The Believer and The Bible

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

She asked me, she said, Do you really want me to pre- Now you know why I don't let her speak more?

Oh no, I'm joking.

I am very, very blessed.

And she's probably one of the best teachers I've ever sat under.

And uh in fact, it it's gonna be exciting this fall.

We're gonna try, we're gonna try to start at least four or five Bible classes at uh 8 45 this coming fall.

And hopefully, I've got a I've got an idea about having a little village down here with with kind of buildings for Sunday school classroom.

The word village or the Bible village.

I don't know, but I really have.

I uh I I'll just I gotta talk to the council about it first, but then then I I just got a little idea.

I always come up with this creative thing.

I was talking to David, and David just looks at me sometimes and says, Here's when I know he's serious.

He said, We need to think about it, or he'll say, Yeah, that's a good idea.

That means that that's not gonna fly.

But uh, that's okay.

That's okay.

I still love you.

At least you don't have to worry about your preacher not thinking and being hey, you you don't let me loose.

You let me loose, bless God, we're gonna take the heel.

Amen.

You don't want me to take the heel, keep me in the in the jail.

We started with the book of James.

This has been one of the most exciting studies for me personally.

It has so spoken directly to me, and I'm working on a lot of these things that I need to work on.

And uh we started out with how to respond to the trials of life in verses 1 through 12, and we saw that Jesus was the one that brought the trials to teach us patience and to teach us to mature.

And then we went to the next verse paragraph, 13, verse 13 through 18, on how to be victorious over temptation.

And I told you that this whole book to me was personal because to me, James is a book that teaches the Christian what to do when you don't know what to do.

Have you ever been there?

What to do when you don't know what to do?

And I said, How to respond to the trials of our life?

Um I said, would one of the sayings there would be, you know, what to do when the heat's turned up and those trials, when God's testing you, and God's refining you, and God's making you, and God's growing you.

And then in the second paragraph, how to be victorious over temptation.

What to do when wrong seems right.

That's where we're living in America right now.

Or they're trying to make us think that wrong's right.

Well, Isaiah said, Woe unto them that say evil's good and good's evil.

But that's where we are in America, folks.

That's where we are.

God help us.

God help us.

And then today, the title of the message is The Believer and the Bible are the role of God's Word in the Believer's Life and how important it really is.

Or what to do, and I like this.

When the mirror, in fact, I wrote this to myself, what to do when the mirror doesn't lie.

Hello.

How many of you have ever stood in front of a mirror and looked at yourself?

If you everyone doesn't raise their hand, I'm not moving.

Another word.

Now, some of you, you don't like what you see.

Some of you love what you see, and some of you exaggerate a lot.

In the plus and in the minus.

Because you're not as bad as you think you are, and I can promise you you're not as good as you think you are.

Hello?

You with me?

You okay out there?

But see, here's what the Bible is to the believer.

And you're gonna see that this morning.

The Bible is the mirror that you and I gaze into, and God's word reflects back to us who we are and where we are in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

So the message you're gonna hear today is probably one of the most important messages you could ever hear in reference to the Word of God being a relationship with you.

I mean that.

This is the key.

If you've got nothing else but understood the truths you're gonna hear, and by the way, does everyone have a worship guide?

Because this outline is vital.

Anyone that does not have a worship guide, raise your hand.

We'll make sure you've got one, one in the back, because I want you to follow closely with me as we look into the powerful scriptures today.

Isn't it amazing that 1,800 languages is used right now in translating the Word of God into 1,800 different languages?

That's unbelievable.

But what is shocking, though God has given us his word for our blessing and encouragement, we continue to neglect it.

Do you know the Barners' recent survey about time spent alone in God's word and prayer for the average Christians less than 10 minutes a day?

Now that means you may spend an hour one day, but you don't spend, you know, any more time the rest of the week or so.

But actually, it was between 10 and 15 minutes.

That's shocking, folks.

That's shocking.

Hey, you spend more time feeding your face than feeding your soul.

Hello?

Man, that's shocking.

And we wonder why we don't see the movement of God in America.

We wonder why we're taking God out of America because we really don't understand who God is.

I was reading Abraham Lincoln's address in 1963 during the Civil War, and his whole proclamation had nothing but the talking about that one of the reasons he felt like God had brought this unbelievable war was possibly the sinful uh attitudes and lives of Americans.

And do you realize more people were saved right before the Civil War than in the previous 40 years?

God was getting them ready for the Civil War, knowing that many were gonna die.

And then revival broke out right after the Civil War.

Tremendous, unbelievable proclamation from and I thought to myself, listening to Abraham Lincoln and his speech compared to the last four or five presidents, God help us.

No wonder we've gone so far away from God.

No wonder our nation's in trouble.

Because we've kicked God, tried to kick God, out of our country.

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked bear through, the people mourn.

So, we talked about, and we're gonna look at, we talked about in order to overcome temptation, we had to be prepared.

I said the reason we allow temptation to destroy us or to defeat us is we're not prepared.

