["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Alrighty, good morning everyone. Welcome to church. Good to see you all.
Can I get you to turn in your hymnals to hymn number 421?
Hymn number 421, The First Noel. And can I get you to stand?
["The First Noel"]
Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel,
As hell drew nigh to the northwest,
O Bethlehem, it took its rest,
And there it did, both stop and stay,
Right over the place where Jesus lay.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel,
Then entered in those wise men three,
Full reverently upon their knee,
And offered then in His presence
Their golden birth and frankincense.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel.
Brother Rob Cladney, do you mind opening in a word of prayer?
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day.
Lord, it is always good to be in the house of the Lord
and to study and read your Word.
We do pray for our pastor that he expounds your holy and precious Word.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Amen, you may be seated.
Alrighty, for our next hymn, can I get you to turn to hymn number 102?
Hymn number 102, He Hideth My Soul.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
Where rivers of pleasure I see.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
That shadows a dry, thirsty man.
He hideth my life in the depths of His rock,
And covers me there with His hand,
And covers me there with His hand.
Our wonderful Saviour is Jesus, my Lord,
And taketh my burden away.
He holdeth me up, and I shall not be moved,
In here with me strength as my day.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
That shadows a dry, thirsty man.
He hideth my life in the depths of His love,
And covers me there with His hand,
And covers me there with His hand.
Love of His blessings each moment He crowns,
And filled with His promise divine.
I sing in my rapture of glory to God,
For such a Redeemer as mine.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
That shadows a dry, thirsty man.
He hideth my life in the depths of His love,
And covers me there with His hand,
And covers me there with His hand.
When clothed in His brightness transported,
I rise to meet Him in clouds of the sky.
His perfect salvation, His wonderful love,
I'll shout with the millions on high.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
That shadows a dry, thirsty man.
He hideth my life in the depths of His love,
And covers me there with His hand,
And covers me there with His hand.
God and sinners reconciled,
And the air of angels singing,
Glory to the newborn King.
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled.
Joyful all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies,
With angelic host proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem.
Hark the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King.
Christ by highest heaven adored,
Christ the everlasting God.
Wait in time behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin's womb.
Wailed in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate Deity,
Please amend with men to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel.
Hark the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King.
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace,
Hail the Son of Righteousness,
Bright and blind to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings,
While He lays His glory by,
Born that men no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give the second birth,
Hark the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King.
Come desire of nations come,
Fix in us the humble home,
As the woman's hungry singing,
Cruise in us a serpent's tomb,
Adam's likeness now effaced,
Sent thine image in its place,
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us with thy love,
Hark the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King.
Good singing. Time for the Bible reading.
Can I get you to turn to James chapter 1?
James chapter 1.
And, Brother Colin, do you mind coming up and doing the Bible reading?
Yeah, okay.
Okay.
James chapter 1.
James, the servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations.
Sorry, I lost my breath.
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience,
but let patience have her perfect work,
that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God,
that giveth to all men liberally,
and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering,
for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea,
driven with the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted.
But the rich in that he is made low,
because of the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat,
but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth,
and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth,
so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation,
for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life,
which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God,
for God cannot be tempted with evil,
neither tempteth he of any man.
But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, bringeth forth sin,
and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Do not err, my beloved brethren.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth,
that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak, and slow to wrath,
for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness,
and receive with meekness the engrafted word,
which is able to save your souls.
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
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.
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way,
and straightway forgetth what manner of man he was.
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.
For if any man among you seem to be religious,
and brighteth not his tongue,
but deceiveth his own heart,
this man's religion is in vain.
Pure religion, and undefiled before God,
and the Father is this,
to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,
and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Amen. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father God, we thank you for this chapter in your book, Lord,
James chapter 1.
Pray for Pastor Kevin as he preaches your word
and expounds on this chapter,
and what topic he'll be looking at today.
I pray that we all listen and learn in Jesus' name. Amen.
Alright, thanks for reading that, Brother Callum.
Looks like you need to work on that cardio a little bit, huh?
Losing your breath there.
I'm trying to work out, too.
My arms are still sore.
I went to Brother Lez's house this past week,
and he got me, I don't know,
I didn't even train that hard, probably 10 minutes.
Not even that.
I'm still sore.
Man, anyway.
Here we are.
James chapter 1, verse number 22.
It says,
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving your own selves.
And we are going to continue in our
The Perfect Man series that we've been covering.
You may recall that last week we spoke about
the necessity to conform ourselves after Jesus Christ.
We want to be more like Jesus Christ every day,
every week, every month that goes by.
And in order to do this,
I guess we touched upon it a little bit last week,
but I want to look at the fact that, you know,
God has given us his word.
He's given us a church.
He's given us a pastor.
He's given us preachers.
You know, I mean, I guess I'm not,
I guess I'm talking about myself to some extent,
but you know what?
As I've grown up in the Lord,
I've been given pastors.
I've been given churches.
I've been given scriptures and sermons.
And the title for the sermon this morning
is getting the most out of a sermon,
getting the most out of a sermon
because we're there to be doers of the word,
not just hearers only.
You know, it doesn't impress me.
And, you know, well, let me rephrase that.
It does impress me a little bit
with how much knowledge someone has about the Bible.
But what impresses me more
is whether that person is applying the scriptures
in their life or not, okay?
Sometimes I hear people say,
oh, this person, they know so much about the Bible,
but they're not in church.
They know so much about the scriptures,
but they're not living a godly life.
You know, you're better off knowing
half of what the Bible contains
and doing half than knowing the whole Bible
and not doing anything, not doing any of it, okay?
God doesn't want us to be hearers,
but doers of the word.
And the whole point of coming to church
and hearing a sermon is that we can hear God's word, amen?
And then we can apply it.
We can do God's word.
When we look at James chapter one, verse number 22,
it begins by saying,
but be ye doers of the word.
So the word but, you know, many times there,
it's a conjunction.
It's referring to the verses that have come before.
So James chapter one,
we're going to start doing verse number 19,
but we're going to take most of our learning this morning
from James chapter one,
and then we'll look at some other passages as well.
But we're going to, you know,
when I tell you to freak to another passage,
stay in James chapter one,
because that's going to be the core text
of our sermon this morning.
James chapter one, verse number 19, it says,
wherefore, my beloved brethren,
let every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak, slow to wrath,
for the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God.
All right.
So this may seem like it's not related
to verse number 22, but it does.
As I said, verse number 22 starts with conjunction.
So we're considering what we're seeing here
in verse number 19 and 20.
We're being commanded to be swift to hear.
We need to be quick to listen and slow to speak.
You see, when you're challenged with anything in life,
you're going to automatically want to speak against it,
automatically, whether it's God's word
or just whether it's just something else in life.
Okay, someone says something you don't like,
you're automatically going to want
to say something contrary to that.
But you know what, when it comes to God's word,
when it comes to getting the most out of a sermon,
you need to be swift to hear.
This is what's beautiful about church
because, you know, you come to church
and you're going to hear a preacher,
whether it's this pastor or some other preacher,
for a solid 40 minutes to an hour,
and you can't speak, brethren, right?
You're there, you're listening.
