FAITH@WORK
Is there a connection between beliefs and
action?
“People are no longer afraid of hell or sin. When we preachers
preach this so hot and heavy, the lost are not usually in the crowd.
What is the biggest reason people reject the gospel? In my opinion, the reason is – Christians. We don’t
always live what we proclaim.
We are often as anxious, nervous, angry,
vengeful, self-seeking, un-loving, rude and on and on as those who do not claim to be saved.
Where is our love, joy and peace? Where is our contentment? If the
gospel is real and means anything, it should change
the whole focus of life!”
If I say I hold to a specific belief, but fail
to respond to the claims of the proposed belief, do I really hold
to the belief?
Faith@Work
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive
with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
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22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
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24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets
what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the
perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a
forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
Faith@Work26 If anyone among you thinks
he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives
his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Faith@Work
•Background:–Practical–Alluding to the Sermon on the Mount
–Pastoral Exhortation
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HOW WE RECEIVE GOD’S WORD
MATTERS!
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•Receiving God’s Word:•Recognize its Authority•Respond to its Authority
•Trust in its Authority
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WE MUSTDO SOMETHING!
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•We Must Do Something:•Saved by Grace alone, through Faith alone, in Christ Alone.
•Saved to WORK
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•DOERS:•Pre-Meditated•Spontaneous
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•Hearer Only:•Entertainment Value•Academic Value
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Ezra 7:10For Ezra had prepared his
heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach
statutes and ordinances in Israel.
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SAVING FAITH AFFECTS HOW WE ACT
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Saving Faith’s Effect:1. How We Speak2. How We Help3. How We Guard Our
Devotion
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How We Speak:•Do we speak to build up or tear down?
•Do we speak to exalt Jesus or exalt self?
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How We Help:•How do we respond to the helpless in our society?
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How We Guard Our Devotion:•What do we pursue to fuel our devotion to Christ?
•What do we avoid to maintain our devotion to Christ?
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RESPONDING TO FAILURE BY REPENTANCE
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Responding to Failure:•Repent•Correct•Keep Hearing•Keep Doing
ARE YOU WILLING TO PUT YOUR FAITH TO WORK?