And then we said the same thing about trials, in order for trials coming in our life sent by God, temptation sent by Satan to destroy us, that we're not prepared for the trials.

If we're not prepared for the temptations, we will be defeated.

So today, I want to give you a five-step process of preparation that God teaches us as he's given us the example of what trials are, how, hey, what they do, the purpose of them, temptations, what they are, what they do.

Now he says, let me prepare you how to deal with these trials and temptations.

Powerful.

So, number one, and the first thing we want to look at this morning in James chapter 1, verse 19 through 21, is preparation.

James 1:19–21

We've got to be prepared.

Listen to what he says.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I love that statement.

Most times we read through that so fast, but let me tell you, it it here's what that means.

Know this.

Stop, be still.

Know this.

Don't move.

You can't, you can't move hastily.

You must understand this.

Oh, and here's another translation.

He says, Mark this.

In other words, if you don't understand this, you can't have victory over trials and temptations.

That's what it means.

And then he goes on and he says, Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.

In other words, be slow to speak, but quick to listen.

Can I get an O me?

Quick to listen, slow to talk, slow to be angry.

For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Man's anger does not accomplish God's righteousness, does not produce the uprightness.

Anger is not the way to arrive at the justice God demands.

It's not gonna work.

You can get angry with God, you can get angry with your preacher, you can get angry with yourself, you can get angry with your man, you can get angry with your boss, you can get angry at everybody, but that's not gonna solve your problem.

Anger leads to destruction every time.

Most of the time, self-destruction.

You know, you can be mad at somebody and they may not even know you're mad at them, and it's doing more harm to you than them.

Hello.

Oh me.

Why do you think Matthew 18 says if you've got all somebody go to them?

Because you're the one that's going to, hey, suffer, not them.

A lot of times they don't even know it.

You say, well, they do know it and they don't care.

It's not about them, it's about you.

I don't care.

You say, well, they don't care.

It's not about them.

It's not about how they, hey, react to you, it's how you react to them.

You can't control what they do, but you can control everything you do.

Hello?

I don't like what I just said because I I don't like that.

Because that means I gotta I gotta get right with myself and God and then get right with them whether they want me to get right with them or not.

Hello?

And I don't like that.

I just say, well, hit the road.

I don't care.

I won't talk to you again.

I can do that with church members.

They get mad at me or get mad at church.

They say, well, I'm leaving the church.

Well, you know, in my flesh, I say, Well, don't let the door hit you as you leave.

I say it in my flesh.

Hello, you okay out there?

Oh me, yeah.

But I I but I I I don't do that because I I love them.

And I know it's not them, it's Satan.

Remember where it comes from.

You got to be prepared.

You understand where it comes from.

You can love your worst enemies.

Now that takes a lot of spiritual maturity.

Amen.

Oh me.

So that's what he's saying right here.

And then he says, wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness.

Here it is.

The engrafted word.

In other words, let the word of God go so down deep into your heart that it grips and it holds on, and it doesn't matter when the storms come, when the trials come, when the temptations come, because the roots are so deep into the word of God, you'll stand, and when everything else happens, you still stand.

So how do we do that?

Alright, look with this preparation.

First of all, concentrate.

You gotta concentrate your attention.

Notice what he says with the charge.

Swift to hear.

Now, in James' day, this was a very important phrase, since few believers had copies of the Word of God.

All they could do is hear the parchments being read or preached.

They did not have copies of the Word of God.

So they were to be swift to hear, or they would be left behind.

In other words, concentrate on hearing the Word.

In other words, we've got to have speedy reception.

That's what that really means.

Speedy reception.

In other words, you can't wait to receive the truth so that you can act upon it.

Now, how in the world can you have speedy reception if you never get in it?

You with me?

As newborn babes, what?

Desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.

1 Peter 2.2.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after God, Jesus said, for they shall be filled.

Matthew 5, 6.

So we see this powerful, unbelievable truth.

And look at Proverbs 8.34.

Blessed.

That means happy.

That means successful is the man that hears me.

Now watch.

Watching when?

Come on now.

Come on, church, help me.

Watching when?

At my gates.

Waiting at the post of my doors.

In other words, you can't wait to get to the gates because you know you're going to hear somebody teach and preach the word of God.

Woo! That means on Sunday morning, you don't go fishing.

You come to church and then go fishing.

Hello.

Are you with me?

You don't go play golf till after you come to church.

Then we'll go play golf.

Hello.

And when we get those ball fields fixed, we're not going to have ball playing at 9 o'clock.

We're going to have ball playing at 2 o'clock, and we'll all be out there to watch you.

Amen.

Come to church first.

Be ready to hear the word of God.

Why?

If you're not prepared, you're going to lose.

The best team on the football field usually wins because they are the best prepared.

Do you realize the difference between a gold medal and a bronze medal is tenths of a second?

It's not the ability.

They all have that ability.

You know what it is?

It's the attitude.

The attitude that I'm going to work harder than you, or I'm not going to, I don't care how the pain feeling right now as I'm running that race or whatever athletic event I'm doing, I'm going to push through.

