Backsliding in Christian preaching refers to the gradual drifting away from faith and commitment to Christ, often without a conscious farewell (Jeremiah 3:22). Illustrations frequently use imagery of drifting or losing grip, emphasizing the subtle, dangerous slide from spiritual fervor and obedience (Hebrews 10:38).
Have you lost your spiritual fervor? Scripture gives some clear instructions on how to find it again. Paul didn't suggest that I plan daring spiritual exploits to fuel my fervor. I needed to nourish my faith, not my spiritual ecstasy.
1. A Spiritual Virus
2. Diagnosing the Disease
a. Spiritual Depression
b. Spiritual Doldrums
c. Spiritual Burnout.
3. The Way Back To Health
a. A balanced diet
b. Exercise
c. Lifestyle change
4. Time for a Checkup?
When Missouri pastor Clyde Leonard introduced his cousin Ted Blaylock to the congregation of Horseshoe Bend Baptist Church recently, Clyde recalled how the family thought Ted would never amount to much. "All he wanted to do was doodle and draw."
Doodling and drawing have taken Blaylock to a successful career as a painter and sculptor. His art has provided him a platform for sharing his faith in Jesus.
Blaylock dates his salvation experience to a Methodist camp in the Perryton area where he grew up. But after his family moved to East St. Louis, Illinois, he began to stray from church.
Ted did hold on to his determination to become an artist -- through marriage at a young age, through the birth of four children, through a good-paying job as a steamfitter, through his wife suffering a heart attack at age 27. Her illness drove him to his knees, and he told God, "You can have the art, the money, the rest of my life."
Blaylock disagrees with people who say God doesn't make deals. "He'll do anything. He wants to reach the lost and the backslidden." In Bible study, Ted recalled, he kept landing on passages that said, "If you're ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you."
To symbolize his life, he painted a Colorado wilderness scene with three crosses on a hill. He put a "not for sale" sign on it and took it with him to art exhibits.
"When people would ask me why it wasn't for sale, it was testimony time."
Blaylock sees his witnessing encounters as pieces of clay in a sculpture God is creating. "He doesn't want us to be mediocre. He has a job for us to do."
It is related that a certain young lady would get reclaimed at
practically every revival. Finally, at a certain meeting, she was
blessed again. Before this, when she was reclaimed, she would gather
up all her fingernail polish, lipstick, and makeup and put it in the
trash can. But after the service that night she was seen storing all
this away in a drawer. When asked, "Why do you not put it in the trash
can as before?" she replied, "Well, it costs me so much to have to get
a new supply every time; so I decided to store it away, and then, if I
backslide again, I will have it on hand and not have to purchase
more." Really, she might as well just have gone right on back, for she
did not have far to go.
William Moses Tidwell, "Pointed Illustrations."
20 Reasons Not to Sin.
1. A little sin leads to more sin.
2. Sin invites the discipline of God.
3. The time spent in my sin is forever wasted.
4. My sin never pleases but always grieves the God who loves me.
5. My sin places a greater burden on my spiritual leaders.
6. In time, sin always brings heaviness to my heart.
7. Others, including my family, suffer consequences due to my sin.
8. My sin makes the enemies of God rejoice.
9. Sin deceives me into believing I have gained when in reality I have
lost.
10. Sin may keep me from qualifying for spiritual leadership.
11. The supposed benefits of sin will never outweigh the consequences of
disobedience.
12. Repenting of sin is a painful process.
13. My sin may influence others to sin.
14. My sin may keep others from knowing Christ.
15. Sin makes light of the cross upon which Christ died for the very
purpose of taking away my sin.
16. It is impossible to sin and follow the Spirit at the same time.
17. Others more earnest than I have been destroyed by just such sins.
18. God chooses not to hear the prayers of those who cherish their sins.
19. My unwillingness to reject this sin now grants it authority over me
greater than I understand.
20. I promised God He would be the Lord of my life.
Christian Communicators Worldwide.
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On July 26, 2019, Joshua Harris, former megachurch pastor and author of the infamous purity culture bestseller I Kissed Dating Goodbye, announced to his Instagram followers that he was no longer a Christian.
“By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian,” Harris wrote. “I don’t view this moment negatively. I feel very much alive, and awake, and surprisingly hopeful.”
In the midst of the uproar, Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, released a response titled, “The Tragedy of Joshua Harris.”
“Can one be a Christian and then at some point not be a Christian?” Mohler wrote. “The answer is no. The Bible is very clear about that.”
Mohler goes on to write that if Harris doesn’t “return [to Christianity] by repentance at some point” then he wasn’t truly a Christian and probably only a “pretend believer.”
A couple of weeks later, Marty Sampson, a former songwriter for the prolific Hillsong gigachurch, posted on Instagram that he was in the process of disassociating himself from Christianity.
“I’m genuinely losing my faith, and it doesn’t bother me,” Sampson wrote. “All I know is what’s true to me right now, and Christianity just seems to me like another religion at this point.”
Like Harris, Sampson’s announcement ignited a flurry of responses from Christian leaders and armchair theologians - including the viral Facebook post, “What In God’s Name Is Happening to Christianity?,” from the lead singer of the Christian rock band Skillet, and an op-ed from Michael Brown of Christianity Today, “Reaching Out to a Hillsong Leader Who is Renouncing His Faith.”
In the wake of the fervor surrounding his announcement, Sampson deleted the post and released a statement in which he clarified that he hadn’t renounced his Christian faith, but that it’s on “shaky ground.”
“I have and continue to analyze the arguments of prominent Christian apologists and biblical scholars, and am open-minded enough to consider the arguments of atheist debaters and debaters from other religions,” Sampson wrote. “If the truth is true, it will remain so regardless of my understanding of it.”
As someone who has written extensively about my struggles with doubt in the context of my faith, I empathize with Harris and Sampson. In their stories, I heard echoes of my own fears, questions, and regrets.
And in the rebuttals penned by their critics, I felt the same callous judgment and willful ignorance of the people from my past who didn’t understand why I found some aspects of conservative evangelicalism so difficult to accept.
You should pray more.
Here’s a book on apologetics.
You’re just being divisive.
Why is this so hard for you to believe?
In recent years, other prolific Christians artists and intellectuals — like Michael Gungor of the worship band Gungor, Aaron Gillespie, and Spencer Chamberlain of Christian rock band Underoath, New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman, and fiction writer Anne Rice - have publicly announced their deconversion from Christianity.
People leaving Christianity and renouncing their faith is nothing new. Church history is littered with heretics and apostates who abandoned the beliefs they once held dear. But in a culture of celebrity and intimacy facilitated by social media, the news of recent apostates feels much more jarring and personal.
Gungor and Sampson wrote worship set staples like “Beautiful Things” and “O Praise the Name.” Harris led a megachurch in Maryland for eleven years. It’s disturbing to think that someone who preached from the pulpit, wrote a bestselling Christian book, or led a worship gathering could turn their back on a belief system that gives you so much comfort, purpose, and security.
And it’s frightening when someone abandons their faith (especially when it’s someone you admire or have benefitted from their art/teaching) because it’s not something that’s supposed to happen. People on our team aren’t supposed to quit and join their team. It’s a betrayal. A violation of trust. And a devastating blow to morale.
We enthusiastically broadcast “atheist-turned-Christian” testimonies [for example, see HolwickID #66642], but turn a blind eye (and deaf ear) toward “Christian-turned-atheist” stories.
But with the advent of social media, it’s becoming harder to deny the frequency and influence of deconversion stories. And as we move further into a new era of connectivity and vulnerability, we’re definitely going to see more.
Therefore, we need to ask ourselves: Why are deconversion stories so compelling, and why are we so afraid of them? And, ultimately, how can the Church learn from them?
Sharing Is Caring
When I was growing up, I was taught a simple formula for sharing my personal testimony.
A testimony is “Christian-speak” for the story of how you became a Christian. Like an elevator pitch for your faith, a testimony should be short, easy to memorize, and ready to go at a moment’s notice.
The testimony formula traditionally adheres to familiar four-act structure:
Act I: Your life before Jesus.
Act II: The introduction of thoughts and feelings like “There has to be more to life than this” and “The world isn’t satisfying my deepest desires.”
Act III: The moment you decide to become a Christian and follow Jesus.
Act IV: Your life after you’ve trusted Jesus as your personal savior.
Deconversion testimonies unfold across a similar four-act structure as their religious counterparts:
Act I: Your life as a committed Jesus follower.
Act II: The introduction of doubts and concerns that weren’t welcomed by your religious community.
Act III: The moment you decided to walk away from your faith.
Act IV: Your life after leaving Christianity.
A deconversion testimony functions as a funhouse-mirror inversion of a traditional testimony. The narrative beats are identical, and both testimonies climax with a revelation, liberation, and a promise of a better life.
And that’s not where the similarities end.
Christians emphasize the first act of their testimony to foster relatability (“I was just like you”) and establish credibility as a former “sinner” — not just a goody-two-shoes who had their faith handed to them by their parents.
Likewise, in a deconversion testimony, the first act establishes relatability (“I was just like you”) and credibility as a former “true believer” — not just an in-name-only Christian warming the pew every Sunday morning.
Also, a traditional and deconversion testimony both hinge on an “I was blind, but now I see” hook in the second and third acts. And, honestly, it’s one hell of a hook. It invites you into the perspective of the protagonist or storyteller.
