SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_01: What a blessing it is to be here with you today.
SPEAKER_01: A special Sunday here at Chisholm Hills as we honor our graduates, both high school and college, and we're certainly excited about that as they step into this next stage of life.
SPEAKER_01: Um, you'll see if you grab one of these brochures, I guess you could say, uh, that show you each of our grads.
SPEAKER_01: They're out there in the four-year if you haven't gotten a hold of one.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but as you can see, we got three high school grads and a whole bunch of college grads as well.
SPEAKER_01: So we're excited to share this journey with them this evening.
SPEAKER_01: So please make your plans to join us tonight uh as well.
SPEAKER_01: So uh we are very excited for this next stage of life for them and very proud of all their accomplishments along the way as well.
SPEAKER_01: So this morning, as we continue down this idea of how we are growing in stature, and and what I've noticed as we've made our way through, there's so much of this quarter that matches up with what we talked about last quarter.
SPEAKER_01: As we talked about wisdom, and now it's a matter of just putting that wisdom into practice.
SPEAKER_01: Like, how do we build on that?
SPEAKER_01: Where do we go from there?
SPEAKER_01: And there's so much that we seem to be repeating along the way.
SPEAKER_01: If you noticed, we've been in this text that we're gonna find ourselves in in uh just a moment, uh, just last month, I believe.
SPEAKER_01: So as we make our way through, it seems we're repeating a lot of these same texts, but I think that's a good thing because we're diving into it.
SPEAKER_01: There's so much we could say about each lesson, and we get to double down and we get to really focus on what we should take from each moment.
SPEAKER_01: And and that's what we're gonna be doing today as we talk about being doers and not just collectors.
SPEAKER_01: And this comes from James chapter one, and you'll see where we're going with all of this in just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: So, as we take a look, before we get to our text this morning, um, I want to first of all just talk about something in my own world.
SPEAKER_01: So, over the last few weeks, uh Will has been really excited about going to the pet store.
SPEAKER_01: She wants to go see all the cats and only, but when it comes to the snakes, she said, I don't want to get near those snakes.
SPEAKER_01: But she wants to see the cats and she wants to see the hamsters.
SPEAKER_01: And so oftentimes after school, we'll go into the pet store and look around and she'll say, Let me see that fish, and let me take a look at that one.
SPEAKER_01: Um, so uh, in the last couple of weeks, we found ourselves going to the shelters and we'll uh go meet some of these pets and uh because she's been really excited about the pets.
SPEAKER_01: And so we went another step further.
SPEAKER_01: We ended up taking some home for a day.
SPEAKER_01: So, hey, let's let's take this pet home and we'll let it hang out in the backyard.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, because Willow, we can't have a dog right now, okay?
SPEAKER_01: We just can't have one.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have the time, we don't have like there's just too much going on in our lives, and and and we just can't have a dog right now.
SPEAKER_01: And so we would take one home for the day and uh take it back by the time the shelter's closed.
SPEAKER_01: But on Thursday, we ended up taking a little puppy home.
SPEAKER_01: We spent some time with it and we took it back.
SPEAKER_01: Willa kept saying, Well, I wish that one could be our puppy.
SPEAKER_01: I wish that puppy could stay with us forever.
SPEAKER_01: So you know where this story's going.
SPEAKER_01: This is Magnolia.
SPEAKER_01: Um we have a dog.
SPEAKER_01: Willa doesn't know yet.
SPEAKER_01: She went camping this weekend, so uh she'll get home today and meet her new puppy, Magnolia.
SPEAKER_01: But she fell in love with this pup, and uh this one's ours.
SPEAKER_01: He came from the shelter here in Florence, Slaughterdale County.
SPEAKER_01: We're not exactly sure the breed, we're not exactly sure how old she is, somewhere around 12 weeks old.
SPEAKER_01: But uh, it's been a pretty wild ride this weekend.
SPEAKER_01: Trying to get used to everything, trying to uh get our bearings, learning uh when it comes time to feed, when it comes time to walk.
SPEAKER_01: We're trying to learn some behavior along the way as well.
SPEAKER_01: But this dog that I didn't have time for, this dog that I said we're not gonna get, because conventional wisdom told me we can't have a dog right now.
SPEAKER_01: Well, now we have a dog, and I guess that's the way it goes sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: When a little girl wants a dog, what happens?
SPEAKER_01: A little girl usually ends up getting a dog, even though I know we shouldn't.
SPEAKER_01: But here we are.
SPEAKER_01: Um, so just thinking about this and how this relates to everything, and we'll get there in just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: But you may have noticed as you're looking on the stage today, uh, there's some chairs up here, and you're wondering why in the world are there chairs on the stage?
SPEAKER_01: So I want to talk about that.
SPEAKER_01: So every person in this room, and pretty much, pretty much most people in our culture belong in one of these four chairs.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna break down what each of them represents.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna move them up a little bit for you.
SPEAKER_01: The first chair, we'll say the one closest to the podium here.
