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12+1 Core Values: Word Faithful | Eld Peng Hoe

Acts Ampang

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  1. You're listening to a message to go from acts church.

  2. We hope this message will light.

  3. Up your day.

  4. Today.

  5. We want to touch on word faithful. Word faithful is

  6. the fourth value called value. And I'm going to teach. Okay,

  7. that's that's my style. I don't know how else to

  8. tell stories. But uh, let's let's let's let's break it down. Okay,

  9. let's break it down. So word faithful, what does it mean?

  10. What? Why? Why?

  11. Why is this value so important? God's word? The scriptures? Okay,

  12. the word word is very rich.

  13. Okay. Uh.

  14. And so I'm going to bring us through some scriptures

  15. and then I hope it will draw some light out.

  16. Okay. You see, Uh, there was a point of time

  17. when the.

  18. Believers, the followers of Jesus, were very very curious by

  19. Jesus' teachings and the things that he was revealing to them.

  20. And he was telling them that I got to go,

  21. that I got to go.

  22. Part of course never said well with them, but then

  23. he reassured them by also telling them, but I will

  24. come back. And of course these guys were all I

  25. don't know, I guess they were pretty confused. I don't

  26. blame them even today. So you all all look perplexed.

  27. What was Jesus talking about? And can you imagine back

  28. at that time, they were very concerned, and they were

  29. concerned about their future. Naturally, who isn't concerned about their future?

  30. They got they are concerned about what's going to happen.

  31. And so the early believers when they were looking forward,

  32. they knew they were supposed to look forward to someone

  33. coming again, and they were supposed to look forward to

  34. a time in which that someone will come back again,

  35. because that is exactly what Jesus taught them.

  36. And so that's why the disciples kept asking.

  37. Jesus, especially when he was teaching and telling them about no,

  38. he's got to go, he will come back. And they're like, so, God, Jesus,

  39. if you say you're coming back, what are the signs

  40. of you coming back? What are the signs of the

  41. end of the age? And you see that portion of

  42. scripture in Matthew chapter twenty four. Again, I'm not going

  43. to talk about end times today, even though that's a

  44. whole series on his own. But they were wondering, and

  45. so Jesus told them, Okay, in telling them, he was

  46. sharing some things, and he said, look, there will be

  47. four signs. Okay, I'm just going to touch very briefly,

  48. he told them there will be four.

  49. Signs at the end of it all. What are these

  50. four signs? Were?

  51. Very very briefly, he told them there will be worldwide disasters, okay,

  52. rumors of wars, wars, earthquakes, et cetera. He told them

  53. that there will be universal persecution in the church, not

  54. just selected persecution, but the church will undergo persecution. And

  55. we are really starting to see these first two signs.

  56. In all honesty, we have not fully experienced the whole

  57. universal persecution, but I can tell you this, in many

  58. countries in this world, Christians are persecuted, whether you like

  59. to believe it or not. Always Remember here in Malaysia

  60. it's not so much. Yeah, we are insulated. It's more

  61. it's not yet it happened, But imagine the day when

  62. it happens. We are we still able to stand for

  63. our faith? Is the question that we have to ask ourselves.

  64. But that's the second sign. The third sign he says

  65. that there will be a lawless dictator that will arise

  66. up from the middle. Is that is the abomination of

  67. the desecration? Okay, all these powerful words again, I'm not

  68. going to go into that. Then the fourth sign, he says,

  69. to look to the sky, and when you look to

  70. the sky, you will know how Jesus and when Jesus

  71. is coming back, because it will be so clear and

  72. so evident. And basically that is the power of ascension.

  73. How Jesus when back to be God with the Father.

  74. It's the same way Jesus will come back to be

  75. with us actually in the sky.

  76. Amen. Okay, I'm not going to do all on that.

  77. So he said those things, and no, when you see

  78. and when you start experiencing those things, you can be

  79. excited because just beyond the door is me.

  80. All okay.

  81. Then he goes on in verse to the tree to

  82. say this in the same way, when you see all

  83. these things, you can know he's written is very near

  84. right at the door. I tell you the truth. This

  85. generation will not pass from the scene until all these

  86. things take place. Verse thirty five goes on to say,

  87. heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear. Okay, today,

  88. I'm interested in what Jesus said after sharing the signs okay,

  89. And he actually said and mentioned two things. I'm going

  90. to delve into one of the two things. The first

  91. thing that Jesus mentions is this, He says, the generation

  92. will not pass away. This generation basically the word generation.