That's who wins the goal.

Lesser talent has won goals because of the attitude.

The readiness.

And that's what we're talking about here.

You've got to be ready.

Oh, uh, Matthew 13, 16, Jesus said this.

I just saw this this week and memorized it.

It's not on there, but write it down, Matthew 13, 16.

Jesus said, Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.

Man, that's good.

That's good.

So, notice the second thing.

Concentrate your attention.

By the way, here's another one.

You've got to write it down.

This is an awesome verse.

Proverbs 15, 31.

It's up there.

The ear that hears the reproof of life abides among the wise.

I want you to hear that.

The ear that hears the reproof of life abides among the wise.

You know what that means?

You know what the reproof is?

It's when we look into the mirror, and we're going to talk about that mirror in a little bit, and we see the wrong, we see our hair is out of place, we see something's out of place, and we correct it.

Well, when the word of God points out sin in your life, you confess it and you turn from it and you make changes in your life that you need to make.

That's what that means.

The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wives.

Hey, if you hear and don't do, you're not wise.

You're headed for trouble and it's your own fault.

Don't blame me.

Don't blame your mate.

Don't blame the teacher.

If the truth is presented and you hear and do not react, it's nobody's fault but yours and mine.

Amen.

Owe me?

Absolutely.

So he says, the Bereans, watch this.

In Acts 17, 11.

I don't think it's up there, but here's another verse.

You'll love this, and we'll use it on.

The Berean Christians were more noble than those at Thessalonica.

You know why?

Watch.

They received the Word of God with readiness.

That concentration, that attention, with readiness of mind.

And they received the Word with gladness and readiness of mind and watch.

And search the scriptures daily whether those things were so.

You will have the truth.

And not only that, you'll take this and you'll go home and you'll search it out to see that it's true.

Amen.

People that stand in a pulpit and preach their philosophy, their ideology without the word of God, God help them.

I don't care what a man says, I care what God says.

And I shouldn't say I don't care.

I do appreciate godly wisdom as long as the wisdom from older folks or younger folks comes from application of the Word of God.

Amen.

One of the greatest battles I have with my youngest, Stephanie.

She said, she used to say before she got saved, well, that's your opinion.

And I used to about want to slap her down.

And I'd said, darling, do you not hear, you hear me preach three times a week, and you think that's my opinion?

How many scriptures do I quote?

Well, man wrote those books, that book.

I said, no, he didn't.

God wrote it.

And we'd go on and on, wouldn't we, honey?

I meant just booming, booming, booming.

Then she got saved.

Now she's preaching to me the word.

You know what the word says, Daddy?

I'm saying to her, no, tell me, tell me.

Makes a difference when you get it.

Makes a difference when the roots, hey, take home.

Big difference.

Big difference.

But number two, uh-oh.

Control your tongue.

Slow to hear, slow to speak.

In this very same verse, we employed to be slow to speak.

Now, James used this phrase because when this was written, there were a lot of services where it was kind of open, and people would get up and sing and quote verses.

So it was no order in the service a lot of times.

So anybody could say, hey, I got a word from God, and boy, that'd take off.

Let me help you here.

When I'm speaking, the word of God comes through me.

We're not going to have any disruption.

Okay?

We don't do that here.

We feel very strong about order, order, so that people can understand.

So here you just have people, and a lot of times there were false plants there, and they'd just sit up and start talking heresy.

And if they were boisterous and vivacious and charismatic, they'd take over the whole service, and it would be false doctrine being taught.

So I wanted you to understand the context of what James' writing here at the church at Jerusalem.

Amen.

He's saying, wait, we gotta have order, and when you go to the gifts, you'll see that.

One of the things Paul says, we can't have people jump up and start speaking in an unknown tongue and they don't know what they're doing.

And I'm not speaking against the tongues.

I'm just talking about when it's out of order.

Can I get an Amen?

It can bring confusion.

And that's what do you know Satan can take what's good and confuse it so he can win?

Hello.

Just stay with the book.

Let the book be the guidebook, not man's guidebook.

So with that said, he says, be slow to speak.

James is saying that we need to learn how to control our own tongues and to be careful and deliberate with our words.

It is sometimes best to err on the side of silence, for the things you don't say can be as powerful as the things you do say.

Is that not good?

That's not good.

Now let me tell you about our words.

Psalms 34, 13.

Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile.

You know what guile means?

Lying.

Means deceitfulness.

But he that opens wide his lips shall have destruction.

In other words, he that just runs off at the mouth and he doesn't think through what he's saying.

We wouldn't know anybody like that, would we?

Me?

I'm guilty sometimes.

Peter was really guilty of that.

And if Peter can make it, Pastor Danny can make it.

Think before you speak.

Don't speak before you think.

You're headed for trouble.

Every time.

It's kind of like this.

My grandmother used to say, if you can't say something good, don't say anything.

I said, Well, Mama, I won't be saying what she said, good.

Hello?

You okay?

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to its ears.