SPEAKER_01: This is chair number one.
SPEAKER_01: This chair represents someone that just doesn't believe in God.
SPEAKER_01: They say, I'm just, I don't believe in Christianity, I don't believe in the Bible, I don't believe in God.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is not necessarily a bad person.
SPEAKER_01: They may have good moral beliefs, they may fall in line with society, they may be the leader of the Kowanist club, or they may be uh the your kid's head coach of their t-ball team or baseball team, whatever it may be.
SPEAKER_01: So it's not necessarily a bad person, but it's just someone that just doesn't believe in God, doesn't believe in he is who he says he is.
SPEAKER_01: So the chair represents someone who is living without surrender from Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And so chair number one is far from God.
SPEAKER_01: So let's move on to chair number two.
SPEAKER_01: This is someone that's close but not committed just yet.
SPEAKER_01: And I think as we make our way through, you'll see that it's it's kind of like these two chairs are the majority of Christianity in the United States today.
SPEAKER_01: But chair number two is someone that's close but not committed.
SPEAKER_01: This is someone that says they're a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: This is someone that says they believe in the Bible and they think the Bible is good, but it hasn't made any kind of impact on their lives.
SPEAKER_01: It hasn't fostered their decisions, it hasn't changed anything about the way they behave.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible is something that they say they believe, but when it really comes down to it, it's not making a difference in the way they live.
SPEAKER_01: They haven't surrendered to God whatsoever.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's chair number two.
SPEAKER_01: This is like a person, like let's say, let's say me, for instance, I come out and say, hey, guess what?
SPEAKER_01: I'm an Alabama fan.
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you look at my life, there's nothing about it that suggests that I'm an Alabama fan.
SPEAKER_01: You see, my car outside has an Auburn tag on both sides.
SPEAKER_01: You come to my house and you see it's covered in auburn pictures everywhere.
SPEAKER_01: You see me wearing auburn clothes often in orange and blue.
SPEAKER_01: Even Magnolia, her name comes from the street that runs through Auburn University.
SPEAKER_01: So you see evidence that's pointing the opposite direction.
SPEAKER_01: I may say I'm an Albany, even though I wouldn't say that, but if I said that, the evidence of my life points clearly the other direction.
SPEAKER_01: You see who I follow on Twitter, you see my search history, and it's all about Auburn recruiting and who's coming to the planes this year.
SPEAKER_01: So what I say and what I do are two different things.
SPEAKER_01: And when that happens, what is the default?
SPEAKER_01: What is the truth?
SPEAKER_01: It's not what I say, but it's what my actions show.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that is a breakdown of chair number two.
SPEAKER_01: Someone that says they're a Christian, but the evidence points the entire opposite direction.
SPEAKER_01: How about chair number three?
SPEAKER_01: Now, this chair is someone that is converted but compromised.
SPEAKER_01: This is someone that's taken the initial steps.
SPEAKER_01: Someone that said, Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to follow through.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to give my life to him.
SPEAKER_01: They've even been baptized and they've made that commitment in their lives, but somewhere along the way, they hit the pause button on their faith.
SPEAKER_01: They may still come around to church, they may still be collecting all the sermons and the outlines.
SPEAKER_01: They're listening, but it's not making an impact on their daily decisions.
SPEAKER_01: They've made that initial step, but they've stopped there, and they point back to their Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: They say, I've heard it all, I've known enough.
SPEAKER_01: I remember one night Will and I were getting ready to say our Bible story in the evening.
SPEAKER_01: She said, I already heard all those Bible stories, I don't need to hear anymore.
SPEAKER_01: You know, sometimes it's funny, but we feel like that same way in our own lives.
SPEAKER_01: We've heard it before, we've been through it before.
SPEAKER_01: Why do I need to go and listen to another one?
SPEAKER_01: Why do I need to put this into practice in my life?
SPEAKER_01: So we hear, we believe, we claim to be Christians, but it's not computing in our day-to-day lives.
SPEAKER_01: We've made that initial commitment, but somewhere along the way you stop growing.
SPEAKER_01: You still attend, you still hear, you still believe the Bible is true, but your daily life is not really being shaped by Jesus anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Those decisions, the big decisions in your life, are more about what can I accomplish or what can I get out of this, instead of about what can I bring glory to God in this.
SPEAKER_01: So you're Christian in identity, but not always in priority.
SPEAKER_01: You're a Christian in memory, but not always in practice.
SPEAKER_01: And I think this is the person who once responded to the word, but has now gotten comfortable hearing the word without being actually changed by it.
SPEAKER_01: You hear that?
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_01: In the fourth chair, the final chair here is the one that has heard the word, the one that has been surrendered to Jesus, the one that's all in on their Christian life.
SPEAKER_01: And they're giving everything to him.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to make an important distinction.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying this person is perfect, because there's not a single person in this room that is perfect.
SPEAKER_01: The chair for does not represent someone who never struggles because we all struggle.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't represent someone who never repents, but I would say someone that's ready and willing to repent.
