The Inward Journey | Dr. David Jeremiah

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Bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and that is to come. And at the beginning, he says, "Exercise yourself toward godliness." What does that mean? I've always loved that verse because the word exercise in that verse comes from a Greek word.

And here's the Greek word. I'm going to pronounce it. Gimnado. It's the word from which we get the word gymnasium. And what Paul is saying to Timothy is just like you need to go to the gym and stay in shape physically, you need to go to the spiritual gym and stay in shape spiritually.

Just like there are exercises that help you to become stronger physically, there are exercises that cause you to become stronger spiritually. With the noise of the holidays behind us, we look ahead to a new year and a new day. As you step out into this new year, where will your path take you?

Whether you realize it or not, you are ((music playing)) a part of God's unfolding story. Are you prepared ((music playing)) for wherever that journey takes you? Hello, I'm David Jeremiah and welcome to Turning Point. If the events of recent years have taught us anything, it's that we cannot control what happens in the world around us.

So today, I would like to challenge you to leave behind the worries that ((music playing)) are present in our world today. and instead to look inward ((music playing)) and examine what we can do to control ourselves. You know, it's hard to imagine the new year being any more unpredictable than what we've recently experienced.

But we must be ready. And to do that, we need to prepare ourselves ((music playing)) for the unknown by taking an internal review. That's why we've entitled today's message the inward journey. First, we'll identify the distractions ((music playing)) to our inner life that can well lead to devastating external consequences when they go unadressed.

And then we'll establish some disciplines for the inner life to assist us as we begin moving forward with a fresh outlook for the new year. So, please join me on today's edition of Turning Point. In late May of 2010, when the tropical storm Agatha had finally finished its course, a 330 ft deep sinkhole opened up in downtown Guatemala City.

Now, like all sinkholes, this one caused the ground to collapse, and in this case, it sucked the land into the hole, including electricity poles. a three-story factory building and one security guard all sucked into this sinkhole. Now, in case you're not up on what a sinkhole is, let me tell you, a sinkhole is created when the ground underneath the surface is rich in easily dissolved rock type.

And if enough water seeps into that area, these formations collapse and they create a large crater known as a sinkhole. Let me ask you a question. How many of you have ever seen a sinkhole of any kind? Quite a few of us. Land that looks stable and strong on the surface suddenly collapses, often producing havoc for anyone who lives near the sinkhole.

Unfortunately, our interior lives can sometimes resemble the danger zone of a sinkhole. when we're too busy to spend time with God or when we refuse to deal with past hurts or habitual sin or secret addictions or character flaws, we set ourselves up for a collapse. The surface of our life may look stable and secure, but underneath the exterior, we're actually sitting on a fragile base. and the storms of life or even just the normal process of living can suddenly expose our hidden vulnerabilities and it causes something that kind of looks like a spiritual sinkhole.

I want to ask you to think about a journey that is not quantified by charts or graphs. I want you to anticipate a year that is not validated by how many or how much. I want to ask you to think with me for these moments about a journey inward.

When I speak of an inward journey, maybe I can give you an illustration of that from a rather strange passage, but a passage that really illustrates the truth. Romans 2:28 and 29 Paul's writing to the Romans and he says this for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit not in the letter.

The Apostle Paul was reminding his readers that outwardness is not authentic unless it is the reflection of the inwardness of one's life. It's not the flesh but the heart. It's not the letter, it's the spirit. And the inner life describes the heart behind the habits. It describes the belief behind the behavior.

It describes the desire behind the duty. Unless you think this is a negative thing we're going to discuss, let me remind you that we should be greatly encouraged that God does not want us to live as hypocrites. No, God wants us to live transformed all the way down to who we are.

He wants us to live from the inside out. He doesn't want us to go around posturing all the time trying to cover up what we really know is true. Now, nobody does that perfectly. Not in this world, because we're all flawed and we're all sinners. We still have the old nature.

