Tuesday, June 5, 2012

When You Don’t Desire God


When You Don’t Desire God
What To Do When… Series

Reading of the word of God
Ps 34:1-8
I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Let’s pray
Father, your Word is full of the very truths that set us free. And as we grow in greater understanding of your truth, we are liberated in greater depths of trust, and love and worship for Your Glory! This morning Father, Liberate us from our fleshly callous desires and ignite a desire in us for your glory to be shown. Liberate our  noncaring and joyless attitudes we may have about you.  Resurrect our love for you.
Incline our hearts to your testimony and not to selfish gain.
Open our eyes that we may see wonderous things from your Word today.
Unite our hearts to fear you name
Satisfy us with your steadfast love so we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
In Christ name
Amen

Warm Up
You may be seated.  If you need a bible please raise your hand and we’ll get one to you.For those who don’t know who I am, my name is Eric  Mattie. I serve as one of the elders here at LEFC. I appreciate this body’s openness to different mouth for God’s word to be preached. We each bring a different style, a different passion to the Word. Each unique in our delivery, yet still the same Word of God brought to this congregation for its exhorting, instruction and correction. I praise God for that and I thank him for this opportunity.

Today’s message is titled “When I Don’t Desire God” I’ve included notes within your bulletin if you’d like to follow the train of thought for today go ahead and take them.

Introduction
Starting out in Psalm 34 we see David, a man after God’s own heart, who is on the run from Saul and  just got done fleeing a Philistine King by acting crazy, he is in a cave, blessing the Lord, exalting God and desiring God to be glorified. It is here in verse 8 where David says taste and see that the Lord is good.
         It is an interesting comment to taste the Lord…  to see the Lord. 
We see earlier that the desire of David is the magnifying of the Lord.
He wants others to exalt His name with him. 
And he starts the psalm with the dedication and commitment continually praise Him.
We see that he sought the Lord. The word sought implys a searching. a seeking. he treaded and pursued God and the result was the Lord answering. He took the pains of seeking the Lord and while he took refuge in Him, David declares the he was blessed.

You are probably thinking “What does this have to do about not desiring God, obviously, David desired God! this text and your title are confusing, why are you showing us David Eric?
         If you are anything like me, growing slowly in the Lord, reading carefully His word, thinking quietly on what is being revealed about God and his people. If you are anything like me, you may look at the psalms and realize there is a gap between what the Psalmist says in his prayer life (in this case David) and what I say in my prayer life. If you are anything like me you see an intimacy and satisfaction in the Lord that is still foreign to you.
         Maybe up here (mind) you can amen it and you work hard at Loving God with your mind and you have the theology or you are growing in understanding of who God. But down here (heart) your affections are not expressed in the same terminology found here in the Psalms.         If Psalms are to be an example and inspiration for us to worship, we need to observe deeper than just the circumstances and the words.
We need to see the heart. For it is the heart that in Scripture says is          The seat of emotions, the seat of knowledge  and wisdom, the seat of conscious and moral character, the seat of DESIRE, INCLINATION AND WILL.          David, desired God here, David had affection for God here. And we might not be desiring god this way.

If we are going to talk about what to do when you don’t desire God we have to understand what desiring God means. Let’s try to define it. First
         To desire means,         1. to have affection     2. to anticipate            3. to crave      4. to yearn for 5. to long for    6. to hunger after        7 to want something badly     8. to thirst        9.to ache          10.  to have passion for
         GOD!
         (PREACH) All these things, we are to have. In our deepest recesses in our soul this definition of desire is the deepest love we can experience.      In love we have affection and anticipation and hope and longings and cravings and passions. In love for God, He is the object of our hope, our longings and aching and thirsting AND ALL THESE THINGS
·         And we see here in Psalm 34 when the Lord is found and we begin to enjoy him, verse 5 says that when we look at Him, our faces are radiant.           What does that mean? To be radiant means  literally to sparkle. Fig. they are cheerful. The radiance of God is sparkling on their face. It reflects a delight they are experiencing in enjoying God himself.     Not his hand of provision, protection and power, but HIM      In his glory, we enjoy seeing God in His glory.        

·         Such a vision, clearly doesn’t make it about me  and my being blessed. It becomes all about him and his glory our desire becomes all about that very goal.

As a church our mission is:
By grace, we desire to glorify God by intentionally making mature disciples of Jesus Christ.
         What the desire?         To glorify God           What the means to do this: by making disciples of Jesus by grace.
In the elders efforts to Building the Body here at LEFC, we are careful not to try and become a machined manufactured ministry that exult the method instead of the Messiah. And while there is some intentional actions we are doing and values we are encouraging you to embrace, we realize that God does the work in each and every heart. He brings the people through these doors and calls them to himself.
(EMPHASIZE)        And to that means, of God being the author and finisher of your faith that we continually call this congregation to avail itself to the ministries that are here and start to intentionally become a mature disciple in Christ who glorifies God the most by being satisfied in Him to the fullest!

