Be Doers of the Word, Not Just Hearers

e e praise God brothers and sisters for this beautiful morning um and I'd like to start off today's service with uh Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 13 you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart and there's a promise for us you know from God that he assures us that if we truly seek him we will find him and this requires a wholeheartedness you know a genuine undivided Pursuit Of God is required of us and from there we can build a relationship you know God desires an intimate connection with those who seek him because you know he's our heavenly father and we are his children so with that being said today let's listen to uh what the word is saying to us what the songs are saying and try to and try to hear what God is also telling us and let's stand up and pray for the service Lord God we thank you for this morning that you've given us Lord and we ask you Lord fill this place the Holy Spirit God speak to our hearts Lord help us to understand what is being said to us Lord through the sermons Lord God through the music Lord we ask you to bless the service in the name of Jesus Christ we pray amen and as we're still standing we're going to be singing a song by the name of yet not I but through Christ [Music] me if we can make the words bigger what gift of Grace is Jesus My Redeemer there there is no more for heaven now to K he is my joy my righteousness and freedom my steadfast love my deep and boundless peace to this I hope my hope is only Jesus for my life is Holy bound to his oh how strange and divine I can sing All Is Mine am not I but through Christ in me night is dark but I am not forsaken for by my side the savior he will [Music] stay I labor on in weakness and rejoicing for in my need his power is displayed to this I hold my shepherd will defend me through the deepest valley he will lead oh the night has been one and I shall overcome yet not I but through Christ in me I dread I know I am forgi the future sure the price it has been paid for Jesus bled and suffered for my par and he was raised to overthrow the grave to this I own my sin has been defeated [Music] Jesus now and ever is my C oh the chains are in I can see I am free yet not I but through Christ in me with every breath I love to follow Jesus for he has said that he will bring me home and day by day I know he will renew me until I stand with joy Before the Throne to this I hope my hope is only Jesus oh the glory ever more to him when the race is complete still my lips shall Ree and not I but through Christ in me [Music] sers lost and lonely Jesus blood can make you free for he sa the worst of all you when he say a w like me and I know yes I know Jesus blood can make the vient sinner clean and I know yes I know Jesus blood can make the violent sinner clean to the Fain he giveth power through the mountains makes a way find in the desert turns the night to Golden day and I know yes I know Jesus blood can make the violent Sinner and I know yes I know Jesus blood can make the violent sinner to he is near thee holds the P of Hell gu you to the path of safy gives you Grace for every day and I know yes I know Jesus blood can make the violent sinner we and I know yes I know Jesus blood can make [Music] theise God good morning church and I'm glad to see you guys all here today and before we announce our program a word of encouragement as you know brother Tim has been going going over his series of James there's been some encouragement you know that James gives to us in understanding that you know there is hope for people like us and how to live a principled life uh James shows us a lot but something that I found uh interesting in Reading in Joshua 1:9 is have I not commanded you be strong and courageous do not be frightened and do not be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go and in Ephesians we also understand that as apostle Paul is writing to that church he's telling them to have faith or to come to God in confidence and in Freedom and as we are approaching God you know in a humble in a God-fearing manner approach him with that confidence and freedom because he saved you and if you have not been saved then this is your time to give your life to Christ and have him impact life and so our brothers have prepared a song for us to uh for us to listen to and they'll come up to the stage and seen it God bless [Music] [Music] the savior is waiting to enter your heart why don't you let him come in there's nothing in this world to keep you apart what is your answer to [Music] him time after time he has waited before and now he is waiting again to see if you're willing to open the door oh how he wants to come in if you'll take one step for the Savior my friend friend you'll find his arms open [Music] wide receive him in all love your Darkness will end within your heart you abide Time After Time has waited before and now he is waiting again to see if you're will to open the door oh how he wants to come in time after time he has waited before and now he is waiting again to see if you're will to open the door oh how he wants to come [Music] in oh oh how he wants to come [Music] in so today Amanda she she wants to tell us something you want to tell the I'm having some trouble with my fiance and I'm also pregnant we found out the 13th of anuary and we've been fighting for the last four months and we got into like a big huge fight at Corpus and I don't know if he's going to come back to me I'm going to have my best friend Daniel he knows what I'm going through my husband is also going through addiction and he's going he's doing math and Fons and that all and all this and he wants to stop but he can't do it and I just want you know him to have help but I want him to go to rehab but he won't do it and i' I'm going to my friend's