Growing up I always loved to play with sets of Legos, and I at once had quite a collection of them. And whenever I got a brand new set I always had to turn those loose bricks into the design on the box, at least one time. I would always love making my own creations with the blocks, but I just had to follow the directions that first time opening the box.
But you see, in order for you to be able to make what is pictured on the box you need to follow the directions that come with the package. That is the key here: you need to follow the directions, not just look at the diagram and then decide to make something else. You must follow those step by step instructions exactly.
A person can hear the word of God preached, but unless they apply the teachings that they have heard to their life,…..just reading the Bible isn’t enough. You need to apply the words found inside to your life, and become a doer, not just a hearer only.
James 1:22-25 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
Just claiming to be a Christian doesn’t necessarily make you one. Just the other day I read about a story of a man pretending to be an officer of the law, even going so far as to pull over speeding motorists on the highway, and writing out penalty fines. But he wasn’t an officer. To be a Christian, as I try to make abundantly clear often, means that you are a follower of the teachings of Christ. Not just a hearer only, but a doer of His will.
This is something that many people seem to have forgotten in today’s “modern Christianity” as many people think that having a Bible sitting on their shelf and showing up in a few on a Sunday automatically makes them a Christian. Maybe if they would take a few moments and open up the cover of their Bibles they would find this passage from the Lord:
Luke 6:46-49 “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”
Jesus is the rock, the foundation of our faith. He is who we need to build our faith on, in our daily lives, in every decision that we make. When we look at others we remember, as followers of Christ, that Jesus died for them so that they could be saved. As His followers, we need to be a doer of His word, and become fishers of men, becoming labourers in the harvest of men’s souls, and deliver them unto Christ.
Ultimately it comes down to an individual’s decision. To follow Jesus or not. To keep His teachings or not.
So what kind of a person are you? Are you a person who has built their faith on the Rock, which is Christ? Is your faith solid, and unmovable, and unshakeable? Are you a doer, or are you just a hearer? Are you following those instructions?
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 