[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's word you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 830 or 10:30 a.m. if you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison church, find
[email protected] dot. Be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: If you were to walk around your house and look at any kind of product or something, maybe even if you go to Walmart and look at the back of that appliance, go to Lowe's and look at the back of whatever mechanical device it is you will find on any of those things a warning label or a caution label. And those caution labels oftentimes are really helpful and they help you to avoid some major disasters. But we also know that if you've read any of those warning labels or those caution labels, some of the things that are on there are absolutely ridiculous. And sometimes you read them, you're like, did they really have to say that? What is something that is so obvious? Should that really even need to be said? Is that not implied? And so I'll give you just an example of a few of them. One of them is this one, a car shield. Of course. This is to keep the sun out, to keep your car cool on the inside while heat is hitting it from the outside. Did you know there's a warning label and some of you are shaking your head, you must have seen it. It says this, do not drive with car shield in place.
Now this one blows my mind. And we have two of these at the house. One of them does say this, the other one doesn't. So I'm nervous about who's going to use this the wrong way. It's a toilet brush and there is a warning label on some of them and this is what it says, not for oral use.
So somewhere along the lines, somebody Maywood was at Maywood and their kid forgot their toothbrush. And they're like, no, you know, I don't know. Alright then there was this one. I saw this at the house on one of the backs of our kids puzzles and it had two warnings. Warning number one, do not eat the pieces.
The second one was this. Some assembly required thought. This one was interesting, and probably a lot of you have seen this one. Do not use your fingers to stop the blades. All right, so you look at all those warnings and those cautionary things that are listed there, and you look at it and you think, why does that need to be mentioned? Well, y'all know, right? Why that has to be mentioned?
Because somebody drove with the car shield in place, and somebody used the toilet brush in that way like they should not have used it. And somebody got a beautiful puzzle that was in this box, opened it up, and it wasn't immediately a Thomas Kinke picture they could frame. And somebody somewhere along the lines, use this product or that product wrong. The reason why I say that the text that we're going to look at today, to me, is a cautionary label, a warning label of how to read the Bible, that the very things that we know are true, but also the very things that, to us, might at times seem obvious still, if we're not careful, are the very things we can find ourselves doing.
See, what James is trying to do here is this. He's trying to let us know that the word that is so right and the word that speaks truth and can bring power into situations at the same time, the thing that is so right can be approached very wrong.
And what's really interesting as we dig into this text today, he lets us know that there are some very dangerous consequences to how we receive the word. And I think we all know we've been there before. Maybe it's been a time where you've opened up the Bible and you were trying to prove your own point. That was your motive. Now, not that your point maybe was even wrong, but your focus was, well, I'm gonna find this verse and this verse to fit what I want it to fit. Or maybe before. What's happened to you is you read the word and you saw what it pointed out and that things probably need to change. But you did what we were going to talk about today, we've all done. We rationalize.
Well, because of this season and the pressure I'm under, I mean, that's why I'm not doing that right now.
James gives us an awesome warning label. But here's what I love about this text.
James does not just identify the problem, he then presents the solution, that if we find ourselves reading God's word with the wrong motives and the wrong mindset, there is a pathway forward. And we're gonna look at that today. And so before we get into that, I do have to give some context because context is so incredibly important here. If you look at verse 19, before he talks about how to receive God's word and the power of God's word, look what he says in verse 19.
He says, all right, we all need to be people that are very quick to hear and very slow to speak. Now, I would dare to say we've all struggled with that, right? We're maybe in an argument with somebody, and I'm sure y'all never argue with people, but you're in the middle of an argument and you're frustrated by something, and you're ready to give your response, and you're already thinking about what you're gonna say next. He's like, don't do that. You know, be very quick to really internalize what that person's saying before you speak.
And then if you'll notice what he says next, be very slow to anger, but notice what he says after that. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. He's not saying it's wrong to be angry, but what he is saying is that there's a man generated anger, that there's an anger that starts here that I'm trying to deliver, I'm trying to decipher. He said, if it's only up to your ability to determine how to handle that anger, it's going to lead in the wrong direction. So what's the right direction? How do I really listen to that person, and how can I be somebody that does not have just me at the center? Look what he starts to say next.
So if you want to put away the filthiness and the rampant wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word that is able to save your souls.
I love here, as James gives us, so many practical things, right, that he connects it with our ability and our choice to receive God's word with meekness.
I love that word, receive, because the idea is this. He's basically saying, God, your word is welcomed here.
