Sermon Tone Analysis

We're going to *continue* teaching on *God’s divine order of faith*.

*Today* we're going to go on to *step No. 7*, but before we do that I want to *briefly* go *over the first six steps*.

*Step No. 1 is to “IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM.”*

*Step No. 2 was to “MAKE A QUALITY DECISION.”*

*Step No. 3 is to “FIND THE PROMISE IN THE WORD OF GOD.”* *S**tep No. 4 is to “UNDERSTAND IMPORTANCE OF HEARING THE WORD OF GOD AND MAKE THAT EFFORT TO HEAR IT.”* *Step No. 5 is “MEDITATION ON THE WORD OF GOD.”*

And *step No. 6 “CONFESS OR SPEAK THE WORD OF GOD.”*

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I) Once you take in these six vital steps, it’s time to go on to the next one.

STEP NO. 7 is to “ACT ON THE WORD OF GOD.”

*A) **This is another area* *where* many *Christians* tend to *short-circuit* the *power of faith* *before* they ever *see* any *results*.

*1) **No one* *in the Bible* *make a stronger case* *for acting on your faith then James*.

So let’s *turn there*.

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B) James 2:14-26

! 1)  In Verse 14 James says “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works?

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a) Here he’s talking about a false faith, phony.

Can this type of faith save him?

Of course not.

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b) The Bible Knowledge commentary says, “Faith by itself, or faith in and of itself with no evidence of action, is dead.

Workless faith is worthless faith.”

! 2) Verse 21, 23  Then Rom 4:1-5

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a) This almost sounds like a contradiction until you learn how faith really operates.

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b) If you really believe the Word of God, you will act accordingly.

*3) *Here *James very clearly tells us* that “*Faith without works is dead*.”

*a) *That is probably one of the most quoted scriptures, but it’s also very true.

*4) **You can generate faith by hearing** the Word of God*, *you **can plant that faith in your heart* *by meditating on it*, *and* *you can even put into motion by confessing it*.

*But unless you take the additional step* *of **acting on it*, *there’ll be no life** in it* *to produce what you need*.

*a) **If you **study** out the Word* *“WORKS”* *you’ll find* out *that it literally means* *“ACTING ACCORDINGLY.”*

I think *Kenneth** Hagin** coined* the *phrase “CORRESPONDING ACTION.”*

*(i) **Living*, *moving*, *and* *producing **faith* *will **always** be **accompanied by corresponding action*.

And *it’s a principal* *we’ll see repeated over and over* again *in the Word* of God.

*(ii) **If you have **faith* *there will be a corresponding **action*.

*b) **If you really believe the Word* of God *you’re going to act accordingly*.

*Let me give you **example*, if you *watched* the *news* *and* they *told* you that there is a *100 percent chance** that it’s going to **rain*.

*You would **dress for rain*.

*(i) **Why*?

*You believed* what they said, *and* *acted accordingly*.

*c) **That’s what we need to do with God’s Word*.

*Believe* what he says *and act* *like you believe it*.

*C) **James** **gives** us **several examples* *of **people** **who** **backed up their faith with deeds*.

*One of them is **Abraham*.

*1) **I’m sure you remember* *that* *Abraham and Sarah* *were given a **miracle baby* *by God* *when **Abraham** was a **hundred years old*.

*a) **Later God spoke* to him *and asked him* *to take his son* Isaac *and sacrifice him* on an altar.

*2) *Let’s look at the story and turn with me to *Genesis 17:1-9*

*a) **Here God made several promises to Abraham* *and his seed*.

*The seed that God made the promises to* *and his covenant with* *is Isaac*.

Look at *Genesis 17:21.*

*(i) **Abraham** had God’s Word* *back in (Genesis 15:5)* *that God was going to number him as the stars in the sky*.

*Now God said to take that covenant seed*, *that covenant child*, *and offer him on the altar* as a sacrifice.

*(ii) **Abraham had taken every step of faith we’ve seen so far in God’s divine order of faith*.

*Now it was time for him to put his faith into action*.

*D) **Look at what Abraham said* in *Genesis 22:5*

*1) **Did you see that?* *“I and the lad will go and come again to you.”** **Abraham** knew* *that the **boy** **was going to come back with him*.

*Abraham** was willing* *to stake everything on God’s promise*.

*And he did*.

*2) **Abraham** **was more than just a hearer of the Word*.

