What To DO, BE and AVOID-3 "What To BE"

Is. 1:16-20 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil...Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD...If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land... God shares His logic with us and invites us to REASON with Him. God’s reasoning is simple: Needing without Doing is the biggest reason faith fails. So I'm bringing 3 very basic lessons, designed for those who want to walk with God. They are: What to DO, What to BE, and What to AVOID. These 3 practices are designed for DAILY use. Learn to Manage a Day and you’ll manage LIFE! This morning we’re opening up Part Two — What to BE Daily #1 on your To-BE List — Be LOVING. Jude 20-21 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, KEEP yourselves in the LOVE of God… (1) The word BELOVED shows that God’s love is already the reality in which the believer lives. And (2), The word KEEP shows that the focus isn’t getting God to love us, but whether we’re ordering our lives so that we remain consciously: Responsive to, Dependent upon, and Governed by His love. Jn 14:15 Jesus said, If you love Me, KEEP My commandments. Living in God’s Love depends upon recognizing Love’s Authority and honoring it, rather than depending on emotional inspiration. It’s essentially Obedience: Living your life in loyalty to Jesus. One of the clearest indications that we're living a life of loyalty to Jesus is when His love begins flowing through us toward others: 1 John 4:12 If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. So BEING Loving is facilitating God’s love through you to OTHERS. That produces recognizable behaviors in you, such as Kindness, Generosity, Compassion, and Forgiveness. #2 on your To-BE List — Be HUMBLE. 1 Peter 5:5–6 God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves UNDER the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time. God presents humility not as thinking poorly of yourself, but as viewing your proper place before Him and others. IOW, BEING Humble is living based on seeing God, yourself, and others in right priority. It’s as much a daily exercise as leaving your bed, cleaning, and clothing yourself in preparation for your day. It boils it down to 3 basic movements: Look UP — Recognize your dependence upon God. Jn. 15:5 Without Me you can do nothing. Look IN — Be honest with yourself. Rom. 12:3 …Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given you. Look OUT — Place value in others. Phil. 2:3-4 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Simply stated, Being Humble is thinking like Jesus: Matt. 11:29 Jesus said, Learn from me, for I am gentle and HUMBLE, and you will find rest for your souls. #3 on your To-BE List — Be ENDURING. ENDURANCE finishes what faith begins. Heb. 10:36 For you have need of ENDURANCE, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. Doing God's will isn't enough—we must keep doing it long enough to receive what He has promised. Faith gets us started. Endurance gets us to the finish line. Mt. 24:13 Jesus said, He who endures to the end shall be saved. ENDURANCE is developed by what we go THROUGH. James 1:3–4 The trial of your faith produces Endurance. But let Endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. So rather than praying, God, get me OUT of this! We might be better off praying, God get me THROUGH this. Rom. 5:3–4 Tribulation produces ENDURANCE; and endurance, CHARACTER; and character, HOPE. You don't develop ENDURANCE by avoiding PRESSURE. PRESSURE develops ENDURANCE. Paul wrote, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Tim. 4:7) Paul didn't say, I won every battle! He simply said, I Fought. I Finished. I Kept The Faith. That is ENDURANCE. #4 on your To-BE List — Be HUNGRY. Here are 5 Reasons for spiritual HUNGER: 1. HUNGER determines what gets FILLED — Mt. 5:6 Jesus said, Blessed are those who HUNGER and thirst for righteousness, for THEY SHALL BE FILLED. 2. HUNGER makes you SEEK — Jer. 29:13 God said, You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 3. HUNGER keeps you PURSUING after you’ve already experienced God. — Phil. 3:10-14 Paul writes, That I may KNOW Him, and the power of His resurrection…that I may ATTAIN to the resurrection…so forgetting what’s behind me and reaching ahead, I PRESS toward the mark… 4. HUNGER feeds your DESIRE FOR GOD — Paul writes, Don’t quench the Spirit (1Thess. 5:19), and Stir up the gift of God that is within you. (2Tim. 1:6) You can't make yourself FULL but you can keep yourself HUNGRY. Your part is the hunger—God’s promise is the filling.