Don’t just Listen- In His Word 9-18-17

Don’t just Listen- In His Word 9-18-17
You have heard it said by many preachers and authors “It’s not about me.” Well today’s word is about you and I, it is about taking the time to listen, to ingest, and then to do the Word.  Do not just read it over today and let it sit there in dead space; run with what you have learned, apply it to your life today.

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. Philippians-4


Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. James 1:2-7

So many times, we say it; ‘we should read the Bible every day, go to church, and we will grow in the Lord’. But what even is growing in the Lord? Does it mean you know more memory verses than anyone else? Are we really listening to what is being said?
We go to church and a sermon is preached. We enjoy the new graphics and laugh at the jokes but are we really listening with our hearts? Or are you just listening with our ears and filing it away to think on next week when pastor refers to this week’s sermon?


Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:19-26

Don’t just listen to the Word, and claim to be as it says, but actually walk in the Word. Walk in love, kindness, hope, joy, peace, obedience; for in doing these things you will be a doer of the Word and a hearer of the Word; don’t just listen to it, then; just do it!

For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight. Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. Romans 3:12-14

In order to truly listen to the Word and understand it we need the Holy Spirit to give us eyes to see and ears to here. In order to do this, we must pray and ask God to help us to not only listen but do the Word. I venture to go one step further; in order to do more than listen to the Word spoken to us, or that we have read in the Bible, etc., we must take a step in the direction that we have heard. We must do what it is that God tells us to do in His Word; every time we hear it we must apply it to our lives. Don’t just listen, do the thing! Do what God’s Word says, not just what man says but what the Spirit of the living God says from His heart to yours. The time to act is now, don’t put it off. If God tells you to clean up your life, clean it up. If God tells you to love on others, then do it!  If God tells you via sermon or written Word to do a thing, you should do it because you will be doing the will of God toward you. Just be sure it is truly the Lord encouraging you on. If you hear it in a sermon, or spoken by a well-meaning friend you should always check it to the scripture and see what is right. Then follow His lead.


… the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.
For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profits, little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. 
1 Timothy 4:1-8

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for leading us through the Word of God, our Bibles. Help us to trust You to lead us where we should go and to trust You to protect and guide us through the living Word. Help us to discern what is right and to do the Word, not just hear it. In Jesus name, amen.


Suggested reading Romans 2: 1-29, 1 Timothy 4:1-16, James 1:1-27 and Romans 3:1-31