Starting Right

No one starts doing something, thinking they wish they fail.

Everybody wants to be successful.

With this, we must live by what the Word of God says.

For a greater chance of success, one must start right. To start right means to lay the right foundation appropriate for your plan.

How do we start right?

 

1. Remain in God as the Lord remains in you.

• ⁴Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ⁵“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5 NIV

Salvation does not end with us proclaiming we have received Jesus as Lord and Savior.

• There must be evidence of a changed life.
• There must be true repentance.
• If you want a right start, remain in God. Make sure that all that you do are aligned with who God is to you.

To remain in God is not enough. He must remain in you.

• Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. 1 Samuel 16:14 NIV
• Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. Judges 16:20 NIV

Both Samson and Saul were not aware that the Spirit of God already left them. Then they were never the same again.

Sin causes the Spirit of God to depart from us.

Therefore, when your life has been changed by God, make sure to remain in Him. You might deceive others and even yourself that you are still in God, but no one can ever fake having the Holy Spirit.

• ¹⁶So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. Galatians 5:16-17 NIV

• I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 NIV

• For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:13 NIV

One evidence that God remains in you is that His Word remains in you.

2. Remain in God as His Word remain in you.

• If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7 NIV

• Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 NIV

• ¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV

• God's Word equips.
• God's Word guides.

• When you are acquainted with God's Word, you ask according to God's will.

• When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:3 NIV

• When you are acquainted with God's Word, you have faith that God will answer.

• Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24 NIV

• When you are acquainted with God's Word, you trust His judgment.

• “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42 NIV

• When you are acquainted with God's Word, even evil spirits recognize the Jesus in you.

• ¹⁶Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. ¹⁷She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” ¹⁸She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. Acts 16:16-18 NIV

• ¹³Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” ¹⁴Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. ¹⁵One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” ¹⁶Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. Acts 19:13-16 NIV

When God's Word remains in you, it follows that His glory shines through you.

 

3. Remain in God as His glory shines through you.

• This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:8 NIV

• In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 NIV

• God's light shine through us.

• God's love manifest in us and through us.

• The goal is to make God known, to make Jesus's disciples, not to gather OUR OWN FOLLOWERS. Point them to Jesus, not to ourselves.

•           “He must become greater; I must become less.” John 3:30 NIV

 

To make it easier to remember, keep in mind that starting right means building on God's foundation.

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11 NIV