CHOOSE THE LIFE
Highly Successful Habits of the
Committed Life
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Three
principals govern the practice of the disciplines…
1. Godliness; the Spirit of God is in us to be our motivation. The goal is to
become more Christ-like.
18 (NIV) And we, who with
unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his
likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the
Spirit.
·
What
does it mean to be Godly?
·
What
does glory mean?
2. The importance of practice…so you can become mature.
11 (NIV) We have much to say
about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.
12 In fact, though by this
time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary
truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still
an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
14 But solid food is for the
mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from
evil.
Warning:
False belief leads to false practices, which leads away from truth.
1 In the presence of God and of
Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his
appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season;
correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not put
up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather
around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to
hear. 4 They will turn their ears
away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
5 But you, keep your head in all situations,
endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your
ministry.
Stick
to the truth.
6 (NIV) If you point these
things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus,
brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have
followed. 7 Have nothing to
do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
10 You, however, know all about my
teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings--what kinds of
things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I
endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in
Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while
evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14 But as for you, continue in what
you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom
you learned it, 15 and how from
infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for
salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All
Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and
training in righteousness, 17 so
that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
3. Perseverence makes
transformation a reality.
11 (NIV) No discipline seems
pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of
righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV)
24 (NIV) Do you not know
that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a
way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone
who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown
that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man
running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave
so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for
the prize.
Warnings against false teachings…
3 But I am afraid that just as Eve
was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray
from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.