CELL NOTES 16/3/09

ICE BREAKER

When were you last on your own entirely for more that three hours?

THEME

Solitude and slowing down

Reading; Psalm 46

SERMON OUTLINE

1) The widespread disease of “hurry-sickness”.

2) The world is always speeding up; many people wish there were more hours in the day.

3) Do you get irritated easily if you have to wait, get frustrated if you chose a slower queue at Tesco, frequently multitask?

4) Did God get the equation of tasks to be done and time available wrong?

5) The impact of hurry is

            Superficiality

            Less ability to receive and share love

6) Psalm 46 : 10. Jesus frequently sought solitude. Are you trying to go faster than Jesus?

7) Part of becoming like Jesus is to reverse long-acquired bad habits – dieing to self (Mat 10 ; 39). The role of spiritual disciplines is to reverse these, and enable us genuinely to live under the authority of Jesus.

8) Examples of habits that need reversing, because they are the opposite of Jesus’ nature are scorn, anger, manipulation, revenge, spite, covetousness, collusion with wrong. These can often be our instinctive reactions in certain circumstances. Being like Jesus means we react instinctively like Him instead.

9) Silence and solitude are disciplines of abstinence. When we practise these we give space to come to terms with who we really are, and space for the Holy Sprit to reverse bad things and replace them with kingdom responses.

10) Dallas Willard  “The idea of doing nothing proves absolutely terrifying to most people I speak with. But at least, the person who is capable of doing nothing might be capable of refraining from doing the wrong thing, and then perhaps he or she would be better able to do the right thing.”

11) Luke 5 : 16. What is your equivalent?

QUESTIONS OF APPLICATION

Read the passage.

1)  What was your reaction to Sunday’s message? What does Psalm 46 : 10 mean to you? How has that been expressed in your experience?

3) When are you most prone to hurry, or to feel overwhelmed by life’s demands? What is your answer to the question in point 4 of the sermon?

4) How do you feel about the list of habits in point 8 of the sermon?

5) In practice, how might you slow down, and find silence and solitude? How do you feel about these things?

6) What do you make of the Dallas Willard comment?