I credit all that I do to God I he's given me a gift he's given me a drive to uh just want to continue to improve upon myself and I have a platform and I want to use it to glorify him and so whenever I step on the track it's always the prayer of God let me be the vessel in which you're glorified whatever the result is I almost let go I was Qui at the edge of a breakthrough but couldn't see it the devil really had me but Jesus came and grabbed me he held
me close so I wouldn't let go God's mercy kept me so I wouldn't let go after all of the controversy surrounding the opening and even closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics after all of the talk about mockery Satanic rituals evil agenda and blasphemy isn't it just like God to raise people up from within the chaos isn't it just like God to still have people who are faithful enough to be a light in the darkness to be salt in the earth think of it the devil would love nothing else but to have every Christian believer caught
up in the Fanfare of what was done by the organizers or what wasn't done however can we take a moment and realize that despite the headlines despite the outrage there still arose Brave women Brave believers who gave God all the praise despite being in a seemingly hostile environment and this is what God does he raises people Noah lived in a society that was wicked yet God raised him up to be a voice that proclaimed the gospel Paul was called out from a life of violence where he persecuted Christians then he became a Christian himself Whenever
there is Darkness God will always raise people up who will be a testament of his power and they will become voices that give him Glory Christians have been saying things like this one article from a Christian publication reads as follows and I quote the opening ceremony of the Olympics is supposed to be a celebration instead it was an Abomination it was supposed to be a festivity instead it was blasphemy end quote now Billy R once preached a sermon titled What's wrong with the world and today I'd like to pose the same question to all us
today what is wrong with the world the answer is sin sin is what's wrong with the world and dare I say the love of sin is what makes everything worse the Amplified translation of second Peter 3:3 says first of all know without any doubt that mockers will come in the last day with their mocking following after their own human desires a mocker is someone who Jers and scoffs at something how many mockers do we have in this present day how often are we seeing the Bible Christianity being mocked every believer who knows their Bible should
know that when we see the increase in the mockery of Christ we're drawing closer to his return when we see the moral decline of society when we see evil being called good and good being called evil when the spirit of antichrist is so clearly at work we are edging closer to his return recently Elon Musk has been talking a lot about Christianity in one interview he recently said while I'm not a particularly religious person I do believe that the teachings of Jesus are good and wise I would say I'm probably a cultural Christian end quote
now more recently following the Olympics controversy musk tweeted this unless there is more bravery to stand up for what is fair and right Christianity will perish here's why he's wrong Christianity true biblical Christianity is not the practicing of a religion it's the acceptance that Jesus Christ died for our sins he rose again therefore defeating the power of death the devil and sin so that in Christ when we accept him as our Lord and savior we too would be saved from the wrath of God Christianity is submitting to Christ as Lord now for anyone to say
that Christianity will perish unless there is more bravery to stand up for what is fair and right is literally saying that what Christ did on the cross was not enough we need to add something to it this is not the case Christ's work is perfect absolute and complete regardless of what anyone thinks the Christian Community needs to do secondly the Bible has warned us that in the last days scoffers and mockers will come everything we see happening today is not necessarily calling us to directly engage with those who mock Christ but rather when these things
happen Believers see it as a confirmation of God's prophetic word this then inspires us to evangelize even more to demonstrate the love of Christ even more to be brave and calling out sin even more so it's not necessarily about engaging with the mockers directly my third point to say unless there is more bravery to stand up for what is fair and right Christianity will perish this implies that the devil wins but the Devil is a defeated foe the Bible tells us his fate revelation 20: vers 10 says and the devil who deceived them was thrown
into the lake of burning sulfur where the Beast and the false prophet had been thrown they will be tormented day and night forever and ever the devil's Fate has been sealed he's no match for Christ my fourth point is Christianity has been attacked for centuries Jesus himself was persecuted and crucified the disciples suffered horrible deaths for the sake of Christ the early church was persecuted by many including Nero and today there are many examples in movies and music where Christianity is mocked however Christianity has withstood all of the persecution and attacks for centuries I believe
if it were going to perish it would have perished years ago but it hasn't and there is a reason for that the reason is that Jesus Christ cannot be defeated now my final point is this the Bible says in Matthew 5:4 to6 you are the light of the world a city set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house in the same way let your light shine before others so that they may see
your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven Jesus Christ is the light of the world and if Christianity were to perish then there would only be Darkness on the earth there would be no hope no salvation and no tomorrow but this will not be the case because the darkness of the world will never defeat the light of this world and that light is Jesus Christ have you ever felt like God placed a special calling on your life has your heart ever been tugged and pulled in a certain direction to such
a point where you realize it's the Holy Spirit leading you have you ever noticed that you're particularly sensitive when it comes to Discerning that which is from the devil that which is from God today I want to discuss a few major dangers to people who have been called and chosen by God the first dangerous area for a believer who's been called by God is found in this place that we call being comfortable we love Comfort whether you're a Christian or not whether you're a pastor or an atheist whether you're a rock star or a janitor
we all love to be comfortable it's natural it's human but the danger in being comfortable or rather too comfortable is that we get complacent so easily so so easily and this World in your everyday life including in your career being comfortable can very quickly lead you to be in the same box as being lazy because if there's no fire in your belly to work hard for something if you're not focused and working towards something this will lead to less success less money less skill less recognition but in your Christian walk being comfortable lead leads to
