John 4:23-24
23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers
will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are
the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and
his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
True worshippers are those with a changed heart.
Who are those that has a changed heart?
1.
Those who surrendered their life to Christ. Surrender-to
give oneself up, as into the power of another; submit or
yield. To give (oneself) up to some influence, course,
emotion, etc.
- James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the
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devil, and he will flee from you.
Submission only comes when we have a changed heart. A
heart that received the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 3:16…To understand what salvation is, we must first
know salvation comes from God and that it is the work
carried out by God for the sake of saving mankind,
corrupted by Satan, so that in the end we can gain
salvation in God’s word and work—acting and conducting
ourselves in accordance with God’s requirements, living
within His care and protection and winning His approval and
blessing. This is what the salvation of God means
Receive the Lord Jesus Christ now to enjoy His presence.
BUT WARNING TO CHRISTIANS. A changed heart will backslide
Covid has symptoms even backsliding.
7 Signs You Could Be Backsliding and Not Even Know It
#1 A Decrease in Your Quiet Time
Any healthy relationship requires quality time to thrive. Our
relationship with God is no different. Spending time with the
God by reading his word and praying is a great privilege and
tool to strengthen our faith and keep our hearts focused. If you
notice the following, beware:
You don’t have quiet time with God.
You don’t want to have quiet time with God.
You don’t see the value of having quiet time with God.
Losing a desire to spend time with God is the first telltale
sign that something is not right spiritually.
Psalm 51:10-12 KJVAAE
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit
within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy
Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;
and uphold me with thy free Spirit.
#2 A Loss of Conviction
Our conscience is one of the main channels through which God
gets our attention. We must not succumb to attitudes that
eventually harden our hearts. Some common, unhealthy excuses for
our hardness of heart may include:
“I deserve this.”
“I’m not as bad as others.”
“Everyone struggles.”
“I’m not as bad as I used to be.”
“I’ll ask for forgiveness tomorrow.”
A hardness of heart, or seared conscience, is a natural
condition for human beings to fall into (1 Timothy 4:1-2) Now
the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits,
and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having
their conscience seared with a hot iron;
. It can often be a direct result of a lack of repentance. As
pursuers of God, we ought to be sensitive to our conscience and
sincere about correcting bad patterns of thought so as to honor
God (Matthew 12:34b) for out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaketh.
If we spend more time devising excuses than repenting for sinful
thoughts and actions, we are saying God’s standards don’t
convict us and that his opinion doesn’t matter.
#3 When You Lose Confidence in Prayer
When you doubt that God is interested in answering your prayers,
you may begin to doubt that he is interested in you at all. But
he is interested in you (James 1:5-7) If any of you lacks wisdom,
you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding
fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must
believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave
of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should
not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
. The question is are you interested in hearing what he has to
say?
Praying for others is also a vital habit of the Christian. Do
you often fail to pray for people when you promise to pray for
them, or do you typically follow through?
If you find that prayer matters less and less to you, it’s time
to start taking counteractive steps to fix this issue.
#4 A Loss of Compassion for Those in Pain
God may bring people into our lives who are suffering or going
through hardships that we might serve them. When we refuse to
sympathize with those in need, we miss opportunities to extend
God’s grace.
Not only are we missing important opportunities to serve, we are
missing opportunities to demonstrate our faith practically. And
if we are not willing to demonstrate our faith practically, we
are saying our faith is not important to us (Matthew 25:34-40).
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who
are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the
kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For
I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and
you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited
me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you
looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see
you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to
drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or
needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in
prison and go to visit you?’
40
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for
one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did
for me.’
#5 An Indifference to Evangelism and Salvation
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to share the good
news that God has rescued us from our sins and brought us into
his kingdom by his grace. We shouldn’t think that God has
completed his mission of saving sinners. He wills that that none
should perish (2 Peter 3:9) 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his
promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with
you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance.
. If we are indifferent to this deep desire of God, it’s time
for a heart checkup.
#6 A Decrease in Your Giving
Giving a portion of your income to the church and various
ministries enables the body of Christ to accomplish God’s
purposes on earth. The Bible tells us to be cheerful givers and
to not give simply out of obligation (2 Corinthians 9:7) Each of
you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not
reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
. When giving financially to the church becomes less important
to us, our hearts are likely not aligned with God’s purposes.
#7 A Decrease in Church Attendance
Local churches are followers of Jesus Christ who regularly meet
to worship God together, serve together, pray together, and
learn how to better honor God with our lives (Hebrews 10:25) not
giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing,
but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day
approaching. When we believe we can do the Christian life alone
– that we already know enough, have done enough, and won’t get
anything out of church – we miss opportunities to mature in our
faith and to help others to grow spiritually.
While we all struggle in our faithfulness to God during
different seasons of life, we must be wary of these seven signs,
especially if we are experiencing several of them at once. Start
by acknowledging that something isn’t right. Confess it to God,
commit to repenting, and confide in a trusted Christian friend,
mentor, or pastor who will hold you accountable (James 5:16)
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each
other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous
person is powerful and effective. You must take every necessary
step to rekindle your relationship with God or risk backsliding
into the old patterns and habits God saved you from long ago.
Conclusion: If symptoms persist, consult your HIGHEST DOCTOR.
JESUS. Acts 3:19-21
19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted
out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of
the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you,
Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring
all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy
prophets long ago.