SPEAKER_01: We know we've stepped outside of what God has called us to be and to do.
SPEAKER_01: Because I see the most faithful people in the Bible still struggle.
SPEAKER_01: The most faithful people that we have on our hall of fame of faith are the ones that had some difficulty in their lives.
SPEAKER_01: But it's in those moments that they found God as their foundation.
SPEAKER_01: It was in those moments that revealed what their faith truly stood for and where they stood in life.
SPEAKER_01: And I think the same is true for chair number four.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean you're perfect, it doesn't mean that storms aren't surrounding you, but it means that you know where your foundation belongs.
SPEAKER_01: And it means that God's word is shaping your life.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not something that happens overnight.
SPEAKER_01: I would argue that it never stops until the moment you have your last breath.
SPEAKER_01: We should continue to be formed each and every day.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't care if you've been a Christian for six minutes or six years or sixty years, we should still be allowing God's word to change us, to transform us into who we ought to be.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what chair four represents.
SPEAKER_01: When the word convicts, they do not argue forever, they simply adjust.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus calls, they do not spend their life negotiating the terms.
SPEAKER_01: They follow through.
SPEAKER_01: As Abraham heard the word go, he didn't ask questions, he went.
SPEAKER_01: That's what it means to be sold out to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's what it means to sit in chair number four.
SPEAKER_01: When something is presented to you, you respond accordingly.
SPEAKER_01: This is someone whose decisions, whose habits, whose priorities, whose relationships and desires are being shaped by Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And the question for you today, is that true in your life?
SPEAKER_01: If you're looking at the layout of the chairs one through four, which one do you identify with?
SPEAKER_01: My guess is we could probably fall somewhere in these chairs, and uh, but maybe there's a part of our life that's still kind of hanging on to one of the others.
SPEAKER_01: So this morning, how do we put this into practice?
SPEAKER_01: How do we move chairs?
SPEAKER_01: Because our goal is to not be here, here, here, not even here.
SPEAKER_01: We want to be here.
SPEAKER_01: We want us to be sold out for Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: We want to give him everything we have.
SPEAKER_01: How do we get there?
SPEAKER_01: And I think James points that out for us in our text this morning.
SPEAKER_01: He shows us what that looks like because Jesus is not just part of our lives, he's the center of it.
SPEAKER_01: He is everything to us.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where we are called to be as Christians.
SPEAKER_01: So the difference is not information.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I want you to see.
SPEAKER_01: The difference is not information, but what we do with that information.
SPEAKER_01: Like, how do we respond once we know?
SPEAKER_01: And again, I know I'm touching on a lot of things that we've already spent a lot of time on over the past four or five months, this year.
SPEAKER_01: But the difference between these chairs is not information, it's not intelligence, it's not even access to truth.
SPEAKER_01: Because we live in a time where we have more access to the Bible than anyone throughout history.
SPEAKER_01: You have it anywhere you look.
SPEAKER_01: You anybody have a phone on them today?
SPEAKER_01: All you gotta do is open up your app and you're on the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: My guess is you have a dozen copies sitting around your house.
SPEAKER_01: I don't remember who we were talking to, but my uh Willa has told somebody the other day, Daddy has Bibles all over the house.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's just how it goes.
SPEAKER_01: We collect them and we have them available to us, and that's a wonderful thing.
SPEAKER_01: We have the information we need, but the question is, what are we doing with that information?
SPEAKER_01: Is it making an impact?
SPEAKER_01: Is it changing our lives?
SPEAKER_01: We have sermons on demand, we have podcasts and Bible apps, we have reading plans and devotionals.
SPEAKER_01: My guess is you've all started a reading plan at some point.
SPEAKER_01: Probably made it about a week before you said, okay, let's move on to something else.
SPEAKER_01: My guess is you've all had a devotional planned out that you're gonna take part in every day.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we made it a few days, maybe you've made it through the whole thing, and that's an awesome thing.
SPEAKER_01: But are you allowing it to impact the way you make decisions?
SPEAKER_01: Are you be allowing it to impact the way you worry and stress?
SPEAKER_01: Or is it just some more information we're taking in?
SPEAKER_01: We have study Bibles and live streams, we have Bible classes and small groups, we have books and articles and video.
SPEAKER_01: We have more spiritual content today than we know what to do with.
SPEAKER_01: You could spend literally 24 hours a day consuming information about the Bible, but it does you no good if you don't put it into practice.
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_01: It does no good if we're just in one ear and out the other, if it doesn't make an impact on what you're doing every day.
SPEAKER_01: Access to truth does not automatically produce obedience to truth.
SPEAKER_01: You can hear it and ignore it, you can agree with it even, but still resist it in your own life.
SPEAKER_01: You can study the truth and refuse to surrender to it.
SPEAKER_01: You can collect the truth and still not be changed by it.
SPEAKER_01: So the difference between these chairs is not what you know.