Even if you don't like the sermon, you got no choice, okay?
Unless you want to look like a complete idiot.
You know, look, if the preacher's preaching heresy,
okay, preaching damnable heresies,
preaching some false gospel,
then I want any of you guys to stand up
and interrupt that sermon, amen?
But when it comes to, you know,
just the core teachings of the Bible,
you're going to hear things that you don't like.
You're going to hear things that you don't want
to change in your life, okay?
But the beautiful thing is,
you're sitting there for an hour
and you're just going to have to hear it, okay?
So it forces you, being in church,
forces you to be swift to hear and slow to speak.
The Bible says then, slow to wrath, okay?
Because when we do hear things
that are contrary to what we like,
the nature, the human nature is going to be angry.
You're going to want to rebel.
You're going to become full of wrath
against the word of God that is being preached to you.
But look at verse number 20, it says,
but the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
So we want to come to church and be more righteous.
We want to be more Christ-like.
We want to be more holy.
But if you just get angry every time a preacher
says something contrary to what you want to hear,
it's not going to work the righteousness of God, okay?
You're not going to change,
you're not going to conform yourself
after the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so in this sermon,
I've got six points that I want you to think about
as we're looking at this topic,
getting the most out of a sermon.
And point number one, brethren,
is pay attention when the word is preached.
Pay attention when the word is preached.
And I don't say this for my sake.
Like I don't come behind the pulpit thinking,
man, I'm such a great man.
Everyone's just going to shut up and listen to me.
It's not about me.
Brethren, I'm just a vessel.
I'm just a vessel.
And any preacher that comes behind the pulpit,
you know, brother Jason's going to be preaching
for you guys next week.
You know, all we are vessels
and we come here to proclaim God's word.
You know, there are things that I prepare in my sermon
that makes me cringe.
You know, there are things that I prepare
as I'm working on a sermon that makes me go,
you know what, even I fail in this area.
And then I kind of feel almost hypocritical
to preach a sermon.
But then I need to remind myself,
I'm like here, I preach in my righteousness.
I'm preaching the words of God.
And you know what?
It's going to rip your face from time to time.
And it's going to rip my face from time to time.
Okay.
You know, sometimes preachers say,
you know, I'm preaching this to myself.
And you know, there's actually no need to even say that
because of course you're preaching to yourself.
We're preaching to everybody because none of us
are at the standard of Jesus Christ.
We're constantly trying to improve.
We're constantly trying to change.
And so come to church.
I mean, you've made the effort to be in church.
You've made the effort to get up, to drive to church.
Hey, you might as well just pay attention now
when the word of God is being preached.
So expect, when you come to church, expect,
expect to receive uncomfortable truths.
You know, that should be your expectation, right?
I mean, what's the point of coming to a place,
listen to some guy ramble on for an hour,
and you're just hearing the same things
that you're already comfortable with,
the same things you already know.
I mean, you're never going to grow like that.
What's the point?
I mean, if you already know it all
and you just want to be comfortable,
what's the point of church?
The point of church is that you get
a little bit uncomfortable, okay?
The truth of God's word is going to rub people
the wrong way sometimes, okay?
But when that happens, brethren,
it's not the time to get angry.
It's not the time to turn off,
God, I don't agree with the preacher.
I don't agree with that statement, okay?
It's not the time.
That's the time to pay attention
when you do get uncomfortable.
Because when you do get uncomfortable,
brethren, that is the work of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is convicting your heart
about some issue, and you need to go and fix it.
The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5, 19,
quench not the Spirit.
Quench not the Spirit.
You know the Holy Spirit wants to do a work in you?
The Holy Spirit wants you to be more like Jesus Christ,
but if you come and you come to church,
oh, I don't like what the preacher just said,
and then you start getting angry at the preacher,
when we're just a vessel of God's word.
As long as we're preaching God's word faithfully,
you know what, there's no need
to get angry at the preacher, okay?
It's the Holy Spirit's thought.
The words of God are Spirit and truth.
We need to receive it and understand,
man, I'm getting uncomfortable here.
I don't like what's being preached.
Maybe the Holy Spirit is telling me something.
And praise God for that.
Why would you want to come to church
when the Holy Spirit does not even speak to you?
You want to come to a place
where you start to feel a little bit uncomfortable,
maybe even though the anger starts to build up a little bit,
then you need to realize, hold on,
it's not my preacher that's against me, it's my flesh.
My flesh is not wanting to accept
what God's word has to say.
Hey, but that's the best place to be.
Now you know you can grow.
Now you know there's something in your life
that you can change.
And you know, I never, when I prepare sermons,
I never think about like one member in our church.
And I'm like, all right, I'm going to just preach.
You know what, brother?
I already brought brother Les here.
Brother Les, you know, up there.
Brother Jason, right?
This sermon's for brother Jason, right?
And I never preach like that, brethren.
I'm not here trying to target individuals.
That's not my goal.
As I said, my goal is just to preach God's word.
And if you're preaching God's word,
it's going to target everybody, okay?
And you're going to feel like you're being targeted,
but really that's not my purpose, okay?
I'm here to preach to you, not to preach at you.
I've heard that before.
I've heard that said before,
that, you know, some people preach at you
because there's something they don't like about you.
And you kind of realize, man, this person doesn't like me.
This person's trying to bring up my issues.
But you know what?
That's not my goal.
I'm not here to single out somebody, all right?
I'm not here to, you know, bring up your family issues
or bring up your sins and make it known to the whole world.
I'm just here to preach to you the word of God,
the truth of God's word,
and then let the Holy Spirit touch your hearts,
touch your lives,
so you recognize what it is that you need to change in your life.
The other thing that I've heard said
is that people love hard preaching
until the hard preaching is about them, okay?
People are like, they love the hard preaching.
Praise God for the hard preaching.
Yeah, preach against the sodomites.
Yeah, those wicked people, amen.
We should preach against the sodomites.
Yeah, preach against the false prophets, amen.
You know, leading people to hell, of course.
But then when the hard preaching is against you,
you get offended, okay?
And so that's the reality.
People love hard preaching until it's about them.
And then they get offended, then they get upset,
and then get up, you know,
and they think they're being targeted by the preacher
when it's just the word of God that's convicting their hearts.
And so, as I said, the advantage of coming to church
is you have to be swift to hear.
You have to listen.
I mean, unless you sort of run away
or shut your ears or something, right?
You're going to sit there for, you know, an hour or so or less
and listen to a preacher preach God's word.
This is why even coming to church is better than online listening
because you might say,
well, I'll listen to a sermon online, yeah,
and then you'll get to a point in the sermon that you don't like.
You'll be like, okay, switch.
You can't do it in the house of God.
This is why nothing will ever replace brethren.
Coming to the house of God amongst brethren, hearing preaching,
singing songs of praise unto the Lord,
never try to replace it with some other online method, okay?
The house of God is where you want to be.
Now, let's keep going there in James chapter 1.
Look at verse number 21.
So point number 1, brethren, was pay attention
when the word is preached.
Actually, before we read verse number 21, pay attention.
So when you come to church, your goal ought to be
to clear your mind of other things, yeah?
And I know, like, my mind is just constantly racing.
My wife knows.
