Child Trends<\/a>\n a. Did you know that almost 90% of 20-24 year-olds report that they\nhave had sex? Only 21% were married.\n b. So is it surprising that 57% agreed that it was OK for unmarried\ncouples to live together even if marriage is not being considered?\nAnd an additional 19% were neutral on the statement.\n c. So what happens when Christians state, “No, that’s wrong;.that’s a\nsin”?\n 3. I received a letter with yet another person upset that I’ve pointed out that\nspanking is one of several ways listed in the Scriptures for disciplining a\nchild. \n a. Any scripture to back their opposition? No.<\/p>\n b. Rather she listed numerous “experts” who oppose spanking. The\nargument is basically “everyone else says it is wrong, so you\nshould too.”\n
c. What happened to righteousness and conforming to God’s will?<\/p>\n
III. The Church is Called Out of the World<\/p>\n
A. I Peter 2:9 – Called out of darkness<\/p>\n B. In an eagerness to increase their numbers, many denominational churches have\naccommodated themselves to the unbelieving world.\n 1. The latest fad is to survey the region to find out what people want in a\nchurch and then to implement it.\n
2. Entertainment is considered a “must” for young people.<\/p>\n 3. The “health and wealth” message may attract numbers, but won’t save\nsouls.\n
C. People are looking for an easy faith<\/p>\n
1. But true faith isn’t always easy – Mark 10:17<\/p>\n
2. Why did Jesus insist that he do something so hard? – Mark 10:21<\/p>\n
3. Because he loved him so much that he wanted him converted!<\/p>\n
IV. Opposition Strengthens<\/p>\n A. How do you get physically stronger? You run – against your tendency to stay still.\nYou lift weights – against their tendency to remain on the ground.\n B. Opposition by the world to the church and truth may be rough, but the end result\nis strength\n 1. The apostles led the way when they refused to bow to pressure to stop\npreaching – Acts 5:29\n
2. The church was run out of town – Acts 8:1-4<\/p>\n 3. And the more they were persecuted, the stronger became their faith and\ntheir numbers\n
C. Jesus’ blessing – Matthew 5:11-12<\/p>\n
V. Don’t Be Surprised<\/p>\n
A. People are going to see Christians as “enemies” simply because they oppose sin.<\/p>\n B. John 15:18-20 – Jesus knew that being a Christian is hard because we don’t\nalways fit in.\n
C. We have to choose God’s ways over all else – Luke 14:33; Matthew 16:25<\/p>\n D. The world full of problems. There is strife, hatred, sin, evil, injustice throughout\nlife.\n
1. As Christians we are not shielded from these things. <\/p>\n 2. Instead we are called upon to go on despite these things – Luke 9:23;\nMatthew 10:38\n
E. Will you follow Jesus this day, knowing it won’t always be easy or popular?<\/p>\n
\n
[Based on an article by Clem Thurman]<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Corinthians 6:14-7:1 I. At times it isn’t easy to take a stand for the truth and it appears to be getting harder with the passing years. A. People are social creatures. We want to think that other people are like us. But when we are forced to see differences, we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[642,572],"class_list":["post-62436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-christianity","tag-persecution"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43754,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-am-glad-to-find-a-church-that-is-not-into-entertaining-people-to-get-them-in-the-door\/","url_meta":{"origin":62436,"position":0},"title":"I am glad to find a church that is not into entertaining people to get them in the door!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Just found your site. Well done. I am glad to find a church that is not into entertaining people to get them in the door! To bad you are not close enough to attend. How about some audio and video of your teachings and sermons? Answer: Look under Audio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43485,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-good-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":62436,"position":1},"title":"The Good Life (Waters)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Waters The Good Life - Five Lessons from Ecclesiastes Marriage Counsel from Peter God's Plan for His People Building a Lasting Faith In Due Time We Will Reap Contentment in Christ The Providence of God Pray Without Ceasing","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28552,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-are-a-team\/","url_meta":{"origin":62436,"position":2},"title":"We Are a Team","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26136,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/basically-good\/","url_meta":{"origin":62436,"position":3},"title":"Basically Good","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Garry Floyd I used Ecclesiastes 7:29 to make the point that mankind is not basically good. The \u201cBasically Good\u201d title denotes the idea that mankind\u2019s standard of good, outside of God\u2019s standard, makes it not good, not even \u2018basically good\u2019 as most people think they are. 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