Doing!

There is something profound about being a Christian... We are charged to carry out the will of God. What I am about to write may seem a bit harsh... I believe we will seek to do His will when we are born again. Now I am not trying to John 3:16 bash because I know every word is perfect, but I am advocating action in response to it. Are you ready for something to chew on? Let me lay it out for you.

I think I am going to expand on this topic for the next few days because there are about fifty sermons here. I will begin with the very popular yet at times abused verse John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." I would like to point out one very important word - BELIEVES. What is it about this word that perpetuates emphasis, isn't it an easy word. I look at the Greek for this word here and I get pisteuō {pist-yoo'-o} to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), that is, credit; by implication to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well being to Christ): - believe (-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with.) I love this because as mentioned in yesterdays message "do we believe in God like we believe in Santa Clause?" You see the word used here is different from that type of belief. The word used here is saying we must fully trust Jesus with our well being and commit to Him; accepting His existence is not enough, even the demons believe in Him and know what he did, but that does not save them.

The word "believe" is a verb... how about that, this means it perpetuates action. Jesus laid out an outline for us to follow, these are the fundamentals of Christianity: Matt. 22:36-40 36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." The first and most important thing we should do in reaction is truly love God and seek a relationship with Him. and second we should love our neighbor as yourself.

A commitment to another is considered a relationship. In the definition given for the original "believe" we saw the word "commit," and to commit requires effort.... this means we have got to do something. James said "faith without works is dead." I would like to bring this into a new light, James 2:22-23 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his(Abraham's) works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God." The way I see it is works will be in response to faith, and faith is made perfect by works. For this reason it was written "faith without works is dead" for works are a response and perfecting tool of faith. Ultimately if you really love God and have faith there will be works... there will be good fruit.

Remember; however, it is not works that saves us but we are "saved by Gods Grace through faith." This is where the relationship comes in, He exchanges grace for relationship because relationship is fulfilling the greatest commandment " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." In Matthew chapter 7 we see a scenario of judgment and how works alone don't do the trick. "21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’" It starts with the a relationship with Him, how else can we know His will.

Well I think that is just about enough rambling for the day. I look forward to writing tomorrows message. God Bless you and go do something.