A New Dimension for Your Devotions — Transcript

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1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:06the longest psalm in the bible is psalm
3. 0:08119
4. 0:09it has been called the psalm of the
5. 0:12scriptures because it concentrates on
6. 0:14one thing the amazing sufficiency of
7. 0:17god's word for our lives
8. 0:19open to psalm 119 today and open your
9. 0:22heart to the lord as we join scott
10. 0:25paulie in this study it is our prayer
11. 0:27that through god's truth you will find
12. 0:29all you need
13. 0:36will you permit me to return to the same
14. 0:39section of psalm 119 one more day just
15. 0:41one more day you know the amazing thing
16. 0:43about the scripture is you never exhaust
17. 0:45it you can go back to the same verses
18. 0:47the same section over and over and over
19. 0:49again if you come with with fresh eyes
20. 0:52with a desire to to go deeper and
21. 0:54further with the lord god always has
22. 0:56much more to say to us
23. 0:57we've been studying the section of psalm
24. 0:59119 that begins with verse 97 and
25. 1:01concludes with verse 104
26. 1:04and i want to return to it to zero in on
27. 1:07one point of application if i may and it
28. 1:10is this idea of meditating in the word
29. 1:13of god
30. 1:14it's how the section begins oh how love
31. 1:16i thy law it is my meditation
32. 1:20all the day
33. 1:21and i want to talk to you today about a
34. 1:23new dimension for your devotional life a
35. 1:26new dimension for devotions
36. 1:28people talk about having their devotions
37. 1:30and they typically mean by that they
38. 1:31read a portion of scripture have a time
39. 1:32of prayer i hope you do have that holy
40. 1:34habit i hope you do build that routine
41. 1:37into your life but i have found for me
42. 1:39that very often i can go through the
43. 1:41motions of my devotions and walk away
44. 1:44with next to nothing i can read a
45. 1:46passage this is a terrible thing to say
46. 1:48but i can read a passage
47. 1:50and not remember a single thing i read
48. 1:52i can spend time with the lord and yet
49. 1:54come out of that
50. 1:56and
51. 1:57so often i've just gone through the
52. 1:58mechanics of it
53. 2:00are you tired of that would you like a
54. 2:02new dimension
55. 2:03would you like to see all that god has
56. 2:05for you i believe that the secret to
57. 2:08this
58. 2:09is meditation
59. 2:10it is the it is the missing link if i
60. 2:13may say it that way in bible study it is
61. 2:16the missing link in our time in the
62. 2:18scriptures we read
63. 2:20but we don't meditate
64. 2:22and maybe part of the reason for this is
65. 2:24that we have really lost the meaning of
66. 2:26the word meditate in our world today
67. 2:29for example when i say meditate
68. 2:30immediately you see some little fella
69. 2:33sitting cross-legged on a rug humming to
70. 2:35himself or chanting to himself that is
71. 2:38not bible meditation
72. 2:40that is eastern meditation that's what
73. 2:43most people think of
74. 2:44the objective of that kind of meditation
75. 2:46is to empty your mind well bible
76. 2:49meditation is the exact opposite it is
77. 2:51to fill your mind
78. 2:53uh most of us don't have to work too
79. 2:54hard at emptying our mind but you do
80. 2:56have to work at filling your mind
81. 2:57especially with the right thing to
82. 2:59meditate on the word of god is
83. 3:00all-encompassing it it connects to every
84. 3:03part of life
85. 3:05to every part of your day
86. 3:07and so if you can learn to meditate on
87. 3:09the word of god you will have found the
88. 3:12secret
89. 3:13to this new dimension
90. 3:15in your devotional life let me show you
91. 3:17what i'm talking about let me show you
92. 3:18the dimensions may i first of all notice
93. 3:20the depth of meditation it's wrapped up
94. 3:23in the opening words oh how love i thy
95. 3:27law
96. 3:29it's a heart level
97. 3:30this is going deeper meditation gets the
98. 3:32word deeper than your head deeper than
99. 3:35your mind
100. 3:36deeper than just information education
101. 3:39or mental assent it's got to get down
102. 3:41into your spirit
103. 3:43into your inner man how does it get
104. 3:45there through meditation
105. 3:47and notice this phrase oh
106. 3:50that is the power of meditation
107. 3:54oh how love
108. 3:56it's passionate
109. 3:58oh how love i
110. 4:00thy law it's personal and do you see how
111. 4:03deep he's going here he's using all
112. 4:05heart words
113. 4:06to say if you really want to know god
114. 4:09if you really want to to draw from
115. 4:11scripture all god has for you you've got
116. 4:13to learn to meditate there's the depth
117. 4:15of meditation
118. 4:16then there's the length of meditation
119. 4:19notice this it is my meditation
120. 4:22all the day
121. 4:23it literally extends the word of god to
122. 4:26your whole life not just to a few
123. 4:28moments in the morning i i fear that so
124. 4:30often we give god 10 minutes and check a
125. 4:32box pat ourselves on the back feel like
126. 4:34we've done god some favor
127. 4:36a friend meditation on scripture is what
128. 4:38takes it beyond the time that you have
129. 4:40to read you can't be on your knees all
130. 4:42day you cannot have a bible open in
131. 4:45front of you all day but you can have
132. 4:46the word in you all day long remember
133. 4:49psalm 1 verse number 2
134. 4:51the blessed man is the man whose delight
135. 4:53is in the law of the lord and in his law
136. 4:55doth he meditate
137. 4:57what is it day and night
138. 4:59all day all night in other words there's
139. 5:01never a time
140. 5:03of day or night when you could not
141. 5:05meditate on scripture
142. 5:07where does your mind run in your in your
143. 5:10blank moments in your in-between times
