Series: James – Let’s do it!
Thesis of Book: The message of the book is “Let’s do it – live the faith – put it into action! The half-brother of Jesus is speaking to the scattered Jewish Christians across the nations – they were scattered right after Stephen was killed. James tells these Christians and us today you have to do more than just talk about your faith you have to put your faith to work for the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven. In other words, what you do with your faith matters in the here and now and in eternity so put it into action!
Key verse of book: James 1:22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
Summary of lessons from Chapter 1- we put faith into action when:
We persevere through the trials and grief of life and in the midst of it get His inner joy and peace.
We control the pressure moments of life with faith and not anger and in the process find freedom in the Spirit.
We listen and do to be what God has called us to be and do.
Today we will progress forward in the book of James and look at Chapter 2.
Sermon: Let’s Do it! Chapter 2
Thesis of Sermon: The church needs to put faith in action by ruthlessly rooting out the disease of pride and prejudice, favoritism in its body. Why? Because it is infecting others and causing death not life. We need to use the vaccine that will stop the spread of this deadly plague. The vaccine was created by the Lord Jesus and all we need to do is use the vaccine of love, acceptance and forgiveness. This chapter is clear separate faith and works and you get a dead corpse.
Scripture: James 2
Favoritism Forbidden
1My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.
2Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.
3If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,”
4have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
6But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?
7Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?
8If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.
9But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
10For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
11For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
12Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,
13because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!
Faith and Deeds
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?
15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
16If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?
17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.
24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?
26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
We have to put our faith into action for it to become alive – real and life changing. As we look at the first subject in chapter 2 of James we discover faith is put into action when you don’t show favoritism, or fight against racism and discrimination. So here is what it faith looks like in action against this disease.
Opening Video Illustration: 1 Race video
Introduction:
I like what Jesse Duplantis says about pride and prejudice, he says that we were all made of dirt, there’s white dirt, red dirt, yellow dirt, brown dirt, and black dirt, so we all came from the same place, we’re dirt. We would think that it crazy if we saw one clump of dirt telling another clump of dirt" I’m better than you are. "That is exactly what we do, when we tell someone who’s not the same color that we are, I’m better than you, or I’m so different than you that we can’t associate with each other. We’re all just dirt and no matter what color dirt we are, we’re still just dirt.
I recall the times in my own life when I encountered the disease of pride and prejudice.
The person who led me to Jesus was an African American brother. I ended up attending his church which was a African American Pentecostal Church. Wow, was it different from my White Catholic Church I had known grown up in. When I started attending the church I felt warmly embraced by all the brothers and sisters of Outreach Church.
But, sadly I do recall times when I came in contact with the disease of Favoritism and prejudice mindsets. I became infected by the disease when my parents threw me out of the house because I started dating an African American Girl. I came home one day and my stuff was packed in my brother’s truck and I was told to leave by my dad.
I ran into the disease again one day in North Mpls. when a bunch of black guys told my girl friend Violet who was African American that light and dark don’t mix and the girl was to stay away from me.
I came in contact with the disease again in my church one day when one of the brothers informed me that you we were instructed in the Bible that not to marry outside your race. I went to Pastor Nate and he instructed me that the brother was wrong.
I once again ran into the disease by a sister in the church who said to me and others, “Mike’s not white he is black on the inside and just white on the outside.” I know she meant it as a compliment but the thought that I was not really white – but really black made me tilt my head. The truth is I am a Christian – and I am human the color of my skin, or how much money I make has nothing to do with my soul.
I ran into the disease again while working for government agency were the director walked in the shop one day and said I see to many white faces and most of you are going. She then later on let me go because of a perceived injury I had to my back and fired me – she actually discriminated against me for a perceived handicap – but in the end I received a settlement from the company for being discriminated against.
Movie Illustration from Remember the Titans.
Summary: This clip reminds us how important it is not to discriminate against others whether it is based on race, social status, sex, money, power or the like. We need to treat each other with respect or we all lose in the end.
The sad fact is I have come in contact with this disease which cripples faith in the church and out of the church. Yes, this should never happen because:
“God is no respecter of person!” And James in our text tells us that our faith is to have an action attached to it and that action is to show people love, respect and forgiveness and even help people if we can.
