“A Deeper Devotion” (Eastside Baptist/Sun
PM/September 22, 2013)
Cultivate an unquenchable desire for
God himself.
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul
pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living
God. When can I go and meet with God? (Ps. 42:1-2, NIV)
“A Deeper Devotion” (Eastside Baptist/Sun
PM/September 22, 2013)
- Cultivate an unquenchable desire for
God himself.
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul
pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living
God. When can I go and meet with God? (Ps. 42:1-2, NIV)
- Cultivate an unquenchable desire for God
by spending time in his Word.
97 Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day
long. (Ps. 119:97, NIV) 103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter
than honey to my mouth! (Ps. 119:103, NIV)
7
The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD
are trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the LORD
are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes. 9 The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring
forever. The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous. 10
They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than
honey, than honey from the honeycomb. (Ps. 19:7-10, NIV)
15 "If you love me, keep my commands. (Jn.
14:15, NIV)
- Cultivate an unquenchable desire for
God by spending more time in prayer.
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every
family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out
of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in
your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through
faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18
may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and
long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this
love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the
fullness of God. (Eph. 3:14-19, NIV)
- Cultivate an unquenchable desire for
God by spending more time in worship.
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul
pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living
God. When can I go and meet with God? (Ps. 42:1-2, NIV)
Main Idea: Greater fruitfulness is inseparably related to
the cultivation of a deeper devotion for God.
7
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8
What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider
them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not
having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is
through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of
faith. 10 I want to know Christ--yes, to know the power of his
resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his
death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the
dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already
arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus
took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself
yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and
straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win
the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Phil.
3:7-14, NIV)