Your word is welcomed in this situation is welcomed in my heart. And we're going to talk about today that a lot of times we want to welcome his word to change an outcome without welcoming it in our hearts first, that the outcome's not going to change until it lands on good soil. What he's saying in this text is this. He's kind of saying, you know, like those guys that are at the airport and they've got the two flashlights and they're like, all right, come here. He said, that's what I'm wanting to say. With your word. Your word is welcomed in this situation. Your word is welcomed in my heart. Your word is welcomed my job. Your word is welcomed my home. You have to receive that. And here's how you do it. You have to do it with meekness, and therein lies the challenge, but also the power of the word. Right.
As we look at this text today, what we're going to find, and I hope we see, is that God's word is not something that's just meant to be read.
It's supposed to read you.
And what you'll find is when you let it read you, it will kill pride, it will kill selfishness, it will kill an inwardly focused mindset.
And in the quicker we let it kill that, the quicker the better.
And so he gets very serious about its consequences. But again, I want us to see he doesn't just mention those. He gives us the way forward. So let's get into the text. And here he mentions the first consequence of reading the right book in the wrong way. He said, be a doer of the word and not a hearer only because if you're hearing but not doing, you're actually deceiving yourself. So he's saying, listening all by itself is actually us practicing self deception. Now, I want to give a little bit of context to his audience, the people that are reading what he is saying right now. Keep in mind, this was a predominantly oral culture, and what that means is this. Most of them could not read, so they were dependent on somebody else to read the word for them. You know how we are so blessed to have this? They did not have that. Okay? This is not sitting in front of them. So here's what they would do. They would go to assemblies, and someone would read scripture for them, and then they would leave. Then they would go to the next assembly, and they would hear someone break the bread of life and read it to them. Then they would leave. And they would hear that word, and then they would leave.
Sound familiar?
They would go to their public assemblies, hear the word, and then they would leave. Now, nothing wrong with that, but he's also letting us know that we're not supposed to just be hearers, but doers. And this might be a weird way to explain it, but imagine for just a second that you're watching a football game. We had a great day at college football. Yes. Or, well, depending on your thoughts. But imagine it's the very end of the game, and we'll pick his name because I can't think of the other team's quarterback's name? Jalen Milro. All right, so Jalen Milro gets the team into the huddle. It's a very important play, a very important part of the game. And he's alright, guys, this is it, all right? You're going to run a post, you're gonna run a screen, and you're gonna run a fly, all right? And they're slapping helmets, their chest bumping, getting each other fired up. They're like, you gotta, you got, let's go, man, let's go. Ready? Break. And then they go sit on the sidelines. You'd be like, wait, what was all the like, you got this, man. What was all the chest bumping and what was all the fired up talk for? Only to go sit on the sidelines? That's what he's getting at here. If we're not careful, that's what we can be, just coming together and just hearing it, but leaving unchanged. And so how can we at times be self deceived in our reception of God's word? Maybe what's happened is there's been a time where God's word has really warmed your heart, but it didn't actually change or impact your soul.
And similar to that, maybe it informed your mind, but it didn't transform your life.
But what about this one? Maybe there was a time where you read God's word and it was very clear, hey, that's a sin.
I know I need to either stop something or I need to start something.
But as we're going to talk about in a second, we rationalized it and we didn't actually eradicate it out of our lives. Or what about this one?
The word has the potential to make us a theologically smart person, yet we're still very immature or inwardly focused or unchanged. You know, that's what one corinthians eight is about.
Paul is talking to the church and he's like, listen, guys, you guys are getting together in assemblies and you are learning a lot of stuff. He said. Here's the issue, though. You're leaving unchanged, because what's happening is you're hanging your hat on information and you're being, what he says is puffed up.
He's not saying the information's wrong and trying to learn the information, that's a good thing, he said, but the danger is the heart it's received in. If we only view information as a line and a sign of spiritual maturity, that's an inflated view of spiritual maturity or immaturity, only what we hear alone.
But we're also able to twist the word to fit our pattern of our style of living and thus focusing on that. We miss Jesus. But here's what I want you to see that he's about to mention next. Not only can we be self deceived, but it doesn't necessarily always lead to life change. It's kind of like a map. So if you've opened up a map, maybe it's on your phone or a physical map, and you can find how to get anywhere in the United States. It's pretty awesome.
And while the map will tell you where to go, it won't take you there.
You still have to make a choice.
