Spiritual Readiness: Equipping for Life's Challenges

You know, what you and I believe about God affects everything in life. You know, people have a very wide range of beliefs about God, whether you're a Christian or coming from a different background. You know, there is a well-named sociologist, Engel. He actually came up with a scale. It's called the Engel's Scale. It's a 14-point scale on which anybody can be placed based on their awareness of God and their experience of God. [00:04:34]

And even if you are someone who is a Christian, who has been to church, you believe in God and Jesus, your knowledge and experience of God will deeply influence everything else in your life. And everyone has a theology, whether you like it or not. Your view of God, your experience of God. And what is your personal faith and belief and understanding and experience of God matters. [00:05:50]

So for Paul, his faith affected his behavior. It actually changed him. He talks about the challenges he had. He had a problem with coveting, and he says how the gospel transformed that area in his life. And then he moves to say, my aim in life. You know, your experience of God will not only spill into your behavior, it also affects your aim in life, your goal in life. [00:09:39]

You know, one of the big things about experiencing God is learning to wait and not be following our faith. Our own timelines. To wait to see what God does and to let him do when he does. You know, going back to driving illustration, I don't know why I picked a lot of driving illustration today. I don't know about you, but I like driving on the fast lane. [00:11:28]

You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. There is nothing else. There is one thing he wants people to focus on to enhance their spiritual life. He says, You know, S. D. Gordon wrote a book titled Quiet Talks with World Winners. In it, he describes a group of people who are preparing to ascend Mount Blanc or Mont Blanc in the Swiss Alps. [00:13:46]

And S. D. Gordon makes this application to the Christian life. He says, many of us, when we find we can't make it to the top with our loads, let the top go and pitch our tents in the plane and settle down with our small plans and accessories. The plane seems to be quite full of tents. The question we must all ask ourselves, he says, is, do I have too many accessories preventing me from fulfilling? [00:15:12]

And there is sickness because we live in a broken world. There is pain, and God promises that he will not prevent us from that, but he will deliver us from all of that. And he says, verse 12, Because there were also a group of other preachers, and you can hear them. They have been there all the time since the time the Bible was written till now, who always promise you, God is going to make you the head and not the tail. [00:20:55]

So he says, if you want to be ready, you have to continue to be in a discipling relationship which will help you to keep growing in your faith. What he is basically telling is discipleship matters. You know, being ready doesn't happen automatically, just by itself, like a flip of the switch and you sit back. You know, Timothy, he says, You have to be ready. [00:23:40]

You know, you can be a Bible study leader. You can even be a pastor and yet not be discipled. And that is the greatest omission in the church. You know, when we read and hear about great leaders falling or people falling and leaving their spouses or things like that, when counselors try to see what's the reason, especially when Christian leaders fall, Ted Tripp wrote a book called Lead, and he explored that. [00:24:09]

And people matter. He says people who disciples you are people who know you. People love you and care for you. He says in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it. It's not just content. It's not just content. that you and I need, which is there in social media or digital world. We can go and listen to sermons from great speakers and preachers, read tons of other stuff, but you need people, flesh and blood, and that's where the local church, the body, comes in. [00:25:45]

You know, he says the primary source for doing all the above, experiencing God, and growing in discipleship, the source for both of that is the word of God. That was a single big factor that made a difference in Timothy's life from childhood. And that's why I keep emphasizing and repeating, fathers, are you teaching your kids? [00:31:33]

You know, the gospel, the good news of the gospel that we experience from God's word alone has the power to help us live a godly life and be ready for anything that life throws at us. He keeps reminding us, it's not about our good works or efforts, but it's based on the grace of God that flows from the finished work of Christ. [00:32:45]