You are called to let your faith speak through your actions, especially by sharing the gospel with those around you. Take the invitation cards provided this week and pray for your neighbors before knocking on their doors. By doing this, you prove your faith is alive and participate in transforming lives for eternity.
What is up? Thank you for tuning in to the Real Church podcast. This is David John Phillips. I get to be the pastor at Real Church, and we're in the middle of the faith series. This is faith part 3.
The title of this message is *faith* does. I pray you walk away with a deeper understanding of how much God loves you. God bless and enjoy. Okay. So we are smack dab in the middle of a series titled Faith.
In part 1 of faith, we learned that faith leads to godliness. What is godliness? We learned that godliness is living a life that exudes, that exemplifies the very character and nature of God from the inside out. That's the fruit of the spirit, know. That's not impossible.
That's called Christianity. Amen? Amen. Then, in part 2, Gabe did a great job. We learned what faith looks like.
And, we learned that a lot of times faith looks like perseverance. Sometimes it looks like not getting the answer from Jesus that you want in the moment or in the timing that you want, and falling at His feet anyway in worship, and seeking Him through the storm. We learn that Jesus calls that great faith. It's pretty awesome. Right?
Yep. Now, today is part 3. Would y'all do me a favor? Would y'all just tell me yeah. Yeah.
Would y'all say, I like this church. If you like it, just just I like this church. Okay. Good. I I needed to hear that.
Because this message is difficult. This message isn't easy and it might not be easy to hear. But, I love you enough to tell you the truth. Praise the Lord. Right?
I love you enough to tell you the truth. We won't leave. Some of you. The title of this message is Faith Does. **faith does**.
And, you know, this would be a tough message. So or it could be a tough message for you. And I just want you to know that I want a Hebrews-10:20 for you, which is I wanna I'm considering how I can spur you on towards love and good deeds. Amen? Alright.
Let's go to James-2. The faith does chapter. Verse 14, it says, What good is it my brothers and sisters if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? And what James is saying is, hey, this person claims to have faith.
They're saying they have faith. And then, goes on with an analogy of what that's like. Suppose, verse 15, suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If 1 of you says to them, "go in peace", "keep warm" and "well fed", but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way Everybody say, in the same way.
In the same way. In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead. What he's saying is he he gives an analogy to show like faith without action is like this. It's like I'm driving to the corner over here, there's a homeless guy with a sign that says, hey, I'm hungry. So, I get up beside him, I look at him, I roll the window down, I say, oh, you're hungry.
Hey, you know what? Have a lot of food today. I roll the window up and I drive away. Did that did that help him at all? No.
It was useless for him. Paul saying, faith without action is like that. Bible says faith without action is dead. Now, God life comes from God. Right?
So, faith without action has no life in it. Therefore, faith without action has no God in it. Faith without action has no God in it. Let's keep going. Verse 18, but someone will say, you have faith, I have deeds.
Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by my deeds. James is saying something here, something important. Number 1, faith without action is dead. But number 2, he's also saying action without faith is dead too. So action with faith has no life in it.
Action without faith has no God in it either. Why? Because *Romans-10:17 says, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God*. Amen. So the very base of faith, the cement that holds faith together is the word of God.
So any action that does not come from faith is an action that is not based on the word of God, which means it's an action that's not based on Jesus. And Jesus said, you can do nothing apart from me. Hold on pastor, I've done a lot in my life apart from Jesus. What are you talking about? I've done a life and it was just a lot of my life and it was just, you know, me, myself, I.
I I I have my family, I got my kids, I've got my good grades if you're in school. I've I've got this business. I've got this job. I made a lot of money. I've got put in whatever you're proud of that you accomplished by yourself.
The problem is, if you accomplished it, if you built it by yourself, then you also have to sustain it by yourself, and that gets exhausting. But not just that. If it's from self, then it's not from faith. And, the thing is, anything that's not from faith is not built on Christ. So, if it's from self, eventually in eternity, it's going to burn.