So notice what James goes on to say. He's like, don't fall into that pattern of self deception. Oh, I've heard a lot of good things, but here's what I want you to do. I want you to look at God's word. Go to the next slide.
Hey, John, I'm not having a. Oh, there it is. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man that looks intently at his natural face in a mirror, for he looks at himself, but then he goes away and forgets what he looks like.
So I love this analogy of a mirror.
We all have mirrors in our home, and I love Brinson Lanza and his example of what he sees when he thinks of a mirror. Brinson is one of our young men here at Madison. I want y'all to hear what he says. There's two things I want to point out that I love that he shares when he thinks of a mirror.
[00:13:43] Speaker C: A mirror is a piece of glass that is on top of a piece of metal, and it reflects the light, reflects you. So if you stand in front of a mirror, you can see yourself first. Help people for, like, if something's wrong or right.
So if they say, like, if your hair's messed up, if you look in the mirror, you can see it. But if it's not, if it's not messed up, you can see that you're perfect.
I use a mirror to see if I have. If the seal to see what my funny faces look like or if my hair's messed up or should I can fix it. Or if there's, like, a problem, like, if there's food in between my teeth, I can fix it.
[00:14:50] Speaker B: I love how he mentioned two things, and we're gonna talk about one of those in a second. That I like how mirrors point out what's wrong, but also what's right. But then the other thing that he mentioned was something in your teeth. You know, that's kind of what James is saying. The mirror will reveal something, but you still have to respond to what you see. So let's think about how simple of an analogy that is. So imagine for just a second you're at taco mama. And this is where this seems to happen the most with me. And it's the black beans. You're at Tacoma, you're eating, and you can, like, feel that there's pepper or a black bean on your tooth. And you start doing this while you're sitting across from somebody. And then have you ever noticed, by the way you do this? They do it because they think, oh, they see it in my tooth. And they're like, no, it's really my tooth. How do I now convince them that it's not? But then you do this number. Mm hmm. The whole meal. Okay. Anyway, so you're eating, got your hand over your mouth, and you're enjoying this meal together. And, you know, there's a piece of pepper, there's gotta be a black bean. And so you go to the bathroom and you're like, wow, what a great friend I have. That didn't point out the fact that this whole meal, I've been staring at them, talking to them, and this is clearly on my teeth. You see the black beans there? It's there. And you go back to the table, unchanged. That's kind of what he's getting at here. He's like, that doesn't make sense. He said, why would you go back there and face all those people when you haven't yet made a change? You need a change.
That's knowing the context of what James is about. That's the point he's making in order for us to help them out there, because he's about to get into that. In the next part of James, we have to first fix what's with us.
And so I love what this example by.
I don't know what's going on there. Oh, Charles Spurgeon, what he said in his description of the text, the glass of the word help. If I press the right button, the glass of the word is not our ordinary looking glass, which just merely shows our external features. And think about that for a second.
When we read God's word, a lot of times the focus is, all right, what can I change externally?
But yet isn't it interesting how God wants us to use his word, which is to first focus on what.
What needs to change in here, change from the inside out. He says the greek of the text. The man sees in it the face of his birth. That is the face of his nature. He reads and he hears the word and may see not only his actions there, but I love this, his motives and his desires.
So I want to encourage you with this, that whenever you read God's word, maybe it's tonight, this afternoon, or in the morning, as you read God's word, let it read your desires, your motives.
What is the desire?
What's the motive? You know, I was thinking this past week, one of the things that I can be very guilty of in my own life is I will prepare a sermon. I'm like, well, I study well. There's nothing wrong with that.
But am I doing that at the cost of studying with my own family?
I don't know what motive, desire you're dealing with, but God's word has the ability to bring those things to the forefront, to really see yourself for who you really are. What James is getting at, those things we believe we know to be true, they're supposed to impact how we treat each other, how we behave. In Ezekiel, chapter 33. Ezekiel, of course, is a prophet of God, and God says there's a problem.
And the problem is this. The people, Ezekiel, are coming to hear your prophecies, and they're loving what they hear. They're like, man. I agree. That's awesome. But look what happens. He says, as for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, they say to one another and each other to his brother, come and hear what the word is that's coming from the Lord. And they come to you as people do, and they sit before you as people do. They hear what you say, but yet they will not do it.
You see what he's saying?
He said, what's happening is this. On Monday morning, around the water cooler, they're having conversations about, hey, let me show you my church outline about what we learned. Man, that was such a good lesson. That was so needed to hear, or whatever that is. And then after worship, their chest bumping, high five at each other. Whatever it is, man, that was awesome. We needed to hear that. Yet what happens is they're not doing it.
