The WORD Changes Everything

If you want to follow along this morning, and I encourage you to open the book of James.

The book of James.

As you're turning there, I want to ask a question.

If we walked outside after church today, and you saw two cars on the sidewalk, and today we said there's going to be a race.

And you had to pick which car was going to win the race.

One was an Avio, a Chevy Avio, I think that's the way you pronounce it.

Which is like a cylinder and a half engine and really small tires.

Go-karts have bigger tires than the and the other, the other was a Lamborghini with the full package brand new.

And we said, which car do you think will win the race?

Which one would you bet on?

Think about that for just a second.

Which car would you bet on?

Well, at face value, we'd say, well, obviously the Lamborghini.

I mean, really.

But then what if we heard about the details of the race?

That it wasn't a speed race, it was a distance race.

Maybe we'd think, well, what size tank does the Avio have, and it's small, the engine can probably go further.

I don't know.

Maybe it's that one.

But what if I told you there was a factor that we just assume and we miss?

I tell you which car would win the race.

We see that maybe it is an endurance race, maybe it is a speed race, but either way, that's not the factor that's most important.

What if I were to tell you simply the main factor to look for in this race is not speed and it's not distance.

Whichever car wins will be the one, and I'm gonna tell you this very simply, and then we'll think, okay, how do we determine that?

It's very easy.

You turn the key and you can just tell.

Whichever car, one car has gas, the other one does not.

It doesn't matter what they look like.

Whichever hard car has gas is gonna go, the other one will not go.

It doesn't matter which one and what it looks like and how fancy or unfancy it is.

And the truth is, in our lives, I've discovered in my life and the lives of those around me, those who are successful are those who have consistently put gas in the tank of life.

And that gas is very simple.

It doesn't matter how spiritual we look or how great we look or how not great we look.

It's do we have gas in the tank?

And what kind of gas am I putting in the tank?

And this morning I want us to just get very personal to begin.

And that is, I want you and I to be honest with ourselves, not those around us, just ourselves.

And I want us to get clearly in our minds our greatest frustration today.

What is your greatest frustration today?

That if I could wave a wand and it would just be gone, or we could experience freedom in that one, what would that area be?

Or maybe you're one that says, you know, my life is pretty good, but then I would ask us the second question to get firmly in our minds, what is our biggest hope?

What area of life is just unresolved or unfulfilled, and we're just missing something there?

And I wish if I could have this one area of my life full, full and blessed.

That is the area of life.

And what I want us to look at this morning is an incredible passage that shows us not only the vehicle to experience fulfillment where there's frustration, freedom and blessing where there is want, but really the power to do that.

And it's not magical and it's not something super spiritual, it's just reality.

If you're open to the book of James, I want to look at this one passage and then we're gonna break down a couple words and take two simple steps that if you and I will take these steps, we will start moving from frustration to freedom, from hope to fulfillment if we'll do this.

In chapter one, starting in verse 22 of James, it says this, and I'm gonna read a few verses and we'll land on verse 25.

Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves.

Do what it says.

Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does.

Now, look at the gas.

The gas in this situation is simply in verse 25, you can underline it, the perfect law.

As he says in verse 22, the word.

Now, this book called the Bible is not just a good book.

It is amazing.

It is the perfect law.

And it we fast realize that it really is true that the word became flesh and dwelt among us, named Jesus.

It's not just a literary work.

Every year they come out with a top ten list of the best-selling books in the United States, the New York Times bestseller list.

Every year, for since they've started it, and they stopped putting it on there because it's just obvious that it is.

The Bible is the number one selling book, period.

They don't even put it on there.

They used to put an asterisk and said, you know what, it's far and away by far.

All the others combined, yeah, okay, we're not even putting it on the list anymore.

Because it's just obvious.

Why is that?

What is it about this book?

Well, let me give you a little bit of background on it.

And before I do that, let me ask you a simple question.

If I had some colored sheets of paper and some scissors and I passed them out, I passed out a few hundred of these sheets of paper, and I said, okay, and I gave them to, let's say, um, uh a lot of people, a hundred people, and I said, I want you to cut out the shape of a country.

One of the hundreds of countries in the world.

And I'm gonna give you these countries, and and I want you to cut out the shapes of the countries in the world that will exist a hundred years from now.

The borders of those countries a hundred years from now.

And I want you to cut them out, and then we're gonna put them all together and come up with a perfect map of the world.

How how ridiculous would that be?

