Bobby McDonald - Living Carefully

Bobby McDonaldOctober 31, 201613mWatch on YouTube

Speaker: Bobby McDonald Title: Living Carefully Date: 10-30-2016 Our Goal as Christians is this: To be an exact reflection of Jesus, the Son of God (Romans 8:29) We do this individually by growing in purity in our personal lives (1 John 3:2-3) We do this corporately by becoming fully functioning members of a local Church (Ephesians 4:11-16)

Summary

The central message is the necessity of taking God's whispers and convictions seriously, rather than ignoring them like burying one's head in the sand. The speaker emphasizes that godly people are characterized by carefulness in all areas—words, actions, thoughts, and relationships—and are quick to obey God's gentle guidance. True devotion involves a deep fear of God, which manifests as a willingness to immediately repent and act upon His word.

Outline

The message in plain words, in the order it unfolds. Select a time to jump the video to that moment.

Listening to God's gentle whispersGod convicts us over small things through quiet whispers rather than yelling, and we must learn to obey His first promptings like a good child.

The characteristic of the wicked in Psalm 50Psalm 50 describes the wicked as those who hate discipline and cast God's words behind them, treating His conviction as worthless.Psalm 50:16–17

Avoiding the ostrich approach to convictionInstead of burying our heads in the sand like ostriches to ignore spiritual danger, we must pay attention when God speaks.

Carefulness as a hallmark of godly peopleGodly individuals are careful in all areas, including their speech, actions, thought life, time, relationships, and marriage.

Doing everything with diligence and intentBelievers should follow the biblical command to do whatever they find to do with diligence and intentionality rather than just going with the flow.

Rejecting knowledge like ancient IsraelHosea explains that people are destroyed not for a lack of available knowledge, but because they intentionally rejected God's instruction.

Having a new relationship with sinA genuine relationship with God creates a reverence that causes us to tremble at His word and deal with sin immediately.

What it means to quench the SpiritQuenching the Holy Spirit means extinguishing His promptings by repeatedly ignoring His voice and tossing His words behind us.

The danger of ignoring early warnings like JudasJudas's downfall illustrates the danger of ignoring early temptations and thinking we are strong enough to handle sin on our own.

God's progressive refining processAs we grow, God refines us by addressing increasingly subtle sins, much like removing hidden impurities from a nugget of gold.

The ice cube illustration of hidden sinCleansing from sin is like an ice cube in water where we shave off the visible part at the surface as more rises up over time.

A commitment to live carefullyBy God's grace, our goal should be to watch and pray, take every conviction seriously, and live a thoughtful life modeled after godly examples.

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Bobby McDonald - Living Carefully

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