going to try to talk to him today and I'm hoping that he will come back up the Corpus so we can talk this and work this out together because we have to WR this out because we have two kids on the way that's to in September yes I do yes I do so so Amanda wants to give her life to Jesus we heard her pains and her struggles and I would like for all of us to stand up and we're going to pray for her and so if this this moment is a big moment for you because the kingdom of God just got one more Soul yeah and so you want to repeat which is call their prayer of the sinner so Tim will actually yes Lord Jesus you can repeat after me Lord Jesus I am a sinner I am a sinner and I'm seeking Lord for your I'm seeking you Lord that your blood washes me that your blood washes me clean I give my life to you I give my life to you and I submit and I submit to you Lord Lord you resolve all my need and my pain God me from this St child I subit you I submit to you and I give my life to you in Jesus name amen amen can have praise God my dear friends today is another wonderful day you know one more soul for the kingdom and we see that God he's touching Hearts he's changing lives and uh that's all glory to him not to us you know like I say to too many that come up to me and I say we're just Messengers we're just Messengers we just want to tell everybody how great our God is and we don't want anybody to perish because Jesus Christ he came to save who the Lost he came to save the Sinners and all of us were at one time that until we gave our life to Christ and sometimes when we give our life to Christ we don't understand everything we don't understand how it all happens but that's why the moment we submit ourselves to Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit starts teaching us what we need to get rid of what pleases him and what uh strengthens us but I would like for us to to open we'll be uh continuing our message and before I start reading in James I wanted to to read a little story it's the story of John John woke up early knowing today was a big day one of the most important meetings of his career determined to make a great impression he put on his best suit his brightest tie and went to the mirror he carefully applied a generous amount of gel slicking his hair back making sure he's looking good satisfied with his reflection he hurried to to put on his shoes just as he reached the Shoe Closet his coworker calls him John are you ready for this meeting these guys could change your life this is a big deal if you close it of course I'm ready John replied confidently checking his watch seeing he was running late he grabbed the first pair of shoes rushed out the door and jumped into his car on the drive he practiced his speech what he was going to say going over every word in his head he needed to impress them to say all the right things to win them over this was his moment as he arrived he stepped out of his car and hurried through the main doors heading straight for the conference room taking a deep breath he walked in ready to seal the deal but as he stood before the executives he glanced down and froze his heart sank instead of his polished dress shoes he had his old dirty Garden sneakers all in mud worse he had left a trail of mud all the way from the car to the meeting room though everyone admired his slicked back hair in his sharp suit but they all saw those dirty shoes one of the executives Matthew looked at him and said John you almost got it right you almost got it right but next time pay more attention to the details rather than just your appearance my dear friends just as we see in this story this John that that almost got it right he was 80% right in his life but there was a trail of dirt that he was carrying with him and today our topic is be do yours not just hears laying aside all evil and I would like for us to open up to James chap 1 and we'll be reading verses 21 through 22 or through 25 James 1: 21- 25 but he who looks into into the perfect law of Liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful here but a doer of the work this one my bad uh let's go to 21 therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls but be doers of the word and not hearers only dece receiving yourselves for for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer he is like a man observing his natural face in the mirror for he observes himself goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was but he who looks into the perfect law of Liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful here but a doer of the work this one will be blessed in what he does these are simple lessons that are hard to follow be doers of the word and not just hearers only I'll just say that you cannot grow spiritually if you are holding on to sin you might be almost there but if there's something in your life that is dragging dirt around there needs to be some cleaning you know we we see over here a couple keywords it says uh filthiness and wickedness so when we know a person has say example a stain on his shirt we don't say oh man ew would just say hey brother you're dirty you need to go change your shirt or if we see you know somebody eating sometimes you know my wife catches me I take a nice bite of her burger and then I have some some ketchup on here and my wife is like honey you're dirty you know but she's not like honey ew you're really dirty no but the word word filthiness is not just dirty it's a person that is really dirty from head to toe maybe this person doesn't even or rarely takes a bath or a shower he does not change his clothes his hair is all over the place and when he's walking around he's not just dirty but he is filthy and over here the the other keyw is wickedness wickedness I want us to to understand that these these words they're not light