Starting Out Right

Everybody wants to turn to James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

I believe it's important for us to get a fresh start.

They're on the field right before the game,

and the field reporter will stick a mic in their face,

and they'll say something about the other team's strengths

or the other team's playmakers or something.

And any good coach will say,

we've got to get off to a great start.

We need to get after it.

Under Dabo, Clemson wins 93% of the time

when they're leading at halftime.

They weren't leading at halftime yesterday.

A good start is important,

not just in football,

but it's also important in the basis of life.

If you buttoned up your shirt this morning,

and if you started with the wrong buttonhole,

you probably didn't figure it out

until you was almost finished.

But the reality is,

this problem was from the start.

You have to start out right.

Church, God has blessed us

with a wonderful 2025.

He's been wonderfully good to us,

and I am very thankful for that.

Amen?

He's good to us.

He is.

And as we bust into a new year

with a new steeple,

I want us to do it right.

I want us to do it right as a church,

but I want it to be right as individuals too.

And I can't think of anyone

who speaks more to where we are in life

than James does.

When I think of James,

I think of where the rubber meets the road.

James pulls no punches.

Speaks right to the heart of the matter.

And I believe that's the way we need to look,

where we need to look,

as we start out the new year.

Let us be advised by James this morning.

James chapter one,

beginning in verse 22.

It says,

but be doers of the word

and not hearers only,

deceiving yourselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word

and not a doer,

he's like a man who looks intently

at his natural face in a mirror.

For he looks at himself

and goes away

and at once forgets what it was like.

But the one who looks into the perfect law,

the law of liberty,

and perseveres,

being no hearer who forgets

but a doer who acts,

he will be blessed in his doing.

And if anyone thinks he's religious

and does not bridle his tongue

but deceives his heart,

this person's religion is worthless.

Religion that is pure and undefiled

before God the Father is this,

to visit orphans and widows

and their affliction

and to keep oneself unstained

from the word.

The first step

to starting a year outright

is to be a hearer

of the word.

I don't want you to miss that.

He says we don't need

to only be hearers

of the word

but I want you to understand

we need to respond to,

we need to respond to what we hear

but we first,

we need to hear it.

So,

I want to begin by talking about

how we start right.

I believe

that you need to start

your year out,

actually start each day out

with the word of God.

You need a daily dose

of God's word.

It's not like popping a vitamin

and moving on.

I mean,

we need to pause

with God's word.

And I don't believe

it will happen

in most of our lives

if we don't have a plan.

So,

let's get one.

I don't believe

it's a one size fits all.

Everyone has their own

leanings in this

and I get that.

We can provide you guidance

in this area

with a lot of options.

A lot of options.

I'm going to give you

some this morning.

But,

most of those options

that I'm going to give you

and I want you to hear this

before I ever say it.

Well,

you can't hear it

before I say it

but anyway.

That's getting ahead of me.

Don't get ahead of me.

Before I ever explain it,

I want you to hear this.

Most of the options

that I'm going to mention

this morning

will carry you

through God's word

in a year.

If you want to read

the Bible through

in a year,

they will do it.

If you've never done that,

I encourage you

to try to do that.

We need all of God's word.

It's good to take

the whole thing in.

However,

be clear.

We're not pausing

in this worship hour

to have everybody

who's read the Bible

through to come up

so that we can give you

a trophy.

Just because you skim

through the genealogies,

just because you skipped

over some of the senses,

I don't believe

when I get to heaven

he's going to pull me

inside and say,

good,

well done,

servant.

you've read the Bible

through multiple times

because the reality is

when you're trying

to read three

or four chapters,

some of you

have been on this journey,

you'll admit it,

when you're trying

to read three

or four chapters

on a rough schedule,

you don't have a clue

what you just read.

Okay?

So,

I'm not devaluing

the value

of taking in

all of God's Word.

And almost every plan

that I give you

today

as options

will do that

for you.

