Your Next Step

Major misconceptions in modern Christianity.

Going deeper:

Getting fed:

Growing closer:

Knowledge vs. Action.

1 Cor.8:1 – Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.

James 1:22 - Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

The action is the next step.

1 Cor.4:20 - For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

1 Jn.3:18 - Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

We each have a “next step to take.

Modern examples:

Billy Grahm – Commitment in college.

Bill Bright – Contract with God.

Biblical examples:

Abraham – Trusting God!

Gen.22:1-3 - Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

What step do you need to take to trust God?

Daniel – Putting God 1st.

Daniel 6:10 - Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

What step do you need to take to put God 1st?

Noah – Obeying God.

Gen.6:14-22 - make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark-you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them." Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

What step do you need to take to obey God?

David – Connecting with God.

Ps.119:58 - I have sought your face with all my heart.

Ps.63:1, 3 - O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water - your love is better than life!

What step do you need to take to connect with God?

Taking the next step is about you and God.

Job.31:4 - Does he not see my ways and count my every step?

James 4:8 – Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

Drawing near takes a series of steps.

2 Cor.5:7 - We walk by faith, not by sight.

What is the next step you need to take?