these are actually heavy words because a wicked person is the one who puts on a show he puts on his suit he puts on his tie he's looking good but inside he's dirty and really dirty filthy that's a wicked person and when we open up and when we read Matthew 23 Matthew 23 please turn the slide to that we're going to read 27- 28 and this is Jesus when he met with those people who were in church who were looking good and everybody was giving them the utmost respect but let's see what Jesus has to tell them woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees you Hypocrites you are like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of dead and everything unclean in the same way on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness over here again we see the word wickedness they there are those people in church you know it's it's it's not something that um I would say when we go to a church and when we come to a church just because a person looks good doesn't mean that's how he looks inside and we have to all examine ourselves if I'm dressing up the question is how is my heart how is my heart I can be looking really good men in suits at the topest level of Corporations or companies or countries men in suits looking sharp looking fine looking clean but caused the most chaos in this world what's in your heart is what James is trying to teach us what is in your heart is what God sees what we see is we see our outer appearance all of us look sharp today we dress the best but my dear friends God doesn't care about what you put on today he cares with what kind of heart did you come today that's what he sees because that's what he saw in those teachers the teachers of the law while everybody was giving them respect Jesus rebuked them and then over here it says receive the word with meekness receive with meekness the implanted word so what does that mean there's a saying meekness is not weakness weekness is not weakness you know some people think that if they come to Christ all of a sudden they're these Meek people that have to walk as if they look like somebody took them off the cross but actually a Meek person he doesn't submit under the rule of man he submits under the law of God he submits under the law of God the law of God is more righteous than any law of man and so over here when we see that receive the word with meekness that means that we are ready to submit to what the Bible has to say hey you know sometimes we're like that John guy we do almost everything right but when it says you need this is a sin ah that touches what I want to do that that that's my habit and we carry it with us our entire life but the Bible says that's a sin get rid of it submit yourself under the word of God say Lord yes your Bible says that I have a hard time to overcome please help me please help me and the Bible the Living Word of God has the power to make you strong to make you strong to overcome that's why meekness is not weakness weekness is strength in the in the eyes of God when we see Samson the strongest man to ever live right he was destroying just by himself thousands of men I mean have you heard of a warrior like that in this time have you heard somebody say I went on a battlefield and 10,000 men I killed with my own arm that's impossible but we see that when the spirit of God came on Samson the strength of God came on him nothing was impossible anymore but when the spirit of God was not on Samson when he said when he turned his when he turned away from God and he got tied up and he still thought that God was with him but the spirit of God no longer was with him and the soldiers came came to arrest him what happened he couldn't tear those chains like he did before because he turned away from the word of God from what God was trying to tell him he thought he he could do it on his own and when he tried to do it on his own that's when it was weakness and James teaches us my dear friend submit yourself under the word of God it's the only one that can give you strength in your life to overcome your your habits your sins submit yourself you know and over here it says when we read [Music] on but but be doers of the word and not hearers only only deceiving yourself but be doers of the word and not hearers only you know the worst deception in our life is when we deceive ourselves when we think everything's okay with us when we come we put on a face we put on a show how you doing brother ah I'm doing great but you know you're not how you doing sister oh I'm fine but you know you're not you know that you're not right with God you know that there's things that are separating you from the presence of our Lord and over here James teaches us don't deceive yourself if you see a problem bring it to the cross say Lord I have a problem I have a problem with anger uh kind of how we talked about the the previous passages I have a a problem with uh sexual immorality I'm doing things I shouldn't be I have a problem with gossip I have a problem Lord the Bible is like a mirror that we're going to be talking about it should reveal the problems that that we have in our life if we look in the mirror and we see nothing but deep down in in our hearts we have issues then we are just carrying the dirt around and Jesus Christ says to those kind of people you all look good on the outside but God looks at your heart Jesus Christ saw their heart not what they were wearing and my dear friends if we see that we have a problem in our life we have to we have to bring it to God so he can give us this the strength to overcome James 1:23 to 24 it says for anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer he is like a man observing his natural facing a mirror for he observes himself goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was and the Bible is our mirror there was a a story