being lukewarm we have to consciously choose to live with a fire in our heart for the Lord and know that everything we do is about Jesus everything we do is for Jesus we have to we must make sure that everything we do is unto Jesus everything we do is to better our relationship with the Lord It's to give him glory and praise now it won't always be comfortable to do this there'll be times where it means you have to sacrifice there'll be times when you'll have to humble yourself there will be times that you'll have
to serve and if you're in a comfortable place you'll be unable to do any of this but if you have that fire in your belly that fire in your heart for God then your attitude will be the one that says Lord wherever you lead me I will f follow so remember it's a dangerous thing to be too comfortable as a child of God it's not to say you can't be comfortable but rather don't let your comfort mean that working for God serving God becomes an inconvenience it should be a privilege to serve in the kingdom
of God and being too comfortable means that you see it as an inconvenience another dangerous area has to do with entertaining ungodly things and ungodly people it's a dangerous thing to expose yourself to the ungodly whether it's through friendship thought deed however it's dangerous you open yourself up physically or in your mind or in your heart when you entertain things or people who don't fear the lord now don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with showing an unbeliever love there's nothing wrong when demonstrating the love of Christ to people who have fallen away from the
faith Jesus did it however there's a thin line between being a witness and being a partaker here's what the Bible says regarding this don't be unequally yolked with unbelievers for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness or what Fellowship has light with Darkness that's 2 Corinthians 6:14 what about 1 Corinthians 15:33 do not be deceived Bad Company ruins good morals or Psalm chapter 1 blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of Sinners or sit in the seat of mockers now do you see what I
mean it is a thin line between being a witness and a partaker you can love them but don't entertain them Jesus was able to witness to the ungodly and befriend them without falling into ungodliness himself we as human followers of Christ actually face a danger when we entertain too much ungodliness there's a sinful nature in our flesh and if you entertain ungodly things you'll soon find them to have a strong appeal if you're not careful you really do begin to act like the people you hang around most you really do start to think similar to
the minds around you if you allow them to infiltrate Your Heart by letting your guard down there's a reason why the age-old saying stands today if you lie with dogs you'll get fleas this saying is stood the test of time because it's absolutely true as a Christian ungodly surroundings worldly environments and ungodly people they can all influence you and sink your ship if you expose yourself too much strive to be immersed in the things of God be alert be constantly feeding yourself the word of God so that you can be the influence when you find
yourself around the ungodly things and people in this world my third point of danger is pride it's a dangerous thing to have pride in your heart pride is a deadly sin it will absolutely take you out of the will of God and keep you there God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble we're told to Humble ourselves before the Lord so that he will lift us up in due time it's in his timing that we Excel and that's for the best because he knows what we need he knows to wait until you're seasoned
with wisdom he knows to wait until you're seasoned with a bit more of a prayerful Spirit God knows to wait until you face certain hardships and develop stronger faith in his timing when he sees fit he will bless you people who get to high places without going through the dark and tough places first they often lack empathy and understanding and humility toward others God is wise and he knows the journey you have to go through to prepare your heart for the high points of your life do not get caught up thinking too highly of yourself
because God will humble you Proverbs 16: 18 says that Pride goes Before Destruction a hotty spirit before a fall you are actually setting yourself up for God to bring you down if you find yourself up on your own pedestal you are nothing apart from the God who created you and he wants you to acknowledge that in your heart you really truly have to make it a point to protect yourself against Pride because it creeps in and takes a hold of you when you feel like you're doing great things on your own pride is easy to
store up in your heart so be vigilant ask the Lord to protect you from it because this world can present you with countless reasons to be prideful but at the end of the day Pride will kill your spiritual life because it chokes out the need and desire for God in your life so I encourage you to pray against this Spirit be guarded against this Spirit the final point of danger I'd like to mention is being too busy for God it's a dangerous thing to become so busy you cannot accommodate the Lord into your schedule people
these days seem to think that being ridiculously busy is somehow the way to be it makes some people feel important but there's no merit to just being busy for the sake of being busy there's also nothing to gain spiritually if you're working on all the time with no regard for your spiritual life what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul this mindset is a distraction to the Christian's walk with God there's real danger in becoming too busy for God Work family friends Hobbies relationships whatever life may bring there
are a world of distractions waiting for you in every corner of your mind there are even people who can't even see they're distracted because the busy work is actually religious work it's sad but prevalent in Christians to get caught up in doing things for God while not spending any time with God the personal relationship is actually being neglected while outwardly it looks like you're thriving because of religious acts of work I know of many Christians that do God's work but they're starving for spiritual food in their personal lives God wants us to serve for his
purposes of course but don't let anything even religious work be a distraction to your actual relationship with God he wants your real heart your whole heart and he wants it sincerely do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ don't be distracted by the things of this world or even by good things that are not God himself let your life's work overflow from a heart of spiritual fullness where you walk with God you talk with him you commune and you fellowship with him I pray that each of these dangers are kept from your heart I
pray that you are mindful of any areas in your life that will potentially derail your walk with Christ and may the holy spirit guide you always so that you can live your life abundantly in Jesus and with purpose [Music]
