Anything that is built high must have a firm foundation. No one can become a great believer, or a great missionary unless there is found in his or her life- a solid foundation. The strength of the foundation will determine the effectiveness of the believer.
Our foundation must be the Word of God. I know some of us in here this evening believe that being in the choir is the essential element. Some of us believe that church titles are the foundation. Some of us may think that being on the deacon board is the foundation. But I’ve come to tell us that the Word must be our foundation. But, James says that we must not only be hearers of the Word, but we must become doers also.
I’ve read great books, there’s nothing like the word,
I’ve read great poetry, there’s nothing like the word.
I’ve read great history, there’s nothing like the word.
Our main objective as missionaries and for the entire body of Christ ought to be to reach and lay hold upon spiritual maturity. We must also realize that the source and direction for spiritual maturity comes from the Word of God. It is time for us to grow up now. It is time for us to get off the milk and get on the meat of the Word of God.
We cannot grow spiritually from reading Ebony, Newsweek, or Time magazines. We should not be soliciting wisdom from ABC, NBC, CBS, FoX or CNN. Oprah nor Dr. Phil is not going to give you food for your dying soul.
I found out a long time ago that the Word of God is the source of my strength and the source of my spiritual maturity. If you don’t stay in the Word, the Word wont’ stay in you.
If you want to wake up in the morning with your mind on Jesus, In order to walk and talk with your mind on Jesus, in order to be singing and praising with your mind on Jesus, you got to stay in the Word. I found out that if you don’t know, you show can’t grow.
The Word of God is not a decorative appliance. We shouldn’t take it home and sit it on the shelf from Sunday to Sunday. The Word of God is the vehicle by which you and I get to know and become intimate with our Father Who Art in Heaven.
If you want to know who God is, it’s revealed in his Word. If you want to know about God’s past relationship with man-it’s revealed in his Word. If you want to know about the future- you will find it in the Word of God. Anything you want to know about your journey here on earth is revealed in the Word of God.
The Word of God tells you how to get along with your husband or wife. The word of God tells you how to raise your children. The word of God even tells us how we should love one another.
In the word of God, you will find words that will help define us as believers. Too many believers are unsure of what makes us believers. What makes you and I believers is the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our own personal savior. What gives us spiritual power is the hearing and obedience of the Word of God. James says don’t just be hearers of the word, but we ought to be doers of the word.
Too many of us got this things backwards. We want God to come into our lives and do what we want him to do.
We want God to be our child, to be our servant, we want God to worship and praise us.
BIJSB if God is going to be in your life he must be both Lord and Master. He’s not going to come into your life and not be on the throne. He’s not going to take a back seat to your flesh. He’s not going to ride if he can’t drive.
And, as I looked in this text, I found out that the Word is not the problem. The problem is this, “Are we in the Word or not.?. I’m not asking about whether you can find your name in the bible or whether you know where Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is, but are you in the Word? I’m not asking about whether you know the story about David and Goliath, Paul and Silas, 3 Hebrew Boys. But, what we need to know is that if you are bound in the prison of the circumstances of your life that God can send an earthquake and shake open the jail house door. You need to know that if you are cast into the fiery furnace of sickness that if God does not deliver you that he is God and is still able to deliver you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. So the question to you this evening is, are you in the Word?
Is the Word of God important in your life? Does the Word of God have meaning to you? Can you stand on the promises of God?
If the Word of God is not important to you, and you claim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior—you are in spiritual trouble. If the Word of God is not important in your life, you will never live the kind of life that God intends for you to live. You’ll have salvation, but no strength.
You’ll have redemption, but no joy. You will have the spirit but no power. You will have grace, but no testimony.
You will run but you will get weary, you will walk and you will faint. For the bible says, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” If you want to be strong in the Lord, you need to get into the Word.
If you obey The Word of God, it will change you. It changed Peter from a cussing fisherman to a preaching pastor. It changed Matthew from a tax man to a gospel writer. Paul had gone from a heartless killer to a holy life changer. And every time a man or woman comes into contact with the Word of God—there is gonna be a change.
The old folk used to say that the word will either drive you or draw you. Somebody said, that I looked at my hands and they looked new. I looked at my feet and they did too. Those of us who have been born again may not be what we should be, but we are glad that we are not what we used to be.
Whenever the Word of God comes real in your life and you become a doer and not just a hearer, you can’t stay to same. Places you used to go, you don’t go there no more. Things you used to do, you don’t do them anymore. Folks you used to hang out with, you don’t hang out with anymore.
I’ve discovered that folk will never change just by joining the church. Folks will never change just by joining the choir. Folks will never change by joining the usher board. Folks will never change just by joining the mission board.
Folk will change when there is an interaction with the Word of God. When there is something on the inside, working on the outside, Oh what a change in my life. When you realize what God has done. When you realize what God is doing to do. When you realize what God is going to do, you can’t help but change.
