Centrality of God's Word

grew up, moved away. I work in Hawaii at a Bible college, and so every about six months once our semester ends, I come back and get to fellowship with my home church family. So I'm very blessed to be here, blessed to be up here on stage with my friends and family to help lead you guys and usher you guys into a heart of worship this morning, because that's what it's all about, is to just usher our hearts into a posture to come before the Lord, to receive from Him, and to be with Him. So if you would all stand with me, us, this morning, I'm going to pray, and we're going to start worship. So Lord, thank you for this time. God, thank you for this

opportunity. Thank you for these people. God, thank you for who you are, and all that you do, Lord. It's just incredible to be here in this place, Lord, just the beauty that's around us. God, your creation. Lord, no one can deny it. God, it's so beautiful, and the way that you move, how you move, whether we can see it or not, whether we believe it or not. God, you are there,

you are working, you're sovereign. God, you are doing incredible things, whether we can see it or not, Lord. So we thank you for who you are. We ask that you just fill us with your Holy Spirit. Go before us this morning, in Jesus' name, amen. You can be seated. When we put ourselves or other things in between us and you, our vision, but the things of this world, God, are the noise,

may we just become so aware right now, this morning, Lord, as we humble ourselves before you of our need for you, how we can't even. God, we thank you for waking us up today, for allowing us to live another day, for bringing us here safely to your house for a reason, God. So I pray that you reveal yourself to each and every one of us in you this morning. Anything else, Lord, more than to go about our expectations, our plans, Lord, we need you. Lord, and you are so worthy

of our praise this morning. It's such a blessing to be able to choose to worship you, to choose to come into communion with you, and to fellowship with you, to choose to revere your name, Lord, before we spend eternity singing holy, holy. Just declare your holiness. Lord, we lift a joyful noise to your holy name this morning, God. You are King of kings and Lord of lords.

You are name above all names, Lord Jesus. And Lord, as we come to this time now, Lord, we spend some time in your word, Lord. I just pray that you would prepare our hearts to receive it. But more than that, Lord, I pray that you would give us a heart to do, to act upon your word, Lord Jesus. We love you, Lord, and we praise you. In Jesus' name, all God's people said,

amen. Let's take some time and greet one another. All right, good morning, church family. It's good to see everybody. And if you guys could go ahead and start making your way back to your seats, and we'll get started. Good morning. I'm so glad you're here. I hope you guys have a wonderful 4th of July. Hope everybody has all their fingers and toes. Glad you're here. If you want to take a look at your bulletin real quick,

if you're looking for a place to get plugged in, on the left side of your bulletin, there's all the studies that are going on this week, all the activities. So just find a place or find something that works for you, and feel free to get plugged in. If you have any questions, you can reach out to me. I'm going to be there. I'm going to be there. I'm going to be there.

If that's me or one of the leadership, we'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. For the Bible reading plan, you can just continue on with that. That's printed on the back of your bulletin here. It looks like you guys are in Acts, finishing up Job and the book of Psalms. One other thing too, ladies breakfast is this Saturday, starting at 8.30 down at the Agape

Room, I believe. So just plan on that if you want to come. So with that, I believe that is all of the announcements that I have this morning. Pastor Ryan will be back next, well, this Wednesday, actually. So I believe his family made it back safely from vacation. So we look forward to having him back in the pulpit. So this morning for responsive reading, we're going to be in Psalm 16.

If you need a Bible, there should be one in your row. And if you'll stand with me as we, as we read God's word this morning. Psalm 16, I'll be reading, we'll be reading out of the New American Standard so that we all sound the same. I'll read the odd verses. If you'll follow along with Pastor Allen in the even verses. Psalm 16, a mictum of David. Preserve me,

O God, for I take refuge in you. I said to the Lord, you are my Lord. I have no good besides you. As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the majestic ones in whom all is all my delight. The sorrows of those who have bartered for another God will be multiplied. I shall pour out their drink offerings of blood, nor will I take their names upon my lips. The Lord is the portion of

my inheritance and my cup. You support my lot. My lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. I will bless the Lord who has counseled me. Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. I have set the Lord continually before me because he is at my right hand. Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will dwell securely.

