Discipleship In Action | Be Strong in the Grace of God

You're listening to a message to go from at church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

I'm gonna read to us Jameshpter one, verse twenty one

to twenty seven. Starting from twenty one, he says, therefore,

lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wackedness, and receive

with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save

your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers,

only deceiving yourself. For if anyone is a hero of

the word and not a doer, he is like a

man observing his natural face in the mirror. For he

observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of

man he was. But he who looks into the perfect

law of liberty and continues in it, and is not

a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this

one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone

among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle

his tongue, but this his own heart, This one religion

is useless, pure and undifoul religion before God and the Father.

Is this to visit offerends and widows in their trouble

and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Okay. So

I think this oce of Scripture probably is no stranger

to many of us because I think, uh, it's a

portion that we always called. Okay, let's not be a

hero of the word, but be a doer, okay. And

that is the key point that I want all of

us to remember this morning. Okay. So, being a disciple

of Jesus, we are not called to be passive. Okay.

Jesus didn't call us to come to church every Sunday

just to listen, be happy with it, go home and

continue to live our life as usual as we please.

And there is no transformation. You know, we come to

church every Sunday, we listen to the world of God.

It's so that our life can be transformed and not

be the same. We cannot say that we know God

and we're still living our life as if like we

do not know God. So, in fact, Jesus called us

to take up the cross and follow him. And every

time when when when I hear the word take up

the cross and follow him, I will cringe. You know

why taking up the cross is no easy fits you know, recently, Okay,

I saw this particular video on on I G and

and this bunch of fitness people, Okay, they actually celebrated

is the bye you know they call what they say,

they're trying to replicate the burden that Jesus carried when

he was going towards the towards the Crucifis vision. So

they say that, okay, the cross that Jesus carried was

don't know how many pounds. When I look at the number,

it's very heavy. And that is the dumb bell they

were carrying walking the distance that Jesus has to walk.

You know, I wasn't even thinking about the suffering that

Jesus went through after going the whip and others. Why not?

Of course these fitness people they didn't go through the

whipping and the what la. But for me, thinking about

the weight itself, it's enough for me to remember that, wow,

these are the weight of our sin that we put

on Jesus. And when Jesus said he wants us to

take up the cross and follow him, it technically it

wants us to carry the same weight of the people.

And Jesus wasn't even asking us to die on the cross,

you know. But it's more of like, are we ready

to sacrifice the things that is in our life to

follow him? It's just that maybe sacrificing your time to

follow him, maybe sacrificing your idol to follow him. I

don't know. I don't know what all of us has

to sacrifice just to follow him. That that is the

thing Jesus is calling us to. So one of the

things that is easy. Also not talking about just the

sacrifice that we have to go through. Another way of

taking up the cross and follow him is that are

we ready to carry out his word, his commandment in

our life and obey the word that you hear every

Sunday in church, the word that you hear altern up

Friday at homes, the word that you read during your

quiet time? Are you ready to put it into action?

Are you ready to obey? Not easy? You know, I

can tell you it's not easy. I myself is still

a working in progress. You know. Sometimes when I read

the word when the Lord rebuild me a certain thing

at the top of my Bible, and I'm like, Okay,

I didn't hear it. I didn't read it, you know,

because why it's half. It's half. You know, It's not easy,

But we need to do it. If we say that

we want to take up the cross and follow Jesus,

we need to do it, Okay. And we need to

be an active participant of his word and allow his

word to be visible in our action, in our speech. Okay.

So in this book of James, as you read through

the whole book of James, right, James actually outlining the

difference between taking in the information and also the difference

in our transformation in our life. So are we here

every day to read the word of God, to hear

the word of God only together in information? Or are

we expecting a transformation in our own life? All right?

So the first point that I'm going to bring to

us here from this version of Scripture is that you know,

before we talk about being a doer first, uh, Okay,

the point that I'm going to share with us this

morning is that disciples receive the Word with meekness. Okay,

if you realize that all my points start with the

with the point disciples, because you know in XTS this

year okay, we got we're talking about discipleship. Disciple first,

we want to be a disciple of Christ, not a

disciple of any groups. We want to be a disciple

of Christ, and hence we want to live our life

in accordance to how He wants us to leave. We

are not here on earth to be any one's disciples,

but His disciples. And in the Book of James. You know,

I'm a very practical person. So I love Book of

James because he gives a lot of practical tips, Okay,

practical tips on how we can leave our Christian life

and we can we can transform our life to live

a life that pleases our God. Amen. All right. So

this point here is taken from James chapter one, verse

twenty one, and I'm gonna read from the New Living Translation. Okay.

