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Neh. 2:17, 18
We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30. You can also download our service at Baptist-Christian at iTunes. Last week we defined hope as trust, confidence, safety, direction over the long haul, and stretching the mind in a straight direction toward a specific goal. In part, working out our salvation” is designed to build, or, if necessary, rekindle hope in us to encourage us to continue our forward progress in spiritual growth. It is not particularly easy to grow, but the hard work pays big dividends! Only you can determine whether or not you are going to allow God to develop hope, or anything else, in you. Until the Rapture, there will always be those who oppose progress for no other reason than it is progress or change. Since God knows who those people are and how to handle them, those who want to grow spiritually through rekindled hope can do so without fear! So once you have come to the place you are ready to allow God to move you forward, how do you develop this great hope?
- DEVELOP A CHARACTER OF PRAYER! A careful study will reveal that most every part of an effective, powerful Christian life begins with prayer. Any work that is to be successful for the Lord must begin in prayer. The most effective people in a local church are those true prayer warriors who spend time on their knees every day! A character of prayer is deeper than just an attitude of prayer. A person who has a character defined by prayer is one so in love with their Adoptive Heavenly Father that even the thought of sin breaks their heart. That person’s life is lived completely in prayer before God. Those are powerful Christians.
- DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE OF CHANGE! Ouch!! Change? Are you kidding? Where there is no change in a Christian’s life, there is no hope. Read 1 Sam. 10:6; 2 Chron. 7:14; Jer. 7:1-8; 18:11; Matt. 18:3; Rom. 12:1, 2; 1 Cor. 15:51, then try to justify living your Christian life without change! Resistance and/or resentment to change is another of Satan’s most effective weapons against spiritual growth, revival, and progress within the Body of Christ. We must be absolutely sure our change is TRANSforming, not CONforming! If you are not open to change as a Christian, you are doomed to a stagnant life of hopelessness!
- DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP! Read Matt. 20:25-28 and Mark 10:42-45. Nehemiah hadn’t read Matt. or Mark but he understood the principle of these passages. He knew he could never ask his people to do something he was not willing to do for or with them. He understood that barking out commands telling the people what to do while he sat around acting superior was not the way to build hope (or a wall). Nehemiah is an outstanding example of servant leadership. Jesus is the best example! Those leaders who show their people how to live a Christ-like life through a character of prayer and an attitude of change are the real leaders in God’s Family! How willing are you to allow God to lead you through the rubble in your spiritual life so you can prayerfully plan with God, letting Him show you how to remove the rubble through change from what you were to what He has planned for you to be?
If we can help you with your spiritual questions call us at (574) 643-9419.
