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Intro to Spiritual Disciplines · Clay to Crown

• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Hello, everybody.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: I just want to say welcome back to the Clay
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: to Crown podcast.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Pastor Amanda.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: And I'm just going to get right into it today.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: I got to praying and thinking and You.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Know, the point of Clay to.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Crown is just kind of what the title suggests is,
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: you know, spiritual growth, right? I want this place to
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: be an opportunity for people to come and for them
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: to learn and to grow spiritually. Well, one of the
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  Speaker 2: ways that we do that as Christians is through something
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  Speaker 2: that's called spiritual disciplines. Now, you may or may not
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  Speaker 2: have ever heard that term before. So I'm going to
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  Speaker 2: give you a little definition, and then I'll explain it further.
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  Speaker 2: But I want to start with a quote. Discipline without
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  Speaker 2: direction is drudgery. Discipline without direction is drudgery. And that
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  Speaker 2: is by Donald Whitney, who has wrote extensively on the
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  Speaker 2: spiritual disciplines. You know, and I totally agree with that.
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  Speaker 2: I tell everybody if I'm teaching them and spiritual disciplines
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  Speaker 2: come up, you know, or something like that. I couldn't stand...
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  Speaker 2: running while I was in the Navy. I wasn't good
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  Speaker 2: at it. It was drudgery. I was slow. It just
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: wasn't a thing that I enjoyed. So I totally understand
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  Speaker 2: the thought, discipline without direction is drudgery. If you're just
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  Speaker 2: going through the motions and you're doing it, you're like, God,
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  Speaker 2: when is this ever going to be over? Right?
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  Speaker 1: And so when we're talking about spiritual disciplines.
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  Speaker 2: I think, you know, we have to have that same mindset.
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  Speaker 2: We have to have some sort of direction that we're
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  Speaker 2: going in. Otherwise, even doing the things I'm talking about
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  Speaker 2: can feel like drudgery sometimes. You know, reading your Bible
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  Speaker 2: could feel like drudgery. Serving in the church could feel
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  Speaker 2: like drudgery. It's not supposed to, but it could if
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  Speaker 2: we do not have the direction in which.
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  Speaker 1: We are supposed to go. So what is a spiritual discipline?
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  Speaker 2: At its most basic definition, I think that I have
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: found a spiritual discipline is, are those habits and practices
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  Speaker 2: that help us build our faith, those habits and practices
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: that help us build our faith.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: And so given that.
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  Speaker 2: Definition and then discipline without direction is drudgery and What's
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  Speaker 2: our quote unquote direction as a Christian? What direction should
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  Speaker 2: we be striving for? Well, Hebrews 12, 14 tells us
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  Speaker 2: to strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness
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  Speaker 2: without which no one will see the Lord. So notice
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  Speaker 2: what it says there. It says without holiness. So what's holiness?
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  Speaker 1: Godliness, Christ-likeness. Okay.
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  Speaker 2: So without Christ-likeness or godliness, without holiness, a being set apartness,
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  Speaker 2: no one.
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  Speaker 1: Will see the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: And so with that being said, I want to take
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  Speaker 2: a little caveat here and reinforce that it's crucial for
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  Speaker 2: us to understand that that we are not talking about works.
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  Speaker 2: When we're talking about spiritual disciplines, it is work, but
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  Speaker 2: not works to earn our salvation. You could never do
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  Speaker 2: enough on your own to qualify into a proper quote unquote,
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  Speaker 2: holy standing. Your only holy standing is through the person
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  Speaker 2: of Jesus Christ. That's the only way that we are
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  Speaker 2: qualified into holiness is But our pursuit of him needs
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  Speaker 2: to progress and needs to bring us to be more
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  Speaker 2: like him. Growing, maturing, going from milk to meat, as
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  Speaker 2: it says in a few places in the word. Peter
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  Speaker 2: tells us in his second epistle, chapter 3, verse 18,
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  Speaker 2: he says, rather you must grow in grace and knowledge
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  Speaker 2: of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You know, and
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  Speaker 2: then even our Lord in the Gospel of John, and
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  Speaker 2: I'm turning there, that's what you're hearing. John 15 says,
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  Speaker 2: Sorry about that.
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  Speaker 1: Should it have that marked?
