Go Ye
Mark 16: 15-28
Acting on the Word of God
Introduction
This is a Pic and a couple of brothers from the church in Cancun working in evangelism and teaching the word of God to these construction workers. We must understand that we need to reach out and put the word of God into action. We must understand that believing demands action and creates action. Mental ascent only admires and admits a truth, but does not act on it. Acting on the word of God is letting Jesus Christ act through you. Acting on the word, then gives God his power to move on your behalf. Given the word, its place is giving Christ his position of Lordship in your life. The problem of believing is made simple when we know that it is acting on what God has spoken. In the parable of the wise builder is very plain, that everyone who hears the teachings of Christ, and acts upon them will be found to resemble a wise person who built their house upon the rock. Jesus and His word are one and doing the word is letting Jesus have control in our lives. He that does not do the word never built upon a solid foundation. We must become doers of the word, or else the entire structure of our lives, family, and even faith is destroyed. You can tell whether a person is building on sand, or on the rock, by noting whether they are practicing or not, whether they are acting on the word. “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 like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.” James 1; 22-25 KJV
But prove yourselves doers of the word [actively and continually obeying God’s precepts], and not merely listeners [who hear the word but fail to internalize its meaning], deluding yourselves [by unsound reasoning contrary to the truth]. For if anyone only listens to the word without obeying it, he is like a man who looks very carefully at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he immediately forgets what he looked like. But he who looks carefully into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and faithfully abides by it, not having become a [careless] listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he will be blessed and favored by God in what he does [in his life of obedience]. James 1; 22-25 Amplified Version
The Self-Deluded Person
Many people think that hair knowledge is sufficient. I’m not against education. I have advanced degrees in psychology, sociology, criminology, as well as theology.
What I do know, though, is that anyone who thinks that knowledge is all that they need to succeed will fail miserably. It is the doer of the word, the man who practices it, lives it, walks in it, speaks the word of God, the bills into his own life, who got honors. There’s a grave danger of diluting ourselves when we think we just have had knowledge. When I was in seminary, I learned Greek and Hebrew. I knew the history of the word of God but I met many people who did not practice it. It’s when you come to a hard place in your life when your back is up against the wall, when one turns to God. Living the Word of God is practicing the Word of God.
Characteristics of Self Delusion
The scriptures described people who are who can’t make up their mind. They are always vacillating from one extreme to another. From one idea to another to one. This type of person is called double minded. It has to do with loyalty. It is a matter of the heart. What or whom do we hold dear.
• How we Start.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Rom. 12: 1-2.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship. And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you]. Rom. 12: 1-2. Amplified Bible
• Being Double Minded.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith (the heart), with no doubting (the mind), for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James 1:5-8. (KJV)
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. James 1:5-8. (NLT)
The Lifestyle of a Doer of the Word of God.
Unless you were Doer of the Word, you’re not a believer of the word. You have nothing more than a Mental Assent without action, a mere empty profession of religious words. Jesus would call them a sand foundation, just the sand house made by idle hands on the seashore to be destroyed by the next incoming tide. What a danger is a religion of words if there is no corresponding action, if no one is a doer of the word, he is a foolish builder on the sand on his five physical senses.
Understand this, if you are a doer of the word, you know that the word is living in your lips. It’s just as all the masters will get himself. Jesus himself said that He is a living word in you. He is with you in the presence of the Almighty, Holy Spirit that lives within us. He hasn’t left us alone, and he will not leave us alone. His ability is our ability. His strength is our strength. As we begin to do the word, He begins to do it us and through us.
James 2; 20 (Moffat Translation) says faith without deeds is barren. It is a mirror empty words that sound lovely and beautiful, but they are never crystallize or made real. Weymouth translation says faith without corresponding actions is of no effect. So, what it is saying is that we must Act on the Word regardless of our feelings people rely on their feelings, instead of relying on what the Word says.
If we need to love those who are difficult scripture says that the Love of God, agape love dwells within us. We must act in love no matter what our flesh (physical senses) says or how we feel.
The Doer of the Word sees answered prayer. People healed, saved, and delivered from the devil.
“You, my children, who belong to God have already defeated this spirit, because the one who lives in you is far stronger than the anti-Christ in the world. The agents of the anti-christ are children of the world, they speak the world’s language and the world, of course, pays attention to what they say. I John 4:4,
We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. 2 Cor. 6:1
What shall we then say to these things? (What things?) If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom. 8:31