Sermon Central
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10 Warnings To Church Leaders - Be Careful About Yourself
Contributed by Dr. Stanley Vasu on Jan 23, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: WE MUST WATCH OVER OUR OWN LIFE AND DOCTRINE SO WE CAN SAVE OURSELVES AND THOSE WHO HEAR US.
10 WARNINGS TO CHURCH LEADERS - BE CAREFUL ABOUT YOURSELF
1. WE MUST WATCH OVER OUR OWN LIFE AND DOCTRINE SO WE CAN SAVE OURSELVES AND THOSE WHO HEAR US.
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Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
2. WE MUST WATCH OVER OURSELVES AND THE FLOCK WHICH CHRIST HAS BOUGHT WITH HIS OWN BLOOD. WE MUST BE CAREFUL TO COMPLETE THE
MINISTRY THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED FROM THE LORD.
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Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of
God, which he bought with his own blood.
Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.”
3. WE MUST RUN OUR RACE IN SUCH A WAY THAT WE CAN WIN THE PRIZE. WE SHOULD HAVE CONTROL OVER OURSELVES SO THAT AFTER
PREACHING TO OTHERS , WE OURSELVES DO NOT DISQUALIFIED
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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.
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.
Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.
No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be
disqualified for the prize.
4. WE MUST FULFILL THE MINISTRY THAT GOD HAS GIVEN TO US WITH A HEART TO SERVE AND NOT WITH ANY GREED FOR WEALTH OR AUTHORITY
OVER PEOPLE. WE SHOULD BE AN EXAMPLE TO THE FLOCK
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Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as
God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve;
not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
5. WE MUST REMEMBER THAT THOSE WHO TEACH OTHERS WILL BE JUDGED MORE STRICTLY. WE MUST PRACTISE WHAT WE PREACH.
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Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?
You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
6.THE LORD HAS WARNED US THAT MANY WHO PROPHESIED AND CAST DOWN DEMONS AND PERFORMED MIRACLES WILL BE CAST AWAY ON THE DAY OF
JUDGEMENT BECAUSE OF THEIR EVIL DEEDS. WE MUST BE CAREFUL TO DO THE WILL OF GOD.
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“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father
who is in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your
name perform many miracles?’
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
7. THE ISRAELITES WHO PERISHED IN THE WILDERNESS BECAUSE OF THEIR IDOLATRY , IMMORALITY ,MURMURING AND UNBELIEF ARE A WARNING
TO US. LET US BE CAREFUL ABOUT OUR OWN STANDING.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that
they all passed through the sea.
They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
They all ate the same spiritual food
and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in