T.S.- We are never to allow favoritism/prejudice mindsets to cloud our view of others because when we do we kill our faith – we cripple it and cause death not life. James says, this especially is not to happen in the church of Jesus Christ.
I. We put faith into action when we don’t show favoritism, have prejudice mindsets, or discriminate.
a. Question: How does this disease work its way into a person’s heart and mind?
i. It uses the infectious method of deception and distortion of the mind from past events or even previous events.
1. In the book The Dream King Will and Matt talk about stereotyping people!
a. They note when we do this It warps the common sense of people by messing up their minds and what they see.
b. Ford states this about the disease: “In Revelation 12, Satan is identified as the accuser of the brethren. The Greek word for accuser is kategoros, which is where we get our English word “category.” The diabolical ploy of the enemy is to get us to categorize or stereotype each other, so that we make blanket assessments based on previous experiences before we even begin a conversation with the person in front of us.”
c. He adds, “Negative stereotypes are diabolical categories that destroy people made in God’s image, so that we judge them by the color of their skin and not, in the words of Dr. King, “by the content of their character.” 3 Whether regionally, ethnically, or by class, stereotypes are baggage that hold grudges, resentments, bitterness, and unforgiveness.
d. Will went on to say how he discovered how this had impacted him, “After I had this dream, I was able to go to a deeper level of forgiveness for whites and police officers. These suppressed memories had informed and clouded my thinking of others in a way that was deeper than I knew. These thoughts had affected areas of my heart that God wanted to heal.” Page 35, The Dream King.
ii. The Word of God warns us about the blindness that can take over our hearts and minds from the world and from deception.
1. II Cor. 4:1-4:1Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
iii. The world has blinded many in seeing the truth about what is right and wrong when it comes to prejudice attitudes toward others based on skin color, economic status, culture, and even age - for Example: Note the comparison charts of the two major struggles from USA history:
1. Information from charts taken from J.C. Willke's book ABORTION AND SLAVERY: Slavery – Dred -- Scott 1857-- 7-2 Decision.
a. Slavery: Dred Scott 1857 a 7-2 Decision
i. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that black people were not legal persons, therefore they had no legal rights.
ii. They were the property of the owner. They could choose to sell, buy or even kill them.
iii. Abolitionist should not impose morality on a slave owner.
iv. Slavery is legal
b. Abortion: Roe vs, Wade 1973 a 7-2 Decision
i. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the unborn fetuses were not legal persons, therefore they had no rights.
ii. They were henceforth, to be legally the property of the owner, the mother.
iii. The owner the mother could chose to keep them or kill them.
iv. Pro-lifers should not impose morality on a mother.
v. Abortion is legal
2. RESPONSE TO DECISIONS
a. The response of the Abolitionists was, "The ruling was outrageous", they said it was immoral and discriminated against an entire class of living Americans solely on the basis of skin color.
b. The response of Pro-lifers was "The ruling was outrageous," they said. It was immoral and discriminated against an entire class of living Americans solely on the basis of age (too young) and place of residence (still living in the womb).
3. DEHUMANIZATION:
a. Courts ruled that a slave was biologically inferior and only considered three-fifths of a person.
b. Courts ruled an unborn baby is a fetus or mass of tissue, an embryo not a person.
4. ECONOMICS
a. Why have slaves?
i. Money was the bottom line reason.
ii. Slaves' worth – their life had monetary value to the plantation owner and their life was a tax revenue for the US government.
b. Why keep doing abortions?
i. Money is the bottom line.
ii. Reduced social costs to the government and to the possible parents is a main reason it is legalized.
iii. It is also a profitable business for the Doctors performing abortions - it’s a $400 million dollar a year business.
iv. This business creates tax revenue for US government.
5. RESPONSES BY THE CHURCH
a. "It is shocking public policy to permit men to commit adultery and then enslave their own children, and a strange doctrine of the Christian Church that forbids ministries to condemn sin simply because it is authorized by the government." (Barrow)
b. “It is shocking public policy to permit men and women to commit adultery and then kill their own children, and a strange doctrine of some churches that forbids ministers to condemn sin simply because it is authorized by the government."
