10-08-17 Making the Most of God's Word - part 5

“Making the Most of God’s Word” (pt. 5)   Ezra 7:10

We have seen that making the most of God’s Word requires that we work to study and observe God’s Word in our life. Last Sunday we saw that an important part of observing God’s Word is meditation and we asked, “What is meditation?” and “What can meditation do for us?” Today we want to ask four more questions:

I Third, if meditation is so great, why aren’t a___ the Christians I know t_______ about it?
-A major reason is because meditation has been c___________ by the world.

A. First, the fact that people have counterfeited meditation ___ ____, in itself, a reason to s______ meditation.

B. Second, the practice of meditation did not originate with c______ and f_____ r_________; it originated with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

C. Third, the practice of Christian meditation is r________ d_________ from all other forms of mediation.

II Four, what part does the i____________ play?
-There are two kinds of Christian meditation:

A. We can use our mind to meditate on a________ i________ taught in Scripture.
B. We can use our i__________to experience what a text describes as if we were there.

III Fifth, what makes it hard for us to meditate?

A. An unwillingness to s____ d_____, f________, and p___ a__________

B. S_________ i_________.

C. F_______ of actually h_________ God s________.

IV Last, h____ do we meditate?
A. First, set aside a t_____ to be unhurried and find a p______ to be restful.
B. Second, choose a text you have a________ s__________.
C. Third, make y________ the focus of the text.
D. Fourth, read, not as a s___________, but as a p__________.
E. Fifth, allow all your s_________ to be involved.
F. Last, let _______ be the one to speak to you.