Like, she knows that I'm never quiet in my mind.
There's always something going on.
There's always something I'm thinking about,
and I have to make a real effort to just stop and pay attention.
You know, I've mentioned this before, but I think it was brother Jason.
I think it was brother Jason.
I can't remember which preacher it was that said, you know,
I was preaching behind the pulpit, and I thought you were angry at me.
I thought I said something wrong.
Because when someone's preaching, I'm paying attention.
And when I'm paying attention, I look like I'm angry.
But really, I'm just, like, focused.
I'm trying to listen.
Like, when I hear a sermon, there's something.
I want to learn something, right?
I'm not just being critical of somebody.
There's something I actually want to pick up and learn from.
So I'm trying to pay attention to the little nuggets of truth
that maybe I've forgotten or something new that I need to concentrate
and meditate upon.
And so I'm kind of focused when I'm hearing preaching,
but I guess people think I'm angry at them when someone else is preaching.
That's not the case.
You know, I'm just trying to remove all of the distractions off my mind, right?
Trying to remove what we're going to have for lunch.
Trying to remove what I'm supposed to do for work.
I'm trying to remove just every other issue that's playing on my mind
so I can just give my full focus to the house of God and to the word of God.
And so this is what we must do, brethren.
We must do, brethren.
Pay attention when the word of God is being preached.
Now let's look down at verse number 21.
It says,
Superfluency basically means excessiveness, of naughtiness.
So these are our sins, our filthiness, our naughtiness, our sins.
We need to lay that aside, brethren.
Look at this.
Why do we want to lay it aside?
Because then it says,
which is able to save your souls.
Now, of course, God's word is able to save your soul as far as salvation goes,
as far as going to heaven and having eternal life
and being forgiven of your sins, of course.
But when you look at the context of this, the saving of your souls,
you know, again, many times in the Bible, the word soul just means your life.
All right?
You know, you can be saved from making major mistakes in your life
if you just stop, you know, put aside your sins,
put aside your weakness, put aside your filthiness
and give your attention to the word of God.
It's going to save your soul.
It's going to save your life.
It's going to save you from making stupid decisions in your life
that you're going to regret for the rest of your life.
Okay?
And so the next point that I have, point number two, brethren,
is receive the word with meekness.
Receive the word with meekness.
This comes again.
I guess it plays off number one.
Okay? Paying attention.
Now give it, you know, become meek.
Don't become angry.
Just lower yourself and say,
Look, I come to church.
There's something here that I can learn from.
And look, even if it's not your favorite preacher,
but you know, this man just loves the Lord,
loves the church, wants to preach God's word.
If you pay attention, you're going to get something out of it.
Okay?
Now, when it says to lay aside all filthiness
and superfluity of naughtiness, you know,
the first thing that I'll say to you here is,
of course, we should come to church having our sins confessed.
Right?
I mean, I always, I'm always just confessing my sins.
You know, even before I was ready, got ready to prepare this sermon,
I just said to God,
Oh God, if there's any other sins that I've not confessed to you,
please forgive me for them right away.
I want to be in a clean vessel that you can use, Lord.
I want the power of the Holy Ghost.
I don't want to be restricted by my, by my sins and by my filth, Lord.
Can you please just use me to preach God's word?
And brethren, I do that as a preacher.
You know, you need to do that when you come to the house of God.
You need to come do that when you're ready to receive the engrafted word
that can save your souls is just go to God in confession
and just, you know, we don't have confessional booths here, right?
You don't have, you know, you just silently pray on your drive to church,
just silently pray to the Lord.
And if you remember the sins that you've committed
and you've not been, you've not confessed them,
confess them before the Lord, ask the Lord to forgive any other sins
that you may have in your heart that you've forgotten about
and just come as a clean vessel.
I try to be as clean of a vessel as I can so God can use me
and then you need to be as clean of a vessel as you can
to be able to receive God's word in meekness.
Meekness, all right?
Now, when it comes to meekness, what is meekness?
Meekness is one of the fruits of the Spirit, okay?
So if you're in your flesh, if you're in a state of unconfessed sin,
you're not going to be able to receive God's word at its fullest, all right?
And I'll just quickly read to you from 1 John chapter 1 verse 9.
1 John chapter 1 verse 9.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
You know, when we come to the house of God,
all of us should be as perfectly clean as possible, right?
This should be the height of our righteousness.
And it's not because we're wonderful, amazing people full of righteousness.
We have the righteousness of Christ imputed upon us
and then we need to clean ourselves as we walk in our fellowship with the Lord
and it ought to be the place where you come before the Lord
in God's house amongst God's people and that we're clean.
We've been forgiven by God for our daily sins.
And so as I said, brethren, unconfessed sin will hinder your receptiveness to the word.
This is what meekness is, is lowering yourself and saying,
God, you know what, God, I'm not that right.
I'm not that holy. I failed again this week.
I'm not living up to your standards. God, I've made mistakes.
Please forgive me and he'll forgive you, all right?
God wants us to receive his word. God wants us to make changes in our lives.
Can you please turn to Ephesians chapter 4?
Keep your finger there in James chapter 1, but please turn to Ephesians chapter 4.
Ephesians chapter 4, as I said, meekness is the fruit of the Spirit.
Meekness is the fruit of the Spirit.
And so in order to be able to receive God's word in meekness,
we need to be walking in the Spirit, all right?
We need to be in the Spirit. We need to be in the new man.
We cannot be in the old man when you come to the house of God
or it's just going to be a waste of your time, all right?
Ephesians chapter 4, verse number 21, it says here,
If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus Christ.
So we're learning here about hearing from him, hearing from God, being taught by God, right?
Being taught the word of God.
And then it says, what do we need to accomplish to be taught by God, all right?
To make the changes that we need in our lives.
Verse number 22, that ye put off concerning the former conversation, the old man.
So the former conversation is your former behavior, the old man, the flesh.
Brethren, we need to put it off.
If we want to be taught by Jesus Christ, we want to be taught God's word,
we need to put off the old man.
This is why we come to God and we confess our sins and say,
God, please forgive me.
God, help me to walk in the Spirit of God, not to be walking in the flesh
because we want to be taught by God, right?
The old man doesn't want to hear the words of God.
The old man doesn't want to hear the words of the Lord.
It says there again in verse number 22, that ye put off concerning the former conversation,
the old man, look at this, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.
Brethren, there's a part of us that's corrupt, the old man, the flesh.
Please don't come to church in the flesh.
You know, when you come to church and you're like, I don't want to be in church today.
I don't want to be in the house of God today.
You know what? You're coming in the flesh.
And look, you're not going to get anything out of it.
It's just going to be the case.
You're not going to get anything out of God's word because you've just got the old man.
You need to crucify that stupid flesh, come in the new man, come in the spirit
so you can come in the spirit of meekness so then the word of God can actually have an effect in your life.
Look at verse number 23.
It says, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
Now, when we looked at last week conforming ourselves to Christ,
we saw how we have to transform our minds, that we need to renew our minds, right?
We need to review everything that we do in our lives and change this mindset
because this mind has been corrupted by the world.
It's been corrupted by the devil.
It's been corrupted by the philosophies of the world.
