Intro: years ago I got up one morning and had a flat tire. I filled the tire up with air and it seemed fine until the next morning it was flat again. Of course they found it had a slow leak that was plugged and the tire was fine. Most Christians that go back on serving the Lord aren’t products of a blowout, but slow leaks generally are the cause of spiritual decline. Hebrews 2: 1-3 gives us the warning to guard our salvation, tonight let’s look at some of the slow leaks that can do someone in, in their walk for Christ.
Plugging Up Spiritual Leaks
Hebrews 2:1-3
1. Lost Love—Revelation 2:4—Jesus wants us to keep that first love relationship alive. It is so easy to move from relationship to rituals. At first someone’s relationship with the Lord is from the heart, but in time there is a danger of it becoming performance based, do this, don’t do this, serve here, serve there. Jesus says, don’t let your love leak out, don’t let that pure water slip out through the cracks.
2. Lost Joy—Psalms 51:12—if you were to give a definition of a new convert, the word would be exhilarated. They are cram packed with joy, the joy of salvation. It is so sad when someone’s joy leaks out. They have no fulfillment left in serving God. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Don’t lose your joy in the Lord, be excited that your name is written down in the book of life.
3. Lost Sensitivity to God—Hebrews 3:8—the next concern in our spiritual walk with God, is that we be sensitive to God’s voice, His leading in our lives. This world has a natural way of hardening the heart, it takes special care to keep your heart and spirit in tune with God. It got so bad for Israel, that even though they were seeing the miracles of God, they still were hard toward God.
4. Lost Burden For Souls—Matthew 9:36 Compassion for the lost is one of the most important parts of the Christian faith. A deep concern about where people will spend eternity. The church must always guard against becoming self centered and losing it’s focus and purpose which is reaching the lost for Christ.
5. Going Through The Motions—Matthew 15:8—lost intensity for worship, the Word, or even being in the house of God are all warning signs that there is a leak in the vessel. If being in the house of the Lord, if praise and worship to Jesus has become a burden instead of a blessing, we need our passion renewed.
6. Lost Passion Or Fire—Revelation 3:15-16 Here is another thing to check on the spiritual checklist—is there a fire in our life, is there passion in our spirit toward the things of God. We must all admit, there are times when we all need revival, a stirring of our spirit, spiritual fuel to flame the fire in our heart.
7. Lost Priority—Matthew 6:33—the last thing is overcrowding—letting other things cause us to lose our priority on heaven and eternal things. Things that aren’t seen are eternal, things seen are temporary.
Close: tonight, we have a great salvation, let’s make sure we don’t let spiritual things slip out of our lives
