Inviting and Instituting Accountability
Please Note: the full transcript is available in the Manuscript link above.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 - The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
Ecclesiastes 4:8 - …And for whom am I laboring and depriving myself of pleasure? This too is vanity and it is a grievous task.
3 reasons friends are an important part of our planning process
I. Accountability Increases the Likelihood of Accomplishment and Effectiveness
v. 9 – they will have a good return for their labor
A. Friends can balance you and direct you as you seek to fulfill your plan
Proverbs 16:25 - There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Ecclesiastes 4:9 - Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.
B. The Christian life is intended to be lived out in the context of warm, loving community
Ephesians 4:1-6 - Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
Ecclesiastes 4:10 - For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.
II. Accountability Keeps Us On the Right Track
A. The need for assistance when we start to fall
Hebrews 10:24-25 - and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Romans 15:14 - And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.
B. The joy of assisting others when they start to fall
C. The horror of isolation
Ecclesiastes 4:10 - For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.
III. Accountability Makes Us Stronger
Ecclesiastes 4:12 - And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
Proverbs 10:8 - The wise of heart will receive commands, but a babbling fool will be ruined.
Proverbs 12:15 - The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.
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