We need to change our mind on every little thing that we do and line it up with the will of God, okay?
So to be able to walk in the new man, again, we need to fix this brain.
This brain is full of stupidity.
This brain is full of nonsense.
And we need to make sure that we line that up, we clean it, we renew it.
Renew the mind, the spirit that God has given us.
Look at verse 24.
And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and truth, holiness.
So we need to put on this new man all the time, every day.
You know what? And probably every hour.
But you know what? Especially when you come to the house of God.
You need to make the decision, God, help me overcome this old man.
I want to crucify. I want to come in the new man, Lord.
I want to come in the spirit of God.
I need to come with meekness.
But if I'm in the flesh, I cannot be meek and receive the word of God.
I cannot make the changes that's going to save my life.
And Brevin, that's my whole point.
You know, the point is to save your life.
My goal is to be a shepherd.
Now, I report to the chief shepherd, Jesus Christ, okay?
But you know, the Bible refers to the church members as sheep.
You know, and it's a shepherd's job to feed the sheep, you know,
to take the sheep to green pastures, to feed the sheep.
My job is to feed you God's word, but also to protect you from wickedness,
to protect you from the wolves, protect you from those that want to harm you,
those that want to destroy your life.
But the only way we can do that, Brevin, is if we apply it,
if we make the changes, if we come with meekness.
You know, sheep, I guess, are very meek creatures.
You know, a sheep, you know, a lone sheep doesn't make it in the world.
You know, a sheep needs the shepherd.
It needs to understand I need to be led, I need to be fed,
I need to be looked after.
The sheep that goes into the wilderness on its own, boy,
every predator is going to hunt that one down and destroy it.
And so please remember, in order to receive God's word,
you need to receive it with meekness,
setting aside all the sins that you've committed in the past
and calming the new man.
Back to James chapter 1, verse number 22.
James chapter 1 and verse number 22.
But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Brevin, if you come to church and you hear a sermon,
and you go, man, that was a good sermon.
Okay, cool, I learned something.
And then you don't do anything.
You don't apply it.
You don't do a single thing that you've learned there.
You've deceived your own self.
I mean, it's crazy, right?
I mean, like coming to church, we think we're doing such a good thing.
And it is such a good thing, amen.
We need to be in the house of God.
We need to be amongst believers and be confronted with God's word.
But the worst thing you can do once you've been to God's house
is not apply anything that you've just learned.
That's just the worst thing you could do.
You're deceiving yourself.
You're lying to yourself, the Bible says, all right,
because God is speaking to you through his word.
You know, even when I preach a sermon where I kind of critically think of myself,
that wasn't a very good sermon.
I don't think I did that well that time.
I think I messed it up.
I mean, not many people realize that, but I noticed that about myself.
Like, you know, I got all confused in my notes.
You know, I went on a tent, like completely different track direction,
and I don't even know where.
Sometimes these things happen.
People don't realize, right?
But listen, brethren, you know what?
As long as God's word is being preached, you need to say,
look, there must be something in this sermon that I can change, that I can do.
I don't want to walk away from the house of God deceiving myself,
lying to myself, thinking I'm just fine.
There's nothing that I need to change.
There's nothing that I can do.
You know, I'm perfectly right with God here,
and I'm just living the life of righteousness.
God is happy with my life.
It's not true.
There's always something that you need to do or apply when you listen to God's word.
So point number three, brethren, point number three is change at least one thing.
Change at least one thing.
You know, I don't expect you, and the reason I say I don't expect you
is because I know it's impossible.
Like, you're here listening to a sermon for 40 minutes, 50 minutes, one hour maybe.
To expect that you're just going to do everything that's in a sermon is impossible.
It's impossible.
And even if you tried, you destroy yourself, okay?
You know what?
When it comes to growing, when it comes to being more like Christ, it's little by little.
It's a little bit here, a little bit there, all right?
Can you please keep your finger there in James 1?
And turn to Isaiah 28.
Turn to Isaiah 28, okay?
Listen, even this sermon, you're not going to be able to apply it all today or tomorrow, okay?
You're not going to be able to.
I can't do it, all right?
The reason for this is when we talk about spiritual growth and maturity,
the Bible uses words like the growth of a baby.
You know what?
A newborn baby does not become an adult on day number two or day number three, okay?
It takes 20 years for a baby, a newborn baby, to become an adult, to become mature, to become perfect.
And I'm not saying it's necessarily going to take you 20 years to become the perfect man as far as God is concerned,
but you need to understand it takes time, okay?
And like, you know, I'm here preaching, yes, maybe for an hour,
but there might be one point that you can learn from.
There might be another point that someone else can learn from.
We're all at different stages, okay?
And look at Isaiah 28, verse number nine.
Isaiah 28, verse number nine.
The Bible says, whom shall he teach knowledge?
And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?
Hey, we want to gain knowledge, we want to understand doctrine,
but who are these people that can actually be taught?
It says here, them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts.
Let's talk about a newborn baby, a newborn baby that needs a mother's breasts for milk to grow, okay?
You have to be meek as a little child to grow and develop and become the perfect man.
If you think you've got it all together, I'm really mature, then you're never going to grow.
You're never going to mature.
Look at verse number 10.
For precepts must be upon precepts, precepts upon precepts, line upon line, line upon line,
here a little and there a little.
Reverend, you know what this sermon, just take a little bit.
Take a little bit out of it and say, I'm going to do this little bit.
Don't be like, okay, here's the whole sermon, I'm going to do it all.
You'll fail, just like a newborn baby is going to fail if they got to work on day number two.
They're not going to achieve anything, okay?
Not only are they not going to get the job done, they're going to need someone to change its diapers
and to feed it some milk or something, right?
The baby can't even take care of itself.
Listen, you need a little bit by little and we're all at different stages.
And I don't care how mature you think you are in the faith.
Maybe you're more mature than me, Reverend, okay?
You know what, even I need to grow a little bit by little.
Still, even when you're mature, even when you're older, okay, in the faith, little by little.
And if you just make, look, just decide, look,
where's that one little thing that I can change about my life after I've heard my sermon today?
Okay, but Pastor Kevin, how am I going to grow up to be the perfect man with just one little change?
I want to change it all.
Well, you know, right now we have two services a week at New Life Baptist Church, okay?
Well, per sermon, that'll be two changes a week that you'll make, okay?
How many weeks are there in a year, 52?
Okay, well, what's 52 times two?
It's 104, all right?
So let's say this is the way we're running.
We have two services a week for a whole year.
That's going to be 104 changes you'll make in your life, in your Christian life, by the end of the year,
okay, by the end of one year.
Now, think about that.
If you could make 104 little changes in your life, how different, how much would you have grown at the end of the year?
Lots, all right, lots.
A little here, a little there becomes a lot.
But if you try to do it all at once, you try to do it all, Reverend, then you'll fail.
Then you'll give up and you'll be like, I can never change.
I can never grow.
Yeah, because you're trying to change too much.
Just do it a little bit by little, little by little, line upon line, precept upon precept.
Please turn to 1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 2.
So becoming the perfect man requires growth and growth is slow.
Well, it's usually slow, right?
I mean, the newborn baby grows kind of quick and then they kind of slow down and they grow again a little bit quicker.
