The Pastor's Spiritual Development, Part 2

Driving home: The Christian walk is won or lost in the battle of the basics. The believer, and here I would change the word to the preacher, the believer or the preacher succeeds or falls in the trenches, in the trenches of the fundam…

The three means of spiritual growth are compared to integrated circuitry, where if one circuit blows, the whole system goes dead, illustrating their interdependence.

However, before taking up these means by which we may experience this acquaintance with God, I want to say three things by way of introduction. First of all, these three things are all integrated, and interdependent. Though we shall be looking at three distinct means by which the inner man is to be renewed, by which we may experience this real, expanding, varied, original acquaintance with God, etc., we must understand that they are all integrated and interdependent. Each will be treated separately, each is a recognizable spiritual activity differing from the others, but they are like integrat...

2:41 - 4:00 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The Christian walk is won or lost in the battle of the basics. The believer, and here I would change the word to the preacher, the believer or the preacher succeeds or falls in the trenches, in the trenches of the fundam…

A quote from an article states, 'The Christian walk is won or lost in the battle of the basics,' which Martin applies to preachers succeeding or falling in the 'trenches of the fundamentals.'

Some time ago, I read, some perceptive statements in an article dealing with the personal devotional life of a Christian, and one of the statements which was particularly telling was this. The Christian walk is won or lost in the battle of the basics. The believer, and here I would change the word to the preacher, the believer or the preacher succeeds or falls in the trenches, in the trenches of the fundamentals. He succeeds or falls in the trenches of the fundamentals.

4:31 - 5:13 Read in full sermon

Driving home: these means are not our Christ and we must never make a Christ out of them. They are, as I have suggested, the conduits by which the very life and grace of Christ are poured into us.

The basic and fundamental nature of spiritual disciplines is compared to breathing, eating, sleeping, and bodily elimination for physical life, emphasizing their absolute necessity.

And the things we're going to deal with today, brethren, are basic and fundamental to the health of the inner life of the servant of God as basic as breathing and eating and sleeping and bodily elimination are to physical life and existence. Then the third thing I want to say by way of introduction, and this is important, they are all ultimately related to the source of our spiritual life in Jesus Christ. They are all ultimately related to the source of our spiritual life in Jesus Christ. In Colossians 3, 4, you have that pregnant phrase, when Christ, who is, our life shall appear. Christ is h...

6:19 - 7:32 Read in full sermon

Driving home: these means are not our Christ and we must never make a Christ out of them. They are, as I have suggested, the conduits by which the very life and grace of Christ are poured into us.

Spiritual means are described as 'conduits' through which Christ himself, who is our life, is imparted, clarifying that the means are not Christ but channels of His grace.

As the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so he that eats me, and there is our Lord's own interpretation of his words, he who feeds upon me as the source of his life, he also shall live because of me, that is, because of the life that I am and the life that I impart. This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died, he that eats this bread shall live forever. And of course the imagery in John 15 of branch and vine, without me you can do nothing, there is an organic life relationship between the vine and all of its appendages. So though we wi...

8:41 - 10:04 Read in full sermon

The point: You must get locked in to the condition. I have a conviction that if I begin to have a shriveled soul for lack of structure and consistent exposure to the Word in a devotional manner, I'm cutting my own throat in terms o…

Physical health is determined by ordinary diet, rest, and exercise, not extraordinary measures, illustrating that spiritual health similarly depends on regular, consistent devotional practices.

and consistent. There must be time allocated for this exercise. Time that is not only allocated but also profitably spent on a regular or consistent basis. As one's physical health from the human side is determined primarily by ordinary diet rest and exercise as opposed to extraordinary diet rest or exercise so with the health of the soul and the mind that is the heart and mind of the human being. The whole that is a process that is a process and it is a process of the human body to

21:25 - 22:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Have a plan in which there is a structured, consistent time to be alone with the Word of God in which you will systematically and comprehensively over a year, two, or three years cover the full range of divine revelation…

Martin shares his personal practice of putting tick marks and dates at the end of Bible chapters to track his systematic reading, encouraging a disciplined approach.

And don't kid yourself. I find it helpful to put little tick marks at the end of the chapters and put the date. And I can't write a book about it. But I can say that one of my beautiful books has been written on the Lord's Word.

28:45 - 29:22 Read in full sermon

The point: We reflect on what we've read, and we seek by actively bringing our thinking, our motives, our lifestyle, the patterns of our behavior to the scrutiny of what we've read.

Some people approach the Word 'waiting to be zapped,' which Martin contrasts with active meditation, where one reflects and scrutinizes their life against what is read.

