Power Of the Best Sermon

 Key Scripture:    "Anyone who sets himself up as "religious"by talking a good game is self-deceived.  This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air... don't let the Word go in one ear and out the other." Adapted from James 1, The Message

Power Point:

     My life is my best sermon.  It's what I do after I close the computer and go about my daily life that determines what I preach to people isn't it?  I can say all sorts of wonderful things when I write devotionals, but let's face it, if you know me, and my life doesn't line up with what I've written, it just won't have any effect.  Nor should it. If I'm constantly irritable, or selfish, or easily offended, then my life won't preach what God intends it to preach.  We've all known preachers who can tell us about  the goodness of God, but they are unkind when they walk out of the pulpit.  I'm sure you've met people who talk about the love of God and then don't ever show it. You can't trust someone who doesn't live what they preach can you?

     You can usually check your own sermon by your responses to others, including your family!

     If you say one thing and do another on a regular basis. Your children, or those closest too you, are the first ones to pick up on it.  They know!  And they won't pay attention to your words if your words aren't carried out in your actions.  They won't be like Jesus if you aren't. I may be as sweet as the next person when I'm sharing the gospel but if I'm a jerk behind closed doors, my life won't preach what it's supposed to.

     Shouldn't my family life be my best sermon?

     If I declare that I am a good friend, yet I indulge in gossip about my friends that just won't preach will it?

     If I preach love and live bitterness, it just doesn't preach.

     If I am wildly ecstatic about God helping me but won't lift a finger to help someone else, it just doesn't preach.

     If I preach on the power of giving but hold on tightly to everything I have, it just doesn't preach.

     People who don't live what they preach, are full of hot air. The Word of God is going in one ear and out the other. That's why we are supposed to ACT on what God tells us and let our lives be a sermon on His goodness to every person we meet. Your life is living proof of what you really believe. It's always preaching whether you know it or not.

His Life Preached
And Still Does.

Power Thought:
"One act of obedience is better than one-hundred sermons."  Dietrich Bonhoeffer