You can't take it with you. But, the chances are you're not gonna have to wait till *eternity* for what you've built from self to be shaken. Because my bible tells me that the storms of life are coming. The storms of life are coming, and the same storms that are gonna hit you are probably gonna hit me too. But, my life is built on the word, which is built on Jesus through faith.
And, because of that, when the storms of life come, what has been built, what God has built in me and through me will stand. And, if your life is built around you, if it's built around yourself, then when the storms of life come, especially that perfect storm, when that happens, guess what? Everything you've built is gonna be shaken. If it's not from Jesus, it's gonna fall crashing down all around you. Some of you have experienced that, or some of that.
That's tough. So if I were you guys, I would lean in today. And we're we're gonna be talking about how to build a life of faith. And that's kind of important because Romans-14:23 says, anything not done in faith is sin. Everything you do in your life that's not from faith is sin.
That's huge. So building a life based on around self and our own comforts might feel good for a while, but it's not gonna last the test of time. You're not created to live like that. You're created to live a life of *faith* and the faith that has character. You know what?
You know how you have faith with character? It's tested. You know what the test of faith is? A lot of times, the test of your faith is, does it have action behind it? Because faith without action is dead.
*Faith* and action go together. "Faith does" things. Everybody say this. Faith does things. Faith does things.
Confidently. Faith does things. Oh, y'all didn't do it. Did. Thank you, brother.
I appreciate you. I really do. You have to understand, you don't get faith by doing. You can strengthen the faith that you have by doing. You can strengthen the faith that you have by continuing to do what God said and and persevering in that through the test and through the storm.
Then you have a tested type of faith that has character to it. It's a proven, a perfected type of faith. But you don't get faith by doing. How do you verse already. Already said the verse already.
*Romans-10:17, faith comes by hearing*. So faith is a product of a relationship with God. It's a product of knowing his voice and hearing his voice, spending time listening to his voice is how your faith comes. Faith comes by hearing. Faith is not hearing.
It comes by hearing. Believe it or not, you can hear *God* and still walk away faithless. I'm a say that again. Believe it or not, you can hear God and still walk away faithless. I have to give you some examples for that.
*God spoke this thundering voice. This is my son. He spoke multiple times in the gospels*. Couple of the times, the people walked away thinking it was just thunder. They excused it.
No. That wasn't God. Let's go to a specific example in John-6. John-6. We're gonna be in verses 60 through 69.
You guys still okay? Alright. I love you. So in this excuse me. In this, this is where *Jesus* just after Jesus preached to the biggest crowd he's ever preached to.
20,000 people, 5,000 men, you know, we think women and children, 1 wife, 2 children on average, probably about 20,000 people were there. That's pretty awesome. *Jesus* had just healed their sick. Healings. Awesome.
*Jesus* has just fed all of them with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Miraculous multiplication miracle. That's awesome. Does healing and miracles give you faith? No.
It can strengthen your faith. It can help you to walk forward in him. But man, I've prayed for people that were healed that walk away and didn't receive Jesus. But after that, the word of God became flesh. Jesus Christ spoke to them, and he spoke some really tough stuff.
So not only did they have miracles and healing, got their needs met, but also they heard the very word of God speaking to them. And here's what they said. Here's how they responded. John-6:60. On hearing it, many of his disciples said, this is a hard teaching.
Who can accept it? Who said that? Many of his what? Disciples. Wow.
Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this. God, let me never grumble about what you say. He said, does this offend you? God, let me never be offended by what you say. *Lord*, when your word causes me to have to step out of my comfort zone, let me not be offended.
When your word comes against the way that I'm living, let me not be offended. Does this offend you? Then what if you see the son of man ascend to where he was before? Jesus said. The spirit gives life.
The flesh counts for some things. Is that what it says? The flesh counts for nothing. So what's from you counts from nothing. Only what's in partnership with the heavenly father.
What he does in you and through you, that's what counts. The spirit gives life. The flesh counts for nothing. The words I've spoken to you, they are full of spirit and life. Yet, there are some of you who do not believe.
You know the word for belief and the word for faith in the Bible? Greek is the same thing. Pistuo is the verb. It's the exact same thing, faith and belief. We'll talk more about that in a second.