Additionally, it’s pretty common for the person sharing the testimony to present a rose-tinted version of the final act in order to draw a clear distinction between the first and fourth acts.
Well, geez, you probably thinking, all this sounds pretty manipulative. And you’re not wrong.
But all stories are a form of manipulation. And this is especially true of testimonies.
We respond better to stories than we do facts. By design, testimonies are relatable, intriguing, and inspirational (Why else would companies rely so heavily on them in advertisements?). Most Christians already know the best way to introduce someone to Jesus is through interpersonal relationships and storytelling.
But what happens when someone starts telling a more compelling story?
In addition to following a predictable pattern and offering a tantalizing peek behind the post-faith curtain, deconversion testimonies capture our attention because they speak to our generational distrust of large institutions and established knowledge.
And you probably can’t find a larger or more established public institution that Christianity.
Our Own Worst Enemy
A few months ago, I grabbed lunch with a high school friend who renounced his faith in college. He said that when he first told his mentor he was struggling with doubt, his mentor accused him of wanting to leave Christianity so he could untether himself from the Christian sexual ethic.
(My friend joked: “I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it’s definitely easier to [have a sexual encounter] as a Christian in America than it is as an atheist.”)
A deconversion doesn’t happen overnight — it’s a gradual process motivated by an authentic pursuit of truth and preceded by rigorous self-examination and honesty. And it often happens in isolation in fear of doubt shaming.
Doubt shaming can be overt or subtle thoughts, attitudes, or actions a faith community expresses to protect the theological purity or ideological boundaries of the flock. Doubt shaming can be hostile (like my friend’s experience with his mentor) or passive-aggressive (making jokes at the expense of people outside of your theological tribe).
But it can also be what is not said or expressed.
When was the last time your pastor shared their doubts with the congregation? When was the last time you sang a worship song that honestly wrestled with uncertainty and ambiguity?
Why do both of those scenarios sound so scandalous?
If our churches refuse to model how to process doubt in a healthy and supportive way, why would we assume we’ve created a welcoming environment for the skeptical or the doubtful?
Instead, as mainstream Christianity morphs into something more experiential and therapeutic to compete with cultural trends, a surface-level expression of faith becomes preferable to a faith rigorously examined in light of modern revelations in science, history, anthropology, sociology, and philosophy.
That, or we prefer other people to do our thinking for us.
So, again, I ask you: Does your faith community create space for doubt, or it viewed as a threat to the integrity of the institution?
“This is what we believe because it’s what we’ve always believed” isn’t going to cut it ina pluralistic and technologically-savvy postmodern world. A hundred years ago, your primary source of Biblical knowledge was your local pastor. Today, a comprehensive list of contradictions in the Bible is only a Google search away.
And, like someone publicly announcing a divorce, people who deconvert from Christianity have a right to share the story of their uncoupling from our faith.
Why would Michael Gungor and Marty Sampson want to associate their brand and image with the Contemporary Christian Music scene when they no longer consider themselves Christian?
Why would Josh Harris want to continue to be associated with a book and ministry he wrote and led twenty years ago, especially if he doesn’t hold those views anymore?
I have a gay friend who came out on social media a few years ago. When I asked him what prompted his Facebook post, he told me he’d rather make one big announcement than feel as if he had to explain his dating life to hundreds of people over a long period of time.
And I get that. Who would want their present and future defined by other people’s perception of you from your past?
As someone who writes a lot about my struggles with Christianity and faith, I’m constantly weighing the potential consequences of my words (for example, I’ve written an unpublished blog post about Hell that may be the most faith-crippling thing I’ve ever written — time will tell if it’ll ever see the light of the day).
But from the angry questioning of Job to the New Testament’s condemnation of the self-righteous religious leaders, I think the Bible makes it clear that God values authentic doubt over fabricated faith.
At the end of the day, a person’s faith journey is their own responsibility. While we may occasionally serve as guides, mentors, and teachers, the desire to shape someone else’s faith journey into a mirror image of your own is a recipe for disaster.
Most people who leave Christianity have thoughtful and nuanced reasons for doing so, and the Church would be doing itself a huge disservice if it glibly dismisses or fails to carefully consider the grievances raised by those who decide to leave the fold.
Like an exit interview for a resigning employee, deconversion testimonies are our most honest appraisals of modern Christianity’s blind spots and weaknesses. They’re not uninformed outsider critiques; they’re honest assessments shaped by personal experience.
Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: Every prominent “Christian celebrity” who renounces their faith represents hundreds (if not thousands) of Christians who are struggling in similar ways.
And, after all, isn’t every conversion story also a deconversion story?
The Two Halves of Life
In Falling Upward, Franciscan Friar Richard Rohr explores what he calls “the two halves of life” and applies them to our spiritual journey.
In the first half of our spiritual life, we learn the basic tenants of our faith- the rules, processes, rituals, and doctrine that undergird our behavior and beliefs. This stage of spiritual development is motivated by security, boundary, and containment.
And this stage is very important. You have to learn to crawl (and walk) before you can run.
In the second half of our spiritual life, we explore the boundaries of religious “container” and begin to grapple with the fact that our understanding of God is limited by the scope of our language and imagination. This stage of spiritual development is motivated by mystery, wonder, and transformation.
Not only are these two halves of life seen in our personal faith journeys and transition into adulthood, but it’s also the crux of the entire narrative arc of the Bible:
The first half of our spiritual life is the Old Testament.
The second half of our spiritual life is the New Testament.
However, Rohr argues that most modern Christian teachings (sermons, Bible studies, books, etc) are primarily focused on keeping people constrained within the first half of the spiritual journey.
In Falling Upward, Rohr writes,
“If change and growth are programmed into your spirituality, if there are not serious warning about the blinding nature of fear and fanaticism, your religion will always end up worshipping the status quoand protecting your present ego position and personal advantage — as if it were God!”
Overemphasizing the first half of the spiritual journey at the expense of the second half will not only discourage spiritual development, it’ll foster an environment in which fundamentalism thrives and spiritual exploration is discouraged.
When someone finds the courage to admit they’re losing their faith or overwhelmed with doubt, our first response shouldn’t be to recommend an apologetics book or chastise them for not praying hard enough.
Spiritual writer Anne Lamott says the most powerful sermon in the world is as simple as two words: “Me too.”
Because when your faith is hanging by a thread, the last thing you need is another lecture, rebuke, warning, or stack of book recommendations.
You just want somebody to look you in the eyes and tell you they understand your struggle because they’ve been there too. Trust me.
And if you can’t tell someone that, if you don’t have any doubts of our own to share, you may need to go out and find some.
In my experience, a faith without doubt is faith more preoccupied with escaping the world than engaging it.
Robert Robinson, the 18th-century pastor who penned the famous hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” was famously fickle about his faith and questions linger about whether he had renounced Christianity at the time of his death.
To this day, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” is my favorite hymn (and the Sufjan Stevens version will always reign supreme), and the song’s complicated backstory only makes it resonate more with me.
However, it’s a stanza in the song’s fourth verse that I believe fully encapsulates the never-ending battle between belief and unbelief that rages within every believer:
“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.”
Let that be our confession, our prayer, and our hope.
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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #5554]
ARE YOU A BACKSLIDER?
If you were ever a more faithful follower of The Lord Jesus than you are now. You are a backslider.
If you were ever more wholehearted in your love for The Saviour than you are now. You are a backslider.
If you were ever more separate from the world which crucified The Son of God than you are now. You are a backslider.
If you were ever more zealous for The Glory of God than you are now. You are a backslider.
If you were ever more earnest in reading The Word of than you are to-day. You are a backslider.
If you were ever more frequent in prayer than you are now. You are a backslider.
If you were ever more anxious about the Salvation of others than you are now. You are a backslider.
Solemn statements - but true ones. Think over them. If you are a backslider, The Voice of The Lord calls you: "Return, O my backsliding children." He would have you in the full glow of Christian blessing, brightly witnessing for His praise and living for His glory and honour. It has been said that the backslider is a good advertisement for the Devil.
(Signposts on Life’s Way, Inglis Fleming)
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During my junior year in college, I took a butter knife from my mother’s kitchen and scraped the Christian fish decal off the back bumper of the Plymouth hatchback I’d inherited from my older brother. Stripping off that sticker foreshadowed the day, a few years later, that I would walk out of church.
The reasons for my discontent were complicated. By most standards, I had a healthy childhood. I grew up the daughter of Quaker missionaries in a rural Kenyan community that laid the foundation for my faith. I spent the rest of my childhood in the Pacific Northwest, raised in a stable Presbyterian church that gave me hymns and mission trips and potluck dinners.
I was surrounded by smart, conscientious Christians, the kind of people who read 19th century Russian novels and took meatloaf to firefighters when much of eastern Washington state went up in flames in the fall of 1991.
When I started into my skeptic phase, my Christian community gave me space to struggle. They listened to my doubts about faith. They took my questions seriously.
And yet when I turned 23 I left the church.
Listening to a sermon at my older brother’s church one Sunday, I stood up, leaned over to my father and said, “This is bulls**t.” I made my way to the end of the pew and marched out of the sanctuary. The sermon didn’t sit right with me. The pastor was preaching about Psalm 91, saying in so many words that a person just needed to pray and have faith in order to be protected from suffering.