We must realize that we are serving a God that one day sentenced you and me to death. For he said that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. He left his home in Glory to Come all the way down to save a wrech like you and me. When I think about what the Lord has done for me, I can’t help but want to get to know him better. I can’t help but wanting to have an intimate relationship with him.
James tells us in our text, that the Word of God must become a living, breathing part of our spiritual lifestyle. Lifestyle says a lot about who and what we are. “As a man thinketh, so is he… And James focuses moves to the Word of God. He has already told us that we must guard our hearing, our tongues, and ourselves. And now, the most important factor is revealed in how to accomplish this task. In other words, we must be obedient to the Word of God.
I don’t know about you—but I’m grateful that God thought enough of his children to give us the Word. Without the Word we wouldn’t know of His grace. Without the Word, we wouldn’t know about his Love. Without the Word we would know about his sovereign Will.
Without the word, we wouldn’t even have a mission. And because I’m grateful for his word, I want to trust his word. I want to believe his word, and I want to be obedient to his word.
I have found out that where there is no trust in his word, there can be no joy for the sorrowful. There can be no power for the helpless, there can be no sight for the blinded, there can be no healing for the wounded. There can be no hope for the hopeless.
The command is clear. James give us a command. And you have to understand this command. Be ye doers of the Word. James says that it’s not enough to jump up and down the church. It’s not enough to dress up and come here Sunday after Sunday. It’s not enough to dance in the isles. James says that’s worship. But the real work begins after the worship.
But, If I don’t come to Sunday School…. If I don’t come to worship…. If I don’t come to mission meeting…. If I don’t study my bible I can’t hear. And the Lord speaks to the churches at Asia Minor in Revelations. Notice he says “those who have ears let them hear.” But the ears have to be in a position to hear.
James says that after I have decided to become a doer of the Word. I can’t afford to fall back and be just a hearer only. I think James is trying to tell us something here. I think James is trying to help somebody here. He says, don’t get caught up with the sounds of the sermon, don’t get caught up with the entertainment and the delivery. Don’t get caught up with the melody of the lesson, but it’s time to move from what I heard to what I do.
James says in the next verse, “deceiving your ownselves.” In other words, you rob yourself of spiritual power, because you are not doers of the Word. The word is not a part of you. The word is not a part of you. You are not operating in the Word.
BIJSB you need the Word if you are going to be used by God. You will have a better mission with the word. You’ll sing better with the Word. You will talk better with the Word. You will love better with the Word. You will live better with the Word.
If you can get into the Lakers, you can get in the Word. If you can get into Oprah, you can get into the Word. If you can get into Michael Jackson, you can get into the Word.
Jesus found himself before his preaching ministry and before he even preached one sermon. Before he took one text. He had to deal with Satan. And if you’re going to ever deal with Satan, you’re going to need sound doctrine. Satan is going to and from seeking whom he can devour. If you are going to deal with Satan, you are going to need something to stand on. The only thing that you have to fight the fiery darts of the Devil is the Word of God.
Jesus, tells Satan, “It is Written.” If you ant to have spiritual power, it’s in the word of god. When Stan come to attack you, you can say with boldness, it is written. It is written, I can have joy that the world… It is written, I can have peace that surpasses all understanding. It is written, “If I’m for you, I’m more than the World against you.” It is written, weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
I found out in his word that if he could save Paul and Silas, he can save me. If he could deliver Daniel out of the Lion’s den, he can deliver me. If he could cool the fiery furnance, he could cool my circumstances. If he could heal a woman that had been sick for 12 years and a man that was sick for 38 years, he could heal me. I found out that he could feed 5,000 men, he can feel little old me.
When I get into the Word I learn more about my God. When I get into the Word I learn more about my savior. When I get into the Word I learn more about my Father.
I heard a story the other day about 2 little boys who were discussing their fathers. One boy said, my father works downtown. He has 1,500 employees. He runs everything. He works 9 to 9 everyday. He makes $400,000 (4 hundred thousand) a year. I like my day because he is nice to me. When my Dad dies, he’s going to leave everything to me.
The other boy looked at him and said let me tell you about my father. My father sits high and he looks low. He has millions of children. Not only does he run everything but he owns everything. As a matter of fact he created your father. The cattle of a thousand hills belongs to him. He never slumbers nor sleep. Heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool.
I don’t just like my father, but I love him because he first loved me. My father woke me up this morning. My father started me on my way.
Not only that, one day out there on Calvary’s cross my father died for me.
He died until the blood, came streaming down.
He died, until the sun, the stars and the moon refused to shine.
He died, until the earth began to reel and rock.
He died, until the veil of the temple was torn in two.
Not only that, but one Sunday morning, he got up with all power in heaven and earth in his hands.
That’s why I’m going to be obedient to his word. I’m not going to be just a hearer, but I’m going to be a doer. I’m going to walk like he wants me to walk. I’m going to talk like he wants me to talk. I’m going to go where he wants me to go. I’m going to do what he wants me to do.
He died.
