Sermon Central
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The Dangerous Sleep
Contributed by Daniel Olukoya on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: When a person chooses to believe the devil rather than God problems happen, so do not give up nor shup up until you have prayed up.
One of the things that has captured especially this country is that there are some people who wake up in the morning while believers are still sleeping and take over the whole day. They give orders to the day to co-operate with them while Christians are still sleeping. If you wake up at 8 a.m. and pray a five-minute prayer, and later you say, “I don’t know how today went,” that is the sleep of Eutychus.
6. The sleep of the foolish virgins: We have their story in Matthew 25. They did not have sufficient oil in their lamps and yet they were sleeping.
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHETHER YOU ARE ALREADY DEEP IN SPIRITUAL SLEEP?
1. When prayer ceases to be a priority to you.
2. When you become content with the spiritual knowledge that you have already acquired.
3. When your biblical knowledge is not applied inwardly. You just go to church, hear the message and read the Bible but you cannot apply them inwardly. They have no effect on your thought life or on your way of life.
4. When thoughts about heaven and eternity cease to be regular in your life. You don’t think about heaven. It does not cross your mind that this world is not a permanent place. You are only concerned about material wealth. It is a sign of spiritual slumber. You forget that our period on earth is temporary, that very soon all you have acquired in this world would become raw materials for fire.
5. When services in the house of God hold no delight for you. You are not interested in what goes on there.
6. When spiritual discussion becomes a source of embarrassment to you. For example, in your office, talking about Jesus or spiritual things becomes highly embarrassing because you know that those around will certainly know that you are not behaving like a Christian.
7. When things like leisure, sports, recreation, entertainment, etc. take a large part of your time, sleep has crept in and if you don’t wake, up the enemy will come and sow tares or lay eggs if they have not already done so.
8. When you commit the sin of the mind and body without your conscience pricking you.
9. When the aspiration for holiness is no longer paramount in your heart. When you look for Scriptures to back up your unholy behaviour, you know the truth but you are running away from it. People can always recognize the truth when they see it and they can always know when they are trying to wriggle away from the blunt truth. The truth may be bitter and unpalatable but it is very stubborn. No matter what you do to it, it will stand looking at you. If you knock it down, it will stand. You throw it away, it will stand. You bury it, it will come up. It is very stubborn. It may take time to manifest, but it must manifest.
10. When acquisition of worldly material is the major part of your thinking.
11. When you are singing Christian songs and chanting Christian words just from the lips and not from the heart. Surrendering to Jesus, only what is convenient is a sign of spiritual slumber.
12. Taking the Lord’s name in vain shows that you are sleeping. You talk about the Lord as if He was your houseboy. Saying that He has spoken something when He has not spoken: you did not receive a revelation and you say you did.