Some of you who do not believe, for Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray them. He went on to say, this is why I told you that no 1 can come to me unless the father has enabled them. From this time, many of his *disciples* turned back and no longer followed him. You don't wanna leave too, do you? Jesus said to the 12.
Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the "words of eternal life". We have come to believe and to know that you are the holy 1 of God. What's your response gonna be? When you hear a hard teaching that lines up with his word?
When you read something in scripture, God shows you something in prayer, what are you gonna do? Are you a once disciple that's gonna turn back and become a former disciple When the bible contradicts the way you're comfortable living? When God's words challenge you to take a step out of your comfort zone and into obedience? What are you gonna do? When God says, go to Timbuktu, and you say, no, I always wanted to stay here?
When God says stay here and you say, no, I always wanted to go to Timbuktu. Your hopes, your dreams, are you willing to give them up? Your comforts, the way you live right now, are you willing to give it up? What are you gonna do when that happens? Because it will happen.
He's the lord of your life, and he wants to prove to you that he's the lord of your life. He'll put his finger on him, whatever you hold dear, and ask you to give it to him. Are you gonna make excuses and walk away? Told you this was tough. Or are you gonna respond, Lord, where would we go?
You have the words of eternal life. *Lord, teach me what it means to "deny myself"*. Teach me what it means to deny my preferences. To deny to deny what I always wanted. To deny myself.
To carry my cross and follow you. Teach me what it means, God, to deny even my offenses. My everything, *Lord*. You are the Lord of my life. I'm no longer the Lord of my life.
Let me never again be offended by what you ask me to do, or what I don't see you doing that I want to see you doing. Let me worship you despite what I do and don't see, because I can have peace in the midst of my lack of understanding. Instead, God, let me be offended by whatever parts of my heart hesitate to follow you when you say to go. Teach me what it means to walk by faith. Amen?
So which response are you? Or better yet, what you were 10 seconds ago, what you were 5 years ago, 10 years ago, it doesn't matter anymore. What response do you wanna be moving forward? Because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord. And you just heard the word of the Lord.
So you know what? Forget what was behind. Put a line in the sand and let's hear the word. Faith comes by hearing. Let's believe the word and part of believing is doing.
Let's do it moving forward. Make sense? *Faith comes by hearing God* speak, but you can hear him and still walk away faithless. So there has to be more to it. Right?
There are many people who come to church on a Sunday morning, they worship, hear the word, then leave, and there's no change. That's not faith. Faith does. Would you say that with me 1 more time? Faith does?
Faith does. Faith does what? What does things what does faith do? I'll tell you. Faith does whatever God says.
Right? Yep. I gotta hear I gotta clear something up. You guys ready? Let's go back to James.
This next part is gonna get a little theological. So stick with me. I enjoy this. Hopefully, you do too. *James-2:23-24*, it says or let's start in 22.
You see that his faith and his action were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. The ESV, the King James Version, New King James Version says, if a person is justified by what they do and not by faith alone. Hold on, pastor.
Wait a second. Does this go against the doctrine of justification by faith? No. We're going to talk about it. I'm glad you asked.
Let's go to that scripture or to some of those scriptures. Romans-3:28. It says, for we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. A person is justified by faith apart from what? The works what law?
The works of the law of sin and death. The works of the law of Moses. The works of the law of the old covenant. The works of the law that says you have to do this list of rules, this code of regulations in order to earn your justification, in order to earn your righteousness with God, in order to earn your ability to stand in God's presence. You have to do this list of things in order to earn that, and if you don't do this, then you are out of luck, home chicken.
That's the law. Okay? 10 commandments, 631 laws, that's it. But guess what? We now, being born again, live by faith according to another law.
We live according to another law that requires *faith*. We still live by law, but it's a different law. It's not the works of the law of the old covenant. I'll show you. Verse right before it.
You don't have to go far. Romans-3:27. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law?
The law that requires works? No. Because of the law that requires? *Faith*. We still live by law.
It's the law that requires faith. What law is that? Romans-8:1-2. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in *Christ Jesus*. Keep going.
Verse 2. Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. Told you this is gonna be theological for a second. Stick with me here. We live according to the "law of the Spirit" who gives life.