More than just that sermon, I was sick of church. I was sick, too, of all the spiritual questions plaguing me: Why does the church seem so culturally insulated and dysfunctional? Why does God seem distant and uninvolved? And most of all, why does God allow suffering?
These questions didn’t come out of nowhere. I’d spent time in high school volunteering in refugee camps in Kenya and in college working with families on welfare in central Washington. I saw hungry babies. I walked into homes that were piled with garbage and dirty laundry.
In an orphanage in the slums of Nairobi, I held AIDS babies and worked with disabled kids who’d been left at the front gates of the orphanage by parents who couldn’t afford to feed them. I saw things that I couldn’t make sense of as a Christian.
Walking out of church was a way of saying “To hell with it; I’m done.”
For two years, I skipped church. My Bible gathered dust on the shelf. The local bars became my temples. I indulged in the cliché rebellions of a Christian girl, smoking cigarettes and drinking hard alcohol. I got involved with men twice my age without thinking twice about it. I wanted a break from being “good.”
And then, strangely, I woke up one morning at age 25, climbed into my car, and drove downtown to attend a 10 a.m. church service. I won’t relate here the whole story of how I came back to the church. But if I had to follow the standard testimonial narrative for Christians, the script for my life story would go something like this:
Step 1: Grow up in a Christian church.
Step 2: Go off to college away from said church.
Step 3: Be exposed to the enticements of secular life.
Step 4: Try drugs and cigarettes and Pearl Jam.
Step 5: Leave the church because of aforementioned enticements.
Step 6: Experience epiphany; realize vapidness of secular enticements.
Step 7: Return to church with penitent heart.
Step 8: Reestablish faith, discover good living.
In reality, I left the church more because of my own internal discontent than the lure of so-called secular life. When I came back, I still carried that same discontent. I was confused, and still bothered by questions and doubts. I stayed in the back row and didn’t sing or pray. I wasn’t really sure I wanted to be there.
And yet I sat there, Sunday after Sunday, listening to the pastor and the organ pipes and trying to figure out what was going on in my dark, conflicted heart.
Although I never experienced that dramatic re-conversion moment, I did come to peace with two slow-growing realizations.
First: My doubt belonged in church.
People who know my story ask what I would have changed about my spiritual journey. Nothing. I had to leave the church to find the church. And when I came back, the return wasn’t clean or conclusive. Since then, I’ve come to believe that my doubts belong inside the space of the sanctuary. My questions belong on the altar as my only offering to God.
With all its faults, I still associate the church with the pursuit of truth and justice, with community and shared humanity. It’s a place to ask the unanswerable questions and a place to be on sojourn. No other institution has given me what the church has: a space to search for God.
Second: My doubt is actually part of my faith.
In Mark 9:24, a man says to Jesus, “I believe, help my unbelief.” The Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor called this the foundation prayer of faith. I pray that prayer often and believe that God honors my honesty.
I also believe God honors my longing. The writer and theologian Frederick Buechner said “Faith is homesickness.” C.S. Lewis called it “Sehnsucht,” a longing for a far-off country. I feel that sense of unshakable yearning. It comes from the deepest part of my heart, a spiritual desire that’s strangely, mysteriously connected to my doubt.
Sitting in church every Sunday, my doubt is my desire – to touch the untouchable, to possess the presence of God.
________
Andrea Palpant Dilley is the author of “Faith and Other Flat Tires.”
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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #1697]
Some years ago a man came to Chattanooga from another state. He seemed to be very devout. He loved the Lord and was active in the work of the Lord. For some time he was in rather trying financial circumstances, but soon became more prosperous.
After some time he seemed to be losing interest in the services and he became critical in his attitude. Soon we learned that he had taken up some of his former habits, such as smoking. We visited him time and time again, and prayed earnestly with him; but in spite of all he dropped out of the services and went back into sin.
After a year or so in this condition he was taken seriously ill. Physicians did their best and prayers were offered. He was in a terrible state mentally and spiritually. Toward the end he declared that devils were after him. A short time before the end he got out of bed and crept underneath it and while there looked out from under the bed and seemed to be talking to the devil, saying, “You can’t get me now.” He died in a fearful state.
Once, in an inquiry-meeting, I saw a gentleman weeping very bitterly, and said, “What is the matter with you?” “Matter enough. I am a member of the Baptist church, and two years ago the trustees got me to do a piece of work on the church, and when they settled with me I thought they did not treat me exactly as they ought to, and I said, ‘I won’t have anything more to do with this church -- won’t go to communion here again.’ So I went off; and there is that dear daughter” (a young lady sat there, weeping as if her heart would break); “she was converted and baptized into the church just before that. Now she is backslidden, and my wife is backslidden, and my home is broken, and I have no family altar, and all is sad.”
Said I, “My dear sir, have you found out that two wrongs don’t make a right?” “Yes,” said he, “I see it now.”
“You know, there are a great many people who think, if somebody does a little wrong, that if they do a little wrong, it will make it right. There are not many gray hairs in my head, but there will be a great many more than there are today before you make me believe that two wrongs make a right.” “No, no!” Said I, “What are you going to do about it?” “I am going back to the church to make a confession, and the trustees can do as they please. I am going to be right in my heart toward God and man.”
Two men were painting a picture on the ceiling of a cathedral
and were standing on a scaffold high above the pavement below,
One of the artists stepped back to view his work, and was about
to step back again and accidentally plunge to the pavement
below. His fellow worker saw his peril and quickly threw a brush
forward onto their painting, suddenly "blotching" it. The one
who was about to step backward off the scaffold rushed forward
in amazed anger at what his partner had done. One can imagine
that what struck the backstepping artist at first as a senseless
act, he soon saw in a different light when his partner explained
why he did it. The intentional "mess-up" may have saved his life!
We honor the ex-Mayor, ex-Congressman, or ex-President as perhaps
equal to the present incumbent. But ex-Christian does not strike us
favorably, because there is no possibility of the Christian having
served out his time. He has not been elected for a year, two years, or
four years. The terms of his discipleship are that he be faithful unto
death. Even death is not a resignation from his name and office. If he
dies a Christian, he will be raised a Christian; he will be a
Christian in the day of judgment and will enter heaven as a Christian.
For the whole redeemed family in heaven, as well as on earth, is named
after Christ. Consequently, the ex-Christian has not been honorably
discharged, but has forsaken the Lord.
During a tour of a large manufacturing plant, a visitor
noticed a man using a fiery torch of high intensity to work on
huge slabs of steel. Operating from a blueprint on a nearby
table, a pointer traced the pattern and then by a clever system
of levers enlarged the design as it was burned into the metal.
There were times, however, when the flame would not make any
impression. When this happened, a chemical substance was
applied to the resisting patch, and immediately the cutting
could be resumed.
The worker explained that although the torch was able to go through
clean steel 8 inches thick, if it encountered the slightest film of
rust on the surface, the flame would not penetrate it. The
Bible-believing visitor remarked, "It struck me forcefully that this
is a picture of the Christian. The Holy Spirit is seeking to produce
in us God's perfect design. If the life is unblemished, He is able to
continue His efforts; but if we become carnal or backslidden, His work
of shaping us is hindered until the area in question has been
thoroughly cleansed."
An artist was once frescoing the lofty ceiling of a church, and
gradually stepping back on the scaffolding to watch the effect of his
work, he was so absorbed in his picture that he did not notice that he
was about to step off the edge and fall upon the pavement far below. A
brother artist, seeing his danger and knowing that a word would but
hasten his fall, threw his brush at the picture. The painter,
indignant, rushed forward and was saved. God sometimes destroys the
pictured hopes of our hearts to startle us from sin and save our
souls. --Peloubet
A newly converted woman, desirous, as new converts are, "to do
something," was detailed by her pastor to invite the backsliders
to the protracted meetings. She had been reluctantly admitted
into a neighbor's home, where the hostess coldly continued her
mopping. Conversation lagged until the visitor remarked: "I have
come to invite you to the revival meetings at the church."
Then a change came. Her face softened and the mop rested. "Revival
meetings! Did you say, there was going to be revival meetings? Yes
indeed, I'll come. Why, John and I have got religion at revivals every
winter for the last ten years!" The visitor was
perplexed. She repeated, "Got religion every winter for the last
ten years! I do not believe I understand. What became of your religion
in the summer?" "Laws!" she exclaimed in momentary
confusion, "I don't know but somehow it just petered out."
Rich Ellis grew up going to church, so he knew better. But like most 16-year-olds he wanted to “discover” life.
“I did the typical youth group stuff –- you know, mission trips, lock-ins,” the Kentuckian said. “I made a decision for Christ at the age of 13, but when I turned 16 and could drive myself, I didn’t go to youth group or church as often.”
Ellis joined a heavy-metal band as their drummer. By the time he turned 17, the band was playing in clubs and bars. Ellis experimented with alcohol and drugs, which were abundant in that environment. From that point on, he became a “special occasion” Christian –- only going to church on Christmas and Easter.
A few years later, Ellis’ grandparents died and his life turned upside down. His grandparents were the ones who had taken him to church. He tried to forget the emptiness he felt after losing them. At a New Year’s Eve party after a concert, he was especially down.
“A song from a Christian heavy-metal band came on,” Ellis remembers. “A friend sang the lyrics and looked straight at me. The words went straight through me. ‘Your bloodshot hippie ways are going to lead you down a blackened path.’”
