Even If i Walk Alone

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

I Corinthians

Prepare for His Return

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What if Christ were to return tomorrow? How would it change the way you live today? Would you change anything you do on a typical day? Would Jesus coming back excite or terrify you? These are important questions we must all answer for ourselves because Christ could indeed return tomorrow. He could come back today.

No one knows when He will return, but I know I want to be ready for that day. It occurs to me the only way to be certain I am ready is to live every day as if Jesus is returning tomorrow. We know Jesus is coming back, so what we must answer is whether we will be ready. What changes must we make to prepare for His return?

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Be Bold

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In the face of unrelenting pressure to compromise, we must be bold and stand firm on the authority of Scripture. Growing up, peer pressure was a given. The desire to fit in, to be liked or even popular, is an enormous weight all people face as they go through their school years. I think we all thought once we moved into the “real world” that peer pressure would go away to a certain extent.

young man determined to be bold in his commitment to surrender to Jesus and live out his salvation with boldness and courage in true discipleship

But it never goes away; it just manifests in different forms. The culture is always trying to conform us to its idyllic mold. The problem is their idea of “acceptable behavior and speech” is grounded in millennia of wrong thinking and sinful attitudes. To conform to the world is to live at odds with the one true God.

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Without Exception

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In a recent sermon, my pastor stated, “If you have any exceptions in your obedience, you are not a Christian.” It’s a bold statement that might cause you to form an immediate objection. After all, who are we to say who is or isn’t a true Christian? Once you get past the initial shock of the bluntness of the statement, you will see that it is in line with God’s Word.

Man pondering what it means to obey Christ without exception, and to order his priorities to reflect his commitment and desire to live in discipleship to Christ.

The problem is we skim over the parts of the Bible that are too convicting or too hard to follow. My pastor’s words are not a new teaching or even controversial when held up to the light of scripture. What we are reacting to is the fact that obeying God’s Word without exception is not something most are willing to do.

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Redeemed from Sin

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There is nothing in this world we need or should even desire that has any connection with sin. Sin is a great offense to God, and if we love Him, we will do nothing against Him on purpose. Why would we, being redeemed from sin, desire to continue to dabble in it (Romans 6:1-2)? In his first epistle, John remarks that if we love God, we will not indulge in habitual sin (1 John 3:9; 1 John 5:18).

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When God transforms your heart, you no longer desire your old life (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are a new creation with new dreams and desires. Those dreams and desires will align with the will of our King and Savior (Romans 12:2; Philippians 2:13). True repentance leads to real transformation, and real transformation cannot result in a heart that continues to burn for sin.

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Faithfulness

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One of my favorite parables is that of the vineyard workers (Matthew 20:1-16), as it provides a great lesson on faithfulness. In it, Jesus tells how a landowner goes to the marketplace early in the morning and hires several workers, agreeing to pay them a denarius for the day’s work. The landowner goes back to the marketplace three times throughout the day, and a last time at 5:00pm to hire additional workers.

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His only promise of wages to any of those was he would pay them “whatever is right.” At 6:00 he instructs his agent to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last hired and moving backwards to the first. Those hired last received a denarius, so when those hired first came to collect their wages, they were thinking they would get more. However, they also received a denarius.

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