Jesus Followers Are Expected to Live Lives with “Active” and Not “Passive” Faith and Belief while Following Him in “Love {for} one another”

Jesus Followers Are Expected to Live Lives with “Active” and Not “Passive” Faith and Belief while Following Him in “Love {for} one another”

MESSAGE SUMMARY: Jesus claimed to be the unique, divine Son of God; therefore, Jesus is on an equal footing with God. Jesus said that He would one day judge the world. Jesus Followers have belief and faith in God as the Creator of the Universe, Jesus’ Death and Resurrection as the Son of God, and our Eternal Life through God’s Grace. However, “faith” and “belief” can be “passive”. Therefore, Jesus expects us to be “active” and follow Him so that our “actions” (e.g., making disciples) let others see Jesus in us.

 How you respond to Jesus, in your life, will determine how you are judged. The Apostle John summarizes, in John 20:27-29, the interchange between Jesus and the Apostle Thomas when Thomas realizes who Jesus, the man that he had been following for years, is: “Then he said to Thomas, ’Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”. You, as a Jesus Follower, have not seen Jesus or His wounds. Therefore, do you believe through your faith; and are you able, by your faith, to say: “My Lord and my God!”? If so, are you actively following Jesus by living His “Great Commandment to “love one another”?

 

TODAY’S PRAYER: Father, I confess that when difficulties and trials come into my life, large or small, I mostly grumble and complain. I realize the trials James talks about are not necessarily “walls,” but they are difficult to bear, nonetheless. Fill me with such a vision of a transformed life, O God, that I might actually consider it “pure joy” when you bring trials my way. I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief. In Jesus’ name, amen.      Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 94). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, because of I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I will not be controlled by my Inadequacy. Rather, I will walk in the Spirit’s fruit of Abundance. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22f).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): 2 Timothy 4:1-8; Matthew 12:36-37; 2 Thessalonians 1:5; Psalms 70:1-5.

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THIS SUNDAY’S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “If You Knew You Would Die in the Near-Term, Would You, Like Tim McGraw Advises, “live like you were dying” or Would You Live Like “the Rich Fool”?”, at our Website: https://awtlser.podbean.com/

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