Then they slow down.
Then they become teenagers and they grow really quick again.
Then they slow down, right?
I mean, I guess when it comes to the growth of a human being, there are leaps and bounds in growth.
And then there's other just gradual, consistent development that takes place.
But 1 Peter 2, verse number 1, 1 Peter 2, verse number 1, it says here,
Wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and enemies and all evil speakings.
So again, this is a kind of like putting away all the naughtiness, all the sins that you have in your life.
I'll give us number 2.
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, look at this, that ye may grow thereby.
Listen, we still need the milk from time to time.
Yes, you know, I do preach the meats of God's word.
I do preach stuff that are more hearty and more filling sometimes.
But every now and again, we need to just go back to the milk because there are areas in our life that needs growth.
And we need to take heed to the milk of God's word and make that change.
You know, I just, again, I'll just be honest with you guys.
I'm sure even the fact that it happens to me, I'm sure it happens to other Christians.
Where sometimes you might go to church and you hear just a sermon that kind of just feels like,
well, I already know this, you know, it's just milk of God's word.
And you think, oh, I mean, there's nothing I can get out of this.
But here's the thing, brethren, sometimes we just forget.
Okay, we need to hear repetition.
Sometimes we come so used to things that are easy in the Bible and we just, we don't even apply it.
Because we think we have the knowledge, but we're not doing it, brethren.
And so let's just do one little thing, one little thing at a time.
Again, God is describing the growth and maturity of a Christian as a newborn babe,
drinking the milk of God's word and growing thereby.
Look at verse number three.
If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
You know what? The Lord is gracious toward us.
He wants us to grow and God knows that it takes time.
You're much better off growing a little bit by little, even if you think it's slow.
God is gracious. He's given you His grace.
That's better, okay, than trying to grow, you know, excessively and failing at it,
becoming discouraged and then becoming a backslider.
Okay, you know, just grow a little bit at a time, make the small little changes that you know you're able to make
and then you can progress from there, brethren.
Look at verse number four.
To whom come in as unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious,
verse number five, ye also as lively stones, look at this,
are built up in a spiritual house and holy priesthood
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
So not only are we described as babies growing up into an adult,
but we're also described as this spiritual house that God is trying to build up.
Now brethren, houses do not, they don't get built in one day.
Okay, unless you want to, you know, a hurricane or any kind of bad weather to destroy it.
Okay, houses are not built in one day.
You know, even when you build a house, a spiritual house, you know, just a house, you know,
it requires stages, there are different stages, right?
You start with the foundations and then you check off, the foundations are there.
Okay, and once the foundations are confirmed to be strong enough to build up the rest of the house,
then you start doing the frames around the house.
And once the frames are done, then you start doing the exterior work,
you do the walls, you do the roof, okay?
And then once that's done, then you need to do the electrical and the plumbing
and then you're doing the interior walls and then you're doing, you know, the, what else are you doing?
What else are you doing?
Just the flooring, right?
You're doing all the little things that, all the little details that are contained within the house
and then the house is complete.
But brethren, it's stage by stage by stage by stage and every stage needs to be confirmed
that it's done 100% correct before it can be moved on to the next stage.
So I just want to show you, there are two ways that God describes our spiritual growth.
One is babes and it takes, I said, 20 years for a baby to become an adult.
Or the building of a house, it takes stage by stage, little by little to develop a house.
You rush the building of a house, it's not going to be up to standards,
it's not going to meet the building code and it's going to be a house that falls apart.
You know, I live there in Barringa, guys, you know, the new developments there on the Sunshine Coast
and those houses are getting put up.
It seems like when I was driving through there, every week there was a new house.
But then all the neighbors are complaining at how inferior the work is.
You know, you just bump the wall and there's a hole.
You just move the sliding, the backsliding door and it gets jammed.
The air conditioner systems are starting to drip water, et cetera, et cetera.
This was happening in the house that I lived in but the neighbors are saying the same thing.
And the real estate agents are saying, yeah, everyone's complaining about the same thing
because they're rushing construction, okay, they're doing it for a profit.
But then the houses, they're poor quality, you know, yeah, poor quality.
And I don't want you to be a poor quality spiritual house.
I want you to be a high quality spiritual house but then it's only little by little,
stage by stage.
You know what?
This sermon, just say, look, Lord, you know, I'm just going to take one little thing from this sermon today.
At least one.
Look, if you can make two changes, even better.
But look, at minimum, say there's one little thing here that I'm going to change.
Let me do that, Lord, and help me to grow.
Help me to grow from a babe to an adult.
Help me to become a spiritual house that is honorable for you, Lord.
I'm also going to read to you quickly from Philippians 4-9.
Philippians 4-9 says,
So Paul is saying, look, whatever you've learnt, whatever you received, whatever you've heard,
whatever you've seen as an example in other Christians, do.
Do something.
Change something.
I'm just saying do it a little bit at a time, brethren.
And then it says,
God's going to help you make that change.
God's going to help you grow and develop so you can make further changes in your life,
so you can become the perfect man, so you can be conformed by Christ,
so you can be transformed from this wicked world and become someone that resembles Christ,
that you can be the light in this world, brethren.
We need to make the changes.
Point number three was change at least one thing.
Let me just go through the first three points again.
Point number one was pay attention when the word is preached.
Point number two was receive the word with meekness.
Point number three was change at least one thing.
Change at least one thing.
All right, back to James chapter one, please.
James chapter one and verse number 23.
It says,
I know it continues to verse number 24,
but let's just stop there for a moment, okay?
So if we hear God's word, what is this like?
And not a doer.
It's like a man beholding his natural face in a glass.
The glass is like a mirror, okay?
So when you wake up in the morning, you look in the mirror,
you can see what you look like, all right?
This is what happens when you hear God's word or you read God's word.
When you understand God's word, this is a mirror of our spiritual lives, okay?
And when you look in the mirror, what do you notice?
You notice, you know, defects, okay?
You notice the wrinkles.
You notice the white hairs.
You notice, I don't know, food stains that you haven't cleaned off properly.
You start noticing all the little issues that you have on your face
when you look at yourself in the mirror.
That's what the Bible does.
That's why it's uncomfortable because it points to you
all the little defects that you have in your life, okay?
But it's pointed to you because God wants you to make those changes, all right?
Just like when you look in the mirror when you wake up in the morning,
you fix your hair, you wash your face, you fix yourself up
because you realize, oh, man, I need to change all these little things
so I can be presentable.
We're aiming to be presentable for God, aren't we?
We need to fix our spiritual lives.
We look in the mirror and say, well, God's mirror says this.
I need to make this change.
And so point number four, brethren, point number four,
when you come to the house of God, this is what you get.
Look, if you can't make any changes, this is the one you need to change, okay?
Point number four, believe that every sermon is for you.
Believe that every sermon is for you, okay?
I'm there preparing sermons.
I'm asking God, can we put this sermon together?
I'm asking God, Lord, help me to put something together
that the brethren are going to appreciate and learn from.
And look, I'm sure, I have no doubt about this,
that there are things that God wants to teach you,
that God wants you to change your life, and he's given me those thoughts.
