South Hills Church Community

Series: The Heart and Soul of South Hills Church
Message: A Personal Relationship with Jesus
Pastor Bret Johnson Sunday, March 14, 2004

Opening Illustration: Merry-Go-Rounds in the park when I was a kid. The closer you stayed to the center the safer the ride.

Review Six weeks of Heart & Soul

Review Path to Full Devotion to Jesus

FOUR THINGS YOU NEED FROM YOUR OWN QUIET TIME:

1)   You need to experience the presence and the peace of God.

a.    Isaiah 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!

b.    Philippians 4:6,7   Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.   If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

“Every character of great spiritual development in Scripture is marked by solitude. “

Citation: John Ortberg, Leadership, Vol. 14, no. 3.

2)   You NEED to confess your sins and find forgiveness and restitution
a.    Ps 38:3 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin.
Ps 32:3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
b.    Ps 32:1 Of David. A maskil. Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

3)   You NEED daily guidance
Jesus sought out the Father. “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.” (John 4:34)

Lu 6:12 One day soon afterward Jesus went to a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night.

Mt 14:13 As soon as Jesus heard the news, he went off by himself in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed by land from many villages.

Illus. Isn’t it amazing that Jesus was able to get everything he needed to get done in just three years of public ministry?

4)   You NEED to stay connected to Jesus for power

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me.
“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:4,5)

Conclusion

I rolled out of bed early…real early. I'd been on vacation for a couple of weeks, and I was rested. My energy level was high, so I dressed to go to the church office. My wife, Denalyn, tried to convince me not to go.

"It's the middle of the night," she mumbled. "What if a burglar tries to break in?"

There had been an attempted break-in at the office a few weeks previously. [Ignoring my wife's concern, I drove to the church,] entered the office complex, disarmed the alarm, and then re-armed it.

A few seconds later the sirens screamed. Somebody is trying to break in! I raced down the hall, turned off the alarm, ran back to my office, and dialed 911. After I hung up, it occurred to me that the thieves could get in before the police arrived. I dashed back down the hall and re-armed the system.

"They won't get me," I mumbled defiantly as I punched in the code.

As I turned, the sirens blared again. I disarmed the alarm and reset it. I walked to a window to look for the police. The alarm sounded a third time. Once again I disarmed it and reset it.

Walking back to my office, the alarm sounded again. I disarmed it. Wait a minute; this alarm system must be fouled up. I called the alarm company.

"Our alarm system keeps going off," I told the fellow who answered. "We've either got some determined thieves or a malfunction."

"There could be one other option," he said. "Did you know that your building is equipped with a motion detector?"

Then the police arrived. "I think the problem is on the inside, not the outside," I told them, embarrassed that I was the culprit setting of the alarm.

Am I the only one to blame an inside problem on an outside source?

Alarms sound in your world as well. Heaven knows you don't silence life's alarm by pretending they aren't screaming. But heaven also knows it's wise to look in the mirror before you peek out the window.

Citation: Max Lucado, "Back Door," Christian Reader (May/June 2002), p. 72; excerpted from When God Whispers Your Name (W Publishing Group, 1994). Used by permission of W Publishing Group, Nashville, Tennessee