So the New Living Translation says this, so get rid

of all the fields and evil in your life and

humbly accept the word of God has planted in your heart,

for it has the power to save your souls. Okay.

So this scripture started off by saying, get rid of

all the field and evil in your life. Okay. So

what does it mean? Okay, it means that we are

called to cast off all the impure manner of living

in our life, way of living that is marked by

impurity and sin. Okay, we need to get rid of

all the dirt or the dirty things, okay, and then

we need to live our life that is pleasing unto him, okay.

And this is also a reminder to us not to

so easily to come to temptation. And also it's a

reminder to us how good God is to us. Right, So,

the word filthiness can be seen as something dirty and disgusting.

So every time when we say filty, okay, it's not

okay the dirty Maybe we just thought that, okay, I

just wanted it like that, right, But when we use

the word filthy in binside, you can imagine, really it's

beyond what you know. It's very dirty. It's merely and

all those whatnot okay, like the trash or waste. Okay.

So this wash of scripture is reminding us like dirty

clothes we are called to take off our scene. Okay.

So imagine if I suddenly throw something very dirty on

your clothes, now, were you still wear it? You know?

When I was preparing this, right, I remember what happened

to John last Sunday during lunch. You know, I don't

know what he did. Suddenly the whole bowl of soap

port on him, and then he said okay, I'm gonna

go and washed it. And then suddenly he came back

with different sets of clothes and different pants. He wore

long pants, and he came back from the toiler with

shop pens. And then all of us is like, did

he change his pants? And he happily yeah, yeah, yeah,

I read and buy a new pair of pants to

change it. So you imagine, you know, if let's say

something stained up by you, right, we will immediately want

to change it. What more our life? Why we don't

want to wear the clothes everywhere we go, but we

want to wear sin everywhere we go? Why write something

for us to ponder? Okay? The King's versions translate the

phrase overflow of wikedness as the super lighting sentence superfluity

of naughtiness. Okay, yeah, I hope I pronounced the word correctly.

Superfluity of naughtiness, which means overflow of bad behavior. Why

do we want to live alife? It is overflowed with

bad behavior? You know. Being a teacher myself, right, I

constantly had to discipline the children because why I do

not want to see too many bad behaviors in them.

So it's the same thing we've got God is constantly

here to disappine. This is because he doesn't want to

see bad behavior in this You know, imagine that you

know you have been spending the whole day cleaning your house, sweeping, mopping,

handling garbage, touching different greeny surface because after you cove

for one month and you never clean your kitchen, some

time for you to scrub, shot scrub, Then you sweating,

and then all the dirt on your nails and badge,

and by the end of the day you are sol

ther tea covered with all the dirt, and then there

are invisible germs and bacteria that sit on you. And

then you say that, oh I'm hungry, I want to eat.

Will you eve it your the tea hands like that? Why? Okay,

well it's still your houseworld. You know that when you're

even your the tea hands, your health will be affected, right,

you will get diarrhea, You will get sick, and then

you don't you know, you don't treat it, then it

will become worse and worse and worse and worse. And

never you're the hand where you're going and shake hand

with another person, suddenly your your friend coming, think coming

with you, and then your hand all covered with dirt.

We're gonna shake your friend's hand or give your friend

a hug, or more like, will your friend allows you

to hug them? Of course, not right. We will go

and clean it first, right, So in this illustration, it

reminds us that the dirt it cost our sin, our pride,

our impure way of living. It is disgusting, it is unhealthy,

and it is dangerous. Right. So sometimes we feel that

we will say that you're dirt on need ma. Okay,

how bad can that be? Right? The more you get

the dirt and you eat it inside your your your

your your body, it can be dangerous. It will be

detrimental to your health. Okay. It clings on to us,

it becomes visible, and if you don't deal with it, it spreads,

It contaminates, It damages everything we touch. Okay. If you

know physical dirt can do that, spiritual dirt can do

that too. Okay. It will destroy our relationship, it will

destroy our peace, it will destroy our work with God.

