Guarding Against Backsliding: A Call to Discipleship
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Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
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"No backsliding happens suddenly, nobody falls away all of a sudden. It's always a gradual process, and if we are sensitive to the Lord's voice, we'll be alerted to it. And very often it is when other things than Jesus himself become important to us, something in the world, politics, elections, yeah the beginning of backsliding when Christ himself is not the center." [00:37:50]
"Jesus said in order to be disciples, we must love him more than father, mother, brother, sister, children, wife, everyone, and even the brothers in the church. We're to love him more than we love one another, and nobody must be our favorite, Jesus himself always in front of us. And the other condition Jesus said, as we all know, is that every single day of our life, without exception, we take up the cross which means I die to my own preferences, my choices, my interests, all of that, die to it every single day." [01:08:16]
"Paul says I've discovered that I need to have that attitude 24 hours of the day. What is the result of that? He says it twice. First of all, so that the life of Jesus can be manifested in our body. That is our goal. Our goal is not preaching, our goal is not building the church, it's all secondary. Our goal is that the life of Jesus Christ might be manifested in our body in the way we look at people, in the way we look at women, in the way we look at money, in the way we look at our fellow believers." [04:45:36]
"The life of Jesus in us should also produce life in others. It's not enough for people to be impressed by our words; they must see the life of Christ in us and be transformed by it. This requires a constant dying to self, allowing God to deliver us over to death in various circumstances, whether in our personal lives or within the church community." [13:28:32]
"Saul is a picture of the preacher who doesn't judge himself daily, who doesn't seek to manifest the life of Christ. Turn with me to 1 Samuel and chapter 9 and see how Saul began when Samuel went up to Saul and when he was just nobody. He was just going around looking for donkeys, his father's donkeys were lost, and this is the man who was going around seeking for donkeys and one day Samuel comes up to him and says you're going to be a king." [27:04:48]
"Saul's downfall serves as a warning against disobedience and self-justification. We must maintain a good conscience and unwavering faith, recognizing that our authority comes from the life of Christ being evident in us, not from titles or positions. The Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but he's not going to do it now. Now the Lord is looking for a man after his own heart." [35:38:00]
"To avoid spiritual shipwreck, we must keep a good conscience and faith. This involves promptly addressing any wrongs and maintaining a firm belief in God's love and calling, regardless of circumstances. Our authority and effectiveness in ministry depend on this integrity. The smallest prick of conscience, I want to encourage you, my brothers, if you don't want to suffer shipwreck, set it right, don't postpone it." [49:38:00]
"Faith means no matter what happens, 101 things I can't explain, I believe God loves me. I don't know why this happens or why it's turned out like this, but God loves me, I know that. God's called me to live for him and to serve him, that never changes. I'm never going to doubt it. God's called you to be an elder, don't doubt it, don't let unbelief come just because there's some little difficulty here and there." [52:21:28]
"Christ must increase, I must decrease, and Christ cannot increase if I'm not desperate to decrease. Not just if I reluctantly say all right, I'm willing to decrease, not like that. I'm desperate, I want to decrease so that Christ can increase. That's the person whom God will always have his anointing upon if that's your passion." [22:00:00]
"To obey is better than sacrifice. I believe that all of us have sacrificed something to be elders. You certainly sacrifice a lot of time that you could spend with your family. Every one of us that could have been spent with your family, which is sacrificed in order to be available to God's people. And probably we think of other sacrifices we have made financially and in terms of convenience in our home and many things." [36:44:80]
"Demons has forsaken me. A couple of other examples he gives here of Hymenaeus and Alexander. 1 Timothy chapter 1, he talks about certain people who made shipwreck of their faith. That means the ship was sailing wonderfully, and it went and hit some rocks. The rocks that ships hit are hidden rocks under the surface of the sea." [48:09:59]