SPEAKER_01: The difference is what you do with what you know.
SPEAKER_01: How do we change chairs?
SPEAKER_01: How do we move over to the next?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's about allowing that information to change our lives.
SPEAKER_01: You don't end up in chair two or three because you don't know enough.
SPEAKER_01: Many times you end up there because you have not done what you already know.
SPEAKER_01: Is that fair?
SPEAKER_01: You know the truth, you know what you're supposed to be doing each and every day.
SPEAKER_01: You know what God's plan is for you in the fact that it is to be obedient to his word, and you know what it means to be obedient to his word.
SPEAKER_01: So it's not a struggle here, it's more of a struggle here.
SPEAKER_01: How are we responding?
SPEAKER_01: How are we acting on the truth?
SPEAKER_01: So let's take a look at the text.
SPEAKER_01: James 1, 22 through 25, if you're using your Bibles this morning.
SPEAKER_01: James writes to Christians who are under pressure.
SPEAKER_01: They're facing trials and temptations, anger, partiality, careless speech, even divided loyalties in this moment.
SPEAKER_01: And right here in James 1, he tells them that the word of God is not something merely to receive.
SPEAKER_01: It's something we must do, something we must obey.
SPEAKER_01: And so listen to the text.
SPEAKER_01: Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
SPEAKER_01: For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
SPEAKER_01: For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
SPEAKER_01: But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_01: If you want to receive God's blessings, it's about being obedient to him.
SPEAKER_01: It's about following through on the things that you claim you believe.
SPEAKER_01: It's about living the truth in your life on an everyday basis.
SPEAKER_01: Because here's the bottom line God's word transforms only when it's obeyed.
SPEAKER_01: You can have it adjacent to your life all day long.
SPEAKER_01: You can have the app and open it up often, but it doesn't do anything unless it's applied.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't make a difference unless you put it into motion.
SPEAKER_01: You must be doers of the word and not hearers only.
SPEAKER_01: It's not when it's heard, notice it doesn't say, not when it's admired, not when it's collected or underlined, not when it's posted online daily.
SPEAKER_01: But God's word transforms only when it's obeyed.
SPEAKER_01: So three quick truths this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, hearing without obeying creates self-deception.
SPEAKER_01: James says, be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Notice he does not say be hearers of the word only.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say be thinkers of the word.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say be note takers of the word or be sermon critics of the word only.
SPEAKER_01: What does he say?
SPEAKER_01: Be doers of the word.
SPEAKER_01: And Bible study is an awesome thing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm very thankful that we have opportunity to do that on a regular basis as a group and also individually.
SPEAKER_01: We have a lot of Bible studies, a lot of Bible classes.
SPEAKER_01: But how much Bible doing are we actually participating?
SPEAKER_01: And there's opportunities to do that here on a regular basis.
SPEAKER_01: And I know a lot of you are engaged in exactly that.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm thankful to see that example.
SPEAKER_01: But it bleeds into every aspect of our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Are we just Bible study or are we Bible doing?
SPEAKER_01: Are we following through with what we believe?
SPEAKER_01: Be doers of the word.
SPEAKER_01: He's not against hearing, it's an important first step because you can't do what you don't know.
SPEAKER_01: But he says, obey the word.
SPEAKER_01: You must hear it before you obey it.
SPEAKER_01: Romans 10 17.
SPEAKER_01: So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So hearing certainly matters, but James is warning us that hearing can become dangerous when it's disconnected from obedience.
SPEAKER_01: So it's following through.
SPEAKER_01: It's about actually doing what we're called to do.
SPEAKER_01: You notice I mentioned magnolia, and we're doing our training right now, learning to know our name.
SPEAKER_01: We're learning to sit, we're learning to sit and then come.
SPEAKER_01: And oftentimes when I have that little treat, she'll do exactly what I ask.
SPEAKER_01: She'll sit down and I'll say, sit, and give her that treat.
SPEAKER_01: When I don't have it, and she's running towards me, and I say, Sit, it takes a minute before it for it to register.
SPEAKER_01: She's not following through, she's hearing.
SPEAKER_01: She's hearing what I say, but it's not registering just yet.
SPEAKER_01: It's not affecting her behavior.
SPEAKER_01: We're getting there, but you know how we get there?
SPEAKER_01: It takes practice.
SPEAKER_01: It takes going through the reps, it takes doing it.
SPEAKER_01: And as we go through, she's eventually gonna figure it out.
SPEAKER_01: She's starting to understand what it means when I say sit.
SPEAKER_01: She's starting to understand what her name is when I say, hey, Mag, come here.
SPEAKER_01: And she's figuring it out, but it takes practice.
SPEAKER_01: Something we have to do on a regular basis.
SPEAKER_01: And I think the same is true for us.
SPEAKER_01: You got to put it into practice.
SPEAKER_01: You you hear the word and then you go do it.
SPEAKER_01: Because if all we're doing is hearing, it does not make an impact on our world.
