Hearing and Doing the Word (James 1:19-27)

Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Children, we are ready for Children's Church at this time.

So you can make your way to the back. And man, what a joy it is to see all of those kids running back, eager to learn about Jesus.

So thankful for Savannah and Justin and their heart to teach these kids about the Lord.

As we get started today, parents, have you ever noticed that some of the things that you tell your kids are the same things that your parents told you?

Some of the things that you end up finding you telling your kids are the same things that your parents told you as you were growing up.

But it's amazing to think about how that plays out because I don't know what happened from the time that I was 18 to the time I was 25.

My parents got so much smarter. It's like in seven years, they gained a whole lifetime of wisdom.

And so all of a sudden, those things that they told me as a child that really didn't make very much sense to me, all of a sudden they started making sense.

And now I find myself saying some of those same things to my kids that my dad and my mom said to me years ago.

For example, I can remember growing up, I didn't mean to was not a legitimate excuse.

It wasn't a legitimate excuse to say it was an accident or I didn't mean to.

That wasn't a legitimate excuse.

My dad would often say, well, sometimes you have to mean not to.

And meaning that, you know, you have to make sure that you don't put yourself in a situation to do something by accident.

And so I find myself saying this to my kids.

And one time I said it to my wife.

That didn't go over very well.

Works much better with kids than a spouse.

But some of these things that we find ourselves saying, whenever I would fight in early bedtime or get back late from a date, I would oftentimes hear my dad tell me this advice.

He says, son, you can't hoot with the owls and soar with the eagles.

I was like, okay, thanks, dad.

Didn't make any sense to me at the time.

But now I've said it to my kids.

I've said it to my kids a few times.

Clint told me this when he says, he says, dad would often tell him, he says,

if you lie with dogs, you will get fleas.

And I said, you must have hung out with a different crowd than I did.

Because dad didn't have to tell me that very, very much.

I don't remember that.

But one that I remember every single time, leaving as I would go out somewhere, he would say, son, remember whose son you are.

And I would have to respond to him, okay, I'm your son and I'm God's son.

And he just, as a reminder, as I would leave, he would always make me say that just to remember whose son I am.

I was not only his son, but more importantly, I was God's son.

And I don't know what to think right now.

Some of you are taking more notes right now than you are during the message.

But all of these things are important things that we must remember.

We spend a lot of time with someone, especially a parent.

When you do that, those things that are important to them oftentimes become important to you as well.

In our passage today, James is saying many of the same things that Jesus said in his ministry.

Many of the things that Jesus emphasized in his earthly ministry here on earth that we read about in the Gospels.

Many of those things that he said are the same things that James is telling us today.

It's almost like they grew up in the same house or something.

It's almost like these things were something that were a part of who they were growing up.

And so what we see is this being played out in James' passage here.

So if you have a copy of God's Word, I want to invite you.

We're going to finish up James chapter 1 this week.

James 1 · chapter mention

We're going to be in verses 19 through 27.

And so if you have a copy of God's Word, I want to invite you to turn there with me and listen as we read these words.

James says this.

He says,

And so this morning as we look at this passage, we finish up James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

I want us to be able to clearly see how God's Word directly and clearly affects us in our actions.

There's honestly like this progression that is being made as we work our way through this,

as we are growing in our spiritual maturity, as we're growing in our sanctification.

But to begin with this morning, the first thing that I want us to see is that we are to receive the Word.

We're to receive the Word.

Verses 19 through 21.

It says,

The Word shows itself as the main focus in this section, especially in verses 21 through 25.

But here, starting in verse 19, James is grabbing our attention.

He's saying,

Know this.

It's almost like he's changing and trying to bring everybody in and say,

Know this, my beloved brothers.

What I'm about to tell you is very important.

And then he goes on to tell us that we must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.

Now, at first glance, this honestly just seems like some good advice, right?

This is like some advice that you would find on any self-help book.

You know, hey, make sure that you are quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to anger.

And that just seems like some good general advice.

You know, God gave us two ears and one mouth so that we should hear, listen twice as much as we talk.

And just some good practical advice that we should have in our lives.

But here, James is not making a public service announcement here.

He is writing to help Christians sincerely live out their faith.

So let's begin putting these verses together.

We must be quick to hear.

You know when it's difficult to be quick to hear?

When you're talking.

It's really hard to be quick to hear, to be quick to listen when you're constantly talking.

When you're constantly trying to have things going on, you're constantly the one in charge and dominating a conversation.

