Even If i Walk Alone

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

priorities

What Have We Lost?

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As I survey the landscape of the modern church and Christianity at large, I find myself asking, “What have we lost?” I grew up in the church and in a Christian family with Christian parents who continue to love the Lord even in their later years today. My father is a pastor, and church attendance was never an option for me growing up.

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These days, I eagerly look forward to driving to my local church each week. Church has changed a lot from when I was a young boy, and I have eagerly embraced many of those changes. But as I survey where the church is today, it is obvious we have lost a great deal along the way.

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Heading for Hell

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Have you noticed the older you get, the more urgent you become about getting things done? We only get one go-around in this life; only one chance to get it right. For some, this means cramming in as much excitement and enjoyment as they can. For followers of Jesus, it means something else entirely. We have a limited number of days to point people to Jesus.

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Those we don’t reach are heading for Hell. Thankfully, it is the job of the Holy Spirit to save them, but it is our responsibility to share the truth of the gospel of Jesus with them. Hell is a place not to be wished on our worst enemies, yet abandoning them to Hell is what we are doing every time we shy away from speaking the truth of Christ to them.

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What is Sin?

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We see the results of sin in our lives and in our world. It’s a little like the wind; easy to see the effects, but a bit tough to define. Most of us have no trouble pointing out sin in the life of someone else, but have a bit more difficulty seeing it in our own lives. For new believers, the word can be nebulous. Preachers lash out against it, but without a clear definition, perhaps many are still asking, “what is sin?”

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To be sure we’re all on the same page for our discussion, let’s define what sin is. Sin is rejecting God’s order in the world, rejecting His Lordship in our lives, and rebelling against His laws (see our discussion on the “Ten Commandments”). Sin is living as if we are in charge rather than surrendering our will to God.

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Repent

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As John the Baptist began preaching, he had a very simple message: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2). Jesus began His public ministry with the same message: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15). This message rings as true and relevant today.

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In a world where everyone believes they have their truth and morals have become a relic of the past, the need to repent has never been greater. God sets the rules for living because He created everything that lives. He is the author and judge, and our only role is to obey Him. Instead, we’ve spent millennia thumbing our noses at the One who loves us most.

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Serve God and God Alone

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The first three commandments provide almost everything you need to know to live a life pleasing to God. Last week we did a high-level flyover of all ten commandments of God’s law (see “The Ten Commandments”). Some may wonder why I’d bother spending more time on such a well-known passage of Scripture from the Old Testament. The reason is God’s law forms the bedrock of our faith.

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It is this law that shows, without the blood and resurrection power of Jesus, we are lost. So I want to dive a little deeper into the first three commandments today: do not have any gods other than God, do not make anything an idol, and do not disrespect the name of God. I think we can sum up these commandments by saying we must serve God and God alone.

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