But as we think about the beginning of this new year and the opportunities it presents, I want to talk with you about the distractions and the disciplines of an inward life. Miriam Webster says, "A distraction is something that draws or directs your attention to a different object or in a different direction at the same time you're supposed to be concentrating on something else."

And there are two distractions I want to talk to you about that can get in our way of growing in Christ. The first one is the distraction I'm going to call it frenzy. The distraction of frenzy. A busyiness. Did you know that busyness can be an addictive drug?

You say, "What do you mean?" That's why they call them workaholics. According to James Houston, busyiness for many people acts to repress our inner fears and personal anxieties. We get busy because we can't deal with what's really true in our own life. So we cover it all up by just getting so busy.

We just go from one thing to the next and we don't have to think about what's really important. And so when we will not provide a place for the direction of the indwelling Christ, all that is left is the frenzied agenda of a hassled disciplehip. That's the first distraction.

The second distraction is what I'm going to call familiarity. We become like the people that Paul wrote to Timothy about. You know what he said about these people? He said, "They have a form of godliness, but they don't have any power." On two occasions in the book of Revelation, John wrote to some churches.

Listen to how he described these churches. This is the church of Sardis. He said, "These things, says he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works that you have a name that you are alive, but you're dead." And to the church of Leadyia, he said this.

You say, "I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." We can become so familiar with the outward tokens of our faith that they no longer draw us inward toward God. Many of us are like Samson, who did not know that his strength was gone until he needed it, and then it wasn't there.

You remember his story? He had his hair cut off by Delilah and that was the source of his strength and he didn't know it. When he woke up, the Bible says he got up as he had done before and he was weak. There was no strength. So these distractions that we deal with, how do we deal with them?

In this section of my message, I want to talk about the disciplines that will defeat the distractions. And I want to tell you something. There's no rocket science here. And this is not something you probably haven't heard before, but at the beginning of this new year, this is what I believe God wants to lay on our hearts.

So before I go there, I want to remind you of the importance of discipline in the Christian life. I know that's not a favorite word of many. I struggle with discipline myself. All of us do. If we don't, we're not being honest. But no one really succeeds without discipline.

We need it. We need to develop it. We need God to help us become more disciplined about the things that really matter. Paul wrote to young Timothy and he said, Timothy, bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and that is to come.

And at the beginning he says, "Exercise yourself toward godliness." What does that mean? I've always loved that verse because the word exercise in that verse comes from a Greek word. And here's the Greek word. I'm going to pronounce it. Gimnado. It's the word from which we get the word gymnasium.

And what Paul is saying to Timothy is just like you need to go to the gym and stay in shape physically, you need to go to the spiritual gym and stay in shape spiritually. Just like there are exercises that help you to become stronger physically, there are exercises that cause you to become stronger spiritually.

And then he goes on to say that bodily exercise is temporal. Our bodies wear out. But the Bible says while bodily exercise is temporal, spiritual exercise profits us now and throughout eternity. So he's making the case that while you make a priority of physical exercise, don't forget spiritual exercise.

And in reality, if you look at it biblically, spiritual exercise is way more important because it has a longer shelf life. Right. >> Right. >> So what discipline do we begin with if we're living lives out of control frenzy? Where do we go? Well, the discipline of solitude is one that we might suggest.

And I want to give you a verse that's so important, I'm going to read it to you in four different translations or paraphrases. Here is the verse. Psalm 46:10. Be still and know that I am God. Listen to the other translations of this verse. I love this. Psalm 46:10 in the Living Bible.

Stand silent. Know I am God. Here is the Amplified Bible. Be still and know recognize and understand that I am God. And my favorite is the message. Step out of the traffic. Take a long loving look at me. Your high God above politics. above everything. Be still and know that I am God.

Now, what's the problem with those verses for all of us? We're never still. We get up in the morning and it's a rat race all the way through the whole day. We put our tired heads on the pillow at night only to get up the next day and start over.

