4
8/7/2019 Dont Live It-Dont Believe It -Print http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/dont-live-it-dont-believe-it-print 1/4 If you don't live it, you don't believe it. How many people do you know that say they believe in God but their lives don't reflect the lifestyle the bible says a believer should have? James 2:19: You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. Believing in God or Believing in Jesus does not make us a child of God. Going to Church doesn't make us one either. Does living in a barn make us a horse? Of course not! Three times in James 2 it says Faith without works is dead.  None are perfect, we all miss the mark and fall short. But, there is a difference in falling short and saying you believe and then living however you choose. God knows the thoughts and intent of our heart, we cant trick God, we cant make excuses to God  because he knows our intentions and our inner thoughts and motives better than we do. People want to get defensive when you tell them something might be wrong or sinful. Even if they asked you what you think, they will get mad at you. Their flesh is screaming to keep what it wants and its not gonna put up with some (as they see it) self righteous person telling me that's wrong. Usually if you have to ask if something is sin, then it might be better to just stay away from it. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 “Abstain from all appearance of evil” If your questioning if its OK, then it likely can look as though its wrong, thus having the appearance of evil and you should abstain. Then if your questioning this action your already in conflict with it, your intentions may be in question. Since God looks at our thoughts and intention we may be better off just telling God, I am giving this thing to you Lord because I think my flesh is telling me it's OK and my inner voice is telling me NO. You think its not? Then ask yourself why you want to do this thing in the first place, does it give any  praise to God in any way? 1 Kings 18:21  Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions?? if the  LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him... Many people seem to hesitate to fully give themselves to Jesus, they want what Jesus has to offer them,  but to really sell out to the cause of Christ is usually more than many people are willing to do. There are things that they want to keep doing, and not always something that we might think of as sin. John 14:12-21 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it,  so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

Dont Live It-Dont Believe It -Print

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Dont Live It-Dont Believe It -Print

8/7/2019 Dont Live It-Dont Believe It -Print

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/dont-live-it-dont-believe-it-print 1/4

If you don't live it, you don't believe it.

How many people do you know that say they believe in God but their lives don't reflect the lifestylethe bible says a believer should have?

James 2:19:

You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believethis, and they tremble in terror.

Believing in God or Believing in Jesus does not make us a child of God.

Going to Church doesn't make us one either.Does living in a barn make us a horse? Of course not!

Three times in James 2 it says Faith without works is dead.

 None are perfect, we all miss the mark and fall short.But, there is a difference in falling short and saying you believe and then living however you choose.

God knows the thoughts and intent of our heart, we cant trick God, we cant make excuses to God because he knows our intentions and our inner thoughts and motives better than we do.

People want to get defensive when you tell them something might be wrong or sinful.Even if they asked you what you think, they will get mad at you.

Their flesh is screaming to keep what it wants and its not gonna put up with some (as they see it) self 

righteous person telling me that's wrong.

Usually if you have to ask if something is sin, then it might be better to just stay away from it.The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 “Abstain from all appearance of evil” If your questioning if 

its OK, then it likely can look as though its wrong, thus having the appearance of evil and you shouldabstain.Then if your questioning this action your already in conflict with it, your intentions may be in question.

Since God looks at our thoughts and intention we may be better off just telling God, I am giving this

thing to you Lord because I think my flesh is telling me it's OK and my inner voice is telling me NO.You think its not? Then ask yourself why you want to do this thing in the first place, does it give any

 praise to God in any way?

1 Kings 18:21

 Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions?? if the

 LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him...

Many people seem to hesitate to fully give themselves to Jesus, they want what Jesus has to offer them,

 but to really sell out to the cause of Christ is usually more than many people are willing to do.There are things that they want to keep doing, and not always something that we might think of as sin.

John 14:12-21

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater 

works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

Page 2: Dont Live It-Dont Believe It -Print

8/7/2019 Dont Live It-Dont Believe It -Print

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/dont-live-it-dont-believe-it-print 2/4

 “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another 

 Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he

lives with you now and later will be in you.  No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.

Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. When I am

raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Those

who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”

Jesus is pretty clear that if you love him you will keep his commandments, “Those who accept and

obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I willlove them and reveal myself to each of them.”

then again in John 15:14 Jesus said again,

“You are my friends if you do what I command”

Luke recounts Jesus saying this and here is how he recorded this.Luke:14:23-24

  Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and 

make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me.

Matthew 6:24

  No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one

and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

You can't divide your devotion to God and anything else that would take from your service to him.when you have anything, or even anyone that takes more of your time, attention, and interest more

than God, you are divided and your commitment and serving God has already declined.We were made to worship, to devote ourselves to God, But we are all tempted in all sorts of 

distractions.Like I mentioned before some people don't want to let some things go to come to Christ, and some

Christians have let them creep in.

-sports and sports teams, music and bands, video gaming, boating, motorcycling, 4 wheeling, manythings that don't look on the surface to be bad. We can all point at drug abuse, alcohol abuse, sexual sin

and easily know they are distractions and sinful. But anything we allow to take our mind and life off of 

Christ and away from God is just as sinful.

James 4:1-10 

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what 

others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because

 your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it 

again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy?  But he

 gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say,

Page 3: Dont Live It-Dont Believe It -Print

8/7/2019 Dont Live It-Dont Believe It -Print

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/dont-live-it-dont-believe-it-print 3/4

“God opposes the proud 

but favors the humble.”

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is

divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and 

deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves

before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

By being a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. Do any of us want that?

Matthew 7:16-21

You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thorn

bushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A

 good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not  produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its

 fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those whoactually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter 

So encourage each other to check their heart, the intent of their heart, where God judges us. Check 

ourselves see if we are right in our devotion to God, have we put anything above serving him? Do we

spend time daily with God, or do we have something else we spend time on daily instead?This isn't to sound condemning, but to be encouraging for us to keep our daily life and spiritual walk in

check 

Like it says in HebrewsHebrews 2:1

Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any timewe should let them slip.

We want to give more earnest heed, or take serious thought considering the things he have learnedabout God, so that we don't fall away from serving Christ.. When we check ourselves, and realize our 

error, we just won't decided it's OK to believe and just say its to hard to live the way Jesus told us to.Lets not let that happen in our lives.

How do we get stronger in our faith? How do we get closer to God?

Romans 10 says “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

So our faith comes by hearing the Word of God. We hear it by reading it.

I have heard many people say they tried serving God, or accepted Jesus once but it didnt work for them. I also have heard and seen many Christians that say they love the Lord, but they dont read their 

Bible. Reading the Word is part of that spending time with God every day. How can your faith the theWord of God be strong if you dont spend time reading whats in it.2 Timothy says this,

2 Timothy 2:15:

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing 

the word of truth” 

We need to study the Word so we can present ourselves to God and gain His approval, so we can also

show that we are a good servant of God, not ashamed so we can correctly explain the Word of Truth.

Page 4: Dont Live It-Dont Believe It -Print

8/7/2019 Dont Live It-Dont Believe It -Print

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/dont-live-it-dont-believe-it-print 4/4

We cant expect to receive from God what we don't know is ours? How can we say we are a Christ

follower if we don't read about his life and what he did? How can we say we love God when we dont

read the Book of Instruction he left us with so that we might know him and what he wants?

If someone left you a trust fund and the trust fund came with a book that had all the information on

who left it, why they left it, what all was in it, and how you get to use it. Wouldn't you read the book?Or would you just set that book on a shelf, maybe get it down once a week and go the bank with it.

Then go back home. The whole time telling people I have a trust fund, but I really don't know anything

about it. Maybe you would eventually just put the book in a closet or a box, stop going to the bank, andthen tell people that trust funds don't work, you tried it out, but it didn't do anything for you.

How can we claim to trust God, to know God, to Love God, to Serve God if we don't seek Him in his

Word? You want to hear from God? You have to know something about God, his character andunderstand something about who God is. This all comes from his Word.

Let me leave you with this thought.

Your head hasn't heard it, until your heart is filled with it, and your will conforms

to it.