Here's what that means.

If it's not good, hey, if it's not building up, if it's not spoken graciously, and if it doesn't help, keep your mouth closed.

Amen.

Folks, listen, we don't have to criticize each other.

We don't have to criticize each other.

Satan does a great job at that himself.

You know the biggest problem in the church is gossip.

I got three amen, so every one of y'all been gossiping.

I knew it.

You can't help it.

I can't help it.

The devil made me do it.

Yeah, I understand.

Isn't it amazing how quick we are to jump on the negative instead of, and when the positive happens, we say very little.

Now you say, why is that?

Because Satan takes it.

He takes the negative and he magnifies it every time.

If you know something bad's going on, don't talk about it.

Pray about it.

And go help them.

Go say, can I, and here's all you gotta say.

You know what I've done these last few years, I've learned?

When I know something's going on, you know what I do?

I don't go up there and say, oh, I'm so sorry you got so dummy yummy going up, yum, yum, yummy, yummy.

Now, first of all, don't you know they know what's going on in their own lives?

You don't have to remind them, all that does is make the wound worse.

Hello, I'm talking straight.

Oh boy.

You know what you do?

You just put your arm and say, I love you, and I'm praying for you and them.

That's it.

And let if they want to talk, they say, Can I talk?

If they don't want to talk, you just pray for them and let them know you love them and you're there.

That's all you gotta do.

A lot of times just sitting there looking at them face to face, letting them know you being there knows, makes them know you care.

Hey, you don't want to say a whole lot sometimes.

Yeah, but I want to minister.

Well, you just keep your mouth shut.

Let the Holy Spirit minister.

Amen.

Amen.

You with me?

Hey, listen, don't look at me.

I'm talking to me.

All right, excuse me.

I wasn't preaching to you, I was just preaching to me.

I hurt my toes.

Because I I I I I like to talk.

Don't you say anything, Melvin.

I got a lot to say.

Control that tongue.

Watch this.

Watch this.

This is good.

Uh oh, you got to get these verses.

In Psalms keep all right, go to the next one.

Uh Psalms Proverbs 13, 3.

What's this?

He that keeps his mouth keeps his life.

Whoa! Ho! But he that opens wide his lips shall have destruction.

That's twice.

Now you wonder why you're in such a bad fix, you run in your mouth.

Hello! Hello! Can we all say on three, oh me?

One, two, three, owe me.

That's what it says.

Now I'm gonna really hurt us.

It's gonna hurt.

Go to Matthew 12.

Jesus is now talking.

Notice what he says.

He said, I say unto you, when Jesus says, I say unto you, you better listen.

This is not Paul, this is not disciples, this is Jesus.

Okay?

That every idle word.

Uh-oh.

Before we go any further, what is an idle word?

Well, let me give you the Greek word.

It's pretty good.

No, it's not really good.

But the Greek word there means careless.

It means careless.

It means thoughtless.

It means of no benefit.

Huh?

Did you hear that?

That's what it means.

Right there.

Now, thoughtless, no benefit.

Careless.

Careless is when you say something without thinking through.

Alright, now notice what he says.

That men shall speak, they shall give, what is that next phrase?

Give what?

Thereof in the day of judgment.

Do you realize we're gonna stand before God and give an account of every idle word we have said?

God help me.

Hello! If that doesn't zip it, nothing will.

And you're gonna see what James 3.

You know why?

James 3, verse 8 says that the tongue is from the pits of hell.

James 3:8

The ones that aren't ziped bringing destruction.

But look at verse 37.

For by thy words thou should be justified.

By your words you'll be condemned.

That's what Jesus said.

That sums it up, doesn't it?

Next point.

Well one, but write this down.

Colossians 4.6.

Here's our speech.

Let your speech be always full of grace.

Oh, that's beautiful.

Full of grace, you know what that means?

That means comforting, soothing, building up, loving, putting your arms around them, and saying, Chuck, I love you, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Just knowing that we're there.

That's what that means, great.

Season with salt.

Now you know what salt means?

Don't miss it.

Salt means that, hey, your mouth, what you're saying is right from God's word.

It's true, it's honorable, it's steadfast, and it's real.

You don't lie.

You never lie to comfort somebody.

If you can't say the truth, don't say anything.

Salt, something that you can stand on.

That's what that means.

Season with salt that you may know how to answer every man.

Lovingly, firmly, truthfully, not compromisingly, but lovingly.

I'm against homosexuality.

But I love the homosexual.

I'm against abortion.

It's murder.

But I love the person that's had an abortion so we can minister to them, love them, and help them work through that.

And that, and hey, you you've got to confess it as sin.

You've got to say it's sin.

You've got to ask God to forgive you.

Then you gotta love them.

They're gonna fall off the wagon, back up on.

You've got to work through all that hard stuff and be there.

But you never compromise, but you never give up.

You never throw them to the dogs.

Can I get an amen?

Amen?

All the cultural political sins that Satan's trying to infiltrate our culture with wrong doctrine, God help us.

