This week our sermon series The Gospel of Luke, Part II: A Journey through Galilee emphasizes the priority and precedent of Jesus to willfully withdraw throughout His ministry to seek intimacy with God the Father. With the dawn of a new year, we would be wise to follow Jesus’ example and resolve to deepen our relationship with God through an intentional rhythm of solitude and prayer.

Tyler’s Main Points

• Jesus often sought out solitude to pray because He desired intimacy with the Father.

• Jesus often prayed in solitude out of great dependence.

• Jesus often prayed in solitude because it brought Him great delight.

Key Takeaways

• The condition of your soul is directly related to your diligence to seek time with the Father in solitude and prayer.

• Jesus was surrounded by the relentless demands of others, yet willfully and intentionally sought out solitude with the Father.

• Jesus set boundaries to His busyness to be with the Father.

• To have more fulfillment in God will require more time in solitude with God— time that is undistracted, undisrupted, and unhurried.

• Jesus depended on the Father for rest, to be strengthened for ministry, for guidance/wisdom in big decisions and to discern the Father’s will, to comfort Him in times of grief, and endure hardship.

• To avoid burnout amidst the burdens of this life, we must depend on the Father in solitude and prayer.

• The picture of the Gospel is the Trinity inviting us into true intimacy and fellowship with God Himself.

• Through faith in Christ we have received access to God as His adopted children.

• As the years go by, a slow decline in our delight in God will develop if we do not intentionally prioritize, pursue, and protect time with Him.

• Solitude with God is the table where the soul is fed and satisfied.

• As Tyler suggests, we would be wise to divert daily, withdraw weekly, and abandon annually.

Discussion Questions/Application

Personal application:

• How will you increasingly prioritize and emphasize the habits that most effectively stir your affections for God?

• What attitudes and distractions are most often hindering your intimacy with God?

Discuss with your community group:

• Considering what could distract you, disrupt you, and hurry you… When is the most effective time in your day for solitude and prayer with God? Where is the most effective place that will provide solitude for prayer with God?

• What’s your plan to divert daily, withdraw weekly, and abandon annually (or something similar)? Why is pursuing and protecting solitude with God essential for your spiritual well being?

Passages Referenced

Luke 5:16; Proverbs 13:4; Mark 1:35; John 5:30; Matthew 14:13; Luke 22:41-44; 1 Kings 19; Luke 2:49; Luke 3:21-22; John 17:20-21.

Worship Set List

Oh But God, There is a Savior, Come Thou Fount (Above All Else), Open the Eyes of My Heart, Abide