Sermon Outline In Learning How To Listen To God
Hebrews 12:12-28
1. Be peaceful (v.14)
It is very important for Christians to live in peace with all people. Please note that the Bible tells us that we make every effort. It implies that in our lives, we will be facing troubles with other people, yet we are to make every effort to live at peace. It did not exempt us from problems and troubles. But it tells us to work for it.
Further more, the passage tells us to make peace with “all men” and not with selected men. Living at peace allows us to do many things in ministerial works. In Ephesians 6:15, apostle Paul instructed us to wear the gospel of peace which function as our boots. By doing that, we are then able to easily maneuver in Christian works.
Without the gospel of peace, it will be very difficult for Christians to testify about God. We have to remember that we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. Thus, we have to take care of our testimony. Therefore, walking at peace with all men is a must for every Christian.
2. Be forgiving (v.15)
One of the most difficult problems for Christians to overcome is forgiveness. Unforgiviness comes from our human nature. Many people not only Christians find it hard to forgive those people whom they had conflict. Sometimes, it is even more difficult to forgive a family member if they did something wrong to us.
But note that unforgiveness produces more problems than good things. It brings more trouble and additional conflicts. In the end, those that keep bitter roots in their hearts, profit nothing, and losses many things.
God doesn’t want us to live in a world of problems, in the world of unforgiveness and chaos. Most people with bitter root in their hearts have bad attitudes. Thus, they really have to surrender everything to Jesus Christ.
3. Be moral (v.16)
Sexual immorality is one of the most common sins that are now engulfing our world. Many people now are trying to justify immorality. Among them are; same sex marriage, live in, premarital sex, sexual orgies, etc… not to mention unexcusable divorce.
Where ever we turn a page in the Bible that talks about immorality, sexual immorality is one of the most popular topics concerning moral issues. This is because, sexuality is a part of human nature. And we have to control it and it requires discipline.
It is sad to know that our world is engulfed with sexual immorality. Mass media is one of the great distributors of sensuality. And here we are, in the middle of moral issues in our society.
4. Be godly (v.16)
Who are godless people, are those who do good yet do not believe in God, or are those who believe in God and as a result do good? Godliness is not measured by doing good, but with our faith in God.
Note that Esau was set as an example of ungodliness who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Going back to his story, we can see that godless people never thinks on how they can glorify God with their gifts, instead their focus in only within themselves.
This is why we make every effort to teach God in our society. This is why we teach True Love Waits and Vacation Bible School. And how I wish that we can do more. These are the only things that we can do to redeem our society from malice, strife, evilness, wickedness, ungodliness, immorality, and all other evil sins.
We as Christians should do our best to live in all godliness, above reproach as what apostle Paul encouraged us to do in the 1 Timothy chapters 2,3, and 4. Yet, we as humans are easily corrupted and there are lots of things that hinders us to be faithful in God.