We don't have any solitude in our lives. And solitude in itself is not what will help you out of your frenzy. But what happens when you are still before God? You listen for his inner voice in your heart. The next thing you know, you're talking to God and you're praying.

Because when you're still before God, the discipline of solitude joins hands with the discipline of prayer. And Isaiah says that when we pray, God will keep us in perfect peace because our mind is stayed on him. When you get into fellowship with God through his son Jesus Christ, something happens in your heart.

If you rush into every day without any time whatsoever for God, God won't abandon you, but you will not be aware of his presence. And that's the problem. The discipline for frenzy is solitude and prayer. Now, the discipline for familiarity is Bible study. And I know you're going to say, "Well, Dr.

Jeremiah, we expect you to say that. That's what we pay you to say." Listen carefully. The journey inward is not possible without the Bible. The Bible itself is not the answer. It is our use of the Bible that makes the difference. We have to allow the Bible's truth to wash over our minds and thoughts and fill the emptiness in our hearts.

Paul told the Romans that the only way they could recover from the pull of the world upon them was through the renewing of their mind. He said, "Don't be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind so that you can determine what's right."

What does it mean the renewing of your mind? I liken it to a spiritual transfusion. You don't get rid of worldly, negative, sinful thoughts by making up your mind to get rid of them. You get rid of them by replacing them. You force truth into your mind and that forces all of the junk out.

If you're going to get positive input, there's only one place I can promise you you can get it and it's in the word of God. And Paul said, "You renew your mind by the word of God." How many of you know that sometimes there's a little verse, and I don't mean this in any other way than it's just pregnant. 1 Thessalonians 2:13 is a pregnant verse.

It's a verse that that's just begging to be born in your life and in mine. And it's just chuck full. So, I'm going to give you a little outline of 1 Thessalonians 2:13. And this is what the Bible says we should do with the word of God. Let me read the verse.

For this reason, we also thank God without ceasing. Because when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. Here's what we are challenged to do with the Bible according to First Thessalonians 2:13.

We're to accept it. You received the word of God which you heard from us. We hear the word of God today through preaching and reading and watching and personal testimony and we listen to it. But how many of you know the hearing of the word of God is becoming more and more rare.

Even in many churches, the word of God is given just a lick and a promise. It's incidentally involved in the service. But our church services ought to be all about the word of God. Amos the prophet said, "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord."

Amos said, "There's coming a day when there will be a famine of the hearing of the words of the Lord." We have discovered that people want the word of God. We cannot give them something inferior that will ever satisfy them. Over the years that I've been doing this now for almost 50 years, I have been just doing the same thing.

I've avoided all the culde-sacs, all the detours, all the let's try this, let's try that. No, there's only one thing you can do. The word of God comes with a promise that it will never return unto God without accomplishing his purpose. We need to accept the word of God.

Here's the second thing. We need to anticipate the word of God. He says, "You welcomed the word of God." That has the idea of getting excited that it's going to happen. You didn't just listen to it. You were anxious to hear it. You wanted the word of God in your life.

The two words used in this verse are quite different. The first one means to hear with your ears, but the second one means to hear with your heart. When you came to the word of God, you had an anticipation that God was going to say something to you from this book that was going to mean something to you in your life.

Do you come to the scripture like that? Do you come to church like that? Do you pray as you come to church? Lord, help Pastor Jeremiah to say something today that will help me understand the situation I'm in. Direct me to a scripture that I And you know, God does that.

He does it in a way that's just amazing. I can preach on something that has nothing to do with what's going on in your life, but incidentally, I will say something and God will use that to help you get through your situation. How do I know that? I read letters about that every single week.

And I think to myself, when did I say that? You accept the word of God. You anticipate the word of God. You appreciate the word of God, not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. Paul was rejoicing that these Thessalonian believers when they read the word of God, they didn't read it like it was a book written by men.