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  Speaker 2: John 15, verse 5, you know, again, and this is
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  Speaker 2: our connection to him, growing, because we're connected to him.
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  Speaker 2: And you guys, you'll hear this, or this verse will
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  Speaker 2: be familiar to you if you've been around the church
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  Speaker 2: at all. It says, yes, I am the vine and
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  Speaker 2: you are the branches. Those who remain in me and
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  Speaker 2: I am them.
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  Speaker 1: Will produce much fruit.
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  Speaker 2: For apart from me you can do nothing. So what
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  Speaker 2: spiritual disciplines are is keeping us connected to him so
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  Speaker 2: we mature and so we grow and so we produce fruit.
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  Speaker 2: You know, in strong faith, it just doesn't happen on
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  Speaker 2: its own. You know, I'm sure a lot of people
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  Speaker 2: think or wish that we could just snap our fingers
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  Speaker 2: and our faith would be strong and we wouldn't, you know,
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  Speaker 2: have any doubt or anytime we're in a valley, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we wouldn't question the Lord or anything like that. If
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  Speaker 2: anybody who's listening works out in any capacity, whether it's
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  Speaker 2: weightlifting or the dreaded running or even biking or anything
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  Speaker 2: like that, if you work out, you know that a
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  Speaker 2: muscle won't grow and get stronger unless you work it.
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  Speaker 2: If you want to be able to bench press more,
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  Speaker 2: you have to work those chest muscles more. you know,
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  Speaker 2: in those arm muscles. If you want to be able
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  Speaker 2: to squat more, you have to do that work. If
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  Speaker 2: you want to be able to run longer, faster, whatever,
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  Speaker 2: you have to practice. And I always appreciate when I
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  Speaker 2: think about this, the time that I was in the Navy,
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  Speaker 2: like I said, And I couldn't stand running.
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  Speaker 1: I was slow. You know, I barely passed my PT
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  Speaker 1: test half the time. Yes, I am admitting to that.
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  Speaker 2: But anyway, when I made E7 in the Navy, when
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  Speaker 2: I was selected for chief petty officer, we have to
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  Speaker 2: go through like this little transition phase, this little initiation phase.
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  Speaker 2: It's six weeks long.
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  Speaker 1: And we do a lot of PT.
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  Speaker 2: During that time, a lot of physical training and, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we go on two mile runs, three mile runs, you know, in,
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  Speaker 2: in formation and, and all of those things. And we,
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  Speaker 2: you had to do it, you know, it was part
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  Speaker 2: of the plan of the day. Um, if you were
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  Speaker 2: going through initiation and anyway, at the end of that
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  Speaker 2: six weeks, um, I took a, my PRT and I
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  Speaker 2: ran the fastest PRT I had ever run in the Navy.
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  Speaker 1: Well, why? Because for the last six weeks I had
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  Speaker 1: been practicing, right?
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  Speaker 2: So that's just, it's the same way for our spiritual lives.
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  Speaker 2: It is the same way for our spiritual lives. We
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  Speaker 2: must work out our spiritual muscles. You know, and I
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  Speaker 2: know a lot of times when we hear the word discipline,
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  Speaker 2: It could be a negative thing, right? Like you discipline
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  Speaker 2: your child or you were disciplined as a child. Or
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  Speaker 2: even when you got to be disciplined in dieting, right?
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  Speaker 2: That you eat the right things and not the wrong things.
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  Speaker 2: If you were in sports as a high schooler.
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  Speaker 1: Or in college or whenever.
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  Speaker 2: and having to do two-a-days and constantly, you know, running
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  Speaker 2: laps and those sorts of things.
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  Speaker 1: All of those are discipline.
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  Speaker 2: And Webster's defines discipline as control gained by enforcing obedience
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  Speaker 2: or order, orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior, self-control.
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  Speaker 2: That's how Webster's defines discipline. At the end, it's self-control. Also,
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  Speaker 2: they define it as training that corrects, molds, or perfects
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  Speaker 2: the mental faculties or moral character. A rule or system.
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  Speaker 2: of rules governing conduct and activity.
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  Speaker 1: So what does all.
