In It Not Of It Week 1
Sharable notes for the September 25, 2022 message. You can post these notes on your social platform!
Scriptures used: 2 Peter 1:1-8; Daniel 1; Habakkuk 1:12-13; Jeremiah 24:6-7; Matthew 5:13; Romans 8:35-37
Passages referenced: Hebrews 11; Genesis 11:2; John 17:15-24; James 1:2-3
Winning and losing is not the right scorecard when it comes to our spiritual journey. Obedience is.
We don’t know when Christ will return, so we live every day as if it could be today, and we live everyday with hope believing that Christ reigns through it all.
Unified unbelievers are more powerful than divided believers. Don't be a part of the spiritual enemy's plan to divide the body of Christ.
The church is the bride of Christ that He came to serve and to bless. Babylon is the enemy’s prostitute that he uses to destroy.
God may not deliver you from Babylon, he may actually call you to Babylon to leverage what’s in you for his kingdom.
How we work in our calling and how we relate to others in our work can reflect the goodness of God.
Don’t fall into temptation from the enemy while in a test from God.
Avoid a fear based faith where you're afraid that compliance will cause you to conform. Have a prayer filled faith that keeps you strong as you serve.
We should be a student of our culture but we shouldn't be a follower of it.
We can bring fame and honor to God when we bloom where we are planted.
The spirit of Babylon wants to take away your ability to reproduce. It does not want to see more followers of God, it wants to see more lives destroyed.
What the spirit of Babylon tries to teach you and what it calls you isn’t as important as what you allow the spirit of Babylon to put in you.
Some things we comply with, other things we confront with humility.
There has to be a line drawn from our convictions so we know not to cross it. You can never make a difference in Babylon if there’s nothing different about you.
We cannot become who babylon wants us to become and conform where babylon wants us to conform.
If we as the church and as followers of Christ conform to the world we neither help preserve the culture we are in nor do we demonstrate the distinctive beauty of Christ in the culture.
God gave Daniel and his friends everything they needed in the middle of Babylon, and God has given you everything you need in the middle of babylon as well.
God has given you everything you need for a godly life in an ungodly world.
Let God make a difference through you as you live different from the culture you live in.
Reflect or meet with someone to discuss:
What have been your typical takeaways when and if you've ever read the stories from the book of Daniel?
How hard is it for you to live out your faith in today's world? Why do you answer the way you do?
What lines have your convictions caused you to draw that you are unwilling to cross? If you've never thought about it, what lines do you believe you should draw in order to be different and make a difference?
Click the image to start a new 5 day devotion in YouVersion:
In this world, you’ll have struggles. You’ll face opposition. You’ll be challenged. And there’s a reason for that: this world is not your home. So answer hate with love, find joy in the midst of trials, and rely on a strength beyond yourself. You’re meant to be … different .