Ellis went home and read a devotional, one of the last things his grandmother had given him. He knew it was time to “get right with God.”
Now, the drummer continues with his music while serving as an International Mission Board journeyman and youth minister in Poland.
“God has a place for all of us in His plans,” Ellis says. “If He can take this wandering soul and put him to work, He can definitely use you for His glory!”
*
[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #729]
I read of how when Perry’s expedition was traveling across an ice-flow toward the North Pole, they traveled for some time, thinking that they were making progress northward. But, to their dismay, when they finally reckoned their position by the polestar, they discovered that the entire ice-flow had been drifting south! Had they thought to read their position by the polestar, instead of judging their position by that beneath, before, behind, and around them, they would have discovered their drift earlier!
What a perfect picture of what happens to entire holiness denominations. They begin to drift in relationship to our spiritual “PoleStar,” Jesus Christ. But, because they are all together in a group, and take their eyes off of Jesus, they measure their progress by unscriptural, unreliable methods, and they fail to detect their subtle, but often fatal, drift away from Christ and toward the world and hell!
A man tells about climbing a high mountain in the Rockies. Finally he
was up so high that the storm clouds were below him and the bright sun
above him. Then he saw a great eagle as he fought his way up through
the clouds and toward the sun. That's what Christians are to do. They
are to fight their way above the world and toward the Sun of
Righteousness. When secret sin slips in we always backslide (Ford,
\underline{Sermons for Sinful Age}, 38).
My Source:
FULTON COUNTY GOSPEL NEWS
Volume 33, #10
October 1999
Be added to this mailing list by sending Email to:
tedjc@centurytel.net
Author: Unknown
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
BEWARE! YOU MAY BE BACKSLIDING
Just as you can tell when your physical health is failing, there are symptoms or danger signals which warn us that things aren’t as they ought to be! J. Curtis Manor lists ten warning signals to watch for in regard to backsliding.
Lack of time for Bible study, church assemblies or Christian service.
Devoting of more time to reading newspapers or novels than the Bible.
Preference for the company of the irreligious to that of Christians.
Looking for reasons to justify something you have already done or decided to do.
Evaluating the sermon more by its length than by its content.
Becoming more prone to illness on Sunday than on other days of the week!
Stretching one week’s excuse to cover two or more weeks of absence from church.
Thinking of the church in terms of “they” rather than “we.”
Reaction to sorrow, doubts, or personal problems by avoiding Christian association which might help to resolve them.
Resentment toward being visited by representatives of the church.
These danger signals are early symptoms of the various aspects and developmental phases of worldliness, a malignity far more deadly than cancer. Early diagnosis and intensive treatment are of the utmost importance. Should any of these warning signals be detected, it should receive immediate attention.
This stubborn ailment has been known to respond favorably to massive ingestion of Bible study, combined with regular and sustained attendance at worship assemblies and committed involvement in teaching, visitation, and personal service, supplemented by increased exercise of prayer and sacrifice.
"Spiritual death removes one from the heavenly family as physical
death removes one from the earthly family."
- Richard L. Rothman
A little boy wondered why a turtle continued to walk after its head
was severed. His father said, "The turtle is dead, but doesn't know
it." I wonder if some of us are like that turtle. It would be a good
thing to take our spiritual pulse once in a while to see if we are
still alive.
While a lad was praying, his little sister kept tickling his feet
with a feather. Finally he said, "Just stay here Lord while I take
care of Susan." He never got back on his knees.
A great Italian critic and historian said, "Rome fell for three
reasons: because the bank, the academy, and the temple were against
Jesus of Nazareth." When any nation's finances, education, and
religion are against Jesus, that nation will fall and fall.
DONNA: Although I'm quick to forgive by nature, the process has been difficult. I've had to recover not only from a single well-publicized incident, but several years of press aftermath. I also had to work through the violation of my date rape, my unhealthy relationships with men, my anger toward the people involved in the scandal, and those who exploited me afterwards.
But mostly I was angry at myself for being so stupid, for straying so far from my Christian faith. I hadn't realized how easy it was to be lured by the glamour of the world. When I read Chuck Colson's book Born Again, I was startled to hear he considered himself no better than the people who'd slain the Christians in the Coliseum. I thought, I'm not that bad. I'd never kill anybody. But God used that book to show me I was still defensive about my own sin. I had to learn sin really is acting independent of God, choosing your own way over his.
Over the next few years, as I worked through my depression and the shock related to the scandal, I still struggled with relationships. Discovering I was weak enough to stumble and repeat my mistakes kept me running back to God for help. I was humbled by knowing that although Christ is perfect, he suffered far worse things than I ever will. He died so I might accept his love and forgiveness and have eternal life. Biblical truths such as Romans 8:28-29 especially encouraged me during this dark time.
Today, I'm thankful for friends and family who hold me accountable in my faith. Besides praying and reading my Bible, I regularly attend church and a women's Bible study, and listen to Christian radio programs each day going to and from work. All these Christian disciplines steady me in my faith, and keep me from compromising.
Church bulletin bloopers can be interesting. Betty was a church secretary for many years, so she knows that in spite of all your proof-reading, things do slip through. Some are just phrased badly like this one: "Next Sunday Mrs. Vinson will be the soloist. The pastor will then speak on 'It's a terrible experience'." In the little book of Amos, chapter 4, this phrase is repeated at least five times -- "yet you have not returned to me, declares the Lord." That's a searching statement, and it is one that you may need to consider today. Is it possible that you have drifted away from from that close relationship with God that you once had? Is it possible that you need to return to God as Amos described? Evangelist, Dr. Percy Crawford, used to say, "It's easy to backslide, but it's hard to slide back up again." That's true, and the longer you drift, the harder it becomes. Broken relationships are difficult and sad, but the saddest of all is a broken relationship with your Lord. Loss of fellowship with family or friends hurts, but loss of fellowship with God can be even more painful because it can lead you down paths that you shouldn't travel. The refrain of an old Gospel song says, "Come home, come home." Is that what you need to do -- today?
In January 2005, police in Fontana, California, said passenger Michael Spearman, 31, caused his girlfriend to crash her SUV when he angrily grabbed the steering wheel (and threatened to kill the woman) because she would not turn around and go back home so he could retrieve his Bible.
Blood pours from his chest and mouth. The AK-47 round ripped through him like hot, molten lead. His battle mate assesses the gaping holes with grim resignation: The jungle warrior faces certain death. As a backslidden Christian, he’s sure he will soon face a holy God and is overwhelmed with shame.
All the medivac choppers have left. There are no more coming. But through the fog of descending death, the stricken soldier sees two ethereal figures approaching –- one a little taller than the other. They seemed almost joined, side-to-side.
“Oh, no,” he thinks. “It’s the Father and the Son coming for me.”
“God help me. God help me. That’s all I could say,” said Bobby Welch, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the evening of Easter Sunday, 2005.
That Sunday night, however, Welch preached about himself, using the New Testament story of the prodigal son in relating his near-death ordeal in Vietnam and his eternal life encounter with Jesus Christ.
Welch explained he didn’t want to appear before God in his carnal condition, so he asked that God would clean him up, somehow, before he appeared before his Savior.
“So I muttered only those six words. I said it twice, ‘God help me. God help me,’” Welch recounted.
Now a huge spotlight dances on the ground around the bleeding soldier. The elephant grass reciprocates in the whirl of a landing helicopter -– a chopper that appeared unexpectedly. Welch’s rescuers throw him atop three other dead men. One of the rescuers says, “He’ll die before we get there.” Obviously, he didn’t.
For about seven days, Welch doesn’t remember exactly, he could move no body part while recuperating except for his eyeballs. But after about a week, Welch asked his nurse for some water and his Bible.
Welch sipped the water, wrapped his hands around a camo-green New Testament and promised God, “‘The next time you come for me, I’ll be ready. You’ll never, ever again find me far from you.’”
Welch recounted his boyhood, teen and college days, none of which honored God. At least not until he met Maudellen, his wife, when the two were young teens.
“Now some would say that was puppy love. But that’s pretty important if you’re a puppy,” Welch said.
Welch described standing outside of the church with the smokers and then noticing that the lights in the auditorium went out. “You know what they were doing in there –- but I didn’t. So, I ventured in one night to see a baptismal service,” he said of Maudellen’s home church.
With candid talk and humorous vignettes, Welch described his courtship of Maudellen and the way she pointed him to Christ.
Eventually convicted of his sin by the purity of Maudellen’s life, Welch went to visit her pastor. “I didn’t even know the right questions to ask, so here’s what I said -– and get this, this is precious –- I asked the pastor, ‘Is there any way my life could become like Maudellen’s?’”
The pastor then led Welch to Christ using a red Gideons’ New Testament.
Despite his conversion to Christ, Welch said he eased away from God while attending college. Welch completed the ROTC program and soon asked to be put on active duty. He was. And after training, he went to Vietnam to lead a reconnaissance patrol, leaving God far behind, or so he thought.
Volunteering for his assignment, as did 28 other men, Welch and the patrol he led were to extract about 130 other soldiers who had walked into a Viet Cong ambush point -– a large field dotted with seven hidden bunkers. The bunkers formed a sort of horseshoe shape, Welch said, and the soldiers walked smack into the middle of it. Many were dead or bleeding to death, and the rest would die unless Welch reached them.