SPEAKER_01: James says, if you hear the word and do not do it, you are deceiving yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Not someone else.
SPEAKER_01: It's easy to act the part.
SPEAKER_01: So you can deceive others, but you're also deceiving yourself.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's serious because the most dangerous lies are not the ones we tell other people, they're the lies that we tell ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Just like in seat number two and number three, there's a lot of people in these positions that think they've got it all figured out.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of people that claim to be Christians and think that's enough.
SPEAKER_01: There's some of those that have committed their lives to Christ but stopped, and they think that is all they need to do.
SPEAKER_01: James is pulling us into something more.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, don't stop there.
SPEAKER_01: You're deceiving yourself.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the lie our culture wants us to believe.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I did a series online about if I were the devil, if I were Satan, this is what I would do.
SPEAKER_01: If I were Satan, these chairs would look mighty nice.
SPEAKER_01: You can claim to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to keep you from doing that.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm going to encourage you to not take the next step.
SPEAKER_01: Because in that, you're losing yourself.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have to work very hard.
SPEAKER_01: God is calling us.
SPEAKER_01: He's calling us to shift chairs.
SPEAKER_01: He's calling us to be tuned into his word and allowing it to change us.
SPEAKER_01: Hearing without obeying is simply deceiving ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: You're lying to yourself.
SPEAKER_01: You claim to be a Christian and do not follow through on what his word tells us to do.
SPEAKER_01: I think that's the majority of our nation if we're being honest.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the most dangerous lies are the ones we tell ourselves, like I'm fine.
SPEAKER_01: At least I know the truth.
SPEAKER_01: At least I go to church.
SPEAKER_01: At least I believe the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: These may be lies that you told yourself or you know others that speak the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: At least I'm better than I used to be.
SPEAKER_01: At least I'm not as bad as they are.
SPEAKER_01: But James says you can sit under truth and still deceive yourself if you're not obeying it.
SPEAKER_01: That's the danger.
SPEAKER_01: Chair one may not hear.
SPEAKER_01: Chair two hears and agrees.
SPEAKER_01: Chair three hears and delays.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to hear the difference.
SPEAKER_01: Chair four hears and obeys.
SPEAKER_01: Chair four hears and follows through.
SPEAKER_01: The difference is not exposure, the difference is our response.
SPEAKER_01: Some people think they've heard enough sermons to repent.
SPEAKER_01: They've heard enough sermons to forgive.
SPEAKER_01: They've heard enough sermons to confess sin.
SPEAKER_01: They've heard enough sermons to be baptized.
SPEAKER_01: They've heard enough sermons to restore a relationship.
SPEAKER_01: They've heard enough sermons to stop hiding, to start serving.
SPEAKER_01: They've heard enough sermons to surrender control, but they keep waiting for information.
SPEAKER_01: But James says, no.
SPEAKER_01: The problem is not that you need more truth.
SPEAKER_01: The problem is that you have not obeyed the truth you already have.
SPEAKER_01: So if we say this plainly, a sermon heard but not obeyed can harden more than it helps.
SPEAKER_01: Because if we hear it, sometimes we we even convince our brain that we're we've got it figured out, that we're putting it into practice, but unless you actually do it, it's not making an impact.
SPEAKER_01: That's why delayed obedience is just as dangerous as avoiding obedience in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: What about that project that you have at home?
SPEAKER_01: You know that one that's been sitting there in the corner?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna get to it one day.
SPEAKER_01: How long has it been sitting in the corner?
SPEAKER_01: Whether it's in the bathroom or in the liver, whatever it is, what's that project that you've got waiting?
SPEAKER_01: We keep putting it off.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do it tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: I'll do it next week.
SPEAKER_01: I'll do it when I have a free weekend, but when does that free weekend ever come?
SPEAKER_01: Same goes in our spiritual lives.
SPEAKER_01: We can say we're gonna do it.
SPEAKER_01: The only way to do it is to do it.
SPEAKER_01: It's silly, but it's so true.
SPEAKER_01: You are not spiritually mature because of how much truth you have heard.
SPEAKER_01: You are spiritually mature to the degree that you obey the truth that you have heard.
SPEAKER_01: So God's word transforms only when it is obeyed.
SPEAKER_01: Truth number two the word is a mirror, not a museum.
SPEAKER_01: He says, For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
SPEAKER_01: For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
SPEAKER_01: So James here gives us a picture.
SPEAKER_01: It's a mirror.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody understands a mirror.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure we've all looked at one.
SPEAKER_01: You probably even looked at one this morning, right?
SPEAKER_01: We know what a mirror is.
SPEAKER_01: You don't need to look in a mirror just to gather information.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you look?
SPEAKER_01: To see what you need to respond to.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, that hair looks a little crazy.
SPEAKER_01: I better do something about it.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever done this?
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever walked up to a mirror looking at your clothes, making sure everything is in place?
SPEAKER_01: I gotta make sure I like got everything tucked in just right.
