Spiritual test
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. - Galatians 1:10
We want to please everyone around us!
But those people may lead you away from God's plan.
There is no better place than to be in God's will.
Corrie ten Boom
There are no 'if's' in God's world.
And no places that are safer than other places. In the center on His will is our only safety-let us pray that we may always know it.
Elisabeth Elliott
The will of God is not something you add to your life. It's a course you choose. You either line yourself up with the Son of God... or you capitulate to the principle which governs the rest of the world.
Billy Graham
Do you want to know what God's will is for you? It is for you to become more and more like Christ. This is spiritual maturity and it will change your life.
Secrecy test
Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out. - Proverbs 10:9
If people knew the decision I was about to make, would it bug me?
Embarrassment is a great motivator.
When I began to think of the great shame and embarrassment that my choice will bring to my family.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." - John 3:18-21
There is healing in the light.
Jesus is light.
He will forgive.
You are not alone.
Come into the light and receive grace.
Expose your sin.
Satan wants you to keep your sin hidden.
Satan is darkness.
Satan wants you in bondage.
If Christ frees you, you will be free indeed.
You are not perfect.
You stumble but Christ will lift you up.
You sin, you repent and you are forgiven.
Stumbling test
1 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge." This "knowledge" puffs up, but love builds up.
2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that "an idol has no real existence," and that "there is no God but one."
5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth-as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"-
6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.
9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols?
11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.
12 Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. - 1 Corinthians 8
Think of the greater good.
You may think it's alright but a weaker faith brother does not think the same.
19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.
21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.
22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.
23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. - Romans 14:19-23
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, - Ephesians 5:18
Be spirit filled.
(No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.) - 1 Timothy 5:23
This was for medicinal purposes.
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. - Proverbs 20:1
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine.
31 Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
32 In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things.
34 You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast.
35 "They struck me," you will say, "but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink." - Proverbs 23:29-35
4 reasons to abstain from alcohol
1. It guards your testimony.
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
2. It discourages a weaker brother or sister.
Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. - Romans 14:13
3. It sets the wrong example for our young people.
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. - 1 Timothy 4:12
4. It eliminates the possibility of becoming an alcoholic.
so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs. - 2 Corinthians 2:11
There is no way to know who will become an alcoholic.
Alcohol will change you for the worst.
Alcohol destroys.
Alcohol makes you stupid.
Is that the example you will set for your children?
Supreme test
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. - 1 Corinthians 10:31
Does this decision bring glory to God?
Your life belongs to Christ.
7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.
8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.
9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. - Romans 14:7-9
Thanks Pastor Kevin!!
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