Dividing his men into groups of four, Welch set the plan: Charge the bunkers and clear them out. And that’s what happened. After the successful campaign, Welch was shot by an enemy sniper, a “stay-behind soldier,” he said, describing the universal warfare tactic of leaving a few soldiers hidden for the express purpose of picking off enemy soldiers whose guard might be down after a skirmish.
That’s when it happened. “The bushes ahead of me exploded in a flash. The bullet hit me. My head flew back. My feet came off the ground. I spun 360 degrees and landed face down,” he said. “I laid there with my head on my left arm, watching this pool of blood on the ground getting bigger and bigger.”
Choking back the tears and across trembling lips, Welch said, referring to the prodigal son and himself in the same breath, “When he came to his senses, mercy came running.”
Welch appealed for any of his listeners who might be prodigals themselves to come to their senses and be embraced by the mercies of a loving heavenly Father.
Holiday Heights’ old-time prayer rail at the edge of the platform was soon full. And there was Welch, first kneeling and then on all fours, his tie dragging the carpet. He’d come full-circle as he prayed a life-saving prayer -- only the pronoun had changed: “God help us. God help us.” He said it twice.
When we look at what the Bible has to say about Lot in the OT, we would say he was never saved. But 2 Peter 2:6-8 declares plainly that he had a righteous soul. Therefore, he was saved. This brings us to the question, when and where was Lot saved?
We cannot go to a definite scripture that says when or where he was saved, but we can apply some Bible principles concerning salvation and come up with a proximity of when and where he was saved.
First, we have to conclude that Lot did not have as much light (truth; understanding) as Abraham; therefore, he could not have been saved until after Abraham. With this principle being true, we must establish when and where Abraham was saved before we can begin to pinpoint Lot’s salvation.
It is not hard to establish when and where Abraham was saved if we would just look at scripture. Paul said in Rom. 4:3, “For what saith the scriptures? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” Paul stated this same basic verse in Gal. 3:6 and James quoted it in James 2:23. The scripture they quoted is Genesis 15:6 which clearly reveals the time, because Genesis 15:1 says, “After these things.”
After what things? AFTER God appeared unto him in Mesopotamia and said, “Get thee out of thy country, and from they kindred, and go into the land which I shall shew thee (shew thee as you go).” (Acts 7:2-3) AFTER he had dwelt in Haran for a number of years (unable to establish the exact number of years; may have been from 5 to 32 years). AFTER God spoke to him at Haran when he was 75 years of age in Gen. 12:1-4. AFTER he had entered Canaan and God had spoke to him again. (Gen. 12:5-7) AFTER he had built altars and worshipped. (Gen. 12:8, 13:4) AFTER he had gone to Egypt due to famine in Canaan. (Gen. 12:10-20) AFTER he had separated from Lot. (Gen. 13:5-13) AFTER God spoke to him the fourth time (recorded) in Gen. 13:14-18. AFTER he had defeated Chedorlaomer and his league of kings with 318 trained servants. (Gen. 14:1-16) AFTER he paid tithes to Melchizedek. (Gen. 14:17-24)
Gen. 15:1 then says, “After these things,” God spoke to Abram, for his name had not been changed to Abraham yet. At this time and place, approximately nine years after Abram entered Canaan when he was 84 years old, he believed God and was saved. (Gen. 15:1-6) The Bible tells us WHEN and WHERE Abraham was saved.
Since Lot did not have the light and understanding that Abraham had, this means that Lot was not a saved man when he “pitched his tent toward Sodom” in Genesis 13:12. It is hard to tell exactly how much time elapsed after Lot left Abraham until Abraham was saved. Six or seven years may have elapsed. During these years Lot, being a lost man, was controlled by the course of this world (anti-God and rebellion) and the prince of the power of the air (the devil and his demons) as shown in Eph. 2:2. As a result of this control he as well as his family, became entangled with the affairs of Sodom.
When Abraham was saved, he no doubt became concerned for his nephew Lot, and made several trips down to Sodom to speak to him so that he might believe God exists and desire Him as his God. You may say, “That is not in the Bible.” I know it is not, but the principle of a human instrument is a MUST for one to be saved. (Acts 8:31; Rom. 10:13-15; 1 Cor. 3:5; John 17:20) This took some time and probably several trips due to Lot being caught up in materialism, and the sins of Sodom. One MUST come to the end of self before he is saved. Man’s nature is to fight against God. He does not want to submit to the Lord; therefore, God is good to forbear (hold off) the wrath that abides on every lost person thus giving him a space of repentance. (Rom. 2:4; John 3:36) Salvation occurs in an instant but coming to the end of self usually takes some time especially in Lot’s case, because he was so entangled in the affairs of Sodom.
It was approximately 15 years from the time that Abraham was saved till God destroyed Sodom. He was about 84 years of age when saved and 99 when Sodom was destroyed. Therefore, it was sometime during these 15 years that Lot was saved. More than likely he was saved when Abraham was about 97 or about 2 years before God destroyed Sodom.
You may ask, “How did you determine that since the Bible does not say distinctly?” Again I go to a Bible principle to declare my position. 1 John 3:9 declares plainly, if one will rightly divide the Word of truth, that a saved person cannot practice sin naturally. If one claims to be saved yet lives in the sin of the world for a period of time without the chastisement of God, he is not saved. (Heb. 12:8) You may ask, “How long a period of time?” We cannot say exactly, but I do not believe one can go five or more years in sin and live if he is saved. In saying five years I am giving the benefit of doubt.
Any earthly father who desires to do right will not go five years without correcting a son who is wrong. The heavenly Father, who always does right, will not let His children get by without correction. First, He will speak, then rebuke, and if one will not repent He will scourge. Then if one refuses to repent, he commits a sin unto death. (1 John 5:16) God takes that individual home, because he is embarrassing his Father. He will suffer loss, but be saved so as by fire (sin unto death for one saved). (1 Cor. 3:15) This whole process will not take five years to be completed!!
Tradition has taught us one can be backslidden for years then get right with God. If you are one of those whose testimony is that you were saved early in life and lived like the devil for years and then got right with God, you had better check your experience closely where you say you got right with God to see if that is salvation. And if it is not salvation, you need to get honest with God and let Him show you that you have never been saved. This is a Bible principle. I had rather stand on a Bible principle than man’s tradition.
Many want to excuse their years in sin by referring to Lot. You need to quit that, because Lot may not have been saved over two years before God took him out of Sodom, then destroyed the city. The moment Lot was saved, he became a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17) and his righteous soul began to be vexed (annoyed; disturbed; tortured) at that instant. (2 Peter 2:8) He could not have stood the pressure of this vexing had it went on for the approximate 22 years he was in Sodom. This is Bible principles applied.
Therefore, I believe that Lot was saved in Sodom about 20 years after he went there and 13 years after Abraham was saved. You may agree or disagree, but one thing you had better not do -- use Lot’s life for an excuse for your years in sin after you said you were saved. That is foreign to the Word of God.
“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
*
[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #20842]
George Whitefield had a brother, who had lived far from the ways of godliness; and one afternoon he was sitting in a room in a chapel house. He had heard his brother preach the day before, and his poor conscience had been cut to the very quick. Said Whitefield's brother, when he was at tea: "I am a lost man," and he groaned and cried, and could neither eat nor drink.
Said Lady Huntingdon, who sat opposite: "What did you say, Mr. Whitefield?"
"Madam," said he, "I said I am a lost man."
"I'm glad of it," said she; "I'm glad of it."
"Your ladyship, how can you say so? It is cruel to say you are glad that I am a lost man."
"I repeat it, sir," said she; "I am heartily glad of it."
He looked at her, more and more astonished at her barbarity. "I am glad of it," said she, "because it is written, 'The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.'"
With the tears rolling down his cheeks, he said: "What a precious Scripture; and how is it that it comes with such force to me? O! Madam," said he, "Madam, I bless God for that; then he will save me; I trust my soul in his hands; he has forgiven me." He went outside the house, felt ill, fell upon the ground, and died.
Sermon in James series, #20. James 5:19-20
BRING 'EM BACK ALIVE
====================
I. The high cost of wandering.
II. Who is wandering here?
A. Some say it has to be a non-Christian.
B. But it is obvious that James is addressing believers here.
C. This is a hypothetical situation, much like Hebrews 6:4-6.
III. Why Christians wander.
A. They get out of the habit.
B. Sin can be a major factor, especially the habitual ones.
C. Other Christians have failed them.
D. God has failed them, or doubts arise.
IV. Bringing them back.
A. What NOT to do.
B. What to do.
C. Church attendance is not the goal.
V. Anyone can be brought back to God.
A. No sin is so great God cannot accept us.
B. You probably know someone who has wandered.
C. Perhaps you are the one who is still outside.
NightLight is a Christian mission outreach to the red light district of Bangkok, Thailand. The missionaries visit local bars and clubs and tell the workers about the new life they can have in Christ. Missionary Jeff Dieselberg says it is a great thing to see someone coming out of a life of exploitation and receiving new life in Jesus Christ. He has found that even if they temporarily fall back into their old life, they don’t fall down, they fall up into the arms of their loving Savior.
“Sky” recently fell up like that.
“Sky” was one of three women to come out of a go-go bar last year.
She was one of four new women to believe in Jesus and take the discipleship class that Dieselberg teaches.
And she was one of seven women who were baptized at a NightLight retreat.
There were several push and pull factors involved, but some time after this “Sky” fell and went back to the same go-go bar as before.
