THE WORD OF GOD SAYS
THE OUTRAGEOUS NONSENSE OF TALK WITHOUT ANY ACTION
Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
James 2: 14-17 MSG
THE DANGER OF COMPLACENCY
Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
James 2:19-20 MSG
YOUR TWO PROGRESS PARTNERS
Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners…
James 2:21-24 MSG
WHEN YOU CAN TELL ALL IS WELL BETWEEN YOU AND GOD
Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?
James 2:21-24 MSG
THIS IS THE ONLY TIME WHEN YOU KNOW—FOR A FACT—YOU AREN’T MAKING ANY GOOD PROGRESS IN YOUR LIFE
The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.
James 2:25-26 MSG
DON’T GIVE UP
So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.
Galatians 6:9-10 The Message MSG
SPIRITUAL FLABBINESS
Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart. This is why we’ve thrown ourselves into this venture so totally. We’re banking on the living God, Savior of all men and women, especially believers.
1 Timothy 4:6-10 The Message (MSG)
JUST KEEP AT IT
Cultivate these things. Immerse yourself in them. The people will all see you mature right before their eyes! Keep a firm grasp on both your character and your teaching. Don’t be diverted. Just keep at it. Both you and those who hear you will experience salvation.
1 Timothy 4:5-16 The Message (MSG)
Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.
James 1:12 MSG
ACT ON WHAT YOU HEAR!
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
James 1:22-24 MSG
PRAY THAT GOD WILL BUILD AND PROTECT YOUR DREAMS—WITHOUT HIS HELP, YOUR WORK IS WASTED
Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good.
Psalm 127:1 NLT
IF YOU WANT TO MAKE GOOD PROGRESS IN YOUR LIFE, DON’T EVER WASTE ANYTHING THAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU
When the people had eaten their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the leftovers so nothing is wasted.” They went to work and filled twelve large baskets with leftovers from the five barley loaves.
John 6:12-13 MSG
GET MOVING!
Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet.
1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 MSG
GUARANTEED PROGRESS IF YOU STAY COMMITTED TO GOD
Delight yourself in the Lord , And He will give you the desires and petitions of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord ; Trust in Him also and He will do it. He will make your righteousness [your pursuit of right standing with God] like the light, And your judgment like [the shining of] the noonday [sun].
Psalms 37:4-6 AMP
THE ONLY PROGRESS THAT COUNTS
What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.”
Luke 3:7-9 MSG
IF WHAT YOU DO IS WITHIN GOD’S WILL, YOU WILL SURELY SUCCEED EVEN IF YOU CAN’T SEE ANY PROGRESS
“So I am telling you: Hands off these men! Let them alone. If this program or this work is merely human, it will fall apart, but if it is of God, there is nothing you can do about it—and you better not be found fighting against God!”
Acts 5:38-39 MSG