You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known. to me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. And in your right hand, there are pleasures forever. And Lord God, we just thank you for your word this morning. And Lord, we know that with you, Lord, we will dwell securely. Lord, we know that you are coming

back for your people soon. Lord, help us to live expectantly of that. Lord, we thank you for how good you are to us. As we open up your word this morning, I just pray that you would help us to focus upon your word. Give us hearts to receive and ears to hear. In Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. All right, well, I'm glad that you guys are here. To recap the last time I taught, I believe

it was back in April, we covered the first 18 verses of chapter, of James chapter one. So if you have your Bibles this morning, we're going to continue picking on, picking up from there in James chapter one. James chapter one. Last time I taught, we primarily covered the first 18 verses, which talked about the trials in our lives. Brothers and sisters in Christ,

understand that if you are in Jesus, you will have trials. There will be seasons of trials, seasons of testing. It's not a matter of if, it is a matter of when, okay? So you need to expect them. But James also tells us too, in James, in verse two here, it says, consider it a great joy, whenever you experience these various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith

produces endurance. It produces something good in us. It produces endurance. It produces patience. It goes on to say that when we've been patient through the trial, when its full effect has come about in our lives, that we will be mature, complete, and lacking nothing. So whenever we, when we go through these trials, I know it's hard, but consider it a joy,

because there's something good on the other side. It's, it's a completeness. It's the completeness that the Lord brings about in us, a matureness. We are more patient. We have more endurance than we did when we went into the trials. James also talked about how to get through the trials. When you go through these trials, you're going to need something. You're going to need

wisdom. You know, you're going to need more than the wisdom that you get from your, from your dear friends. Okay. You're going to need wisdom from God. You're going to need wisdom from his word. Okay. More specifically, even the book of Proverbs is chock full of it. There's so much wisdom in there. You're going to need it to get through the trials, to get through

those seasons of testing. And often, you know, oftentimes I'll have, I'll have youth kids come up to me and, and tell me something that they're going through. And I'll almost each and every time I'm giving them scripture, I'm giving them God's wisdom, God's wisdom. I want to tell them exactly what God's word says about the issue that they're dealing with. I mean,

what better thing could I give them than God's word? Amen. So, so that's the recap today. We're going to be talking about the centrality of God's word in our lives. God's word needs to be central in our lives. We need to, to, study it, to hide it in our hearts, to memorize it, and to act on it. Joshua in the Old Testament was commanded by God to carefully observe the whole counsel of God, the whole instruction

of God's Word, and to meditate on it day and night. God knew that Joshua was going to need some help. God knew that Joshua was going to need wisdom to get through the trials that they were getting ready to face. God knew that he would need his words when Israel moved into the promised land and went through all the trials that they did. Therefore, God commanded Joshua to make his

Word central in his life. For, you know, for so long when I was younger, God's Word wasn't necessarily central in my life. I rarely spent any time in it outside of church. I never memorized Scripture, nor was it the ultimate authority in my life, so much so that my life was so important to me. I never memorized Scripture, nor was it the ultimate authority in

my life, so much so that my life was so important to me. I never memorized Scripture, nor was it the ultimate authority in my life, so much so that my life was so important to me. I never memorized Scripture, nor was it the ultimate authority in my life, so much so that my life was so important to me. I never memorized Scripture, nor was it the ultimate authority in my life, so much so that my life was so important to me. I never memorized Scripture, nor was it the

ultimate authority in my life, so much so that my life was so important to me. I never memorized Scripture, nor was it the ultimate authority in my life, so much so that my life was so important to me. I never memorized Scripture, nor was it the ultimate authority in my life, so much so that my life was so important to me. I never memorized Scripture, nor was it the ultimate authority in my life, so much so that my life was so important to me. I never memorized Scripture, nor was it the