Now that's what I mean by a prayerful exposure to the Word. And what do I mean by meditative? I mean that we are not threading words through our eyes waiting to be zapped. That's how some people come to the Word prayerful.

30:36 - 30:51 Read in full sermon

The point: We reflect on what we've read, and we seek by actively bringing our thinking, our motives, our lifestyle, the patterns of our behavior to the scrutiny of what we've read.

Jeremiah's imagery of 'eating' God's words is used to illustrate the active, spiritual assimilation of Scripture, not passive reception.

Jeremiah used the imagery of eating. Jeremiah 20.23, Thy words were found, and I did eat them. He didn't say, Thy words were found, I opened my mouth, and I waited for you to drop something down and force feed me.

31:20 - 31:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Mark it well, my younger brethren, this is the battle of the basics. This is the battle of the basics. This is the battle of the basics. The trenches of the fundamentals. And I'd be willing to play prophet this morning a…

A lengthy quotation from Scott in Bridges' 'Christian Ministry' describes how to read Scripture with exactness and self-application, making it a 'sermon' to oneself, illustrating meditative reading.

Scott's remarks in Bridges Christian Ministry on page 53 are very perceptive at this point. I have found it advantageous sometimes to read the Scriptures with such exactness as to weigh every expression and the connection as if I were about to preach on every verse, and then to apply the result to my own case, character, experience, and conduct as if it had been directly addressed to me. In short, to make the passages into a kind of sermon as if about to preach to others, and then turn the whole application on myself as far as it was suited to my case. The other time, I've read a passage more ...

31:39 - 33:06 Read in full sermon

The point: There must be the habit of secret prayer. Time allocated, time allocated in the serious solemn presence of God in the ordering of your schedule, time jealously guarded. Don't ever expect a block of time to float by your …

Martin states that a 'block of time' for prayer will never 'float by your eyeballs with red letters all over it,' emphasizing that time for prayer must be intentionally allocated and guarded.

Well if you only pray when you feel moved the times you feel moved will be fewer and fewer. There must be the habit of secret prayer. Time allocated, time allocated in the serious solemn presence of God in the ordering of your schedule, time jealously guarded. People say, well I can't find time to pray.

40:19 - 40:43 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Why is there so little preaching? There is no preaching on forgiveness and pardon that has a ring of reality about it. It's because preachers aren't having their own pardon sealed afresh to their heart in the secret plac…

The psalmist's experience in Psalm 73, where his perspective on reality was distorted until he entered God's sanctuary, illustrates how secret prayer brings focus.

the need of a mediator the reality of Christ at the right hand of the Father the reality of His securing the gift of the Spirit for all needed graces you see in the very activity of prayer everything is calculated to press forward the great realities of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ for you as a sinner approaching to God you see that, isn't that your experience so personal communion with Christ is renewed and advanced a second great commodity or result of secret prayer maintained in its habit and in its spirit is that perspective on all reality is kept in focus perspective on all reality...

44:06 - 45:35 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Why is there so little preaching? There is no preaching on forgiveness and pardon that has a ring of reality about it. It's because preachers aren't having their own pardon sealed afresh to their heart in the secret plac…

Isaiah's vision of the Lord, where sinless creatures veil themselves and cry 'holy, holy, holy,' is used to illustrate how contemplating God's holiness in secret prayer reveals our secret sins in their true light.

in the light of your countenance Psalm 90 and verse 8 our secret sins in the light of your countenance we can think we're doing pretty good brethren until by the spirit we draw near and experience as Isaiah did we see the Lord not in vision but by biblical meditation high and lifted up and we contemplate what it is for sinless creatures to veil face and feet and cry one to another holy, holy, holy and in that contemplation of the burning light of his holiness our sins our secret sins come into their true light they're not magnified in the secret place we simply begin to see them in their true ...

47:02 - 48:29 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Why is there so little preaching? There is no preaching on forgiveness and pardon that has a ring of reality about it. It's because preachers aren't having their own pardon sealed afresh to their heart in the secret plac…

Martin shares that memorizing 1 John 1:9 in Greek in his first year Greek class made the promise of cleansing 'from all unrighteousness' sound more emphatic, highlighting the depth of God's forgiveness.

And in the contemplation of the way of forgiveness, the wonderful promise of 1 John 1.9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Remember in the first year Greek class, we had to memorize in Greek 1 John 1.9, and often, for some reason, the Greek sounds more emphatic on my ear to this day, that he'll cleanse us, apoposis abetias, from all unrighteousness.