He's leading me to those scriptures
so that I can be used as a vessel by God to preach his word.
It's a message for you, brethren.
Every sermon is a message for you.
And if you believe that, if you just believe every sermon is for me,
then automatically, you know what that's going to do?
That's going to cause you to be in as many church services as possible
because every service is going to have a sermon,
and that sermon is for you, okay?
If you believe that, you're going to want to be there in the house of God
hearing every sermon possible, all right?
Now, I know there are times it can't be in church, okay?
I'm not, okay, there are reasons and etc., okay? I understand.
But I'm just saying, it'll drive you to be more in the house of God, okay?
And, you know, I've heard it said, and I think,
I'm sure this has happened to me,
where you're praying for God to answer a prayer,
where you're praying for direction from God.
You're saying, God, I need wisdom. I need understanding.
I need your help, Lord.
And then you refuse to go to God's house.
And you know what? In that sermon, God probably had the answer to your prayer,
and you missed it because you didn't go.
You didn't hear the sermon. Now, praise God for the Internet today.
Praise God that we can get the sermons up there or they're live right now.
Amen. If the Internet's working, fine.
Or if not, it gets uploaded soon afterwards.
So even if you missed it, you can catch up on it.
But again, it doesn't replace God's house.
Because as I said, when you come to God's house, you have no choice
but to hear the whole thing, even if you're uncomfortable, okay?
But, you know, if you have that mindset
and you just know every sermon is for me, it's going to change your life, okay?
Because, you know, that attitude creeps up in everybody.
You know, I hope, brother, I hope brother Matthew,
I hope brother Matthew's listening to the sermon today.
You know, thank God that Pastor Kevin's preaching this sermon right now.
You know, I don't need it because I'm fine.
You know, brother, you know, sister, so-and-so, right?
They need it here today, right?
And forget that. Forget everybody else.
Pay attention to the sermon. The sermon is for you.
And you say, God, what are you saying to me, God?
There's something I need to change, God.
There's something you're reminding me of, God.
There's something I need to do, God.
Forget everybody else, brethren.
I hope everybody else is saying the same thing, okay?
Instead of you going, I hope brother so-and-so's listening to this sermon.
You know, better off that, brother, just be like, this is for me.
And you'd be like, this is for me.
And every man, woman and child in church says, this is for me.
God, you put this sermon together for my purpose, for my growth, for my understanding.
God, what are you trying to teach me?
This is what's beautiful about God's word.
It's for everybody.
You know, it doesn't matter what our backgrounds are.
It doesn't matter where we are in our spiritual growth.
It doesn't matter how sinful or how wicked we are.
It doesn't matter how many mistakes we've made in our life.
You know what? God's word is for everybody.
It applies to everybody.
It's for mankind.
It's the words of God.
He knows what man is and he knows what man needs to hear.
And you know what?
We suffer with the same temptations.
You know, God is not a respecter of persons.
And all of us, you know what?
If you're not for Jesus Christ, all of us will be on our way to hell right now, okay?
God has changed the direction of our lives by the sacrifice of his son.
Hey, great.
Praise God that you're saved, but now you need to make the changes.
This sermon is for you.
Believe that every sermon is for you.
I'm going to read to you from a familiar passage, Hebrews 4.12, which says,
For the word of God is quick.
Now, that word quick there means living, okay?
These words are alive.
This is not just some other book, okay?
This is not just a work of man.
Yes, did God use man?
Of course.
But these men were moved by the Holy Ghost.
These words are alive, all right?
Just as applicable as it was when it was written down some 2,000 years ago, it's still applicable today.
You know what?
If this word continues for another 2,000 years, the words of God are still going to be applicable to them then, okay?
It's always been applicable.
Even the words that Moses penned down, the first books of the Bible, they're still applicable to us today.
In some way, shape or form, brethren.
And so Hebrews 4.12, for the word of God is quick.
It's living.
It's alive.
It wants to do a job in you, a work in you, and powerful.
It's stronger than you, brethren, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the divided asunder of soul and spirit.
Brethren, it speaks to your soul.
It speaks to your spirit.
It goes past the flesh.
It touches the very person that you are within and the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
God's word knows your thoughts right now.
God's word knows your heart's condition right now, okay?
It's living.
It's active.
You know what?
It knows what you're thinking.
It knows if you're distracted right now, okay?
God's word is able to cut through you.
It doesn't matter who you are in this world, okay?
God knows the nature of man.
And then it says in verse number 13,
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Brethren, God is able to see all of us, all of our thoughts, all of our weakness, brethren.
We can't even hide our weakness from God.
Why not just confess it?
Stop being prideful and arrogant and confess your sins.
God knows it anyway.
At least show some humility, show some meekness, get rid of that sin so God's word can touch your heart.
God knows what you're thinking.
You know, these words are not my words.
This wisdom is not my wisdom, brethren.
If I'm preaching the wisdom of Kevin Zepulveda, brethren, we just destroy our lives, okay?
I don't live off the wisdom of Kevin Zepulveda.
We live off the wisdom of God.
It gives us direction.
God's word knows our hearts.
He knows what we need to change.
You know what?
I preach a sermon, and I know this because it's happened.
I preach a sermon, and someone said to me, oh, man, you know what?
That was a great sermon.
I got this out of it.
And then the same sermon, someone says to me, that was a great sermon.
I got this out of it.
It's like completely different.
And sometimes what I'm preaching, brethren, what I think I'm trying to say is received differently to the hearers,
and they still get something out of it because it's God's word, all right?
And again, I can apply this because I've been in church, and the pastor says,
turn to this passage, and I turn to that passage, and I'm like, oh, yeah, I know where the pastor's going with this.
I get what he's about to say, and he preaches it, and he preaches something completely different, okay?
Because God's word has so many layers, so many levels, right?
I can be saying something, and it touches your heart one way.
I can be saying the exact same thing.
It touches someone else's heart another way, brethren, because it's not, again, it's not my wisdom.
It's the wisdom of God.
It's the power of God.
It's a two-edged sword.
It cuts both ways.
You know what?
It swings that way.
It's going to cut you.
It's going to swing that way.
It's going to cut you as well, okay?
God's word knows the heart of every man of every mind.
You know, it blows me away when someone says to me, you know what?
Well, you just preached a sermon.
I was just thinking about that this day.
I was just talking about that yesterday, and then, yes, you gave me the answer.
You can, you know, you've shown me something in God's word that I was asking God to show me.
It's amazing.
It blows me away, okay?
And again, I just give glory to God because God knows our hearts.
He knows what we need to hear at the right time.
Let's go back to James chapter 1.
James chapter 1, verse number 24.
So we saw how the word of God is like a glass, like a mirror.
And actually, let's read verse number 23 again, then verse number 24.
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,
for he beholdeth himself, or he looks at himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
So if you're not a doer, if you don't apply something that you've heard, brethren,
it's going to be like you look in the mirror, you see all the defects, you walk away,
and you completely forget all the defects that you saw if you don't do God's word.
You say, I heard a great sermon.
Okay, but do it.
If you don't do it, you're going to forget it all.
You're not going to make any changes.
You're not going to conform yourself to Christ.
You're not growing.
You're not maturing.
