weekly sermon
8-5-07
How to live a Christian life
This will be the first of a series on how we are to live once we found out we
have "it". Well ok, this is another installment of our ongoing series, hahaha.
First look at Malachi 3:3, "And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of
silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver,
that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness."
I wanted to start with this verse only because of a story I heard that I found
amazingly true.
There were some women reading this verse and trying to figure out what it was
talking about. So one woman decided to go to a silversmith to watch how he
refines silver. She never told the silversmith why she wanted to watch other
than her simple interest in the process. As she watched she noticed he held a
piece of silver in the fire and let it heat up. He explained that to refine a
piece of silver that you would need to hold the silver in the middle of the fire
where the flame was the hottest to burn away all the impurities. She asked the
silversmith if it was true he had to sit there the whole time the silver was
being refined. The silversmith said not only did he have to sit there holding
the silver the whole time, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire
time it was in the fire. If the silver was left for a moment too long in the
flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked
the final question. How do you know when the silver is fully refined? The
silversmith smiled and answered, oh that is easy, when I can see my image in it.
The woman thought about this for a while, and decided, God puts us into some
really hot spots to purify us, but He is always there to keep an eye on us to
make sure we are not given more than we can handle. Finally, once God has molded
us to what He wants, He can see His own image in us.
So we have been put in the hottest fire, we have been purged of our impurities,
and we have been molded in His own image. That means we are a Christian. Time to
start the Christian life. Take the Christian walk, and talk the Christian talk.
You know, if your going to talk the talk then you must walk the walk. The more
He can see His image in us the more He will call on us to do His talking. John
10:3 "...He calleth His own sheep by name..." He knows us just as a shepherd
knows his sheep, and will calls us to talk the talk that we have been talking
about.
The first of 11 items I want to talk about in this new walk, is that you must
believe. I am not talking about becoming a believer, because you should already
be a believer if you are talking the talk and walking the walk. I am not talking
about what to believe in, as in believing in the Saviour or God. I am talking
about believing the gospel and the entire word of God at all times, and walk in
the light as you received it. I have personally seen many who claim to be
Christians taking the Bible for what they believe not for what the Bible
believes. Just look around at how many folks, calling themselves Christians,
continually change churches. The reason usually is because they do not like what
the pastor has to say. Meaning that the pastors are teaching the Bible just as
the Bible states things, and the so called Christians do not want to hear it.
They want to be taught the part of the Bible that is ok with them, not that bad
part that makes you do what God says has to be done. This would be a sugar
coated religion. We MUST believe in the entire word of God at ALL times,
whether we like what it has to say or not. There are things that, even I might
think would be easier if I could do it the way I wanted instead of the way God
stated. But that does not make it right, what is right is what the Bible states,
right, wrong, good, or bad, the word of God is final. Once you believe this you
will be cleansed of sin and walking in the light. Just as it says in 1 John 1:7,
"But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." So we
are to walk in the light because Jesus Christ Himself is the Light. John 8:12
"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." Here
it shows us Jesus is the light. This light would also be the knowledge that
Jesus Christ bestowed upon us. Light is also understanding, the understanding
that Jesus gave us. This is the light you received, the light we are to walk in.
And why do we walk in that light? Because Jesus being the light, and us walking
in the light, means we are walking in His likeness, just as we talked about at
the beginning. He wants to see His image in us, and for that to happen we have
to really walk the walk and talk the talk.
I have talked about us walking in the light, just as we received that light. But
the most important thing is the first part I talked about. Believing in the
entire word of God at all times. I touched briefly on this above. This is one
reason I do not like religion, hold on stick with me a second, I am sure I will
get letters on this, but, religion is a man made thing. If it is man made, then
it is of this world an NOT of God. If it is not of God then it is not
biblical. This would totally go against what we just talked about, of believing
in the ENTIRE word of God, not a religion, but exactly what the Bible
says and remember that when there is a period, that means the end of the
sentence. There is NO more to add to it, no more to take from it, just
exactly what God said. Deu. 4:2 "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command
you, neither shall ye diminish [ought] from it, that ye may keep the
commandments of the LORD your God which I command you." That right there states
that we are to believe exactly what the Bible says, and not add anything to it.
This is the one thing I do not understand about some religions, or even some
ministers, that they embellish on what is written. If God wanted it to say more,
then I KNOW He would have written more. The more I see some ministers,
mostly I would have to say the ones on the television, the more they remind me
of a motivational speaker and not a teacher of the living word of God. A
motivational speaker is one that tells you things you want to hear, to pump you
up, and make you feel good about yourself. I will not tell you what you want to
hear, I will tell you what God wanted you to hear. This upsets folks, but I do
not care, as I have said in the past, I will hurt your feelings if that means
making sure your soul is saved.
The more we realize that the word of God is exactly what it says, the more we
will realize what the offering of righteousness is. This is not talking about a
monetary offering. This is talking about offering yourself up as a disciple for
Christ. The word righteousness is described in the dictionary as morally
upright; without guilt or sin. So you are offering up yourself as morally
upright and without guilt or sin, in the face of God. When we become a true
friend with Jesus Christ and not just salvation then we will understand what the
real relationship truly is.
So in closing, if we truly believe the entire word of God at all times, and we
talk the talk to all we know then let us make sure we study all we can of the
word, so we are not fooled by enemies, but more importantly, so we have the
ability to represent Jesus in a manner to His likeness. Our goal is to save
souls for Christ, let us be prepared when we talk.
Next week we will touch on #2 of our series, the "walk". If we are going to talk
the talk then let us make sure we can walk the walk. Walking in a manner to
represent our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
If you are still not sure if you have it, then let me give you this opportunity
to say a simple little prayer to accept Christ as your personal best friend.
Dear Lord, please come into my life and save my soul, become my personal friend
and let me walk in your likeness. Amen.
If you said this little prayer then please find a church home that preaches the
word of God and tell the preacher there that you have accepted Jesus as your
friend and saviour. Also drop me a line to let us know that you have accept
Jesus so we can rejoice with you and send you a few things to help you with your
Christian walk.
With Love in Christ,
Pastor Stone