But I want you

to hear

what's most important

about that

is to not

just be

a hearer

or a reader

of God's Word

but a doer.

We have a lot

of options.

At every

door

including

by my side

here

and at the front door

there's an offering

box.

And on top

of that offering

box

is a bookmark.

A bookmark

that we've

customized

from

a book

that I read

in 2008

called

The Divine Mentor

by Wayne Cordero.

If you need

something to motivate

you to read

God's Word

go pick up

Divine Mentor

from Wayne Cordero.

It's a very

inspiring work

that tells us

the importance

of taking in

God's Word.

And then he gives

us a plan

of how to do

that

and to read

through the

Old Testament

once

and to read

through the

New Testament

twice.

The wonderful

value of this

is that you

get some

Old Testament

and you get

the New Testament.

The reason

why I don't

do chronological

studies through

Scripture

on my daily

Bible time

is because I

need Jesus

every day.

I need the

New Testament

every day

and so I

like some

of that.

And so

I leaned

on this

particular

bookmark

and this

particular

reading plan

for years

as well

as his

way of

not only

being a

hearer

but a

doer

of the

Word

and it

still

changes.

It's changed

in my

devotional

life when I

read that

book.

Made it

a lot

more

consistent

in pattern

and made

a lot

more

meaningful

for me

and this

bookmark

comes off

of that

study and

it's a

great way

to keep

up with

it.

It's a

quarterly

bookmark.

We replace

those on

the Sunday

before the

quarter starts

hopefully and

they put

those out

for you and

get those

out so you

can see

those.

The bookmarks

are wonderful.

There was a

man that

lived in

the 19th

century named

Robert

Machain and

Robert

Machain only

lived to be

I think 29

years old.

He died

young but

his influence

was huge in

the days in

which he

lived.

Never any

more than

his reading

plan, his

Bible reading

plan.

And it

is a

it's got

a we've

got this

flyer out

here on

the information

center for

you this

morning.

It gives

a great

explanation

of his

philosophy

behind it,

why he

does what

he does,

the way

it's written

out and

the whole

bit.

If you

want to

read through

the Bible

in a year

you can

pick up

the Machain

plan and

do that.

And it's

a classic

that many

Bible reading

plans are

based off of

Machain

because he

kind of set

the standard

for that.

And then

there's one

that I did

this past

year and I

thoroughly enjoyed

it, plan to

do it again.

It's called

the five-day

reading plan.

And again,

this plan will

take you through

the word of

God in a

year.

You get some

old and some

new every day

in that plan.

And it's out

there on the

information center

just like that.

And what it

does, lets you

cheat a little

bit.

It gives you

readings for

Monday through

Friday.

That don't mean

you don't take

in God's word

on Saturday

and Sunday.

Hello.

That's not

what that

means.

That means

you catch up

from what you

missed.

That's what

it means

because you

ain't perfect.

Or you can

always go to

a psalm on

a day when

you don't have

a reading.

There's a

psalm, there's

five psalms for

every day because

there's 30 days

in a month and

there's 150

psalms.

And so there's

several ways you

can work that

out.

There's also a

chapter of

Proverbs for

every day of

the month.

There's 31

chapters of

Proverbs.

And so if I

get to a point

where I'm caught

up with everything

and I've read

everything and the

first thing I do

is look to

Proverbs for the

proverb of the

day.

Today is December

the 28th I believe

it'd be Proverbs

28 and you look at

that.

And it gives you a

great way to take

in God's word

every day.

Our ladies have

been a part for

the last two years

of a plan called

Bible Recap.

The Bible Recap

plan takes you

chronologically

through scripture

and they, I

believe the

strongest thing

about Bible

Recap is the

resources that are

related to it.

There's a wonderful

podcast where

somebody explains

to you what you

read that day

and if you didn't

read it it lets you

cheat a little bit

and find out what's

going on.

And then there's

also a

commentary, a

little leather

bound commentary

that you can buy

to go with it.

