GENUINE FAITH
Pastor Dennis Clanton
Woodland Church
Sunday, September 28, 2025
(James 2:14–20, NLT) “What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?”
1. GENUINE FAITH IS MUCH MORE THAN…
a. WORDS
(James 2:14, NLT) “What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?”
(Matthew 7:21, NLT) “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.”
b. EMOTION
(James 2:15–17, NLT) “Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.”
c. IDEA
(James 2:18, NLT) “Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”
d. TRUTH
(James 2:19–20, NLT) “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?”
2. GENUINE FAITH IS WHAT I DO
(James 2:26, NLT) “Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.”
(1 Corinthians 16:13–14, NLT) “Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love.”
3. GENUINE FAITH ENABLES ME TO FACE THE FUTURE
(Ecclesiastes 8:7, GN) “None of us knows what is going to happen, and there is no one to tell us.”
(See also James 4:13-17)
a. MAKE YOUR PLANS PRAYERFULLY
(Proverbs 3:5–6, NLT) “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”
b. DON’T PRESUME UPON TOMORROW
(Proverbs 27:1, NLT) “Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.”
c. PROACTIVELY PRACTICE YOUR FAITH
“A mountain of statistical information, growing every year, tells us that huge advantages belong to God-fearing, Christ-following believers. Studies by secular people using good science indicate that if you follow Christ and practice your faith, you are far more likely to live a longer, healthier life than someone who tries to live without God.” -David Jeremiah, Hopeful Parenting
(James 2:1, 8, GW) “My brothers and sisters, practice your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ by not favoring one person over another. … You are doing right if you obey this law from the highest authority: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
“The years fly by so quickly. Opportunities to drop seeds of affirmation into the soul of a child’s heart may not be as numerous as we might imagine. Let’s set aside some of our many “important” distractions and make sure this great good deed gets done in our homes … even today.” –The Blessing, Gary Smalley and John Trent
GROWTHWORK
- Be honest with yourself. Does my faith show up in daily life?
- Practice makes perfect. Stop Procrastinating.
“All of us know that the way to be a good cook or baseball player or speaker is by practice. But we somehow can’t get it into our heads that good Christians are made in pretty much the same way. … inspiration must be worked out in perspiration. … We wish we were good, we pray to be good, but we think it comes down from heaven or is achieved by some weird sort of spiritual calisthenics. We never substitute backbone for wishbone and work it out. I quoted from James. He goes on to say: “But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word, this man shall be blessed in his doing. … But practice your faith everywhere: when you are alone, in public, with your friends, and at home with the family (where it is often hardest). And don’t measure yourself every day to see how much you have grown. Just keep your eyes on the Master and your hands at work, and the miracle will happen—for it happens all along. Did you say that takes the supernatural out of the Christian experience? Isn’t there something supernatural about how a boy grows into a man? Isn’t there a mystery in how practice makes a Paderewski? We have not removed the mystery, we have only put it where it belongs, in God’s hands. How any man can become a good Christian is always partly a miracle; but the miracle is God’s part of the process, not ours. And many of us never become good Christians because we try to do the miracle part instead of the work.” –Vance Havner, January 19, 1930
- What does James say is the difference between real faith and counterfeit faith?
- James uses specific “to dos” for an action plan? Why?
- How does faith in God impact your planning?
- How can we encourage each other in our faith.
“Celebrate God’s Love by persuading people to become passionate followers of Christ!”