school in high school and college they they we got through the evolution chapter and and they taught it as fact they they taught me that evolution was fact well god's word has something different to say god's word was not authoritative in my life at that point so therefore i believe that i evolved from monkeys and that's and it's not true that's not that's not what god created us from god created us out of nothing he spoke us into existence he he took the dust and he formed us he breathed his breath of life into us you know that's just one of many reasons one of many many reasons why god's word must be central in our lives because if you don't you're not going

to know what to believe the world is going to throw so much so-called wisdom at you you're not going to know what to believe i didn't it wasn't until i made god's word central in my life that i finally started to realize that that i wasn't i wasn't i wasn't just evolved from a monkey you know it wasn't i wasn't just something insignificant that i was created on purpose and with a purpose and so were you so with that let's get started here uh james chapter 1 verse 19 it says my dear brothers and sisters understand this everyone should be quick to accomplish god's righteousness or excuse me i'm sorry everyone should be quick to listen slow to speak and slow to anger for human anger does not accomplish god's righteousness therefore ridding yourselves

of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent humbly receive the implanted word which is able to save your souls james starts off by addressing believers he's addressing followers of jesus he calls us multiple times throughout his throughout his letter he says dear brothers and sisters understand that if you've come to that saving relationship with jesus you've come to that saving relationship with jesus this morning you are a brother or sister in christ and this letter and this is this letter is addressed to you okay um if you've never come to that relationship if you've if you cannot pinpoint a time in your life where you have trusted jesus with your heart may today be that day there's no better day than today if you wait until you're ready

you'll never be ready if you wait until you're cleaned up you'll never be clean enough don't wait come to jesus today okay if you have any questions about it if you want if you want to pray come and talk to me afterwards come find one of the leaders we'd be happy to pray be happy to walk you through that okay but james continues calling believers to do three things tells us to be quick to listen slow to speak and slow to anger he said he still tells us to be quick to listen listen to what the word god's word he tells he then tells us to be slow to speak and slow to anger you ever wonder why god gave us two ears and only one mouth probably because it's doubly

important for us to be good listeners and i think the lord he only gave me one mouth because it gets me in enough trouble as it is you know you know what i'm saying but in order to be ready to receive the implanted word of god you have to be quick to speak and slow to anger you have to be quick to listen we need to be we need to have our hearts ready we need to be quick to listen slow to speak slow to anger we need to be quick on the input and slow on the output jesus taught on this in matthew 13 in the parable of the sower and he says our hearts are like the different types of soil in that parable when people hear the word of god one of several things happens sometimes it can fall

on deaf ears in other words some folks have absolutely no desire to hear the word of god their hearts are hardened like that soil that's that's that's along the path the soil is so hard that there is no opportunity for the seed which is the word to take root in their lives and oftentimes when seed is scattered when seed goes out when the word goes out to people like that the enemy comes and snatches away the word before it has a chance to take root in anywhere in their lives these are typically folks who've been so hardened by the world that they can hear it but they have no desire to receive it they have no desire to have it implanted in their lives and they have no desire to meditate on it and put it into practice

other times the the word falls on on what the parable calls rocky ground there's soil there it's not very deep there's a lot of rocks the word falls on someone's heart and they actually receive it with a little bit of joy it starts to take root in their lives but because their heart is still somewhat hardened the world will begin to take root but when persecution comes when hard times come they're out you know that seed is scorched the word is scorched and the fruit that's being produced in their lives it dies because the word was never able to get past the surface of their heart you know these these are folks who again the second persecution the second the trials come in their lives they're done they're out they walk away

and then there are those that the word has taken root in the lives and the fruit starts to starts to produce in their lives but but worldliness uh begins to choke out the word in their lives and they they have a tendency to follow the people and the things of this world rather than jesus they're they're more concerned with their with what their favorite social media influencer has to say about them what their what their favorite influencer says that she they should be doing in their lives rather than what jesus says they should be doing in their lives they're more concerned with living their best life now rather than taking up their cross and following jesus therefore in order for us to to be able