All of the Christian workers were concerned and very sad.
Friends who reached out to her said “Sky” felt ashamed. After falling like this she would be too embarrassed to come back.
But Jeff’s wife Annie along with a few other mission leaders took advantage of an opportunity that came up to actually go and meet with “Sky” in her room. They encouraged her and prayed with her. They hugged her and did not shame her.
The result? “Sky” fell up. She fell back up into the arms of her Savior. She fell up into church this last Sunday. She fell up at NightLight the day after that to return to her work at the Christian center. She fell up into their chapel times. She fell up into their Bible study classes. She fell up into their heart-to-heart class. “Sky” fell up.
Howard Hendricks teaches at the Dallas Theological Seminary. He did an exhaustive study of the men and women of the Bible and concluded that there are approximately 100 detailed biographies in the Bible.
He notes that approximately two-thirds of those men and women ended poorly. Either they turned to immorality or they drifted away from the faith or they ended their life in a backslidden condition.
The Apostle Paul was not among them. He finished well. What kind of finish do you think you will have?
While the loss of love is a disheartening experience in any area of life, there is one area in which the consequences are most serious: when we lose our spiritual love for the things of God. I have seen this happen to many Christians in my years as a pastor, and, like all Christians, I have even felt the temptations myself. Without diligence, the fire of love that burned brightly when we first met Jesus Christ can begin to fade and provide lesser and lesser amounts of light in this world.
There is no greater love than the love we have for Christ. But, regardless of the object, love is love. The way we leave our love -- whether love for Christ, the Scriptures, prayer, our family, or our ministry -- is the same in every case.
• We leave by lusting. If we do not guard against the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life (1 John 2:16), we can leave the things of Christ in pursuit of the things of this world. Money, position, power, influence, possessions -- these are powerful enticements for the one who has not maintained a close walk with Jesus.
• We leave by lack of attention. It stands to reason that what we ignore, we will eventually care little about. If we ignore the Bible, our spouse, our responsibilities as a parent, our life in the church -- it will only be a matter of time before we find little or no love for those parts of our life. It takes years for a woodwind or brass instrument player to develop the embouchure in his mouth and lips that allows him to produce beautiful music. But it only takes a few weeks of inattention to the instrument for it to be lost.
• We leave by lack of perseverance. The greatest myth about sacrificial, heart-based love is that it is easy. The truth is, nothing could be harder because true love is the opposite of human nature. Love takes work, diligence and perseverance. It’s easy to sleep in instead of rising to pray and read the Bible, and easier to take a spouse for granted than to practice acts of kindness. And it’s easy not to take up our cross and follow Jesus as His disciples when the way gets hard.
• We leave by laziness. Sometimes it’s not temptation or trials or time or the world -- it’s just us! We can easily go through life as a couch potato, surfing the channels on TV or surfing the web on our computer. We can while away an hour, a half day, a weekend ... we can while away a lifetime by living an unfocused, self-centered, lazy life. It’s human nature to do so, and the quicker we recognize that pattern and correct it, the sooner we’ll find love returning.
• We leave by lapsing. Finally, we can leave our love by lapsing into sin -- and staying there. We’re going to sin in this life. But if we don’t confess and repent of our sin when it happens, we are opening up the door for that sin to become a lifestyle. Jesus told the church at Ephesus that unless they repented, He would remove the lampstand -- the light of His presence -- from their midst (Revelation 2:5).
HOW TO KEEP YOUR LOVE
God calls us to love Him, our spouse, our children, the church, the lost -- there are many objects worthy of our sacrificial love. But if we ever leave our first love -- our love for Jesus Christ -- we will not be able to love anyone or anything else as we should.
The way we rekindle and keep our love for Jesus and others is by reversing what we did to lose it. In short, stay close to and focused on serving those you should love. Rekindling the flame of love for Jesus will cause that flame to spread and burn brightly for everyone and everything in your life.
Disciple-makers know great joys. We also know great heartaches. But sometimes, it’s the people who bring you the greatest joy who eventually cause you the greatest heartache.
Perhaps you’ve been in my shoes. You led someone to Christ, and you faithfully sought to pour your life into them. You discipled them to the best of your ability. You welcomed them into your home. You sought to live an exemplary life before them.
But after a period of time, they turned around and went back to their old life. They left you and your church.
So you prayed for them. You pleaded with them. All to no avail. They fell back into their former worldliness and disappeared. And week after week, their absence shouts at you: “You failed them. You mistook their initial enthusiasm for true conversion. What kind of minister are you? You couldn’t keep them on the narrow path. See what happens when you open your heart and life to someone?”
Eventually, God brings another person along for you to disciple. But you find that -- this time -- it’s just a little harder to pour your life into them. It’s harder to give your all when it comes to their growth and discipleship. You don’t verbalize your thoughts, but your heart has them: “What’s the use of pouring your life into them if they wind up like the other? What if they let you down too? What if they are only here for a season?”
The ache you feel for your earlier disciple keeps you from fully engaging the next one the Lord has for you.
You are not alone. The Apostle Paul once counted Demas as a fellow worker. But in Paul’s last letter, he tells Timothy:
“Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica” (2 Timothy 4:10).
It’s not hard to read between the lines and sense Paul’s sorrow. He wants to see Timothy (at least partly) because Demas has deserted him.
Of course, Paul’s biggest concern is that Demas’ soul is in peril. His former disciple’s love for the world is a demonstration of his lack of love for God. Make no mistake: Paul is concerned with Demas’ soul and destiny.
But that’s not all that grieves the apostle. Paul needs companionship, partnership and encouragement. So he tells Timothy to come to him soon. Paul is saying, “I need you, Timothy. Demas is gone.” In other words, “It hurts. Bad.”
Perhaps you’ve discipled a Demas before. If so, then you know the hurt that accompanies their desertion. You are deeply disappointed by their decisions. You can feel your spirit deflate whenever you think about where they are right now. You may even question your effectiveness as a minister.
In that moment of grief, you’ve got two choices. The first choice is to let your hurt turn into bitterness. The root of bitterness will keep you from giving yourself to the next person God brings your way. Bitterness constructs a wall around your heart in order to guard you from future hurt. Go this direction and you will never have another Demas to deal with. But you won’t ever raise up a Titus, either.
The other choice is to stay grounded in the Gospel, the only news that brings joy in the midst of pain. That’s what Paul does. He doesn’t turn bitter. He doesn’t deny his sorrow. Instead, he leans on other partners in the Gospel and tells them, “I need you.”
Armed with faith in the power of the Gospel and confidence that God’s plan cannot be thwarted, Paul moves forward. He keeps making plans. “Bring the parchments. Bring Mark too. Bring my cloak.” Hurt or no hurt, Paul maintains a steadfast joy in the sovereignty of God as he keeps on pursuing the kingdom and proclaiming the Gospel.
Pray for your Demas. Weep over him. Beg God for him. But don’t let Demas steal your joy. Don’t let Demas rob you of your passion for discipling others. God will continue to bring people to you. The reason you can keep working is because the Gospel never stops.
People like Demas will come and go. Yes, your next disciple may be a Demas. But it could be that the next one is your Timothy.
What would cause a person to walk away from Christ? What evidence can we point to that demonstrates a person is maturing in faith?
________
You pick up a phone and are told of the sudden death of a family member younger than you. You read about a person you ran around with in high school who commits a heinous crime. You turn on the television to hear a reporter breaking the news of a major meth lab discovered in a house in your neighborhood.
There are some things that happen in life that shock us no matter what. We know they happen, but somehow we never imagine that they will happen to us.
The writer of Hebrews felt shock when he considered the possibility of turning one’s back on Jesus. He pointed to people who professed to follow Christ (see Hebrews 6:4-5). At the very least, they were recognized as members of a local congregation of Christians. It appears that the writer himself had at one time held to Judaism and knew that the salvation found in Christ not only fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies, but also gave him the hope and rest he never found by following sacrificial rituals. He could not imagine going back, yet some of the believers in his congregation appeared to be considering it.
In many ways, his congregation was no different from churches today. In most churches, there are people who at one time professed faith but have turned away from Christ. The writer of Hebrews pointed to rain falling on different fields that produced different crops (Heb. 6:7-8). We have seen people who have witnessed the same blessings from God yet responded in very different ways. The response of those who walk away from those blessings without any growth is unimaginable. It is the fruit produced that reveals what is really planted below the surface.
Some years ago a man came to Chattanooga from another state. He seemed to be very devout. He loved the Lord and was active in the work of the Lord. For some time he was in rather trying financial circumstances, but soon became more prosperous.
After some time he seemed to be losing interest in the services and he became critical in his attitude. Soon we learned that he had taken up some of his former habits, such as smoking. We visited him time and time again, and prayed earnestly with him; but in spite of all he dropped out of the services and went back into sin.
After a year or so in this condition he was taken seriously ill. Physicians did their best and prayers were offered. He was in a terrible state mentally and spiritually. Toward the end he declared that devils were after him. A short time before the end he got out of bed and crept underneath it and while there looked out from under the bed and seemed to be talking to the devil, saying, “You can’t get me now.” He died in a fearful state.
