LESSON One: Awakening Passion for God
The suddenness of
A. WORD
Looking back at the previous semesters, there is
a sense that something vital is missing. We have become
so caught up in juggling the ministry and our school life,
keeping up with our exams and AIG meetings, grabbing
every opportunity to rest and de-stress, that we have
neglected the one thing that we should have prioritized
all along our personal relationship with Christ. So we
will start our prayer meeting series on the most crucial
ingredient of every ministry a personal spiritual
revival.
Here are 3 sermons/articles that can help us
evaluate ourselves and hopefully stir our roving hearts
to God:
1. Some Slavery Feels like Freedom by
Marshall Segal
Text: Luke 18:18-30
a. A Good-Enough Christian (vv. 18-21)
Like the rich ruler, we often find
ourselves obeying the last five
commandments and neglecting the most
important one to love God with all our
hearts, all our minds and all our
strength.
b. One Thing You Still Lack (vv. 22-26)
We love Jesus, but we love
something else a little more. And loving
anything more than Jesus, even a little
more, means we dont really love Him
after all. He never settles into second
place in our hearts.
c. Give Up Your Secret Idols (vv. 29-30)
If we will trust Jesus enough to
leave behind our old ways of trying to
manufacture and preserve our own
happiness, hell give us something far
greater infinitely more than we might
have settled for otherwise. But we have
to trust him first, that he knows the
difference between slavery and freedom
better than we do. We have to cut the
cord.
2. Jonathan Edwards: The Use of Your
Time by Steve Lawson
a. Jonathan Edwards even at age 19, he
was God-centered, God-focused, God-
intoxicated, God-entranced; three
things he kept foremost in his mind: The
shortness of life.
death. The length of eternity.
b. Make the Most of Every Opportunity
(Eph. 5:16)
There are opportune times to do
certain things at this period of your life,
today, this moment, that you will not
have at other times in your Christian life.
Capture the moment when those doors
of opportunities are open for they will
soon be shut. You only have so little
time, you do not have a second to waste.
Pour out your whole life in the pursuit of
God and His will.
c. Resolutions
Resolved, never to lose one moment of
time; but improve it the most profitable way I
possibly can.
Resolved, never to do anything, which I
should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of
my life.
3. Pursue Intimacy with God through
Discipline by Peter Tan-Chi
a. Forget what lies behind and press on to
the upward call (Phil. 3:13-14)
Dont be paralyzed by your past.
Jesus is greater than your past so be
willing to let go. Press on to the upward
call of knowing Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:7-
10), to be conformed to His image and to
be intimate with God.
b. Pursue discipline for the purpose of
pursuing godliness (1 Timothy 4:7)
Godliness is being Christ-like.
You cannot be godly if you do not
practice spiritual disciplines. Self-
discipline is the ability to forego
instant/immediate gratification and
pleasure in favor of some greater gain,
even if it requires effort and time.
(Remez Sasson)
c. God Himself is the Blessing (Exodus
33: 2-3, 14-15)
Moses sole desire was to be
with God and behold Gods glory. He
realized that the blessings are useless
without the Giver. He wouldnt trade
 the surpassing greatness of God for Wednesday
anything the world could offer. Verse: 1 Timothy 4:8
The purpose of discipline is godliness.
Conclusion: How to have Intimacy with God How can you discipline yourself in the pursuit of
by Jon Bloom godliness this week?
Trust is at the heart of intimacy. How much do Thursday
we really trust God? Intimacy is more than just If you dont have the Lord, you have
knowledge and feelings. nothing. Is pursuing intimacy with God your
highest priority? If not, what changes should
The secret to drawing near to God and having
you make to make it so?
him draw near to us is revealed clearly in the Bible: we
draw near to God through faith in Christ who alone gives Friday
us access to him (Hebrews 4:1416, 7:25, Philippians 3:9), Verse: James 4:8
and we put our trust in all of his precious and very great The command is to draw near to God.
promises which find their yes to us in Christ (2 Peter The promise is that He will draw near to you as
1:4, 2 Corinthians 1:20). you draw near to Him. How can you draw near
to God today?

B. REFLECTION QUESTIONS (for AIG

discussions) D. REFERENCES
1. What are the idols that keep you from truly
surrendering your whole life to God? Some Slavery Feels like Freedom
2. How are you spending the limited time that God (www.desiringgod.org/articles/some-slavery-feels-
like-freedom)
has given you?
3. In what areas of your life do you need discipline the Jonathan Edwards: The Use of Your Time
most? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtMuaAOec
4. In what areas can you improve as an AIG? State V4)
specific examples and set realistic goals with
deadlines. Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards
(http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-
*Hold yourself accountable to each other in resolutions-of-jonathan-edwards)
destroying these idols, spending your time wisely
and developing self-discipline. Pursue Intimacy with God through Discipline
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPiBQpalzD4
*Promise to Claim: &t=3s)
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and
timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline. How to have Intimacy with God
2 Timothy 1:7 (http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/how-to-
have-intimacy-with-god)
C. DAILY REFLECTIONS
Monday
Verse: Philippians 3:14
What are your goals for this week? In
what specific ways can you press on toward the
goal to win the prize?

Tuesday
Verse: Philippians 3:13
Do not settle. The Christian life is
progressive. Look back at the things that God
calls you to forget. List the things that God is
convicting you to surrender this week.