  93. He is actually talking about a race and he's talking

  94. about the Jews. So he says the Jews will not

  95. disappear before all these things have happen. And Jesus said,

  96. the Jews will still be around when he returns. And

  97. that is why today I can tell you this, while

  98. we may be against a lot of things that Israel

  99. stands for, it is nothing short of God's divine plan

  100. and purpose and a miracle that they are aware they

  101. are back in Jerusalem. That is just something that we

  102. got to think about because of the scriptures that says

  103. they will not pass away after centuries of being in exile,

  104. being dispersed all over the world. It is nothing short

  105. of a miracle that they are aware they are back

  106. in Jerusalem. Okay, I'll just leave it at that, because

  107. this is another sticky point that I don't plan to

  108. go into, but suffice to say, God says, when I written,

  109. the Jews will be there. And then he says the

  110. second thing that will endure throughout all these ages, and

  111. the second thing that will endure is the My words

  112. will by no means pass away, and so on the

  113. last day of history, you will still be able to

  114. get hold of the Bible. Other books may pass away,

  115. other men's words will go, but the word of God

  116. will by no means pass away. And with these two assurances,

  117. Christians can face the future and read the daily newspaper

  118. without panic and continue saying Harley lujah. Actually, we should

  119. be living excitedly daily.

  120. We should.

  121. I know when we open the news portals, everything is

  122. bad news. It is nothing is good. And because it

  123. is the sciences in which we are living in the

  124. times in which we are living in, I don't think

  125. you're going to get any good news because masquerade around

  126. whatever little good news is tons of bad news. But

  127. we do have the good news. The good news talks

  128. about us being safe. And so today's value that we

  129. want to emphasize is on the eternal word of God

  130. word faithful. And you know God has lifted up his

  131. word higher than his name. In Psalms one hundred and

  132. thirty eight, verse two, it says this, I will worship

  133. toward your holy temple and praise your name for your

  134. loving kindness and your truth, for you have magnified your

  135. word above your name, amazing God's word. What is even

  136. more remarkable is this when we realize the significance of

  137. John chapter one, Versus one to four, because it says this,

  138. in the beginning, the Word already existed. The Word was

  139. with God, and the Word was God. He existed in

  140. the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and

  141. nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life

  142. to everything that was created, and his life brought light

  143. to everyone. Jesus is the word that is being referred

  144. to in this portion of scripture, the logos.

  145. Jesus is the word. The word is Jesus.

  146. And how I look at this is, you know, the

  147. word logos is in almost every facet of science. When

  148. you see the word biology, psychology, what other old gis

  149. are there? Eschatology, any form of all the logy is

  150. actually the word logos.

  151. Do you realize that that means?

  152. No matter what, no matter how we study all the sciences,

  153. I can tell you this, you will find Jesus in it.

  154. The logos is in every facet of our lives. That

  155. is the reality, because Jesus is the word, and he

  156. is the word made flesh, and the Word of God

  157. therefore is living and active and powerful. It is not

  158. the words. It's not words that carries no meaning. It's

  159. not words that are powerless and purposeless. That's why when

  160. we read the Word of God, it is reading Jesus

  161. into every facet of our lives. That is how we

  162. are to read God's words. That's how we are to

  163. realize that God is everywhere. He is in the part,

  164. in every study you can think of, He is there. Basically,

  165. you can find the reason for it, and I'll tell

  166. you what the reason for.

  167. It all is Jesus.

  168. Jesus is the reason for everything, is the reason for

  169. the existence of life, is the reasons for our whatever

  170. study is, from our mind, to our being, to our

  171. physical side, to anything, find the reason behind it and

  172. you will find Jesus.

  173. Okay.

  174. Hebrews chapter four, Versus twelve to thirteen says it's for

  175. the Word of God is life and powerful. It is shopper,

  176. then the Shopper's two aged sword, cutting between soul and spirit,

  177. between join and marrow. It exposes our innermos, thoughts and desires.

  178. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is

  179. naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the

  180. one whom we are accountable. You see the word of God,

  181. as he said, here is living, active, powerful. It's also

  182. known as the seed. Do you realize that in Luke

  183. chapter eight you read the whole account on the parable

  184. of the soil good soil, bad soil, and the seed

  185. is actually referring to God's words, And he says, this

  186. plant it deep within your heart, and it will germinate

  187. and it would produce. If the seed is thrown on

  188. not so good soil, then it won't grow. If it's

  189. thrown on hot soil, it won't be able to take root.

