How would you finish that sentence?
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
GENESIS 15:6 and GENESIS 22
MARK 16:17 & 18
1 JOHN 5: 1 - 3
Faith was simple back in Abraham’s time. “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” When God later called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham gathered wood and walked to the place of sacrifice. He believed in God completely.
Faith was simple when Jesus walked the earth. When Jesus gave His disciples the Great Commission, He told them that signs would accompany those who believed and were saved. The disciples would be able to tell the difference between people who were saved and people who were condemned. The disciples believed Him.
Now some have made a religion of picking up snakes because that was one of the signs listed. But the real message in Mark is that believers are overcomers of this world. Believers know they are never really in harm’s way regardless of the circumstances surrounding them.
Believers act according to the One they believe in …
And faith was clearly meant to remain simple.
I JOHN 5:1 – “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God…
Verses 2 & 3 – “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His commands. This is love for God: to obey His commands…”
You won’t find believers laboring over how to fit culture and God’s Word together.
You won’t find believers who never have problems.
You won’t find believers only in the church buildings, or only among the wealthy, or only in the mission field, or only among the healthy or …
Let’s keep it simple… believers have words and lives that are locked together.
In the raging spiritual battle against the evil in this world … God has created the one who believes in Jesus and walks in obedience as victory in motion.
No obedience to God will be too hard.
Nothing in this world can really harm us.
Believers in Christ stand out in sharp contrast to the world by our obedience.
So now … how would you finish that sentence?
I BELIEVE THEREFORE I AM …
Believers … in a world which would try to take our faith and make it complicated to figure out … KEEP IT SIMPLE … God did.