The Road to Backsliding- Apostle Peterson O. Abu

The speaker begins with a prayer, asking for blessings and guidance. They then introduce the topic of backsliding in Christianity, emphasizing that it is possible for believers to backslide. They explain that backsliding starts in the mind and may not be visible to others. They quote scriptures to support their points and caution against arrogance and complacency. They urge Christians to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and not indulge in worldly desires. The speaker concludes by referencing the book of Galatians and reminding the audience to obey the truth. Shall we go to the Lord in prayers. Father we thank you for this wonderful moment again. We thank you because you are always willing to talk to us as your children. We ask Holy Spirit that you bless us even at this moment in Jesus name. We ask of you Holy Ghost that you release your grace and power upon our lives in the name of Jesus. Anoint us with your word and make your word to shape our lives so that we can become the best version of Christ in this world. To rightly represent you in every way we find ourselves. And Lord we pray that even the breading, online, connecting and as many that we get hold of this message, let their lives never remain the same after listening to this message. Thank you Father because we know you are always willing to bless us. For in Jesus mighty name we pray. This moment I have a short time because we have another message, I have another message to minister. Today being our work study in the church. We will be having a wonderful topic to discuss this moment. A wonderful topic because I am so delighted to have received this message from God to share with you. Because this is the current condition of Christianity in the world. And I think that God is very much interested in our lives. And that is why he is coming to us to give us a message that will bring us back to him. Let us go to the book of Proverbs chapter 14 verse 14. Proverbs chapter 14 verse 14. The Bible says in verse 14 the backslider in act shall be filled with his own ways. The backslider in act shall be filled with his own ways. I will be discussing with you on the topic the road to backsliding. The road to backsliding. I understand that the topic should have been the road from backsliding. And not the road to backsliding. When we say the road to backsliding we are like telling you the steps that can take you into the state of backsliding. And then when we tell you the road from backsliding we are telling you the steps that can bring you out from backsliding. The first thing you must understand that the scripture recorded that backsliding is possible. Yes, the scripture has outlined it out. That backsliding is possible. This was not written by Apostle Peter saying this is from the word of God. This is from God. That a Christian can backslide. A believer can backslide. Any man can backslide. And the Bible has given us a secret we need to consider this evening. It said that a backslider in art shall be fooled with his own ways. The backslider in art. The first thing you must come to understand is that backsliding actually begins in the art. It begins in the mind. When the Bible uses the word art there it is talking about the mind. The mind of the believer. The mind of the Christian. The mind of the Christian lady. The mind of the Christian man. The mind of the brother in the church. The mind of the pastor, of the minister. It is a thing of the mind. And that is why when backsliding begins nobody will be aware of it except you and God and the devil. The backslider in art shall be fooled with his own ways. It is unfortunate to discover that there are many backsliders who are backsliders in art. We are the backsliders in art. We are the backsliders of the art world. The backsliders in art. They are fooled with their own ways. We are more concerned with the backsliders of the art world. Those whose backsliding is not revealed through their lifestyles. Those whose backsliding is not being seen by the way they talk, by the way they dress, by them not coming to church again. And by them mingling with the people of this world and then living the life that is so visible for everybody to see. And these are the only kind of people we are so concerned about. The Bible didn't limit it to the art world. It said there are backsliders that are backsliders in their art. The backsliders in art shall be fooled with his own ways. His own ways. Because those who have backslided in their art they will never do the will of God again. They will never follow the ways of God again. They will never do the will of God again. They will never obey the scripture. They will never practice the scripture. They will never do what God commands in the word of God. The backsliders in art shall be fooled with their own ways. This is the word of God. That there are people in the arts of God who have long time forgotten God. And because they are always coming to the arts of God we are not aware of that. You know backsliding begins from the art. And that is why we are talking about the road to backsliding. Backsliding is possible. Any man can begin in the spirit and end up in the flesh. Any believer who is careless can begin in the spirit and end up in the flesh. Any pastor who is not watchful enough can begin in the spirit and end up in the flesh. Any sister evangelist can begin in the spirit and end up in the flesh. Every brother reviver can begin in the spirit and end up in the flesh. The word of God has given us revelation that there is possibility of backsliding. Of course we do not believe in once saved forever saved as a church. As a church we do not believe that there is a teaching a doctrine that once you are born again forever you are born again. Irrespective of the life you live after that. No we believe that a sinner is not a Christian and a Christian is not a sinner. And those that walk in the flesh are not walking in the spirit. And those walking in the spirit are not walking in the flesh. The backslider in arts shall be fooled with their own ways. Backsliders in arts. Backsliders in their minds. Nobody knows about it. It is between them and God and the devil. The devil knows about it. God knows about it. But the pastor never knows about it. The overseer never knows about it. The backsliders in arts shall be fooled with their own ways. That is number one truth. Number two. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 12. 1 Corinthians. Please let us open our Bibles. This is Bible study. Word study. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 12. The Bible says in verse 12. Therefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Lest he fall. Let he that thinketh he standeth. Let he that thinketh there is no falling. Let him that thinketh that while standing there is no possibility of falling. Let him take heed. The journey to heaven is a careful journey. It is not an arrogant journey. The journey to heaven is a careful journey. It is not a careless journey. The journey to heaven is a journey you have to be conscious of your working with God. It is not a careless journey. Let him that thinketh he stand. Let the brother that thinketh he stand. Let the sister that thinketh he stand. Take heed. There is an enemy outside. There is powers of darkness. There are demons wanting you to fall. And this is why the word of God is coming to us this evening. And this is why God is bringing it to us. That he that thinketh he stand shall take heed lest he fall. The Christian that has forgotten the fact that he is a pigman on earth. And that he is trying to live like a permanent landlord on earth. The Christian that has lost focus of eternity. That has lost focus of heaven. That has lost focus of spending eternity with God. Let that Christian take heed. The things of this world shall pass away. But he that dwells in the word of God. He that keepeth to God's word shall abide forever. You must understand that backsliding is possible. Paul the Apostle in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Was talking about the people of Israel. If you read from verse 1. How they experienced God. They ate angels food. And after all of those pigishway encounters and experiences. The Bible says and God destroyed them. None of them apart from Joshua and Caleb. None of that generation entered into the promised land. Despite this they had supernatural encounters with God. Can I say that to you? I know that we are in a generation where everybody is seeking for encounters. Everybody wants to have stories. They want to have testimonies of encounters with God. There are people that have seen Bonnie Bush. There are people that have seen the audible voice of God in China. There are people that saw the power of God as pillar of fire. And none of that generation apart from Joshua people entered the promised land. If it happened to them it can happen to you. And the Bible says at the last of it all let him that thinks he can take it let it fall. The pastor that is preaching today must be careful. The pastor that preaches against sin today can be preaching for sin tomorrow. The evangelist that preaches against the devil can be preaching for the devil tomorrow. The Christian sister that loves God so much today can eventually love sin tomorrow. So let him that thinks he can take it let it fall. The journey to heaven is a careful journey. You must be intentional. You must be deliberate in your personal work with God. Be good to backsliding. Let us also check the book of Romans chapter 13 verse 14. Romans 13 verse 14. The book of Romans chapter 13 verse 14. The Bible says in verse 14 of chapter 13 of Romans. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no prohibition for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. And put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no prohibition for the flesh. And make no prohibition for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. If you don't put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And you keep making prohibition for the flesh. Backsliding as occurred. Backsliding as occurred. When we talk about the word backsliding. It is you leaving the spirit to the flesh. In a very simple word. Backsliding is you leaving the spirit to the flesh. It is you leaving working in the spirit. And you start working in the flesh. Let us go to the book of Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. I read from verse 1. All foolish Galatians who had bewitched you. That ye should not obey the truth. Before whose eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth. Crucified among you. This only would I learn of you. Receive ye the spirit by the works of the flesh. Or by the yearning of faith. Verse 3. Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the spirit. Are ye now made perfect in the flesh. That is backsliding. Backsliding is beginning in the spirit. But ending in the flesh. That means you backslided. You slide back. You have been working forward. But suddenly you slide back to where you were before. In the flesh. You have worked into the spirit. Eventually you slide back to the flesh. You have worked out from the flesh into the spirit. But now you are not living in the flesh. And Galatians chapter 5. From verse 19. It talks about the works of the flesh. And this has become your practice. Your lifestyle. We are going to consider the road that leads to backsliding. Number 1. One of the ways. Or one of the roads that leads to backsliding. Is skipping of prayer time. People don't just backslide. Like I was teaching you the other time. I said backsliding is an erosion. It is like an erosion. What is an erosion? Erosion is a washing away. Is a gradual washing away. Of the top part of the soil. Before it has collapsed by erosion. There must be a gradual washing away. Of the top part of the soil. When the soil starts washing away. You will start seeing the foundation of that building. And if nothing is done to that building. Eventually when the rain keeps falling. That building will collapse. So backsliding never starts immediately. Backsliding never begins suddenly. Nobody suddenly falls from grace. No. Anybody that falls from grace. Has been falling before the fall eventually happens. That means there have been a gradual experiences. Happening in the life of that person. Number 1. There must be skipping of prayer time. The skipping of prayer time. You wake up in the morning. You do not pray. In the night you do not pray. And the time you are supposed to pray. Your prayer time. You have no prayer time again. You keep skipping the prayer time. The time you should pray with your wife. You skip it to the next time. The time you should pray with your husband. You skip it. And the time you have to pray alone. You skip it. You keep skipping prayer meeting. You keep skipping prayer time. Your prayer time with God. The first thing that happens to a backsliding believer. Is that a loss is prayer life. He or she lost his prayer life. Number 2. There must be loss. After the person have lost his prayer life. Number 2. Losing. Loving pleasure. You start loving pleasure. You start loving entertainment. You start loving internet. More than spending time with God. This is where you start loving pleasure. What is pleasure? You want to watch the movies. You want to watch the latest movies. You can spend a whole 24 hours just flipping your phone. You can spend a whole 24 hours in your business place. You start having pleasure. Satisfaction for pleasure. Having desire for pleasure. That means you start loving pleasure. You start loving entertainment. You start loving internet. These things are not bad. But these things become your center desire. When you wake up in the morning. The first thing you pick is your mobile phone. You are about to scan through the social media and the internet. What is the latest news? You don't have time with God again. You wake up in the morning. The first thing that comes to your mind is money. How to make money in the business place today. You don't think about your work with God again. You wake up in the morning. The first thing that comes to your mind is how to go to your place of work. No more time with God again. You wake up in the morning. The first thing that comes to your mind is how to go for that party. Pleasure. So when backsliding has begun. The first thing you experience is what? You start skipping your prayer life. Number two. You start loving pleasure. Number three. Before backsliding eventually becomes backsliding. There must be peace things in your life. Number three. Lose talking. Lose talking. When someone is backsliding. They will start talking anyhow. You start talking carnally. We call it carnal conversation. You start having carnal conversation. You talk anyhow. You can talk and talk and talk. You start telling lies. You start feeling guilt. When backsliding is happening. A truth speaker will become a liar. Somebody that hardly speak the truth will start telling lies. Because you will start talking and talking and talking. You will start talking, telling people stories. You start cracking jokes. Jokes that are not convenient for your spirit man. So when backsliding is happening. There will be loose talking. Loose talking. Talkativeness. There will be talkativeness. There will be loose talking. You start talking. You start cracking jokes. You start spending time outside God. Outside God. You don't talk much with God again. You speak much with men. Loose talking. Loose talking. So when you start experiencing loose talking in your life. That you can't even control your tongue. You tell lies. You crack jokes. You even mock people. You mock people. In order for you to make people laugh. You mock innocent people. You mock the government. Loose talking. You are not conscious. You are not careful. You don't set a watch over your tongue again. You don't set a watch over your tongue. You are not careful the way you speak again. You speak carelessly. And you speak in ungodly ways. Ungodly manners. Backsliding is already occurring. Backsliding is already happening. Number four. You start having a neglect of quiet time with God. Neglect of quiet time. I have talked to you before about quiet time. That time you always set apart to meet with God. You start neglecting it. That means you spend all the night sleeping. And no time for prayer again. This was you. Every four o'clock in the morning. Every four a.m. You stand up to have your time with God. This was you. Every twelve a.m. You were standing up to have your time with God. This was you. Every five a.m. You were standing to have your time with God. But now there is no quiet time. You do not have the interest to spend time with God again. Nobody has realized. Nobody is realizing that you are backsliding. Because they felt that you are just tired. You are just weak. But the neighbors are aware that they don't longer hear your voice again early in the morning. Your wife is aware that she doesn't hear your voice again in the morning. Your husband is aware that he doesn't hear your voice again praying in the morning. The children are aware that you don't wake up again in the morning to pray alone. And even the people staying with you. They are