You can't live according to the law of the Spirit who gives life without faith. You can't. How does that work? The Holy Spirit speaks the word of Jesus to you. You hear the word of Jesus.
Faith comes by hearing. Then, you believe the word of Jesus. Part of believing that word is doing it. Without doing it, it's not complete belief. Faith is hearing, believing, and doing.
The law still requires action, but it's not action in order to earn. It's action from the status of a son. It's not action in order to be righteous. It's action because I am righteous. And, your actions flow out of who you are, who God says that you are.
And you won't do who God says that you are until you receive it by faith. Which means you believe what he says so much that you have to do it. That's faith. *Ephesians-2:8-9*. Probably 10 too.
I don't know if I put that up there. But, for it is by grace. Everybody say, by grace. By You have been saved through faith. Everybody say, through faith.
Through faith. And this is not a from yourself, it is the gift of God, not by works. Everybody say, by works. By works. So that no 1 can boast.
Let's keep going. Do we have the other 1 up there or the next part? If not, I'll just read it. Okay. I'll just read it.
For we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Everybody say, to do good works. To good Which God prepared in advance for us to do. Okay. We're saved by grace, not by works.
By getting what we don't deserve. By by Jesus dying for us while we were still in the midst of our sin. By not only that, him rising again and then giving us his life, placing his spirit inside of us, crediting to our account righteousness, right standing with God, and then empowering us by his spirit to walk in that righteousness and to show everybody else what he's done. That's grace. That's getting what you don't deserve.
You don't deserve that. He loves us so much that he gives that. You can't work to earn it. That's why we're saved by grace, not by works. And, we're saved through faith to do good works.
Which means I hear his *grace* and I believe what he says so much that I do it. I do what he says about me. That's how you came to know Jesus. Just real practically, how did that happen? *God* spoke to you probably through preaching or whatever way it happened.
You heard it. You believed in your heart that he died and rose again, and then you took action. You confessed with your mouth that he's your Lord. Without the action, it's not complete. Amen?
Without the action, it's not complete. Not only do we start that way, but we continue that way. We continue by grace through faith. We learned that. When you fall off and you're faithless, you're not doing anything, you keep messing up or your eyes are focused on your past, and you fall off or you fall back or whatever it is, his grace turns around and says, no.
Because when you're faithless, he remains faithful because he cannot disown himself, and He lives inside of you. So He, by His grace, given you what you don't deserve, and mercy not giving you what you do deserve, He picks you back up, sets you back behind Him, and says, put your eyes back on me my son, and by faith we continue. I mean, by grace through faith we continue. Amen? I need to fill this side back up.
I feel like I'm preaching to this side. So without action, it's not complete faith. Let's go back to James. James-1:22, I think. Yeah.
*James-1:22*. Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is someone who looks at his face in the mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently at the perfect law that gives freedom what's the perfect law that gives freedom?
The *spirit* where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. The law of the spirit is the perfect law that gives freedom. His word is the the law of the spirit is the word that's written on your heart. You hear him. He speaks to your heart.
You hear him. You believe him, and you do what he says. Flows out of your life. It's a perfect law that gives freedom. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it, not forgetting what they've heard, but doing it, they will be blessed in what they do.
**Hearers and doers**. Science says that right now, as I'm speaking, there are thoughts being generated in your mind. Your mind with those thoughts is is literally changing the structure of your brain. It's creating in your brain little proteins called dendrites. They look like little trees with little bumps on them happening right now, little little small things in your brain.
The thing is, you walk away from here today, and you don't intentionally put any thought in what you heard, and you don't do part of what you heard. And what's going to happen without intentional action within 24 to 48 hours, those little proteins, little dendrites, those thoughts that were put in your mind today, they turn to hot air. Poof. They're gone, Forgotten. There's many people that come to church on a Sunday morning.
They've been coming to church on Sunday morning for 20 years. They come and they listen and they feel like they believe and then don't do anything about it. So they either stay infants or non Christians for 20 years because they heard and they felt like they believed, but they didn't do anything. They were hearers and not doers. You know what Jesus says about that?
