DATE: SATURDAY 2ND DECEMBER 2017
THEME: BACKSLIDING NOT AN OPTION.
MEMORISE:
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12
READ: Matthew 27:3-5
27:3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
27:4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
27:5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
Message:
One unfortunate thing about backsliding is that backsliders often fall so slowly that they hardly notice their deteriorating state. By the time some of them realise how far they have gone, it is rather too late. Are you a backslider? May the Lord restore you fully to Himself today! According to James 1:14-15, backsliding is a process that progresses from lust to sin, and ultimately ends with death. In Luke 22:3-6, Judas accepted to be paid 30 pieces of silver to betray his Master. He must have thought he was going to make some quick, free money. He probably believed that nobody would be able to capture Jesus. After all, how could anyone apprehend the man who calmed the storms by His word? However, after the plot blew up in his face, he felt so disappointed in himself that he returned the money and committed suicide by hanging himself. The question is, why steal or accumulate what you are not going to spend? Do you know that some people, who are stealing, particularly from God, will not be able to spend their evil loot? Those who steal God’s money to buy a car are only driving a moving coffin which can claim their lives at any time.
“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” 1 Corinthians 10:12
On the straight and narrow way to Heaven, overconfidence has killed a lot of people, preventing them from making it to the very end. A case in point is Samson. His fall from grace, which led eventually to his tragic death, was a gradual process. From violating little instructions not to eat anything from a dead animal as a Nazarite, to unwholesome jesting and riddles that made light of the commandment of God he had broken, to visiting a harlot, and eventually ending his ministry on Delilah’s laps (Judges 14-16, Numbers 6:1-21). Overconfidence has brought many people to the pitiable place where they are now. Always remember that nobody can stand by his or her own power alone, except God helps the fellow. In fact, we are so weak that we need to always rely on God’s strength to live the Christian life. Have you ever thought or even boasted that you cannot fall? You are just like Peter who boasted that he would never deny Christ, but at the end of the day he denied Him thrice (Matthew 26:31-36). Recognize your weakness and engage in regular Bible study, prayers and fasting to draw strength from God. Furthermore, deliberately avoid any appearance of evil that can tempt you, and break any tie that can lure you back into sin. The Lord will keep you from falling, and He will restore you if you are already down.
ACTION POINT:
Pray that God will keep genuine Christian leaders across the globe from falling.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Psalm 89-92
Nahum 2:1-3:4
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE
HYMN 11: I HAVE DECIDED TO FOLLOW JESUS
1. I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.
2. The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
No turning back, no turning back.
3. Though none go with me, still I will follow;
Though none go with me, still I will follow;
Though none go with me, still I will follow;
No turning back, no turning back.
4. My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus;
My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus;
My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.
5. Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
No turning back, no turning back.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR PASSAGES
Psalm 89: 1. I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. 2. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. 3. I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, 4. Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah. 5. And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. 6. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD? 7. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. 8. O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? 9. Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. 10. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm. 11. The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them. 12. The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name. 13. Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. 14. Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face. 15. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance. 16. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. 17. For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted. 18. For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king. 19. Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. 20. I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: 21. With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him. 22. The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him. 23. And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him. 24. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted. 25. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. 26. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. 27. Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. 28. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. 29. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. 30. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; 31. If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; 32. Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. 33. Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. 34. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. 35. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. 36. His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. 37. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah. 38. But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed. 39. Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. 40. Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin. 41. All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his neighbours. 42. Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice. 43. Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle. 44. Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground. 45. The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame. Selah. 46. How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire? 47. Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? 48. What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah. 49. Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth? 50. Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people; 51. Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed. 52. Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen.
Psalm 90: 1. LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. 3. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. 4. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. 5. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. 6. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth. 7. For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. 8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. 9. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. 10. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. 12. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. 13. Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. 14. O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. 16. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. 17. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. -
Psalm 91: 1. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. 3. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. 4. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 5. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 6. Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 7. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. 8. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. 9. Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; 10. There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 11. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. 13. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. 14. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. 15. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. 16. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation. -
Psalm 92: 1. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: 2. To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, 3. Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound. 4. For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. 5. O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. 6. A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this. 7. When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever: 8. But thou, LORD, art most high for evermore. 9. For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. 10. But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil. 11. Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me. 12. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13. Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; 15. To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. -
Nahum 2: 1. He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily. 2. For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches. 3. The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken. 4. The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings. 5. He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make hast to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared. 6. The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved. 7. And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts. 8. But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back. 9. Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture. 10. She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness. 11. Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid? 12. The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin. 13. Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.
Nahum 3: 1. Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; 2. The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. 3. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: 4. Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.
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