Your Turn: "Mistakes Backsliders Make"

Okay, folks... I'm doing something I don't guess I've ever done before. I'm generally VERY meticulate about my messages whether they be preaching or teaching. I've been moved in my spirit several times in the past and now intend to teach on my Sunday Morning Services for a while on this subject: "Mistakes Backsliders Make"

I've never done it before but I'm going to put it out here and let some of you help me preach for the next few weeks. Here's the general layout:

• I do believe it's possible to backslide and be lost.
• I've seen people backslide from the beginning of my walk with God.
• I've noticed that some come back in and do fine but many - perhaps even the majority - never quite make it after coming back to God.

I'm not interested in making this a standards debate (yes, I preach spiritual disciplines to my people) and I'm not interested in debating the essentials of the New Birth (I believe in repentance, water baptism in Jesus Name and receiving the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues). What I'm looking for are the observations that YOU have made as to why some backsliders never quite 'make it back' spiritually.

Okay... here's the list of what I'm looking at just to give you a pattern to follow:

MISTAKES BACKSLIDERS MAKE...

1. You can't 'ease' back into the Church. (Most backsliders know too much to do it halfheartedly)

2. You can't expect to feel like you did the first time. (Just as a 'first kiss' doesn't always feel like a 'first kiss' you can be assured that once you know God intimately some things won't exactly feel like they used to... you operate on knowledge and relationship instead of infatuation and response.)

3. Trying to maintain 'carnal' loyalties generally doens't work. (Living for God means sometimes separating from certain carnal influences that drag you back down.)

4. It's a mistake to just 'seek to be saved' instead of striving to find fulfillment in God. (Spiritual 'fire escapes' never quite have the foundation that a solid relationship with God produces.)


YOUR TURN... some of you who have backslidden and came back sucessfully should have some great answers!