And it's a great

explanation of what

you've read.

Helps you tremendously

if you're reading the

Bible chronologically.

I love the

enthusiasm that was

around that and

when that kind of

took off in the last

couple of years.

But when I looked

at it, like I told

you, I'll just be

honest with you, I

got to have some New

Testament every day.

I didn't want to

wait until October

to read the New

Testament.

And that's some of

what you deal with

with that unless you

have a plan to read

the New Testament as

well.

It takes you through

the entire Old

Testament and the New

Testament afterwards.

And then there's a

book that is, if

you're more of a

workbook kind of

person, there's a

book called

Foundations by

Robbie Gleddy and

he's a pastor at

Long Hollow in

Nashville, Long Hollow

Baptist in Nashville.

It's a wonderful way to

take in God's word

every day.

And on each page, it

gives you a reading

for the day and then

it gives you an

explanation of what

you've read and then

it gives you some kind

of application question

to do.

So if you're a

workbook person that

likes to respond to

that, Foundations is

great.

Let me tell you the

strength behind this

as well as these

bookmarks.

If you have a family

that you would like to

go along with you on a

Bible reading plan,

there's a Foundations

book for kids, there's a

Foundations book for

teens, there's a

Foundations book that

only goes through the

Old Testament, there's a

Foundations book that

only goes through the

New Testament, there's a

Foundations book that

goes through all the

Bible.

And so if you want to,

and I encourage you to do

this, piggyback a family

altar or devotional time

based upon your reading,

everybody's reading the

same thing.

They don't read as much

as you do and those type

things, but they're

reading the same thing.

Same thing with this

bookmark.

There is a kid's journal

that this ministry provides

as well for kids to read

just a couple of verses

or maybe if they're a

little older, about six

verses or maybe if they're

a little older, a half a

chapter that goes along

with the same reading that

you'd read when you're

following the bookmark.

And we don't have all

that out there, but I can

sure give you links to

that and share what that

is.

There's a teen version of

that or what I call the

light reader.

Somebody don't want to

take it all in but want

to take in something.

There's a lot of resources

out there and there's a

lot there and I'll be

happy to help you.

My number's on the front

of the bulletin.

You text me anytime and I'll

be happy to help you or

call me because I want you

in God's word every day.

I'm not concerned about

how many verses you

consumed for the day.

Don't brag to me and come

up and say, you know what?

I read Isaiah while I was

watching game day the other

day because I won't be

impressed.

Okay?

Because if I ask you

something about Isaiah,

you don't have a clue what's

going on, but you know

who's playing today.

So the reality is you need

to come up with a plan to,

you know, and reality, and

as well, these Bibles today

are broken down and given

subtitles to where you can

find how to read small

sections of scripture and dig

into that and just a lot of

ways out there.

And I don't want to be

confusing with that.

I just don't want you to have

any excuses that there's not

something out there for me.

Start right.

The second thing is, and this

is more important than that,

in my opinion, is go deep.

Go deep.

Take the time to take it in.

Breathe it in.

This is key.

I want to give you a new

acronym.

I'm not big on acronyms, but

I thought about all the things

that I think you ought to do

in your time with the Lord,

and I came up with a little

acronym.

One is settle.

Take a breath.

Pause.

Some of y'all are so busy in

life, you've got to take a

pause.

And if you don't have time for

a pause, you're too busy.

I always tell people if they

can't get up early enough, ask

God to give you the strength to

get up 15 minutes earlier and

watch and see if he does it.

Trust him in it.

Set your alarm for it, and then

trust him in it because he will.

He'll provide for you.

I promise you.

But the first thing you do is

just settle.

Don't rush into it.

Don't barge into the throne.

Settle.

Sit down.

Take a breath.

And settle.

And then pray.

Lord, you know what weighs on me

today.

You know what I need to hear

better than I do.

Show me.

I ask him to highlight a verse

for me today.

Illuminate the scriptures.

