Obedience.

faith without works are is dead.

brother I always try to really see what your saying because I respect your views and opinions a lot And agree with you most often

can I share a short testimony summary real quick ? from the time I can remember I was hearing my daddy read Bible stories I heard of Daniel and the lions den , shadrach meshach and abednego and the fiery furnace

daddy read of talking donkeys angels and dragons ect I always heard the scripture then and it was seeds being planted I was a true believer of John 3:16 that’s was my heart regarding salvation and I truly believed anyone who believes in Jesus will receive everlasting life

the day I turned 18 the world changed alot for me truly alot. I still believed and for about the next fifteen years it was a struggle for me to just comprehend what I had been through from 18-20 and I turned to alcohol and being honest with you I wasn’t living s Christian life really at all I was living a sinful life but I know that now looking back

At the time I was trying to survive from one day to the next I always believed in Jesus and always said a prayer when I was in a tight spot but my mind and heart weren’t able to hear God at that point in my life all I knew was keep believing in Jesus and he’s going to save my soul when it matters

I became an an alcoholic and had a lot of mental struggle related to ptsd I used to call it “mind shock “ not making an excuse at all for alcoholism but im just saying I was a mess a total wreck from 18-35

The reason I can’t look at what others are doing wrong and judge them is because I remember when I wasn’t doing anything right but I believed in Jesus with all my heart. I remember that he had a thousand reasons to let me go and forsake me like I had forsaken him so often in my actions

he had a thousand chances to judge me guilty and be done with me justly because I deserved it through those times but all those times when I wasn’t worthy of his time , his love , his patience and forebearance all those times I had been drunk or gotten on a fight or insulted people or started some trouble or something jesus never did let me go

Every time I deserved to be lost because of my own imperfections and shortcomings my own poor choices and sin he still loves me through all of those times when my actions didn’t reflect Christian faith at all he was already with me and because he never abandoned me at my worst and instead loves me back to wholeness and peace now my heart is his , he won me over he won my obedience and ny loyalty he won my attention with his love for me , not because o was worthy to be loved , but because he is worthy to love even those of us who don’t yet show that worth to anyone else

Jesus sees people truly as we cannot. He’s with them in the hardest times knows all thier scars he knows thier level of understanding knows when they do something they know is wrong or if they did something and “ knew not what they were doing “

Because Jesus accepted me even when I wasn’t doing things right in people’s sight , because he loves me when I was at my worst , now he gets my best

Jesus is a healer of broken and contrite sinners and sometimes it takes many years I’m proof to myself of that I shared this with you just to try to explain why I have the position I have regarding the yet to bear much fruit folks

i spent have my life as a believer not bearing much fruit at all but I always believed what ininderrrood it just wasn’t much back then though I’d heard it I never really grasped it or let it take root

a I try to see everyone myself included as a still growing and blooming tree some just haven’t reached the budding phase

We are in harmony, my brother. Speaking as one who, himself, was picked up from the gutter of his choices and set back on his feet by the Lord I lived the story of the prodigal.

When I discern where someone is with the Lord it is not like predicting their fate. It doesn’t even preclude them from or include them in my circle. Judgement is not sentencing and I understand how some, speaking with a critical spirit, have cursed others in their own pious self-centeredness.

For me, discernment is useful when it is useful. Like when Paul opposed Peter, or when Paul brought Timothy close to him, etc. Ironically, I regard people who are brothers in the Lord even though they have disparaged my character. Sure they are my brother, but I cannot build with them. But so what? I am not the architect of the house.

When someone says “It’s just me and Jesus!”, for example, I know that is not the way God is building His house. Now, are they a brother to me? Perhaps. But unless the Lord tells me otherwise, I’m likely to let them go on their way with no inconvenience from me. I am only responsible to give an account for a set few the Lord has given me.

So, when I heard God's Good News, and "believed, trusted, in heart-faith,"
but had not "obeyed any commands" yet, I had "dead faith" which
Made me "alive In Christ."?