aware that daddy is not waking up every three o'clock to pray again. Because backsliding has begun. That you that carry fire in your hostel. That you don't longer wake up in the morning to have time with God. All your hosting mates they are aware that you are not having time with God again. Backsliding. Backsliding. When backsliding has begun, you will begin to miss your quiet time with God. You will begin to skip it. You will begin to neglect your quiet time with God. Number five. There will be secret sin. The road so backsliding. Number five. Secret sin. You will start committing sin secretly. When we say secretly, what does it mean? Sometimes secret sin is not only the sin that only you know. Sometimes it is also the sin that only you and people that don't know you knows. What do I mean? Secret sin can be you masturbating behind the closer. That is secret sin. But beyond the secret sin where only you know about it. There are secret sin where you have to leave where you are staying. And you go to a far place to commit that sin. And people saw you there but they don't know where you are coming from. They saw you when you were taking the lady into that hotel to commit fornication. They saw you when you were carrying that lady, that woman, into that hotel to commit adultery. Secret sin. So when backsliding has begun, gradually there will be what? Secret sin. You will start keeping secret sin. Masturbation, washing of pornography, sin of the flesh, sin of drunkenness, secretly smoking, secretly womanizing, having evil thoughts in your heart towards your sister in the church. You will start picturing every sister that they are naked. You are looking at the sister, you are seeing her nakedness with your eyes. Using your eyes to naked eyes. Secret sin. You will start committing sin that only you and God and the devil knows about. And you will start concealing that sin. As you are committing them, you are concealing them from your personal to be aware. You are concealing them from people not to be aware. And secretly you keep in touching into them. You are on the road to backsliding. You are on the road to backsliding. So when backsliding is happening, on the road to backsliding, you experience secret sin. The Bible says in the book of Proverbs chapter 28 verse 13. He said, whosoever covets his sins shall not prosper. Whosoever covets his sins shall not prosper. How will you experience prosperity in your journey with God if you are covering up sin? You cannot experience growth. You cannot experience spiritual prosperity. You will be backsliding. You will be sliding back instead of moving forward. Because you are covering up sin. So on the road to backsliding, you find secret sin. Number six, you start experiencing your old habit and character coming back. The anger you once left many years ago when you gave your life to Christ. Anger will start coming back. Bitterness will start coming back. Hatred will start coming back. Lying will start coming back. The old character and the old habit that you dropped at the feet of the cross. When you got born again, you will eventually go back and pick up those character again. The old man in you will start manifesting. You are on the road to backsliding. And everybody will start knowing that you have changed. People will start saying that you have changed. Because the old man will start manifesting. The anger in you will be so hot. The bitterness, the hatred, the jealousy, the lust. The old habit, the old addiction that you once dropped at the feet of the cross. Eventually that will start manifesting in your life. You are on the road to backsliding. We are not spending much time this evening. But you have to take note of this. Number seven, there will be change of taste. Change of taste. You know the meaning of taste? When you are tasting for something. Instead of you to be tasting for godliness, you will begin to taste for the taste of the flesh. You will begin to taste for sin. This is why you can personally, privately go somewhere and be spending your time. You will be the one searching for nudity. You will be the one searching for pornography. Your taste has changed. This was you that would come and download messages. And you are listening to messages now. You do not have interest to listen to any message. We have a lot of messages on our telegram channel. And I think we have a WhatsApp platform now. You eventually don't have taste for those messages on telegram again. This was you that go back, you download messages and you start listening to series of messages. And they were building you up. But look at you today. The moment you want to listen to one message, you lost interest. While you are listening to that one message, you are on Facebook. You are browsing. Even the message you are not listening to it again. It keeps playing but your mind is not there. Because your mind is on the Facebook you are browsing about. Your mind is on the WhatsApp you are chatting with person about. You don't pay concentration. You don't get focus again to find God. So when backsliding has begun, your taste for spiritual things will die. There will be no taste for prayer. There will be no taste for personal fasting. There will be no taste for evangelism. There will be no taste for you having personal retreat. There will be no taste for you working in the house of God. Cleaning the house of God. Taking care of the house of God. These things happen. Your taste will change. Number eight there will be depression. On the road of backsliding you start becoming depressed. Because you know that something is wrong with you but you keep hiding it. So you become depressed. You become unhappy. But you don't know how to find out what is happening to you. You just see yourself you become