Intimacy with the Almighty

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Intimacy with the Almighty
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Staying with Our First Love

• A beautiful paradox
• Almighty, omnipotent God
• Who wants us to enjoy intimacy with Him
• The world is working against us in this...
• Jam packed schedules, financial pressures,
  competing values try to distract
• Even sincere Christians in successful churches
  struggle to see its importance

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The Ephesian Church

• Revelation 2 1-4
• John R. Stott
• Their first flush of ecstasy had passed. Their
  early devotion to Christ had cooled. They had
  been in love with Him, but they had fallen out of
  love.
• It doesnt have to be that way.

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Intimacy Defined

• Webster
• Being intimate belonging to or characterizing
  ones deepest nature... marked by very close
  association, contact, or familiarity... marked
  by a warm friendship developing through long
  association.

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How Intimacy Develops

• Close relationships
• take time to develop
• require work and dedication to maintain
• require commitment
• dont happen naturally, automatically, quickly or
  easily
• Quick-fix formulas make for shallow, superficial
  faith

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Deeper Lives

• Richard Foster
• Superficiality is the curse of our age. The
  doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary
  spiritual problem. The desperate need today is
  not for a greater number of intelligent people,
  or for gifted people, but for deep people.

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Deepening our Walk with the Lord

• Many elements we cant plan or package...
• God may allow suffering to deepen us.
• He might bring unexpected blessing to show us His
  character.
• We often have a definite responsibility in the
  process. James 48a
• Our part involves discipline

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Discipline

• Discipline the Greek concept simply means to
  train. 1Timothy 47b-8
• Exercise daily in Godno spiritual flabbiness,
  please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but
  a disciplined life in God is far more so, making
  you fit both today and forever.
• The Message
• Make it a priority, dont approach it casually.

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Disciplines for Cultivating Intimacy

• Simplicity - requires re-ordering our lives.
• Silence - asks us to be still.
• Solitude - involves cultivating serenity.
• Surrender - beckons us to let go.

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Where are We Headed?

• You may discover you need to make some changes in
  your life.
• God will not always speed up to walk with us. He
  expects us to slow our pace to walk with Him.
• He expects us to provide some quietness where His
  still and small voice can be heard.

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Simplicity

• Reordering Our Lives

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Defining Simplicity

• The Lords great invitation to Intimacy
• Revelation 320
• Can we hear His knocking?
• Can we hear His voice over the clamor?
• Definition - Simplicity
• the arrangement of life around a few consistent
  purposes, explicitly excluding what is not
  necessary to human well-being

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Seeking His Kingdom

• Consistent Purposes - Matthew 633
• By loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind,
  and by loving our neighbor as ourselves -
  Matthew 2236-40

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Whats the Problem?Symptoms of a
Simplicity-Deficient Life

• Most of us say yes to too many things.
• Most of us do not plan well enough ahead or think
  through our schedules to leave time for leisure
  and rest.
• Most of us have too many things on our plate to
  get done in the allotted time.
• Most in America have too much debt.
• Most of us fool ourselves into thinking that
  because we live in a modern world of high-tech
  equipment, we are simplifying our lives.

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Whats the Problem?Diagnosis of the Core Problem

• Deceit - 2 Corinthians 113
• My fear is that, as he did with Eve, Satan
  should seduce you away from a simplicity of
  devotion to the Savior.
• -- Paul
• Do you have too much clutter within to leave
  sufficient room for devotion to Christ?
• Have you begun to get self-impressed or
  sophisticated about your faith?

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Prescriptions for a Simpler LifeIn Your Own
Personal World

• Is there something you must do about your time
  with God?
• Do you need to say no more often?
• Have you become cluttered in your person?

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Prescriptions for a Simpler LifeIn Your World of
Relationships

• Are the good things keeping you from the best?
• Are too many things draining your energy, leaving
  you exhaustedeven resentful?
• Are the activities outside your home stealing
  time from those within the
  home?

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Intimacy with the Almighty
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Silence and Solitude

• Essentials for Intimacy

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The List Gets Tougher!
Be still and know that I am God Psalm 4610
NIV
Cease striving and know that I am God Psalm
4610
Stand Silent! Know that I am God Psalm 4610
TLB
Let be and be still, and know recognize and
understand -- that I am God Psalm 4610 AMP
Give in, he cries, admit that I am God.
Psalm 4610 Moffat
Is this a dream???
Stop fighting, he says, and know that I am
God. Psalm 4610 TEV

• Is this possible in our noisy, busy world?
• Swindoll I am more convinced than ever that
  there is no way you and I can move toward a
  deeper, intimate relationship with our God
  without protracted times of stillness, which
  includes one of the rarest of all experiences
  absolute silence.

Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look
at me, your High God, above politics, above
everything. Psalm 4610 The Message
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As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my
soul pants for Thee, O God, Psalm 421
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The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He
makes me lie down in green pastures He leads me
beside quiet waters. He restores my soul.
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What does Silence Create?

• Makes room for listening
• Gives us freedom to observe
• Allows us time to think
• Provides space to feel
• Lets us broaden our awareness
• Opens us to the entry of peace
• Invites us to know our limitedness

The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth
Keep silence before Him. Habakuk 220
And Gods vastness
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Silence has a partner
Silence means protracted periods of quite where
we grow deeper in an increasing awareness of the
real presence of God.

• Solitude
• Discover our own thoughts
• Filter out the non-essentials
• Find our own peace
• Rest and re-group
• Recall the meaning of our unique call
• Hone and craft what we value
• Gain perspective
• Reinforce our focus
• Re-acquaint ourselves with our dreams
• Become more attentive to God

Solitude is being alone away from the constant
pull of others demands, interruptions,
schedules, and expectations. Time Alone with
God.
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Even Jesus needed solitude
We need to find God, and He cannot be found in
noise and restlessness. God is the friend of
silence. See how nature trees, flowers, grass
grows in silence see the stars, the moon and the
sun, how they move in silence We need silence to
be able to touch souls. Mother Teresa
Very early in the morning, while it was still
dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off
to a solitary place, where he prayed. Mark 135
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Silence and Solitude Twin means of God-directed
rest

• Since SILENCE is the gateway to depth, its worth
  every effort to make it happen.
• Carve out an hour or two, perhaps an afternoon or
  even a whole day. Refrain from speaking, escape
  from noise, and quiet your soul.
• Since SOLITUDE is the gateway to discovery, it is
  too important to ignore.
• Use a journal to preserve what you learn in
  solitude.

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Surrender
Intimacy Requires Letting Go
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Getting Close Sometimes Means Letting Go

• God made our hands and our hearts able to hold
  only so much.
• If we hang on to too many things, or the wrong
  things, we can distance ourselves from whats
  really important.
• Philippians 38a AMPLIFIED
• SURRENDER Letting go of interests that keep us
  at arms length from Him.

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Letting Go

• Let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin
  which so easily entangles us, and let us run with
  patience the race that is set before us.
• Hebrews 121

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Running the Race

• Lightening the Load Heb. 121
• Lighten our load before running the race.
• Throw off anything that hinders us in the
  spiritual race.
• Shedding The Sin
• Possibly refers to one specific sin, rather than
  generalities could it be the sin of unbelief?
• See Hebrews 11 12

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Focusing on Christ

• Christ Our Example
• Hebrews 122
• Christ Ultimate Model of Surrender
• Philippians 23-11
• Only truly humble people can surrender.
• Dont Despair Compare
• Hebrews 123

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Four Areas of Surrender

• Our Possessions
• Our Position
• Our Plans
• Our People

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Intimacy with the Almighty
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3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain
conceit, but in humility consider others better
than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not
only to your own interests, but also to the
interests of others.
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5Your attitude should be the same as that of
Christ Jesus 6 Who, being in very nature
God, did not consider equality with God
something to be grasped, 7 but made himself
nothing, taking the very nature of a
servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And
being found in appearance as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient to death even
death on a cross!
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9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every
name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2 3-11
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I count everything loss compared to the
possession of the priceless privilege (the
overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth,
and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my
Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply
and intimately acquainted with Him of perceiving
and recognizing and understanding Him more fully
and clearly. Philippians 38a
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1To the angel of the church in Ephesus
write These are the words of him who holds the
seven stars in his right hand and walks among the
seven golden lampstands 2I know your deeds, your
hard work and your perseverance. I know that you
cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested
those who claim to be apostles but are not, and
have found them false. 3You have persevered and
have endured hardships for my name, and have not
grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you You
have forsaken your first love.
Revelation 21-4
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8Come near to God and he will come near to you.
James 48a
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2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and
perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set
before him endured the cross, scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God.
Hebrews 122
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3Consider him who endured such opposition from
sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and
lose heart.
Hebrews 123