SPEAKER_01: And then you see as you're looking, there's a big stain on your shirt.
SPEAKER_01: And so, what happens if you see that stain?
SPEAKER_01: You say, That'll be all right.
SPEAKER_01: I'm good.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody's gonna notice.
SPEAKER_01: You just walk away and don't allow what you saw to change what you should be doing.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you see that stain, what should you do?
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: I better go change shirts because I got a big stain on the front of my shirt.
SPEAKER_01: So I go and change shirts.
SPEAKER_01: So it creates action in my life.
SPEAKER_01: That's what it means to look at a mirror.
SPEAKER_01: You look at the mirror and you say, hey, my shoes don't match my outfit.
SPEAKER_01: What do you do?
SPEAKER_01: You should go change your shoes.
SPEAKER_01: But if all you do is look in the mirror and say, Oh, my shoes don't match, oh well, and move along.
SPEAKER_01: What was the point in even looking in the mirror in the first place?
SPEAKER_01: Because it didn't change anything.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what James is pointing to in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: The word of God is there to confront you like a mirror, to show you the places where you got a stain on your shirt, to show you where your shoes don't match.
SPEAKER_01: And how should we respond?
SPEAKER_01: By doing something about it, making a change, turning it into action.
SPEAKER_01: Not just looking and walking away, but looking and making the required adjustments.
SPEAKER_01: If you look in the mirror and there is something on your face, you don't say, interesting, that was very informative.
SPEAKER_01: No, do something about it.
SPEAKER_01: You wipe it off, you fix it, move on.
SPEAKER_01: This happens all the time to us spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: We hear a sermon about forgiveness and we keep the grudge.
SPEAKER_01: We read a devotional about purity and we keep the habit.
SPEAKER_01: Log on, or we go be with someone we shouldn't.
SPEAKER_01: We hear a sermon about prayer, and we keep our lives prayerless.
SPEAKER_01: Our Bible study is about evangelism, but we stay silent around people we know need the truth.
SPEAKER_01: We hear a lesson on humility, but in our hearts we keep defending our pride.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I should be humble, but we hear a sermon about surrender.
SPEAKER_01: We try to hold on to control, we keep ourselves on that throne.
SPEAKER_01: You hear a lesson about love, but you keep treating people like obstacles.
SPEAKER_01: You hear a sermon about repentance, but you keep making excuses instead of coming to God and handing it over to Him.
SPEAKER_01: That's the mirror.
SPEAKER_01: That's what it means.
SPEAKER_01: But is it changing us?
SPEAKER_01: I think that's chair three.
SPEAKER_01: We continue to look, we continue to be involved in the word, but it's not making an impact.
SPEAKER_01: We collect sermons and Bible studies, we have tons of podcasts on our phone, we have notes galore throughout the pages of our Bible.
SPEAKER_01: We have religious content, and nothing is wrong with any of those things.
SPEAKER_01: And in fact, those things are great.
SPEAKER_01: They're good tools for us.
SPEAKER_01: But what good is a tool if it doesn't do anything?
SPEAKER_00: You're not putting it into work.
SPEAKER_00: Those things can become dangerous when collecting replaces obedience.
SPEAKER_01: Collection replaces obedience.
SPEAKER_01: And we're missing the whole point.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews 4 12 says, For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.
SPEAKER_01: The word is not dead information, it's living and active.
SPEAKER_01: It cuts, it exposes, it discerns, it reveals, it confronts us, it heals us, and it restores us.
SPEAKER_01: We have to stop treating the Bible like a museum where we admire the truth from a distance.
SPEAKER_01: Because the Bible is not a museum, the Bible is a mirror.
SPEAKER_01: When the mirror shows you something, the faithful response is not admiration, it is obedience.
SPEAKER_01: The word does not bless the person who glances at it, it blesses the person who responds to it.
SPEAKER_01: God's word transforms only when obeyed.
SPEAKER_01: My guess is if we had a if someone was putting on some big demonstration and they collected as many Bibles as they could across the county and they gathered at this point and they started a bonfire and they started tossing Bibles in.
SPEAKER_01: We don't need these.
SPEAKER_01: We would all lose our minds.
SPEAKER_01: Rightfully so.
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: Like, why are you throwing all those Bibles into the fire?
SPEAKER_00: We need those.
SPEAKER_00: What good are they doing sitting on our chair?
SPEAKER_00: What kind of impact are they having if we're reading them and not following through?
SPEAKER_01: If they're collecting dust on our nightstand and not impacting the decision we make on Tuesday evening.
SPEAKER_00: Because the word is a mirror, not a museum.
SPEAKER_01: Truth number three, blessing belongs to the obedient looker.
SPEAKER_01: James gives us the contrast.
SPEAKER_01: He says, But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, do not miss this.
SPEAKER_01: James doesn't end with shame.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't end in despair.
SPEAKER_01: He does not say, You all are failures and there's no hope.