He says, the wise man is the 1 who hears my word and puts it into practice. When the storms of life come, that man's life, because he put it into practice, he heard and did, it was his life will stand because it was on the rock. But the foolish man is the 1 who hears the words of mine, maybe even feels like he believes, I added that. He doesn't put it into practice. Storms of life come, and that man's life crashes with a great crash.
Why? Because he was a hearer and not a doer. *Faith requires hearing* and doing. I'm gonna go to 2 of my favorite verses. *Hebrews-5:13* and 15 or 13 and 14.
We're starting in verse 13. It says, anyone who lives on milk being still an infant is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. Are are you guys still okay? Yeah. I love you enough to tell you the truth.
Okay, guys? Anyone who lives on milk being still an infant is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. If you've been coming here any amount of time, you've heard this before. A Christian can't grow to maturity until they understand the teaching of righteousness. Righteousness is right standing with God.
There's a lot of Christians who've been Christians for 20, 30, 40 years, and they've done a lot of stuff. They served at their church. They read their bible. They prayed. Some built ministries and stuff.
Some some spent time. But because they didn't understand their standing with God, they didn't understand righteousness, Everything they did was about proving themselves to God. Everything they did was about making themselves feel better like they're in a better relationship with God. Problem is their focus is still on self and not on Jesus. It's on how righteous I am and how righteous I feel.
And probably what goes along with that is, oh, how not righteous that guy is and that guy is because he's not doing as much as me, or he's doing more than me. Man, he's so righteous. That's religion. And if that is your mindset, you're stuck in infancy. You probably believe Jesus is Lord, and you've confessed him as Lord, and you wanna follow him with all your heart.
But you gotta understand the teaching of righteousness. You're righteous not because of what you've done or haven't done, but because of what Jesus did. Understanding that is the key to growing to maturity. Because then, when you understand righteousness, you understand how God sees you and what he's done for you. Then, when you do stuff, you don't have to prove yourself anymore.
You've been proven by Jesus. You you don't have to earn favor anymore. Now, you're doing stuff literally out of love to slay your life down and sacrifice and serve others. It ain't about you anymore. If you easily get offended, you probably need to understand righteousness because life's too much about you.
You still okay? Alright. I just wanna get married. I love you too, buddy. It's much he makes me smile.
Alright. Verse 14, but solid food is for the mature, who by "constant use" everybody say, by constant use. By Have trained themselves to distinguish good free from evil. Once you understand righteousness, now you're ready to grow to maturity. And how do you do that?
By doing righteousness. By doing what you are, by hearing his word and putting it into practice constantly. It's a relationship. The law of the spirit. I he writes his law in my heart by speaking his word to me.
I hear it, I believe it, and then I do it. Constant use. Understanding righteous there's a lot of saints, a lot of Christians. Been Christians 20 years, and maybe they've understood righteousness for 10, but they're still immature because they ain't doing nothing. They got a head knowledge of righteousness, but they ain't got a life knowledge of it.
They ain't doing any righteous things. They're they're they're hearing God, but they're like, oh, that's out of my comfort zone. Oh, that ain't me. That's something else. Oh, you know what?
I'm not bold enough to do that. Oh, I I could never I could never share the gospel with my neighbor. Oh, I could never pray for that person. That's that's for those evangelists. Oh, I could never do that.
And their focus is on them and not Jesus. Oh, Jesus, you told me to do that. And you I'm the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, and you got your spirit in me, and it's not about me anymore. Oh, my gosh. I can follow you with whatever you say, because my weakness doesn't mean anything because your strength's in me.
And you know what? My strengths don't mean anything anymore, so I even gotta serve in my strength anymore. I can serve wherever you say. Because it ain't about me. That's Christianity.
Sorry. Got a little did I scare you? Sorry. Not sorry. Sorry.
Not sorry. Am I spitting a lot today? Yeah. I see it flying out of my mouth. You guys don't see it, but I do.
Alright. James-2:20-22. It says, you "foolish person". Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
You see, his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete. Other versions say, was perfected by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled. Faith and actions are inseparable. Faith is completed by doing.