Such desire…. Such passion…. Do you desire God like that? To truly make your life, not about your comforts and collections and careers, but to make your life truly satisfied in Him, so that he might be glorified.
         Such a question, might cause some of  you a crisis of your faith. Perhaps you realize that since you crossed that line of faith, your affections are not changed. You don’t desire God and His glory like that. You don’t get the rejoicing in God commands and the love God with your whole heart commands. In fact you’re unsure where this leaves you.
         For some of you, you may understand these things and you have identified a dry spell in your desire for God. Your going through the motions but figuratively speaking you are dying on the vine not sure what to do next. You sense an apathy for Christ and it is beginning to be a comfortable apathy where it no longer bothers you.
         For some you have this mental agreement but are having a tough time finding the affectionate love for your Savior that I’m talking about.
Each of those things are what this message addresses.       In your outline: What to Do when you Don’t desire God, we are going to spend our time with both information of theology and then application of theology because if this message was just about what to do, I’d fear that we create a legalistic approach and you’d leave with more burdens on your heart and lives that are not necessary. So in starting out lets get our theology straight by saying…

When You Don’t Desire God…
1. Understand the Desire for God is a Gift from God.
Like salvation, which is a gift from God offered freely to you, Desire for God is a gift from God.

In Salvation
We are not saved because of our physical circumstances, physical appearances, our financial records or good nature. The bible says before Christ

We are dead in our sins and we desire the passions of the sinful nature
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.        Eph. 2:1-3

We are hostile to God and cannot submit to God or please him  
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Rom 8:7-8

We cannot understand the things of God in fact we view the things of God as stupid (or folly) (or foolishness)
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Cor 2:14

(PREACH) But then one day, God called out your name.  Like Lazurus “Come forth”  He called out “Dead man in Sin come forth and  you became born again. It was a gift of His Grace

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved…  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”            Ephesians 2:4-9
·         He opened your eyes to see your sinfulness and the beauty of Christ death and resurrection  and the offer of forgiveness  and he justified you.

·         His shining of the truth in to your life is a gift, you couldn’t figure it out unless he opened your eyes
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:9-10
·         Your trust in Him is given from Him he gave you the faith to believe.
For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,                                                                                                             Phil 1:29-30

When you are growing in Christ you are realizing that His mercies are new every morning and as you walk in Him He is revealing more and more of His gifts to you that are in Christ. More and more mercy poured out to you to enjoy and rest in and praise Him for…

And here is the gift of the Desire for God
In Desiring God
And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. Deut 30:6-7
·         It says here God will cut away the thick calluses on your heart  (your sinful heart )and your children's hearts, freeing you to love God, with your whole heart and soul. You will have an affection for God fully!

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.                                         Ezek 36:26
·         He will give us a new heart for Him and a new spirit His spirit that is alive!!
·         He will remove the hard heartedness we had in our sin. Our hatred for God in our being. The veil of understand in the eyes of our hearts.
·         And at salvation you opened this word and you began to understand His word, He opened your eyes and you saw you tasted that the Lord was Good.

This is all a gift! To Desire God is not something we do for ourselves, Its something He puts within us.
Look at this verse:
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.           John 6:35-36
          Notice the words hunger and thirst!  That’s desire! Jesus promises to satisfy our spiritual hunger. He promises to quench our spiritual thirst… in HIM And as frail and mortal people with human tendencies, we continue to hunger for God and thirst for God.

Look at another of David’s psalm turn to Psam 42
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.2  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.                                                                                                                                     Ps 42:1-2
We see in the life of David that he found times of satisfaction and delight in God. AND He found times where he longed for God acknowledged his desire and God answered Him.
Restatement:
         When we don’t have the desire for God and His glory we must understand the desire of God comes from God. So while we may up here say “Yes I want it, but down here we have no desire for God”  we need to be aware that God’s grace enables us to have that desire.
        
