#178 – COME TO JESUS DAILY (26/8/20)

If you missed Sunday's broadcast, please catch up by following the link below. (For the foreseeable future, we will be running our Sunday morning services digitally. Please go to our website on Sundays at 10:30 to join in)

Coming to Jesus daily is the single most important thing that any of us can do. This is, of course, beyond a ‘quiet time’, but a time on your own with God to pray and worship out of His word is essential (See Matthew 6:6). Jared Wilson has written,

‘The rate of biblical illiteracy has increased, even among evangelicals. A 2017 Lifeway Research study, for instance, showed that less than half of professing evangelicals read the Bible every day. Only 39 percent of those who attend worship services at least once a month read the Bible every day.’ (The Gospel-Driven Church P. 32)

Today, and over the next few Wednesdays, I want to remind you of the ‘Come to Jesus Daily Method’ of bible intake.

Many people struggle to read, understand, meditate on, pray out of and apply the Bible. The method we’ll be using today is a great tool that I think will be of great help to you.

COME TO JESUS DAILY BIBLICAL MEDITATION METHOD

Biblical meditation is to prayerfully read, repeatedly, a section of the bible and pray, worship and respond as God leads. Thomas Watson wrote,

“The reason we come away so cold from reading the word is because we do not warm ourselves at the fire of meditation.”

Here are a few tips and questions to help you when meditating:

PRAY - Ask for the Spirit to help you and to speak to you. Keep the goal in mind - having a relationship with God! Choose a text from the bible and then use the following points to help you to digest it. If you can’t think of a text, use the text of last week’s message - Philippians 2:19-24

WRITE- Writing/journaling is often a great help as you answer the questions below. Remember, don't allow worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar, perfection... stop you from writing - it's between you and God.

GOSPEL- ‘Gaze on the cross’- What does this text say about salvation through Jesus? Look for the gospel of grace in the text even when it’s not the obvious, primary meaning.

UP- What does it say about God – His worth, character, attributes, will, promises…?

IN- What does this text say about and to you? What does it teach about the church and how we are to relate?

OUT- What does this text say about non-believers and our mission? In this section make a commitment to pray through a list of non-believing friends that God has put into your life.

RESPONSE – Is there anything that you want to pray, worship God about, do, ask forgiveness about, ask God to help you to change…?

COMMUNITY GROUP STUDY

Some groups are not meeting in August. However, if you do meet, please use one of the daily studies and the questions below as the basis of your study together.

Discussion questions:

1. What is the Holy Spirit speaking to you about (maybe from Sunday's message or your bible reading this week)?

2. What will you do in response?

3. How can we pray for you?