Restoring Our Hearing Series

Restoring Our Hearing

Series: Real Faith (The Book of James)

Brad Bailey - July 7, 2013

Intro

So glad to see everyone. One thing we all share in common is some type of morning routine. From

that moment are eyes begin to open...we each likely have some set of things we do...some

restroom...shower... coffee...make bed. And at some point...we face the THE MIRROR. We have to

take a look at that morning face. I'm glad you did...and you're glad I did. Imagine if we all showed

up just the way we woke up.

Today... as we continue in our series entitled Real Faith based on the Biblical Book of James...

something more tragic is suggested... James says we can come... see ourselves in the light of God's

Word...and leave... without doing anything.

Let's stand and read aloud together...

James 1:18-26 (NLT)

18 He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his

prized possession. 19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen,

slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God

desires. 21 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. 22 But don’t just listen to God’s word.

You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the

word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and

forget what you look like. 25 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.

He begins by turning the very source of all hope...

James 1:18 (NLT)

He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his

prized possession.

God's Word is that which gives LIFE !

He is speaking to those scattered who have received the life of Christ... and he is awakening them

and us to grasp that God has given a new birth...(“brought us forth”) ...of his own choosing and

will...by the "true word" (“by the word of truth.”) [1]

That is the power not simply of a book...but God whose Spirit inspired and now illuminates as

we read and hear.

It is treated here the very same way that the Bible treats the Spirit of God himself.

We are born again by the Spirit (John 6:63), and we are born again by the word of God. The Spirit

dwells in us, and the word is implanted in us.

Perhaps you have been told that you "should" read the Bible...and like any teenager...or grown

teenager...we resent being told what we should do. We correlate the Bible to be something we

simply "should" read...something obligatory to make others hapy...to prove we are good...to make

God happy.

James declares a wake up call: this is the very source of life.

We should consider more vital than if we were gasping for our last breath and someone gave us

oxygen. More vital than if staggering across Death valley...and rain suddenly came.

It is like being left in silence...a deathly silence...and then hearning a voice that calls out to us. For

silence is death...it means we have been left...abandoned...death. When you give up on

someone...you just ignore them.

But God is speaking that which offers life.

Jack Hayford expressed the nature of God's WORD so powerfully when he said:

Consider the one thing this world which you and I can touch that has "eternity"

written into its fabric. It's the Word of God. Every time I take a Bible in hand, I hold

eternity, because the life-force inherent in that Word exceeds all time and space: "Heaven

and earth will pass away, but My Word shall not pass away."

Pause to slowly speak those words above. Pensively allow them to engrave

themselves on your soul, for they hold the seeds of the deepest, grandest point of

understanding any human being can ever gain. Your life becomes durable, fulfilling and

successful in direct proportion to the degree the Word of God becomes alive to your being,

life, breath as healing and creative power.

Whether we open these Scriptures on our own or together...God is speaking and always by his

Spirit.

Does it bless us with life?

James says... not necessarily.

Is it possible for a person to go to church every week and still not enjoy God’s blessing? According

to James, it is.

James 1:19-21 (NLT)