We Believe.

We Believe.

John 15:1-5NKJV

We are free not on how we behave, but on how we believe.

A works oriented approach to freedom will always fail. Why? Because we are free, set free, not by how we behave, but what we believe!

Do you have definitive answers to what you believe?

We need to fix in our minds that nothing we do will help us, or change us. Again, We are set free not by how we behave, but by what we believe.

John 15:1-5AMP I am the true Vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that continues to bear fruit, He [repeatedly] prunes, so that it will bear more fruit [even richer and finer fruit]. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have given you [the teachings which I have discussed with you].

Jesus teaches His disciples, Moreover, presently His church, He affirmatively states, “After you believe, remain/ abide.”

John 15:4-5AMP Remain in Me, and I [will remain] in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself without remaining in the vine, neither can you [bear fruit, producing evidence of your faith] unless you remain in Me. 5 I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for [otherwise] apart from Me [that is, cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.

I love these verses, because it's Jesus speaking about relationship, and its workings.

I really think that relationship with Jesus remains lopsided somewhat, obviously on our end. Don’t you agree?

However, Jesus stresses the fact, and the fact is, “If you abide and remain in Me, you will bear much fruit.

“I've gone on a few raids with our Sheriff’s department, ‘one thing you learn quickly in a raid, the more the better.” -Early morning!

Can you imagine a raid all by yourself? P.H

If my belief system is messed up, I will most likely posses some behavior issues.

I believe, Many Christians sit in church every Sunday and hear the truth, then walk out the door. Completely unchanged.

Here's the rock solid truth, Going to church and listening to sermons won’t change you.

Believing the truth will.

We have to believe the truth we hear. If we believe, our behavior will fix itself.

Here’s some powerful truths to believe.

Find through scripture everything you should believe about your new identity.

Put one scripture to heart by writing it, meditating it, thinking with practicum. What does this verse say to me?

Praying the Word. -Worship.

Here’s a simple fact, “If you believe it, you will apply it.”

I tell my sons, “Clean the gutters, do preventive maintenance whatever that might entail and you will never be sorry. Why do I say that? Because flooded gutters have gathered (water) on my floors!

Here’s another one, If you’ve had a tall-tree fall on your house, you might feel compelled to cut all tall trees!

John 15:3AMP You are already clean because of the word which I have given you [the teachings which I have discussed with you].

Jesus is saying, “You believe, now abide.”

John 8:31-32NKJV Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.””

Jesus states, “The truth known, believed, and applied will set you free!”

We Believe, We Abide and We Remain

Jesus stated, “You shall be free!”

Suppose we took all the Christian books ever written on how to live the Christian life and listed everything they told us to do. How long would that list be?

Could anyone do all the things listed in all the books? So what does it take to live the Christian life? -We believe.

Romans 10:8-10AMP But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word [the message, the basis] of faith which we preach— 9 because if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord [recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart a person believes [in Christ as Savior] resulting in his justification [that is, being made righteous—being freed of the guilt of sin and made acceptable to God]; and with the mouth he acknowledges and confesses [his faith openly], resulting in and confirming [his] salvation.

More than 400 years ago Martin Luther wrote: “It ought to be the first concern of every Christian to lay aside all confidence in works, and, increasingly, to strengthen faith, alone, and through faith to grow in the knowledge, not of works, but of Christ alone… thus, when the Jews asked Christ as related in, John 6:28, “What they must do to be doing the works of God,” he brushed aside the multitude of works, which he saw they did, and suggested one work, saying, This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent, John 6:28.