praise and worship | Arelle Valla White

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Genuine, is your faith real?

August 2nd, 2009

Arelle V. White

This is the last song we sang at church today…

How great is our God.

VERSE(1):
The splendor of a King,
Clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice,
All the earth rejoice
He wraps himself in light,
And darkness tries to hide
And trembles at his voice,
And trembles at his voice

CHORUS(1):
How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great, How great
Is our God

VERSE(2):
Age to age he stands
And time is in His Hands
Beginning and the End,
Beginning and the End
The Godhead, Three in one
Father, Spirit, Son
The Lion and the Lamb,
The Lion and the Lamb

CHORUS(1):
How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great, How great
Is our God

CHORUS(2)
Name above all names
You are Worthy of all praise
and My heart will sing how great
Is our God
(x2)

CHORUS(1):
How great is our God,
Sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great, How great
Is our God

Our series at church is entitled “GENUINE“, it will be a 5 week discussion. For this weeks it’s
Genuine – is your faith real? Please allow me to share some of my notes. It was shared by Ptr. Edgar.

Come to think of it, a lot in the world today are fakes and imitations. If you are from my country, the Philippines, you probably have at least 1 fake of something, sometimes we are not aware of the fake stuff we might have, like certain gifts we receive.Just visit greenhills and there are tons of pirated CD’s, fake Rolex’s, fake Nike or Adidas shoes, fake Prada’s and Gucci’s. There are even fake people (the so called Great Pretenders).

The Pastor is right about saying that we might think that fake stuff can be cool because they’re cheaper and yet looks almost the same as the real one. Some fake stuff can be harmless, however other fake stuff can be harmful or even fathal to you and I. It may harm us, our family even our relationships. A fake rubber shoes can cause injury or a fake investment company where hard earned income are invested in, when gone, can devastate a person financially. Even when we invest emotionally to a person who are later found fake cause tremendous emotional stress. In one way or another we have personally experienced being taken advantaged of by fake people in school, in business or in personal relationships and I am sure you know it does hurt.

In the same way, the “Real Thing” can be good for us. Real Nike’s can be protective for us when playing sports, and bring us comfort even just for walking, real investments can give us good yields and real people can bring true and lasting joy, happiness and unconditional love. Genuine Faith is enjoying Blessings!

Just like things and people, there is a fake and genuine faith, that can bring harm or blessing.

The text is on James 1: 21- 25 .

²¹Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

²²Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

James talked about Two (2) kinds of attitude one may have in response to God’s Word and what these attitudes bring.

1. Attitude of listening to the Word and does not do what it says.

Result: Deception- that brings harm and will cause hurts and pains.

2.Attitude of INTENTLY reading the Word, and DOING what it says.

Result: Blessing- that brings security, peace, joy and success.

The first (1st) attitude talks about “being knowledgeable about what the Word says, yet doesn’t do it.” It is deceiving ones self like what was said in the scripture above.

We hear of people covering something that happened to them or something they did thinking
its the best way that will not bring harm (like lying to protect oneself- coz say you don’t want to be scolded), yet later on it brings unlikely effects (like losing people’s trust).

The worst kind of deception is Self-Deception. The kind where one lives in an illusion, or fantasy. Sometimes when something really bad and traumatic happens to us, we try to think it didn’t happen to the point of believing ourselves that it really didn’t happen. Instead of accepting that it did happen and seek help to get better,we conceal the hurts and pains and doesn’t get healed of it.

We can go through the motions of attending church, listening to christian music but not experience the deep meaning of having a relationship with Christ.

Why would people rather just listen to the Word and not do what it says?
Because…

1. One thinks it applies to someone else…

Ex.
The word says, do not look lustfully to a woman.— “oh this is for my bestfriend”

do not let the sun down angry — “oh this is for my dad”

Give your tithes and offering — “oh this is for my mom”

lol.. selective in receiving God’s word…we can look at everyone else except us.

2. The Truth is hard to do.

Ex. Quit smoking…we know its not healthy yet we do it.

James compared the word to a mirror.

Only the Bible can tell us the deepest core of our being when we look at it and read it.
It does not only reveal how we look like, and how we are, but it also shows us what we can become. Successful, blessed with a destiny and purpose. That makes the bible a different kind of mirror.Can you handle the truth?

The bible knows us better than we know ourselves… Have you taken a video of yourself when you are angry, do you know what you like like? You probably don’t and don’t want to see how you actually look like when you are mad.
When you see a picture of you on a shot where you look funny, you erase it right? lol…

The 2nd Attitude is desiring to look at the Word INTENTLY, with the desire to Obey.
Humbly accepts what the Word says about the condition of our heart…
you can say ” I humbly accept” and will change..
or say “no im okey” …

God will not reveal himself to casual inquirers…God wants to be a person we can enjoy a relationship with and experience his love and his blessings. We must look at ourselves, accept that salvation is only by faith and not by works. And that salvation needs to be worked.

Let us try not to be those who say they’re Christians yet they stay with the same lifestyle of sinning. And missing out on the very best things God has to offer when we seek to live according to God’s standard. I hope we are not the kind who are just going through the motions of attending church, enjoying praise and worship songs but not really having the break through of living a victorious life, a result of obeying the Word.

Delayed obedience is still obedience. If God is telling you to do something right now, follow it it right now. I know it’s not easy, but thank God, He is our there to help.

The Bible tells us who we are, what the condition of our heart is. The good thing is, it does not only tell us those, but also points us to what we can become, a person of Success, Purpose and Destiny. It is our road map to finding “Blessings”

But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

The word of God has the power to transform your life, our lives.

I am a God’s work in progress, i make a lot of mistakes and the bible reminds me of those so i can correct myself, (and i sure do know how the result of disobedience hurts), yet it also tells me that i am forgiven and shows me what is in store for me as I do what is right. When I read and obey, God has never failed in sending his blessings!

You may listen to preachings at Victory Christian Fellowship by clicking here. This series will be available on a podcast, please visit this link in soon to listen to Genuine-is your faith real?

You are invited to join us as we study this series at Victory Quezon City, we meet at the UP Film Institute every SUNDAY, there is a service at 9 AM, 11 AM, 3 PM (Tagalog) and 5 PM.