You're not going to become that perfect man that we're aiming for in this series.
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway immediately forgetteth what manner of man he was.
You say, you know, if I asked you, brethren, what did I preach two weeks ago for the midweek service?
I don't even remember right now.
I guess it was one of the Psalms.
You know, you know, even I, I prepare sermons every week, and sometimes I just forget what I preached.
Okay.
And I must have been something good because it's God's word.
And so I just forget.
Okay.
Again, you know, trying to make every change of everything is just too much.
Okay.
But at least make one change.
Make one change.
Okay.
And then when you look in the mirror again, that change will be made and you can focus on some other change,
some other thing that you need to do.
Point number five, brethren, is act upon it quickly.
Act upon it quickly.
Because if you don't act upon it, if you don't make the change, you're going to forget.
You're going to forget.
You're going to go, that was such a great sermon.
You know, this sermon's able to change my life.
You don't change anything, you forget it.
It didn't change your life at all.
It's why you deceive yourselves.
You know, you think you've gained some knowledge and some wisdom, and then you forget it.
What was the point of it all, brethren?
Okay.
Act upon it quickly.
You know, don't, you know, act upon it.
When you're hearing this sermon, you're not, hey, I need to make that change.
That's the one thing that I'm going to change this week.
Do it straight away.
Do it today.
Or do it tomorrow at the latest.
Okay.
Because if you say, yeah, yeah, I'll do it one day, it will never happen.
All right.
Straight away forget it, what manner of man he was.
You forget immediately.
Okay.
And don't make this excuse.
And I know you've made this excuse.
I've made this excuse as I've gone in church.
All right.
And you hear the preacher preach something from God's Word, and it makes you uncomfortable.
And you know it's something that you need to change.
But then the pride comes in.
The old man rises back up.
Okay.
And you're like, oh, yeah, I don't agree with the preacher.
God's just not convicting me in that area.
It's great that God's convicting the preacher.
God's convicting this.
It's not convicting me.
I don't agree.
I think the preacher's got it all wrong there.
And you know why people say that?
Because they're trying to justify themselves.
You know, they don't want that little issue to be pointed out in their lives.
And brethren, please don't be that person.
This is why it's so important that you prepare yourself for church.
If you don't prepare yourself, you will be that person that when you get your face ripped a little bit, you're going to get offended.
I don't agree.
Okay.
And look, again, if I'm preaching some heresy, of course, don't agree with heresy.
I'm not talking about big issues.
We're talking about the things that are sound in the Word of God.
All right.
If you don't like it, look, acknowledge that you don't like it.
Instead of saying the pastor's wrong or the preacher's wrong, just say, you know what?
I don't like it.
And because I don't like it, I'm wrong.
Just take that approach.
I'm wrong.
I don't like what I'm hearing.
Okay.
At least be meek enough.
Lower yourself enough.
Say, you know what?
It's just me.
I've got a problem with God's Word here.
I've got a problem with God in this area.
And I realize I need to fix it, but I don't want to fix it right now.
I'd rather you be that person that just openly admits,
I know this is the truth of God's Word, but I just don't want to do it.
That's better than saying, oh, it's all wrong.
It's got nothing to do with me.
I don't want to hear it.
You know, I'm right with God.
Okay.
Because when you take that approach, you know, you're able to say, God, I know that's true.
I know this is something you want me to change, but Lord, I'm not ready to make this change right now.
God, the problem is not with the preacher.
The problem is not with your Word.
The problem is with me, God.
God, can you please help me to change so I can make those changes in the near future?
That's a much better attitude to have.
You know, okay, walk away and make no changes, but at least admit that it's your fault.
You know, don't blame the preacher.
Don't blame the Word of God.
Don't get angry with God's Word.
Even I, Reverend, there are things in God's Word, I just say, I'm not ready to make that change, God.
Please help me make that change in the right time.
You know, please help me to line upon line, precept upon precept.
The things that I need or the little things that I need to do in order to make that bigger change in my life.
We all, listen, that's a much better attitude.
At least you come in with humility.
At least you're admitting to God that it's not a problem with His Word, but the problem is with your sinful flesh.
Can you please hold your finger there and change to the one and turn to Isaiah chapter 30.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 30, please.
Isaiah chapter 30.
And I know we're turning to a passage about the nation of Israel.
Okay, but the principle, it's, you know, it's applicable to us.
The application is to us as well here.
You know, Isaiah chapter 30, verse number 8.
Actually, it's about the nation of Judah.
Isaiah was preaching to Judah.
But Isaiah chapter 30, verse number 8.
I want you to see what God says to Isaiah here.
Because Isaiah is preaching God's Word, he's trying to get the nation to change, but they're not changing.
Okay.
Isaiah chapter 30, verse 8.
Go now, Isaiah chapter 30, verse 8.
Now go, I said go now.
Now go, write it before them in a table and note it in a book that it may be for the time to come forever and ever.
Look at verse number 9.
That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord.
Reverend, don't be that person.
That you will not hear the law of the Lord.
Then you say, no, the pastor is wrong. I don't agree with him.
Because I don't like what he's saying.
Don't be that person.
Just acknowledge, yes God, your law is right.
But Lord, it's me. I don't want to do it.
I'm the problem, Lord. Help me.
Be that person.
Because I'm sure if you are that person, God is going to show mercy upon you.
Because you're not denying his Word.
You're not being rebellious against his Word.
You're just acknowledging you are the rebellious person.
It's not God's Word that is the problem.
You're the problem.
Look at verse number, let's keep going there in verse number 10.
Which say to the seers, the seers are another way of saying the preachers, the prophets.
Which say to the seers, so these are people that are rebellious against the Lord of God.
They say to the seers, the prophets, see not.
Hey, stop preaching to me.
Stop seeing what you see.
And to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things.
Hey, stop preaching to us right things.
What?
Speak unto us smooth things.
Prophesy deceits.
Lie to us, preacher.
Lie to us.
Make us feel good.
Make us feel like we're right in God.
There's nothing we can change.
Nothing we need to change.
We're perfect.
We're just fine.
Preach us lies, preacher.
We don't want to be confronted with God's truth.
Let it not be you, brethren, that says this in your heart.
Verse number 11.
Get you out of the way.
Turn aside out of the path.
Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
Stop preaching to us about God's standards and God's laws.
We don't want to hear from the Holy One of Israel.
Verse number 12.
Wherefore, thus save the Holy One of Israel,
because ye despise this word,
and trust in oppression, perverseness, and stay thereon.
Therefore, this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall,
swelling out in a high wall,
whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
Brethren, if you hear God's word, and you just shut it off.
Say, I don't want to hear it.
I don't want to hear God's word.
It makes me too uncomfortable.
Brethren, you're rebellious.
The Bible says you despise God's word.
You might pretend and think, I just don't, I don't like Pastor Kevin.
I don't like that preacher.
You know?
And then you feel better because, you know,
it's easy to say that about a man than about God's word.
But really, if you're shutting down, sound preaching, brethren,
and you say, I don't want to hear it.
You know what?
You despise God's word.
And then what's going to happen?
You're going to be destroyed.
Just like Judah was destroyed.
You're going to be destroyed by not hearing God's word.