to receive the implanted word of god james tells us that we need to to rid ourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent i actually love the king james version of this of this verse here it says uh wherefore lay aside all filthiness and pay attention superfluity of naughtiness there you go never heard it before but i'm gonna start using it in my everyday vocabulary so superfluity of naughtiness it what it essentially means is an overflow overflow of evilness of moral filth in order to cultivate a heart that's ready to receive the word james is saying he's telling us he's instructing us to take a long hard look at your heart take a spiritual inventory and if there's stuff there that shouldn't be get rid of it

if there's sin confess it let's get it dealt with don't don't let it sit there and fester in your lives don't let it take root in your lives let god's word take root in your life if my heart is hardened i can't receive the implanted word if my heart is shallow it's never going to produce anything of significance and if my heart is choked out by worldly no fruit no lasting fruits are really ever going to come from it because it's going to get choked out you know every spring i i plant a garden in my backyard and you know it starts out nice but you know it doesn't take long for the weeds to start to kind of start sprouting up through the ground you know i'll till it up two sometimes three times before we actually ever get it planted

um but yet it always somehow still produces weeds you know and thankfully it through it all it still produces some fruit but it also produces a lot of weeds my you know my poor okra right now it's it's just having a tough time because there's so much weeds and grass is coming up and it's choking it out you know i try my best we try our best to manage all that but it just it sure is tough you know the grass and the weeds they come up so thick that it almost completely chokes out everything and it's the same within our lives when if we're to receive the word of god and haven't produced any fruit within our lives james is telling us hey you got to prepare your heart you got to prepare the ground first you got to till it up your heart's

hardened it's time to till it up it's time to get rid of the sin in your life you have to have your heart prepared if you're going to have it if you're going to receive the word and it produced any fruit in your lives i can remember going to church for years every sunday and wednesday and i would hear the word and it would get me excited i would i would it would get me on fire for the lord until i walked the 30 feet out the front door this the sin and the addiction in my life at that time would would just completely completely take over it would completely choke it out took out the word of god in my life and it wasn't until years later when i started dealing with those things i finally started

confessing those things and getting them dealt with in my life that i ever finally i ever started to see some lasting fruit in my life from from god's implanted word so you see my my heart at that time wasn't ready to receive it if i never tilled up the ground in my backyard i could throw a seed out there all day long and it would never it would never really do anything you know if i never cultivated my heart then it's not ready for the word if you if you never get rid of the sin the evil the moral filth and it's not ready it's never going to produce anything so james is telling us take some time get your heart ready we're going to be we're going to be taking communion this

morning may i encourage you to use that time to get your heart ready okay verse 22 says but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror for he looks at himself goes away and immediately forgets what kind of person he was who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works this person will be blessed in what he does james goes on to call believers to not just be hearers of the word but doers of the word not hearers but doers i remember in college i actually joined this christian fraternity it's called uh zeta pi lambda and and this that

this verse was actually our motto and i have vivid memories of of me and all my pledge brothers standing there you know like we were in boot camp and we would have to recite this verse in the king james version you know says but be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves and yeah this verse was hammered in my head so much that i can't even hardly recite it in any other version but king james but you see once we've prepared our heart to hear and receive the word is now our responsibility to do the word it's now our responsibility to act on it once you walk out these doors this morning you you you have a choice to make you're gonna take the word that's given you're gonna act on it or not you do your quiet

times in the mornings you have a choice to make are you going to act upon it or not so many times i i hear people say but jared how can i do how can i do what the whole word says i mean it's a huge how can we do it all well jesus himself said in matthew that the whole law and the prophets can be summed up in two commandments number one love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind number two love your neighbor as yourself jesus said that everything his entire word depends on those two commandments love god and love others from there you can break it down a little bit further but but in its simplest terms love god and love others that's it seems pretty easy at least

in terms of the number of commandments that you need to follow god's word understand is so powerful it has the potential to change your life it can change your heart it can be your guide it can be your defense and then and your help in time of need i remember being a senior in high school 20 years ago this year that's that's a little sobering right there to be honest with you i remember being a senior in high school and during the baccalaureate service my youth pastor gave the message and it was out of psalm 119. in verse 105 it says your word is a lamp into my feet and a light unto my path i never forgot that because that's exactly what i was going to need when i in the coming days and the weeks and the months when i prepared to go off to college