So the sanitizer or the hand stop that we used

to clean is equal to the word of God. You know,

just like the hand sanitizer and the soap, it cleans

our our hands and all protect us from harmful bacteria.

It kills all the germs. Okay, not just at surface level. Okay.

The word of God cleanses our heart and it cuts

our soul. Right, so we know that the word of

God is not we need to cleanest you know, exterior

at our exterior, but it's to clean us deep inside.

So just like the hand sanitizer we need to apply,

you know, or the soap, we need to apply it

to make it effective to wash away our dirt. The

word of God also you have to apply it. We

need to humbly receive it and allow it to take

within us. So instead of living the way allowing all

the dirt to cling on to us, okay, we need

to humbly receive the word of God by hearing it

and then receiving with meekness, receiving with meckness, Misa. We

need to allow the word of God to teach us.

If the Word of God says that don't do this,

then don't do it. If the world of God say

do it, then do it. I can't tell you exactly

what the Bible is telling you don't do this season.

I can't tell you exactly what the Bible is telling

you to do this, sason, because everyone when you open

the Word of God, the Lord tells you differently. Some

of you maybe may be challenged with doubt to trust

that the Lord heals. But when you open the Word

of God, the Lord is telling you that he will

heal you. So you just have to claim it. You

just have to continue to believe that the Lord will. Okay,

So we need to read the Word of God, we

need to accept it humbly, and then we need to obey. Okay,

all right, So the Word we have to allow it

to deeply rooted within us, and it has the power

to save us, not only now, but forever. So James

in his Passage of Scripture reminded us the power, the

saving power of God's word, which when we truly receive it,

can preserve and readeem us from this corrupt world. You know,

the Word of God will actually teach us what is

the right way to live our life. You know, we

don't need to go to any guru. You know. That's

why I always say that when we want to know

what is the right way to leave that will save us,

go back to the Word of God. Everything that we

learn right you know one thing. I notice the more

i read the Word of God, right, the more I'm

reminded of the worldly teaching that I've learned in different

kinds of self help conference I've been through. I'm like,

he sounds much much of I know on it. Then

when I chet back with the of God, is there

you need wisdom? Read proverbs? You do not know how

to praise the Lord? Read Psalms you know? Uh? And

and again I say that if you don't know how

to if you're a lady, you don't know how to

live like a lady, read a book of Roof, book

of Esther, or the or the power lady in the Bible. Okay,

if you want to know how to be strong and firm,

go and learn from the prophets. Uh In I think

was it King or Judges? I think judges? Okay, Yeah,

everything is in the Bible. You can learn from there.

Or if you say that I read the Bible, you

know a lot of times I read Really that I don't.

I don't find uh you know anything that interests me?

I tell you, in the Bible everything is interesting. I

just share with my homies the other day. Do you

know what is my favorite book in the Bible the Revelation,

because I like to imagine when I read, so the

Book of Revelation allows me to imagine how the spiritual

realm is. Damn like, okay, wow, God so powerful. I

don't need to watch marvel already, I just need to

read Revelation. It's so interesting. Okay. But of course some

people say that why you can read Revelations so scary,

But that's not that's not the case, because different people

will find it different. Okay, some people they love to read.

You know, the children like the story h Jonah and

the Big Fish because fish right and then were so cool.

You can live inside the fish. You know. It can

be interesting. Find the point where it helps you to

have interest, and you slowly grow from there. Okay, And

when you read, don't read it as if like a storybook.

Allow the word of God to take root in your heart.

And these sipleship starts from our heart. You know, our

heart needs to be a good ground, a good soil,

and the Word of God is like the seed. Don't

allow the seed to fall into a heart that is

full of torny grounds, full of torns, full of rocks,

or that is too hard, that the seed cannot penetrate

into your heart to take root and bare fruit. Always

allow your heart to be a good soil. And how

do you know if your heart is a good ground?

This is where you can self check. The self check

is when I hear the word of God and my

defensive against it. When I hear the word of God,

will I start negotiating with God. It's like, Lord, you

can tell me to serve in church. I can serve

you from Monday to Sunday, no problem. But then don't

ask me to give my money to you. That's negotiation.