You won't be able to save your life.
Brethren, it's better, again, better to just say, you know,
number one, you act either act upon it quickly, make a quick change.
Say, God, this is the one thing I want to change.
I'm going to make that change today.
Help me make that change from today or tomorrow.
All right.
I need to do this quickly, God, before I forget.
But if you don't, if you're not willing to change, admit God,
I'm not willing to change.
Okay.
It's not your word.
It's not the prophets.
It's not the seers.
It's not my pastor.
It's not your word, God.
I know it's all true.
Just help me, God.
I can't do it right now for whatever reason.
Help me make the change.
Okay.
But don't despise his word, brethren.
Point number five is act upon it quickly.
Act upon God's word quickly.
Back to James chapter one, verse number 25.
James chapter one, verse number 25.
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of Liberty.
Hey, we're aiming to be the perfect man.
If we want to be the perfect man,
then we need to look upon the perfect law of Liberty
and continue if they're in.
Okay.
So we can't just get to a point where it comes.
Okay.
I've gotten to the point of maturity that I want to get to know.
Continue.
Keep growing.
Keep learning.
He being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work.
This man shall be blessed in his deed.
In his what?
Deed.
Doing.
He's going to be blessed if he does,
if he acts upon God's word.
And so brethren,
point number six is encourage yourself in the blessings to come.
Encourage yourself because, brethren,
it is hard to change, isn't it?
It is hard to live up to the standards of God's word.
But one thing that's going to help you make that change
is if you encourage yourself in God's blessing.
You say, God, you've promised me here in James chapter one.
If I make a change, if I do your word, God,
if I do your works, then you're going to bless me.
And I want to be blessed.
You want to be blessed by God?
I want to be blessed by God.
I'd rather be blessed by God than anybody on this planet.
And God's blessings are beautiful.
God's blessings are beautiful.
Can you please turn to Colossians chapter three?
Turn to Colossians chapter three.
While you're turning to Colossians chapter three,
Colossians chapter three, we're done with the book of James right now.
You turn to Colossians three.
And while you're turning, I'm going to read to you from Leviticus 26.
Leviticus 26 and verse number three.
Again, these are words to Israel,
but of course, we can take it and apply it to ourselves, right?
Leviticus 26, verse number three, God says,
You walk in my statutes and keep my commandments and do them.
Then I will give you rain in due season and the land shall yield her increase.
And the trees of the field shall yield their fruits.
Hey, these are the blessings of God.
Being productive, being fruitful.
You want to be fruitful?
You want to be blessed by God?
You're going to know his statutes.
You need to know his commandments and do them.
And if you do them, brethren, God will bless you.
Be encouraged by that because none of us want to change.
We all want to be in the old man.
It's much easier.
It's much easier to just live our old life, to just live out for this world.
It's easy, brethren.
It's the easiest thing to do, you know, to make any little change,
especially a righteous change, a godly change.
It's hard.
It is hard.
Okay.
You know, even when when children grow, sometimes they go through pain.
We call it growing pains.
Okay.
Again, I was telling you about brother Liz who's teaching me, you know,
trying to get me build, you know, he says, look, you've got to hurt yourself.
If you want to develop muscles, you've got to go through some pain.
What's the saying?
No pain, no gain.
It's the same in the spiritual life, brethren.
Okay.
There is pain in growth.
But you know what's going to help you overcome that pain is focusing on the blessings.
God's going to bless me.
He's promised me.
Even if I do just one little change this week,
I'm going to see God's blessing in my life for the little change that I've made.
Colossians 3, verse number 16.
Let's end on this one.
Colossians 3, verse number 16.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.
That's what we want.
Preaching God's word.
We want it to dwell in us, right?
We want to gain wisdom.
Teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
You know, one other way besides the preaching again,
I won't go into this in depth, but it's a singing of praises.
It's a singing of hymns.
You know what?
Sometimes it's easier.
We sing God's hymns and praises to the Lord.
There's great doctrines in our hymnals.
Okay.
A lot of things that we can learn.
You know, we're being challenged.
I've shared with you before, someone said to me once,
I'm not comfortable preaching, singing this hymn because it's not me.
You know, I don't do what this hymn says.
Yeah, no one does.
It's a challenge.
It's a teach you.
It's to encourage you to make some change, brethren.
You know, it's not just the preaching.
It's anytime you receive God's word, singing is a wonderful way.
You know, singing is actually not that hard.
Lifting up your voice, singing some praise to God,
you can learn some great things as well.
But then verse number 17, look at this.
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And this is what I want to end on.
Giving thanks to God and the father by him.
Reverend, we want to grow.
We want to make changes.
We want to get the most out of a sermon.
We want to get the most out of God's word.
We want to make change in our lives, brethren.
Just give thanks to God.
Okay.
Yeah.
Thank you, God.
Acknowledge God in your whole growth.
And he's going to help you in that.
He's going to help you make those changes.
Give you a heart of desire that wants to be more like Jesus.
He's going to help you crucify that old man.
He's going to help you walk in the spirit.
We need to just constantly give thanks to the Lord.
Okay.
We can sing praises to him.
It's double whammy.
We learn doctrine and we praise God.
We worship God at the same time.
Okay, brethren.
But as I said, encourage yourself in the blessings to come.
That's point number six.
All right, brethren, better wrap up.
Let me just give you in conclusion the six points once again.
In conclusion, point number one is pay attention when the word is preached.
Number two, receive the word with meekness.
Number three, change at least one thing.
Number four, believe that every sermon is for you.
Number five, act upon it quickly.
And number six, encourage yourself in the blessings to come.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, Lord, I just want to thank you for your word, Lord.
Thank you for being a God that wants to change us to be conformed unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Lord, thank you for giving us the Bible for 66 books.
The prophets of all that you've used to pen down the words.
And Lord, I thank you for faithful pastors and preachers, Lord.
Ones that I've heard in the past that have helped me to grow, Lord.
And I pray, Lord, that we would appreciate every preach that God has given us, Lord.
To be used as a vessel.
To teach the wisdom of God.
And Lord, we thank you that you've given us a holy book of Bible that is living.
That knows the condition of our hearts.
That knows our minds.
That knows each one of us, Lord.
And Lord, we do give you thanks.
We do give you honor.
We do give you praise.
Help us to be more like Jesus every day.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Okay, brethren.
God, actually, no.
Before I go, there was something I wanted to say.
Oh, yeah.
If you guys can be praying for us this week, okay?
So this Wednesday, we've got the soul winning mega marathon, mega week, mega marathon week,
okay?
Starting this Wednesday.
So every day for a week, we're going to be going out for four hours, two hours in the
morning, two hours in the afternoon.
And I'm not going to get exhausted after day number two.
So please be praying for me, brethren.
Please be praying for those that are going out soul winning.
That'll be an encouragement.
All right, brethren.
Looking forward to seeing you soon.
God bless.
All righty, final hymn for this morning.
Can I get you to turn to hymn number 244?
Hymn number 244, Amazing Grace.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me.
That saved a wretch like me.
My watch was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
Crossed grace that taught my heart to be,
And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils, and stares,
I have already come.
Twas grace that brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing a dream,
Than when we first begun.