you know i would need his word to guide my choices about what i would do in college about where i would go the people i would hang out with uh you know in the next steps in my life you know and while that message really hit home with me and i still remember it i still remember that verse i also quickly forgot the very next verse in verse 106 of psalm 119 it says i have sworn and i will perform it that i will keep thy righteous judgments so you see while i was quick to be a hearer of the word i was not the most responsive doer of the word i found that i quickly fell into sin into immoral relationships and addictions i'd allowed sin to spring up and choke out the word of god in my life what happened to me is what james goes on to describe

as looking at yourself in a mirror and quickly forgetting what you look like you know mirrors can be pretty unforgiving when i woke up this morning you know i didn't have a full thick head of non-gray hair you know i didn't have chiseled abs but you know it's not what it shows it shows and highlights all the imperfections and flaws that we have it shows it shows every gray hair at least what's left of mine you know um it shows everything the good the bad i would read god's word and then walk away and completely forget what i read i wouldn't meditate on it i wouldn't memorize it i wouldn't even try to apply it to my life

i wouldn't act upon it at all i didn't love god very much and i didn't love others very much and that's what james is saying here don't be like the man who looks in that mirror then walks away and forgets what he looks like says but rather be the one who intently who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it and is not for not a forgetful here but a doer who works this person will be blessed in what he does a doer of the word is one who looks with intent into god's word that word intent or intently is in the greek is pericipto and it it means to stop what you're doing to stoop down to look at something to look closely at it the idea is that if you if you're

walking along a sidewalk and you see something that catches your eye you stop you bend down you get a closer look at it you study it you study its characteristics and then your you identify it. A doer of the Word is someone who doesn't just read His Word, but they study it. They memorize it, and then they persevere in it. Understand that when we act upon God's Word, sometimes it means that we have to persevere. It's not always going to be easy.

You know, going back to what Pastor Patrick Farrell taught last week, sometimes loving others isn't easy. You know, it's not easy at all sometimes. And he covered this beautifully last week. Sometimes loving others means loving those who don't look like you. Sometimes it means loving those who don't act like you, who don't agree with you. Sometimes it means loving those who don't even understand you.

Sometimes loving others means loving the unlovable, those who are just in absolute pain. In your butt. You know, I can give you all kinds of examples of loving those who've been a pain to me, but I want to give you a different example of being a doer and persevering in the Word. We recently bought a shed for the church, and you can see it out back here. And we actually

chose to put it together ourselves just in order to save a little bit of money. And the shed came with some instructions. Now, before Pastor Ryan left me on vacation, he left me a list of things to do. And one of the instructions was, put the shed together. He wanted us to have it done before he got back from vacation. But imagine, though, if he showed up tomorrow, and the shed was not only not put

together, but it was scattered out throughout the parking lot. You know, can you imagine how he would react? You know, I'd have to sit there and tell him, like, yeah, I got your instructions. I got your directive. I read the instructions. They were great. Great instructions. They were detailed. Memorized them frontwards and backwards. But just decided not to do it, you know?

Imagine how he would react. You know, it's the same with God's Word. He gave us instructions on what to do while we are here on earth. This side of eternity, we have a book of instructions on what to do. Understand that God never intended for us to do nothing. God never intended for us to just stand around and take up space. He clearly has no intention of you warming a chair on Sunday

morning. It's time to not only get in the Word. It's time to not only memorize it and study it, but act on it. It's time to persevere in it. God gave us His infallible Word. He gave us instructions on what to do this side of eternity. It's time to do it. Amen? Verse 26, if anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, his religion is useless,

and he deceives himself. Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James goes on to give us an example of what a doer of the Word does and does not look like. He says, if anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, his religion is useless, and he deceives himself. He's essentially saying, if you're going to talk the talk,

