Transcript Recipe for Faithfulness

Recipe For Faithfulness
Lesson Eight
Introduction
Up Until This Point We
Have Studied Passages
Of Scripture That Tell
How Much God Loves
You And How He Sent
His Son As A Perfect
Sacrifice For Your Sins.
1
Precious Gift Of His Grace
The Scriptures Also Reveal How God Would
Have You Respond To The Precious Gift Of
His Grace Offered To You Through Jesus
Christ.
When You By Faith Surrender Your Life To
Him In Baptism, He Forgives Your Sins, And
His Spirit Is Given As A Guarantee Of Your
Eternal Inheritance.
This Is Just The Beginning Of An Amazing
Journey.
2
Remaining Faithful To God
As Important As This
Initial Response Of
Obedient Faith Is . . .
It Is Just As Important
To Remain Faithful To
God, Growing In Your
Faith And Becoming
More Like Him
Everyday.
3
Remaining Faithful To Your
Commitment
• Your Changed Life And
Being Faithful To Your
Commitment Will Bring
Glory And Honor To Him.
• This Lesson Will Focus On
The Need For, And The
Way To, Faithfulness.
4
Satan Will Try To Reclaim You


When You Decide To Follow Jesus,
Satan Is Going To Try To Get You Back.
Being Faithful To Your New
Commitment Will Not Always Be Easy,
But It Is Very Necessary.
If You Remain Faithful Unto Death, He
Will Give You The Crown Of Life
(Rev. 2:10)
“Do not be afraid of what you are about to
suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of
you in prison to test you, and you will suffer
persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to
the point of death, and I will give you the
crown of life”.

5
A Way To Faithfulness
 We Will Start By Looking Again At Acts 2.
 Remember That This Is The Day The Apostles,
Empowered By The Holy Spirit, Preached To
Thousands In Jerusalem.
 About Three Thousand Were Baptized That Day.
 Notice What These New Disciples Did From That
Day Forward.
Acts 2:42
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching
and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and
to prayer.
6
A Recipe For Faithfulness
 Think Of Acts 2:42 As A Recipe
For Faithfulness.
 All Of The Things Stated In The
Verse Are Very Important.
 If You Leave Out An Ingredient
When Baking Something, The
End Result Is Not What Was
Desired.
 The Disciples Devoted
Themselves To Four Necessary
Activities That Spiritually Fed
Them And Strengthened Their
Faithfulness.
All Ingredients Are Needed
“They devoted themselves
to the apostles’ teaching and
to the fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and
to prayer”. (Acts 2:42)
7
The Four Necessary
Activities
Listed In Acts 2:42




Apostles’ Teaching
Fellowship
Breaking of Bread
Prayer
8
The Apostles’ Teaching




The Apostles Teaching Is Something That
Should Be Important To You.
As Recorded In John Chapters 14-16,
Jesus Told The Apostles The Night Before
His Crucifixion That He Must Go Back To
Heaven And Send The Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit Was To Teach Them All
Truth And Remind Them Of All That He
Had Said.
When We Read What The Apostles Were
Inspired By The Holy Spirit To Write, We
Are Looking At The Truth.
9
What Convinced Them?

Two Things Convinced The Early
Christians That What The
Apostles Taught Was True:
1
The Old Testament Documents (Acts 17:11)
2
And The Miraculous Signs That Accompanied
Their Message (Mark 16:20; Acts 4:29-30; 5:12-16;
8:6)
10
Like A Healthy Tree


The First Psalm
Mentions How A
Tree Gains
Nourishment. . .
Like A Healthy Tree,
We Must Put Our
Roots Down Deep
Into The Word Of
God In Order To
Grow. . .
11
Babies In Christ




New Christians Or Babies In Christ,
Must Have Proper Nourishment Or They
Will Die.
1 Peter 2:2 “Like newborn babies, crave pure
spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your
salvation,”
When You Are Hungry Or Thirsty, You
Crave Something.
We Should Have That Same Desire For
The Word Of God.
By It We Will Grow Up In Our Salvation.
12
How Does Faith Come?



Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from
hearing the message, and the message is heard
through the word of Christ.
If We Listen To What The Apostles
Were Inspired To Write, We Take In
Spiritual Food By Which Our Faith
Grows.
People In The First Century Spent
Much Time Listening To And
Understanding What The Apostles
Were Teaching.
God In His Infinite Wisdom Knew We
Needed These Timeless Truths For Our
Faith To Grow Today.
13
He’s Given Us All We Need



2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given us
everything we need for life and godliness through our
knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and
goodness.”
God Has Given Us Everything We Need
To Become Like Him . . .
It Is Through The Word That We Gain
Knowledge Of Him.
Jesus Told The Apostles That He
Would Guide Them Into All Truth.
All + Zero = All
14
Devoted To Study


