Heb 12:12-16 Lift up your
tired hands, then, and strengthen your trembling knees! Keep walking on
straight paths, so that the lame foot may not be disabled, but instead be
healed. Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life,
because no one will see the Lord without it. Guard against turning back
from the grace of God. Let no one become like a bitter plant that grows up
and causes many troubles with its poison. Let no one become immoral or
unspiritual
Heb 12:25 Be careful that you
do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of
Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly
messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to
us from heaven!
1) BE AT PEACE WITH A EVERYONE
The above mentioned scripture
says: TRY (this means work at it/follow/pursue/press forward) to be at
peace with everyone.
Rom 12 :18 As far as it is
possible for you, be at peace with all men.
You see, much too often we as
Christian brothers and sisters don't "live at peace" with even one
another! We argue about this and get on each other about that and allow
our feelings to get in the way of being at peace.
We hurt others either by
what we do or by what we fail to do and by what we say or what we fail to
say. But then quite often we really have no idea that we have hurt
someone.
What to do:
TALK: The first thing you do once
you become aware that you have hurt someone is to go and talk to
him or her. If face-to-face talk is not possible, then write or phone.
APOLOGIZE / RECOGNIZE HIS HURT:
Even if what you did or said was completely innocent, recognize that the
other person was hurt. Whether the hurt is justified or not, apologize
nevertheless, for having caused hurt. Apologize even when the hurt done
was unintentional. The sooner you do this, the better; the easier it will
be for you and for the one you hurt.
EXPLAIN REASONS: Explain the
reasons behind what you did or did not do to the one hurt. Your
explanation, however, should not include excuses for what happened. To
say, "I'm sorry. It happened because I was so tired (or: I was under much
stress or I was not feeling well or I was so busy)" - is, in fact, to say,
I'm sorry but don't blame me for what happened. It was my fault. I accept
no responsibility for the failure." When an apology comes with excuses,
there is no apology at all. Genuine apology is to clearly identify the
wrong done and accept direct responsibility for what had happened.
ASK FORGIVENESS: If the hurt is
justified, ask for forgiveness.
CORRECT: Correct what may still
be corrected.
If YOU were hurt by someone –
forgive & forget; burn the list which you are keeping against that person!
Eph 4:26 says don’t go to bed
angry.
2) LIVE A HOLY LIFE
The above mentioned scripture
says: try to live a holy life (this means clean/set aside/pure), because
no one will see the Lord without it.
Obedience is the road to holiness. Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will
obey Me." It is our responsibility to obey Him. We cannot obey Him unless
we submit to Him. There can be no holiness in our lives if we do not obey
Him.
Over the years we may have
developed bad habits of sin. Am I willing to give up these habits that
keep me from being all that God wants me to be? Every time we sin we make
it easier to keep on sinning. We reinforce these patterns, or habits,
until we make a commitment to make a new habit not to sin.
Have you made it your aim,
goal, passion, not to sin?
Have you made it a commitment
to live a holy life?
The only way to break old habits
is to make a commitment to start forming new ones. God cannot do that for
us. It is our responsibility.
How do we break these old habits
of sin? How do we destroy the powerful grip of sin?
It is in the heart that the
changes must take place. “The heart is the
center of the inner life of the person where all the spiritual forces and
functions have their origin”
That is where the commitment to
an obedient life must begin. If I love the Lord God I will obey Him. I
will seek to please Him .
What to do:
MAKE A PERSONAL COMMITMENT TO CHRIST: Have you made a once-and-for-all
commitment to the Lord to live a life that is pleasing to Him? That is
where every true born again Christian must begin. “Lord Jesus I give you
my life. I thank you for dying for me on the cross and giving me eternal
life. I thank you for forgiving me of all my sins, and cleansing me with
your precious blood. I thank you for the indwelling presence of Your
Spirit. Lord, I give myself to You and I ask that You enable me to live a
holy life.”
COMMIT YOURSELF TO THE LORD EVERY
DAY: Begin your day with a renewed commitment to live God’s kind of life.
“Lord, I want to please You today in everything I do. I give You this day,
come and fill me with your Spirit and live in and through me.”