  190. If it's thrown on rocky soil, someone will come and

  191. take we distracted. Only when it is on good salt

  192. can it go deep. And so in Hebrews four, it's

  193. also showing us a different angle of the word. The

  194. word is like a two aged sword, and this two

  195. aged sword is the same sort that Roman soldiers use.

  196. That is not very long.

  197. It's a short sword, but it is very very lethal

  198. because it cuts both ways, and it cuts right through.

  199. It cuts right through not just flash but bone and marrow.

  200. Demis it can cut clean and so imagine how deadly

  201. this weapon is well, it's used to actually refer to

  202. God's word, leaving powerful active. What it can do is

  203. split no, and when it splits the bone and marrow

  204. is like spit splitting spirit and soul. That's essentially what

  205. it is doing. What the Word of God does is this.

  206. It basically holds someone by the throat and forces them

  207. to look into the world and reflect. Do you realize

  208. that you'll probably be asking you did you harden your

  209. heart when I spoke? Or was it soft? Did you

  210. try to rebel? Or are you trying to abide? It

  211. says the Word of God exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

  212. So the Word of God is like a mirror. You know.

  213. I was just at the Death our Death Church in

  214. brick Fields, and I usually when I go to Breakfields,

  215. I'm supposed to bring a ton of things to sort

  216. of help with illustration. So I brought mirrors, I brought

  217. mets and mets, and well, I brought a lot of things.

  218. Because it's not so easy to explain to them. I

  219. brought the mirror, and I told them, if you see

  220. to see, the mirror reflects what is there. The mirror

  221. doesn't reflect what is not there a lot of times. No,

  222. unless you go draw on the mirror. Okay, then is

  223. not what is there? You see a mirror and you

  224. see that there's a blemish on your face and you

  225. do nothing about it. That's something that is fundamentally not right.

  226. But that's what a lot of words do when we

  227. read God's word. Sometimes we are faced with God's word,

  228. and sometimes we struggle and we try to look away.

  229. Sometimes you want to look down because we're embarrassed. And

  230. I'm not speaking like as though I've never been embarrassed

  231. by God's word. God's word has put me to shame

  232. time and time and time again. But yet I've also

  233. learned that it is foolishness in Christ that is, okay,

  234. don't be fool myself. It's what I should be avoiding.

  235. And so God is saying this, look at me, look

  236. at my word. My word is living and active, but

  237. you are ignoring it. You're grumbling, you're complaining, and you

  238. never live out the promises that I have blessed you with.

  239. And that is why sometimes we cannot claim the promises

  240. that God has for us. I know you think about it. Moses,

  241. when he was leading the Israelites out of Egypt. There

  242. were millions of them actually if you include the women

  243. and children.

  244. But it was actually a short journey.

  245. I think if you do the study, maybe about eleven

  246. kilometers from where they were to where they were supposed

  247. to head towards the Promised Land.

  248. But you see, it was so much easier for God to.

  249. Get them all out of Egypt, but it was so

  250. difficult to get Egypt out of them. In Christian terms,

  251. what in the world are you talking about the world.

  252. This is what it means. You know, it's very easy

  253. to get a Christian out of the world. I mean,

  254. I can plug a Christian, throw the person in church,

  255. insulate the person's life, or live the person in the

  256. cave and become a monk. But is going to be

  257. really tough to get the world out of the Christian.

  258. That is what holiness is.

  259. Holiness is really getting the world out of us so

  260. that we can live a life that is made, that

  261. is set apart for the Lord. And so the Israelites

  262. all through the wilderness, they were walking and walking and

  263. walking and walking. And the root of the problem was

  264. that although Israel was out of Egypt, there was still

  265. too much Egypt in Israel. And they kept looking. They

  266. kept looking to the things that they thought was good.

  267. They kept going, are you back then? Got garlic, got gravy.

  268. Now every day got to eat break and it's dry.

  269. I want to deep with something as well. Elect you know,

  270. it's like horrible stuff. And this is why they didn't

  271. get into the Promised Land. You know, a whole generation

  272. didn't get into the Promised Land. And not only did

  273. they wonder for a short period time, what would have

  274. been just a few months to get millions of people

  275. across the desert became forty years of going around in circles,

  276. and then eventually the whole generation didn't go in.