Or you can say that, okay, Lord, thank you for

making me. You know, having such a good job. I

can earn twenty thousand a month giving you a ten

percent no problem, easy, easy, busy lemons squeezy. But don't

tell me that I cannot marry a non believer. But

the word of God says we cannot be a nigally yoke.

Or maybe you say that, you know, Lord, maybe I

can give you all the money. I will listen to you,

I will marry the okay, I will marry a Christian,

or I will you know everything that you ask me

to do? Can can can know problems? Sir, if you can,

don't ask me to go to mission strip. You know,

that's negotiation. But God asked us to go out to

do missions. Okay. But a good heart is when you

read the word of God, even though it's very difficult,

you know, you accept it. You know. Like like I

say again, I'm not here to put anyone down because

I myself is a work in progress. A lot of

times I negotiate with God, you know. And one of

the things I always sad this. When God told me

to be a leader, I negotiate it with him. You know.

I told him, no, God, I can do anything under

the sun, don't ask me to lead. But God said no. Okay,

I try to run away. That's why I say I'm

a modern, modern day Jonah. I run away. But then

the bigfish came okay, and the rest is history. Okay.

I repented. Listen, I do it. Okay. If you ask

me whether I regret it, No, because I seen testimony

birth forth, you know, again and again and again, either

my own testimony or the people that I disciple, their

testimony is truly. If I don't I don't obey, I

will not be able to experience it. Right, So that

that is something allowing the world. I got to take

route and that is your personal Okay. So now that

you already received the word personal, how then do you

make it? You know, able to pass on generational is

by doing it? Okay. So the second part, the second

point here is that disciples are not just hero but

do work. Okay. So the scripture says, but be doers

of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourself. Okay.

So I went and looked into the message translation and

I really love the message translation because it reminded what

my mom always tells me. Okay uh. And the message

version goes like this, don't fool yourself into thinking that

you are a listener when you are anything but letting

the word of God go in one ear and out

the other ear. Yes, that's what my mom always teld

me when I was young. Because you know why, she

always say that I love to read storybooks. So every

time she asked me to clean the house, IRE like, okay, mommy,

but then I still at a sofa reading my book.

Then you like, can you please clean the house? Yes, mommy,

And she will say why every time I talk to you,

it goes in your left ear and comes up you're

right here. Okay, sorry, mammy, I'll go clean my house now. Okay.

So when I read this message version right, you know,

I just love it out loud, okay, because that that

is so a human being. We always allow the word

goes in one ear and goes out the other ear,

regardless of anything. Especially the things that we don't want

to do or the things that you know we don't

want to hear, you know, can then called toy. Yeah,

So so that that that is us human. But what

did the scripture says, you know, act on what you hear.

It didn't say that it's okay, you're going on your

go out the other year, maybe one or two words

will fall into your brain. No such thing. It says,

act on what you hear. So, you know, James reminded

us that, you know, we should be a doer. And

do you know that there's a difference between hearing and listening.

Hearing is just noise. Okay. I can talk so much here,

but sometimes to certain people when you don't to hear it,

it's just a noise. But listening means it's an active process,

focusing and interpreting those sounds to understand the message means

you allow the work goes in, you interpret it, understand it,

and then you internalize it. Many times we come to

church on Sunday, we just hear the word, but we

are not really listening to it. But when we really

really listen to the word of God, then we will

act on it, you know, we will be the do world.

So Church, I just want to encourage all of us here,

you know. And it's also a reminder to myself as well.

Let's don't just hear the word, but act on what

we hear. So when when I was doing this definition thing,

I went into the Blue Letter Bible to look into

the Greek definition okay, because I want to know what

is the definition of here. So when I was looking

for the word here, I tell you, the definition is

so simple, okay. So the Greek word for hero is

actually uh acroyds. Okay, I hope I pronounce it correctly,

and it just means hearer merely. I'm like any more

definition I scross gross cross gross gross scrow. I cannot

find any other extension meaning you just say here merely.

And then when I translated it to normal English, it

just means passive listening nothing more, misa, you just hear.

I can then say or thanks a holder. You know,

But what does the Bible says we need to be

a doer? Right, So when I look for the meaning

of doer okay, it is transliterated as poet tastes okay,

and it means performer. Performer means you have to move right.