And here's what I love about this text, is he doesn't just identify, hey, this can be a problem. It was an Old Testament problem. It's a New Testament problem. It's a today problem. He gives us the path forward.
I found this quote that when the sermon's done. It's actually not done. Something needs to be done by the hearers. And we can't content ourselves with sentimental admiration or just enjoy the emotional or mental treat and then walk away the same as which we arrived. So how do we not walk away the same as which we arrived?
So what James outlines here is there's information, then there must be application, and then there will be transformation. Information does not automatically always lead to transformation. But let me ask you guys, do you think a lot of times we might be focused more on the other one?
Information, information, information.
So look at how he progresses through this text. He says, but the man who looks intently into the perfect law, that word intently is the same word that they would use at this time to describe kind of like a scientist or an archaeologist. They get down in the dirt and see what's going on, and here's what they do. In order for them to figure out what's going on there, they got to remove a lot of other things. But then once the other things are removed, then they're actually able to dissect it and to see what's in there.
There's a big difference in reading the Bible and studying the Bible.
There's a big difference. I'm going to try to get through the reading of the Bible this year. Let me tell you. You can read through the Bible in a whole year, but sometimes only go through one book and read more. You know what I'm saying?
Because you read it from the standpoint of study, not reading.
And then he builds on it with this. You now then get to the application where you're seeking to apply it to your life being not just a hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts. I think we know this. Some of you that are education majors and you've studied teaching, that one of the ways that whatever it is you're teaching, you put it on the imprint of their heart is by doing it right, is that if you talk about it and then they practice it, they will internalize it. He said, he will be blessed. There will be blessing in the doing.
So I put some questions here that I thought we could go through together this morning to ask ourselves as we seek to study and seek to seek.
And so what if, as we read God's word, we asked these kind of questions, God, what will this change? And how will I, in this, adjust my life?
But the second question, the first one's focused on the external. The second question's focused on the person. How will I be different?
I don't know about y'all. I've noticed that it's easier for me sometimes to change an outcome than to change a person.
I can fix the situation. I might can put a bandaid on a moment.
But changing me, that's going to require receiving the word with meekness.
What about this one? Is there a prayer in this text for me to repeat? By the way, the Bible doesn't have to say, hey, pray this. What if every single time we read scripture, we prayed, whatever that was?
What about this one? Is there a sin to confess in here? Something to repent of? Is there an obstacle here to avoid? And then this one. What? In my inward condition, my motives, my desires that need to change? So what I thought we would do this morning is, let's try it. What if we, just for practice and for a practical standpoint, did this with a text? And I was trying to think of, like, a random text in the Bible to answer those questions with, but then I realized, well, then I would be taking the text out of context, because then the text, what follows after is the action.
So let's do this. The text that comes right after what we're reading. Let's ask these questions of this.
If anybody considers himself religious yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he's deceiving himself. And the religion is worthless. Religion that God, our father accepts as pure and faultless is to look after widows and orphans and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Now, there's a lot in there, right?
So let's start asking some questions. God, what will this change? And how will it adjust my life? Well, if you read the part like I do about the widows or the widowers, what that might mean is, you know, I love my normal group of people. There's nothing wrong with that. But when I get here to the church building, maybe what I need to do is find that person that is sitting by themselves. Maybe what I need to do first is talk to them before I talk to the other people that I'm very comfortable with. Maybe it's me driving 15 minutes out of the way to go check on that person. When it comes to the orphans, not everybody can foster or adopt, and not everybody's called to do that, but we are called to do something. So maybe it's to support agape. It's to call and find out what you can do. Or maybe you know of a family that's in a foster situation, an adoption situation. Hey, how can we help? But what about this one?
How will I be different?
And when I read this text and think of in James one, how will I be different? The one that really hit me was this one.
If anybody thinks he's religious, but yet doesn't bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart. And that very religion is worthless.
So from a practical standpoint, maybe you think about that and you think, you know, when it comes to my life, and by the way, you deal with this when you're young, old, we all face this challenge, but starting with the young going up, maybe for those that are in our youth group, when it comes to youth group and youth group stuff, I mean, you're a very tall, strong person, but when it comes to school, you're very small.
But then when you get older, what happens is we fall into a very similar trap, that at work, in church, they get the best of me, but when it comes to life at home, they get what's left.
He said the danger of that, that we're deceiving ourselves and the very religion we're speaking of is actually worthless. What about this next one? Is there something in here for me to pray?