of of Abraham Lincoln and an artist was was going to draw him and in Abraham Lincoln he had like a ward on his right cheek and so the the the artist is is uh drawing him and he's looking at him and he's like uh President Lincoln um can you can you shift your head and and Lincoln shifts his head and it was a big word and you could still see it and then he's like can you shift your head like this way and he shift his head how about this way and then Lincoln is like listen just draw me how I am with all the imperfections and all the warts on my face just draw me how I am the mirror it reveals who we are how we are the word of God it's also a mirror when we look in the mirror in our mirror and we see okay I need to do my hair if I still have some um I need to you know maybe have some dirt I need to wash my face right you want to look presentable you want to look like you're ready to conquer the day because you don't want anybody saying hey Tim uh you got something over here oh I forgot to wash it off and the mirror is a resemblance over here James tells us it's the word of God what is the purpose of airor is to show us our imperfections and so when when we read the word of God today we're all sitting here we hear the word of God and if we walk out those doors and we forget what James is teaching us today you are like that person who looked in the mirror and walked out the door and didn't even wash your face you walked out the door and didn't even wash her face but when we take this Bible and apply it to our life that is the water that washes all the wickedness and filth in our life sometimes there's things that we don't even know that we're doing is wrong because we're just so used to doing it we're just so comfortable in that life but when we read the Bible we see oh wow so I can't gossip I should maybe not say anything just be silent when everybody is talking about some kind of person maybe I should just not say anything you know it's it's like people they they see the the big sins they see the the big oh I don't do this I'm I'm a good man I'm this and that but God looks at the small ones okay good you don't do the big ones great now let's tune you up even more let's tune you up so that I can trust that when I'm using you that you will not be a flip-flopper there's many missionaries that all God you know gave their life to Jesus now want to do the work didn't even have time to to submit themselves under the word of God and they went on their mission trips and left Christ there was too much Temptation there they left Christ Jesus can't use those kind of people he wants to use each one of us but before he does he needs to make sure that when he gives us a work to do that we will not flop and in James 1:25 it says but he who looks into the perfect law of Liberty and continues in it is not a forgetful hear but a doer of the work this one will be blessed in what he does notice how it says over here but a doer of the work it didn't says a doer of the word but a doer of the work what work the Bible says many are called few are chosen the Bible says the Harvest is ready but there are two few laborers my dear friends over here James he's he's preaching to people who are saved and he's like listen if you are a flip-flopper if you live a life of wickedness if you come and you smile and you sing but in your heart is wickedness it's filthy in there God cannot use you for his work the Harvest is great but few labors he needs labors he needs people who is going to pick up that Harvest but there's too few of them because too many are living aive for themselves and he needs each one of us here today to start doing his work to start bringing people to Christ wherever you are wherever you are at your jobs in your school at your shelters at your homes we have work to do we have work to do we cannot be slacking off if we submit ourselves to God that's it my dear friends it's time to work it's time to bring people for his kingdom because true freedom is only found in Christ and a lot of people hear that but a lot of people don't know that and we have to work and work and work to tell them my dear friend you're struggling you're in pain you're going through this if you give your life to Jesus Christ he will give you strength he will give you strength to overcome he will give you strength to win if you want real change in your life start applying the word of God start applying the word of God if you read the Bible with meekness that means you are ready to submit to what the Bible has to say and if there's anything in your life that you know is not right with God what does the Bible say bring it to God bring it to the cross and he will wash you clean he will cleanse you from your sins he will not remember them and you will have a new life in him and not only that my dear friends this life it's very temporary I mean how many years do do do we have some some maybe have 20 more years to live some maybe have more so maybe have 40 years to live and that's it but where are you going to spend your life eternally eternally where there's no death no more death is coming for you you are spending time eternally there's Only Heaven and there's only hell are we submitting ourselves to God or are we living a life of wickedness Jesus has come here today to change our lives he has come here today to tell you I know what you're going through and I can help you out I can help you to endure your Temptations to overcome them I can give you strength to win your trials and today he's here to do that and I would like for us to pray but before we do my dear friends if if anybody else wants to give their life over to Jesus Christ today know that kind of how we heard that song he is waiting for you he is waiting for you let's pray e as we all stand let's sing the song by the name of when the role is