SPEAKER_01: He says there is a kind of person who is blessed.
SPEAKER_01: Who's that person?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's the person who looks into the word and keeps looking.
SPEAKER_01: The person who hears and keeps responding, the one who does not forget and walk away, the person who becomes a doer of the word, person who acts.
SPEAKER_01: So James says that person will be blessed in his doing.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that matters because sometimes we think obedience as God taking something from someone.
SPEAKER_01: But what we see is it brings something new to us.
SPEAKER_01: We think about obedience as less joy, less freedom, less life, less happiness.
SPEAKER_01: Our general society says it means less control.
SPEAKER_01: But James calls God's word the perfect law, the law of liberty.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that praise that phrase is powerful.
SPEAKER_01: Think about it.
SPEAKER_01: The law of what?
SPEAKER_01: Liberty.
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_01: The law of liberty.
SPEAKER_01: What is liberty?
SPEAKER_01: God's word does not enslave you.
SPEAKER_01: Sin is what enslaves you.
SPEAKER_01: Lust enslaves you.
SPEAKER_01: It's bitterness that grabs onto your heart and keeps you restrained.
SPEAKER_01: It's greed that ties up your hands.
SPEAKER_01: It's fear, it's approval, it's addiction.
SPEAKER_01: Those are the things that keep you held back.
SPEAKER_01: Those are the things that enslave you.
SPEAKER_01: But God's word leads to freedom.
SPEAKER_01: The law of liberty, it says.
SPEAKER_01: Do you want to be free?
SPEAKER_01: Follow what I have to say.
SPEAKER_01: This is what leads to true life.
SPEAKER_01: This is where you find peace and joy and happiness.
SPEAKER_01: This is where the fruit of the Spirit comes from.
SPEAKER_01: John 8, 31 and 32.
SPEAKER_01: If you abide in my word, you're truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and you know it.
SPEAKER_01: And the truth will what?
SPEAKER_01: Set you know it free.
SPEAKER_01: Say it.
SPEAKER_01: The truth will set you right.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to be free, if you want liberty, where is it found?
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus Christ, in his perfect word, the law of liberty.
SPEAKER_01: But it does you no good.
SPEAKER_01: To know it, you're not doing it.
SPEAKER_01: Put it into action in your life each and every day.
SPEAKER_01: James says the person is blessed when he does three things.
SPEAKER_01: First, he looks.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't say he glances, it says he pays attention to the word.
SPEAKER_01: He lets the word examine him.
SPEAKER_01: He does not read the Bible only to find something for someone else.
SPEAKER_01: He reads it and says, Lord, show me.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, it says he perseveres.
SPEAKER_01: That means he keeps going.
SPEAKER_01: He does not obey once and then quit.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't commit himself to Jesus and then stop.
SPEAKER_01: There's more.
SPEAKER_01: He perseveres through the storms.
SPEAKER_01: When hard times come, he keeps his foundation in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And then third, he acts.
SPEAKER_01: James says he's not a hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts.
SPEAKER_01: That is chair number four.
SPEAKER_01: Not perfect, but responsive.
SPEAKER_01: Not finished, not ever finished, but surrendered to Jesus and continually changing, continually evolving, continually transforming into the image of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Not without struggle, but willing to obey.
SPEAKER_01: A doer is not someone who knows more.
SPEAKER_01: A doer is someone who responds faster.
SPEAKER_01: When the word says forgive, what do you do?
SPEAKER_01: You forgive.
SPEAKER_01: When the word says repent, you repent.
SPEAKER_01: When it says confess, you confess.
SPEAKER_01: When the word says go, what do you do?
SPEAKER_01: Go.
SPEAKER_01: When the word says stop, you gotta stop.
SPEAKER_01: What in your life right now?
SPEAKER_01: And I know there's something in your life right now where the word has confronted you and says, stop doing this.
SPEAKER_01: But yet we still do it.
SPEAKER_01: What are you holding on to this morning?
SPEAKER_01: If you want to follow through on what God has for your life, if you want to be a blessed, if you want to be blessed, if you want to be obedient, you gotta stop what he's calling you to stop.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta go where he's calling you to go.
SPEAKER_01: When the word says love, you love.
SPEAKER_01: When the word convicts, you do not spend the next six months debating whether God was serious.
SPEAKER_01: No, you do it, put it into action.
SPEAKER_01: Stature grows when obedience becomes instinct and not debate.
SPEAKER_01: That's chair number four.
SPEAKER_01: James says the person will be blessed, not because obedience earns salvation, but because obedience makes makes God, or not because obedience makes God owe you something, but but not because obedience means you're better than other people, but because God has designed life so that blessings are found in full surrender.
SPEAKER_01: You want to find true blessing in life?
SPEAKER_01: You want to grow in your spiritual walk, be obedient to his word because that's where he has designed your life to live.
SPEAKER_01: God's word transforms only when obeyed.
SPEAKER_01: So wrap it up.