We Need Nothing
More Than What The
Apostles, Inspired By
The Holy Spirit, Wrote
And Taught.
No Wonder These
Early Disciples
Devoted Themselves
To Studying What The
Apostles Taught!
15
Fellowship
• The Second Ingredient In The Recipe For
Faithfulness Is Fellowship (Acts 2:42)
• Fellowship Comes From The Greek Word
koinonia, Which Means “Lives Interwoven
Together, Interdependent On Each Other.”
• Christians In The First Century Were Of
Constant Encouragement To One Another.
• The Same Should Be True Of Christians
Today, That We Build Each Other Up And
Spur Each Other On. (Hebrews 10:23-25)
16
Fellowship – (continued)



As We Look For The
Return Of Christ, We
Need To Be Growing
Stronger, Not Weaker.
Hebrews 10:23-25
Let us hold unswervingly to
the hope we profess, for
he who promised is
faithful.
let us consider how we
We Gain This Strength And
may spur one another on
From Mutually
toward love and good
Encouraging Each Other
deeds.
And From God’s Word. Let us not give up meeting
together, as some are in
the habit of doing,
Christians Should Hold
One Another Accountable but let us encourage one
another--and all the more
To The Commitment
as you see the Day
They Have Made In
approaching.
Christ.
17
Continuing With Fellowship
Hebrews 3:12-14
See to it, brothers,
that none of you has
a sinful, unbelieving
heart that turns away
from the living God.
But encourage one
another daily, as long
as it is called Today,
so that none of you
may be hardened by
sin's deceitfulness.
We have come to
share in Christ if we
hold firmly till the
end the confidence
we had at first.




Take Note Of The
Warning That Is Given To
Believers Concerning
Falling Away.
Without The
Encouragement From
Other Believers, It Is
Possible For Us To
Develop An Unbelieving
Heart.
To Prevent This, God
Knew That We Needed
Daily Encouragement.
Faithfulness Is Necessary
For Us To Receive Our
Eternal Reward.
18
Continuing With Our
Fellowship Study

Acts 2:44-46
“All the believers were
together and had
everything in common.
Selling their possessions
and goods, they gave
to anyone as he had
need.
Every day they
continued to meet
together in the temple
courts. They broke
bread in their homes
and ate together with
glad and sincere
hearts,”
19
They Shared Their Blessings
• Believers Trusted And
Encouraged Each Other
Every Day.
• They Had All Things In
Common.
• They Shared Their Blessings
With One Another.
• Their Lives Were
Interdependent And
Interwoven.
• This Is What Helped Them
Remain Faithful To The Lord.
20
Breaking Of Bread



The Third Ingredient In This Recipe To
Faithfulness Is Breaking Of Bread. (Acts 2:42)
This Term Is Used To Speak Both Of Common
Meals And The Very Special Meal Jesus
Instituted On The Night Before His Death.
The Context Helps Us Understand What Is
Being Talked About In Individual Verses.
21
Breaking Of Bread (continued)



Jesus Knew That We Would
Need A Constant Reminder
Of The Price Of Our
Salvation.
He Took The Bread And
Wine Of The Passover (The
Jewish Feast Reminding The
Jews Of Their Release From
Egyptian Bondage)
And Made It A Memorial
Feast For His Disciples To
Remember Him.
22
“Jesus Took Bread”

Matthew 26:26-29
“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and
broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat;
this is my body."
Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them,
saying, "Drink from it, all of you.
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for
many for the forgiveness of sins.
I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now
on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my
Father's kingdom."
23
1 Corinthians 10:16-17


16 “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a
participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that
we break a participation in the body of Christ?
17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for
we all partake of the one loaf.”
24
About The Lord’s Supper

Paul Explained To The
Corinthian Christians
What The Lord’s Supper Is
All About.

By Our Mutual
Participation In This
Simple Meal, We Are
Reminding Each Other Of
Jesus’ Sacrifice.
25
Taking The Lord’s Supper




Paul Continues To Encourage The
Corinthian Christians To Be Taking This
Meal For The Right Reason.
(1Corinthians 11:23-29)
He Says It Is To Remember The Death
Of Jesus And To Proclaim His Return.
Partaking Of The Lord’s Supper Is A
Time Of Self-examination.
This Is What Christians Are Supposed
To Be Doing When They Gather
Together As A Church On The First Day
Of Every Week (1 Corinthians 11:18;
16:2).
26
When They Came Together
Acts 20:7 7 “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.”
• Again We Find The Christians Meeting On Sunday For The
Purpose Of Breaking Bread (Lord’s Supper).
• This Weekly Reminder Of Jesus’ Sacrifice Is Something That
God Knew That We Would Need.
• This Is An Important Element To Our Faithfulness.
27
Prayer
The Fourth Ingredient In The
Recipe For Faithfulness Is Prayer
(Acts 2:42).
The Christians Were Known As
People Of Prayer.
God Has Opened His Throne
Room And Made It Accessible To
Us Through Jesus (Hebrews
10:19.
Prayer Is Our Communication
With God.
28
Pray For Others
Praying For Others And Knowing Others Are
Praying For You Is Very Important To Your
Faithfulness.
God Wants
You To Depend
On Prayer
29
He Says That Prayer Has Great
Power
James 5:13-16
13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is
anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of
the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the
name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick
person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned,
he will be forgiven.
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray
for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of
a righteous man is powerful and effective.
30
Our Assurance
1 John 5:14-15
14 This is the confidence we
have in approaching God:
that if we ask anything
according to his will, he hears
us.
15 And if we know that he
hears us--whatever we ask-we know that we have what
we asked of him.
31
What Prayer Is Not!
 Prayer Is Not Coming To God With A Long
List Of Our Requests And Asking Him To
Agree With Us.
 Rather, Prayer Is Seeking To Understand
And Submit To God’s Will.
 Prayer Is Our Expression Of Dependence
On God.
 He Knows What We Need Even Before
We Ask (Matthew 6:8).
 Yet He Still Wants Us To Open Our Hearts
To Him.
32
Jesus In The Garden
 Matthew 26:39
“Going a little farther, he
fell with his face to the
ground and prayed, "My
Father, if it is possible,
may this cup be taken
from me. Yet not as I
will, but as you will."
33
The Night Before His
Crucifixion




