Sliding (part I)
Dear all,
I am about to share with you a 2 part sermon from New-Life Church. Ha..in part to refresh my memory and cast into record the lesson learnt, and also in part to share with E240 what i'm learning over here, and reassure you guys that God is moving here and teaching me new things as well.
Sliding (Part I)
It is a difficult topic, often painful to talk about especially in churches where everyone is assumed to stay strong and lasting in Christ. But the first step to stemming the phenomenon i will describe later is to confess that there is a problem in the first place. The sermon serves to force us to take a reality check on the situation of people losing faith in God.
Statistically, 61% of the young adults in America used to be christians before. Only 20% of them are still christians since their youth, the rest of them used to be christians in their youth, but later their passion and fire died down and they slided back.
A popular example in the bible is the character Judas Iscariot the one who betrayed Jesus.
"Then Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 disciples went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted when they heard why he had come, and they promised to give him money. So he began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus" - Mark 14:10-11
The key issue is that Judas was one of the 12; in other words, he was a direct disciple of Jesus. Even one of the 12 could harbour such thoughts and in fact INITIATED the betrayal is simply shocking. Jesus was not turned in by the Pharisees to the Jewish community and Romans, but was betrayed by his disciple. And no one co-erced Judas to betray him; he initiated the betrayal. But to understand the betrayal, we must look at the events before the betrayal
"Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head. Some of those at the table were indignant. 'why waste suc expensive perfume? it could have been sold for a year's wages and the money given to the poor!' But Jesus replied, 'leave her alone. Why cirticize her for doing such a good thing to me?' " Mark 14:3-6
And in John 12:4-5, the disciple who berated the women and made comparison to the wages was named as Judas Iscariot. The path to falling away begins with DISILLUSIONMENT in God's purpose. Judas was disillusioned to Jesus's purpose and he saw only the waste of resources that was made, and that Jesus saw the waste of resources as a good thing to do for His sake.
2 ways to disillusionment
-UNANSWERED PRAYER
"why does my suffering continue? why is my wound so incurable? Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook, like a spring that has gone dry" - Jeremiah 15:18
- TRIALS IN LIFE
"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because i have overcomed the world" John 16:33
"Your unfailing love is beter than life itself; how I praise you! I wil praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy." Psalms 63:3-5, regarding a time when David was in the wilderness of Judah fleeing for his life.
Therefore we must understand that there are times when prayers will be unanswered, and trials will happen to our lives. but let us go back to Jesus's lesson regarding the anointing at Bethany
"You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. I tell you the truth, where the good news is preached throughout the world, this woman's deed will be remembered and discussed." Mark 14:7-9
Jesus was teaching them to recognise that He was the Messiah, and was giving them a prophetic word of what is to come. But Judas, blinded by his disillusionment, missed the big picture of Jesus's teaching. He instead, focused on the waste of resources, hidden behind the moralistic mask of caring for the poor. But Judas's real motive is revealed in John 14:6
"Not that he cared for the poor - he was a thief, and since he was incharge of the disciples' money, he often stole some for himself"
Judas had a secret sin; both his disillusionment and sin led him to betray Jesus to satisfy that greed. He was feeling a lost from the money that could have gone his way, and instead used that to justify the betrayal for that trivial amount of money that the Pharisees gave him.
So what is that sin that you could be forced to trade your faith for? Many people fall away from Christ simply because they were harbouring that secret sin, and that events manifested in such a way that you become faced with a question of choosing between that sin and Jesus. Which will be your decision when the time comes? I pray for those believers amongst the readers today that you will confess your sins to God right now, and bring it to light and eradicate that sin. Find some1 you are accountable to and seek that person's help in overcoming the world. Fight that sin before situations change and you are forced to choose before you are ready to make that choice. Learn humilty, to admit that you are human and fallible and have sins to account for. Learn shame to know that it is wrong to persist in the sin, and most of all, learn His love, and understand that He is the one who forgives all sin with grace, and not by deed. You do not need to prove yourself to God; He knows well enough who you are and the condition of your heart. Come to Him with brokeness and He will restore you according to the covenant that He has given to us. Keep your sin from becoming a greater sin.
