Introduction:
1. “The Road Not Taken”, Robert Frost (with
apologies for twisting?!)
Two roads
diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
…
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
2. Joshua’s charge, “choose ye this
day…” Josh.24:15
3. Narrow Road vs. Broad Way?!
Mt.7:13-14
Lesson: [discuss “opposites” of each point to
emphasize]
(Falling
in the Ways of the World)
1.
Weakness
[Strength]
a.
Spiritual DNA damaged?
b.
Phil.4:13 “I can do all things through Him who
strengthens me…”
c.
“…by the Spirit…” Rom.8
2.
Wobbliness [Stable]
a.
“weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down…”?!
b.
James
1:8 (KJV) A double minded man is unstable in all his
ways.
c.
2 Peter 3:16 (NIV) He writes the same way in all his letters,
speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are
hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the
other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
d.
2 Peter 2:14 (NIV) With eyes full of adultery, they never stop
sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood!
(read this chapter later!)
e.
Low blood sugar? Need to eat!
f.
Heat exhaustion?
Need to follow the Good Shepherd beside the still waters.
3.
Wandering
[Following]
a.
Follow vs. wander
b.
Sheep need a shepherd
4.
Waywardness [Obedience]
a.
Hymn – “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
O to grace how great
a debtor
Daily I’m
constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness,
like a fetter,
Bind my wandering
heart to Thee.
Prone to wander,
Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the
God I love;
Here’s my heart, O
take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy
courts above.
5.
Worldliness
[Other-worldliness?!]
a.
1Jn.2:15 Love not the world, neither the things
that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not
in him.
b.
2 Timothy 4:10 (KJV) For Demas hath forsaken me,
having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to
Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
c.
Colossians 3:1-2
(RSV) 1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that
are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds
on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
d.
Alabama national championships number?
Years?!
e.
Now, number of Bible books? Major divisions? Ten Commandments, in order? Fruit of Spirit?
6.
Willfulness [Submissive]
a.
Isaiah 57:17 (NIV) I was enraged by their sinful greed; I punished them, and hid my face in
anger, yet they kept on in their willful
ways.
b.
Psalm 19:13 (NIV) Keep your servant also from willful sins; may
they not rule over me. Then I will be
blameless, innocent of great
transgression.
c.
Psalm 78:18 (NIV) They willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved.
7.
Wily-ness [Open/honest]
a.
Eph. 6:11 (KJV)
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil.
b.
2 Cor. 2:11 (NIV) in order that Satan might not outwit us. For
we are not unaware of his schemes.
c.
Theme study of planning bloodshed, crime, …
d.
Secretive, covering-up, “smart”
e.
Scheming is mark of wickedness
8.
Wickedness [Goodness]
a.
Noah’s generation – Gen. 6:5 (KJV) And God saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually.
b.
Anybody past retrieval? Rehabilitation? Renewal?
(Transitioning to the
World of the Way) [Acts9:2; 19:9; 19:23; 22:4; 24:22]
9.
Weariness [Refreshed, Energetic]
a.
Matt. 11:28 (RSV) Come to me, all who labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest.
b.
Ps. 31:10 (KJV) For my life is spent with grief,
and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my
bones are consumed.
c.
Jere. 9:5 (NIV) … they weary themselves with
sinning.
d.
Heb. 12:3 (RSV) Consider him who endured from
sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or
fainthearted.
e.
Jere. 20:9 (RSV) If I say, “I will not mention
him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning
fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
10.
Woefulness [Blessed/Comfortable]
a.
Mt.23:13-39
Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees
b.
2 Corinthians 7:9-11 (NIV) 9 yet now I am happy, not because you were
made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became
sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly
sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but
worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you:
what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what
alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every
point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
11.
Wonder [Dullness and/or Disbelief]
a.
“wonder” equal “doubt”?
b.
Or, “wonder” equal “doubt”?
(Living the World of
the Way)
12.
Waiting [Inattentive]
a.
Psalm 37:9 (KJV) For evildoers shall be cut off: but those
that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.
b.
Isaiah 8:17 (KJV) And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth
his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
c.
Isaiah 40:31 (KJV) But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and
not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
d.
2 Peter 3:12 (RSV) waiting for and hastening the coming of the
day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the
elements will melt with fire!
13.
Watching [Ignoring]
a.
Proverbs 8:34 (KJV) Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching
daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
b.
Daniel 8:15 (NIV) While I, Daniel, was watching
the vision and trying to understand it, there before me stood one who looked
like a man.
c.
Luke 12:37 (ASV) Blessed are those servants, whom the lord
when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird
himself, and make them sit down to meat, and shall come and serve them.
d.
Ephesians 6:18 (KJV) Praying always with all
prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints;
e.
Colossians 4:2 (ASV) Continue stedfastly in prayer, watching
therein with thanksgiving;
14.
Word-eating
(?!) [Junk-fooding]
a.
Deuteronomy 8:3 (NIV) He humbled you, causing you to hunger and
then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to
teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes
from the mouth of the Lord.
b.
Jesus quotes this in his struggle with Satan’s
temptations. (Mt.4; Lk.4)
c.
John 6:53-56 (RSV) 53 So Jesus said to them,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and
drink his blood, you have no life in you; 54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my
blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my
flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats my flesh and
drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
15.
Working [Idle]
a.
Ephesians 2:8-10 (RSV) 8 For by grace you have
been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of
God— 9 not because of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them.
b.
Hymn – “WE’LL WORK TILL JESUS COMES”
O land of rest, for thee I sigh!
When will the moment come
When I shall lay my armor by
And dwell in peace at home?
(Refrain)
We’ll work till Jesus comes,
We’ll work till Jesus comes,
We’ll work till Jesus comes,
And we’ll be gathered home.
16.
Willingness! [Stubborn, Willful]
a.
opposite of willfulness? peaceful submission! radar detector vs. driving speed limit
b.
“… my food is to do the will of Him…”
c.
“… not my will, but thine be done.”
d.
2 Corinthians 8:11-12(NIV)11 Now finish the work,
so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of
it, according to your means. 12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is
acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
17.
Worthiness! [Worm, Worthless]
a.
Rev. 5:11-12 (RSV) 11 Then I looked, and I heard
around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many
angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with
a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth
and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”
b.
But, paradoxically, He has made us worthy!
c.
“Why Did My Savior Die For Me…?” but, He did!
d.
“Beneath The Cross of Jesus”
Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take
my stand,
The shadow of a mighty rock within a weary
land;
A home within the wilderness, a rest upon
the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat, and
the burden of the day.
…
Upon that cross of Jesus mine eye at times
can see
The very dying form of One Who suffered
there for me;
And from my stricken heart with tears two
wonders I confess;
The wonders of redeeming love and my
unworthiness.
I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding
place;
I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of
His face;
Content to let the world go by to know no
gain or loss,
My sinful self my only shame, my glory all
the cross.
18.
Worshiping [Dishonoring, Disrespectful, Defiling]
a.
Wow-factor; “weird”; love/fire/peace
b.
Life is worship
c.
The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother
Lawrence
Brother Lawrence was a humble cook who
experienced life in the kingdom of God to its fullest by learning to commune
with God everyday—and every hour of the day—even during his ordinary work. In
short, he learned the art of living in the presence of God throughout the day.
He himself once said, “I am doing now what I will do for all eternity. I am
blessing God, praising Him, adoring him, and loving Him with all my heart.”
d.
Rom. 12:1-2 (NIV) 1 Therefore, I urge you,
brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do
not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s
will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
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