I don't even know what the world's gonna look like a hundred years from now.

I don't know what countries exist.

I couldn't name all the countries now, much less a hundred years from now.

How could I do that?

Yet we have a book, and I want to read a couple statistics about this amazing book.

Because it's not just a book, it is a compilation of 66 books written by forty different authors on three different continents in three different languages.

That is the Bible we have over sixteen hundred years.

That's this book.

This book is not just a compilation of literature.

It was written by farmers and doctors and kings and soldiers and shepherds and princes and priests, historians, fishermen, tax collectors, scholars, businessmen.

It was written in caves, on ships, in palaces, in prisons, and in deserts.

And yet it is one book, one story without contradiction.

Wow.

It puts it this way in 2 Timothy 3, verses 6 through 7, all this scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, for rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:6–7

This God breathed sense is that God ordained it through those who wrote it.

How could they know all the details about this?

It says in Matthew chapter 24, verse 35, it says, Heaven and earth will pass away, but the words, my words, will never pass away.

Matthew 24:35

And here's if you're thinking a little skeptically, you're going, wow, okay, that's amazing, but how do I put my faith in something that is so huge and amazingly detailed and how it comes together?

And we would say that, you know what?

Well, I believe in science.

Well, I would say this I believe in science too.

I love science, I love the advancements of science.

But truth is, science catches up with the truth of God.

It catches up.

For thousands of years, science said the earth was flat.

It's flat.

Well, silly people, God believers, they don't get it.

It's flat.

Yet, thousands of years before that, in Isaiah 40, 22, it said God enthrones himself on the sphere of the earth.

And yet scientists believe stupid people who believe in God.

It's flat.

If it was a sphere, we'd all fall off.

Hello?

Wait a minute.

Maybe science catches up with God.

Maybe in science, in 150 BC before Christ, there was an astronomer.

This was one of the grandfathers of trigonometry.

If you had that class and struggle with it, here's the guy to hate, okay?

His name was Hipparchus.

Hipparchus was an astronomer and a considered the greatest scientific mind of his time.

And he looked into the skies and he said, I have counted, and there are 1,022 stars in the sky.

150 AD, there was another philosopher and scientist.

His name was Ptolemy.

And Ptolemy piggybacked on what Hippartus had done and said and studied and was building on this, as science often does.

It builds on it and goes from it.

And he says, Incredible man, his theories are amazing.

But you know what?

I've looked, and there are actually a thousand and twenty-six stars.

And yet, yet in Job, thousands of years before that, it writes, God stretches the sky over the empty space, and I'm sorry, not that one.

In Jeremiah 33, 22, it says the number of stars are infinite.

Infinite.

Stupid God followers.

There's a thousand and twenty-six.

Maybe it seems infinite to you because you can't count that high.

There's only a thousand and twenty-six.

And yet now, scientists would look at science of that time and go, You're crazy.

Literally, there are quadrillions of stars that we can't even count them all.

And of those and the earth, now it's a sphere, and now the science says, you know what?

Well, let's go to philosophies.

Philosophies would say, you know what?

Well, they're all the same.

They're all the same.

Basically, we have a different name for God, but God is the same, and we all have the same basic concepts and all that.

Well, in this early times, if we look at philosophy, the Greeks said that the, okay, the earth is a sphere.

We'll give you that.

But now everybody believes that.

Well, how is it, how is it supported?

Well, the Greeks said there was this huge God named Atlas, and he holds it on his back.

Okay.

The Hindus, I love this one.

This is my favorite.

There are giant elephants that stand on the backs of giant turtles that stand on serpents, and they hold up the earth.

The Egyptians said that there are five pillars that hold the earth up.

Yet, in Job 26, verse 7, it says God stretches the sky over the empty spaces and hangs the earth on nothing.

Job 26:7

Stupid God, people.

It's gotta be on something or it would fall.

It's obvious.

But maybe not.

Maybe in these thousands of years, God breathed this truth to those who would write it down, going, I don't get it, but God said it, so this is it.

This is a perfect law, and as amazing as this perfect law is, and proven over time, again and again and again, and science, honest science over time will prove that this is true, even when we don't understand it.

How does that affect you and I?

How does it become personal?

Well, what I've discovered in my life personally, every great change, every great transformation, whether it was the time of my life where I was so far in debt, I thought I will never get out.

Frustration financially.

There were these two steps and these two simple parts of this step that I look back and go, that was it.

That was it.

And it had to do with this truth.

The truth applied equals this freedom.

