Campus Community | Deeper Week 2
Summary
This week we continued our series Deeper at Campus Community. As Christians we are longing for a deeper relationship. Tonight Pastor David unpacked the discipline of Meditation. Meditation is intentional and repeated reflection rooted in the worth, worship, and The Word of God. New age meditation aims to clear the mind and to find and center one to itself. Christian meditation aims to renew the mind & to find and center one to God. Don Whitney in his book on spiritual disciplines defines it as “A deep thinking on the truths & spiritual realities revealed in Scripture for the purposes of understanding, application, & prayer”. The Enemies of meditation are busyness and distractions. We are all experts in meditation. The question is what are we meditating on? Your mind is a boardroom with many different conversations going on, but the question is who sits at the head of your table?
Scripture
Psalm 19:4
Psalm 1:1-3
Philippians 4:8
Quotes
“A deep thinking on the truths & spiritual realities revealed in Scripture for the purposes of understanding, application, & prayer” Don Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines
“If the enemy can keep us engaged in muchness and manyness, he will rest satisfied” Richard Foster
“Hurry is not of the devil, it is the devil!” Carl Jung
Questions
1. What dominates the majority of your thoughts?
2. What distracts you from meditating on the Lord ?
3. Do you spend time meditating on God’s Word? How can you practically spend more time with him this week?
4. Take time to review the notes below as a group on Process, Example, and What to meditate on this week.
PROCESS
• Find a quiet place and time – free from distraction.
o For Isaac, it was in the field in in the evening (Gen 24:63)
o For David, it was in bed during the night watches (Ps 4:4; 63:6; 119:148)
• Prayerfully Process Something of Value
o Define “something of value” using David’s methods or Phil 4:8 questions
• Memorize Scripture so You Can Access It Anytime
o Psalm 1
DAVID/PSALMIST’S EXAMPLE
• Character of God – Ps 63:6
• Word of God – Ps 119:15, 23, 48, 97-99, 148
• Works of God – Ps 77:12
• Ways of God
PHILIPPIANS 4:8 QUESTIONS (THINK ON THESE THINGS)
• True – Things as they really are – transcend time, culture, & circumstance
o Truth about God, ourselves, and others
o Rejecting lies
• Honorable – Worthy of respect and admiration
o “Does this honor God and our dignity as image-bearers of God?”
o A task, idea, or pursuit honors God when it gives God and HIs character ultimate respect, admiration, and submission
• Just
o Aligns with God’s revealed character, judgments, or desires.
o Unjust Thinking – Vengeance
• Pure
o Free from imperfections or deviations from what it ought to be.
o Impurity – Embracing, indulging, and delighting in things that deviate from God’s standards for living and thinking
• Lovely
o That which causes pleasure or brings delight (delightful)
o All that is good and delightful in our world is in some way a reflection of God’s glory and majesty.
o Our hearts long for lovely things because our hearts were made to delight in God and His glory.
o Profane – Abandons or distorts proper design or boundaries
• Commendable
o That which is approved or admired by other people.
o This term is concerned primarily with how a person, thing, idea, or action in perceived or valued in the minds and hearts of others.
o Ultimately it’s about what God thinks, not the approval of man
• Excellent
o The possession of a superior quality or exceeding goodness.
o Not settling for superficial, half-hearted, cliche’, lazy.
o The highest form of something, sincere, authentic
o We have been “rescued from the profane mundane to revel in his thrilling excellence”
• Worthy Of Praise
o That which deserves our admiration or approval
o Refers to things, person, or ideas we approve