Jesus Is Praying On The Night Before
His Crucifixion.
He Knows What God Has Planned For
Him To Do And That Doing It Is
Absolutely Necessary For Our
Salvation.
However, Being Human, He Wants To
Avoid The Pain And Humiliation Of The
Cross If At All Possible.
Jesus Did Not Neglect To Bring His
Request Before God; However, God’s
Will Was More Important Than His
Own.
34
Prayer Attitude



When You Pray, You
Need To Have The
Same Attitude As
Jesus.
God Wants You To
Make Your Requests
Known But At The
Same Time To
Recognize That He
Knows What You Need
Better Than You Do.
Your Must Surrender To
His Will (Isaiah 55:8).
35
Jesus Taught About Prayer


Jesus Taught About
Prayer Several Times.
On One Occasion He
Taught His Disciples How
To Pray (Matthew 6:5-15).
Mathew 6:5
"And when you pray, do not be like the
hypocrites, for they love to pray standing
in the synagogues and on the street
corners to be seen by men. I tell you the
truth, they have received their reward in
full.”
36
Don’t Make A Show Of Your
Prayers




Jesus Is Not Saying It Is
Wrong To Pray In Public
Places.
However, Your Motive
Should Not Be To Be
Seen By Others, That
They Might Think More
Highly Of You.
You Should Not Think
That Praying Big, Fancy
Words Will Impress God.
God Desires Simple,
Honest, And Open
Communication From
Your Heart.
37
Jesus Gave An Example
Prayer To His Disciples

Matthew 6:9
"This, then, is how you
should pray:
"'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done on
earth as it is in heaven
Give us today our daily
bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven
our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from the evil one.'
38
Pray To The Father
 When You Pray, Address Your
Prayers To The Father And Express
Your Praise Of Him.
 Surrender Your Requests To God By
Asking His Will To Be Done.
 Praying For Daily Needs Expresses
Your Constant Dependence On Him.
39
Your Greatest Need!
Forgiveness Of Your Sins Is Your Greatest
Need, But His Forgiveness Of You
Depends On Your Willingness To Forgive
Others.
Depend On God’s Guidance And Strength
To Overcome Temptation.
Satan Wants You As His Disciple.
40
Your Enemy

1Peter 5:8-9
Be self-controlled and alert.
Your enemy the devil prowls
around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, standing firm in the
faith, because you know that
your brothers throughout the
world are undergoing the same
kind of sufferings.
• God Knows His Enemy
Better Than You Do.
• You Must Trust God And
Rely On His Guidance.
41
Conclusion To Lesson Eight



The Christian Life Is
Like A Race, Not A
Sprint, But A
Marathon.
Your Faithfulness To
The End Is Vital To
Your Eternal Destiny.
Seeking Godly
Teachers And Strong
Christian Fellowship Is
Crucial; Otherwise,
You Could Be
Deceived And Led
Away From God.
42
Conclusion 
continued
Peter Discussed The Deceptive Nature Of False Teachers And
How Worthless They Are.
2 Peter 2:17-22
These men are springs without water and mists driven by a
storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth
empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires
of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just
escaping from those who live in error. They promise them
freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for a
man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. If they have
escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and
overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the
beginning.
43
Conclusion 


continued
Peter Points Out That False Teachers Are Like
Springs Without Water Or A Storm Without Rain.
He Goes On To Say That They Like To Promise
New Christians Freedom While They Themselves
Are Slaves To Sin.
They Could Lead You Away From God.
2 Peter 2:21-22
“It would have been better for them (New Christians) not to
have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it
and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was
passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog
returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to
her wallowing in the mud."
44
Conclusion 


continued
God Wants Your Life
To Change To Be
More Like Him Every
Day.
Satan Wants You To
Continue To Live In
Sin.
Faithfulness To Your
New Commitment Is
Very Important If
You Want To Spend
Eternity With God.
45
Conclusion 


continued
Hebrews 10:26-27
“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received
the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but
only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that
will consume the enemies of God.”
Your Devotion To The Four Ingredients Mentioned In This
Lesson (Teaching, Fellowship, Breaking Of Bread, Prayer)
Will Help You To Live A Faithful Life That Will Bring Glory
And Honor To God.
The Next Lesson Will Focus On The Changed Life Of A
Christian.
46
End Of Lesson Eight
47