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To be watchful means to be alert, sober, careful, to be on guard, to be clear minded and examine things carefully before taking action.\u00a0 The Scriptures repeatedly enjoin us to \u201cwatch!\u201d, \u201ctake heed\u201d, \u201cbe on guard\u201d, and son on.\u00a0 This is because we have an adversary who seeks to \u201csteal, kill and destroy\u201d, all that we are and have in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 There would be no need for the warning if there were no risks of great harm befalling us if we behave otherwise.<\/p>\n
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It is for our good that the Lord enjoins us to be watchful.\u00a0 We need to be watchful so that we do not lose the salvation we have received of God.\u00a0 We live in perilous times, and the Scriptures warn that \u201cthe love of many will wax cold and many will fall away from the faith\u201d.\u00a0 It behooves the believer therefore to watch.\u00a0 The Lord had emphasized the essence of living and warned that we \u201ctake heed and beware of covetousness\u201d, because \u201ca man\u2019s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses\u201d, Luke 12:15.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the Lord is coming soon? \u00a0We do not know the hour he will come for a people without blemish. \u00a0Hence, we must make it our singular objective to please Him at all times and in all things. \u00a0We need to keep a close watch on our lives and doctrine so as to be acceptable to Him at His coming.<\/p>\n
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2. What are we to be on the watch against?<\/p>\n
The devil does not want anyone to make eternity with God; seeking for whom to devour, he tries to hinder the believer from being watchful. \u00a0John 10:10 explains his aim.\u00a0 This goes beyond the physical, he also targets the believer\u2019s spiritual stand with God.\u00a0 The devil uses people and devices, 2 Corinthians 11:14-15; 1 Timothy 4:1, e.g. false teachers, false doctrine, to weaken the believer\u2019s faith.\u00a0 Hence, we should be like the Berean Christians, Acts 17:10-11, study and rightly divide the Word of Truth, 2 Timothy 2:15.<\/p>\n
Whatever is contrary to the Word of God is sin.\u00a0 The believer must be careful of the times we live, wherein sin and sinners are celebrated while holy and righteous people are ridiculed.\u00a0 Where civilization and \u201cmodern\u201d Christianity have departed from the paths of holiness and righteousness.\u00a0 We must remember that God and His standards are the same forever, and cannot be reduced to suit the convenience of any man, where \u201cit does not matter\u201d is the order of the day.\u00a0 Scripture admonishes that, we be in the world but not of the world, 1 John 2:15.\u00a0 Like Demas, some Christians have turned to the world, 2 Timothy 4:10.\u00a0 We live in an era where pre-marital sex is condoned in the name of courtship, and in the name of joke, believers now tell lies, even use vulgar words with selfish ambition, etc.\u00a0 Where is the love of God we read about in Acts 4:32, Romans 13:8-14?<\/p>\n
Self entails:<\/p>\n
The believer must be careful not to be carried away by the crave of wealth and possessions, Luke 12:15-21.\u00a0 The use of the tongue is another aspect of self that the Christian must watch.\u00a0 Let our words be with grace seasoned with salt, Colossians 4:6.\u00a0 We should also watch the friends we keep, for \u201cevil communication corrupts good manners\u201d, 1 Corinthians 15:33.\u00a0 The believer should also be modest in his\/her dressing and should seek to please the Lord.<\/p>\n
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Such a believer is taken unawares.\u00a0 He becomes an easy prey to strange doctrines.\u00a0 The confusion and misdirection in the present day church over basic scriptural doctrines, e.g. issue of dressing, making money by any means – even if the congregation has to be manipulated, issues of ordination, etc., could be attributed to the lack of vigilance.\u00a0 Lastly, eternity in hell is a consequence of not being watchful.<\/p>\n
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We are to present ourselves in total surrender to God and refuse to conform to the world\u2019s system.\u00a0 Scripture says: be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Word of God must be studied daily with the objective of obedience.\u00a0 As we increase in the knowledge of God\u2019s Word, we grow in the ability to understand what would please God and are able to detect distortions of God\u2019s Word easily.\u00a0 Nobody outgrows the need for daily study of God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n
Every Christian must receive the in-filling of the Holy Spirit soon after salvation and yield to the ministry of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 He guides us into all truth and in every area of life, so we should remain continually filled with the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
We must each be active in a Bible-believing Assembly of God\u2019s people and keep ourselves open to teaching, rebuke and correction, on the truth of God\u2019s word.<\/p>\n
The watchful Christian does not believe or copy things merely because it is in vogue.\u00a0 Every teaching or practice must be weighed against the teaching of Scriptures.\u00a0 Anything not in agreement with the Word of God must be rejected.<\/p>\n
In prayer, we commune with God, place our cares and needs at His feet and receive grace to help us in the heavenly race.\u00a0 We cannot be watchful in our own strength, hence we are exhorted to watch and pray always.\u00a0 In prayer, we are equipped to handle every challenge that comes our way.<\/p>\n
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We are required to keep a close watch over our lives and doctrine.\u00a0 We must constantly ensure that we are not yielding to sin, given to a life of greed or walking in agreement with the principles of the world\u2019s evil system. Daily, new teachings are spewed out of Pentecostal altars, many by leaders eager to draw disciples to themselves or keep the ones they have.\u00a0 God holds us responsible for ensuring that our lives please Him and that we remain blameless at His appearing.\u00a0 The consequences of ignoring this injunction are terrible and everlasting.\u00a0 Christian be watchful!<\/p>\n
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Mark 13:33 \u2013 \u201cTake heed, watch and pray for ye know not when the time is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Watchful Christian Central Thought: A watchful Christian is always prepared. Text: Mark 13:32-37; Luke 12:15; Acts 20:28-31; 1 Corinthians 10:12; Romans 12:2, 13:11-14; 1 John 2:15-17; Matthew 25:1-3 To be watchful means to be alert, sober, careful, to be on guard, to be clear minded and examine things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sundayschool"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=612"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":614,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612\/revisions\/614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}