It's really difficult to listen to what anybody else has to say.

But also kind of following that train of thought that James is going on here.

You know when it's really difficult to be quiet and to not talk?

When you're angry.

Because when you're angry, what you want to do is you want to make sure your voice is heard above anything else.

You want to make sure that if anybody's going to have a chance to talk, it's going to be you.

You feel offended and so you want to make sure your voice, your perception of reality, your opinion is heard.

And many times we do that by dominating a conversation.

Either with the sheer number of words that is coming out of our mouth.

Or by the volume of the words that is coming out of our mouth.

But as followers of Jesus, we must be slow to speak and slow to anger.

And you may say, well, Brett, didn't Jesus get angry?

Doesn't the Bible tell us that there are times when Jesus got angry?

Yes, and I'm glad that you asked that because it's a wonderful example for us to follow when it comes to responding to things in this world.

Sam Albury notes, he says,

The gospel writers did not hide the fact that he was angry on occasion.

At times it was because of the pompous behavior of his disciples or the callous attitude of religious leaders.

When he cleared the temple, it was because it looked more like a shopping mall than a house of prayer.

And on such occasions, get this, he says,

Jesus was right to be angry.

We know that such anger was justified.

And we know it was slow in coming.

This is what we call righteous anger.

But before you start using this as an excuse to be angry and start saying,

Well, I'm angry, so I'm just being like Jesus here.

Let's take one of these examples and look at it a little closer.

Jesus overturning the tables in the temple.

Jesus' anger was rooted in the fact that money changers were making it difficult for people to come and worship God.

They were making it difficult for people to be able to come before God.

It wasn't the fact that something was being sold in the temple.

It wasn't the fact that just there happened to be something being sold there.

Because back in Deuteronomy 14, we realized that there's special instructions given to those who are traveling from great distances.

Those who are traveling from great distances coming to the temple,

they were said that they could sell their possessions where they were and travel to the temple

and then buy those things once they got there to make their offering before God.

So it wasn't just the fact that something was being sold,

but it was the fact that people were making it difficult for people to come to a relationship with God,

making it difficult to come before God.

He says, you've turned it into a house of robbers here.

So people were taking advantage of other people.

They were overcharging and making it really difficult for people to come to and before God.

And so this is what Jesus is getting angry at.

And he gets angry at any time that somebody gets in the way of someone coming to him.

And so what we see here is that Jesus was angry at this particular thing,

just like he would be angry at anything that prevented someone coming to him.

And let me add another word of caution right here.

Righteous anger becomes unrighteous anger very quickly when we act unrighteously in it.

See, righteous anger, anger can start off in the right reasons,

but it can become unrighteous very quickly when we sin in that anger.

When we start acting unrighteously in that anger,

even if it started off as righteous, it can become unrighteous very quickly.

So we must control that.

Which all of this ties right into what James is telling us to put off next.

He says, put off all filthiness and rampant wickedness,

and then we are to receive with meekness the implanted word,

which is able to save our souls.

And so how do we do all of this?

We become good listeners.

We learn to listen to God well.

When it comes to listening to God, we must become good listeners.

And part of being a good listener is paying attention to what is being said.

I think Catherine would tell you that if I'm intentional,

if I'm thinking about it, if I'm trying to be intentional,

I'm a pretty good listener at times.

But I've developed some bad habits in our relationship.

I've developed some bad habits where sometimes I go into autopilot a little bit.

She'll call and she'll be telling me all the things that's going on at work,

and I'm trying to respond to an email or finish a train of thought

that I'm working on with a sermon or any number of things,

and I'm distracted and I start going into autopilot.

And you may recognize some of these things.

If your wife, if your husband starts saying,

mm-hmm, okay, sure, yeah, mm-hmm,

if that becomes the response in the conversation, he's not listening.

And so we'll have a whole conversation of me just kind of being on autopilot

where I'm not paying attention,

and then all of a sudden, days later, she's telling me we have to be somewhere.

I'm like, what are you talking about?

This is the first time that I have ever heard about this.

And then she starts replaying the whole conversation for me.

And I'm like, I think I would remember if you told me that I had to,

that you had to be somewhere.

And I was responsible for picking up the girls from school

and getting them a snack before dance,

dropping one of them off at dance,

taking the other to the doctor,

trying to get the other one's homework done,

and then picking one up from dance and teleporting myself to the football field

to pick up Jacob from football practice

because they have to be picked up at the exact same time.