"Paul said in Acts 24:16, I keep my conscience always 24/7 clear before God and before men. That's one and the other is faith, keeping faith in a good conscience. Faith means no matter what happens, 101 things I can't explain, I believe God loves me. I don't know why this happens or why it's turned out like this, but God loves me, I know that." [51:44:80]
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"Jesus said in order to be disciples, we must love him more than father, mother, brother, sister, children, wife, everyone, and even the brothers in the church. We're to love him more than we love one another, and nobody must be our favorite, Jesus himself always in front of us. And the other condition Jesus said, as we all know, is that every single day of our life, without exception, we take up the cross which means I die to my own preferences, my choices, my interests, all of that, die to it every single day." [01:08:16]
"Paul says I've discovered that I need to have that attitude 24 hours of the day. What is the result of that? He says it twice. First of all, so that the life of Jesus can be manifested in our body. That is our goal. Our goal is not preaching, our goal is not building the church, it's all secondary. Our goal is that the life of Jesus Christ might be manifested in our body in the way we look at people, in the way we look at women, in the way we look at money, in the way we look at our fellow believers." [04:45:36]
"The life of Jesus in us should also produce life in others. It's not enough for people to be impressed by our words; they must see the life of Christ in us and be transformed by it. This requires a constant dying to self, allowing God to deliver us over to death in various circumstances, whether in our personal lives or within the church community." [13:28:32]
"Saul is a picture of the preacher who doesn't judge himself daily, who doesn't seek to manifest the life of Christ. Turn with me to 1 Samuel and chapter 9 and see how Saul began when Samuel went up to Saul and when he was just nobody. He was just going around looking for donkeys, his father's donkeys were lost, and this is the man who was going around seeking for donkeys and one day Samuel comes up to him and says you're going to be a king." [27:04:48]
"Saul's downfall serves as a warning against disobedience and self-justification. We must maintain a good conscience and unwavering faith, recognizing that our authority comes from the life of Christ being evident in us, not from titles or positions. The Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but he's not going to do it now. Now the Lord is looking for a man after his own heart." [35:38:00]
"To avoid spiritual shipwreck, we must keep a good conscience and faith. This involves promptly addressing any wrongs and maintaining a firm belief in God's love and calling, regardless of circumstances. Our authority and effectiveness in ministry depend on this integrity. The smallest prick of conscience, I want to encourage you, my brothers, if you don't want to suffer shipwreck, set it right, don't postpone it." [49:38:00]
"Faith means no matter what happens, 101 things I can't explain, I believe God loves me. I don't know why this happens or why it's turned out like this, but God loves me, I know that. God's called me to live for him and to serve him, that never changes. I'm never going to doubt it. God's called you to be an elder, don't doubt it, don't let unbelief come just because there's some little difficulty here and there." [52:21:28]
"Christ must increase, I must decrease, and Christ cannot increase if I'm not desperate to decrease. Not just if I reluctantly say all right, I'm willing to decrease, not like that. I'm desperate, I want to decrease so that Christ can increase. That's the person whom God will always have his anointing upon if that's your passion." [22:00:00]
"To obey is better than sacrifice. I believe that all of us have sacrificed something to be elders. You certainly sacrifice a lot of time that you could spend with your family. Every one of us that could have been spent with your family, which is sacrificed in order to be available to God's people. And probably we think of other sacrifices we have made financially and in terms of convenience in our home and many things." [36:44:80]
"Demons has forsaken me. A couple of other examples he gives here of Hymenaeus and Alexander. 1 Timothy chapter 1, he talks about certain people who made shipwreck of their faith. That means the ship was sailing wonderfully, and it went and hit some rocks. The rocks that ships hit are hidden rocks under the surface of the sea." [48:09:59]
"Paul said in Acts 24:16, I keep my conscience always 24/7 clear before God and before men. That's one and the other is faith, keeping faith in a good conscience. Faith means no matter what happens, 101 things I can't explain, I believe God loves me. I don't know why this happens or why it's turned out like this, but God loves me, I know that." [51:44:80]
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