And wow, and I began to see in every area of my life frustrations as a single man going, God, I have these desires to be in a relationship, and yet, you know, I've been on a dating sabbatical for three years, and it's not voluntary.

I just can't get a date.

And I just I'm frustrated in this area.

I have this desire, and now I see that I'm in this incredible marriage of almost 17 years with three unbelievable kids, and great fulfillment, frustration to fulfillment.

And how does that happen?

Every major transformation has followed two simple steps.

And I want us to look at those in the same verse.

It's not only talking about the perfect law, but look at this: the first step is to look intently.

Look in verse 25.

But the man who looks intently at the perfect law, look intently.

Now there's a difference between seeing and looking, a difference between hearing and listening.

If we want that area of our life that we want hope and freedom and blessing, or that area where we want to move frustration to fulfillment, we have to start looking intently at the word of God, the truth of God, and looking intently at it.

Let me give you a difference between hearing and listening.

When we had our children, we had a baby monitor in our bedroom.

And I mean I could hear my kids breathe.

And my ear was attentive.

I am a deep sleeper.

But if they even whimpered, I was up.

Heather, on the other hand, could sleep through it, which was not fair, but I could hear it.

And I would listen not only to that, but I could start to discern their whimpers and their cries.

Is this a oh my goodness, that's a bad diaper cry right there.

I know that.

That's a hungry cry.

I don't have to do anything about that one.

And I could discern their cries.

I got intimately involved, intimately connected with their cries.

I could understand that is listening.

On the other hand, I travel a ton.

I fly a lot.

And I remember traveling with my children.

There's this anxiety as a parent of, oh my gosh, I don't want to disturb other people.

I am the best person on the planet to sit next to if you have a baby.

Because I love the fact, and I've had this happen several times where the mom sits with a new dad.

I'm so sorry.

I want to apologize in advance if she cries or he cries.

I'm like, you could not be in a better place.

Because I, I am the most understanding ever.

I have kids, I've heard the cry.

But I'll tell you why you're in a great place, because I can hear your child cry.

And it's not only not a negative, it is a positive.

Because when I hear your child cry, I know I don't have to do jack squat.

And I love that.

I'm not responsible.

I don't have to do anything.

And the truth be told, that is the difference between hearing and listening.

That is the difference between knowing God or reading His Word and yet listening to His Word.

If I've come here today going, yeah, give me another quick sermon.

Oh, I like that, agree with that, out, forget it.

I'm not looking intently.

Intently is coming with my heart's desires and my frustrations and going, God, please speak.

I am listening to what you say.

And I'm going to take that truth and I'm going to intently listen to what you're saying.

Not only that, but it does say in Romans 10, 17, so faith comes by hearing and hearing the words of Christ.

We do have to hear it, but we have to go a step further and intently listen.

I love that verse.

I love this one even more.

In Psalm 119, 11, it says, Your words I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.

I've hidden them in my heart.

Here's one of those steps.

To look intently is to say, I'm going to take this verse.

One of my favorite books in the Bible is in the back.

It's called The Contents.

And I look at words, the concordance, and I look at words in those areas of my life, and I'm like, God, show me your truth about this.

And I'll take those verses and I'll begin to just dwell on them and memorize them.

And I look at those major changes in my life.

And without exception, every one of them, there was a set of verses that were memorized.

Financially, it was going through crown ministries and memorizing verses every week through that process that saturated who I was and what went in began to come out and changed everything and moved from the frustration of debt to the freedom of enough.

And it's amazing how that word changes us.

What goes in changes us.

It's the frustration of being a single guy and going through that part of my life and yet going, God, what do you say about this?

And learning and memorizing verses.

Now you may be like me.

I was in special class in school, and I for the longest time said, Well, I can't really memorize stuff.

And I'd convinced myself of that.

But the truth is, if we can live and breathe, we can memorize.

I guarantee you, you can memorize because if it's important, we want to remember it.

I'll give you one example.

I will never forget when I met Heather, my wife.

She said, Oh my gosh, I'd love for you to give me a call.

And I said, I don't have anything to write with.

She goes, Well, let me just give you my number.

She gave me her number.

Do you think I remember that number?

Yes.

Why?

Because it was important to me.

I can memorize it if it's important.

And I know it doesn't come natural, but if I'll take that time and say, you know what?

I need to hide it in my heart because what goes in my heart comes out.

And I begin to pray about this.

Right now I'm praying, God, how can I know all the sins that are lurking in my heart?

