Sermon Notes

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Hosea 10:12

Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

Psalm 63:1

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Deuteronomy 6:5-7

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

2 Timothy 2:22-26

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

FOUR ACTIONS NECESSARY FOR THE PURSUIT:

1. Fleeing
2. Fighting
3. Following
4. Fellowshipping

2 Timothy 2:22

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

1 Corinthians 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

James 1:19-20

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 

Flee Youthful Passions by Ray Ortlund,

In this world of blatant, horrible wrongs, it is not hard to get angry. It is hard not to get angry. But “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” It just doesn’t. Because it can’t. No matter how right the cause is, the anger of man only makes things worse. Sometimes the youthful don’t see how clever evil is, how easy it is for us to add to evil while intending good, how hard it is for us to be angry and not sin and complicate things further. Exposing and confronting wrongs — real wrongs with real victims — is good, but not simple. Not for us. What is simple is creating more victims by rushing to judgment with guns ablazing and a golden heart pursuing a noble cause.” 

1 Timothy 6:11-12

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith.

2 Timothy 4:7

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Who is our fight against?

Ephesians 6:12

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

James 4:7-8a

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

Ephesians 6:13

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand [resist] in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

2 Timothy 2:23-26

Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

Be Careful How You Fight by Russell Moore (2013 sermon)

It is really easy for those of us who follow Christ, and it is especially easy for those of us who follow Christ in a culture that is increasingly secularizing and is in many ways increasingly hostile to Christian Orthodoxy, to fall into the sort of venting of outrage that really doesn’t seek to win, or to plead, or to persuade, but simply seeks to express ‘This is who we are.’

You have been given a commission. You have been given a mission that Jesus has handed to you. Do not become diverted from that mission by engaging in dead-end, cul-de-sac, foolish, ignorant controversies that have nothing to do with the mission of Christ.

2 Timothy 2:22

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.