*Faith is perfected by doing. You know how Jesus* perfects your faith? By testing it. Are you willing to do my word? When you're willing to do it, it's perfected in that area.
He moves you forward trying to perfect it even more. Are you willing to do this? So I don't have the grace for that. Maybe you do. Maybe you just don't have the faith for that.
Maybe you don't have the faith to step in the grace he's given you. He's perfecting your faith by pulling you forward in action. Amen? Amen. Faith and action are inseparable.
They go together like this. So we're saved by his grace through faith. We're saved by his grace through hearing his word, believing his word, and doing his word. To have completed faith is to have perfected faith. And there's a 3 3 step process.
Hear god's word, believe god's word, do god's word. To really believe is to do. If you don't do, you don't really believe. Remember, faith and belief are the same thing. You can say you believe all you want, but is there any action to line up with what you say?
I wanna get real practical here. We've been theological. Let's get real practical. Remember, I'm he I'm Hebrews-10:24 in you. I'm I'm considering how I can spur you on to love and good deeds.
Amen? Amen. Okay. Do you believe that going to church consistently is important? *Hebrews-10:25* or 23.
It says, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as some are in the habit of doing. It's a habit for some. It says, his word, you heard his word. Now, Looking back at your life, do you consistently go to church, or do we need to say, Lord, help my own belief? And that's okay.
Moving forward. Moving forward, Lord, "help my unbelief". I'm getting back up. I'm a start walking by faith. You know, growing up in my house, there was never a do I feel like going to church today?
This weekend got hey, baby. Are we gonna go to church? It was never that. I was a Christian. It's what I did.
Yeah. I went and I hung out with other believers. It wasn't about what I felt. I scheduled my life around going to church because that's what Christians do. It wasn't an option.
When I said, yes, Lord, I said, yes to what his board says. Amen? Alright. I can go here, and once again, I can go here delicately. Would would everybody raise their hand?
This is a setup. I just wanna make sure you're alive and you're here and you can respond. Okay. You can put your hand down. I'm gonna ask you a question.
Is your heart with God? Raise your hand if it is. Most people. Okay. Bible says where your treasure is, your heart is there also, Which means, is your money where your mouth is?
You said your heart was with God. Do you tithe? Because his word says to. If you don't, maybe you need to line up your actions with what you say. *Lord*, help my own belief.
Don't get mad at me because I said that. It's scriptural. And if you don't know where scripture where it is in the scripture, go back to our series, The Blessed Life, or be willfully ignorant and don't. We might have lost some people online. You guys are here though.
Prayer. Do you believe in prayer? If yes, what does your prayer life look like? Do you only pray when other people are around, or do you pray when nobody's around? Because that'll tell you if you really believe.
Do you only pray when tough gets rough? If stuff gets rough, tough gets rough. Do you only pray when stuff gets rough? Or do you pray in constant communion with God because he loves you and he's with you and he cares for you? If the shoe fits, kick it off.
*God, help my unbelief. Lord*, teach me what it means to pray. Approach that humbly, not in pride. How could you say that? No.
No. No. No. You know what? You're right.
That's what his word says. That's con that's convicting. That that's that's the way that I've been living. I don't wanna live that way anymore because I'm a Christian, and that's what his word says. So Lord, help my unbelief.
I wanna follow you. That's repentance. That's a repentant heart. That's that's a heart that wants to move forward in faith. That's a good thing.
It's awesome. Amen? Amen. What's some others? Healing.
What do believe about healing? You struggle with believing healing? If you struggle with believing healing, you know what? You probably need to search out some scriptures on healing. Maybe you need to listen to some cat some podcasts or something on healing so that you can hear the word, believe the word, and then walk in the word.
You know, see if you believe in healing or not, here's how you know. When you have pain and sickness in your life, do you pray for yourself to be healed? I do. Good. Do you ask others to pray for you to be healed?
When others are around you with pain and sickness in their life, do you pray for them? Do you ask them, hey, can I pray for you? If not, maybe you need to hear some word on that and grow in it. It's 1 of the commands he gave the disciples, heal the sick. What area of your life?
