TOPIC: BE A DOER OF THE WORD.
MEMORISE:
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. James 1:22
READ: James 1:21-25
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
MESSAGE:
Life, like a coin, has two sides. You are either stingy or generous, proud or humble, hardworking or lazy. In the same vein, you are either a mere hearer of the word of God or a doer. A hearer is one who listens to the word of God with rapt attention only to later forget and revert to his/her normal way of doing things. He/she may even have resolved to change during the course of the teaching; however, the hearer would not change because he/she would not make a conscious effort to initiate the change process.
With every word which convicts your heart, you must make the change immediately, or else you would be a mere hearer of the word. Don’t begin to analyze it, just make the change. In the process of analyzing, you will give the devil the opportunity to suggest why you should not make that necessary change. If after listening to a sermon, you realize the need to repent from committing adultery, you must immediately break the evil relationships that make you open to the sin, before you even think about it. Send a message to your partner in sin and delete his/her contact immediately. If you delay. The devil would tell you how hurt the person would feel; he would also remind you of the sinful pleasures that you would be missing. At the end of the day, if you entertain the thoughts of the devil, you may eventually return to adultery and end up in hell. John 15:14 says:
“Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”
Once I hear a word that touches me, I act on it immediately without hesitation. When I heard that worldly music invites evil spirits into your home, I immediately destroyed everything connected to worldly music in my home. I did not even look at many of the cassettes for the fear of seeing one or two that might make me reconsider my resolve. I acted on the word immediately and became better afterwards.
Your mind is a battlefield. If you give the enemy the opportunity to re-strategize, you could eventually lose the fight.
KEY POINT:
Delay may be dangerous. When God’s word convicts you, act on it immediately.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Corinthians 5-8
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE
HYMN 20: NEARER, MY GOD TO THEE.
1. Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.
o Refrain:
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
2. Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
Darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
Yet in my dreams I’d be nearer, my God, to Thee.
3. There let the way appear, steps unto Heav’n;
All that Thou sendest me, in mercy giv’n;
Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee.
4. Then, with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs Bethel I’ll raise;
So by my woes to be nearer, my God, to Thee.
5. Or, if on joyful wing cleaving the sky,
Sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I’ll fly,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.
6. There in my Father’s home, safe and at rest,
There in my Savior’s love, perfectly blest;
Age after age to be nearer, my God, to Thee.
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