Shed light on them.

Help me to understand them.

Third thing is read.

You actually need to read it.

Slowly.

And as you read it, observe.

Don't just read it to say you

read it.

Look for the application in the

scripture.

Our men on Tuesday morning just

got done reading a book called

The Life God Blesses.

I meet with men at 6 a.m. on

Tuesdays and another group at

9 a.m.

I have the overachievers and the

sluggards.

And we meet at 6 and 9 and we

read a chapter of a book each

week and then we talk about it.

And we read The Life God

Blesses by Gordon McDonald.

And another one of his works,

he talks about how he's a

frequent flyer and that makes

him, allows him to get

upgrades along the way.

And he's able to sit in an

exit row quite a bit on most

flights.

And that gives you more leg

room and it also gives you a

little bit of responsibility

there.

And when the flight attendant

comes by and if you'll sit in

the exit row, they always come

by and ask you, have you read

the instruction card that tells

you how to open the door in

case of emergency?

And they look at you and say, I

need a verbal answer.

And he gave her a verbal answer

and he fudged a bit.

He'd flown before, he hadn't

looked at the card.

And she was smart and senses

dishonesty and called him out on

it and said, and if emergency

happens, I'll be depending upon

you to open the door.

Dozens of other people will be

relying on you too.

So are you sure that you know

what's on that card?

And he said, suddenly she had my

attention.

Aren't we the same way about the

counsel of God through his word?

We say we read God's word, but do

we?

So I encourage you to read it, observe

what it's saying, and then

understand.

What is it that God is showing me?

There's a personal application

there and sometimes we don't even

know why it's brought to our

attention.

There's times when God will

highlight a verse to me and I'll

know that is the verse that he

would have me to see for that day,

but I don't see the application in

my life at the time.

I don't know how I'm supposed to

use that verse to encourage

somebody else this day.

And then later on that day, I find

out why he led me to that verse.

So there's personal application

there and sometimes we don't even

know why it's brought to our

attention.

Sometimes it brings immediate

conviction.

We know exactly why God had us read

that verse that day.

And sometimes clarity will come

later in the day, but I'm asking you

to take time to marinate on it.

Meditate.

Ruminate.

Let it steep like tea.

Let it marinate like meat.

Let the truth simmer.

Slow down.

Take a few minutes.

Don't take long, but just take a few

minutes.

And then trust him.

And then trust.

Go live what he's shown you,

trusting the Lord that he'll lead.

Jesus often used agrarian terms

because he was around farmers a lot.

So he uses a lot of stories about

farming and the best kind of growth

in the kingdom of God and in the life

of the believer is organic growth.

That is seeds planted in fertile soil

and watered and nurtured and encouraged

to grow.

And that's why you need to sprout this

coming year.

To grow.

May new growth come.

Not only in the life of our church,

but may new growth come in our individual lives.

That will not happen apart from taking in

and the application

of God's word.

Some of us take in God's word like

like my dog eats her supper.

There ain't no way she could taste any of that.

She gobbled it down.

You know, I'm not a whole lot better myself,

but still.

Take it in.

And then James goes on to tell us

how to apply it.

Stop wrong.

Stop wrong.

We will not get right

if we don't stop doing wrong.

And James emphasizes

not just hearing the word of God,

not just reading the word of God,

but responding to it in obedience.

And he starts with our mouth.

We need to learn to watch what we say.

And scripture tells us

that what we say

is a key sign of who we really are.

Jesus put it this way

in Matthew chapter 12, verse 34.

Matthew 12:34

He said,

for out of the abundance of the heart,

the mouth speaks.

So in other words,

if we fix our heart,

our mouth will follow,

but a sure sign for us,

and sadly,

an indication to others

is what comes out of our mouth.

So let's be open enough

to let God show us

through the Holy Spirit

what needs to change

in our hearts

and in our lives.

stop.

Stop.

What's wrong?

