Sermon notes

When I was in junior high, we were required to take sermon notes during church. Most of these consisted of my friend Sara and I writing notes back and forth about school gossip and boys we were going to marry. Other times, I insisted on my Dad drawing me pictures of the rat fink....wish I could reproduce that picture for you here! I looked it up on Google and realized my Dad drew much happier versions of the real Rat Fink. Ours always had a big smile and long cute tail, big ears, big eyes. Rat Fink was adorable. But the REAL rat fink....not adorable! Thanks Dad, for making it more cartoon for us! I love my Dad.

Last week, I found myself at church, alone, for the first time in a long time. And while I love going to church with my family, there's something to a bit of solitude as well. I could listen without picking up bags of spilled cheerios, without splitting up fights over the one blue crayon, without digging gum out of my purse to fill up loud mouths, without two trips to the bathroom and one for water.

So what did I do with my solitariness? I took sermon notes. And it turns out, I got a lot more out of church than I normally do.

First of all, I learned that FASTING (one of the spiritual disciplines) means giving up something...not necessarily food. This is where the "giving something up for lent" comes from. Not sure why it took me so long to make this connection, but I have to say, I breathed a sigh of relief. I have a very love/love relationship with food right now. Please don't take that away from me.

Anywaay, this sermon was about STUDY, another spiritual discipline. Read the Bible...blah blah blah. That's what I was thinking. I've tried this before. And many times, I find an excellent passage that really applies to what I'm searching for. But others....most of the time...I find this:

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
²Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
³Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
⁴Ram the father of Amminadab,

Ok.....Amminadab....I'm putting that one on my baby name list. The above example was also read by Pastor Mike as an example of what people run into when they try to start reading the Bible. And honestly, it's frustrating. Agreed. I have, for a long time, been frustrated by my lack of knowledge of the Bible, comforted by others' quick library of awesome scripture to help me in my times of need, and I wonder...could I be one of those with a library like that on hand someday?

Eh....maybe.

But the points that I loved from this sermon were that:

Studying God's word brings JOY.

In order to be strong, solid people, we need to build our foundations on solid ground (God's word). This brought me to one of my fav hymns...

On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

And that was the sermon note that hit me most. I personally, love to build myself up on what I know, what I need, what I want, what I think. And it's so devastating when you fall from that pedestal. Which I do.....a lot. But every time I drive to work, I listen to the Women of Faith CD from last year, where they do a mix of "In Christ Alone" and "On Christ the Solid Rock"...amazing. And it always strikes me deep. For when I feel like I just can't do another night (every time I drive to work), I'm reminded that I don't necessarily have to stand on my own, and when I rely on my own strength, I do indeed, fall. It's upsetting to me that I can't just power through sometimes. Just be stronger! Just try harder!!!! Stop being weak! Other people can do it, why can't you!? I can be, and am, my own worst enemy.

I think that's why it's so important for me to be reminded that in order to make it, I need to build upon something stronger than my own strength, because my strength will always, eventually, fail. God's won't.

So while I jump in again, I'm hoping to strengthen my foundation through the study of God's word. For the pursuit of stability, knowledge, and strength....(I know there's better stuff than genealogy in there...) :) and we'll just see what I can find.

Here are a few tips we were given to make the Bible reading thing work:

Start with prayer
Give it time
Reflect on what you've read...write about it
Read it again
Look for study guides/resources about the passage
Humble yourself
Listen

James 4:10

¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.