I think I would remember this conversation.

And she goes, no, no, I told you this whole thing.

And I said, are you okay with it?

And you said, mm-hmm.

And I'm like, well, maybe I did say that.

Maybe I did.

But as we think about it, so often when we come to a situation like that,

we're reminded that we must pay attention.

Part of being a good listener is actually listening to what God says.

There's nothing wrong with my ability to listen,

but we must be intentional on listening.

And the same is true when it comes to our relationship with God.

We must be intentional on removing distractions

and focusing on what God is teaching us through His Word.

Every time we open the Bible, it matters that we listen well.

Every time we open God's Word and begin reading,

it matters that we listen well to what God is telling us.

Fundamental to what we know about God is that He speaks.

Is that He speaks to us.

And the primary way that He speaks to us is through His Word.

He created the universe by His words.

By speaking it into existence, out of nothing, everything was formed.

And now He brings spiritual life to His people by His Word.

James tells us to be quick to hear.

In other words, hurry up and listen.

Listen to what God is saying.

Make sure that you're slow to speak.

Come to God's Word humbly and open.

And all too often when we come to God's Word,

we already know what we want it to say.

We already know what we want God to be telling us.

And we'll try to flip through and find a verse

that just tells us what we want to hear.

But that cannot be the case.

When we come to the Word,

we must be open to what God is going to share with us.

Take those verses in context.

Read through it.

Study it.

And begin thinking through what God is trying to tell us.

In a nutshell, to receive the Word is to listen to God rightly.

We need not only to hear His Word, but also to accept it and to obey it.

May we be quick to listen and also quick to obey.

Which brings us to our next observation.

And that is this.

We must do what the Word says.

It's one thing to hear the Word,

but we also must do what it says.

Verses 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 is 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 he 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.

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue,

but deceives his heart,

this person's religion is worthless.

When we as parents say that we want our kids to listen to us,

to be good listeners,

we are meaning something far more than just saying,

we want you to understand the words that I'm saying.

If I'm telling my kids to make sure that you're a good listener to listen to me,

I'm meaning far more than just saying,

make sure you know what the words are that are coming out of my mouth.

Make sure that you know them and then do them.

Put them into action.

Ultimately,

we want them to hear the words and then do the words.

James is telling us the same is true when it comes to our heavenly Father.

God did not give us his word just as a great work of literature,

just as a great list of words and commands for us to do,

but he gave it to us to transform our lives.

It was never God's intention to give us the word to be something that just imparts knowledge to us.

Although it does this far greater than anything else in this world,

but it also was intended to be life-changing.

It was intended to be applied to our life.

It's not just that we receive these words and we hear the words and we understand them,

but it's that we actually do them.

Paul,

writing to Timothy,

says,

All scripture is breathed out by God.

He says,

All of it is breathed out by God.

But then he goes on to tell him what it is good for.

And he says this.

He says,

All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching,

for reproof,

for correction,

and for training in righteousness,

that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.

The Bible wasn't written just to make you a more knowledgeable sinner,

but it was written to change your life.

It was written to be understood and applied to our life.

James shows us the importance of not only hearing God's word,

but doing it with the illustration of someone looking in a mirror

and immediately forgetting what they look like after they walk away.

The picture here is of someone who looks intently at his face in a mirror

and then walks away forgetting what he looks like.

Someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror,

but then seconds later couldn't pick himself out of a police lineup if he had to.

That doesn't make sense.

That doesn't make sense for us.

When we look at ourselves,

we understand what we look like and we're not going to forget it.

So when we see a picture of ourselves,

we can easily pick ourselves out in a crowd.

We can easily know what we look like when we look at that.

So, for example,

when we see this and examine ourselves in a mirror,

we must look at ourselves and do something about it.

We must remember God's word and then do what it says.

Who in here looks at a mirror when they get up in the morning?

Okay.

Some of you may want to start doing that.

Okay.

There's not a lot of hands that are going.

I'm joking.

But here's the thing.

When you look at a mirror,

what you're doing in the morning is you're assessing the situation.

You're like,

wow,

that was a rough night of sleep.

I look pretty rough this morning.

But it's one thing to assess the situation,

to know what needs to be fixed.

But then it doesn't make sense for us to do that

and then do nothing about it.

It doesn't make sense for us to see what needs to be changed and fixed

and then to walk away and do nothing about it.

James is saying here that this is the same way

when it comes to our relationship with God.