But we don't, hey, we don't kill, hey, the sinner, we preach against the sin.

Does that make sense?

Did I say that okay?

You with me?

And God's allowed me to really, hey, minister a lot of people tied up in some of those cultural sins that are wrong because they know Pastor Danny doesn't condemn them.

He loves them, but they also know Pastor Danny doesn't agree.

But they respect me too.

Amen?

Because guess what?

Hey, they say we're narrow-minded.

Well, if they're not willing to hear what we got to say, that means they're narrow-minded too, where I come from.

Amen.

So let's talk about it and take the word of God and lovely to discuss it.

Not shoot each other.

Amen.

That's good preaching, preacher.

Next, contain your anger.

Slow to wrath.

Slow to wrath.

Often in the early church assemblies, the anger of the participants would explode as different people again expounded their ideas instead of God's word.

Listen to what he says in Psalms 37, verse 8.

Psalms 37:8

Cease from anger and forsake wrath.

Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

In other words, folks, anger takes us only one place, and that's into a destructive place.

Can I get an amen?

The fruit of the Spirit.

Look at Proverbs 14, 17.

He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly.

And a man of wicked devices is hated.

In other words, what he's saying there, anger is a wicked device Satan uses to bring destruction.

That's what he's saying.

You say, well, I can't help it.

That's who I am.

Well, change who you are.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation.

Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things become new.

Amen.

Ecclesiastes 7:9.

Ecclesiastes 7:9

Be not hasty in the spirit to be angry.

For anger, hey, resteth in the bosom of fools.

You wanna be a fool?

Then let your anger run rampant.

Lord help us.

Listen, I know you can control your tempers.

Because I had one.

Still do.

Somebody said, Well, you how'd you get rid of your temper?

I didn't get rid of it.

It's still there.

And if I don't control it and keep it pinned down through the power of God and his word, it could pop up anytime, any moment.

And you don't want to be around if it does.

I don't know if Susan's maybe one time.

She's seen that look, maybe twice.

I've got a look that you don't want to see.

Don't you say a word, Melvin.

You and I will don't you dare say it.

You saw a good control spirit then.

Yeah.

But boy, it was close.

We were at a car.

I'll tell it now, because everybody's gonna come ask y'all.

We were at a car show.

And I went up and got me a hot car.

It was cold that morning.

I got me a we were at an auction, really, up in Talladega at the racetrack.

And I it was real cold.

I got me a cup of coffee, and I'm standing over there fixing my coffee away from everybody else.

And this gentleman, I in my mind, I thought he did it deliberately.

But I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt.

Anyway, he just came up and bam! And that hot coffee went all over me.

Right here.

Boom.

And my first reaction went.

And then I said, there's Ivan, there's Melvin, and I'm the pastor.

I don't need to be locked up and then bail me out in Talladega.

But for a moment, God just will be glad our Holy Spirit was there.

That joker.

And he did apologize, but he didn't offer to buy me any another cup of coffee.

He should have offered to buy me another cup of coffee.

So, anger, fruit of the Spirit.

Well, no, let's go.

No, they need to hear this.

Proverbs 19, 11.

For some reason, the Lord wants me to stop here this little bit longer.

The discretion of a man defers his anger, and it is glory to pass over a transgression.

Whoa, there it is.

In other words, a spirit-filled man control that anger and let the anger pass.

He won't yield to that anger.

He won't yield to that foul mouth.

Hello?

Well, I anybody to cuss somebody out, that's you know what?

I'm gonna take you back to what Jesus said.

Somebody asked me, how do you stop cussing?

I said, memorize, hey, memorize Matthew 12, 36 and 37.

You want to stop cussing?

You'll stop cussing.

How would you like to stand before the Lord with all those four-letter words and God help you if you use God's name in vain?

That'll stop you.

That'll stop you from cussing.

That'll stop you from gossiping, too.

Those are two powerful verses.

And if you want another one, you can go to Matthew 18 where it says, those things proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart when you use that excuse.

Oh, I really didn't mean it.

Yes, you did, or you wouldn't have said it.

Because it comes from the heart.

I don't like that verse either.

Because I had a good excuse.

Honey, I didn't really mean that.

How many of us have played that card?

Yeah, you did.

If you didn't mean it, you wouldn't have said it.

Yeah, but no, that just means hey, well, it came out.

Yeah, that just means you can't control your tongue.

Hello?

Hey, I'm taking my shoes off.

They're hurting.

I'm just as guilty as y'all are.

Hello.

Does it hurt?

Yes.

We need this.

We need this.

Y'all may not come back, but we need this.

Hey, you won't go out of here and talk about me today, will you?

That's okay.

Everybody else does.

All right.

Hey, contain your anger.

Next, cleanse your life.

Verse 21.

Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness.

This fourth guideline teaches us that if a person's moral life is out of control, the result can be devastating.

The word filthiness, rupats.

It means to dishonor, defile, soul, the body.

Rupas is a word, it really means in other places, it means, in fact, just like the earwax.