  277. Only those who believe, which we know.

  278. Are two spies who believe, and they when you see,

  279. Christ not only rescues us out of something, he wants

  280. to redeem us into something. We must be able to

  281. see that. A lot of times we want God to

  282. rescue us out or something. Yes, he's going to do that.

  283. He wants to rescue us, save us from our sin,

  284. but that it doesn't stop there. He doesn't just want

  285. us to be saved from sins. That's like, yeah, it's

  286. a good insurance to have, but ultimately he wants to

  287. bring us into salvation, very very important. So he not

  288. only wants us out of the land that is bad

  289. for us, but he wants us to step into the

  290. land that is good for us. He not only wants

  291. us as Christians just with a male label on our name.

  292. He wants us to be spiritual Christians that can enjoy

  293. the promises of God, going all the way to the

  294. Promised Land where we will find rest in Him. Why

  295. do you think we keep striving. We keep striving because

  296. we have not yet found rest in the Lord. And

  297. I want you to know when you walk with God,

  298. and when He leads you to the promised Land, you

  299. will find rest and you will find peace.

  300. That is the reality of it.

  301. But we are mistaken if we think just by reading

  302. God's words every day we are guaranteed heaven. In fact,

  303. we can just read, we can memorize, we can highlight,

  304. we can energy, we can scribble the verses, and we

  305. can still.

  306. Not know God.

  307. You see, an activity does not become the foundation of

  308. our salvation and our faith. Reading the Bible, praying, attending church.

  309. It is all important, but it is not the foundation

  310. of our faith. Salvation is received, true faith in Jesus

  311. Christ the Word. And you know what, when you receive

  312. faith in Jesus Christ, the word faith is always active.

  313. So the Word is not just information. Many times Christians

  314. confuse information and transformation the Word of God. You see,

  315. we can know what God said without doing what God said.

  316. We can understand doctrine without surrendering our hearts. We can

  317. study about holiness while secretly we love to sin. It's

  318. the reality. And I'm not speaking against anyone. I'm speaking

  319. or myself. That is the reality of it. See, knowledge

  320. without active response produces no growth. Someone who is sink.

  321. If you are sick and you are annual, you can

  322. study about the disease. You can study about the healing matters.

  323. You can study about all the different things. But with

  324. all these knowledge, we all the knowledge and understanding of

  325. the treatments that are out there. If you don't take

  326. your medicine, how are you ever going to be well

  327. and healthy? You see, all the knowledge in this world

  328. is not going to make anyone well and healthy. But

  329. many of us read the word of God, but we

  330. never allow the word of God to read and transform us.

  331. We read about forgiveness, but yet we hold grudges. We

  332. read about generosity, but yet we hold back with the

  333. things that the Lord has blessed us with. We read

  334. about love, but yet in our hearts is full of

  335. hatred for others. God wants his word in our hearts.

  336. How do we allow God's faith forward to thereforeulfill our hearts?

  337. It's the question that we need to ask. In James

  338. Chapter one, verses nineteen to twenty five. Again, I'm just teaching,

  339. and I'm learning as I go along as well, and

  340. so let's learn together. James Chapter one, verses nineteen to

  341. twenty five says this understand this, okay? I it should

  342. be from nineteen. So if you have your scriptures with you,

  343. understand this. My dear brothers and sisters. You must all

  344. be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to

  345. get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

  346. So get rid of all the filth and evil in

  347. your lives and humbly accept the word God has planted

  348. in your hearts, for it has the power to save

  349. your souls. But don't just listen to God's word. You

  350. must do what it says. Otherwise you are only fooling yourselves.

  351. For if you listen to the word and don't obey.

  352. It is like glancing at your face in the mirror.

  353. You see yourself, walk away and forget what.

  354. You look like.

  355. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that

  356. sets you free, and if you do what it says

  357. and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless

  358. you for doing it. So the first thing you notice

  359. in verse twenty one is this, it's either you accept

  360. or you don't accept the word of God. And the

  361. thing with God's word is you got to accept. You

  362. got to receive it. See, the word is no use

  363. to you until you receive it. And then with that established,

  364. you will realize the way you receive it is actually

  365. very very important.

  366. Okay.

  367. And so when you read it with the right attitude,

  368. this is what James is saying.

