Session 1: The Miracle of the Monastery
Intro ( Main Idea ):
In the past few years, it seems like our world has become like a tree without roots, or a house
without a foundation. In our modern world, we have removed so many ancient practices that
build robust human beings. How should we live in the modern day that we find ourselves in? It
seems like believers today have begun to substitute ancient practices for things that are
modern. What God blesses as a supplement He will not bless as a substitute. How can we
follow Jesus if we do not follow the lifestyle, practice, or ways of Jesus?
We can become modern monks and be transformed forever from the inside out to live full and
robust lives. The word monastery, or monk, comes from the word ‘mono’ which means singular.
We are to have one focus, one singular thought, and that is to know, seek, and have God
involved in our lives. We’re not going to become monks that are isolated in order to escape the
world, but modern monks who are reshaped, recreated, and ready to help change our world.
Being a modern monk is about finding rhythms of grace in the ways and practices of Jesus.
Key Scriptures
Proverbs 22:28 - Don’t cheat your neighbor by moving the ancient boundary markers set up by
previous generations.
John 14:6 - Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father
except through me.
Psalms 27:4 - The one thing I ask of the Lord— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of
the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.
Romans 12:2 - Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you
into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you,
which is good and pleasing and perfect.
11 Practices of Jesus Christ That Develop Us from the Inside Out
*What we practice is what we become.
1. Practice of the Presence of God
a. We need to be aware of the presence of God, and we cannot be aware of
anything we don’t practice
b. It’s the presence of God that transforms us
c. Jesus practiced the presence of God better than anyone
i. John 5:19 NKJV – “ Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most
assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He
sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like
manner.”
2. Practice of Prayer
3. Practice of Spiritual/Divine Reading
a. We could begin to read for knowledge and information but never be changed
b. It’s not reading to get information about Jesus, it’s reading to encounter Jesus
4. Practice of Stillness, Silence, Solitude, and Divine Guidance
a. The difference between solitude and silence: silence is what’s happening on the
outside, solitude is what’s happening on the inside
5. Practice of Faith for Daily Living
a. Faith goes beyond our natural comprehension
b. Romans 10:17 NKJV – “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word
of God.”
6. Practice of Obedience
a. We can’t believe God and have faith without obeying God
7. Practice of Fasting
8. Practice of Radical Sacrifice & Generosity
a. Proverbs 11:24 MSG – “The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the
world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.”
9. Practice of Community
a. It’s commonly said, “the ministry’s great if it wasn’t for people.” The ministry is
people!
b. There is no development or formation without community.
c. Isolated believers become weird believers. Their brokenness never gets healed,
but gets exaggerated and worse.
d. My monastery is the local church. You can’t love Jesus and not love the church.
10. Practice of Living in The World
a. We’re not trying to escape the world
b. Your monastic mind, heart, and lifestyle is for the benefit of this world
c. You are here in the world to change the world
d. John 20:31 - But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus
is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by
the power of his name.
11. Practice of the Miracle of the Monastery/the Miracle of Becoming a Monk
a. There is a miraculous quality to our lives when we take a monastic approach to
living