Don't Waste Your Consecration
Summary of the Message
When we encounter the loss of fruitfulness and the experience of grace due to God’s discipline, if we humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face, and repent, he promises to forgive and spiritually restore us. We should be mindful of this during both spiritual success & lows.
When we encounter the loss of fruitfulness and the experience of grace due to God’s discipline, if we humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face, and repent, he promises to forgive and spiritually restore us. We should be mindful of this during both spiritual success & lows.
Key Sermon Points
1. Humility
Humility is about subduing one’s pride in self-denying loyalty to God & his will. It possesses a modest opinion of one’s own importance or rank, and it is opposite to pride with its high opinion of one’s own goodness or superiority. Humility sees one’s own vulnerability and depends on God for everything. God gives grace to the humble!
2. Pray
In this passage, prayer is about the earnest and even desperate confession of sin to God. Spiritual humility leads to prayerful confession and the request of God for mercy so that sin does not have the last word in one’s life and community.
3. Seek God's Face
An urgent longing for God’s face is a prec0ndition for God’s presence. God positively responds to those who earnestly seek him. When they seek him, he promises to be found by them (Deut.4:29-31). If you want spiritual restoration, earnestly seek God!
4. Turn from Wicked Ways
Repentance is a genuine “about face” in behavior that is not pleasing to the Lord. As Christians, we are not meant to be bound by besetting sins; Christ intends to free us from them through the grace of our authentic repentance. Bondage to sin is a blockade to God’s grace in our lives, compromising spiritual flourishing.
1. Humility
Humility is about subduing one’s pride in self-denying loyalty to God & his will. It possesses a modest opinion of one’s own importance or rank, and it is opposite to pride with its high opinion of one’s own goodness or superiority. Humility sees one’s own vulnerability and depends on God for everything. God gives grace to the humble!
2. Pray
In this passage, prayer is about the earnest and even desperate confession of sin to God. Spiritual humility leads to prayerful confession and the request of God for mercy so that sin does not have the last word in one’s life and community.
3. Seek God's Face
An urgent longing for God’s face is a prec0ndition for God’s presence. God positively responds to those who earnestly seek him. When they seek him, he promises to be found by them (Deut.4:29-31). If you want spiritual restoration, earnestly seek God!
4. Turn from Wicked Ways
Repentance is a genuine “about face” in behavior that is not pleasing to the Lord. As Christians, we are not meant to be bound by besetting sins; Christ intends to free us from them through the grace of our authentic repentance. Bondage to sin is a blockade to God’s grace in our lives, compromising spiritual flourishing.
Discussion Questions
- How can we become increasingly aware of our own spiritual weakness so that we feel our active and current need for God's mercy? How do we incorporate this humble mindset into our prayer lives?
- Psalm 119:36-37 asks God to turn our hearts toward his word. How ought we pray for an increasing desire for the Lord, and how do we cultivate that in our church?
- Grace does not mean God is ok with habitual sin, so how do we practically pursue holiness?
- In summary, discuss how sin diminishes God's blessing in our lives and churches, and how repentance restores it. Consider Joel 2:25. Does that challenge you theologically?
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