The very thing God works in us, He works out of us. Notice
“Therefore, my beloved…  work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Phil 2:12-13
         This is not gaining and maintaining our salvation through works. To clarify, this verse says God works powerfully, (actually energetically) in us.  He exerts such an influence over us as to lead to a certain result in our minds "to will and to do."
We have a part in desiring God but it is not to create it within us.
Notice how Paul viewed it
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.                                                                             1 Cor 3:5-7
                     Ill. Think of it like a farmer. He cannot create the  crop. But he cultivates an environment to allow the crop to come. Out of the ground. He waters, he tends weeds. That is how we are to work with God. He works in us to work out of us the desires.
For the remaining time I want to give you some application of God’s word in this vein: that you are weeding out different desires and watering the desire for God that he has planted in you. Again not for legalism, but for proper living out and growing the love for God in you.
So
When you don’t desire God the number 1 thing is to understand that the desire for God is a Gift from God.
#2

When You Don’t Desire God…
2. Undermine the Desire of the Devil, the World and Your Flesh.
To undermine something mean to weaken or wear something down. I want to give you three tools for these three desires that fight against our desire for God.

Desire of the Devil
There is one desire of the devil:
“Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

“Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.”
Luke 8:12
As unbelievers the enemy will do everything in his power to deny God’s existence  and his ability. He deceives unbelievers and tries to steal the Glory of the grace and goodness of God.
         Yet as believers, who have a relationship with God, the enemy cannot touch your salvation. The Bible  says that the Holy Spirit of God has sealed us for the day of redemption. But he will work at causing you to doubt God’s personhood and power.
          The devil wants to devour your faith. He will steal the Word of God for you. He will kill your schedule with goo things and busyness so you are not in the Word.  But we need to stay in the word of God to grow our faith. You see the devil knows Scripture he knows

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Rom 10:17

So here’s the first tool:  (declare) Undermine the desire of the devil by
         Digging into God’s Word
When we read, and meditate and memorize the Word of God, it strengthen and awakens our faith. Jesus says his words are life (John 6:63). When we open this word and plan to read everyday it gives us the hope we need. It leads us to freedom as we see His truth. It is the source of wisdom for living. It provides for us protection we need through warnings and command. Digging into God’s Word enables us to defeat the devil. Ultimately His Word is the source of great and lasting joy.

“I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.” Ps 119:162

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Ps 119:103

Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold.” Ps 119:127

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.                                   Jer 15:16

·         Illustration: The Chuch Swindoll encounter Mel and I had. The question Melanie asked: “How do you maintain your passion for Jesus after all these years.  “Carve out a portion of the day to open the Word and fellowship with Him.                Wow Simple but powerful.
·         George Mueller, one of the top heroes of the faith in my book. Famous for founding orphanages in Bristol England in the 1800’s and depended on God to supply all of his needs, on a adaily basis said this:
“In what way shall we attain to this settled happiness of soul? How shall we learn to enjoy God? How shall we obtain such an all sufficient soul satisfying portion in him as shall enable us to let go the things of this world as vain and worthless in comparison? I answer, This happiness is to be obtained through the study of the Holy Scriptures. God has therein revealed Himself unto us in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Desires of the World
The Pride of Life The world announces its independence and seeks to be idolized. It seeks S.E.L.F. in the following ways: Success and security without God. Exaltation and promotion of self. Live for nothing greater than self. Forsake any help or close friendships.
         These are the very things the world preaches and promotes
We see a great description of one man victory over worldly desires.
“By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. “Heb 11:24-26
·         Moses desired allegence with God  and facing suffering for His Lord a greater delight than the treasures of Egypt!. He desired it over the “fleeting pleasures of sin.”

Look at this verse
 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions,”                                                                            Titus 2:11-12
The NIV says that grace teaches, encourages, corrects and disciplines us  to say “no” to ungodliness and worldly passions.
From this verse I give you this tool to undermine to desires of the world:
         Encouraging yourself in the Lord
Preach the word to yourself. Preach it hard as to correct yourself. Make the meditations of God your content.
But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. Ps 59:16-17

I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. Ps 77:11-12

J.I. Packer says about meditation:
“Meditation is  the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of god. It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of god, as a means of communion with God, and to let his truth make its full impact on one’s mind and heart.  It is a matter of talking oneself about God and oneself; it is indeed, often a matter of arguing with oneself, reasoning oneself out of moods of doubt and unbelief into a clear apprehension of God’s greatness and reassures us—“comfort” us, in the old, strong Bible sense of the word—as we contemplate the unsearchable riches of divine mercy displayed in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
                                                                                                         J.I. Packer, KnowingGod
Encourage yourself out of the pride of life and its promotions. Don’t let the discouragements that come from unfulfilled worldly desires send you into a deep depression.
         Undermine the desires of the world by encouraging yourself. Preach what the Lord promotes, Meditate on what the Lord treasures. Encourage yourself, not about yourself and how you can do it, but how the Lord is strong and He can do anything.