6. REVIVAL IS THE KEY to changing this in our culture and day – revival puts our faith into action!
a. Matt shared that he believes abortion laws can be overturned if we the Church rise up and stand against and pray for its eradication just like slavery was over turned.
b. In 1825, a great Revival in western New York took place. Charles Gradison Finney blazed a path with a message of salvation, repentance, and forgiveness of sins. This Christian revival gave the anti-slavery movement an uncounted number of devoted apostles.The first major group to oppose slavery, came from converts of Finney and his college in Oberline. These leaders emerged - Tappan, Levitt, Wright, Berney, Stanton - devoted Christians, and men and women of exemplary character who worked to stop slavery.
7. Lockett shares about a word from his 10 year old daughter about a book she read and the horrible act of abortion, she was reading Horton Hears a Who, and she opened it to show me the key line repeated throughout the story: “A person’s a person, no matter how small.” I knew God was confirming to me that I was to go to DC in obedience to the dream, but I could then see that He was also inviting me to a multi-generational call.
a. He went on to add that is why he prays everyday – even at specific site sin DC. He believes God will overturn the sin of killing off our unborn children.
8. Ford and Lockett state, “While many shout “Black Lives Matter,” “All Lives Matter,” and some “White Lives Matter,” we must drill down deeper because God is saying, “Life Matters.”
a. They add how God weeps – “He weeps over all the shedding of innocent blood.”
b. People have allowed this toxic disease to infect their minds and distort the truth about reality. The result is a mindset that shows a lack of respect for others – whether based on age, money or skin color. Would you agree?
i. Illustration: A man called the church and asked if he could speak to the Head Hog at the Trough. The secretary said, "Who?" The man replied, "I want to speak to the Head Hog at the Trough!" Sure that she had heard correctly, the secretary said, "Sir, if you mean our pastor, you will have to treat him with more respect and ask for 'the reverend' or 'the pastor'. But certainly you cannot refer to him as the Head Hog at the Trough!" The man responded, "I see. Well, I have $10,000 I was thinking about donating to the building fund." The secretary exclaimed, "Oh my, hold the line, I think the big pig just walked through the door!"
c. James tells us clearly and plainly Not to show favoritism to others – Why because when we do this we put our faith into action! It becomes powerful and life changing.
i. We are not to discriminate.
ii. We are not to be a racist.
iii. We are not to put others down based on their sex, social status, ethnicity or economics.
iv. We are not to kill based on people’s age to young or to old!
1. Quote: I was born to a woman I never knew and raised by another who took in orphans. I do not know my background, my lineage, my biological or cultural heritage. But when I meet someone new, I treat them with respect. For after all, they could be my people. --James Michener.
d. People are longing for respect and acceptance everywhere in our country but few show it toward others.
i. Rev. Magazine notes this “Rudeness Rules”:
1. The rude service you received from your local store’s sales clerks isn’t anything personal against you-they’re rude to everyone. Eighty percent of Americans say the lack of courtesy they’re experiencing is a serious problem. Almost half of the more than 2,000 people surveyed by Public Agenda said they’re walked out of a store in the last year because of bad service, 56% are bothered by the use of vulgar language in public, and 66% are very disturbed by reckless drivers. Yet while bad manners seem to get on people’s nerves, it doesn’t stop them from acting the same way-41% of those surveyed admitted they’ve been disrespectful of others themselves. The one bright spot is that most of those surveyed said Americans are becoming more polite to minorities and people with disabilities. It’s a start (94).
ii. We need to make sure that within the walls of this church that we show no favoritism or discrimination toward anyone – this is putting our faith action. Amen!
iii. The Bible is very clear on what happens when one person in the Body of the Christ decides to discriminate against another.
1. Numbers Chapter 12 shows us what happened to Miriam and Aaron when they criticize and discriminated against Moses choice of an Ethiopian wife.
a. How did the Lord respond?
i. Let’s look at Numbers 12:1-16: 1Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. 2“Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the LORD heard this. 3(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) 4At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the Tent of Meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them came out. 5Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward, 6he said, “Listen to my words:“ When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams.7 But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. 8With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 9The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them.10When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam—leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy; 11and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. 12Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.” 13So Moses cried out to the LORD, “O God, please heal her!” 14The LORD replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” 15So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.16After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.