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  Speaker 2: That mean when it comes to spiritual discipline, right? And
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  Speaker 2: I've already kind of discussed it a little bit, but
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  Speaker 2: when we take all of these things together, and we
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  Speaker 2: take what it means to be disciplined, what the definition
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  Speaker 2: of disciplined is, and putting it into the spiritual, I
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  Speaker 2: think it takes on a whole new meaning. It's not
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  Speaker 2: so much negative, right? I think it can bring a
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  Speaker 2: lot more joy than the examples listed, you know, like
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  Speaker 2: when you were getting disciplined as a child. So spiritual disciplines, again,
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  Speaker 2: I said this, I'm going to say it again. Spiritual
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  Speaker 2: disciplines are defined as those behaviors that augment our spiritual
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  Speaker 2: growth and enable us to grow into spiritual maturity. Spiritual
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  Speaker 2: disciplines are those practices found in scripture that promote spiritual
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  Speaker 2: growth among believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And
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  Speaker 2: they are habits of devotion, habits of experiential Christianity that
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  Speaker 2: have been practiced by God's people for since biblical times.
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  Speaker 2: And so I want to highlight three words in what
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  Speaker 2: I just said, right? Those behaviors, those practices, and those habits.
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  Speaker 2: So behaviors that augment our spiritual growth, Practices that are
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  Speaker 2: found in scripture because spiritual disciplines are biblical. Okay. And
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  Speaker 2: then those habits of devotion, habits of experiential Christianity.
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  Speaker 1: What are those three words.
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  Speaker 2: Kind of have in common? What connotation do they bring about?
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  Speaker 2: Those are words of action, right? Behaviors, practices, habits. We're
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  Speaker 2: doing something. And the reason I want to highlight those
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  Speaker 2: things is because I think that the American church sometimes,
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  Speaker 2: or church in general, I'm always bagging on the American church.
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  Speaker 2: I probably shouldn't do that so much. But that church
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  Speaker 2: can create passive bystanders. It's more of a passive exercise
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  Speaker 2: because we come in, we kind of just stand there,
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  Speaker 2: listen to worship. Sometimes we don't even sing. And then
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  Speaker 2: we sit down and we listen to this song. person
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  Speaker 2: up on the stage, give us a sermon, and then
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  Speaker 2: we go home. We didn't have to do anything. And
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  Speaker 2: so that's sometimes our Christian life. If all we're doing
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  Speaker 2: is doing that, it can be very passive, but spiritual
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  Speaker 2: disciplines require action on our part. So it's those behaviors,
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  Speaker 2: those practices, and those habits. Those things, you know, that
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  Speaker 2: we're going to talk about here in a little bit
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  Speaker 2: when we get into actual examples of spiritual disciplines, these
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  Speaker 2: things result and come through with spiritual.
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  Speaker 1: Growing spiritually, right? So we worked for that spiritual growth.
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  Speaker 2: Like we put in the practice, we put in the discipline,
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  Speaker 2: but we can't take any credit for, for the growth itself.
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  Speaker 2: It happens inside of us by the work of the spirit.
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  Speaker 2: Cause I don't want us to make some, the spiritual
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  Speaker 2: disciplines as a little, just check in the box and, Oh,
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  Speaker 2: I'm growing and If we do not have a right
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  Speaker 2: relationship with the Lord, then no matter how much Bible
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  Speaker 2: reading you do, you will not grow.
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  Speaker 1: You might learn, but you're not necessarily growing.
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  Speaker 2: So the purpose of spiritual disciplines is the development of
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  Speaker 2: our inner being. It's the growing of our inner man.
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  Speaker 2: Because it was transformed by Christ at salvation, right? 2
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  Speaker 2: Corinthians 5.12 tells us that we are new creations in Christ.
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  Speaker 2: That the old has passed away and the new has come.
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  Speaker 1: And that's... that's.
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  Speaker 2: Our inner self, right? It's where we get our word
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  Speaker 2: metamorphosis with a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. It's a
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  Speaker 2: whole new thing. It's a whole new insect. So the
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  Speaker 2: same thing with us, when we are transformed by Christ
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  Speaker 2: at salvation, our inner being is transformed and we have
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  Speaker 2: to grow that inner being so it encompasses all of us.
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  Speaker 2: Because redeemed believers have experienced the total renewal of the
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  Speaker 2: person from within, but there's still differences in thought and
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  Speaker 2: feeling and character, and those things might be slower to.