The word there is earwax, that's a synonym from hearing clearly.

In other words, though what they're saying is a lot of times we Christians, rupas, we have wax in our ears.

And we hear the word of God, but we ignore it, we reject it, we don't pay any attention to it, and we go on and do our thing.

He says, that is devastating.

But therefore, he says, lay apart all filthiness.

Now, filthiness, rupas, lay aside.

What that means is taking off dirty clothes.

You know when you work real hard, you come in, you take off your dirty clothes, throw them in a hamper and get in the shower.

Well, that's what that means.

When you lay aside, you come off and you take that ugliness and that that sin, you get rid of it, you throw it away, put it under the blood.

That's what he's talking about there.

Hear the word of God.

If you want the word of God to move in our lives, we have to be willing to concentrate on it.

We have to be willing to resolve our anger and the issues in our life that we have with God and with other people, and we have to be willing to take a look at where we are with our spiritual walk, honestly.

And that's good.

Let us purify ourselves, 2 Corinthians 7.1, let us purify ourselves from all filthiness of flesh, perfecting holiness and the fear of God.

Proverbs 28:13, he that covers his sin shall not prosper, but whosoever confesses and forsake it shall have mercy.

Proverbs 28:13

Gotta be honest.

Transparent.

Hebrews 12:1, you know that one.

Hebrews 12:1

Laying apart every sin that so easily besets us.

Gotta get rid of it.

You gotta get rid of it.

The second thing.

So, man, that was a long one.

That was the foundation one.

Number two, examination.

Receive with meekness.

Look at verse 21.

The implanted word which is able to save your souls.

Now, the word received here in the language of the New Testament means more than just to take.

It really does.

It means to welcome.

In other words, sometimes we come to church because we're supposed to, and we just sit there and we really don't hear.

We just, all right, I wish the preacher would hurry up, I'm ready to eat.

Susan's got her strawberry cake, and now you won't hear another word I said.

You'll be thinking about strawberry cake.

Me too.

But hey, really, really?

In other words, you hear, well, I'm supposed to be here, I'm doing my duty, I'm I'm but you're half-heartedly here.

It'd be like you're going to an Auburn football game, Brent, or an Alabama football game, and sitting there talking about something else while the whole football game's going on.

Now, I don't know many of you is gonna pay$60 to do that.

If you're gonna do that, stay home.

Really?

You know what used to bother me when I was at Open Door?

I lived in Tuscaloosa.

Oh, we were, oh, if Alabama got beat, I knew it's gonna be a bad Sunday.

If they won, then we're gonna have a good service.

But they would be just talking about what that, who played that, yeah, yeah.

And I thought to myself, if I could get just a fourth of my people as excited about the word of God and doing things for God's community with God's principles in their lives, we would bring revival to Tuscaloosa.

Same here.

You come to church, can't wait to get in the book.

Because God's gonna teach.

God's teaching you right now.

David Wilson's got a one of the greatest testimonies when he shares in our covenant series.

He gives the testimony of the church and helping God using him, he's been very successful as a great businessman in the top 10 surpros out of 1,700 for 20-something years.

He's unbelievable, he's Mr.

Cerebro.

But if you ask him the greatest thing he's ever accomplished in his life, he says, when God called him and to help start a church.

Not Surpro.

Now, Surpro's slow second.

Well, excuse me, Christie's second.

Surpro's third.

Right, David?

But really, that's it.

That's it.

But you know what?

The testimony that God gets me, he said all the major decisions in his life, and he's made some major ones.

And if anybody's been successful, just follow his track.

He's been successful.

You know what he says?

The greatest decisions he's ever made in his life or business, for his family or business, was sitting in church and God's man preaching God's word, God gave him the answer or what to do in church.

That's why he doesn't miss church.

Unless he has to.

Does that make sense?

Yes, that makes sense.

Examination.

Hey, oh, that's it.

That's it.

Number three, application.

Verse 22.

But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

James, right here, is relying on the idea that is shared in many scriptures.

Jesus concluded the Sermon on the Mount.

Listen to what he said.

Watch this, Matthew 7, 24.

This is awesome.

Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And then in another scripture, Jesus said, Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.

In other words, when you will lend God's word, he's gonna bless everything you do.

If you're doers of the word of God, not just hearers.

Folks, you can be successful.

It's not hard.

Well, I was gonna say it's not hard.

Oh, it is hard to be totally, absolutely successful.

Radically sold out with a hunger and desire.

Can't wait to get in the word every morning.

A proverb a day keeps the devil away.

I'm discipling my nephew and his wife, and I ask them all the time, what about a proverb?

You read your proverb today?

It's so important.

It's a must.

It's a must.

Application.

Verse 22, the word here.

You know what it's used?

They have a great word.

It's used as the word auditor.

It's used as the word audit to date, like if you were in college, you would audit a class.

You know what that means when you audit a class?

That means you don't take tests, you don't do work.

You just happen to do it casually.

That is not what he's talking about.

We don't need to audit the word of God.

We need to get in the word of God.