-continued by part II
I am about to share with you a 2 part sermon from New-Life Church. Ha..in part to refresh my memory and cast into record the lesson learnt, and also in part to share with E240 what i'm learning over here, and reassure you guys that God is moving here and teaching me new things as well.
Sliding (Part I)
It is a difficult topic, often painful to talk about especially in churches where everyone is assumed to stay strong and lasting in Christ. But the first step to stemming the phenomenon i will describe later is to confess that there is a problem in the first place. The sermon serves to force us to take a reality check on the situation of people losing faith in God.
Statistically, 61% of the young adults in America used to be christians before. Only 20% of them are still christians since their youth, the rest of them used to be christians in their youth, but later their passion and fire died down and they slided back.
A popular example in the bible is the character Judas Iscariot the one who betrayed Jesus.
"Then Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 disciples went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted when they heard why he had come, and they promised to give him money. So he began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus" - Mark 14:10-11
The key issue is that Judas was one of the 12; in other words, he was a direct disciple of Jesus. Even one of the 12 could harbour such thoughts and in fact INITIATED the betrayal is simply shocking. Jesus was not turned in by the Pharisees to the Jewish community and Romans, but was betrayed by his disciple. And no one co-erced Judas to betray him; he initiated the betrayal. But to understand the betrayal, we must look at the events before the betrayal
"Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head. Some of those at the table were indignant. 'why waste suc expensive perfume? it could have been sold for a year's wages and the money given to the poor!' But Jesus replied, 'leave her alone. Why cirticize her for doing such a good thing to me?' " Mark 14:3-6
And in John 12:4-5, the disciple who berated the women and made comparison to the wages was named as Judas Iscariot. The path to falling away begins with DISILLUSIONMENT in God's purpose. Judas was disillusioned to Jesus's purpose and he saw only the waste of resources that was made, and that Jesus saw the waste of resources as a good thing to do for His sake.
2 ways to disillusionment
-UNANSWERED PRAYER
"why does my suffering continue? why is my wound so incurable? Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook, like a spring that has gone dry" - Jeremiah 15:18
- TRIALS IN LIFE
"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because i have overcomed the world" John 16:33
"Your unfailing love is beter than life itself; how I praise you! I wil praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy." Psalms 63:3-5, regarding a time when David was in the wilderness of Judah fleeing for his life.
Therefore we must understand that there are times when prayers will be unanswered, and trials will happen to our lives. but let us go back to Jesus's lesson regarding the anointing at Bethany
"You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. I tell you the truth, where the good news is preached throughout the world, this woman's deed will be remembered and discussed." Mark 14:7-9
Jesus was teaching them to recognise that He was the Messiah, and was giving them a prophetic word of what is to come. But Judas, blinded by his disillusionment, missed the big picture of Jesus's teaching. He instead, focused on the waste of resources, hidden behind the moralistic mask of caring for the poor. But Judas's real motive is revealed in John 14:6
"Not that he cared for the poor - he was a thief, and since he was incharge of the disciples' money, he often stole some for himself"
Judas had a secret sin; both his disillusionment and sin led him to betray Jesus to satisfy that greed. He was feeling a lost from the money that could have gone his way, and instead used that to justify the betrayal for that trivial amount of money that the Pharisees gave him.
So what is that sin that you could be forced to trade your faith for? Many people fall away from Christ simply because they were harbouring that secret sin, and that events manifested in such a way that you become faced with a question of choosing between that sin and Jesus. Which will be your decision when the time comes? I pray for those believers amongst the readers today that you will confess your sins to God right now, and bring it to light and eradicate that sin. Find some1 you are accountable to and seek that person's help in overcoming the world. Fight that sin before situations change and you are forced to choose before you are ready to make that choice. Learn humilty, to admit that you are human and fallible and have sins to account for. Learn shame to know that it is wrong to persist in the sin, and most of all, learn His love, and understand that He is the one who forgives all sin with grace, and not by deed. You do not need to prove yourself to God; He knows well enough who you are and the condition of your heart. Come to Him with brokeness and He will restore you according to the covenant that He has given to us. Keep your sin from becoming a greater sin.
-continued by part II
posted by B-Rok | 5:15 PM
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