1. Notice what disease God placed on Miriam? Leprosy!
b. The Story behind the incident the Leprosy in the Jewish setting of the time came with grave consequences. If you had Leprosy you were banished out of society because of the disease.
i. This disease was contagious so those who were infected with it were discriminated against for their condition.
ii. Those found with a certain type of Leprosy were called unclean and removed from the others so that others were not contaminated.
iii. Thought could God have placed leprosy on her to teach her a lesson on what it feels like to be discriminated against like she was doing to Moses wife?
iv. Remember she experienced this disease for 7 days outside the camp. This is a good lesson for those who like to put others down. Put them in the place of the one being discriminated against.
v. Could it be if Moses did not intercede for her she could have received a disease to get her out of the camp because the disease she had was more dangerous than the leprosy?
2. Jonah also was affected by this disease and his story is recorded for us in Jonah 3:10-4:4: 10When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. 1But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”
a. Jonah the prophet of the Lord was mad at God because God is no respecter of persons! He loves everyone and desires that everyone would come to Him!
b. God will use various means to wake us up if we fall prey to the disease of favoritism - pride and prejudice.
i. He may use a whale, a storm, a disease or place you in a position to see what it feels like.
c. But many time’s the church people get in the way of the Lord but the Lord has a way of helping us see the error of our way! God has provided us an antidote to the diseases of pride prejudice and discrimination it’s called Love, acceptance and forgiveness – putting faith into action.
i. Jesus showed us how to use it. Stretch out your arms and die to yourself so someone else may live.
T.S. – The disease of favoritism or pride-prejudice and or discrimination toward others needs to be rooted out of the Christian and we need to get the vaccine of love, acceptance and forgiveness injected into our veins to keep out this deadly disease. Using God’s vaccine is putting faith into action.
II. We put faith into action when we love, accept and forgive others!
a. Love - The Christian needs to have the vaccination of love, acceptance and forgiveness in their veins and this vaccine is the key to eliminating favoritism and prejudice attitudes.
i. Cooks quote: “People need to be saved and brought to wholeness in every area of their lives…but they will not risk opening themselves up if we don’t do the following:
1. The minimal guarantee we must make is that we will love them-always, under every circumstance, with no exceptions.
2. The second guarantee is that we will accept them totally, without reservation.
3. The third thing we must guarantee people is that no matter how miserably they fail or how blatantly they sin, our unreserved forgiveness is theirs for the asking with no bitter taste left in anybody’s mouth.
ii. Loving, accepting and forgiving others is the key to being who Christ wants us to be – it’s putting our faith into action.
1. We are instructed to Love others as we love ourselves! James tells us, “Love your neighbor as yourself!” This is the right thing to do!
2. Have you ever noticed individuals who just love themselves. They are always kissing their muscles. Staring in the mirror. Boasting about all their accomplishments. Stroking their own chains. Letting their Ego rule their lives. They are great at telling others how great they are. They are always focused on themselves. Life revolves around “ME!” And their whole life centers on themselves but never on others. This is the wrong way to live!
a. We are told by James to not be like this but to love others as ourselves. We are not to show favoritism (discrimination) to those that we think we can benefit from.
b. We are not to cater to the rich or wealthy we are to treat all people the same. We are to treat everyone equally. With dignity and respect! That is the way of God and the right way to live.
i. Share story.
iii. What does love, acceptance and forgiveness look like?
1. II Thess. 3:5: May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.
2. I John 4:18: There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
3. Proverbs 21:21: He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.
4. I Cor. 16:14: Do everything in love.
5. Ephesians 4:2: Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
6. I Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
iv. The choice to love, accept and forgive others is up to you!
1. Quote..."Love is not blind--it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less." --Rabbi Julius Gordon
a. When love is surging through our veins it’s amazing at what happens to the senses. When love is injected it helps us to really see for the first time. It should effect our perception of others. It not only should affect our eyesight but it should affect our tongues as well.
b. Sometimes the simplest things we say convey the strongest messages to loved ones, says Boston marriage and family therapist Ellen Dunn, Ph.D. Some of these powerful words and phrases are: Nice going! - Terrific! - I'm proud of you! - Wow! - Way to go! - I really appreciate your help. - You're the best! - Awesome! - Great job! - I know you can do it! - Most excellent! - Couldn't have done it better myself!