We want to take the test from the word of God.

We want the word of God to be prevalent and exhibited in our lives.

We don't want to just hear it, we want to do it.

Can I get an amen?

That's what he's saying.

That's what he's saying.

We should study the Bible so that we can develop a relationship of love and obedience with God.

That's it.

And if we do it, we'll become a way.

Hey, we'll follow the heart of God and we will have the footsteps of God in our life.

Now, write this down.

God gave me this this morning, and I had a Pentecostal spell.

Watch.

What you do with the Bible will determine what God does with you.

That's worth writing down.

What you do with the Bible is what God will do for you and deal with you.

Why?

He is the Bible.

In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1.1.

Wow.

It's His love letter.

It's His love letter written to us.

If you're willing and obedient, you should eat the good of the Lamb, but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.

The question is, is the Bible welcomed in your life?

Is it welcomed in your life?

We are to have a close relationship with God's word.

You know why?

That means we have a close relationship with God.

Hello.

He's a Bible verse away.

Every day I talk to him.

I talk to him in my prayers.

And guess what?

Every day Jesus talked to me today.

All these verses.

I got so, I'm just giving you half of what I got in me.

Because I read every one of them.

I meditate on them.

I memorize them.

He talks to me.

He walks.

Remember that song?

He talks with me.

He walks with me.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

I wished I could sing, but I can't.

That's why I married Susan.

Now, I love singing.

We're to have a close relationship with God's Word.

Now watch.

Now watch it.

God gave me this.

When we have that close relationship with God's Word, we then possess the traits of God's Word in our life.

Is that not good?

That means if you are in God's Word and doing God's word, the fruit is your love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance, self-control.

Which there's nothing to compare with.

Man, that's good.

That's good, preacher.

That's why he says there's two approaches.

Ready?

There's the casual approach.

Verse 23 and 24.

Look at it.

Casual approach.

For if any man be a hear of the word and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in the glass, for he beholdeth himself and goeth his way.

In other words, you see what you need to do.

You know what you need to do.

You just don't do it.

You just keep going your way.

That's the casual approach.

But then you have the careful approach.

Look at verse 25.

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one, whoo! Watch.

Last phrase, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Can I get an Amen?

Do you want to be blessed?

Yes.

About 30 of you.

I'm going to try that again.

Do you want to be blessed?

Yes.

It's simple.

Do the book.

Do the book.

Do it.

Do it.

Do it.

Look at look at Joshua 1.8.

What's this?

Is it on there?

I think I do.

Joshua 1.8.

Put it up there.

Woo! What's this?

The book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written there.

And then shall I make with the way prosperous?

Then shall they have good what?

Success.

This is, I think it's uh, where is that?

It's I think it's uh okay.

I'm going to the next point.

Ha ha, I got you.

Meditation.

I want you to see it.

Fourth principle.

Meditation.

That's where Joshua 1.8.

But and I'll quote, you got Psalms 119.47.

I will delight myself in thy commandments which I have loved.

Psalms 119.72, the law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands.

Listen, the Psalms 119.72, thy law and thy word is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

Wow.

It's what it says, folks.

But now watch.

Meditation.

Look at Joshua 1.8.

The book of the law shall not depart out of my mouth.

Now what title is used for the word of God in the beginning of this verse?

The book of the law.

It's God's word.

All right.

It should not depart from where?

Watch.

Out of the mouth.

Hey, this law must govern every utterance of our life.

That's what it means.

Hey, what are we to instead do with the book?

For how long?

Meditate there day and night.

That means move over it day and night.

In your thoughts, day and night.

Why are we to do this?

Hey, we can hey to obey what God says.

Be careful to comply with all that is written in it for our lives.

And then notice what?

There's two results that will come from meditating on God's word.

You'll prosper and have good success.

Is that not powerful?

And then quickly, Psalms 121.

Psalms chapter 1, verse Psalms 1, verse 1 and 2.

Psalms 1 · chapter mention Psalms 1:1

Look at what he says.

This is so good.

The blessed man.

I like that.

Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

The blessed man does not walk in what?

Hey, he never listens to the vice of the ungodly.

He never fellowships with ungodliness.

You got friends that are lost and are ungodly and do things you don't participate with them.

That's why you can't be saved and date a lost person and think you're going to convert them.

God will not go against what he tells you not to do.

Hello.

You know when you, oh, how I used to have this all the time at Liberty University.

Oh, Dr.

Lovett, God's got this wonderful man in my life.

I said, okay.

I said, how much does he love Jesus?

Well, but but I'm gonna win him.

I said, no, you're not.

I said, the Bible says have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

I said, have you shared the word with them?

No.

Have you shared Jesus?

No.

I said, well, how can this be a godly relationship?

Well, she just said, I didn't say it was godly.

Well, I said, what are you doing as a Christian?

Well, I guess I ought not to be doing that.

I said, You guess right.

How can you try to do something God says not to do and think God's gonna bless it?

He would have to lie.

Have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness.

Come out from among them, be ye separate.

