Construction is a process

Intro:

Over the past two weeks we have been in a series entitled reconstructing faith.

In week 1, I shared with you that Love is the foundational element by which all things work. Som important things I have shared with you is that God is love he doesn’t just simply have love. Love is not subjective to culture, and it must be developed through the renewal of the mind. To walk in love is to walk in God.

Last week Pastor Josh shared with you about identity, and how the word of God has to be bigger than your experience. In order to know and function in our identity we must seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Today, I want to remind you that construction is a process. Buildings are not built in a day. If they are you may not want to be inside of it when a storm comes. To construct it quickly likely means someone cut corners in the process.

I will submit to you today that cutting corners in the spiritual construction process will ultimately prove detrimental.

What do I mean by that? If I try to do just enough to get into heaven, but don’t do enough to get headed into me it’s going to prove to be detrimental.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:24-27 ““Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.””

Something I want you to see about the passage is that both people heard the sayings. It’s what we do with what we hear that matters.

With this in mind, how do we properly construct a life of faith without cutting corners?

The initial step in the spiritual construction process is to understand where you are. Without proper understanding of where you currently are, how will you know where you need to go?

Identifying where we are in the process is essential.

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Submit:

2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.”

There are many today who claim to be in Christ, but how do we know where we are at spiritually?

Here are three simple questions to help you examine your life:

1) Do you long for personal communion with God?

Many times in the book of Psalms we see the writer longing for communion with God. Psalm 42:1. Psalm 63:1-7. Psalm 84:1-2.

Psalm 42:1 “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.”

Psalm 63:1-7 “O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips. When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches. Because You have been my help, Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.”

Psalm 84:1-2 “How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”

The one who has truly surrendered their life to Christ longs to be with Him. A simple examination is do you long for personal communion with God?

2) Do you love what He loves?

Do you still love the things of the world?

1 John 2:15-16 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”

Do you love others?

1 John 4:20 “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”

1 John 2:9-11 “He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

Do you love justice and truth?

Isaiah 61:8 ““For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth, And will make with them an everlasting covenant.”

3) Do you hate what he hates?

Proverbs 6:16-19 “These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.”

We must understand today that God hates sin.

I want to clarify something here. God does not hate people, but it is clear that He is opposed to the actions of people who are out of alignment with His word. We must become opponents of the right thing. People are not the issue, its the sin nature in people that is the issue. People need to be born again. If we become oppositional to people we will miss an opportunity to walk in love toward them. We need to speak and live the truth, but it must be done through the lens of the love of God.

Do you long for communion with God?

Do you love what He loves?

Do you hate what he hates?

The person who is in Christ longs to be with Him, they long for His return, and they live to keep His commandments. They love people, and despise the things of the world.

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Apply:

How is our love for God expressed?

1) Through obedience.

1 John 2:5 “But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.”

John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.””

The foundation of our faith is built by obedience through love. The more we walk in obedience to the word of God the greater the increase of our love. Remember that 1 John 4:8 says that God is love. Which means the greater increase of love in our life is actually a greater increase of God’s presence in our life.

2) By our love for one another.

John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.””

1 John 3:16-19 “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.”

If Love for God and people are absent from our lives we need to take note. These are the identifying factors of the believers life. Without them present in our lives we can rest assured that we are not walking with the Lord.

You may be thinking but Pastor you don’t know how bad they hurt me! You don’t know the trauma I have been through. Can I remind you today that you and I are supposed to be dead to ourselves when we say yes to Christ. His grace is sufficient for us. His word is strong enough to heal our wounded hearts. If we choose to continue in hurt and offense we have a veil over our eyes.

If you are thinking pastor that is me. I am not walking in love you don’t have to fret or feel shame.

God has made a way through Jesus Christ and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit for you to walk in love.

2 Corinthians 3:15-16, “But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”

1 Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

If you will turn to the Lord He will remove the veil from your heart and help you to see clearly. He will give you the Holy Spirit to help you.

John 16:13-14 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”

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Closing:

As we evaluate our lives we must be honest. Do we see these things active in our lives? Do we desire to have communion with God? Do we love what he loves? Do we hate what he hates? Do we walk according to His ways?

If not there remains a veil over your eyes that is keeping you from walking in the truth. Surrender to the Lord and the Holy Spirit will remove the veil and guide you into obedience to the word of God. You wont have to manufacture love in your life, it will be poured out by the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5.

Romans 5:5 “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

The love of God perfected and demonstrated in our lives is essential to God’s plan to bring transformation and salvation to the world. The beauty of the Gospel is that we do not have to complete the task on our own. The Holy Spirit will help us.

Let me leave you with a final passage of scripture. 1 John 4:7-11.

1 John 4:7-11 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Lets Pray!

Salvation

Spirit Empowerment