And in the outline of Bibica, you sage actually means

a maker, a producer, author okay, a door performer, one

who obeys or fulfill the law, a poet. So out

of this full definition, I took out two of it

that we can do one okay. So it means that,

you know, when we hear the word of God, we

should not be a passive, quiet participant of the word,

but we need to be an active performer. To make

it simple, we need to obey and do as simple

as that, what the word tells us, we obey and

we do okay, And simply hearing the word without acting

on it, right, it's like fooling ourselves. And truth fair

show itself in how we live, not just in how

we in what we hear or what we know. You know.

The illustration that I want all of us to to

you know, catch from from this. Okay, I illustrate it

as like you know, I'm pretty sure all of us

watch Kong fu movie before, right, whether it's kids, Kong Fu,

pandak or whatever, kong Fu okay, and every komfoo master

have their disciple right correct, and every time all the

disciples are your seafool. I don't want to do this right,

you know, see fool, I don't want to do that. Okay,

imagine now, okay, now drawler is my seafood and he

said that, Okay, I need you to practice this. I'll

sit down there apop coorn. Okay. Every single day he

say you need to practice this. But every single day

I just come, you know, to to his sessions just

a popcorn. Okay. But if I do that every single

day he tells me to do But I don't know,

is he still my master? Still my seafool? No, because

he will saying that I asked you to practice, you

also don't practice. Why do I want to take a

a disciple like you? No, you go out go and

find other seafood to teach you how to eap up corn? Okay,

all right, So the disciple has to obey the instructions

of the master. Okay, so a disciple will only be

called a disciple where he or she listened to what

the master got to say and do exactly what the

Master asked to do. And when the disciple listen and

do exactly what was told, his level will be up skilled.

You know, I cannot say that I would be very

good in my my congful right, but all I did

when I come for for for my comful class, I

will need a popcorn. Do you think my skill will

be leveled up? It won't, right, So a disciple is

the same. Okay. We need to practice what it preach.

If we say that we are a disciple of Christ,

we need to do exactly what Jesus told us because

he is our master. Right. And when we go on right,

and as we continue to do what the Lord has

tell us to do, and we continue to practice without

telling anyone, when people look at our life, they will

say that I think you are a Christian? How many

of your experienced before without you're telling? When people look

at your action, your speech, will they will come and

ask you want are you a Christian? I'm pretty sure

some of you here experienced before because I've heard your testimony.

That is because when we do exactly what the Lord

told us, it's a reflection of who he is. So

it's the same thing if you bring it back to

the real life. How we know. I always say one

when I look at the kids, I don't need to

ask who these kids belongs to, because I look at

the action, I know who their parents, because there is resemblance.

There is resemblance. Really want not only in faith, but

in action too. You know, sometimes I have parents who

come and ask me, I don't know why my kids

so chicky. I say, you're gonna look at yourself. Okay,

so that is a resemblance. Okay. So being Jesus disciples,

remember we need to listen, obey, and do. Then our

faith will be leveled up. Okay. So we want to

live a life that we don't go around carrying the

text saying that I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian, I'm

a Christian. We don't want to carry the text for

people to see that we are Christian, but we want

to carry our life for people to see that we

are Christian. Okay. So James went on by saying that

people who hear the word and do not do. It's

like looking in the mirror walk away and not remembering

how we look like. Okay o, the ladies here, I

don't know how many of you experienced before, but it

happened to me all the time, you know, preparing to

go out from the house, right, okay, you know I

could my hair ready, they're gonna put on my clothes

ready that I told myself, Okay, I need to remember

to make up. And suddenly there's a phone call. Okay,

I was in front of the mirror. I do really,

there's a phone call that's on my phone. Then okay,

I need to go ready. I've actually forgotten that I

haven't put a makeup because I've forgotten how I look

in front of the mirror. They how very driving there.

Only I remember. I think I've forgotten something that I

checked in the mirror. Get Oh no, I've forgotten to

put on my eye, my nose, my mouth. Okay, yeah, yeah,

so you know a lot of time we thought that

when we look at the mirror. Okay, Oh, why today

I very pale. I think I need to put on

some you know, I put on some lips things so

that I can go out and don't look so pale.

But when I look at it that I walk away

for a while, as it called I have forgotten. Right.

So it's the same thing when we read the Word

of God and we door. It's basically like us looking

into the mirror walking away, not remembering how we look like. Okay.

