Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

Hebrews

Discouraged?

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Are you feeling tired or discouraged? Life has gotten more challenging for Christians in the West in recent years. While our brothers and sisters across the globe have long been dealing with pressures worse than we currently face, for most of us, persecution is new. Pastors in Canada are jailed simply for holding a church service. Churches in America are occasionally overrun with protesters.

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The pressure to conform to society’s ideas of wrong and right or face ostracization is rampant. This is not the world in which most of us grew up. Having spent most of our lives at ease, the time has come when our faith is being put to the test. For some, hope seems lost. But take heart; this is not the end. Your reward is coming.

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Fear God

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Why do you fear God? Perhaps a better first question to ask is, do you fear God? Scripture commands us many times to live in the fear of God (Deuteronomy 6:13; 1 Samuel 12:24; Proverbs 9:10; 2 Corinthians 5:11; Philippians 2:12-13; 1 Peter 2:17; Revelation 14:7). So, it’s not a question of whether we should, but imperative that we must. With all the sermons teaching God is love these days, it may seem a bit out of step to be talking about fearing God. Humans do not typically fear those we love.

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But God is not just someone else we love. He is the holy, righteous, and glorious Creator of the Universe, the Lord of lords, and the King of kings. God is indeed the highest expression of love. John told us this plainly in his epistle to the Church (1 John 4:8). However, we do not serve a one-dimensional God. Every emotion is magnified and perfected in Him. Thus, jealous, zealous, and righteous anger are also part of who He is. To quote Jonathan Edwards, “… it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”.

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Spiritual Maturity

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What does it take to rob you of your joy? Are you joyful when things are going well but less so when troubles come? You can know joy every day of your life, no matter what you are going through. It is possible to live in joy in every circumstance. John MacArthur once wrote, “One of the surest measures of our spiritual maturity is what it takes to rob us of our spirit-bestowed joy”. A spiritually immature person will find their joy in a constant ebb and flow, coming over them in waves, but drifting away just as easily.

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So, if we want a joy that does not leave us, we need to become more spiritually mature. This works because the more we spend time with God, the more joyful we become. And the more we learn about His unchanging character and love, the more we come to believe in His unfailing promises, the more confident we will become in our joy. We will develop such joy that nothing can shake it.

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Sound Doctrine

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Sound doctrine is hard to come by these days. The largest churches and loudest voices are espousing a different gospel than the only true gospel found in the scriptures. A “new revelation” is the frequent and heretical term often used to excuse false teaching or make God’s Word more palatable for the masses. Remember, the masses will never accept Jesus.

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It was the masses who rejected Him in His time on earth, and they continue to reject Him today. Jesus said, “How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). While Christ wills for all to be saved (2 Peter 3:9), the reality is that relatively few will accept His offer of salvation.

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Prepared for Persecution

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My heart broke when I read about a recent occurrence in North Korea. That country is second only to Afghanistan in being the most dangerous place for Christians to live (see Open Doors’ “World Watch List”). Government officials raided a secret church meeting of believers. Everyone in attendance was arrested and then summarily executed.

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Without warning and without having had the chance to say goodbye to their loved ones, these dear brothers and sisters were removed from the face of the earth. From the moment they gave their lives to Christ, they knew they were living on borrowed time. They knew the risk of meeting together. They prepared for persecution the best they could and found Jesus worth the cost. But the story gets worse.

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