  369. You all know this.

  370. You need to come to God's word with a right

  371. mental attitude and the right moral attitude. I will explain it, okay,

  372. I will explain it as I go along. But both

  373. these are qualifications to have the benefit of God's word.

  374. Because you can read the Bible in many other ways.

  375. Some of us read it like it's literature. Nothing wrong

  376. in that. Some of us read it like it's history. Again,

  377. nothing wrong in that. Many people have read it for

  378. other reasons. But we got to find what the right

  379. attitude is when we are reading it. Then only you

  380. will stand to benefit the most of it. Okay, So

  381. we look first at the mental attitude, and this attitude

  382. that we need to have is the intention to know

  383. the truth. And that is the first requirement when you

  384. come to scripture. Do I sincerely want to know the truth?

  385. You read it because you want to learn, and the

  386. most teachable people are the best ones to share the

  387. Bible with, to share God's work. Wait, you will realize

  388. that because in life most people will find that unlearning

  389. is actually harder than learning. That means, to revise your

  390. opinions is very hard if you have taught one way

  391. for a long time. It is very hard when that

  392. is challenged. And so all of us. That's why the

  393. Scripture is saying, all of us are created with two

  394. ears and one mouth, so that we can be quick

  395. to listen and.

  396. Slow to speak.

  397. Quick to listen, because salvation comes through hearing the gospel,

  398. not true talking.

  399. Jesus when he.

  400. Was talking about the Kingdom of God kept saying he

  401. who has ears to hear. Let him hear, because you

  402. may have ears, but you may never hear.

  403. That's the reality of it.

  404. And this simply means that we are to not only

  405. hear the word of God, we are actually called to

  406. heed the word of God. H eed, that means to

  407. fall law to do. A lot of us here, but

  408. we don't do, we don't follow. We've got to listen

  409. in the right way. You see, c needs good ground,

  410. and the word of God is truth, truth that it

  411. like seats for God's kingdom. And that's why farmers spend

  412. a long time healing the ground, to prepare the ground

  413. to receive the seed, so that when the seed goes in,

  414. it can germanate and it can grow. But the reality

  415. is they are not enough real listeners to the gospel,

  416. people who will use their ears properly because their hearts

  417. are ready to receive. The church has too few listeners

  418. and too many speakers. And of course all of you

  419. say no, I'm beg to differ. Looks like we are

  420. all listening and you're the only one talking, right, It

  421. does look like that sometimes, But the truth is how

  422. many of you, I mean, I'm part of the congregation,

  423. I formulated thoughts and ideas and opinions, even before the

  424. speaker has finished one sentence, I have asked. I mean,

  425. it's almost like I don't verbally ask, even though actually

  426. I have experience in preaching people like, uh, that's recollecture.

  427. So it's so funny. But but I will still engaged, engaged.

  428. I been hackled before while preaching. It's quite normal in

  429. some of our one of our plans, one of our

  430. plans by Okay, I won't go into that, but it's funny.

  431. It's funny.

  432. But the church has too few listeners a lot of

  433. speakers because a lot of us we speak our We

  434. speak in our minds first. I think that's where it

  435. all starts.

  436. Uh. And then when we are angry enough, we speak

  437. our minds.

  438. That's the reality, and that's why the scripture keeps telling us, okay,

  439. be slow, slow, slow to speak. Okay, Uh, learn how

  440. to listen first, because the truth is, our tongues are

  441. a very restless one, and we love to speak. We

  442. love to air our views rather than to listen. In fact,

  443. too many are slow to listen, quick to speak our

  444. And the problem with been quick to speak is that

  445. you will end up being very quick to object, quick

  446. to argue, And when you argue with someone, you tend

  447. to become irritated. And when you become irritated, before you

  448. know it, you will become angry.

  449. That is why it all links.

  450. It says, learn to listen, don't speak so much, and

  451. then be slow to anger. It's all link and James

  452. points out that anger in human is rarely righteous ones

  453. why because most of the time human anger is at

  454. the wrong time, with the wrong person, for the wrong reasons,

  455. and in the wrong way. Just think about it. The

  456. last time you were angry, did all these four things apply?

