Image via Wikipedia If we endureSecond Timothy 2:12 says if we endure, we shall also live with Him. We shall reign with Him if we endure to the end. The faithfulness of God is a blessing to loyal enduring believers. But look at 2 Timothy 2:13, well actually the second half of 12, "If we deny Him, He'll deny us." See, if we endure, we'll reign. If we deny/reject Him at any point, our faith dies. He'll deny us. Beloved, it is the nature of Loving faith that when God gives that faith, He sustains that faith. And if there comes a point in time when a person rejects that faith, God denies that soul.What are some pressures on you that shake your faith? What encouragements do you find in this passage as you face those pressures? How can you respond with the spirit of power, love, and self-control God has given you?Jesus says: "I have not come to call the righteous but...what?...sinners to repentance. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost." First Peter 2:7 says, "To those who believe, He is precious." Have you ever thought about that verse? I'll tell you whether a person's a Christian, is Christ precious? To those who believe, He's what? He's precious...He's very precious. What does that mean? Valuable, costly, highly prized, that's His Lordship. He's precious to the true believer.How does it make you feel to be chosen, royalty, and God's possession? When is it most difficult to remember what God has made you?
Jesus said: "The gate is narrow and...what?...few thereby that find it." Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 rather, "Do you not know the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God, do not be deceived, neither fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effemitate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindles shall inherit the Kingdom of God." In Galatians 5, it says, "The deeds of the flesh are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, things like this, the people who do those things, practicing them, will not inherit the Kingdom of God."What attitudes do you see in yourself: (a) Insistence on "my rights"? (b) Desire for revenge? (c) Desire to make things right? (d) Willingness to "bend the rules"? (e) Preferring my old way of life rather than following Christ?
Jesus said: "The gate is narrow and...what?...few thereby that find it." Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 rather, "Do you not know the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God, do not be deceived, neither fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effemitate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindles shall inherit the Kingdom of God." In Galatians 5, it says, "The deeds of the flesh are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, things like this, the people who do those things, practicing them, will not inherit the Kingdom of God."What attitudes do you see in yourself: (a) Insistence on "my rights"? (b) Desire for revenge? (c) Desire to make things right? (d) Willingness to "bend the rules"? (e) Preferring my old way of life rather than following Christ?
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