The Landscape of Life
Summer adventures
What is it about a mountain that calls to us?
The landscape of life
Challenges that help us to grow
Deuteronomy 11: 10-17 (NIV)
The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end. So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you.
Overcoming discouragement, distraction, and displacement
A lifelong journey
1. The Valley
Finding ourselves in the lowlands
Necessary to descend in order to ascend again
Dealing with discouragement
Psalm 23:1-4 (NIV)
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me…
Processeing grief, loss, hurt
Finding encouragement
Psalm 121:1-8 (NIV)
I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
Rising up to answer the call
2. The Climb
Tempted by distraction
Don’t settle for less
An illustration from an onion
Each step higher requires a sacrifice
Temptation that grows stronger in the ascent
Matthew 4:8-10 (NIV)
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
Don’t get into a habit of stopping short of the summit
Remember there is more
Scaling the peaks of life
3. The Peak
The high places
Pausing to appreciate
Places of appropriate worship
The danger of displacement
Representing the disembodied essence of an idea with an image
1 Kings 11:7-8 (NIV)
On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
Making anything ultimate, ultimately leads to darkness
The Godfather
Polytheism vs Monotheism
The Spirit of the highest of all high places
Isaiah 2:2-3 (NIV)
In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
The proposition that only one Spirit is worthy of ultimate worship
You are worthy of it all
We can worship from the high places in a manner that exalts the Spirit of that which is highest
How to climb the peaks