Desire of the Flesh
Back in Eph 2 we learned that before Christ we
“lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”                                                             Eph 2:3
        
“In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.”
Gal 4:3-4
The New Testament over and over again, gives the picture of an unbeliever, one who is not a Christian as a prisoner, a slave, captive, in bondage. That all mankind men and women and children who haven’t accepted God’s gracious gift that is Found in the Son of God are Enslaved by sin… Entangled by Satan’s lies…. And Enjoying the desires of their sinful nature
Before Christ we had a sinful nature that was programmed only to yield to temptations. Growing up in this world without a proper biblical world view and the Spirit living inside of us we have  formed habits of filling our hunger and thirsts with all that this world has to offer. We have learned to love the world yet as new
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. “                                   1 John 2:15-17
The Desires of the Flesh. The world appeals to the natural desires of people and invites us to satisfy them in sinful ways. Ways to F.E.E.L. good like: Forbidden sexual passions. Eating disorders. Extreme gorging to fill up empty spots in life. Lazy lifestyles. We love the world when we look to it instead of depending on God, to satisfy these desires.
          The Lust of the Eyes The world attracts us to values and wants that are contrary to God's Word. W.A.N.T.S. like: Wine and alcohol drunkenness. Applause and awards. Narcissism and self trust. Temporal and material pursuits. Sensual and erotic desires..
          
Now In Christ we have a New Nature and a New Option on How to handle temptations
But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,  and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.                                                                                                           Rom 6:17-18
·         Yet we need to undermine the desires of our old self, our fleshly habits a fleshly love and sinful affections that we are accustom to returning to. It has become default behavior in our life and we struggle to fight to reset our behavior and desires to be for God and His Glory.
How can we undermine the old habits and desires of our flesh:
         I’m going to give you a starting point and then a key. It’s not my key, it’s something I heard which is great and want to pass along to you.
         How do we undermine our Flesh? The starting point: THROUGH PRAYER!  Now what I want to pass along to you is the acronym IOUS it comes from material from John Piper and here it is. Undermine the desires of the flesh by..

Sincerely Praying the IOUS
Pray these prayers which are found in Scripture (PREACH)

Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Ps 119:36
·               The first thing we need is an inclination in our heart towards God and his word. Since you mentally desire it, sincerely, pray it. We need to ask God to create desire for Him in places of our lives where there is none.  We need him to replace worldly desires with desires for Him. Pray for God to do this.

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. Ps 119:18
·               There are times when we read His word and his word doesn’t give us the inspiration, the hope or the joy its intended to because we are reading with our own ideas. We need to undermine this fleshly approach by asking God to open the eyes of our heart.  When we are in dry times with God and starving for something, cry out to him to give you this let these prayers be your fervent desire in dry times, don’t let yourself off the hook just because your time  with God is up, bring your bible to work then and keep praying.

Unite my heart to fear your name. Ps 86:11
·               Our hearts are divided with good cares like family, and marriage and friends, but also with bad cares, like the fearing your finances, anxiety over your children and stress over your job. There are times when parts of our heart are desiring God in that area, and there are times when it is not. We need our heart to be unified. Sincerely pray in order to unit every portion of your heart to Him
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Ps 90:14
·               All that we want for the outcome of undermining our flesh is the desire for God. That we  would find satisfaction and delight in His glory. Pray to this end!

Do you see what’s going on? If there is a disconnect from what the Psalmist pray and what you pray, begin to sincerely pray they’re prayers. And it starts with these prayers of Desire. Write these verses down. Find other verses and prayers in the Bible to emulate
So undermine your fleshly desire through prayer

There they are three tools or strategies to undermine the desires that you and I fight against everyday. Digging into the Word, Encouraging yourself in the Lord, and Sincerely pray the IOUS

Now we’ve looked at the weeding out the desires that fight against the desire for God.
Let’s look briefly at the last  point

When You Don’t Desire God…
3. Undergird the Desire for God with Godly Training.
Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come                     1 Tim 4:7-8
·         the apostle alludes here to the gymnastic exercises among the Greeks, which were intended as a preparation for their contests at the public games.
·         We are to discipline ourselves in godly activity  that will undergird or strengthen or support our desire for God. Ultimately to strengthen our whole Christian life.
Specifically today, we are going to look at ways to train our desires to grow in our passion for God
 Three suggestions, but make space in your notes because I’m going to say a bit you’ll want to write down.
            First to train your desire for God by
            Inspiring Yourself with godly books and biographies
First biographies.
Out side of God Himself and His very words, Biographies of godly Christians, will inspire your life to live at a level not easily viewed in our celebrity saturated society.
When you read their writings and see how God worked and moved them, there is a depth that we are missing in today’s American Christians. This depth is needed in our desire and worship. They lived full lives for Christ they had full thoughts of a Big God, sovereign and majestic…
In our society we have watched every celebrity compromise fall and disappoint our notions of them. And they are supposedly living the American dream and fulfilling the desires of their own life. We  need to be inspired by people who even with their flaws, lived a life of godliness and gave glory to God  and have writings that can stir our inner thoughts.
         You might say, great where do I start. Here’s the list:
Start with Hebrews chapter 11 look at the great lives of the Bible. Get bible studies or books about them. (EX)
or I’d encourage you with “The Swans are Not Silent: series by John Piper. You can buy the hard copy but I have to mention many are available for free download. At Desiring God.org In this series he covers three lives per book and focuses on specific aspects of their life. There has been many people he has written about like:

