~ NOTES FROM PASTOR RUSS ~

Why is "Quiet Time" Important?




Introducing "Quiet Time"

The Long Road

Reading and Responding

Accountability and Responsibility

Teaching Bible

Includes
Children's Worship - 1st - 6th grade
~ Nursery Provided ~

See What We're Reading
in our Quiet Time

Sermons

Prayer

?? WHY "QUIET TIME" ??

Introducing "Quiet Time"       The Long Road       Reading and Responding       Accountability and Responsibility

THE QUIET TIME PAGE

One of the things we are encouraging at Sauvie Island Community Church is for everyone to develop the discipline of a daily quiet time in God's Word.

Some call it "Devotions", others simply refer to it as "reading the Bible"; but whatever you call it - spending time in God's Word - systematically, consistently and with personal application is essential to our development as Disciples.
Oswald Chambers said it well:

"It is impossible for a believer, no matter what his experience, to keep right with God if he will not take the trouble to spend time with God . . . spend plenty of time with God; let other things go, but don't neglect HIM."

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THE LONG & WINDING ROAD

At Sauvie Island Community Church, we encourage the use of the "Word of Life" Quiet Time Journal to help achieve this. We have special editions for adults, teens and children - even pre-school children. We are all on the same passages of scripture each day and over the course of 6 years, we cover the major portions of scripture - both Old and New Testaments. See: www.wol.org

We are not just talking about ritual or some sort of obsessive compulsive dosorder. There is purpose in reading God's Word. I emphasize this out loud - we HEAR, so that we might become "DO-ERS"!! This is the "personal application" part.

Some Christians confuse Bible knowledge with spiritual maturity, assuming that knowing more about the Bible automatically makes a person a better Christian.
Remember, the Pharisees knew the Old Testament, yet they were spiritually blind. The key to Spiritual Maturity is sincere application of God's Word to LIFE.

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READING AND RESPONDING

The idea of reading and responding to what God says, could and should include the action of writing it down.
1. To show that we are paying attention and . . .
2. To make sure that we don't forget it. We generally approach this discipline by trying to answer 2 basic questions:

1. What is God saying?

2. What am I to do?

We respond by doing what God says and by praying and talking to God about what He has said. What I get out of God's Word each day, becomes the first thing on my prayer list. I pray " ____ " for myself and I pray the same thing for others on my list for that day.

"We should pray when we are in a praying mood,
for it would be sinful to neglect so fair an opportunity.
We should pray when we are not in a proper mood,
for it would be dangerous to remain in so unhealthy a condition."

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ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY

1.   We "confess with our mouths" the Word God has spoken to us. It makes us accountable for doing what HE said - because others know.

2.   Others are blessed. They might be encouraged or challenged by our faithfulness or by God's Word through us. This might indeed be a confirmation of what God has been saying to them.

3.   Finally, when we share with others what we have "gotten" from our "Quiet Time", we allow others to examine and test what we have "heard". Did I hear correctly? Did I misunderstand? Did I read something into the passage that wasn't there? Is this a valid application of the meaning of this scripture?

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THE "QUIET TIME" PAGE

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