Are You A Coffee Table Christian?

Are you a coffee table Christian?

Hebrews 4:12

2 Timothy 3:16

Good Morning Church! it is good to be in the house of the Lord!

Are you a Coffee table Christian? One that looks good, out where everyone can see you but usually only looked at while you are waiting to do something else!

Last week we looked at ourlife in the Spirit. Life as the Holy Spirit of God reveals and leads a believer in their everyday life.

Who’s in charge? You or the Lord?

We saw conviction draws us close to God and condemnation pushes us away from God.

We saw that we are in a battle and we are drawn closer or farther away from the Lord by who we are listening too in our ears.

We saw that God condemns sin and if we live in our sins and do not ask God to forgive us of our sins and live a life for him that we ourselves choose to be separated from God. It is not God’s fault that we choose poorly.

It is not God’s intention or desire that we be separated from him.

Romans 8:6 showed us “The mindset governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not summit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.”

Prayer-

This week there was revival at one of our Nazarene churches in the area- it was a 4 day revival with one of our denominations longtime evangelist Dr. Steven Manley. He was years ago a professor of evangelism at one of our Nazarene colleges. I wish he was one of my professors! He taught from Matthew 4 where Jesus was in the wilderness right after the “Son of man” receives the Holy Spirit. Son of man in all his humanity being empowered by the Spirit of God to face 40 days of intense battle with Satan himself. I will never look at this passage the same way as he shared from that text.

Jesus being tempted while weak and without food and nourishment, tempted while going through life, and the Devil with only one objective, to stop Jesus from fulfilling His task as being the Son of God who comes as the Son of man.

When Jesus was tempted those three times… each time he was tempted in a different way,

He looked at the Devil and said it is written! Spoke God’s word to the Devil in response to the temptation He was going through.

Sermon title… Are you a coffee table Christian?

Do you know the Bible well enough to quote Scripture that you will stand on?

Do you know where to look for the answers of life that keep you up at night?

Or …does your bible set on the coffee table and grow dust?

You having a bible is not enough.

The Bible is the most published and purchased book ever written.

Most homes have several in their homes, but also is probably the most unread book.

Our egos fuel our life- we get some success, we make a few good decisions amongst a lot of bad decisions and we feel pretty good about ourselves.

Regi Campbell says… “Just like there’s only one steering wheel in a car, there’s only one CEO in our lives. When were going for what we want, irrespective of what God wants, our ego is in charge, and we edge God out.”

If you own several of the most written books ever published but you are not reading it to know what is in it, are you letting your ego get in front of what God is wanting to tell you through His Word?

Telling the truth is a mark of your character, there are over 50 verses in the bible that talk about lying- “Lying lips” proverbs 12:22- “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.”

Lying lips is bold face lying and saying something that we know is not true. (Repeat)

We have all been guilty of that. But there is another side of lying. When we know that we hear something that is not true and we do nothing about it!

Staying silent in the presence of a lie is a lie!

So…if we profess to be Christians but we do not do what a Christian should be doing, are we lying to ourselves and to others?

If you do not grab anything else this morning, please grab this, just having a bible setting on your coffee table does not make you a Christian, anymore than sleeping in the garage makes you a car.

People feel good about themselves when they do the right thing, correct a mistake, clear up a confusion. There is a burden lifted from us when we move into the right direction. When we open up the bibles and begin to read God’s word for direction in our lives it will change our lives.