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Pressures Christians Face

• 2 Corinthians 18 48

Presented by Chris Reeves Rocky Point church of
Christ Gospel Meeting September 11, 2007
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Pressures Faced By Christians!

• I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
  mercies of God, that you present your bodies a
  living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which
  is your reasonable service. And do not be
  conformed to this world, but be transformed by
  the renewing of your mind, that you may prove
  what is that good and acceptable and perfect will
  of God (Romans 121-2)

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Pressures Faced As A Christian

• To Be Dishonest with Others

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To Be Dishonest with Others

• Warnings
• You shall do no injustice in judgment, in
  measurement of length, weight, or volume. You
  shall have honest scales, honest weights, an
  honest ephah, and an honest hin I am the LORD
  your God, who brought you out of the land of
  Egypt (Leviticus 1935-36)
• Give, and it will be given to you good
  measure, pressed down, shaken together, and
  running over will be put into your bosom. For
  with the same measure that you use, it will be
  measured back to you (Luke 638)

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To Be Dishonest with Others

• Christians Must Be Honest
• Having your conduct honorable among the
  Gentiles, that when they speak against you as
  evildoers, they may, by your good works which
  they observe, glorify God in the day of
  visitation (1 Peter 212)
• Honorable means, beautiful by reason of
  purity of heart and life, and hence praiseworthy
  morally good, noble (Thayer)

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Christians Must Be Honest
Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for
what is honest and proper and noble- aiming to be
above reproach- in the sight of every one
(Romans 1217 Amp. NT)
Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you
seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy
Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this
business (Acts 63)
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Pressures Faced As A Christian

• To Be Dishonest with Others

• To Compromise The Truth

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To Compromise The Truth

• Just your interpretation

• Were all going to heaven, just going by a
  different way

• Doesnt really matter, just as long as you are
  sincere

• Not a salvation issue

• Do many things for which we have no authority

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To Compromise The Truth

• That this is a rebellious people, Lying
  children, Children who will not hear the law of
  the LORD Who say to the seers, Do not see, And
  to the prophets, Do not prophesy to us right
  things Speak to us smooth things, prophesy
  deceits (Isaiah 309-10)
• They continually say to those who despise Me,
  The LORD has said, You shall have peace And
  to everyone who walks according to the dictates
  of his own heart, they say, No evil shall come
  upon you (Jeremiah 2317)

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To Compromise The Truth

• Must Stand For The Truth
• Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the
  gospel which I preached to you, which also you
  received and in which you stand, by which also
  you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I
  preached to youunless you believed in vain (1
  Corinthians 151-2)
• Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you
  have heard from me, in faith and love which are
  in Christ Jesus (2
  Timothy 113)

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Pressures Faced As A Christian

• To Be Dishonest with Others

• To Compromise The Truth

• Be Inconsistent In Life

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Be Inconsistent In Life

• Influence of the world

• Co-workers pressure us to do sinful things

• Family and friends can lead us astray

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Be Inconsistent In Life

• Some Who Were Inconsistent
• Therefore whatever they tell you to observe,
  that observe and do, but do not do according to
  their works for they say, and do not do
  (Matthew 233)
• You, therefore, who teach another, do you not
  teach yourself? You who preach that a man should
  not steal, do you steal? You who say, Do not
  commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who
  abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make
  your boast in the law, do you dishonor God
  through breaking the law? For the name of God is
  blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, as
  it is written (Romans 221-24)

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Be Inconsistent In Life

• Results Of Such Inconsistencies
• Called hypocrites (Matthew 2313,14,15,23,25,27,
  29)
• Name of God is blasphemed (Romans 224)
• God will vomit them out of His mouth
  (Revelation 316)
• They profess to know God, but in works they
  deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and
  disqualified for every good work (Titus 116)

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Be Inconsistent In Life

• We Must Be Consistent!
• Paul As A Model
• Immediately he preached the Christ in the
  synagogues, that He is the Son of God
  (Acts 920)
• For I am the least of the apostles, who am not
  worthy to be called an apostle, because I
  persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of
  God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was
  not in vain but I labored more abundantly than
  they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which
  was with me
  (1 Corinthians 159-10)

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Pressures Faced As A Christian

• To Be Dishonest with Others

• To Compromise The Truth

• Be Inconsistent In Life

• To Be Pleasers Of Men

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To Be Pleasers Of Men

• Many efforts today are to please men

• Our efforts should be put forth to please God

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To Be Pleasers Of Men

• Pleasing Man Should Not Be Our Aim
• For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I
  seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I
  would not be a bondservant of Christ (Galatians
  110)
• But Peter and the other apostles answered and
  said We ought to obey God rather than men
  (Acts 529)

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To Be Pleasers Of Men

• Pleasing God Should Be Our Aim
• Therefore we make it our aim, whether present
  or absent, to be well pleasing to Him
  (2 Corinthians 59)
• Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in
  the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and
  more, just as you received from us how you ought
  to walk and to please God (1
  Thessalonians 41)

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Be Pleasers Of Men

• Results Of Seeking To Please Man
• We cannot please God
• I would not be a bondservant of Christ (Galatians
  110)
• Then I can not be saved

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Pressures Faced As A Christian

• To Be Dishonest with Others

• To Compromise The Truth

• Be Inconsistent In Life

• To Be Pleasers Of Men

• To Be Nominal In Service

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To Be Nominal In Service

• Easy to become lax

• Drifting and apathy is a real danger

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To Be Nominal In Service

• Warning About Becoming Nominal
• Therefore we must give the more earnest heed
  to the things we have heard, lest we drift away
  (Hebrews 21)
• I know your works, that you are neither cold
  nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So
  then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold
  nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth
  (Revelation 315-16)

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To Be Nominal In Service

• We Are To Be Devoted
• Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit,
  serving the Lord (Romans 1211)
• But be doers of the word, and not hearers
  only, deceiving yourselves (James 122)
• But seek first the kingdom of God and His
  righteousness, and all these things shall be
  added to you (Matthew 633)

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Pressures Christians Face

• To Be Dishonest with Others
• To Compromise Truth
• To Be Inconsistent in Life
• To Be Pleasers of Men
• To Be Nominal In Service