20 Reasons Not to Sin.
1. A little sin leads to more sin.
2. Sin invites the discipline of God.
3. The time spent in my sin is forever wasted.
4. My sin never pleases but always grieves the God who loves me.
5. My sin places a greater burden on my spiritual leaders.
6. In time, sin always brings heaviness to my heart.
7. Others, including my family, suffer consequences due to my sin.
8. My sin makes the enemies of God rejoice.
9. Sin deceives me into believing I have gained when in reality I have
lost.
10. Sin may keep me from qualifying for spiritual leadership.
11. The supposed benefits of sin will never outweigh the consequences of
disobedience.
12. Repenting of sin is a painful process.
13. My sin may influence others to sin.
14. My sin may keep others from knowing Christ.
15. Sin makes light of the cross upon which Christ died for the very
purpose of taking away my sin.
16. It is impossible to sin and follow the Spirit at the same time.
17. Others more earnest than I have been destroyed by just such sins.
18. God chooses not to hear the prayers of those who cherish their sins.
19. My unwillingness to reject this sin now grants it authority over me
greater than I understand.
20. I promised God He would be the Lord of my life.
Christian Communicators Worldwide.
*
DONNA: Although I'm quick to forgive by nature, the process has been difficult. I've had to recover not only from a single well-publicized incident, but several years of press aftermath. I also had to work through the violation of my date rape, my unhealthy relationships with men, my anger toward the people involved in the scandal, and those who exploited me afterwards.
But mostly I was angry at myself for being so stupid, for straying so far from my Christian faith. I hadn't realized how easy it was to be lured by the glamour of the world. When I read Chuck Colson's book Born Again, I was startled to hear he considered himself no better than the people who'd slain the Christians in the Coliseum. I thought, I'm not that bad. I'd never kill anybody. But God used that book to show me I was still defensive about my own sin. I had to learn sin really is acting independent of God, choosing your own way over his.
Over the next few years, as I worked through my depression and the shock related to the scandal, I still struggled with relationships. Discovering I was weak enough to stumble and repeat my mistakes kept me running back to God for help. I was humbled by knowing that although Christ is perfect, he suffered far worse things than I ever will. He died so I might accept his love and forgiveness and have eternal life. Biblical truths such as Romans 8:28-29 especially encouraged me during this dark time.
Today, I'm thankful for friends and family who hold me accountable in my faith. Besides praying and reading my Bible, I regularly attend church and a women's Bible study, and listen to Christian radio programs each day going to and from work. All these Christian disciplines steady me in my faith, and keep me from compromising.
Evangelism is not salesmanship, but being a matchmaker. We are introducing people (brides) to Jesus (the groom). We must focus on the bridegroom instead of the wedding, and we must let others close enough to see our relationship with the groom. Share what Jesus has done for you in your personal life. In Africa the number of converts who fall away rivals the U.S. Divorce rate.
Allowing small sins leads gradually to greater sin and spiritual downfall.
There are two ways of coming down from the top of a church-sterple: one is to jump down, and the other is to come down by the steps; but both will lead you to the bottom. So, also, there are two ways of going to hell: one is to walk into it with your eyes open (few people do that), the other is to go down by the steps of little sins; and that way, I fear, is only too common. Put up with a few little sins, and you will soon want a few more, (even a heathen could say, "Who ever was content with only one sin?") and then your course will be regularly worse and worse every year. Reader, the Devil only wants to get the wedge of a little allowed sin into your hearts, and you will soon be all his own. Never play with fire; never trifle with little sins!
20 Reasons Not to Sin.
1. A little sin leads to more sin.
2. Sin invites the discipline of God.
3. The time spent in my sin is forever wasted.
4. My sin never pleases but always grieves the God who loves me.
5. My sin places a greater burden on my spiritual leaders.
6. In time, sin always brings heaviness to my heart.
7. Others, including my family, suffer consequences due to my sin.
8. My sin makes the enemies of God rejoice.
9. Sin deceives me into believing I have gained when in reality I have
lost.
10. Sin may keep me from qualifying for spiritual leadership.
11. The supposed benefits of sin will never outweigh the consequences of
disobedience.
12. Repenting of sin is a painful process.
13. My sin may influence others to sin.
14. My sin may keep others from knowing Christ.
15. Sin makes light of the cross upon which Christ died for the very
purpose of taking away my sin.
16. It is impossible to sin and follow the Spirit at the same time.
17. Others more earnest than I have been destroyed by just such sins.
18. God chooses not to hear the prayers of those who cherish their sins.
19. My unwillingness to reject this sin now grants it authority over me
greater than I understand.
20. I promised God He would be the Lord of my life.
Christian Communicators Worldwide.
*
George Whitefield had a brother, who had lived far from the ways of godliness; and one afternoon he was sitting in a room in a chapel house. He had heard his brother preach the day before, and his poor conscience had been cut to the very quick. Said Whitefield's brother, when he was at tea: "I am a lost man," and he groaned and cried, and could neither eat nor drink.
Said Lady Huntingdon, who sat opposite: "What did you say, Mr. Whitefield?"
"Madam," said he, "I said I am a lost man."
"I'm glad of it," said she; "I'm glad of it."
"Your ladyship, how can you say so? It is cruel to say you are glad that I am a lost man."
"I repeat it, sir," said she; "I am heartily glad of it."
He looked at her, more and more astonished at her barbarity. "I am glad of it," said she, "because it is written, 'The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.'"
With the tears rolling down his cheeks, he said: "What a precious Scripture; and how is it that it comes with such force to me? O! Madam," said he, "Madam, I bless God for that; then he will save me; I trust my soul in his hands; he has forgiven me." He went outside the house, felt ill, fell upon the ground, and died.
A young woman about to profess faith succumbs to temptation and attends a worldly ball.
The subject of the following narrative was the idolized daughter of a gay and worldly father, who, in spite of the tears and expostulations of a pious mother, to whom such an act seemed little short of sacrilege, led her to the altar of worldly folly—the village dancing-school. She soon excelled all competitors, and was considered the unrivalled belle. At this crisis her father died, and she lent a willing ear to the explanations of divine truth from her mother, which satisfied her understanding and filled her heart with pure and holy emotions. She was on the point of making a public profession of her faith in Christ, when the village in which she lived was agitated with preparations for a splendid ball. The poor widow shuddered as she witnessed the progress of this much dreaded evil: to complete her uneasiness, a brother of her husband, a man of the world, visiting in the family, declared that he would be at the expense of equipping her daughter as his own child, and that she should eclipse all the women of rank and fashion in the ballroom.
The poor girl was at first unwilling to lend an ear to these follies; but she had always delighted in dancing, and on this occasion suffered her better judgment to be overruled. "'Tis but for once, mother,' said she, 'and to please my uncle—nay, to avoid giving him incurable offence. Believe me, I shall not suffer my head to be turned by one night of gayety. Pray for me, mother, that this compliance with the will of my father's brother may not produce evil consequences.' "My child,' said the distressed mother, 'I dare not so word my supplication. It is in compliance with your own will that you thus venture on the tempter's ground, and in this open act of disobedience to your heavenly Father, I cannot lend my aid to excuse or extenuate your guilt. I have prayed, I will still pray, that you may not venture farther in this matter; but if you do, the responsibility must rest with yourself.' "But, mother, the Scriptures say themselves, 'there is a time to dance.' "So they say, in the same place, 'there is a time to make war, and a time to hate.' The wise man means, that all sins and follies will have their seasons; but he does not therefore advocate sin and folly. Oh, beware, my child, and let the same Scriptures teach you, that 'he who hardeneth his neck under reproof shall be destroyed, and that suddenly.' These are fearful words for us to part with, my child. Oh, heed my reproof, and do not harden your neck!' "Mother,' said the perplexed girl. 'I have promised my uncle to go to this unlucky ball, and I cannot break my promise without incurring his resentment. He has been so kind, that it would be ungrateful to thwart him in this trifle.' "Oh, my daughter,' said the widow, holding her hands to her ears, "let me not hear you use such awful language! Can it be you who calls this sin a trifle? Go, if you will; but make no more vain attempts to pervert right reason, lest you add to your own condemnation."
It was indeed with reluctance that the affectionate daughter left her mother, under such circumstances; but she had surrendered her better judgment for the time, and created an imaginary necessity, by which she suffered herself to be controlled. Much admired, she was so often solicited to dance that her blood became painfully overheated; and finding the heat of the ball-room too oppressive, her partner was conducting her into a little back porch. As she swept rapidly along, panting with heat, she encountered a servant entering with a pitcher of water, more than half intoxicated, and as he staggered out of her way, the contents of the pitcher were discharged full in her panting and overheated bosom. The sudden revulsion of physical feeling occasioned by this accident, was almost instantly fatal. A violent ague terminated in convulsions, and before the dawn of day this lovely and interesting girl expired in the arms of her almost distracted mother, breathing with her last gasp the word "SUDDENLY!"
DONNA: Although I'm quick to forgive by nature, the process has been difficult. I've had to recover not only from a single well-publicized incident, but several years of press aftermath. I also had to work through the violation of my date rape, my unhealthy relationships with men, my anger toward the people involved in the scandal, and those who exploited me afterwards.
But mostly I was angry at myself for being so stupid, for straying so far from my Christian faith. I hadn't realized how easy it was to be lured by the glamour of the world. When I read Chuck Colson's book Born Again, I was startled to hear he considered himself no better than the people who'd slain the Christians in the Coliseum. I thought, I'm not that bad. I'd never kill anybody. But God used that book to show me I was still defensive about my own sin. I had to learn sin really is acting independent of God, choosing your own way over his.