Called Up [Music] Yonder when the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more and the morning breaks Eternal bright and F when the sav of Earth Shall Gather over on the other Shore and the roll is Called Up Yonder I'll be there when the rooll is called up y when the RO is called up y when the rooll is called up [Music] y when the RO is called up y I'll be there on that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise and the glory of his resurrection share when his Chosen One Shall Gather to their home beyond the skies and the RO is Called Up Yonder I'll be there in the RO is called up y when the RO when the r is called up y when the RO when the r is called up y when the RO was called up y I'll be there let us labor for the master from the D heading son let us talk of all his wonderous love and care then when all of life is over and our work on Earth is done then the rooll is Called Up Yonder I'll be there when the RO is called up y When the Roll When the Roll is called up when the RO When the Roll is called up y when the rooll is called up all be there the RO is called up when the RO when the RO is called up the rooll is called up y when the r is called up I'll be [Music] there praise God my dear friends our service has come to the end and you know it's nice to have uh brothers in Christ that can all like always kind of uh help you out but I just wanted to make a little uh notice that uh when I say that we need to submit ourselves under the law of God and not the law of man what I meant was um that God's law is perfect and when we are able to submit under the law of God then we will be able to to submit to the law of the country of the country but um but we are to submit to the law of the country too you know uh by by doing that with we are being obedient to the law of God just a little I guess um how do they call yeah remark but we will be uh praying for needs and over here um uh Glenn has asked us to to pray she has a bronchitis and uh we're going to pray we can see that she's she's coughing really bad and Christina she uh hasn't been coming here for some time already she's been uh battling some uh sickness and right now she has a migraine and she asked us to pray for her then also Allan um the the person we saw last week he he has a stomach flu and so he couldn't make it today then also we're going to pray for Don [Music] Brown um that's a person person uh Gwen she knows and um that's your husband right yeah yeah that's her husband and he's going to be getting out of prison soon yeah she hopes I guess right now they're giving a runaround but may God also resolve that issue and then we're going to pray for Amanda her fiance their situation Joshua Burton [Music] okay and we'll pray for healing um and also Anthony he asked us to pray for his right kidney It's really hurting him and then Pedro over there he's asking to pray for God to give him a job right now he's looking for a job so we have a lot of needs my dear friends uh does anybody want to add to that them yeah oh yeah and so um yeah okay okay sounds good I'm pretty sure they they tried their best yeah okay so uh like we have two more Ministries opening up this this week uh Tuesdays at 8:30 I will be leading a Bible study it's uh in 8:30 a.m. it's at a a cafeina in downtown it's right near the shelter area so so if anybody wants to to come and learn about the Bible I'll be there at 8:30 a a.m every Tuesday and if any of of our brothers want to join you guys are welcome um then we're we're also opening up a Bible study in our church it's going to be Thursday at 6:00 p.m. um so so anybody that wants to join that as well can come here and we're going to learn the Bible even deeper even deeper but okay let's all bow our heads and and close our eyes and pray Lord God we thank you Lord we thank you for all your love God and we thank you for teaching us Lord your word God help us to to use what we have learned Lord God that the that the mirror God can reveal those those uh blemishes in our life Lord God and that with your strength God we can overcome and that the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse us Lord God and that it gives us strength to turn away from those things that that kept on making us dirty Lord God I also Lord God pray for the needs for Glenn her bronchitis for Christina her head hurts uh the the migraine I also pray for for Anthony's uh kidney and and for Allan Lord God may you bring full healing upon all of them God we believe in the power of healing in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore we ask in your name Jesus bring healing upon these Souls Lord God and may you bless them Lord God that they can praise you God and that they know can know that that you are the one who heals Lord and we also pray for Don Brown God you see the whole prison situation with him God may you resolve all that problems and if it's your will Lord God may he be set free Lord God we also pray for Amanda uh her fiance God may you resolve that issue Lord and may they may he come to know you as well Lord God and may they come to live a life of the teaching of your word Lord God and we also pray for Pedro God he's looking for a job God we we know that you provide your a God who loves to provide and Pedro is looking for a job and May you give him the right job Lord God that he can praise you for blessing him with one Lord God what I pray for our church Lord may you give us peace may you give us understanding Lord may we God walk out those doors remembering God that when we read the Bible to apply it in our life Lord may your name be praised and glorified in Jesus name amen Our Father in heaven Hallowed Be Your Name Your Kingdom Come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from the evil one for your kingdom your power and Glory forever are yours amen