10 WARNINGS TO CHURCH LEADERS - BE CAREFUL ABOUT YOURSELF
1. WE MUST WATCH OVER OUR OWN LIFE AND DOCTRINE SO WE CAN SAVE OURSELVES AND THOSE WHO HEAR US.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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1 TIMOTHY 4:16
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
PROVERBS 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
2. WE MUST WATCH OVER OURSELVES AND THE FLOCK WHICH CHRIST HAS BOUGHT WITH HIS OWN BLOOD. WE MUST BE CAREFUL TO COMPLETE THE
MINISTRY THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED FROM THE LORD.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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ACTS 20:28
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of
God, which he bought with his own blood.
COLOSSIANS 4:17
Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.”
3. WE MUST RUN OUR RACE IN SUCH A WAY THAT WE CAN WIN THE PRIZE. WE SHOULD HAVE CONTROL OVER OURSELVES SO THAT AFTER
PREACHING TO OTHERS , WE OURSELVES DO NOT DISQUALIFIED
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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1 CORINTHIANS 9:24-27
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to
get a crown that will last forever.
Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.
No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be
disqualified for the prize.
4. WE MUST FULFILL THE MINISTRY THAT GOD HAS GIVEN TO US WITH A HEART TO SERVE AND NOT WITH ANY GREED FOR WEALTH OR AUTHORITY
OVER PEOPLE. WE SHOULD BE AN EXAMPLE TO THE FLOCK
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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1 PETER 5:2-4
Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as
God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve;
not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
5. WE MUST REMEMBER THAT THOSE WHO TEACH OTHERS WILL BE JUDGED MORE STRICTLY. WE MUST PRACTISE WHAT WE PREACH.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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JAMES 3:1
Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
ROMANS 2:21-23
you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?
You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
6.THE LORD HAS WARNED US THAT MANY WHO PROPHESIED AND CAST DOWN DEMONS AND PERFORMED MIRACLES WILL BE CAST AWAY ON THE DAY OF
JUDGEMENT BECAUSE OF THEIR EVIL DEEDS. WE MUST BE CAREFUL TO DO THE WILL OF GOD.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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MATTHEW 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father
who is in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your
name perform many miracles?’
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
7. THE ISRAELITES WHO PERISHED IN THE WILDERNESS BECAUSE OF THEIR IDOLATRY , IMMORALITY ,MURMURING AND UNBELIEF ARE A WARNING
TO US. LET US BE CAREFUL ABOUT OUR OWN STANDING.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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1 CORINTHIANS 10:1-13
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that
they all passed through the sea.
They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
They all ate the same spiritual food
and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in
revelry.”
We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.
We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes.
And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has
come.
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond
what you can bear. But when you are tempted,he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
8. LET US REMEMBER THAT THE SERVANT WHO KNOW HIS MASTER'S WILL , AND DOES NOT DO IT , WILL BE BEATEN WITH MANY STRIPES
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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LUKE 12:35-48
“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,
like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can
immediately open the door for him.
It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to
serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.
It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward
daybreak.
But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house
be broken into.
You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?”
The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them
their food allowance at the proper time?
It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns.
Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other
servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk.
The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him
to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many
blows.
But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been
given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
9. WE HAVE BEEN SAVED BY GRACE AND NOT BY WORKS. YET WE SHOULD WORK OUT OUR SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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EPHESIANS 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
not by works, so that no one can boast.
PHILIPPIANS 2:12-13
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to
work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
10. ONLY GOD CAN SEARCH OUR HEARTS AND REVEAL ITS TRUE CONDITION. WE SHOULD NOT DECEIVE OURSELVES BY THINKING THAT THERE IS
NO IMPURITY IN OUR HEART . WE MUST ASK GOD TO SEARCH OUR HEARTS AND SEE IF THERE IS ANY WICKED WAY IN US. WE MUST REPENT AND
CONFESS OUR SINS AND ASK GOD TO CLEANSE US WITH THE BLOOD OF JESUS .
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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1 JOHN 1 :7-10
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son,
purifies us from all sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
JEREMIAH 17:5-10
This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns
away from the Lord.
That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched
places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes;its
leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
“I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their
deeds deserve.”
PSALM 139:23-24
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
PSALM 51:1-12
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when
you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