So the Word of God is a special mirror that

showed not only our face, but our heart, our true nature,

and our hidden thoughts. Okay, God's word reveal who we

truly are really one. God's work will really reveal our

hidden thoughts, our hidden agenda. And every time God reveals

it requires us to take action. Okay. So it's just

like all of us like to look into the mirror

to fix our hair and put our eyes, nose, and

mouth right. Okay, A healthy disciple will look into the

Bible with the goal of changing our life that will

please God. Okay. Listening and reading the Word of God

is not for the purpose of becoming a Bible scholar. Yeah,

remember that, we don't read the Word of God with

the purpose of wanting to go and debate with other people.

We don't read the Word of God with the purpose

of collecting Bible facts. We read the Word of God.

It is so that our life can be transformed. So

what's the point of knowing the scripture in and out?

But our life is not transformed. If we know the

Bible in and out, we can quote every scripture under

the sun. But when we don't do it, people don't

see Christ in us. So don't be a Bible scholar,

be a disciple. So discipleship isn't measured by how much

we hear, but how much we obey. You probably can

only remember one scripture in the whole Bible. But if

you continue to leave according to how the scripture taught you,

people will see Christ, and people will come to know

the saving knowledge of Christ. So the world will not

know Jesus by our knowledge, but by the way we

live it. Okay. So our life are meant to live

in such a way that will draw people near to Christ. Okay.

So what are the characteristic of a duel? We are intentional,

we will we intentionally remember every word that we learn.

We are consistent, okay, which means that we continue on

after the word ended on Sunday, but we start the

word on Monday. We hear the word on Sunday, we

do the word on Monday forward, okay, and we be

obedient towards it. So the scripture it was only five

It ends with if you don't if you do what

it says and don't forget what you heard, the God

will bless you for doing it. So a doer, you'll

be blessed. You know, when you do the word of God,

God will never allow us to be the one that

is at the lost end will be blessed. And you

will see the blessing of God coming again and again

and again. You know, tiding your ten percent will not

make you poorer. You know, giving your time to serve

the Lord will not make your time shorter. You know,

a lot of things we do onto the Lord, it

doesn't cause us lost one we will actually gain you know,

like what Joel's shad just now, when we are giving

our tights an offering, you know tests test the Lord

through this and you will see how He will bless

you in return. Amen. And the last point here that

I'm going to share with us is that disciples in action.

So now that we know that we need to be

a doer, how can we be a doer? So I

think from the living, the living Bible. Okay, this translation

says that anyone who says that he is a Christian

but doesn't control his shut towngue is just fooling himself,

and he's really isn't worth much. The Christian who is

pure and without fault from God the Father's point of view,

is the one who takes care of offerens and widows,

and who remains true to the Lord, not soiled and

dirtied by his contact with the world. Okay. So in

the previous point we learned that Okay, first we must

receive the word. Then we are reminded that we need

to be the doer okay. And then now how do

we be a doer? Okay? One way to do God's

work is in accordance to what James wrote here. The

first way control our sharp tongue. Okay. So in other

translations it says bridle our tongue. Okay. So I went

and google and find what does bridle means? Okay? And

then when I searched bridle and it all come out

the horsemouth okay, I think, I think, I picture of

a yes, the hoff's mouth, the thing that's in the mouth.

Then I'm like, how does why, why why James use

this metaph. Okay, So I read on and read on,

and I realized that though the things in the horse

mouth can be very small, and we are not right,

horse is actually very strong and they're very powerful. But

that tiny little bit things that is in his mouth,

that is connected to the rain, it allows the rider

to to gently pull it, and then it can steer

the horse, okay, whether to go in a certain direction,

to stop or to slow down. Wow, such a small thing, right,

it can actually control such a powerful animal. What more,

our tongue. Our tongue is small. That's why we need

to control it. Okay, So we need to have self

control over our speech. So the image is powerful. If

a small bit of that thing can control a mighty horse,

our words, those small have great power, and it has

to be controlled. A lot people do not want to

come to church is because maybe to the way we talk.

Maybe our talk has not been kind, our tour has

not been gentle, and people say that, you know, I

don't see the difference between you and the world. So

James reminded us control our speech. Okay, So James, if

you read on in James sire, the tree will stand right.