Over the next few years, as I worked through my depression and the shock related to the scandal, I still struggled with relationships. Discovering I was weak enough to stumble and repeat my mistakes kept me running back to God for help. I was humbled by knowing that although Christ is perfect, he suffered far worse things than I ever will. He died so I might accept his love and forgiveness and have eternal life. Biblical truths such as Romans 8:28-29 especially encouraged me during this dark time.
Today, I'm thankful for friends and family who hold me accountable in my faith. Besides praying and reading my Bible, I regularly attend church and a women's Bible study, and listen to Christian radio programs each day going to and from work. All these Christian disciplines steady me in my faith, and keep me from compromising.
Howard Hendricks teaches at the Dallas Theological Seminary. He did an exhaustive study of the men and women of the Bible and concluded that there are approximately 100 detailed biographies in the Bible.
He notes that approximately two-thirds of those men and women ended poorly. Either they turned to immorality or they drifted away from the faith or they ended their life in a backslidden condition.
The Apostle Paul was not among them. He finished well. What kind of finish do you think you will have?
Disciple-makers know great joys. We also know great heartaches. But sometimes, it’s the people who bring you the greatest joy who eventually cause you the greatest heartache.
Perhaps you’ve been in my shoes. You led someone to Christ, and you faithfully sought to pour your life into them. You discipled them to the best of your ability. You welcomed them into your home. You sought to live an exemplary life before them.
But after a period of time, they turned around and went back to their old life. They left you and your church.
So you prayed for them. You pleaded with them. All to no avail. They fell back into their former worldliness and disappeared. And week after week, their absence shouts at you: “You failed them. You mistook their initial enthusiasm for true conversion. What kind of minister are you? You couldn’t keep them on the narrow path. See what happens when you open your heart and life to someone?”
Eventually, God brings another person along for you to disciple. But you find that -- this time -- it’s just a little harder to pour your life into them. It’s harder to give your all when it comes to their growth and discipleship. You don’t verbalize your thoughts, but your heart has them: “What’s the use of pouring your life into them if they wind up like the other? What if they let you down too? What if they are only here for a season?”
The ache you feel for your earlier disciple keeps you from fully engaging the next one the Lord has for you.
You are not alone. The Apostle Paul once counted Demas as a fellow worker. But in Paul’s last letter, he tells Timothy:
“Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica” (2 Timothy 4:10).
It’s not hard to read between the lines and sense Paul’s sorrow. He wants to see Timothy (at least partly) because Demas has deserted him.
Of course, Paul’s biggest concern is that Demas’ soul is in peril. His former disciple’s love for the world is a demonstration of his lack of love for God. Make no mistake: Paul is concerned with Demas’ soul and destiny.
But that’s not all that grieves the apostle. Paul needs companionship, partnership and encouragement. So he tells Timothy to come to him soon. Paul is saying, “I need you, Timothy. Demas is gone.” In other words, “It hurts. Bad.”
Perhaps you’ve discipled a Demas before. If so, then you know the hurt that accompanies their desertion. You are deeply disappointed by their decisions. You can feel your spirit deflate whenever you think about where they are right now. You may even question your effectiveness as a minister.
In that moment of grief, you’ve got two choices. The first choice is to let your hurt turn into bitterness. The root of bitterness will keep you from giving yourself to the next person God brings your way. Bitterness constructs a wall around your heart in order to guard you from future hurt. Go this direction and you will never have another Demas to deal with. But you won’t ever raise up a Titus, either.
The other choice is to stay grounded in the Gospel, the only news that brings joy in the midst of pain. That’s what Paul does. He doesn’t turn bitter. He doesn’t deny his sorrow. Instead, he leans on other partners in the Gospel and tells them, “I need you.”
Armed with faith in the power of the Gospel and confidence that God’s plan cannot be thwarted, Paul moves forward. He keeps making plans. “Bring the parchments. Bring Mark too. Bring my cloak.” Hurt or no hurt, Paul maintains a steadfast joy in the sovereignty of God as he keeps on pursuing the kingdom and proclaiming the Gospel.
Pray for your Demas. Weep over him. Beg God for him. But don’t let Demas steal your joy. Don’t let Demas rob you of your passion for discipling others. God will continue to bring people to you. The reason you can keep working is because the Gospel never stops.
People like Demas will come and go. Yes, your next disciple may be a Demas. But it could be that the next one is your Timothy.
Disciple-makers know great joys. We also know great heartaches. But sometimes, it’s the people who bring you the greatest joy who eventually cause you the greatest heartache.
Perhaps you’ve been in my shoes. You led someone to Christ, and you faithfully sought to pour your life into them. You discipled them to the best of your ability. You welcomed them into your home. You sought to live an exemplary life before them.
But after a period of time, they turned around and went back to their old life. They left you and your church.
So you prayed for them. You pleaded with them. All to no avail. They fell back into their former worldliness and disappeared. And week after week, their absence shouts at you: “You failed them. You mistook their initial enthusiasm for true conversion. What kind of minister are you? You couldn’t keep them on the narrow path. See what happens when you open your heart and life to someone?”
Eventually, God brings another person along for you to disciple. But you find that -- this time -- it’s just a little harder to pour your life into them. It’s harder to give your all when it comes to their growth and discipleship. You don’t verbalize your thoughts, but your heart has them: “What’s the use of pouring your life into them if they wind up like the other? What if they let you down too? What if they are only here for a season?”
The ache you feel for your earlier disciple keeps you from fully engaging the next one the Lord has for you.
You are not alone. The Apostle Paul once counted Demas as a fellow worker. But in Paul’s last letter, he tells Timothy:
“Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica” (2 Timothy 4:10).
It’s not hard to read between the lines and sense Paul’s sorrow. He wants to see Timothy (at least partly) because Demas has deserted him.
Of course, Paul’s biggest concern is that Demas’ soul is in peril. His former disciple’s love for the world is a demonstration of his lack of love for God. Make no mistake: Paul is concerned with Demas’ soul and destiny.
But that’s not all that grieves the apostle. Paul needs companionship, partnership and encouragement. So he tells Timothy to come to him soon. Paul is saying, “I need you, Timothy. Demas is gone.” In other words, “It hurts. Bad.”
Perhaps you’ve discipled a Demas before. If so, then you know the hurt that accompanies their desertion. You are deeply disappointed by their decisions. You can feel your spirit deflate whenever you think about where they are right now. You may even question your effectiveness as a minister.
In that moment of grief, you’ve got two choices. The first choice is to let your hurt turn into bitterness. The root of bitterness will keep you from giving yourself to the next person God brings your way. Bitterness constructs a wall around your heart in order to guard you from future hurt. Go this direction and you will never have another Demas to deal with. But you won’t ever raise up a Titus, either.
The other choice is to stay grounded in the Gospel, the only news that brings joy in the midst of pain. That’s what Paul does. He doesn’t turn bitter. He doesn’t deny his sorrow. Instead, he leans on other partners in the Gospel and tells them, “I need you.”
Armed with faith in the power of the Gospel and confidence that God’s plan cannot be thwarted, Paul moves forward. He keeps making plans. “Bring the parchments. Bring Mark too. Bring my cloak.” Hurt or no hurt, Paul maintains a steadfast joy in the sovereignty of God as he keeps on pursuing the kingdom and proclaiming the Gospel.
Pray for your Demas. Weep over him. Beg God for him. But don’t let Demas steal your joy. Don’t let Demas rob you of your passion for discipling others. God will continue to bring people to you. The reason you can keep working is because the Gospel never stops.
People like Demas will come and go. Yes, your next disciple may be a Demas. But it could be that the next one is your Timothy.
Howard Hendricks teaches at the Dallas Theological Seminary. He did an exhaustive study of the men and women of the Bible and concluded that there are approximately 100 detailed biographies in the Bible.
He notes that approximately two-thirds of those men and women ended poorly. Either they turned to immorality or they drifted away from the faith or they ended their life in a backslidden condition.
The Apostle Paul was not among them. He finished well. What kind of finish do you think you will have?
What would cause a person to walk away from Christ? What evidence can we point to that demonstrates a person is maturing in faith?
________
You pick up a phone and are told of the sudden death of a family member younger than you. You read about a person you ran around with in high school who commits a heinous crime. You turn on the television to hear a reporter breaking the news of a major meth lab discovered in a house in your neighborhood.
There are some things that happen in life that shock us no matter what. We know they happen, but somehow we never imagine that they will happen to us.
The writer of Hebrews felt shock when he considered the possibility of turning one’s back on Jesus. He pointed to people who professed to follow Christ (see Hebrews 6:4-5). At the very least, they were recognized as members of a local congregation of Christians. It appears that the writer himself had at one time held to Judaism and knew that the salvation found in Christ not only fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies, but also gave him the hope and rest he never found by following sacrificial rituals. He could not imagine going back, yet some of the believers in his congregation appeared to be considering it.
In many ways, his congregation was no different from churches today. In most churches, there are people who at one time professed faith but have turned away from Christ. The writer of Hebrews pointed to rain falling on different fields that produced different crops (Heb. 6:7-8). We have seen people who have witnessed the same blessings from God yet responded in very different ways. The response of those who walk away from those blessings without any growth is unimaginable. It is the fruit produced that reveals what is really planted below the surface.
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