49:15 - 49:52 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Why is there so little preaching? There is no preaching on forgiveness and pardon that has a ring of reality about it. It's because preachers aren't having their own pardon sealed afresh to their heart in the secret plac…

Martin describes hearing prayers that are 'sterile, musty' and lack the reality of a sinner clinging to Christ, illustrating the danger of formal, lifeless prayer.

Are your prayers concerning Christ in his mediation merely formal and lifeless rather than the prayers of a man who's hanging right now upon the mercy of God in Jesus? There have been times when I've heard people praying and mouthing the language of looking to Christ when I wanted to rise up and say, Brother, shut up! You haven't been there in your heart in ages. And the sterile, musty prayers coming from your mouth, bear witness to.

50:26 - 50:58 Read in full sermon

Driving home: I believe many a bungling parson is God's monument to the truth that you have not because you ask not.

A 'bungling parson' is described as 'God's monument to the truth that you have not because you ask not,' illustrating the consequence of not asking God for wisdom in prayer.

I believe many a bungling parson is God's monument to the truth that you have not because you ask not. Why should God give you wisdom when you don't prize it enough to ask it of Him in the secret place? Why should He give it to you? You go around thinking it was your own.

52:37 - 52:57 Read in full sermon

The point: I urge you to read periodically those pivotal sections in Bridges Christian Ministry dealing with the minister and his secret prayer. I think particularly of page 60 and page 147 to 150. And then let me mention several b…

God's promise to make the faint and weary 'mount up with wings as eagles' is used to illustrate the majestic strength and renewal granted in secret prayer, transforming one from 'ready to eat the dust' to soaring.

And the young men shall utterly fall. But may that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. What's more majestic than an eagle?

54:58 - 55:09 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It was the very fruits and demands of his vigorous inner life funneled through an anointed ministry which began to claw at his time and his energies and his priorities until the very blessing of God became his curse.

Luther's statement that 'prayer, meditation, and temptation make a minister' is quoted, emphasizing the non-academic, spiritual essentials of ministry.

without the habit and the spirit of prayer, there will be no real development of your inner life. It's Bridges who quotes Luther that there were three things by which God made a minister. Three things by which God makes ministers. And alas, we'll all have to be humbled because he doesn't mention the academy in them. But Luther said, prayer, meditation, and temptation make a minister. Prayer, meditation, and temptation make a minister. Brethren, there's no other way. And I think one of the reasons we've got all kinds of people, speaking in money, hand over fist, with all kinds of seminars on al...

57:03 - 58:18 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It was the very fruits and demands of his vigorous inner life funneled through an anointed ministry which began to claw at his time and his energies and his priorities until the very blessing of God became his curse.

Martin recounts his experience at age 18, attempting to fast and pray before preaching, illustrating how God drew the 'battle lines' early in his life regarding self-discipline for spiritual duties.

do with a man of relatively limited gifts, who's a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and who becomes such and remains such because he's a man of secret prayer. No other way is open to you, brethren. And as I said last week in speaking to a group of missionaries and Christian workers, I found in the first few months of my experience as a Christian and as one attempting to preach, that this is where the battle lines were drawn. Now, you remember when you were eighteen and you had a hollow leg? Six meals a day wasn't enough. I kept mine till I was about twenty-one. I can remember coming ho...

58:18 - 59:10 Read in full sermon

The point: You're determined by the grace of God to wage a lifetime warfare in the strength of God.

Martin shares his lifelong struggle to maintain secret prayer amidst student life, traveling ministry, and pastorate, emphasizing that this 'battle of the basics' is the most strategic indicator of his standing before God.

tonight. And I don't want to preach until I pray. And I remember saying to myself, if I can't discipline my appetite for food to pray, I really don't want God's blessing on my life. And I'm not bragging. I'm just telling you how God drew the battle lines. And then a few years later as a student, with all of the times, a 19 or 20 hour load, and a student pastor, and responsibilities with fellow students, this was the battle ground. Right at this point. Right at this point. Would I maintain the discipline and the habit of secret prayer? And then in a traveling ministry where I had no responsibil...

59:10 - 60:18 Read in full sermon

The point: You're determined by the grace of God to wage a lifetime warfare in the strength of God.

Martin warns that the very 'fruits and demands of his vigorous inner life funneled through an anointed ministry' can become a 'curse' if they draw a pastor away from his closet and time with God.

way. It was the very fruits and demands of his vigorous inner life funneled through an anointed ministry which began to claw at his time and his energies and his priorities until the very blessing of God became his curse. Let those demands draw him away from his closet. He let those demands rob him from time with God. And I think I know something about what that battle is. To keep pushing back the time earlier. To have time when there's no phone calls. And when the study phone is shut off. To have them call on the home phone and in tears and

61:18 - 62:04 Read in full sermon