And this is something that I always remind myself when

I wanted to say something not nice. But I also

always reminded what Leona told me. This. My mom said,

if you have nothing nice to say, don't say. So

a lista to her mom. If I got nothing nice

to say, don't say Okay, so said the tree was said,

the tree was that says this the same mouth we

used to praise God and curse God, it's actually not

a good thing. We need to use our mouth only

for one thing, which is to praise the Lord. Okay.

So it is really important for us to watch what

we speak, how we speak to the people around us. Okay.

So our work with God is useless if it does

not translated into the way we speak and the way

we live and the way we treat others. So a

transform heart is shown in our speech and in our action. Okay.

So of course you know in James, it also says

that you know that the true true religion is useless,

you know, if we don't control. But true religion is

not about us telling people that, oh, you need to

be a Christian, you know, I know, when we feel

our firm right, they always ask what's your religion? That

is for us to choose. Okay, there will take Christian.

But we know that true religion isn't a ritual, you know,

true Christianity is actually a relationship. Okay, that's why we

always we don't say that, you know, Jesus is there,

we cannot reach to him. No, Jesus came down to

build a relationship with us. We can have a relationship

with him. Tell me whichh God you know all that

will speak to you through his word in bad times.

The word encourages you in good times, sometimes too good,

until the Lord will rebuild you so that it can

put us in the position. You know that it's right

with him. Right. So Christianity itself is a relationship. So,

as the disciples of Christ, we need to demonstrate true

religion through our action that is resulted from a transformed heart. Okay.

So in James the chapter one, verse thirty seven, it

teaches us that the disciples of Christ are known by

their love for artists, especially those who are in it

and vulnerable. But I just put it simply, love your

neighbor regardless, don't pick and truth. Don't say that I

think this one all too poorer. I think don't need

to tell him about Christ and like, wow, very rich,

woll multimillion, I think this will I need Jesus. No, everybody,

everybody need Jesus. Okay, don't choose, don't choose really okay,

So this is what we are told. Okay, we need

to love one another, love those people around us, and

what more, those who are really in need and vulnerable. Okay.

So we are serving God where we show love and

care for others. Okay. So what can we do today church?

You know, every time we call formationions, remember to go okay. Okay,

So there's one way of serving the Lord. There's one

way of putting word into action. Okay, show our care

and love to the people who are in it or

the least noticed by artists. Okay. So James ended the

whole chapter one by saying, this, keep oneself unspotted from

the world. Okay. In the TLB version, is it translated

into this, remain true to the Lord, not soiled and

dirty by the context of the world. Remember when I

say in the first point, we if our clots are

the TV, take it off, right? What more? Our life?

We need to keep our life always in check, keep

our life clean, unspotted. You know, I'm pretty sure that

all of us here have sein in one way or another.

There is no big sin that's too big, hot sin

that's too small. A sin is a sin. And the

only way we can remain unspotted is that from this

point forward is to ask the Lord for forgiveness, come

back into the position of repentance, allow the Lord to

watch us clean. And we have to be reminded of this.

We aren't in the world, but we are not of

the world. Don't let the world influence you. You know,

we are called to be the influencer, be the influencer

for the Lord. We are supposed to influence the world,

bringing the world to the knowledge of Christ. We are

called to be the salt and light. We need to,

you know, reflect God through our life. So whatever temptations

that may come your way, my way, we need to

resist it, okay, so that we can remain unspotted. And

only an unspotted life will reflect God to others. You know,

a dirty mirror will not show us how we look like.

A dirty life will not be able to reflect God.

So there are tue evidence of being a true disciple. Okay.

Our speech are under control. We bridle all time, compassionate action,

we love our neighbors. We love those words innate and

then personal holiness. We make sure that our life is

unspotted okay by the world. So we are living in

a world that is full of different challenges, and how

can we remain as water is to constantly come back

to God. Allow the Lord to direct our path, Allow

the Lord to teach us. You know, we learn that

the simpership is not just a feel good activity. You know,

it's not coming every Sunday. You know I feel good?

Then no, it is not passive in nature. Also, it

requires action from us. Let's church each other on. We

may feel in one day or two days never mind,

step back up where we fom and move on. You know,

we may have made bad decision. It's okay. Commitate to

the Lord and allow him to transform into the gate.