They read it as a book coming from God. This book is not human. This book is supernatural. This book is God's book. And when you read it, it's not going to have the same impact on you as if you're reading a novel. This book will come to you in a way that is just amazing.

We should never approach the Bible as we approach other books that we read. The Bible is different in origin and in character and in content and in cost. The Bible is the word of God. It is inspired by the spirit of God. I believe the Bible is the inspired, infallible, authoritative word of God.

That's what we teach and preach. That's what we believe. So you accept the word of God. You anticipate it. you appreciate it. And then in the same verse, here's an incredible little phrase. You apply the word of God, most important of all, which also effectively works in you who believe.

Do you see that in the text? He says, you accept the word of God because it is working in you. It's energetically working in your life. Let me ask you this question. Is God's word energetically working in your life? Is it making a difference? When Paul says that God has an effective work in the hearts of those who believe, he is saying that when anyone, anytime, anywhere believes the message of the Bible, something will happen in his life.

This is a dynamic book. Hebrews says, "The word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword." What I've been talking to you about today is mirrored in the New Testament by the words of Jesus. Listen to these words. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew the beat on the house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell and great was its fall.

I want to tell you two things about this story that you may never have heard before because I never thought of them quite this way. First of all, the blessing or the curse of your response to the word of God is not whether you heard the words or not.

Notice what it says. Whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them. So the issue isn't whether or not you heard the word of God. The issue is whether or not you do the word of God. I want you to imagine with me that the two houses in Jesus parable are on the same street.

They're actually next to each other. They're built by the same builder. And you can see the similarity of the houses. And you don't know there's anything different about these houses because they look the same. They're almost mirrors of each other. And then one day, the Bible says the storm came and the rain came down and the floods came down and the house that was built here on the rock is standing strong, but the house that was built on the sand crumbles and great is its fall.

Here's what I want you to remember. Whether or not you build your foundation strong is your choice. And you may be able to go through life and nobody will know whether you're doing that or not. But one day, and maybe it's happened already, the storm will come. And the storm will not make you what you are.

The storm will reveal what you are. The storm is very non-discerning of who we are or what we've done. The storm hits everybody the same. And the ((music playing)) difference is whether or not you've built a strong foundation. So, as we go into this new year, as lovingly as I can without making this a guilt trip, cuz it's not, I just want to encourage you as to how you can make this year the best year you ever had.

No matter what goes on in life, frenzy ((music playing)) can grab hold of us if we don't find a place to be still and know that God is there. and familiarity. We're all victims of that. The way we ((music playing)) overcome that is get a fresh word from God every day and know that God is he's not static.

He's dynamic. And you can be dynamic if you let the word of God fill your life. ((music playing)) And now with one last word for today's program, here is Dr. Jeremiah. People are often looking for various methods to find peace and security within, especially ((music playing)) when there's chaos occurring all around them.

There's one prerequisite for cultivating the inner strength and peace we need for our journey of life, and it is found in Jesus ((music playing)) Christ. The steadfast and unwavering peace of God cannot be found externally. It begins with a ((music playing)) spiritual birth through Jesus Christ. My prayer ((music playing)) is that you have placed your trust in Christ as your unshakable foundation for your life and for eternity.

To help you begin and continue in your faith life, I would love to send you two free gifts. One is a booklet called Your Greatest Turning ((music playing)) Point and the other is our monthly devotional magazine called Turning Points. These two resources have helped many people ((music playing)) in their walk of faith, and I know they'll be meaningful to you as well.

So, we'll gladly send ((music playing)) these gifts to you free of charge if you will contact us here at Turning Point today. >> Next time ((music playing)) on Turning Point, >> here is the greatest commandment. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. and love your neighbor as yourself because that illustrates how much you love God.

There is a real sense men and women in that we cannot love God unless we love ((music playing)) others. >> Join us next time for Dr. Jeremiah's message, Fully Engaged ((music playing)) with God, here on Turning Point. >> ((music playing))