You know, one of the things I thought about is this. When he says to keep oneself unstained from the world, maybe you find yourself kind of like a chameleon. Wherever you go is who you are. You're a product only of your environment. Lord, help me to be salt. Help me to be light. Is there a sin that I need to confess to repent of? There's an obstacle here. Well, what about this one? What? In my inward condition, my motives, my desire that needs to change?
Why am I visiting that person?
Am I visiting that person because I want to feel better about myself? Am I visiting that person? So it makes a really good social media post. You see what I'm saying? Like those kind of thoughts that the Bible has the ability to do that. Like, that's what Charles Spurgeon said. The Bible is like no other book. It's not like normal looking glass.
It has the ability to reveal to who we really are. And here's the next part. And to me, this is the greatest challenge because I don't think, and I don't know if y'all feel this way, but I feel like I can do well with the information and the application, which is, hey, I'll learn it, I'll go do it. But then to stay with it.
This is what he says, the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and it says this and perseveres.
Here's basically what he's meaning that they look at something that may challenge their worldview, it may challenge their actions, it challenges their heart, it makes them rearrange their schedule, it makes them rearrange their priorities, whatever it is. And what happens is they see that it's going to make me change something, do something completely different, and I stay in there. It's kind of like if you watch a football game, coach, they're killing me out there. I know. Get back in there. We need you. It's like, I don't know. That's the part where I want to walk away from. He's like, no, the change happens is when you stay in there, even when it's difficult.
And so I love the video that you're about to watch. One of our awesome members here, David Hargett and his wife, they have meant so much to so many of us here. But here's what I love so much about them is the way in which they have handled a lot of challenges in life.
And here in their video, he's going to share with us a little bit about his perspective on this text. And very similar to what Brinson mentioned, how it, yes. Points out things that are wrong, but in moments of difficulty where we want to walk away, where we almost don't know if we can stay in it, his word actually encourages us and gives us the grace to persevere.
[00:28:42] Speaker D: You know, James tells us the word of God is like a mirror. And to me, you know, I've always thought of God's word or being like a mirror, something that shows a reflection. And when we read and study it, it exposes what's really in our hearts, you know, the things that I need to change, the shortcomings in my life, the areas of life where I need to do better. And it's not always pretty.
However, it's meant to change us, change our beliefs, change our worship, change our thoughts, change our speech and our behavior to pattern that after God's word, you know, and his word and his laws are designed to magnify his righteousness and not my own. And the mirror, his mirror, the word of God, does that. However, there's something else about a mirror that occurs in life that is a reflection in how God's word does that and how we take it in. I remember Kara's first diagnosis of breast cancer. And after watching her suffer through so many different treatments, I remember seeing how strong she was during that time. And after each treatment, she would sit down in her bed or sit down on the couch, and she would read from this notebook where she had put together so many different things. And I never did know what was in that notebook. And a couple of years later, I picked that notebook up, and I opened it up, and it was filled with passages from psalms, just row after row of psalms that she had written by hand and that she would read and when she was so sick. And I remember her reading each of those passages over and over. And it was a mirror. It was a reflection showing God's power, showing his promises, showing her his help in a time of need, and showing us, obviously, his comfort. And what I've learned is that not only is God's word there to reflect to us and show us his character and how we are to act, but it's also there to show us a reflection of his love and to provide the comfort that we need. And even today, when we look in his mirror and his word, Kara and I, we see his strength, and we see his goodness.
[00:31:06] Speaker B: I love how David mentions something very similar to Brinson. When Brinson said, when I look into a mirror, it points out what's wrong, but it also points out what's right.
That for them, in a time that you've been in a time before where you've faced a challenge, an obstacle, and you read something, and you might even think, well, how can that be true when this is also true? Or how can this be the case when I'm also dealing with this?
That is kind of what James is getting at, is when you look into what he calls the law of liberty, which is what can set us free, you stay in there. Stay with it.
And, you know, as I think about what David said, and now, this might be a weird way to put this, but, you know, there is a moment for every single one of us that happens almost every day, and it happened this morning, and you probably missed it. That is one of the holiest moments of your day.
It's when your alarm goes off in the morning. You turn that alarm off, and your very warm feet hit that very cold floor. And with, you know, the grace of a pregnant elephant, you walk to that bathroom mirror, and when you look into that mirror and you turn on that light, you know, you're peeling back a lot of the sleep that's in your eye, and you look up. I want y'all to understand that that is one of the holiest moments of your life.