  457. Usually when we're angry, we direct it. If my spouse

  458. is not that it's the whole bhutani huh, it's like

  459. what do I do? But it's when we're angry, we

  460. just we just let it out. On the other hand,

  461. Jesus's anger a little bit different. It's usually in the

  462. right way, with the right people, at the right time

  463. and the right place. Think about when Jesus was angry,

  464. when he single handedly went into the temple and lifted tables,

  465. clean up the entire temple of money changes. He took

  466. the whip, he whipped the people up, but you see,

  467. his anger was effective because it was righteous anger. Most

  468. of us, our anger is not very effective because it

  469. is wrong in that sense. So being quick to listen,

  470. slow to speak, and slow to anger is the mental

  471. attitude that we need to have when we come to

  472. God's work. But it's more than that, you see, the

  473. right mental attitude is that you want to learn, and

  474. therefore you want to listen more than you want to speak.

  475. A lot of times today, you know, I can understand

  476. when people tell me I'm so tired of preaching, But

  477. I can tell you this.

  478. We can never stop preaching. As Christians.

  479. This is our call, this is our mandate to preach

  480. God's word, even if I have to preach to one person,

  481. give it your all, because when you take away preaching,

  482. there is nothing left. Faith comes from hearing, and so

  483. there is It's so important for us to realize why

  484. this has to continue. But a lot of times people

  485. already are shut off even before you begin. And that's

  486. why I pray very hard before I even share, because

  487. unless the ground is solvet if we are not killing,

  488. if we are not working the ground, then it will

  489. always be hard and people's attitudes will be like they

  490. were questioned. First, they will look for faults in the Bible.

  491. I find myself now answering more questions about the authenticity, the.

  492. Veracity of the Bible. Is it really the truth?

  493. Know?

  494. How can you prove that it is right?

  495. You know, I can tell them everything that I know,

  496. it counts for nothing unless they accept it.

  497. That is the reality of it.

  498. So I really pray that people are in the right

  499. mental state, the right mental attitude when they approach God's word.

  500. That's the first thing. The second thing is the right

  501. moral attitude.

  502. And this means that we are reading God's word to

  503. be clean. We want to be safe because Jesus came

  504. to save us from all our sins. It is the

  505. scriptures that can make you wise unto salvation. And so

  506. this is the second qualification for a student of God's word.

  507. We should read the Bible with clean hands and a

  508. pure heart.

  509. So get rid of the field.

  510. If you're going to come and benefit from the Bible,

  511. you need an inner wash first.

  512. We all need that inner wash.

  513. You see, evil is everywhere in our world, and it

  514. is impossible to walk through this world without being aware

  515. of the fact that evil is everywhere. It is and

  516. so all of us are contaminated from the world around us.

  517. All of us have been polluted, all of us are dirty.

  518. And of course Jesus was constantly casting out spirits, casting

  519. out demons, pleading with us to allow the clean Spirit,

  520. the Holy Spirit, to take over our lives. And therefore,

  521. if you're going to get the benefit from reading the Bible,

  522. you need to read it not in a proud manner.

  523. You need to read it humbly, meekly, and ready to

  524. submit to it.

  525. How can it be read in a proud man I

  526. know that a lot of people they just want to

  527. read the Bible so that I have enough knowledge to

  528. rebuild everyone. It's not wrong to have a defense for

  529. God's word. But let's not just get into debates and

  530. engagements so that I can prove you wrong and put

  531. you down, because I don't think that's a very Christian

  532. thing to do. Yes, more importantly, is made the knowledge

  533. that you have lead to transformation in your life, so

  534. that when people realize how much you know God, they

  535. can see that the knowledge of knowing God has led

  536. to transformation, not led to the most verbose speaker who

  537. can defend God's word. We don't need another great orator

  538. to defend God. That is the reality of it. We

  539. just need subjects with love King Jesus and follow his ways.

  540. And so we must always approach God's word humbly, meekley,

  541. ready to submit, really to allow it to speak to us,

  542. not judging the Word by being judged by it. Actually,

  543. we should be ready to hear the Lord speak to

  544. us through his word. We should be ready for God's

  545. word to judge us, and we should be ready to

  546. humbly accept God's word into our lives. That's what the

  547. mirror is. That's why God's word is like a mirror.

  548. And so when we receive the word of God with

  549. the right mental attitude and the right moral attitude, then

  550. you can expect the word of God to save you

  551. and go on saving you. Many people have a Bible

  552. at home on the shelf somewhere, and it will do

  553. them no good unless you read it. You have to

  554. first and foremost read it. But even those who read

  555. it don't always benefit because they are not coming to

  556. it with the right attitude. So there are a few things, okay,

  557. for us to work on. If we have not been

  558. reading it, then I would say read it. If we

  559. have been reading it, then how are we reading it in?