God's word is to show us our life

and what needs to be changed.

And it doesn't make sense for us to see that,

to understand it,

and then do nothing about it.

You see,

so many times,

especially in the church today,

we love to have Bible studies

and talk about the instruction that God has given us,

but then we don't do anything about it.

Based on some of those quotes I shared with you

that my dad told me earlier,

can you imagine if as a child,

my dad came to me and my brothers

and gave us a list of chores to complete.

He came to Blake and said,

Blake,

I want you to do the laundry today.

Brett,

I want you to cut the grass today

and Clint,

I want to make sure you take all of the trash out today.

And then he goes off

and he goes to work

and then he comes home

and he says,

all right,

boys,

come in.

Let's hear how it all went today.

Did you do what I asked you to do?

Can you imagine

how it would go

if said,

no,

we didn't do it,

dad,

but I want you to listen to what we did.

We studied it.

We memorized what you told us to do.

You told us to cut the grass.

You told me to cut the grass

and I have memorized that.

I've said it over and over today.

Cut the grass,

cut the grass,

cut the grass.

I've got,

you know what?

I can even say it in Greek.

You want to listen to me say it in Greek?

And not only this,

Clint comes and says,

look dad,

I came up with a list of strategies

of the best way to take out the trash.

You can do it this way,

this way,

or this way.

And we have all of these lists of strategies

to take out the trash.

He says,

in fact,

I studied how people used to take out the trash

and I thought through those different ways as well.

And we come to this

and can you imagine

how that would go

if this is what we told dad

when he says,

did you do what I asked you to do?

I can tell you it wouldn't go great.

In fact,

this makes me a little nervous

even just saying this right there.

I'm just glad there's a lot of people

in between me and my dad right now.

Dad doesn't like me to say that.

He says,

people won't think I beat you

when you were growing up.

And dad did not beat us much.

But when we come to this

and we start thinking through this word,

we see how ridiculous this scenario is.

Yet this is often how we live the Christian life.

Now, let me be very clear on this.

I am pro-Bible study.

I love Scripture memorization.

I think it is incredibly important

to read and to know God's word.

But if that is where it stays,

then we're missing the point.

We're missing the point

if this is where it stays.

It is my prayer that we as a church,

that we are a church

who not only takes God's word seriously

when it comes to teaching.

I pray that we are a church

who takes God's word seriously

as we teach from the pulpit,

as we teach in our Sunday school classes,

in our life groups.

I pray that is something that we are.

But I also pray that's not where it stops.

But we are people

who take God's word seriously

when it comes to putting it

into practice in our lives.

To help us understand this,

James gives us a real life,

practical example

of what it means

to put this into practice.

And so the final observation

that I want us to make

for us today is this.

To show the word

to those in need.

We are to receive the word

and we are to do

what the word says

and we are to show the word

to those in need.

Starting in verse 27,

it says this,

religion that is pure

and undefiled

before God the Father

is this.

To visit orphans

and widows

in their affliction

and to keep oneself

unstained from the world.

See, when James wrote this letter,

there was no life insurance

a husband or father

would leave to a widow

or his children.

There was no government-run programs

to provide for them.

To get an idea

of what it would be like

for a widow at this time,

someone who had just lost

their spouse,

you can go back

to the Old Testament

and read the book of Ruth.

And as you look at that

and you see the struggles

that are taking place

there at the beginning of Ruth,

you can see the difficulties

that widows would face

at this time.

Widows and orphans

were desolate

and destitute.

What James is saying here

is that religion

that is pure

and undefiled

before God

is helping

the most vulnerable

in society.

Those where there is

no chance

that you will be able

to be repaid

for your services.

Those that you're going

to help,

not because there's something

that you can gain

from this,

but because you love

ultimately God first

and because of that

you see the needs

that are right around you

and you want to meet

those needs

as best you can.

You see,

this passage really

hit me in a way

that I wasn't expecting

when John Lefevers

and I went to Africa

earlier this year.

Going into that trip,

I was probably

the most excited

about doing

the pastor training.

They told us

all about these things

that we're going

to be doing,

working with,

140 something pastors

and working with them

and equipping them

to be able to serve

their churches

and I was really excited

about this.

But one of those

other ministries

that they kind of

threw in there

says we're also

going to be doing

these things

and these things

and these things.

One of those

was a widow's ministry

and I wasn't prepared

for what spending

basically two hours

with a room full

of widows

was going to mean

and how it was going

to put this verse

into context for me.

