The Dangers of Drifting from God

1. You begin to ignore your conscience.

2. You step out of the will of God into some type of sin.

3. You start living in denial of what is true, and what you're doing is sin.

4. You start to shrink away from what is spiritual 

  (I John 2:28).

5. You lose your ability to hear God.

6. Your heart becomes hardened (Heb. 3:12).

7. You become deceived by sin.

8. You begin to suffer, and are deceived from knowing it.

9. You grieve the heart of God because He knows the consequences of what's about to happen as a result of your drifting.

10. You miss God's best.

11. It impacts every aspect and relationship in your life negatively.

12. You feel guilt which creates stress.

(Charles Stanley)

Steps to Obeying Christ

1. Obedience to Christ begins with a fear of the consequences of disobeying Him.

2. Next, make a commitment to obey Him no matter what. 

Always ask "what does He want?" 

Above all else obey Him. 

3. Then, increase your knowledge of Him, His purposes, and goals for your life through your study of God's Word.

4. Develop a hunger for God's best in your life.

5. Grow your faith in His promise of blessings. (Every act of obedience is rewarded otherwise God would be indebted to us).

6. Recognize pattern of God's blessings following acts of obedience. 

7. Realize that obeying God is always wise.

How can you improve upon His infinite wisdom?

8. Take advantage of the wise encouragement of Godly people. 

9. Obey out of concern for your testimony.

How will this behavior impact my family? friends? 

10. Finally, obey out of devotion to Christ. 

What begins out of fear ends with our passionate love for Him.

(Charles Stanley)