2. Quote: “If we are brave enough to love, strong enough to forgive, generous enough to rejoice in others happiness, and wise enough to know there is enough love to go around for us all, then we can achieve a fulfillment that no other living creature will ever know.” --Harold S. Kushner
3. Love doesn't' make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. "--Franklin P. Jones in Quote Magazine.
b. Acceptance
i. Cook states, “Love means accepting people the way they are for Jesus’ sake. Jesus hung around with sinners. He didn’t isolate Himself in the synagogue. In fact, Jesus mixed with sinners so much that the self-righteous people got upset about it. “He’s friendly with some very questionable people,” they said. And Jesus replied, “Yes, because I didn’t come to minister to you religious leaders. I came to call sinners to repentance.”
1. Cook states, “When we cultivate the habit of accepting people, they open up to us, they like us, and they trust us instinctively.”
2. Cook states, “Acceptance is not based on approved behavior. It is based on the value of the person. But if we communicate personal rejection, they will never be around long enough to be touched by God through us.”
c. Forgiveness
i. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Eph. 4: 32).
ii. Forgiveness is simply the choice not to punish, but it gets tangled up with all sorts of other ideas and becomes almost scary.
1. Here are some myths we struggle with says Cook:
a. “Forgive and forget.” Try pulling that off sometime and let me know if you succeed!
b. “When you forgive, you will feel better. There are events so painful in your life that whenever you remember them you will always sense the hurt. How you feel after you forgive is irrelevant. You may feel better, or you may feel nothing. The issue is not how you feel; it is whether you intend to keep punishing and getting even with the person.”
c. “Forgiveness means that you must move back into a destructive relationship. The fact is that there are people with whom you may never be able to have a healthy relationship. Some people are so damaged emotionally and socially that they are not capable of sustaining a healthy relationship with anyone. Forgiveness can provide a basis for re-establishing a healthy relationship, but it doesn’t demand the re-establishment of an unhealthy one.”
d. “If you forgive, you are compromising or condoning wrong behavior. Forgiveness doesn’t deal with guilt or innocence. Justice deals with guilt and innocence. You forgiving someone else doesn’t mean that what he or she did was okay. What he or she did may never be okay in anybody’s book.”
e. “Ultimately, forgiveness is not an emotion; it’s a decision. We don’t forgive with our memory or emotions—we forgive with our will.”
T.S. – We put our faith into action by rooting out favoritism, prejudice mindsets and the like and we do this by putting love, acceptance and forgiveness to work in our life. This action is faith and if we fail to do this we end up with a dead faith – a dead religion of no eternal value to God and His Kingdom.
III. What good is faith without deeds – without action - really it’s dead religion.
a. Answer: it is dead according to James and the Holy Spirit!
i. A person is revealed as a true believer by what he does and not just by faith alone with no action.
ii. His Truth faith without deeds is a dead faith!
b. Question: So, what are you doing for the Lord – how are you putting your faith into action?
i. We put faith into action by having good deeds.
1. Like Abraham did with Isaac!
2. Like Rahab did giving the Israelite spies a place to hide and sending them off in safety!
ii. Faith is more than just believing or just listening - it is doing, it is sacrificing for the Kingdom of God and others.
c. Quote: James 2:26 “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
Conclusion:
Why do we need to know the message of James?
Answer: We must put our faith into motion – into action or our faith is just dead religion!
Why do we need to know this truth?
Answer: It’s a matter of life and death in the Spirit realm!
What do we need to do?
Answer: We need to do something – we need to serve – we need to love, accept and forgive others.
Why do we need to put our faith in action?
Answer: Cook’s quote – “When love, acceptance and forgiveness prevail, the church of Jesus Christ becomes what Jesus was in the world: a center of love designed for the healing of broken people and a force for God”
When faith is released to action it impacts people’s lives, transformation happens and people are set free! It releases revival!
Mercy which is faith in action always triumphs over the diseases of pride- prejudice- and discrimination because mercy is the stronger force. This force is supported by the creator of the Universe and therefore it is what will be standing in the end. So either we vaccinate ourselves against dead faith of today or we end up being infected by it. If we allow it to infect us because we refuse the vaccine of love, acceptance and forgiveness it will distort our perception of truth. It will affect us in the future and who knows maybe the Lord will allow you to get leprosy so you get a wake up call which will save your life.
Altar Call: We need to make a commitment to activate our faith and put it into action -are you willing to make this choice today?