a sad man. Because a backslider is fool with his own ways. So you are sad but you are still fool with your own ways. You are depressed but you are still fool with your own ways. When somebody is backsliding he becomes depressed. Because of course you are not doing the things. The joy of the Lord is our strength. But there is no joy of the Lord there again. It is not the opposite of joy which is sorrow. Sorrow in your heart. You become depressed. Number nine you start missing church activities. You start missing church activities. Sunday service will not be interesting to you again. Weekly services will not be interesting to you again. This was you that never missed any of the services. But now you can be at home and just be pressing your foot. You do not feel. You feel less confined at any church. The fire has gone down. The fear has gone down. Everything is going down. The road to backsliding. The road to backsliding. You are gradually backsliding. You are gradually leaving the faith. This was not how you were. You began in the spirit. How come you are ending up in the flesh? You start missing services. And when you start missing services, the first day, the pastor will ask about you. Where is sister so and so? Where is brother so and so? When he observes that it has become your lifestyle that you always miss, there will be no asking of you again. Nobody will go and shake up on you again because they know that this brother, this sister, does not always come. He always comes in a month. You will see that person in church just twice in a month. Just three times in a month. So we have known you to be a serious person. You are backsliding. You are backsliding. Backsliding begins gradually. And at the last of it all is 10. Number 10, you are being embraced by the world. This is when you stop attending church. Eventually, the world has embraced you. We start seeing you in beer parlor. You are drinking. We start seeing you in hotel, committing adultery. You start committing sins openly for people to see. Remember that it never began like that. It all began when you started missing your prayer life. Your prayer time. I want to let you know that backsliding is possible. I want you to know that backsliding is very, very possible. And you must wash and pray. You must wash and pray. You must wash and pray. You must be so conscious of the fact that he that thinketh is calm and take no heed will fall. You must surrender yourself with people that set you on fire. You must listen to messages that draws your heart back to God. You must embrace the message of the cross. Not these modern messages. But the messages that break you down, that break your heart and draws your heart back to God. You must repent and renounce any sin, secret sin. You must run back to God when you start experiencing weaknesses to pray. You must cry to God for help when you start skipping your Bible study life. You must return back to God and meet your pastor and say, Pastor, I am dying gradually. When you discover that you don't have interest for services again. You don't have interest to be attending church service again. You don't have interest to be attending church service again. And this is what the Lord is saying. He is saying, My son, give me your heart. My daughter, give me your heart. Your heart has gone away from me. Your heart is not after other things. Your heart is not longing for other things. Not for me again. Give me your heart. And this is what the Spirit of God is saying. The Lord is speaking to someone here right now. He is saying, Give me your heart. The Lord is speaking to somebody here right now. Give me your heart. Something is going wrong somewhere. You are missing it somewhere. You are backsliding somewhere. Give me your heart. Let your heart come back to me. Are you not observing that you don't have interest again for spiritual responsibility? The position you were given in the house of God is not suffering. Because as long as you are backsliding, nobody is there doing it for you again. You are the one playing the instrument in the house of God. You don't want to come to church. The service of God is suffering because a single brother who is a key body is backsliding. Because a single brother who is a drummer is backsliding. Because a single sister who only leads praise and worship is backsliding. You don't feel comfortable again when the service of God is taking time. You just want to come breathing into the church and breathe that and go and live your life in the flesh. And the Spirit of God is saying, This is not how you began. That something is going wrong. And the Lord, I can hear the Lord saying, Come unto me. All ye that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. And I can hear God saying, Come, let us reason together. Though your sin may be as callous, I will make it white as snow. Though it may be wet like crimson, I will make it white as wool. The Lord is calling somebody. The Lord is asking you, Come back. I'm not spending much time this evening. But I think the Lord is pointing his finger to somebody here right now. And said, My daughter, it has been long you wandered away. And Jesus is saying, Come home, wandering child, come home. And the angels are beckoning on you. Come home, wandering child, come home. Come home, wandering child, come home. Shall we go to the Lord in prayers? You must cry to God at this time. Forget about who is standing beside you. Just cry to God and say, Lord, save me. This is all about me. The preacher has just exposed me. Lord, save me. That must be your prayer point now. Make sure you go to the Lord in prayers. Begin to talk to the Lord. Save me, save me, save me. Save me from the world. Save me from the fledge. Take me back home. Help me to find you again.