Abraham had to DO something BEFORE his faith was credited as righteousness.
He had to GET UP AND GO. Heb 11:8…”8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he left, not knowing where he was going.”
Abraham had FAITH the moment God told him to go. Gen 12…”12 Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go from your country,
And from your relatives.
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;…
4 So Abram went away as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. “
But even though he had faith, God did not immediately credit his faith as righteousness.
Abraham went to the land of Canaan and God promised to give the land to Abraham. (Gen 12:7). But God did not immediately credit Abraham’s faith as righteousness.
Then Abraham went to Egypt, (Gen 12:10), then Pharoah took Sarah away from Abraham, (Gen 12, after God struck Pharoah, Pharoah returned Sarah to him and he went back to Canaan, (Gen 13:1-4), then God again made promises to Abraham, (Gen 13:14-18), then Abraham fought a battle to rescue his nephew Lot, (Gen 14).
AFTER all these things, finally in Gen 15 God credits his faith as righteousness.
Abraham had faith from the very beginning, but that faith was not credited as righteousness until much later.
His faith NEVER WAIVERED…”Heb 11:8…”8 By faith Abraham, when he was called,…” (Gen 12:1)…”obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he left, not knowing where he was going.”… and Heb 12:…”9 By faith he lived as a stranger in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;…”
Abraham demonstrated something not taught in the vast majority of Christian “churches”; “THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH”….Rom 1:4…”…Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles in behalf of His name,…” AND Rom 16…”25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, 26 but now has been disclosed, and through the Scriptures of the prophets, in accordance with the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to OBEDIENCE OF FAITH; 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.”
Read the word of God: Abraham HAD TO DO SOMETHING before, BEFORE his faith was credited as righteousness.
OBEY.

Seems to me he had to believe God first. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness.

It was his belief that led to his actions, not his actions that informed his belief.

What we believe is important because what we believe leads to what we do.

Abraham had to DO something BEFORE his faith was credited as righteousness.
He had to GET UP AND GO. Heb 11:8…”8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he left, not knowing where he was going.”
Abraham had FAITH the moment God told him to go. Gen 12…”12 Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go from your country,
And from your relatives.
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;…
4 So Abram went away as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. “
But even though he had faith, God did not immediately credit his faith as righteousness.
Abraham went to the land of Canaan and God promised to give the land to Abraham. (Gen 12:7). But God did not immediately credit Abraham’s faith as righteousness.
Then Abraham went to Egypt, (Gen 12:10), then Pharoah took Sarah away from Abraham, (Gen 12, after God struck Pharoah, Pharoah returned Sarah to him and he went back to Canaan, (Gen 13:1-4), then God again made promises to Abraham, (Gen 13:14-18), then Abraham fought a battle to rescue his nephew Lot, (Gen 14).
AFTER all these things, finally in Gen 15 God credits his faith as righteousness.
Abraham had faith from the very beginning, but that faith was not credited as righteousness until much later.
His faith NEVER WAIVERED…”Heb 11:8…”8 By faith Abraham, when he was called,…” (Gen 12:1)…”obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he left, not knowing where he was going.”… and Heb 12:…”9 By faith he lived as a stranger in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;…”
Abraham demonstrated something not taught in the vast majority of Christian “churches”; “THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH”….Rom 1:4…”…Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles in behalf of His name,…” AND Rom 16…”25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, 26 but now has been disclosed, and through the Scriptures of the prophets, in accordance with the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to OBEDIENCE OF FAITH; 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.”
Read the word of God: Abraham HAD TO DO SOMETHING before, BEFORE his faith was credited as righteousness.
OBEY.

We are asked to share the truth, the good news, the gosple and we do this by planting seeds.
Even acts of kindness and loving words can be a seed for Jesus.

The seeds need nutrients, and to be nurtured. We can help and support people.

But Jesus via the Holy Spirit is the only way the seed can grow and become a tree that bears fruit.

1Co 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

Obediance will come as you grow closer to Jesus.