How can I know those?

God, cleanse me.

Cleanse me from those hidden sins, those hidden faults.

And God, as your servant, I just ask, as your servant, that you would keep me from deliberately sinning.

Don't let those sins control me.

Then I'll be free from guilt and great sin.

And let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my God, and my rock.

That is this week.

This week of like, I came across that prayer, and I'm like, that is my prayer.

Psalm 119, 12 through 14.

And I've just been, I wrote it out and I typed it out, and I put it in my car, and I put it, and I just read it over and over and over until it becomes who I am.

Because what I put in changes the way I think and it changes the way I function.

This looking intently, and most of us would would say, you know, I have trouble and I love this in Psalm 119, 5.

I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways, dwelling on it, bringing it up.

If you and I will look intently, take that truth and dwell on it.

Not just read it, but say, okay, what does this mean?

What does it mean to me?

God, this area of my life, I've found some verses that seem to apply.

God, help me.

Help me put those in my heart, but help me see what these mean.

And not only dwell on them, but I'll do this tomorrow morning.

I'll meet with a buddy of mine and we will talk and say, hey, what are you learning?

What verses has God laid on your heart?

What do you think that means?

And I'll read him my memory verse, and I'll say, What do you what do you think that means?

And and we talk about it.

It's that looking intently to the word, not just hearing it, but truly looking intently.

And then probably the greatest, easiest, I'm sorry, simplest but not easy step.

Look at this verse 25 again.

Those who look intently at the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, keep on.

It's not a one-time piece.

Continues to do this, not forgetting what's heard, but doing it.

Doing it, he will be blessed.

I've realized over time that if I will take a truth and go, God, how can I do this today?

What do I need to do about this today?

How can I actively live this?

And at the end of my night, sit down and write out this is how I try to.

To do it today, this truth.

It's not fancy, it's not magic, but something happens when we take the truth and start to do it because the truth is we don't believe what we think, we don't believe what we hear, we don't believe what we say.

We believe what we do.

That's what we believe.

And the more we believe through our actions in this word, the more it changes who we are to become who we were meant to be.

Which leads me to one of the statements that is becoming my life statement.

The smallest action is greater than the grandest intention.

I've got to change.

And that small step of going, God, I'm going to take your truth.

I'm going to try to do it today.

Show me who you made me to be.

And if you look in James, just bump up a couple where we started in verse 22.

Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves.

Do what it says.

I would strongly encourage us today.

If that is, if we're thinking, you know what?

God, I'm not good at memorizing verses, this is a great place to start.

It's got the whole wrapped into one.

If I want to experience freedom, fulfillment, blessing in everything, and look at the promises, and that's where I want to land this morning, just on the promises.

He will be blessed.

I want to be blessed.

Take that area of life where I'm frustrated or I have hope.

Do I want to be blessed in that area?

The answer is not yes and no.

The answer is okay, show me in your truth, Lord, what applies and help me do it continuously.

Because if I will, I will be blessed, period.

Because it is a process of God changing us from the inside out.

I begin to write that.

There's one other step you and I can take.

I would say that if you're not involved in one of the Wednesday night classes and you think, I'm not sure how all this works, pick one area that can be an area where I want to get better and come on a Wednesday night.

Sit with your Bible open and saying, God, I'm going to go to the concordance and God, I'm just going to keep flipping around until you start to show me some verses that apply to this area of my life.

And God, I'm going to memorize one.

And God, I'm going to do something every day until my whole life changes.

And it is continuously that change.

My challenge, grab your Bible, sit down with that area of life, and say, God, show me what you say about that area.

Because, Lord, I'm going to memorize a verse.

And for a week, I'm going to do something about it every day.

I guarantee over time life will change.

It is the gas and the fuel that God meant for us to be, to become who He meant for us to be.

As a band comes, pray with me if you would.

Father, thank you.

Thank you so much that you're more dependable than any science.

You're more dependable.

You created this world.

We simply discover more about you, but you are intimately in love with us.

We don't know why, but you are.

And Father, this living and active word is the fuel in our life for change, transformation.

Lord, I pray as only your Holy Spirit can, you would show us individually that it's not a mystery.

What's mysterious is how you change us when we put this word in.

So, Father, give us the boldness and the humility to sit before you and apply your truth so that we can experience the blessing and fulfillment that you meant for our lives to have.

And it really is only through the precious gift of Jesus and the power of your spirit that we pray.

Amen.