And sometimes

in our devotional life

when we read God's word

or maybe when we sit

through a sermon,

God will show us something

and we'll get convicted

about that

and we'll know what that is

and we'll know

how to respond to that.

Even if we don't do anything about it,

we'll know

what we're supposed

to do about that.

and some of us

won't need

to read God's word

or to hear a sermon

to know what's wrong

in our lives.

Some of us already know

what it is.

It weighs on us.

We're chained to it.

It won't seem to leave

and what James is saying is

stop.

What's wrong?

You got three days

to get your heart set on that.

Might want to go ahead

and do it today.

Well, let's start out the year

stopping.

Something in our lives

that's wrong

and we know it is.

It's a great start.

Lastly, aim high.

Aim high.

Notice again

what he says

in our last verse.

He says,

It's a religion

that is pure

and undefiled

before God the Father

is this,

to visit orphans

and widows

and their affliction

and to keep oneself

unstained

from the world.

In other words,

we are to be God-centered,

not stained by the world.

We are to be

not only God-centered

but we're to be

other-centered,

ministering to those

that need it.

And he mentions

the vulnerable here.

And so let's look out

for those that need it

the most.

I'm thankful

that there is

a lot of ministry

in this church

that ministers

to a lot of people

in a lot of different ways.

And not only is that

done corporately

as you give

through the offering

and as we use

that money

for mission opportunities

both locally

and afar.

But in addition

to that,

life groups

come behind

things

and help

people

along the way

and then there's

individual efforts

and nobody

outside the life group

knows what they're

doing to help.

Sometimes they may not

even know

the specifics of it.

And then there's

people in this church

who help people

that nobody else

even knows about.

Christmas was provided

for for several

less fortunate families

and it was not done

through a whole church

effort of us

raising funds

to do that.

It was done

through life groups

and individuals

that provided Christmas

for families

who could not have

Christmas otherwise.

Besides the hundreds

of shoeboxes

and the thousands

of dollars

to Lottie Moon.

So much of that

is happening

and we don't even

know what that is.

love gifts

were sent out

to our homebound.

We don't even know

what all those things

are quite honestly.

It goes along

with what Jesus said

in Matthew chapter 6

Matthew 6:3

verse 3 and 4

when he said

but when you give

to the needy

don't let your left hand

know what your right hand

is doing

so that your giving

may be in secret

and your father

who sees in secret

will reward you.

Take care of the needs

that God lays

upon your heart

and if no one

sees it

it's okay

God sees it.

He sees it.

He'll take care of you.

I mean remember

how Jesus summed up

the whole law

as they tried

to pinpoint him.

He said in

Matthew chapter 22

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

he said

you shall love

the Lord your God

with all your heart

with all your soul

and with all your mind.

This is the great

this is the great

and first commandment

and the second

is like it

you shall love

your neighbor

as yourself.

My friend

that

that is

is what

settling

before the Lord

and praying

before the Lord

and

and reading

God's word

and observing

what it says

and understanding

how that applies

to our lives

and then trusting

God with it

that's what

sprouting

looks like.

It's taking in

God's word

and then living

in response

to it

and what I'm

trying to share

cannot be summed

up any better

than the way

the psalmist

wrote it

in Psalm chapter 1

Psalms 1 · chapter mention

when he said

blessed is the man

who walks

not in the counsel

of the wicked

nor stands

in the way

of sinners

nor sits

in the seat

of scoffers

but his delight

is in the law

of the Lord

and on his law

he meditates

day and night.

