Aspen Hill Christian Church

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Hungers of the Heart - To Be Closer To God [1st in 7 part series]

By Bob Chance | March 5, 2006

Dr. D. Robert Chance, Senior Minister

“Lead me to the rock that is higher than I”
Psalm 61:2

Introduction :

There is a trail within your life
Where you can climb above the crowd,
Where you can rise above the earth,
And look far down on haze and cloud.

There is a trail within your soul,
Where you can climb right up to God,
And know the source whence blessings flow,
To quicken life in seed and sod.

There is a trail that calls to you,
Come climb and conquer heights unscaled,
That you may see with vision true,
And find life’s goal where others failed.

There is a trail where you can climb,
What through death on mountain peak!
The vision comes to those who climb,
Christ’s mantle falls on those who seek.

Fred S. Buschmeyer
Mount Pleasant Congregational Church, Washington, D.C.
Many lives are lost in the daily rush, confusion and press of life.

Many spirits are quashed in the traffic jams of the soul we find ourselves stuck in each day.

We have a primary need in our lives for a time to :

We all need a place out of the clogged road of daily life where we,

Jesus spent just such a time. He did it at the beginning of his ministry and then frequently throughout his ministry. He spent 40 days in the wildnerness, wrestling with the devil and out of that experience he gained the strength,

For answering God’s call in his life.

The next 40 days represent the churches invitation for you to do the same thing. The next 40 days are presented to you as a window of opportunity to :

I. It’s not easy to back off, to get out of the traffic jam of daily life.

* It’s not easy in the spiritual sense to get out life’s traffic jams. It never has been easy. But, it is perhaps harder today than ever before.

Of life constantly ringing, and ringing and ringing in your life finding time to withdraw and renew is more difficult than ever before.

* There once was more of a rhytem in life. In easier less complicated times there was a certain ebb and flow to the stream of life and there were natural opportunities to sit down, perhaps under an old oak tree or perhaps beside a quiet stream and withdraw just long enough to renew your spirit. Such places and times are more difficult to find today. I-270 is a long way from Winding Creek Road!

* But it is essential. It’s more essential than ever before.

* We all need to have time when we :

II. But, hard as it may be it is so very, very necessary to back out of the traffic jams of daily life and renew our walk with God, climb up to the high place and grow in our sense of God’s presence in every moment and every place of life.

* It’s absolutely essential.

* Otherwise:,

  1. We get lost in the irrelevant minuate of daily life.
  2. We drown in the pool of constantly crossing t’s and dotting I’s.
  3. We start choking on the daily smog of the traffic of the day.
  4. We become so task driven we get things done but we trample over people’s feelings.
  5. We become so overly structured and busy we leave out the first and most important appointment of the day — time with God.

* Without self examination :

  1. We become entrenched in our own prejudices and viewpoints.

    2. We stop growing and stop changing and stop learning, becoming frozen encrusted artifacts of an earlier age.

  2. We become self guiding people — far from God’s path and never asking for his help to find it again.
  3. We become uncritical in our assessment of our own behavior and our own place in life.
  4. We begin to focus more and more on the speck in our neighbor’s eyes and overlook the beam in our own eyes.

* Without renewing our walk with God on a regular and intentional basis :

  1. We become lost on lesser paths in life than God’s path.
  2. Complacent about our own spiritual health.
  3. Self absorbed, and
  4. Distant, very distant from God.

* Without climbing the mountain to have a higher look :

  1. We become Spiritually lazy,
  2. Complacent in our attitude of seeking God’s will and God’s way.
  3. Spiritually stale and our shelf life begins to get dangerously close to “expired” — of no further use to God.

III. You are invited, no :
Encouraged to take the next 40 days — a season we call Lent and

Jesus’ 40 days in the wildnerness serve as the model for us for the next 40 days.

  1. Step back. Slow down. Sit still. “Be still and know I am God”.
  2. Reflect.
    Reflect about what you truly believe in your faith — and what you need to re-examine.
    Reflect about who you are — and whether that’s who you really want to be.
    Reflect who God wants you be.
    Reflect on where you are on the path of life — and where God wants you to be.
  3. Repent.
    Repent of your selfish attitudes.
    Repent of your hurtful behaviors.
    Repent of your wandering spirit.
    Repent of you self absorbtion, self focus, and self satisfaction.

    4. None of us all who we ought to be!
    Repent of YOURSELF!

  4. Renew.
    Renew your walk with God.
    Renew your prayer life.
    Renew your theological reflection.
    Renew your commitment to God.
    • And to His church.
    • And to your own spiritual growth.
    • Renew your relationship with God.
  5. Refresh your spirit. Sit down, relax, let go and refresh your spirit.
    Reflect:
    • Repent:
      • Renew: & refresh.

Closing :

40 days of hope.
40 days of promise.
40 days of opportunity.

What you do with it is your decision. What you do with it is your call.

What’s it going to be? 40 days of missed opportunity — continuing to be stuck in the daily traffic jams of life.

Or,

40 days of pulling out of the main highway and finding the scenic spiritual highway of life.

Your choice :

Take it to the next level — if you dare!

“Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”
Psalm 61:2

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