All Or Nothing At All

I have spent a good portion of my adult working life, working in retail. And with each job they trained the managers on how to spot counterfeit money. To the untrained eye the counterfeit money looks exactly like the real money. They are the same length, they feel the same, the information on front seems to be the same. It looks like a real bill. But they are not. So to fight this they have created this special pen that has ink that changes colors once you mark them on a bill. If the bill is real it makes a clear or brown mark. If it is counterfeit, it will make a black mark. But there are times when you find yourself without that special pen, so they showed us other ways to recognize fake money.

And though they have since came out with new 5s, 10s, and 20s, one of the ways you could spot a fake bill on some of the old money was to hold up the bill to the lights and to the side of president on the bill, you can see the image of that same president. But it wasn’t visible to the naked eye. Unless you held it up to the light. If you could see the image of the president then the bill was real and not fake.

You see there are a lot of people who come to church Sunday after Sunday. To the untrained eye they look like believers. They sing like believers, they pray like believers. They dress up like believers every week. They sit in the pews and say amen like believers. To the untrained eye the look like believers.

But only way to tell if they are real is the same way you can tell if money is real. If you hold them up to the light which is Jesus Christ, you should see the image in God in them.

Unfortunately, some of us haven’t truly given our life completely to Jesus and we are walking around as counterfeit believers. We have done it for so long we have even fooled ourselves. We have went through all the rituals and traditions of the church. We have convinced ourselves and others that we are the real deal. We are born again, washed in the blood, filled with the holy ghost, saved by grace, redeemed from sin, bible believing Christians. But when you are held to the light of Jesus Christ. You don’t see the image of God in you.

The problem is that we believe the ritual or tradition has saving power. We have sat on the mourning bench. We have walked to front when the doors of the church were opened. We have been dipped in the baptismal pool or even in a muddy lake. And as we came up we told ourselves that “Now I am saved.” But we never truly did the one thing that truly saves us, and that’s giving our entire life over to Christ. We have been satisfied with giving him just on part of our life. We have been satisfied allocating portions of our life to Jesus. But tonight God as sent me to tell all those who sit here with one foot in Christ and one foot in the world. GOD WANTS IT ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL.

He is no longer satisfied with your partial devotion. He is no longer satified with your partial praise. He is no longer accepting your partial commitment. GOD WANTS IT ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL.

He is no longer pleased with partial service. He no longer wants partial obedience. He will no longer tolerate partial worship. GOD WANTS IT ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL.

The bible says he is a jealous God. The bible says you can’t serve him and mammon. The bible says he is Lord over all. GOD WANTS IT ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL.

As we join our text in Acts the end of the 4th chapter. The bible is showing us the birth of the Christian church. The believers had been filled with the holy spirit. They had performed miracles and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. The bible says that the believers were of one heart and mind. They were so spirit filled that they began selling their possesions and shared everything with one another. They would sell anything they had and lay the money at the feet of the apostles so that it may be used to help anyone in need.

As a matter of fact, Barnabas, who was a prominent disciple, sold a field that he owned and brought all the money to the apostles.

What a display of faith! God did not make them do this, but because they were fully dedicated to the well being of the church brothers and sisters were doing this out sincerity and love of the brethren. Truly these brothers and sister gave God their all.