KEEP
YOUR HEART SENSITIVE TO THE LEADING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: Gal 5:16-17
What I say is this: let the Spirit direct your lives, and you will not
satisfy the desires of the human nature. For what our human nature wants
is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed
to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that
you cannot do what you want to do.
Gal
5:22-23 But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control.
SPEND TIME IN GOD’S WORD: This is
the only way to find out what God’s will is for the Christian.
Living the Christian life will
not come automatically. It is your responsibility to love and obey your
Master.
3) GUARD AGAINST TURNING BACK
Then above mentioned scripture
says: guard against turning back from the grace of God.
You have heard the message of
God’s undeserved kindness that is available to you…. It is free; Jesus
paid the price! Accept it once and for all!
HIS GRACE IS:
All-abundant (Rom 5:17)
Great (Eph 1:7)
Immeasurable rich (Eph 2:7)
All-sufficient (2 Cor 12:9)
Glorious (Eph 1:6)
Surpassing (2 Cor 9:14)
Extraordinary (2 Cor 9:14)
Exceeding (2 Cor 9:14)
Unmeasured (1Pet 4:10)
4) NO BITTERNESS
The above mentioned scripture
says: let no one become like a bitter plant that grows up and causes many
troubles with its poison.
Bitterness can be described as a
harsh, disagreeable taste. (For example try: drinking orange juice right
after you brush your teeth or malaria tablets …. )
When we say someone is bitter it
means they have become angry, resentful, hostile, ugly and hateful.
Bitterness is poison to your heart, your attitude, and your life.
Bitterness is when the pain
talks. Remember Job's wife? Do you recall her response to the grief
of losing her children all in one day? Her infamous words, "Why don't you
just curse God and die?" Many have judged her harshly for speaking such
words but I don't condemn her, for it was the pain that was talking. If
you have ever experienced heavy grief you will say, "I can't believe I
said those things, thought those things, and felt that way." That is the
pain talking.
Bitterness can be caused by:
A traumatic experience you encountered through no fault of your own.
A traumatic experience that was forced upon you unwillingly by another.
It can be caused by disappointment and shattered hopes and dreams.
It can be caused by unforgiveness. Refusing to let go of an offense
committed against you.
It can be caused by rejection. When you are rejected by someone who you
love and who was supposed to love you.
The Bible gives us two
illustrations of bitterness. Firstly it is describes as a poison. A
poison is a chemical that will cause injury, harm or death. (It obviously
is not good for you); The second illustration is that bitterness is
described as a plant / tree – that will bring bad fruit.
Bitterness prevents you from having good
relationships with others!
Bitterness will keep you
from enjoying life.
Bitterness will make you look at life through a selfish pair of glasses.
Bitterness will prevent you from having fellowship with God.
Bitterness grieves the Holy Spirit. Eph 4:30-31. And
do not make God's Holy Spirit sad; for the Spirit is God's mark of
ownership on you, a guarantee that the Day will come when God will set you
free. Get rid of all bitterness, passion, and anger. No more shouting or
insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort.
Bitterness hinders your prayer life. Ps 66:18 If I had ignored my
sins, the Lord would not have listened to me.
Bitterness hinders your worship. Matt 5:23-24 So if you are about
to offer your gift to God at the altar and there you remember that your
brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the
altar, go at once and make peace with your brother, and then come back and
offer your gift to God.
5) LISTEN TO THE ONE WHO IS
SPEAKING
Heb 12:25 Be careful that you
do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of
Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly
messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to
us from heaven!
You have been listening to many
messages in church, you have been reading your Bible, you have been
attending bible studies, doing courses … did you really listen? Did it
have any impact in your life? Did anything change in your behaviour and
your lifestyle?
Luk 6:48-49 He is like a man
who, in building his house, dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. The
river flooded over and hit that house but could not shake it, because it
was well built. But anyone who hears my words and does not obey them is
like a man who built his house without laying a foundation; when the flood
hit that house it fell at once---and what a terrible crash that was!
STRIP OFF THE SIN,
FIX YOUR EYES ON JESUS
Heb
12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of
witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows
us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run
with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our
eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.
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