Be a lighthouse, but not, well, anyway.

So, where does he not stand?

He does not walk the road of the sinners, does not join the company of mockers and scoffers.

The law of Jehovah, the law of Yahweh, finds his pleasure in the book.

What does he do with the law of the Lord?

Look, he talks with himself day and night about the word, recites the law, he quotes the scripture, he studies it day and night.

Now, folks, when you do that, your life's gonna completely change.

You say, I don't have time to do that.

Let me ask something.

You have time to listen to music?

Huh?

Hello.

None of y'all listen to music?

If if you're not listening to music, what are those things I see?

Everybody got these earplugs in their ears all the time.

Everywhere I go, I see earplugs.

Everywhere.

Driving a car, they have earplugs.

So, well, why couldn't you be listening?

Please tell me it's praise and worship music.

Now that's what my sister would have said, real, I meant my not my sister, but my daughter would have said, Oh, but Dan, I'm listening to praise music.

And I say, Yeah.

But but really.

So you can.

You can listen.

You think about those songs, you can think about the book.

That's why W, what's the Christian say?

W B all I know is it's it's 93.7 on my station.

That's all I know.

W D J C.

That's it.

But but but there's others too.

Amen.

I mean, that's what he's talking about.

That's exactly what he's talking about.

Now, last and I'm through.

The fifth thing, the demonstration.

Let me ask something.

Do you want success, prosperity, and blessings?

Do you want that, church?

Let me repeat that.

Do you want success, prosperity, and blessings?

Be doers of the book.

This is what James is telling us.

That's why I said it's the Proverbs of the New Testament.

He says you can be blessed, you can prosper if you do it his way.

James concludes this section of his letter by giving these concrete examples.

Number three.

Number one, the test of self-control.

Verse 26.

If any among you thinks he's religious and does not bride his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.

When James addressed the subject of the tongue later on in his letter, listen to what he says.

A restless evil full of deadly poison, James 3.8.

And then he says, if a man's able to control his tongue, if you can control that tongue, he is perfect.

That means mature man in James 3.2.

He ties the matter of self-control to the reality of one's religious claims.

Ooh.

Are you a Christian?

Most people, every time, now it's getting less and less.

And I'm kind of glad it is, to be honest with you.

Because I'd rather know that I'm dealing with a lost person than somebody that's lost but thinks he's saved.

Those are the worst type to deal with.

And what I mean worst type to deal with, they think they're okay.

And Satan has totally deceived them.

But let me say this: if you are a Christian, you will have the fruits of a Christian.

Jesus said, what did he say in Matthew 7?

You shall know them what?

By the fruit that they bear.

Wow, that's good.

But see how important our tongue has to control the test of self-control.

That's awesome.

And then notice what else?

The test of spiritual compassion.

Look at verse 27.

James then follows with verse 27.

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this to visit orphans and widows.

Thank God for amazing grace.

Did Darren rapture?

I hope not.

I mean, I knew something was missing.

Yeah, Danny, yeah, okay.

Did he cut his other finger off?

Okay.

All right, just checking.

There's Tabitha.

Where?

Oh, funeral.

I'm sorry.

Okay.

Well, tell him, Pastor, it took me almost all the service, but I knew something I knew it's kind of like something's wrong here.

There's a noise I don't hear.

A good noise.

A good noise.

The test of spiritual compassion.

Thank God for the amazing grace.

Thank God for the home, the boys' home, the girls' home.

Thank God.

We can bless them.

We can help them.

We can minister to them.

That's what the church is supposed to be doing.

Thank God.

You walk in this, we don't care who you are, what you are, what color you are, what social class you are, we don't care how bad you've been, how good you've been.

We want you to meet Jesus right here at the cross.

We're not interested in your past, we're interested in your future.

Amen.

Amen.

And then number three, the test of social corruption.

Verse 27.

To keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Hey, we're to live in the world, but we're not to be a part of this world.

Amen.

Thank God.

We're to minister to this world, but we're not to get caught up.

I am so sick and tired, tired of political correctness that I'm I control, control, control.

I'm not going the way of the world, folks.

This church is not going the way of the world.

We're going to be a lighthouse.

We're going to be different.

Not perfect.

You know what we are?

We're a hospital for people that are hurting.

We're not a social club for the elite.

The social, spiritual, know-it-alls.

No.

We're growing together.

We need each other.

Amen.

I need you.

I need you.

We need each other.

We need to help each other when we fall back up.

Because we're going to fall.

It's not if, it's when you go down.

We're all going to go down.

The righteous.

And somebody said, I don't know if I believe that.

Well, you do get you believe the book?

Proverbs 24, 17, the righteous fall seven times.

Or 17, one of them, it's Proverbs 24.

The righteous fall seven times, but they get back up.

But we need help to get back up.

And the older I get, the more help I need.

Amen.

You with me?

What to do?

When you look into the mirror.

What to do?

Here's what you do.

You repent.

You ask God to forgive you.

If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

What a terrific God we have.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.