William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd
John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce John Calvin Martin Luther and Augustine

Or you could go onto entire books about one persons life. You might want to start in our own library down stairs (EX)  They are simple booka a quick read.

If you are not a book person, you can download  sermons  or entire conferences about the life of Jonathan Edwards. William Wilburforce and  others at the websight I mentioned. You can also check out the movie “The End of the Spear” about the life of Jim Elliot or The 2005 movie called Luther which, for me was very inspiring.

If you’re still skeptical about this approach to flaming your desire about God, consider these verses

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
Heb 11:4

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.                                                                            Heb 13:7

Inspire yourself with the examples of Godly lives, see how God’ s grace is displayed in their live and desire for Him to do the same for you.

Second Godly Books
What I mean by godly books I mean serious books about the bible and thinking.

Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. Ps 111:2.
·         Notice those who delight in the works of God, study them. They think about them it causes them to have a bigger view of God it causes them to worship deeper, love more passionately and to desire and hunger more sincerely.
         You might say “what about my devotional books and light Christian reading?” Consider the words of C.S. Lewis and see the challenge within these words…
“For my own part, I tend to find doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books. And I rather suspect that the same experience may await many others. I believe that many who find that ‘nothing happens’ when they sit down or kneel down to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they work through a bit of tough theology… with pencil in their hand.”
                                                                                                                     C.S. Lewis
What book would I recommend: Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology. Its very reader friendly to a Sunday morning crowd. John Calvin’s “Institutes” can be finished in 9 months reading 15 minutes a day for 6 days a week. Pipers  Desiring God. Jonathan Edwards Freedom of the Will  C.S. Lewis’s Weight of Glory is a small book but great read.
Any other recommendations… see Pastor Kyle’s book of the quarter next week…

Ok train your desire for God by Inspiring Yourself with godly books and biographies



Second suggestion
Train your Desire for God by
Reaching Out and Grow with Others
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
Heb 10:24-25
·         Our life is not designed by God to live individually. We need each other.
·         You need others in your life that you can grow with,  
·         Others that will stir you up in love.
·         Others  that will keep you accountable.
·         Others who can speak into your live.

“But God has so composed the body…  that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.”                                                                      1 Cor 12:24-26
            Build into your life a caring for the people around you and where they are at in their desire for God.
            Be intentional in finding someone to grow with. Don’t soften it with, “Let’s got out for coffee” Tell them  up front “I need to grow in my walk I’m looking at you do to it with What do you say?”
Be as clear as a bell.

Final suggestion
Train your Desire for God by
Escaping the Everyday Demand
Luke 5:16
But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
         I don’t have a lot of time to build this point so let me just say.
         Take a time to be unrushed. And get before God.       Masybe it’s a Saturday morning or a week night, a weekend or a days getaway. Escape to refresh. Escape to connect. Just you and Jesus. Examine your spiritual health. Evaluate your life in light of one of these questions from Don Whitney’s book 10 Question to diagnose your spiritual health
                  
1. Do you thirst for God?
                     2. Are you governed increasingly by God’s Word?
                     3. Are you more loving?
                     4. Are you more sensitive to God’s presence?
                     5. Do you have a growing concern for the spiritual and temporal needs of others?
                     6. Do you delight in the Bride of Christ?
                     7. Are the spiritual disciplines increasingly important to you?
                     8. Do you still grieve over sin?
                     9. Are you a quicker forgiver?
                     10. Do you yearn for heaven and to be with Jesus?
These are questions to water your desire. To train you in godliness.

Conclusion
When you don’t desire God remember three things   Understand that the desire for God is a gift from God. Undermine the desire of the devil, the world and your flesh. And Undergird your Desire for God with Godly Training.          Let’s pray
“Father work deeply in our hearts  to have our hunger and desires be upon you and your glory. Grant within us a deeper love fpor you so that when we are satisfied in you your are most glorified! In Jesus name