Sermon Central
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8 Warnings Signs Along The Highway Of Life
Contributed by Randy Bataanon on Oct 21, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: God has warnings signs along the highway of our lives. They were installed along the way to prepare us to an imminent hazard or peril. You can either pay attention or disregards them at your own risk. There are eight warnings written at Romans 12.
8 WARNINGS SIGNS ALONG THE HIGHWAY OF LIFE
God has warnings signs along the highway of our lives. They were installed along the way to prepare us to an imminent hazard or peril. You can either pay attention or disregards them at your own risk. There are eight warnings written at Romans 12.
We should not forget that we are just pilgrims in this world. We are expatriates here. Our citizenship is in heaven. And as we pass by at the highway of our temporary life here, there are many dangers, land minds, cliffs and traps of the enemy.
But God gave us some warning signs so we can identify those dangers in our spiritual journey and some of those important signs are written in Romans Chapter 12.
8 WARNINGS FROM ROMANS12:1-21
I - WARNING AGAINST COMPROMISE:
DO NOT CONFORM BUT BE TRANSFORMED
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
If the enemy cannot strike us by persecution, he will entice us with temptation. He will use the life’s style or the pattern of this world to entice us. His purpose is to trap us to commit sin by the luxury of this world. He wants to weaken our spiritual fervor and power by contaminating our Christian life with the life’s style of this world.
For this reason, God is warning us to avoid the traps or the land mines of compromise. If we want to maintain a victorious Christian life, we need to keep our integrity and keep our spiritual life pure and uncontaminated with the temptations of this world. We have to live above the standard of this world. Though we are still in the world but we should be insulated from the pattern of this world.
A - How to avoid compromise?
1. Surrender your body – “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice”
2. Renew your Mind – “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind”
B - What will be the benefits of avoiding compromise?
1. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is
2. Then you will be able to test and approve what his good, pleasing perfect will
If the enemy is not successful by using the weapon of COMPROMISE, he will use his next tool to defeat us. The name of the next weapon of the enemy is CONDESCENSION. The other word for this is SUPERIORITY COMPLEX. This is the “holier than thou spirit”.
II - WARNING AGAINST CONDESCENSION:
DO NOT EXERCISE SUPERIORITYCOMPLEX BUT HUMILITY
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
Because of the spiritual standard that they have, many Christian falls to the next trap of condescension. They think themselves highly and important than other people. They became isolated and hard to mingle with specially the un-church people. They are like scribes and Pharisee of our time.
This kind of spirit put a bad image to Christianity that soul winning and evangelism become difficult because of the image that this people portrait to Christianity. This people are un-loving, un-caring and do not have the spirit of grace within them. They concern is to maintain the religious standard and not to spread the grace and love of God.
A - Why to avoid this superiority complex?
1. Because we belong to all the others
4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
2. Because we have different gifts, hence everyone has a unique value and purpose
6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your[a] faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,[b] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully
B - How to avoid this superiority complex?
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
