Submitted by admin on Mon, 14/01/2008 - 5:02pm
MP3 File:
01-13-08 message by Pastor Rich Doebler
...Supernatural
understanding comes by interacting regularly with the Bible.
Luke 24:25-49 (NIV) 25 He said to them, "How foolish you are [CEV: why can't you understand?], and how slow of heart to believe [CEV: so slow to believe] all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us [CEV: didn't it warm our hearts?] while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us [CEV: explained the Scriptures to us]?"
33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."
40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.
44 He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."
45 Then he opened their minds [CEV: helped them] so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."
Key words in that passage: understand...slow to believe...explained...their eyes were opened...opened the Scripture...opened their minds.
"Opened" from dianoigo = "to open up completely."
Language lesson: any time you see a word that starts with "dia-" it comes from a Greek prefix which primarily means "through" and another Greek word. Diameter (measure through), diagnose (know through), diagram (write through), dialect (talk through), diaper (white [completely] through), diarrhea (flow through). Dianoigo: "to open completely--all the way through." It's more than opening the front door of your mind--it's throwing open every door and window in the whole place.
There are four things needed to be open to the work of God.
1. The Bible needs to be opened.
2. Our ears need to be opened.
3. Our mind needs to be opened.
4. Our heart needs to be opened.
Opening the Bible means more than merely getting information.
Some people have a big Bible in their home, displayed prominently
on their coffee table or book shelf. The Bible can be front and center, but if
it's never used, what good is it? If it's never opened and read, then it's just
for show.
Have you ever looked at furniture in one of those big box stores? Check out the entertainment units or the computer desks. Often they will have a cardboard TV and a cardboard stereo system sitting on the entertainment unit--a cardboard computer monitor and keyboard sitting on the computer desk. It looks pretty impressive, but a cardboard TV won't do you any good. It's worthless--as worthless as a Bible that is never opened up.
Opening Scripture, however, is about more than appearances. About more than getting information. It's about turning the light on--that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened!
Paul prayed that God would give the Ephesians the Spirit of wisdom and revelation... [and] that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened... (Eph 1:17-19)
But Paul didn't just talk about enlightened hearts. He also talked about the problem of being spiritually blind. "The god of this age," he said, "has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ..." (2 Cor 4:4)
What makes the difference between blind minds and understanding minds? What makes the difference between blind hearts and enlightened hearts?
Hugh Schonfeld lecture at the U of M. At one time a seminary student, studying to be a minister. Didn't just know the Bible; he translated the entire NT from original Greek into English. But something happened in his heart--he began arguing and questioning and resisting God. He became a skeptic, eventually writing books in opposition to the truth of the Bible: The Passover Plot and Those Incredible Christians. He knew the Bible, but he didn't know the God of the Bible. He had information, but he had no inspiration.
Information alone will not open a person's mind or heart. We must allow God to do a work within us. The Bible works in our lives only if we allow it to work. Opening ourselves to God must be a supernatural work--a partnership with God.
1 Cor 2:12-14 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
How can we open our minds and hearts to the Word of God?
A. Pray. Ask God to help you understand. Ask God to open your mind. This is a supernatural work! The Spirit of God is available to help those who ask him.
Eph 1:17-19 (NIV) 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
If you pray, then be ready to receive the answer. Be open to what God wants to do.
I remember driving into a gas station to fill up, but when I tried to open the release on the little trap door over the gas cap, the cable was broken. I couldn't open up my tank! The pumps were right there. The storage tanks had more than enough gasoline in them. The resources were ready to give me all the fuel I needed--but I couldn't get the lid open to my gas tank. Many people come to God like that. He has all the resources they need. They could be filled with God's power. But their lid is locked. Their mind is shut. Their heart is closed.
B. Surrender. Come to the Lord (and to his Word) in a attitude of humility. Develop a teachable spirit--one that is quick to admit you don't know everything, to admit you have more to learn. Surrender means acknowledging that Jesus is Lord and you are his disciple (a learner, a student, one who studies disciplines). Surrender is something we must do each time we open up God's Word. Jesus said, "If you want to be my disciple...take up your cross daily."