*He was a **doer of the Word*.

*Because of that* *Abraham even saw to a greater extent* *how God will keep his promises* to us *if we only believe*.

*a) **But keep in mind* that *Abraham had done all the other steps of faith* up to this point.

*b) **That’s a difference between Abraham’s experience and* so *many others* *that failed area of faith*.

*(i) **Many people who are sick*.

*Hear a little bit about faith*, *they read* *“By his stripes I am healed,”* *they confess get a couple times*.

*Then they hear they’re supposed to act on their faith*, *so they throw their medicine away*.

*And when they almost die*, *they wonder why that faith stuff didn’t work*.

*(ii) **But they missed it because they didn’t know how to operate under God’s divine order of faith* *or they don’t operate in God’s divine order of faith because it’s just too much work*.

*(iii) **Quite often people just want to take a shortcut* *but with the things of God* *it just doesn’t work that way*.

*It is important to act on the Word of God*.

*But you must have laid the foundation of doing the six other steps we’ve discussed*.

*c) **Let me say* this before we go on, *nowhere in the Word of God does it ever say or tell anyone to stop taking their medicine*.

*And the Bible never says that it’s sin to go to the doctor*.

Don’t let anyone tell you it is.

*(i) **God is still healer* *whether he uses a medical doctor* *or* *you’re healed by the Great Physician*.

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II) Once you’ve laid the foundation in operateing according to God’s divine order of faith and you have a promise from the Word God to stand on, it is vital that you act as though the promise is already the reality in your life.

*A) *Let me give you *another example*.

*Let’s say you see in the Word that you are to prosper and have an abundance*.

*You also see that you are to be the head and not the tail*.

*The lender and not the borrower*.

*1) **Don’t wait for your bank account to start filling up* *before you act like a prosperous person*.

*Act like it now*.

*a) **You may not have a lot of fancy new close* *but you can keep the ones that you do have* *clean and looking they’re very best*.

*(i) **Simply start thinking like a prosperous person*, *talking like a prosperous person*, and *acting like a prosperous person.*

*(ii) **I’m not telling you to go out and spend money*, *as a matter of fact*, *I’m telling you don’t spend money* *and* *don’t put it on credit*.

*(iii) **What I am telling you*, *is to change your way of thinking*.

*When you walk into a room*, *walk-in* *with your head up*, *your shoulders back*, *your clothes clean and pressed*, *your make up on* *or clean shaving*.

*(a) **If you believe you’re a prosperous man or woman start acting like a prosperous person*.

*You can do it without spending any money*.

*b) **People with a lot of money don’t worry about how are going to pay the bills*; *they don’t go around to everyone a complaint how little money they have*.

*If you’re really expecting God’s Word to be a reality in your life*, *neither should you*!

*(i) **Let me say one more time* *I’m not telling you to spend money* *so that you would look prosperous*, *but what I’m telling you is to change outlook*.

*Hold on to the promise of God and act like it so*.

*2) **There’s one other area along these lines that people seem to have a problem with* *and that is that people try to believe God beyond what they can believe him for*.

*a) **For instance*, *someone that has an annual salary of ten thousand dollars*, *may have a hard time believing God for a hundred thousand a year*.

*When they don’t see the hundred thousand come*, *they get frustrated and give up*.

*(i) **It’s much easier to believe God for an increase of just a few thousand dollars annually*. *As you see God come through in the smaller things* *your faith will begin to grow and you’ll have a greater reality that God keeps his Word and fulfills his promises*.

*You’ll then begin to be able to believe God for even greater things*.

*b) **It works like stepping stone’s*; *you take one step at a time*.

*But you don’t dare leap* *from one stone* *to very end*, *that could be very dangerous*.

*B) **I mentioned* just *a moment ago* that *we need to change our attitude* *and* *our way of thinking*.

*But sometimes old habits die hard*.

*It’s not always going to be easy to change your way of thinking*, *but if you want to start walking in victory* *you’re going to have to get rid of the poverty mentality*, *you rid of the sickness mentality*, *get rid of the defeated mentality*, *get rid of the failure mentality*, *and* *get rid of the grasshopper mentality*.

*1) *You *remember* *what happened* to the children of *Israel* *when they went to spy out the Canaan land* in (*Numbers 13:33*).

The children of *Israel* *had a grasshopper mentality*.