Responding to the Gospel

So my readership has dropped drastically over the last few days because as my beloved pointed out, what I was blogging about was not very inspiring, spiritually strong, or even fun to read. So I'm going to shift gears. I wanted to focus tonight on some responses to the Faith that we need to have in our lives if we are truly in love with Jesus.

First, when I say the Faith with the definitive article in front of it I mean the gospel of Jesus. The gospel of Jesus, as I pray you all know, is the good news of Jesus death and resurrection to save and redeem us from our dead sinful state before God. The Faith is the belief in this good news and a new state of being that is faithful to living this good news out for others.

So here is a list of responses that I find in Scripture that we need to have to the faith. I hope to explore some of these over the next weeks and flesh some of the responsive truths out in more detail.

1)The Faith is to be believed and professed- Hebrews 4:14
2)We are to stand firm in, hold firmly to, remain true to, and keep the Faith- 1 Cor. 16:13, 2 Tim. 4:7, 1 Peter 5:9
3)We are to be grounded in and strengthened in the Faith- Col. 2:7
4) We are to be nourished on the words of the Faith- 1 Timothy 4:6
5) We are to become obedient to the Faith- Acts 6:7
6) We are to love others who are in the Faith- Gal.6:10
7) We are to fight the good fight and contend earnestly for the Faith- 1 Tim. 6:12
8) We are to hold to the deep truths of and be sound in the Faith- Titus 1:13
9) We are to preach the Faith- Gal.1:23
10) We are to teach the Faith and it's implications- 1 Tim. 4:6-11
11) We are minister until the whole church reaches unity in the Faith- Eph.4:13
12) Some wander from or are tempted to turn from the Faith- Acts 13:8
13) By their actions, some deny the Faith- 1 Tim. 5:8
14) Some, as far as the Faith goes, are rejected- 2 Tim. 3:8
15) Some turn away from, abandon or fall away from the Faith- Matt. 24:10-11

This list is very convicting on many different levels. When I think about the desire to be a little shepherd under the Big Shepherd in His church I see this list as important. When I think of this list as a father and husband, this list is very challenging. When I think of this list as son or employee, this list gives me the chills. When I think of this list as a member of God's church, I realize I have much work to do and ways to grow and actions to watch. My favorite response is #9. What is your favorite or most convicting? Lord willing, I would like to explore this list in some detail in the days and weeks ahead.