and outlets through service in a Bible-oriented church: "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Hebrews 10:24–25, NIV).
6. Pray with the inquirer for genuine commitment. Pray for immediate spiritual victories to confirm that commitment.
7. Finally, challenge the person to set some immediate spiritual goals and to work on them, monitoring his or her progress from victory to victory.
Scripture
"Base your happiness on your hope in Christ. . . . Live in harmony with one another. . . . See that your public behavior is above criticism. As far as your responsibility goes, live at peace with everyone. . . . Don't allow yourself to be overpowered by evil. Take the offensive—overpower evil with good!" (Romans 12:12–21, PHILLIPS; selected phrases).
"Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. . . . It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak" (Romans 14:19, 21).
"Do the good things that result from being saved, obeying God with deep reverence, shrinking back from all that might displease him. For God is at work within you, helping you want to obey him, and then helping you do what he wants. In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing, so that no one can speak a word of blame against you. You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of people who are crooked and stubborn. Shine out among them like beacon lights, holding out to them the Word of Life" (Philippians 2:12–16, TLB).
"Yet every advantage that I had gained I considered lost for Christ's sake. Yes, and I look upon everything as loss compared with the overwhelming gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I did in fact suffer the loss of everything, but I considered it mere garbage compared with being able to win Christ. For now my place is in him, and I am not dependent upon any of the self-achieved righteousness of the Law; God has given me that genuine righteousness which comes from faith in Christ. Now I long to know Christ and the power shown by his resurrection; now I long to share his sufferings, even to die as he died, so that I may somehow attain the resurrection from the dead" (Philippians 3:7–11, PHILLIPS).
"If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. . . . And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (Colossians 3:1–2, 17).
"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever" (1 John 2:15–17, NIV).