When you have an arsenal of conversation starters – it’s very easy to keep conversation going.

You always have something to say, you develop a lively conversation like there’s nothing to it, you’re not nervous, “stuck” or “blocked” and you can avoid awkward silence disaster pretty easily.

Here are 10 conversation starters that you can use on your next first date:

·Has any book had a major impact on you?

·What was best bargain you ever found?

·What’s most annoying thing someone could do on a first date?

·What's most unusual thing you know how to do?

·Is there anything you can’t say "no" to?

·What food could they not pay you enough to eat?

·Who are your cult heroes? Why?

·What was craziest thing you ever did when you were a kid?

·If you could have any job in world, what would it be?

·What would be title of your biography?

There are so many conversation starters that can work for you fantastically. They can serve as a great base for a flowing, lively, enjoyable conversation that can let your date learn about “real you” while you leave all pressure, anxiety and fear behind you.

Don’t leave home to go out on a first date empty-handed. Sit down, prepare some great conversation starters, memorize and practice them and your chances for a great date will increase drastically.

Forward movement for believer is perseverance. When Daniel Webster was a young lawyer he took a case for a fee of $20.00. It was a difficult case and in preparing for it he had to make a trip to Boston, which in itself cost more than he was getting as a fee. He was determined to do a thorough job on case and win it, which he did. Many years later a big company wanted him at short notice to undertake a case for what was in those days a fabulous fee. Webster looked over case and found it was almost identical with one he had researched and won 20 years before! Although it took 20 years to turn profit, his perseverance paid off.

Remember this point to safe-guard yourself against complacency: Resist temptation to rest on your laurels and live in past. Keep yourself moving forward in Kingdom of God. Steadfastness has its rewards in time.

III. Thirdly, complacency comes when we lose focus. The object of our faith is Christ alone. Christ is our focus.

There are two ways to see something. I can see an object with my eyes. But, I can also see an object with eyes of my spirit. One of greatest gifts God has given man is to visualize something internally. I can’t see Jesus with my physical eyes. But, I can see Bible. I can read Bible. And as I read Bible, I begin to visualize internally what Jesus is like. In fact, Holy Spirit is sent for this very purpose—to help us maintain our focus on Christ. As our focus is maintained, we become changed in to His likeness.

Many people today fall to complacency because they take their eyes off Word of God. They simply lose focus. They place their focus on other “things.” Before long they become transformed by “things of this world.” The “things of this world” become their focus and then their god. With your eyes on Jesus, you avoid misdirection in life. The best way to hit a bull’s-eye every time you throw a dart is to throw your dart at a blank target. Wherever dart strikes, select that spot as bull’s-eye and draw concentric circles around it.

Crazy, you say? No more absurd than an aimless person who stumbles into one day after another, setting today’s goal on basis of yesterday’s deed. Wouldn’t you agree? A steadfast gaze upon Master will direct you on a straight pathway.

With your eyes on Jesus, you can see what He’s up to. Isa. 45:11 tells us to ask God about things to come. I can tell you this. Jesus is up to something big! In fact it wouldn’t surprise me if He’s no longer seated, but standing before Father and ready to carry out this order, “My Son, it’s time. Go and gather up your bride. I’m calling them home.”

Remember this point to safe-guard yourself against complacency: Stay focused on Word. Stay in fellowship with your Christian brothers and sisters. Keep communicating with Lord—pray without ceasing!

Concluding remarks: I have shared with you danger of complacency. Be very cautious after great victories. To let down your guard and revel in victory is to invite disaster. Stay alerted to advantage you have when enemy is on run. Pursue darkness, and crush it with light of Jesus! Resist temptation to live in your past accomplishments. Keep moving forward. And above all, keep your eyes on Jesus. Stay alerted to what Spirit of Grace is doing around you. Don’t miss move of God in this latter day.

What about you? Has complacency slipped into your relationship with God? Are you distant and needing a change? May I re-introduce you to solution? His name is Jesus. The Bible says that there is “no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” The name Jesus is greater than name, complacency. Just as light overcomes darkness by driving it away, so does name Jesus when spoken with meaning from heart, overcomes and drives away all uncertainty about your eternal future.

You see God has provided you an eternal home in Heaven, but you must ask Him for it. And when you call upon God’s Son to save you, Bible says that He will save you to uttermost. He will name you as one of His own. He will nurture you and care for you in your relationship with Him. And then one day, He will call for you and carry you home. I must say though, heaven is not a place for complacent. It is not a place for “lovers of this world.” Heaven is home to those only who love God, who want to serve God, and who can stand in His courts of praise forever and ever, rejoicing with saints.

Only Jesus makes this happen. Call upon His name—JESUS.

Keep faith. Stay course. Jesus is coming soon.

Pastor T.