Who Then Can Be Saved2
Who Then Can Be Saved?
Man looks on the outward appearance but God sees the heart.
Ever caught yourself talking pretentiously to God as though He didn’t know what was in your heart. Telling God what we think He wants to hear does nothing for our prayer lives.
To the disciples this man looked like a prime prospect.
They were astonished that he did not make the grade. They were not conscious of their own sacrifice. There is that possibility in the church today that people can construct their own façade and hide behind it.
We are often more impressed with what our eyes can observe than anything else.
If people look right and fit easily we don’t ask too many questions in the church.
John Wesley’s 22 questions
These are 22 questions the members of John Wesley's Holy Club asked THEMSELVES EACH DAY in thier private devotions over 200 years ago.
1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3. Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?
4. Can I be trusted?
5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self justifying?
7. Did the Bible live in me today?
8. Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?
9. Am I enjoying prayer?
10. When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
11. Do I pray about the money I spend?
12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
13. Do I disobey God in anything?
14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
16. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
17. How do I spend my spare time?
18. Am I proud?
19. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
20. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, critize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what I am doing about it?
21. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
22. Is Christ real to me?
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This makes it easy for people to follow spiritually self-destructive paths and by the time we discover their problems it is far too late to do anything about it.
Early detection is the answer.
Jesus knows our hearts and we know the hearts of people that we spend time with.
Often ineffective for people who have no mutual relationship to speak into another person’s life. One of the very real notions of the body of Christ is that we are connected and it is through that connection that we grow. People who skirt the fringes of church life are often unaffected by the gospel.
We are mutually accountable to people when we invest in each other’s lives.
Have a tendency to want to hide our struggles and our problems from each other. This provides a place for the devil to work undetected.
Isolation – My business is my business
Anonymity – I’m not accountable for what I say.
Privacy – I’ll do it my way.
Individuality -
Personal -
Anything that the devil can do to break the connection will be something that he will use to precipitate our downfall. People “disconnect” in the summer months and the fell removed when the Fall rolls around again.
Difference between the “can’ts” and the “won’ts”.
It is impossible for man to be saved, in other words they cannot accomplish their salvation. Whosoever will . . . salvation is most always a greater hurdle to the will than anything else.
Eagle & The Wolf
There's a battle between the eagle and the wolf.
The eagle inside of me represents everything that is good and pure.
And even though it soars through the valleys, it still lays its eggs on the mountain tops.
There's a wolf inside of me.
And the wolf preys upon my weaknesses and justifies itself in the presence of the pack.
Who will win the war between the eagle and the wolf?
The one that you feed.