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  Speaker 1: Be evident.
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  Speaker 2: Like our outward behavior might take a little bit longer
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  Speaker 2: to be transformed, right? You know, I have this running
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  Speaker 2: thing with my husband and some close friends. It is
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  Speaker 2: really hard for me to....
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  Speaker 1: Not say, you know, maybe choice words from time to time.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not talking, I don't do it every day, you know, or,
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  Speaker 2: you know, or even every week or whatever.
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  Speaker 1: I'm, I'm getting better, but you know, I was in the.
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  Speaker 2: Navy for 21 years and even before the Navy I swearing.
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  Speaker 1: Was just a part of my life.
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  Speaker 2: I heard every word that people shouldn't say probably from
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  Speaker 2: the time that I was an infant until I was
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  Speaker 2: 18 and left the house and joined the Navy, and
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  Speaker 2: then I heard them all over again, right? So these
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  Speaker 2: words were a part of me, are a part of me,
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  Speaker 2: but So those things are harder to get rid of.
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  Speaker 2: Those old habits, old character traits, right? The outward behavior
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  Speaker 2: sometimes is harder to get rid of because the Lord
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  Speaker 2: is working from the inside out.
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  Speaker 1: I hope that makes sense.
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  Speaker 2: Sanctification is a process. We are justified at our salvation, right?
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  Speaker 2: We are justified with God. As soon as we're saved,
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  Speaker 2: we are put into right standing. But the sanctification process,
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  Speaker 2: the growing and holiness process, that takes time. And that
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  Speaker 2: takes discipline. That takes prayer. You know, all of those things, right?
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  Speaker 2: So those things might be slower to be evident, to
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  Speaker 2: come about. You know, and so Paul talks about this
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  Speaker 2: in a couple of his letters, right?
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  Speaker 1: But I want to highlight Colossians.
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  Speaker 2: Colossians 3 verses 9 and 10, he highlights, he says,
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  Speaker 2: seeing that you have put off the old self with
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  Speaker 2: its practices and put on the new self, which is
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  Speaker 2: being renewed in the knowledge after the image of its creator.
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  Speaker 2: Put off and put on. Again, that's language that he
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  Speaker 2: uses in a couple different places. And the Greek word
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  Speaker 2: there for put off and put on, it talks about
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  Speaker 2: like when you take off your old dirty clothes and
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  Speaker 2: put on new clean clothes. You're taking off your old
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  Speaker 2: dirty self and you're putting on Christ. That's the picture.
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  Speaker 2: And that's the picture of our spiritual disciplines and how
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  Speaker 2: we're being changed from the inside out, right? We're putting
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  Speaker 2: off our old dirty self and putting on our new
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  Speaker 2: clean self. And Richard Foster describes it in his book,
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  Speaker 2: Celebration of Discipline. He describes it this way. He says,
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  Speaker 2: God has given us the disciplines of the spiritual life
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  Speaker 2: as a means of receiving grace. The disciplines allow us
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  Speaker 2: to place ourselves before God so that.
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  Speaker 1: He can transform us. I love that quote.
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  Speaker 2: He has given us the disciplines as a means of
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  Speaker 2: receiving his grace.
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  Speaker 1: I love it.
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  Speaker 2: So what are the spiritual disciplines? Well, let me first
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  Speaker 2: tell you something that they're not. Spiritual disciplines are not
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  Speaker 2: a list of religious duties. But again, they're rather habits
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  Speaker 2: that nurture and mature our spiritual growth. They are inward
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  Speaker 2: spiritual attitudes walked out by the behaviors and actions. When
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  Speaker 2: you have a desire to spend time with someone, that's
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  Speaker 2: the inward. The desire is inward. Then they are walked
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  Speaker 2: out by behaviors and actions. I call my friend and
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  Speaker 2: I say, hey, let's do lunch. That's me walking that
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  Speaker 2: desire out. These are habits that are critical for lasting
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  Speaker 2: spiritual growth and true life transformation. And if I was
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  Speaker 2: teaching this in a class, I would be asking right now, well, why?