No one buys a car, parks it in the garage, and never uses it. [Well, actually some people do. They collect cars like others collect coins. Jay Leno has __ antique cars in his collection. His cars are primarily for show, not to drive around L.A.] The point is, most normal people buy a car to use it. If you don't use your car, then it doesn't get you from one place to another. The Bible is God's method of helping us on our spiritual journey. God's Word is designed to help you get from one place in life to another. The Bible is God's tool to accomplish change in your life.
C. Slow down. Learn to meditate. Learn to contemplate.
Many of us go too fast. We live our lives at 90 mph. But it's hard to see the scenery at 90 mph. We need to slow down, to ease off the accelerator, to put some brakes on the pace of our lives. In fact, it would be helpful to park the car, get out, take a leisurely stroll, and soak in the sights. It's one thing to see Jay Cooke State Park by driving through it on Hwy 210 or 23. It's something completely different to experience it by walking or X-country skiing the park trails. You see and experience things you never could from the highway. To find out what's in the Bible, we can do the quick overview. We're doing that right now by reading through the NT in 40 days. But if you want to dig deeper, if you want to understand it at another level, if you want to have your minds opened to God's truth, then you'll want to spend some time in it. You'll want to slow down and take a leisurely stroll through the Bible.
This is what it means to meditate. Meditate is sometimes
defined as "ruminate" - which comes from the Latin word, ruminare, meaning "to chew the cud." When the cow grazes in the
pasture, she chows down. But then she sits down in the shade of a tree and
regurgitates the grass up out of one of her four stomachs, and chews it
thoroughly before sending it back to another stomach for further digestion.
Some people are afraid of meditation. They think it's something for eastern religions or New Agers. Transcendental Meditation. But just because some questionable philosophies do something, that doesn't necessarily make it bad! Just because New Agers chew their food, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't chew yours! It's the same with meditation. Just because eastern religions practice meditation doesn't automatically mean that Christians shouldn't. In the NASB, the word "meditate" (or meditates or meditation) occurs 23 times (translating 10 Hebrew words). It's good to think over what you've read in the Bible, to ponder its meaning carefully.
Even when you listen to 5 or 6 chapters of the NT in the morning, you can meditate on it during the day. In the car, shoveling snow, washing dishes, at work during coffee break. Bring it back up and chew it over again and again: think about it, pray over it, ask yourself, "What does it really say? What does it mean? How does it fit into my life?"
This week someone was talking to me about the readings in the NT she had been listening to. She said, "Why did Jesus say, ‘How long do I have to put up with you?' It sounds like he was impatient--even upset--with the people." Then she observed, "If he was upset with those people back then, it seems like he would be even more upset with us today." Do you see the process? She recalled what was said; she thought about what it meant; she considered the implications for today. This is what it means to meditate.
Read the Bible--open it up. Listen to the Bible--open your ears. Study the Bible--open your mind. Live the Bible--open your heart. For our spiritual survival, we must learn to see with the eyes of our heart! We must learn to open our minds to the things of God.
Ray is about the trials, challenges, successes, and addictions of the late pianist, singer, and composer Ray Charles. The film shows how Ray compensated for his blindness by learning to hear what others couldn't. As a blind 10-year-old, Ray enters his home and accidentally trips on the side of a rocking chair. He falls, yells out in pain, and calls out to his mother for help. His mother steps forward, stops, hesitates, and takes a step back. Ray, lying on a rug on the floor, continues to cry for his mother's help.
His mother silently goes back to her work. Ray hears men chattering and a hen clucking. He stops crying, looks around him, and slowly gets up. He hears more people talking, a cow mooing, and metal clanking. He looks into the direction of a kettle of boiling water. Stretching out his arms, he walks toward a crackling fireplace and feels its heat, pulling back a hand because it is too close. His mother continues to look on, concerned with his every move. Ray listens intently as a horse and carriage go by.
He then hears a cheeping grasshopper close by and walks toward it. He bends down and, fumbling a bit, encloses his hand on the grasshopper. Smiling, he picks it up and puts it to his ear. His mother is taken aback and gives a low gasp. Ray says, "I hear you, Mama. You're right there." His mother now has tears streaming down her face. She tells him, "Yes, yes, I am." She kneels in front of him and gives him a hug.
In a similar way, Christians need to learn to "see" and discern the realities of the spiritual world. We need our spiritual eyes and ears opened to the reality of a loving God who is right there with us, watching over our every move. [Elapsed Time: 01:09:27 to 01:12:02 (DVD scene 13)]