Real faith

Can You Tell the Difference

Remember those puzzles - 2 pictures and had to find all the things that were different

Today right to the point -

If you are claim to be a follower of Christ - does your life look different?

Shouldn't it be obvious?

Last week we went over our “Be’s”

Over the next few weeks we are going to dive deeper

We exist to help others Believe in God - what does that actually mean and look like?

Is it just a prayer, or is it going to church?

Many call themselves spiritual or religious or even Christian but it is nothing new

In Mark 6 we find the Story of Jesus preaching in his hometown, word had spread about Jesus

Nazareth was a very religious town - they were separatist and very devout - almost sect

Mark 6:1–6 CSB

He left there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. “Where did this man get these things?” they said. “What is this wisdom that has been given to him, and how are these miracles performed by his hands? Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” So they were offended by him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his household.” He was not able to do a miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. He was going around the villages teaching.

Seems kind of vague - did He say something, I love the Gospels.

Often they tell the same story form a different perspective

Jump to Luke 4

We see Jesus’ sermon

People who knew but did not know

What should real faith look like?

This morning that’s what we are going to dive into

Let’s pray

Real Faith:

1. There can be a big difference between being a Christian and being a disciple

Christian has became a cultural term - a title

Not as much as many have chosen - being spiritual

Disciple - evidence of a transformation

James 1:22 CSB

But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Disciple is a lifestyle

Jesus did not come to make believers

James 2:19 CSB

You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.

Jesus came to call disciples - a disciple’s goal is to become just like their leader

Christian was derogatory term - “Trying to be just like that Jesus”

Yea I am -that’s the point

It makes no sense to claim one is a Christian if your not looking more like Jesus

“A disciple is a learner, a student, an apprentice – a practitioner… Disciples of Jesus are people who do not just profess certain views as their own but apply their growing understanding of life in the Kingdom of the Heavens to every aspect of their life on earth.” ~ Dallas Willard

2. It is impossible to be a disciple without experiencing life change

John 15:8 CSB

My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.

There has to be something different

We went from death to life

Hopeless to hopeful

Lost to found

Those things look different - so should our lives

We no longer can be unforgiving, bitter, divisive, self absorbed

We no longer do what ever we want, however we want

Our attitudes and desire should change and be changing

Amazing grace - blind I see, lost I am found

If your life looks no different with Jesus than without Jesus - you do know my Jesus

3. A disciple surrenders his/her will to God’s will

“Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God’s will.”  ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Matthew 16:24 CSB

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

The cross was sign of death - it was offensive to the Jews

Crucifixion was spectacle for all to see you die

Surrender means total - no matter the outcome i want the whole world to see it is not me living anymore

By losing I win

Real Faith

When we lessen what it means to follow Jesus to just believing we cheapen the grace given

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Our fiath is meant to be so much more

Maybe that is why some are frustrated

It is an all or none proposition

We are called to be disciples

When i choose to believe in God - i choose to believe all of it or I get none of it

Is there a difference?

If not - then why not today?

Let’s Pray