiet time books was that you always start out with worship you realize you don't come into God's presence by groveling in your sin you realize that you enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise you entered God's presence with worship no other way do you come into God's presence and so I I got to where I would get up all by myself and I would just begin to worship the Lord and before long it was the same old thing it was dusty I said that two weeks ago I'm bored with God again so opened up the songs song book of the Bible and it revitalized my life of worship George Washington Carver was one of the most fascinating men who ever walked in this country he did most of his research during the 1800s but one of the things that he researched was was the peanut and in his research of the peanut he found more than a hundred and fifty uses for the peanut and his research ended up revitalizing the whole economy of the South somebody asked him one day they said Mr. Carver how did you ever think up a hundred and fifty uses for the peanut and he said these words anything will yield its secrets to you if you love it enough anything will yield its secrets to you if you love it enough that's true of God that you know God has secrets and he wants to tell him to you but you can't find them in a program and you can't find them even even by just you know sometimes we even read the Bible through the year it's like running marathon we just want to say we did it you don't find them that way God shares them in relationship and I want to encourage you to begin to pray the Bible and the fullness of your life of prayer will begin to come like you've never seen before make a plan to love Jesus more here's your second resolution set your heart on heaven set your heart on heaven what if we lived in one of those cultures where your parents planned the person that you would marry and that as you grew they began to survey all their friends and all their friends children and they made a choice one day and they began to plan a wedding and about a month before your wedding to a person you didn't know and had never seen they came up to you and they said we've got a picture of the person you're gonna spend the rest of your life with you want to see it what do you want to see it why would you want to see it see what you're getting into did you know this is true of you but the father has arranged a marriage for you and did you know there's a picture in here of your eternity here's what I'm talking about I found six places in God's Word where a living breathing flesh encased person bore witness to an open heaven and wrote about what he saw would you like to see him that the clearest one is is Revelation 4 and I'm encouraging you today you know we we sang the song while we go better as one day better as one day that's from Psalm 84 and one of the things that the Psalmist says that one he says one thing I ask that I may see you in your beauty and I believe the reason that David could say one day oh God one day in your house is better than a thousand anywhere else is because David had seen the beauty of God in heaven and did you know God will show it to you too and what I'm encouraging you to do today friends is that you begin to pray through Revelation 4 and go in search of the other places in God's Word where a where a flesh and case person just like you saw with his eyes and open heaven because only then will you see God as he really is there's a lot of opinions about what God looks like and what heaven is going to be like you know the only one you can trust is in God's Word but what if you and I began to pray through Revelation 4 and the other places in Scripture so often that that the moment you lay down in bed at night and you close your eyes immediately you can see there's a throne and there's one sitting on it by the way it's not a bench it's a throne and there's one sitting on it and there's Jesus that is right hand and there's a rainbow like an emerald circling the throne and there's 24 elders on thrones dressed in flight and they have gold crowns on their heads and there's four living creatures circling the throne and they're crying out holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is the common every time the four living creatures begin to worship God the 24 elders fall down on their faces and cast their crowns at the foot of that throne what if you and I became so familiar with heaven that in the second and a half we could be there I think our hearts change and that God would begin to show us things and speak to us in ways that we have never even dreamed of about six years ago I was up very early one morning and it seemed like just another day to me and I began to feel the Lord's presence in a way that was rare and and the Lord came to me and he said he said Marcus I don't have very many friends on the earth and I said Lord what do you mean and he said there are a lot of people who talk to me but there are not that many that listen he said Marcus will you be my friend and this morning the Lord lays that invitation before you will you be his friend he thinks you're great he's got lots in store for you but you won't fetch him with the program he'll only be found in a relationship but when you find him