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  Speaker 2: Why are these habits critical for lasting spiritual growth and
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  Speaker 2: true life transformation? Why? Because when you're walking out Just
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  Speaker 2: like in a natural relationship, right? I have a desire
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  Speaker 2: to spend time with my husband and to be connected
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  Speaker 2: with him. Well, I'm going to do things in order
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  Speaker 2: to make sure that that happens, right? And then in turn,
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  Speaker 2: a byproduct of that close relationship of us being together
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  Speaker 2: and talking and all of those things, we grow closer together.
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  Speaker 2: So the same is true with our relationships today. our
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  Speaker 2: relationship with the Lord, if I have a desire to
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  Speaker 2: grow closer to the Lord, I need to spend time
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  Speaker 2: with him.
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  Speaker 1: I need to pray.
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  Speaker 2: I need to worship him. I need to read about
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  Speaker 2: him in his word. I need to see him alive
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  Speaker 2: in my life. And I will be transformed. You know,
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  Speaker 2: Romans 12, 2 says, be transformed by the renewing of
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  Speaker 2: your mind. How does your mind get renewed? by reading
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  Speaker 2: the word, by worship. So spiritual disciplines are personal and interpersonal. Okay.
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  Speaker 2: So they can be done by yourself in private and
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  Speaker 2: then interpersonally with other people, you know, in public, you know, so, uh,
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  Speaker 2: it can be by yourself or in a corporate church, um,
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  Speaker 2: corporate church example. They can be practiced alone or with
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  Speaker 2: the body of Christ, right? So that's all that means.
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  Speaker 2: Private and public, you know, practice alone or with other
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  Speaker 2: people from the body of Christ. The goal of spiritual
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  Speaker 2: disciplines is to experience God. It doesn't matter if they're
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  Speaker 2: private or public. The goal is to experience God. The
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  Speaker 2: goal is growth. So you have some spiritual disciplines disciplines
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  Speaker 2: that are both, right? You can pray alone or you
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  Speaker 2: can pray with other people. You can study alone or
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  Speaker 2: you can be in a Bible study with other people.
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  Speaker 2: You can worship alone or you can worship with other people.
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  Speaker 2: Some are just personal. Like you cannot practice the spiritual
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  Speaker 2: discipline of solitude with other people.
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  Speaker 1: That's self-explanatory.
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  Speaker 2: I wish that you could practice the spiritual discipline of
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  Speaker 2: fasting with other people. And you might be doing it
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  Speaker 2: corporately within a church body, but the discipline itself is
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  Speaker 2: only in you and through you, right? You are the
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  Speaker 2: only one that can fast for you. And then some
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  Speaker 2: are only interpersonal. Unless you have multiple personality disorder, you
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  Speaker 2: cannot fellowship alone.
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  Speaker 1: That's not how it works, right?
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  Speaker 2: Okay. So what would you say to someone who thinks
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  Speaker 2: that they can be all that God wants them to
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  Speaker 2: be without the local church?
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  Speaker 1: You can't. You can't fellowship alone.
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  Speaker 2: Or what about those individuals who deceive themselves into thinking
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  Speaker 2: they are growing by being deeply involved in the life
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  Speaker 2: of the church, doing all of these things, right?
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  Speaker 1: Serving in the church and in their church. They're at
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: the church all the time.
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  Speaker 2: And then think that that makes up for the lack
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  Speaker 2: of personal prayer time and reading and reaching out to God, right?
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  Speaker 2: Those are two sides of the same coin of deception.
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  Speaker 2: You're not growing that way. So what do spiritual disciplines do?