  560. What attitude are we reading it?

  561. Consider the response to the Word is very, very important.

  562. It is not enough to receive it humbly, not enough

  563. to just say thank you so much, Lord, I'm so

  564. grateful for it. But we must be moved towards responding

  565. to it. Because the next part of James talks about

  566. the sin of forgetting God's word.

  567. It's a scene and.

  568. When we forget what we have heard, when we forget

  569. what we have learned. So he talks about reception first

  570. and then he talks about responds thereafter.

  571. So it involves remembering a lot of us.

  572. We are all of us, God demand Shawan, really all

  573. of us. Okay, we easily forget the things that we

  574. don't want to remember. And so when we read the

  575. Word of God for yourself, when you check, make sure

  576. you check your attitude.

  577. And then don't just stop there.

  578. Remember the goal of reading the Bible is not just

  579. to complete it, not just to others know I've gone

  580. through it ten times. But the ultimate goal is that

  581. transformation in our lives take place. And James says this, No,

  582. you study the Word as if your life depends on it,

  583. and then you will definitely do something about it. Don't

  584. forget it, don't go away and do something else, because

  585. you will not stand to be blessed unless you remember it.

  586. It is God's word that continues to anchor us in

  587. an ever changing world. The world keeps on changing, standards

  588. keep on changing. That is the reality of it. Once

  589. upon a time, doing something is not right. Now doing anything,

  590. it's up to you. Anything and everything can be right.

  591. We've got to be really careful because what God wants

  592. to do is if you only understand Jesus and what

  593. he has taught. He has taught us and given us

  594. so much, but he has not put us down. He

  595. has not told us that, Okay, guys, all these things

  596. you will definitely fail to achieve, no way you can

  597. achieve it. No, he has given us the Holy Spirit

  598. to help us attain the standards that He has set

  599. for us. So let's make sure the Bible does not

  600. just remain hate knowledge, because if we are not careful,

  601. it can produce pride.

  602. This is where we have to be very very careful.

  603. When the word of God reaches our heart, what it

  604. usually does is it produces repentance. You see, God does

  605. not want religious experts who know all the answers. He

  606. wants disciples who would follow his word, his son Jesus

  607. Christ wholeheartedly. So ask ourselves this. Does God's word do

  608. this to us today? Does it correct us? Does it

  609. correct me? I have to ask myself this. Does it

  610. convict me to do what is right? Does it change

  611. my behavior? Does it make me want to repent? Does

  612. it make me want to forgive someone? Does it make

  613. me want to owe be God even when it's uncomfortable?

  614. Does God's word do that to us? Don't just listen

  615. to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise

  616. you are only fooling yourselves. It's the scripture, So do

  617. not fool ourselves. But I want to tell you this,

  618. it is okay to look foolish for God because it's

  619. completely different. We fool ourselves when we think that God's

  620. word can work without us responding to it. We don't

  621. fool ourselves when we stand on God's worth and we

  622. live out the purpose and the calling that he has placed,

  623. even though it is counterculture, even though it is against

  624. the grain of every normal social behavior accepted today. Are

  625. we willing to stand on the truth of God's words

  626. and stand firm for it. A lot of Christians have

  627. failed to do this today because of social pressures. But

  628. the scripture tells us the foolish plan of God is

  629. wiser than the w wisest of all human plans, and

  630. God's weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strengths.

  631. I'm going to invite the band. I'm almost done.

  632. Therefore, my encouragement is this, don't just know the book,

  633. know the author, No, Jesus. God is not going to

  634. ask you at the end of it all, how many

  635. verses you have memorized. He's not going to take your

  636. Bible and see whether you highlighted it and whether all the.

  637. Notes are there.

  638. God will just ask you this, did his word transform

  639. your life. I'm going to ask the band to prepare

  640. the communion song. We're going to sing the communion song

  641. a response. Read your Bible, study your Bible, love your Bible.

  642. But don't stop that.

  643. Let it lead you to Jesus, because God's faithful word

  644. always leads us to the center of our faith, and

  645. the center of our faith is Jesus Christ, no other.

  646. By Jesus Christ.

  647. We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

  648. information on our church, please visit as church org. We

  649. are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that

  650. this week is going to be a good week. I

  651. hit for you. God bless