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"We invite you to come visit our faith family at Stemley where love, prayer, and the unveiling of God's word are our utmost priorities."

                            Pastor Carl Armstrong

Hear And Obey God's Word

James 1:19-27

¹⁹ Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: ²⁰ For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. ²¹ Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of ^dnaughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. ²² But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. ²³ 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: ²⁴ For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. ²⁵ 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. ²⁶ If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. ²⁷ 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.^[i]

• Swift to hear – Romans 10:17 ¹⁷ So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.^[ii]
• When we hear God’s word, we should listen, and we should obey the word of God.
• We should always be listening to hear God’s word
• Slow to speak – We should not argue with God’s word. We should not try change God’s message to justify our actions and the way we live
• this does not mean that we should not witness to others.
• Slow to wrath – verse 20 - ²⁰ For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.^[iii]
• We do not need to be angry at God’s word. The word reveals to us a clear picture of ourself.
• A prepared heart – verse 21 - ²¹ Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of ^dnaughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.^[1]
• How do we prepare our heart?  We need to confess our sins to God and ask for forgiveness.
• We need to ask God to remove any thing from our heart that is keeping us from his word. Any sins, anger, hurt, or any other thing that is controlling or effecting us.

Be doers of the word – verses 22-27 - ²³ 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: ²⁴ For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. ²⁵ 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. ²⁶ If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. ²⁷ 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.^[iv]

• Don’t deceive yourself, if we look into the word it will tell us who we really are, and what needs to be done