You see,

verses James 1, 27,

it says,

religion that is pure

and undefiled

before God,

the Father is this,

to visit orphans

and widows

and their affliction.

And this visit

is more than just a

hey, how are you doing?

This is meeting them

where they are,

going to them

and seeing those needs

and ultimately

trying to meet those needs

the best that you can.

But when I went

into this room

full of ladies

that were anywhere

from their early 20s

all the way up,

I was seeing

what it means

to live out

James 1, 27.

These ladies,

when they had lost

their husbands,

quite literally

lost everything.

Peter,

who was over

the ministry there,

he told us,

he says,

widow ministry

is something

that's vitally important

in our country

and it's vitally important

wherever you go.

Of course it is.

But he says,

in our country

the way that widows

are taken care of

is that the husband's brother

will take in the widow

as their wife

and take them

and start meeting

those needs

as best he can.

But he says,

but a lot of times,

especially the Christian ladies,

if they are not wanting

to enter into

a polygamous relationship,

then they are shunned.

They're kicked out.

Not only do they lose

their husband,

but they lose

all of his possessions

because the husband's family

takes these.

And they are quite literally

left on their own

without anything.

In a moment,

they become some

of the most vulnerable people

in their communities.

And all of a sudden,

this verse became alive to me.

And that became

one of the most meaningful parts

of the trip for me.

You see,

in order for the helpless,

in order to help the helpless,

we must become more

and more selfless

in our actions.

looking after orphans

and widows

is not an option

for the church.

It's an obligation

that we must have

a part of our ministry.

It's not something

that you can just kind of

take or leave

and say,

you know what?

We may do this

or we may not.

No, this is what

we're called to do.

We have an obligation

to care for those

who are most vulnerable,

to care for those widows

and those orphans.

And it is sad to say,

but sometimes

it is easier

to do ministry

in a different context

than it is to do it

right here

in our community.

And I'm not exactly sure

of why this is,

but I think it has to do

with the fact

that when you go

on a mission trip,

what we're doing

is we're being very intentional

about living on mission.

When you go on a mission trip,

you're saying that,

all right,

I'm doing missions now.

Now it starts

and then when you get back,

okay,

I'm done doing missions,

but that's not how we are

to see scripture.

That's not how we are

to see our lives.

It's not that we care

for people

that live somewhere else

other than

Stevens County more.

It's not that we care

about people in Mexico more

or Clarkston more

or Boston more

or Kentucky

or Alaska

or Africa

or Nicaragua

or anywhere else

that we've been

in the last 10 years.

But when we go

to all of these places,

we're being very intentional

about living on mission.

What if we decided

to be intentional

here in our everyday lives?

What if we decided

to take this very seriously

and to not only

hear God's word,

not only to know

what to do,

but to begin to do it

and begin to take it

very serious

where we live lives

that are on mission

for God,

to open our eyes

to opportunities

that are right around us.

Today in Sunday School,

you will have an opportunity

to sign up

to be a part

of a wonderful ministry

that we're relaunching

called Shepherd Staff.

Much of this ministry

that Shepherd Staff

will be doing

is James 1.27.

Caring for those

who are no longer

able to get out,

many of whom

are widowed.

You want a really quick way

to get plugged

into a ministry

that is pure

and undefiled

before God?

Sign up to be a part

of Shepherd Staff.

Commit to making contact

with one or two people

each month

that would love a call,

that would love a visit,

or even a card in the mail.

Be a part of meeting those needs.

See, church,

this is one of those passages

that's pretty easy

for us to understand.

In fact,

much of the things

that James is saying here

are the exact same things

that Jesus tells us

over and over again.

He tells us to not only

be hearers of the Lord,

but be doers of it.

To look around,

see needs that are

right around you

and seek to meet

those needs.

This is a passage

that is really easy

to understand,

but yet all too often

hard for us

to put into practice.

What you see in this passage

is a progression

of spiritual maturity.

And I want you to be honest

with yourself today.

Where do you land

on this progression?

Where do you find yourselves

right now

in your walk with God?

For some of us,

we may need to start

by receiving God's Word.

The extent of our Bible intake

is coming together

and listening to God's Word

preached for 30 minutes

or sometimes 35 or 36 minutes

each Sunday

and hearing God's Word.

That's the extent of it.

That's not enough.

That's not what God

requires.

God wants us to love His Word

for it to be sweeter than honey,

for it to be something

that we take

and we love

and we meditate on

and we read

and we hear those things.

