Baptist City Blog

Hebrews 10:22

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."

Every Christian should desire that their faith makes an impact on their world. I certainly don't want to go through the Christian life and at the end have had no impact on those who are around me on a daily basis. Every Christian should desire to have made a great impact on people for Christ if their life were to end at this moment. In the chapter above, I find five things that are necessary to having an impacting faith.

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1 Thessalonians 4:7

"For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness."

One of the battles we fight in society is the desire for everyone to be the same. This battle has created a passive attitude that has caused many to not care whether or not they exceed in life. It is only the few who try to rise above the average and have no desire to be like everyone else who make the greatest mark on society.

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2 Corinthians 1:10

"Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;"

Paul reminded the church of Corinth who was going through tribulation that God is a did, does and will God. He wanted them to know that God delivered them in the past, is there to deliver them in the present and will deliver them in the future. God comforted them in the past when they went through trials, and Paul reminded them that He would comfort them in the present while they endure trials. Paul also wanted to remind them that whatever trial they were enduring, that if it continued on in the future that God would be there for them then as well. The whole reason Paul mentioned this to the church of Corinth was because he wanted to remind them that they served a did, does and will God.

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1 Corinthians 12:1

"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant."

One of the reasons that every person is important to their church is because God has given them a gift that is unique to them to be a help to their church. Paul addressed the subject of spiritual gifts in the church of Corinth. This church was using their spiritual gifts in the wrong manner. God wanted them to take their spiritual gifts and use them wisely so that they could get the greatest returns from them. There were five obvious things that were addressed about spiritual gifts that will help you to use your spiritual gift wisely.

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Romans 8:28

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

Oftentimes when we think of God's will, we think about what God wants a person to do for the rest of their life. For instance, God's will for my life is to be an evangelist. Most people think of God's will as vocational, but God's will is more than that.

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Acts 9:27

"But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus."

It was a forty-five minute session in which my dog and I went round and round until finally temporary success was achieved. I was training my dog to get into the down position, but she wanted nothing to do with it. Forty-five minutes later, she had succeeded three times in a row to obey the command to go down. In spite of the constant failures, I envisioned a dog that would immediately obey my command in spite of all the antics she performed. Today, she has no qualms about going into the down position when commanded. This would have never happened if I was short-sighted with her failures.

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Acts 8:29

"Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot."

Philip must have wondered why God wanted him to leave a great revival meeting in Samaria to go to the desert. You would think that God would be pleased with those being saved in Samaria, but what didn't make sense with Philip certainly made complete sense to God. What Philip did not know at the timing of God's command to go to the desert was that there was a man who needed to be saved in the desert. Had Philip resisted the leading of the Holy Spirit, this great soul-winning experience that we all enjoy reading would have never happened.

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John 18:10

"Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus."

Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying with His disciples, when a band of men came to take Him by force. When one of the servants of the high priest moved to arrest Jesus, Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of this servant. There is no doubt that Peter was angry for more than one reason. He was angry because Judas Iscariot was with the crowd who wanted to kill Jesus. He was also angry because this servant wanted to take his master to have him killed. Yet, though Jesus knew all this, He told Peter to put his sword in the sheath.

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John 13:2

"And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;"

We often taken for granted the lives of those whom we are often around. Because someone is relatively healthy and they are going about their normal daily business, we oftentimes take for granted that we will see them later though we are not guaranteed this will happen. If we knew when would be the last time we would see someone, we would get the most out of our last time together.

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Luke 16:4

"I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses."

The parable of the unjust steward is a parable about a man who unwisely wasted his masters possessions. The Scriptures do not make it clear whether it was finances or simply not taking care of his masters physical possessions. The one thing we do know is that when he was confronted with his actions and was fired, he was resolved he would try to change his actions and win the heart of his master back, and he was successful with his resolution.

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