He's like a tree

planted by streams

of water

that yield

its fruit

in its season

and its leaf

does not wither

in all

that he does

he prospers

and I want you

to be clear today

without the word

of God daily

there is a slow

digression

happening

in your life

it's like

it's like

straddling a boat

by a harbor

that's not tied up

it might be slow

but it's going

to be bad

before long

the digression

is from going

around

and Psalm

1-1

tells us

exactly what it is

from going

around

listening to

the wrong

people

to

put verse 1

back up there

for me

I want them

to see this

to listen

to the wrong

people

that's counsel

of the wicked

to stopping

and taking in

what sinners

are doing

that's standing

in the way

of sinners

to then plopping

down and making

yourself at home

with people

who are sarcastic

people who are

negative

people who are

dismissive

people who are

unbelieving

I've heard it

said this

this way

scoffing is

unbelief that

laughs

so it does

not have to

listen

that is

exactly the

opposite

of what God

wants for you

and me

in 2026

he wants us

listening

applying

and living

it

and if

we lack

God's

word

it will

not

happen

so if

you want

to grow

and make

2026

a year

to sprout

new

spiritual

growth

in your

life

begin

with the

word of

God

start

out

right

and I'll

be clear

nobody's

keeping a

record

this is

between you

and God

it really

don't start

there

that's a

continuation

of something

that should

have already

started

if you

close out

this year

and you

look at

your life

and you

realize

that there's

never been

a time

in your

life

when you

surrender

your life

to Jesus

if you

look at

your life

and you

realize

there's

never

been a

time

when you

have

asked

the Lord

Jesus

to forgive

you of

the sin

in your

life

and you've

acknowledged

that you've

done wrong

and you've

never asked

him to

forgive you

of that

sin

and to

come into

your life

and empower

you to not

do the same

things you

used to do

and to

change your

life to

live for

his honor

and glory

and to

decide that

you don't

want to

make your

own

decisions

anymore

that you

want him

to make

the decisions

for you

and you'll

follow his

lead

if you've

never

surrendered

your life

to the

Lord

Jesus

if you've

never

asked God

to save

you

I want you

to know

there's not

a better

way for you

to close

out a year

than to say

Lord Jesus

I give you

my life

and I ask

you to save

me

and if you've

never done

that we're

going to

stand in

just a

moment

we're

going to

sing

and as

we sing

I don't

want you

to hesitate

they'll

let you

out

I promise

you

they'll

get out

your way

step

down

and say

pastor I

need to

be saved

and if

you have

done that

but that's

a private

matter for

you

and you've

never

acknowledged

that publicly

I'll tell

you there's

nothing

biblical

about having

a private

faith

as a matter

of fact

Jesus said

if you're

saying to

me

before

men

I'll

be ashamed

of you

before

my

father

in other

words

it's

not

real

if you

don't

tell

others

about it

if it

don't

show

and Jesus

by his

commission

and by

his

example

tell us

that the

first steps

of obedience

is to

follow that

with baptism

to publicly

acknowledge

a private

faith

through

baptism

and if

you've

never

been

baptized

baptized

as a

believer

as we

stand

to sing

I want

you to

come

and say

pastor

I need

to be

baptized

I want

to begin

the year

with

baptism

we're not

going to do it

today

we'll line

it up

but

you come

maybe you're

here and

God's

led you

to

First

Baptist

Church

and you

know

that

you've

worshipped

with us

you've

never

committed

to be

a part

of

here

but

you

know

this

is

where

God

would

have

you

to

be

I

encourage

you

to

come

obey

God

start

the new

year

out

with

a

new

church

that

you

know

this

is

where

God

would

have

you

to

be

we'll

guide

you

in

what

all

that

means

and

for

everybody

here

let's

pause

a moment

Brian

wants you

to sing

but you

don't

have to

okay

you can

bow your

head and

pray

and say

God let

me in

this year

right

start

the new

one

right

if you

need to

come to

this altar

do that

you do

that

if you

need a

pastor

to pray

for you

I'll

be

happy

to pray

for you

if you

can do

that

where

you

are

you

do

it

where

you

are

you

don't

get

too

many

opportunities

to

start

right

so

praise

God

let's

start

out

right

start

anew

amen

amen

Lord

Jesus

thank

you

for

your

love

and

for

your

lesson

help

us

to

respond

to

your

obedience

in

Jesus

precious

name

amen