You know, like, you should see what I see, Andrew. That's anything but holy. Like, you should see my face, my breath so bad it could stain a wall like that's anything but holy. But what I'm telling you is that when you look into the mirror, you see what God sees. And that's this. A child of the king has just woken up.
And sometimes you have to look into his word to know that and to see that. But he also mentioned that there are times where we look into it and we see what's off, what's wrong.
I want to encourage you to stay in there. See, for me, two things have happened, and maybe you've had this happen to you before, is that you read the very thing that could set you free, the very thing that could change something. But you rationalize over repenting.
You might say something like, and you won't say it out loud, of course, but you will say it in your mind. I know I need to stop being this way or doing these things, but because of this challenge, or maybe it's with the sin, I would stop doing that. But if this person wouldn't make this difficult and this on me, then I wouldn't have to. I mean, y'all, we can play that game over and over again. And I'm telling Satan loves nothing more than that kind of mindset.
He wants you to chase that rabbit instead of repenting on the spot. As we talked about a few weeks ago, it's not changing just a direction, changing your mind. I don't want to hurt God's heart anymore. I don't like where this leads. Those are way more important statements than just saying, I got to stop. It's why.
Where's that going? Where's that going to take me? But the other one is this, that superficial obedience. Maybe I'm just obeying for other people to see.
Maybe I'm just doing what's right so I can keep going with my life, whatever it is.
What James is after is what we all need to be after, and that is information, application, then transformation.
Way more than just information, information, information.
If you've ever seen the movie Snow White, the very evil woman loves to look in her very beautiful mirror.
And what's interesting on the outside, she is a pretty woman, but we know there's something going on on the inside. But what does she do? She looks in that mirror, and she does this a lot. She'll say to that mirror, mirror, mirror on the wall, you know, who's the most beautiful, fairest of them all? And if you've ever watched the movie before, a lot of times the mirror will say, you are.
But then what happens is then the mirror reveals something else she goes in the mirror, mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?
Not you.
There's a lady named Snow White. She's got short black hair, and she has a very high voice and talks to squirrels. She is the most beautiful one of them all.
And do y'all ever notice something about her reaction to that news, that something's off?
Or as David said, as in our pursuit of looking into that mirror? Sometimes it's not pretty. The things that we have to do.
What does she end up doing?
She tries to fix everything else, but the person that's in the mirror, same thing. By the way, I don't know if this is a Disney thing. Think about Ursula that time. She was pretty on the outside, but she looked in the mirror. What did it reveal?
Who she already was.
That's the power of what God's word can do. If it's about information, application, and then transformation, maybe you're here this morning, and your challenge is how you've received God's word.
I want it to fit. What? I want it to fit.
But yet I've missed people. Did y'all know that? If it makes us feel any better, the Pharisees, scribes, they struggled with the same thing. Y'all. If anybody knew the word more than anybody, it was them.
But do you remember when they said, hey, teacher, what's the greatest command we said was to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.
Love me. Love each other. He's actually going back to the garden. The simplicity.
Maybe what's happened is we've missed the big thing at the cost of what we want to see. Maybe for some of us, it's this that we've looked into his word and what we've done is fallen into this pattern of self deception through rationalization, superficial obedience, what people see, or, I'll do this later.
Maybe you're sick this morning of I'll do this later. Mindset has gotten you and you think about, like, this mirror.
I want you to think about it like this. Where in your life has your obedience to God's word and God's plan for your life? Where has it refused to go?
Here's my encouragement to you.
Go there.
Wherever it's told you like, hey, this is.
I know this is going to be hard. It's going to take a life change. You're going to do something different. Wherever it is that your obedience has refused to go. Go there.
Maybe you're here. You've never made the decision to put on Christ.
And speaking of the Bible, reading you when Keith was mentioned this morning, as you read the narrative of Christ on the cross, you know, we're not the crowd. We are barabbas.
We are the very ones that were guilty, that should have been killed, but we got to walk away.
Christ died for the crowd, but he also died for Barabbas. And maybe you've never made that decision to put on Christ, to let his cleansing power wash away your sins. You've never given your life to him. In baptism, we encourage you to do that today. So if you want to come forward, we would love to pray for you this morning.
Also, every single Sunday, at every one of these exits, we have our shepherds that stand there that are ready to pray for you. Any challenge you may face if you don't want to walk forward here this morning, but we encourage you, whatever it is, if you have a need to, please reach out while we stand and we sing this song together.