SPEAKER_01: Back to the chairs.
SPEAKER_01: And I think this is where we have to stop talking in general and start being honest personally, each and every one of us this morning.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to ask, which chair are you in?
SPEAKER_01: Right now, where would you go?
SPEAKER_01: Which one would you be sitting in?
SPEAKER_01: Not where would your spouse put you or where would your parents put you?
SPEAKER_01: Not where does your preacher put you or your friends put you?
SPEAKER_01: Where are you right now?
SPEAKER_01: Chair one, far from God.
SPEAKER_01: You're not surrendered to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You may have heard the truth, but you still keep your distance.
SPEAKER_01: You don't believe.
SPEAKER_01: Is it chair number two?
SPEAKER_01: You're close, you hear it, you know the truth, but you haven't responded.
SPEAKER_01: You believe some things are true, you agree with the sermons.
SPEAKER_01: You may even feel conviction sometimes, but you haven't surrendered.
SPEAKER_01: You haven't given your life to him.
SPEAKER_01: You haven't named Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_01: You haven't been baptized for remission of your sins and raised to walk a new life.
SPEAKER_01: Are you sitting in chair number two?
SPEAKER_01: Or are you in chair number three?
SPEAKER_01: You're converted, but so much of your life is still compromised by the people, the things, the other influences that are pulling you away.
SPEAKER_01: You've obeyed the gospel, but you know there are areas of your life where you're hearing but not doing.
SPEAKER_01: Know what God has been showing you.
SPEAKER_01: You know what He's been convicting you of.
SPEAKER_01: You know what needs to change in your life.
SPEAKER_01: But you just keep looking in that mirror and walking away with a stain on your shirt.
SPEAKER_01: Keep walking away with shoes that don't match.
SPEAKER_01: That's your shoes that don't match.
SPEAKER_00: Are you in chair number four?
SPEAKER_00: You're surrendered and responsive.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't mean you're perfect, doesn't mean you're sinless, but you're moving.
SPEAKER_01: You're repentant.
SPEAKER_01: You're not finished, but you're faithful.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the question No matter which chair you're in this morning, are you willing to move?
SPEAKER_01: Are you willing to take that slide over?
SPEAKER_01: We're playing musical chairs.
SPEAKER_01: Are you gonna jump into the next one quickly before it's gone?
SPEAKER_01: Because no one drifts, no one accidentally sits down in chair number four.
SPEAKER_01: It's a choice you have to make.
SPEAKER_01: You don't accidentally become fully convicted, fully devoted to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You don't drift into obedience, you decide into obedience.
SPEAKER_01: One act of obedience at a time.
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing tomorrow morning?
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing Thursday night?
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing on the weekend?
SPEAKER_01: That's where obedience lives out in our world.
SPEAKER_01: You need to obey what you already know because you know the truth.
SPEAKER_01: You need to surrender to God's word because you know it.
SPEAKER_01: You do not need to collect another truth.
SPEAKER_01: You need to act on the truth that God has already placed before you.
SPEAKER_01: So let me ask this.
SPEAKER_01: What has God already shown you?
SPEAKER_01: What have you been putting off, delaying, procrastinating?
SPEAKER_00: What have you been calling complicated because you don't want to call it disobedience?
SPEAKER_00: What has the mirror shown you?
SPEAKER_01: Keep trying to forget.
SPEAKER_01: For some of you, it's a sin that needs to be confessed.
SPEAKER_01: For some of you, it's a relationship that needs to be repaired or a grudge that needs to be released.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe for you it's a habit that needs to die.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's some pride that needs to be humbled.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's a conversation that you need to have.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's some service to God that you need to begin.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is, is it a service?
SPEAKER_01: Is it a prayer you need to return to?
SPEAKER_01: But are you willing to move?
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's the scripture you need to stop admiring, stop obeying.
SPEAKER_01: Get it off the shelves.
SPEAKER_01: We don't need it in the museum.
SPEAKER_01: We need it as a mirror.
SPEAKER_01: Need it to change us.
SPEAKER_01: Are you ready to take that next step this morning?
SPEAKER_01: Are you ready to slide chairs, move chairs, make a decision this morning to make God a priority once again?
SPEAKER_01: You need to return to Christ this morning.
SPEAKER_01: If you need to make him a priority once again, we want to encourage you to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Make a public confession.
SPEAKER_01: Come to us and say, I'm ready to take the next step.
SPEAKER_01: I've been pushing it off, and it's time this morning to make a new commitment.
SPEAKER_01: You need to recommit your life to him this morning.
SPEAKER_01: We invite you to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're sitting in chair one or two and you're saying, it's time to make that commitment.
SPEAKER_01: It's time to make that choice.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be baptized.
SPEAKER_01: I want to commit my life to him if you've never made that choice.
SPEAKER_01: We want you to do that this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Take that next step, move to that next chair.
SPEAKER_01: We can help you in any way this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Please come.
SPEAKER_01: As together we stand and sing.