144. 5:13uh your idol moments
145. 5:15that reveals a great deal about you let
146. 5:17it learn to run to scripture take
147. 5:19something away with you each day from
148. 5:21the word of god that then you can make
149. 5:23that your meditation all the day so you
150. 5:26have the depth of meditation it's heart
151. 5:28level you have the length of meditation
152. 5:30it extends to the whole day then you
153. 5:32have the breadth of meditation
154. 5:34listen to verse 98 thou through thy
155. 5:37commandments has made me wiser than mine
156. 5:39enemies for they are ever with me
157. 5:42you see a life of meditation will
158. 5:44protect you on every side this is the
159. 5:46breadth of meditation on your left hand
160. 5:48on your right hand the enemies are going
161. 5:49to come at you
162. 5:50enemies come from every direction
163. 5:52but when you begin meditating in the
164. 5:54word of god here's what you're going to
165. 5:55be amazed at that as you meditate on
166. 5:57scripture whatever that scripture is
167. 5:59that god has led you to for that day as
168. 6:01you meditate on scripture you're going
169. 6:02to find that that day god's going to use
170. 6:04that truth from the word
171. 6:06to protect you to guard you
172. 6:09to guide you on every hand it's amazing
173. 6:12i found for me as i'm just walking
174. 6:14through books of the bible
175. 6:16it's amazing sometimes that's exactly
176. 6:18what i needed today well that's the lord
177. 6:20that's the sufficiency of scripture
178. 6:23so it puts a hedge about you it guards
179. 6:25your heart and your mind that's the
180. 6:27breadth of meditation then it takes us
181. 6:29to the height of meditation
182. 6:31the depth its heart level the length
183. 6:33that's all day and all night the breath
184. 6:36it guards you on every hand what's the
185. 6:37height of meditation well listen to
186. 6:39verse 99 and 100 i have more
187. 6:41understanding than all my teachers
188. 6:44for thy testimonies or my meditation i
189. 6:46understand more than the ancients
190. 6:48because i keep my precepts i love this
191. 6:51he takes us higher than simply what men
192. 6:53can teach us
193. 6:55he takes us into the throne room of
194. 6:56heaven he takes us to god's classroom he
195. 6:58brings us to god himself
196. 7:00it's beyond man it's beyond the preacher
197. 7:03it's beyond the teacher
198. 7:04i think sometimes we get so enamored
199. 7:06with men
200. 7:07so taken with the mouthpiece with the
201. 7:09voice that we miss the power of the word
202. 7:13friend when your favorite bible teacher
203. 7:14is gone when your pastor has passed off
204. 7:16the scene
205. 7:18when people have even failed you and let
206. 7:20you down and can only take you so far
207. 7:22the lord says i want to lift you up to
208. 7:24higher ground
209. 7:25i want you to set your affection on
210. 7:27things above it is an ever ascending
211. 7:29life
212. 7:30as you meditate in the word of god this
213. 7:32is powerful as you go deeper you go
214. 7:34higher
215. 7:35the the deeper and deeper you go into
216. 7:37scripture the higher and higher god
217. 7:38lifts you up
218. 7:40it takes you beyond what you have just
219. 7:42heard and what you have been taught by
220. 7:44other people and it becomes deeply
221. 7:46personal to you and i might say this too
222. 7:48it lasts long after the teachers are
223. 7:50gone
224. 7:51someday the teachers will be gone
225. 7:52someday the ancients will be just that
226. 7:54the memory
227. 7:56but the ever-present god can always be
228. 7:58found on the pages of holy scripture
229. 8:01and so i want to encourage you to spend
230. 8:03some time today meditating in the word
231. 8:06now there are two words in the old
232. 8:08testament for the word meditate let me
233. 8:09give you this as a footnote of
234. 8:11application today chew on this all right
235. 8:14one word means to muse and the other
236. 8:16word means to mutter
237. 8:18how do you meditate that's the question
238. 8:20you say all right i want to meditate how
239. 8:22two things number one
240. 8:24think on these things muse on it
241. 8:26uh the word selah in the psalms
242. 8:28literally means pause and think about
243. 8:29this
244. 8:30take a bible word today to chew on to
245. 8:32think on through the day you're not
246. 8:34gonna remember everything but take
247. 8:35something take one verse write it down
248. 8:38carry it with you today memorize a verse
249. 8:39of scripture we memorize to meditate but
250. 8:42muse on something today through the day
251. 8:44and give yourself reminders of it and
252. 8:46then the other word means to mutter
253. 8:48muttering's not all bad depends on what
254. 8:50you're muttering talk about it one of
255. 8:52the greatest ways to think on it is talk
256. 8:54about it so today make it a point take
257. 8:57something from the scripture and share
258. 8:59it with somebody else as you talk about
259. 9:01it
260. 9:02god will take you deeper into the truth
261. 9:04yourself may the lord help all of us to
262. 9:07go deeper longer broader and higher into
263. 9:10the word of god may god give you today a
264. 9:12new dimension for your devotions
265. 9:15[Music]
266. 9:20all you need is found in the word of god
267. 9:22as you learn it and apply it you will
268. 9:24come to know the god of the word more
269. 9:27and more our prayer today is that you
270. 9:30will grow in your understanding of
271. 9:32scripture and your love for the one who
272. 9:34gave it you may find additional
273. 9:36resources for bible study at our online
274. 9:39home visit
275. 9:40enjoyingthejourney.org today we would
276. 9:43love to hear from you thank you for your
277. 9:45prayers support and thanks for sharing
278. 9:48the enjoying the journey studies with
279. 9:49others
280. 9:51[Music]
281. 10:08you