We may have, you know, done things that probably feel that. Noah,

I think the Lord will not forgive us. That's not true,

as long as you come back into repentance, panders miss

telling God that old Lord, I'm sorry. I commit myself

to you and I made a promise not to do it, okay,

and I pray that you know as as I asked

for your forgiveness. May your Holy Spirit remind me ish

day not to fall back into the temptation. That is

your commitment that you can do towards God, and to

help yourself to keep in check. Get a leader to

tack with you accountability. Discipleship that is where you can

walk your Christian walk victoriously. So a disciple is a doer,

leave according to what the Lord teaches. So discipleship is

not a classroom a lecture where you hear it and

go home and forget about it, okay. But discipleship is

about loving one another, being to his word and receive

his word with humility. So, church, you all this morning,

as I was going through my message one last time,

this was the thought that the Lord has blunted in

my head. In John one, chapter one, it says that

in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was

with God, and the Word was God, and there is

power in the world of God. You may think that

the Bible is just another book that you pick it

off the shelf, read it and then put it back.

But let me challenge you this morning to take it up,

read it, do as what the Bible tells you, and

then you come and tell me, does it transform your life?

Some of you may come into this place with different

kinds of challenges. I do not know what your challenges

may be. Sometimes I may not even understand the hardship

that you may be going through. And this is the word.

The The scene that the Lord reminded me this morning

was this, He says, say, you know, Selena, you may

not understand what other people's may be going through, but

you went through your own situation. You apply to God's word.

You see how the word came in life, in your life.

So I may not be able to understand your situation,

but I've experienced the power of God in my life

through my situation. But let me tell you, the same

God that helped me overcome will help you overcome to

the same word that transformed my life will transform your

life to you know when the Lord told me, You

know when when I went to the hospital and I

found out that there's a lum in my body and

the doctor said he suspected cancer. I cry outside, Lord,

why why everybody it's having such a good life and

I have to go through this. You know, I'm still

so young. Why do I have to go through this?

But the Lord says, pray, and I claim his scripture.

I pray. I said, you know the things that I

put into action? Was this? The word of God says, ask,

and it shall be given to you. And I say that, Lord,

I'm asking you for healing, and I'm asking in accordance

to your word. I say fifty three verse five. Your

word says that by your stripes, I'm here and I'm

claiming it. I say that, Lord, I claim it. I

do it every single day. I claim it. That's an action.

And after I claim it, I receive my healing. What

I do next, I testify it. That's doing it. Because Lord,

the word regards of the Lord says, we need to

share of his goodness to the people. A wondness. I

have received his goodness? Why do I keep it? I

need to share it? So same goes to you. You

may feel that you know. You will tell me that

you know, Selena, I got no such great testimony. Who

said so? All of us have a testimony, even the

testimony as simple as my car tire puncture and I

cannot get my friends, and my phone died. And suddenly

there's a kind person dropped by. And I thought the

person could have robbed me, but the person did otherwise,

the person helped me. That that itself is a testimony.

It tells us that the Lord never leave you, nor

for secure. You may have lost your contact point by

by by the battery. You know, you cannot call anyone,

but you can call upon the Lord. You know what,

My colleague used to tell me that Selena I used

to magic every time we go to valley, right, no pucking.

She would say, you to magic. I say, I got

no magic. I got Jesus. And I just said, Jesus,

give me a pucking and I got a packing. And

she's like, that's magic. I said, no, that's Jesus. You know.

You may feel, yeah, we love, we love, because these

are the prayer of a children, right, but I don't care,

you know, because they're not believer. You know, but that

that that is specifying God's goodness. All of us have

something in our hands. You may not have anything now,

never mind, go back to the word of the Lord.

Go back to the word of the Lord. Apply it

and trust me, if from this point forward everyone go

back and read the word of God and you apply

it every Sunday from this point forward, we will have

someone coming up the station, share testimony. I'm going to

issue this challenge to all of us here. You know,

we come to church every Sunday. We want to see transformation,

we want to see revival, we want to see God

move and that is my heartbeat. For example, I want

to see everyone grow in your work with the Lord.

And I cannot make you grow unless you yourself say

that yes Jesus today, you know I want to make

it a commitment to put your word into action in

my life. Amen.

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

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a hit for you.

God bless