Maybe where you need

to start

with this progression

is removing some distractions

from your life

and diving into God's Word.

We have many opportunities

for you to be able

to do that

and we'd love

to plug you in

with those.

Ladies,

if you want to hear

a lot about them,

stay for the brunch today.

All of those

will be discussed

and talked about

and you'll be able

to get plugged in

very quickly.

For others of us,

maybe we have done

a great job

of diving into God's Word.

We're involved

with several Bible studies.

We started a reading plan

but now we need to realize

we need to do

what it says.

We need to do

what we're reading about.

We need to,

and they don't,

they're not just words

on a page

but they're life to us.

They're to be applied

to our lives.

We need to realize

that it doesn't make

a lot of sense

to know God's Word

and then to not obey it.

If we really believe

this book is God's Word,

if we really believe

the God who spoke

the world into existence,

the God who left

the glory of heaven

and lived a perfect life

and died the death

that we deserve

so that we could have

a relationship with Him,

if we really believe

this is His Word,

then we're not only

going to read it

but we're going to do it.

We're going to apply it

to our lives.

Still for others of us,

we have been reading

God's Word

and maybe started

to dabble a little bit

with applying it.

We've gone on

a few mission trips

and at times

are very intentional

in obeying

what the Bible says

but we need to start

seeing our whole life,

every part of it,

as on mission for Him

to begin showing the Word

to those in need

in all over the world

but also right here

in our community.

And so I don't know

where you find yourself

on this progression today.

Maybe you've never placed

your faith and your trust

in Jesus

and that's where

you need to begin today

by saying,

Lord, I know that I'm a sinner.

I know that I'm quick to anger.

I know that I have not even

began to start putting away

filthiness and rampant wickedness

but I'm ready to today.

I'm ready to make that commitment

and I know that I need you

to do that.

I realize this isn't something

that I can do on my own.

I'm ready to do this

but I know that I need you

to make that happen.

Maybe today is the day

that you give your life to Jesus.

But I want to encourage you

to be honest with yourself today.

Figure out where you find yourself

in this progression

and begin growing

in your relationship with God.

Begin growing in your walk with Him.

Begin growing in that sanctification.

But it starts with you being honest

with where you are right now.

So let's go to the Lord in prayer

and ask Him to help us do that.

Father, thank You so very much

for Your Word.

Thank You for what it teaches us

not only about You

but what it reveals about ourselves.

And so Lord, I pray that

as we think through this passage

that we're reminded of several

really important things.

The importance of diving into Your Word,

of receiving the Word,

of hearing Your Word.

Lord, because we know Lord

that it has the power

to save our souls

when we believe it,

when we give our life to it.

But Lord, I pray that

it's not just something

that stays in this

accepting this knowledge.

And I pray that it's not something

that we just take for granted,

that we read these words,

but then Lord, we take it

and we apply it to our life.

We give our life to it

and say, Lord,

this not only is wonderful words for us,

but it's wonderful words for us

to apply to our lives,

to begin doing what it is

that You've called us to do.

And Lord, I pray that we take this Word

and we show it to those in need.

We begin living this out

in a way that it affects

others around us.

That we begin seeing needs

right around us.

That we open our eyes

to seeing those needs

right here in our community

and around the world.

And we say, God,

how can I meet those needs?

Because God, we know

looking at Your life,

reading through the Gospels,

there was no one better

who opened their eyes

to look around

at the needs around them

and see how they can start

meeting those needs

other than You.

So God, help us to be like You.

Help us to know these words.

Help us to apply it to our lives.

Help us to open our eyes

and see the needs

that are right around us.

And Lord, I pray that

if there's somebody here today

that needs to know You

as their Lord and Savior,

that today they would see that.

They would realize that

they're nowhere near,

anywhere in this process,

but they want to be.

So Lord, make it very clear to them

that the only way

to have a relationship with You

is through Jesus.

And so Lord,

there's somebody here today

that needs to go from death

to life.

To have an eternal change

in their destiny,

Lord, I pray that You would give them

the boldness and courage

to ask someone.

to step out in faith

and say,

I need Jesus.

Please show me how to follow Him.

Lord, we love You.

We thank You for all that You do.

And we ask this in Jesus' precious name.

Amen.

I'm going to invite you to stand.

We're going to sing

a song of invitation.

And if God is speaking to you this morning,

won't you respond

as we stand together and sing?

Amen.

alguém alguém alguém alguém

Thank you.