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  Speaker 2: Put simply, they help us grow in our walk with
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  Speaker 2: God and be prepared and ready for the transformation that
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  Speaker 2: only God can bring. They bring us into Christ's presence
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  Speaker 2: where life's desires and desperations are addressed. You got something
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  Speaker 2: going on, you're praying, right? And then you're brought into
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: the presence of God. And it's not the discipline itself
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  Speaker 2: that transforms us into the likeness of Christ. Again, without
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  Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit working, all you're doing is putting a
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  Speaker 2: check in the box. That's not what I'm talking about.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Without the work of the Spirit within you, the practices
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: guarantee nothing. Colossians 2.23 says that such regulations indeed have
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: an appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship, their false humility,
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack
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  Speaker 2: any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Essentially, Paul is saying
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  Speaker 2: they lack any value in curtailing the flesh. The verse
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  Speaker 2: is saying here, don't just do a checklist. So how
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  Speaker 2: do you think the spiritual disciplines help us orient our
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  Speaker 2: lives around what really matters? Again, I think it puts
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  Speaker 2: us into right relationship with God. We become closer to him,
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  Speaker 2: more in tuned with him. Our relationship with him prospers,
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: then relationships around us will prosper. The balancing act of
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: embracing these disciplines for spiritual growth without adopting a works-based
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: mentality can be tricky, however. And it's for this reason
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: that growing in spiritual disciplines is for the veteran Christian
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  Speaker 2: as well as the new convert. It means we all
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  Speaker 2: have something we can learn or even unlearn, right? Because
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: sometimes when you've been in church a long time, some
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: things have to be unlearned. So whether you have been
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  Speaker 2: serving in ministry for years or you are new to
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  Speaker 2: what all of this means, I hope that today has
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  Speaker 2: helped you to understand what spiritual disciplines are. You know,
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  Speaker 2: and there's lots of biblical, um, sites, uh, sightings for
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: these spiritual disciplines. You know, Psalm 1 says, Blessed is
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  Speaker 2: the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
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  Speaker 2: nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: the seat of scoffers. His delight is on the law
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  Speaker 2: of the Lord, and on this law he meditates day
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  Speaker 2: and night.
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  Speaker 1: So studying, right? Reading the word.
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  Speaker 2: 1 Thessalonians 5 says, Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give
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  Speaker 2: thanks in all circumstances.
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  Speaker 1: That's a spiritual discipline.
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  Speaker 2: Even in Acts, you know, since the church's birth is
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: described in Acts, well, let's go to that. What did
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: the first Christians do? Acts 2.42 says they devoted themselves
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  Speaker 2: to what? To the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: the breaking of bread and prayer. Right? Those, all three
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: of those things Apostles teaching, fellowship, prayer, all of those
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: are spiritual disciplines. So while spiritual disciplines are biblical, there
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: isn't a whole lot of practical instruction found inside the
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Bible itself. And like how to do it, when to
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: do it, you know, those sorts of things. And I
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  Speaker 2: think that's mostly because These practices were so common for
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  Speaker 2: our early brothers and sisters that to take the time
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  Speaker 2: to describe them and to say that do them would
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: be wasting, you know, their, um, their space on their,
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: on their paper.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: Um, prayer rhythms, for example. was built into their daily life,
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: you know, all throughout the Gospels and even in Acts,
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: it talks routinely about that they were going to the
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: temple to pray.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: They were going to the temple to pray.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: But over the centuries, and as we get into more
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: modern times, these practices were lost. And so I think
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: many of us need some practical tips along with the
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: biblical principles. And, you know, We can get into each
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: one of these, but over the next several weeks, we
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: will be discussing spiritual disciplines. You know, worship, service, rest,
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  Speaker 2: prayer and fasting, evangelism, study, fellowship. And all of these
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  Speaker 2: can lead you into a deeper relationship with God and
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: So that he can continue that work of transforming you
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: into his image, right? From glory to glory. 2 Corinthians
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: talks about. So my hope that as we revisit these
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: simple but powerful disciplines, it will enable us to go
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: deeper in our faith and lead others along with us.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: These are meant to edify, to build up, to shore up,
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: your personal faith. Just as deep calls to deep, your
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: own understanding of these disciplines will help others in your
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: life to begin or further their own journey. So I
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  Speaker 2: want to leave you with this. Spiritual disciplines are not
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  Speaker 2: about guilt. They are not about being a better Christian.
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  Speaker 2: What they are about is helping us to develop, grow,
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: and strengthen our faith in Christ. They endure us to
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: the Father. They stretch and strengthen our faith. And the
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: effort that we put in toward them is worth it.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: 1 Timothy 4, 7-8 says, Train yourself for godliness. For
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: value in every way, as it holds promise for the
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: present life and also for the life to come.
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  Speaker 1: I look forward.
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  Speaker 2: To continuing this series on the spiritual disciplines with you
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: in the coming weeks. In the meantime, may the Lord
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: bless you and keep you. May his face continue to
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: shine upon you and may he give you peace.