Text: 2 Thess. 2:10-12
- Intro: In the Christians life the five Ds are words that start with the letter D that can ruin your walk with God –
- You have to really watch out for these.
- Deception – 2 Thes 2:10-12 –
- You and I have been given the truth in the King James Bible –
- We must humbly read it, believe it and follow it –
- It is the one thing that can keep us from deception.
- You can deceive yourself – 1 Cor 3:18
- Your own heart can deceive you – Jer 17:9-10
- Others can deceive you – Rom 16:18
- Churches can deceive you – Eph 4:14
- The devil can deceive you – 2 Cor 11:13
- Riches can deceive you – Mk 4:19
- Sin can deceive you – Rom 7:11
- Lust can deceive you – Eph 4:22
- Discontentment – Heb 13:5 –
- When you are discontent you are not satisfied with what you have, your home, your spouse, your job, your church, your friends, your possessions, etc. –
- You think you need more of or better than what you have –
- You are like the Jews in the wilderness who were much better off than they were in Egypt but because they were discontent, they didn’t think so –
- You miss out on all your blessings that you do have when you are discontent – Paul said that he “learned” to be content [Phil 4:11-13] –
- Godliness with contentment is great gain [1 Tim 6:6].
- Discouragement – Deut 1:21, 28 –
- It is so easy to get discouraged –
- Discouragement usually stems from unfulfilled expectations or not living up to your own standards –
- Sometimes it stems from depression –
- Sometimes others can discourage you –
- David’s men were discouraged when they returned to Ziklag and rather than become discouraged also, David encouraged himself in the Lord, instead [1 Sam 30:6].
- Division – Rom 16:17-18; Acts 20:29-30 –
- God divides things that should not be together and joins things that should be together –
- The devil is just the opposite –
- He divides things that should be together [like churches and families] and he joins things that should be separate [like nations].
- You need to stay connected in the body of Christ [Eph 4:2-3].
- Distraction – 1 Cor 7:35 –
- There are many things going on in the world that keep you distracted –
- A lot of entertainment is for the purpose of distraction –
- But while we need rest, we do not need distraction –
- We need to be wide awake and vigilant [Eph 5:14-16] –
- Remember, magicians use distraction so you will look at something other than what they are doing in order to pull off their tricks.
- Conclusion: You must be guarded against these five D’s in your Christian life –
- They will take you down and ruin your fruitfulness and your testimony for the Lord.