I mean, you can do this for all day long. I mean, man, I need to grow in my belief in a lot of areas of my life. Right? I'm not condemning you. I'm considering how I can spur you on to good works and love.
Amen? That's a good thing. So we can walk together in the world, not just in here, but out there can see Jesus in us. They need it. That's why.
Not so you can feel good about yourself, so you can love God and love people in a real way. I'm almost done, I promise. I know I went long today. I'm gonna give you 1 more word and a practical way to live it out. *Romans-10:13* through 15.
That's the dinner bell. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Amen. How then can they call on the 1 they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the 1 whom they have not heard?
And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent as it is written? How "beautiful are the feet" of those who bring the good news. How many of you guys are are Christians in here? Wave your hand if you're a Christian.
Be careful. I'm about to send you. If you're a Christian, you're a minister of the gospel. You're commissioned by God with the great commission in order to share the gospel to everyone around you, to your neighbors, to your coworkers, to your friends, to your enemies, to the people that really tick you off. You're commissioned to live out the gospel, and when they tick you off, love them back and share Jesus with them.
Guess what? I'm sending you right now. You are sent. Your "feet are beautiful". Go share the good news.
I wanna give you a practical way to do it. Easter's coming up. Yeah. *Resurrection* Sunday. It's a Sunday when most lost people go to church, and they come if they're invited.
Yep. So, here's what I want you to do. We're gonna worship here in a second, and there's gonna be an opportunity to respond. I have stacks of 10 invite cards to our Easter services right here. We're having 2, 9 and 10 because I wanna make room for lots of lost people.
Sorry. 9 10 30. My wife cleared her throat and corrected me. 9 and 10 32 services, which means we could probably have, I don't know, 250, 280 people in here. That'd be awesome.
We're praying for that. But guess what? I'm not gonna advertise. You're the advertisement. I encourage you to walk by faith.
Hear the word of the Lord, believe it, and do it. Which means I I don't want you to just take these and go pass them out to as many people as you can real quick. Once, I did it. Check. No.
Take 10. 10. I can't do that. Yes, you can. Take 10 and pray for your neighbors.
Pray for your friends. Pray for your coworkers. And then, go to them, knock on go "knock on the door". You're in a neighborhood which is your mission field, and maybe you've never met some of your neighbors before. Oh, me.
God put you there to be able to share the gospel with them as believers in Christ Jesus. That's awesome. Man, carry that call and carry it well this week. Next week, begin to pray for them for a couple of days. Then go knock on their door.
When they come to the door, say, hey, you know what? I'm sorry. I've never introduced myself before. My name is David. And I just want you to know, I believe God loves you a whole lot.
What? I'm serious. Can I pray for you? Oh. Yes.
Sure. Okay. Pray for them. Right there. But I don't pray for people.
Yeah. You do. You do now. You're a Christian. Do something radically kind for them.
Serve them in some kind of way. You know what they'll do probably? What church do you go to? You probably won't even have to say anything. Some of them you might even "share your testimony" with.
How God changed your life. Hey, you know what? God can do the same for you too. Then lead them to Jesus. After you minister to them in whatever way.
You know what? Hey, our church is having an Easter service, a couple Easter services. You know what? Even if you've never been to church, you're "welcome here". Why don't you come?
We're gonna we're gonna be telling you about how much Jesus loves you. You can do that. You can, man. It's gonna be awesome. And when you do, you're gonna take part in the fruit of their lives being transformed forever.
If they're if they're believers, you're gonna take part in them reconnecting to a local body of Christ, And so, they're gonna start growing again, and you were a part of it. How cool is that? You get to share what Jesus has been doing in your life. Thank you for tuning in today to the Real Church podcast. I pray that you walk away from today encouraged with a deeper understanding of how much God loves you.
If you'd like to connect with us, we can't wait to reach out to you and pray for you. You can go to www.realchurch.us/connect. And then also, if you would like to give to what God is doing in and through our ministry, you can do so at www.realchurch.us/giving, or you can text any amount to 84321, and then just search in the link that comes up. Search for Real Church of the Lord. God bless you, and the "best is yet to come".