you got to walk the walk. I know it's cliche, but it's true. Guys, if we're going to claim to be Christians, we're going to claim to be followers of Jesus, there's got to be some evidence of it. We've got to act like it. So many people are claiming to be Christians simply because they show up to church. They're not going to be Christians. They're not going to be

on a Sunday, or simply because they show up to church on a Wednesday night, or they've come to church twice a year, Christmas and Easter. I've got news for you. If that's your basis of being a follower of Jesus, that's some bad news. When you get to heaven, and he's going to say, away from me, for I never knew you. These people proclaim Jesus with their mouth,

but their hearts are far from him. The second they walk out the front door of the church, they use their tongue to cut others down. Every other word is an F-bomb. I've been around folks like this, and honestly, this is just me being honest, okay? They're hard for me to be around. They're hard for me to love, because I know that they're completely fake. Nothing in

their life outside of this building looks like a follower of Jesus. The person I see in church isn't the same person that I see outside of church. They're two completely different people. They've fooled themselves into thinking that they're Christians, that they're followers of Jesus. I'm taking a small group of kids through this book called Not a Fan. It's by Kyle Eidelman. I think there's an adult version, an adult edition too,

but it's a wonderful book, and it talks about what being a true follower of Jesus looks like, and what it looks like to act upon his word, and not just follow him. Being a fan of Jesus. In one of the chapters that we just read, the author tells us that what we believe should be reflected in reality. Otherwise, it's a delusion. In other words, if we believe in

Jesus, our actions, our behaviors should reflect what we believe in reality. Jesus tells us that in John 14, 15, that if we truly love him, we're going to be obedient to his word. That word obedient, there is an action word. If we're going to claim to be a follower of Jesus, there needs to be some action that follows that belief. If we're going to claim to be Christians,

there should be some evidence of that. We should love God and love others. James goes on to tell us to love on the orphans and the widows, love others, and to keep yourself unstained from the world. In other words, love God more than you love the world. Chapter 2, verse 1, it says, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.

For someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor person dressed in filthy clothes also comes in. If you look with favor on the one wearing the fine clothes and say, sit here in a good place, yet you say to the poor person, stand over there or sit here on the floor by my footstool. Haven't you made distinctions among yourselves and become judges? With evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers and sisters, didn't God choose the poor in this world

to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? Yet you have dishonored the poor. Don't the rich oppress you and drag you into court? Don't they blaspheme the good name that was invoked over you? Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the scripture, love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. If, for example, you show favoritism, you committed sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

For whoever keeps the entire law and yet stumbles at one point is guilty of breaking it all. For he who said, do not commit adultery, also said, do not murder. So if you do commit adultery, or excuse me, if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you are a lawbreaker. Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom. For judgment is without mercy,

to the one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. I really love this book. I love James just because it deals with so many issues that we're seeing today. James in chapter two continues on with this idea of loving others. He tells us in these first 13 verses to not show favoritism. In Jesus's day, and honestly, it's been present ever since the fall. But in Jesus's day, he tells us to not show favoritism.

It was an issue, and it still is an issue today. Only today, we don't really call it favoritism very much. We have another word for it. It's called discrimination. And in James's day, it was as much a problem then as it is now, maybe if not more so. Guzik's commentary points out that favoritism was actually a big part of many cultures of that day. And people were separated

based on nationality. Ethnicity, wealth, and religious background. And if you didn't fit just right into one of those categories, you were pretty well viewed as an outcast. So James is addressing this issue with these Jewish believers that he's writing his letter to. He's also addressing it with us, the church. He says, and I'll paraphrase, he says, don't show favoritism to someone

who walks in with nice clothes and a plaid shirt. He says, don't show favoritism to someone who walks in with nice clothes and a pocket full of money over someone with poor clothes, dirty clothes, and empty pockets. And in doing so, you're committing an awful sin. And instead, just welcome folks with open arms. I've been a part of the Calvary Chapel movement, or Calvary Chapel for about 10 years now. And of course, I wasn't around when

the Jesus movement happened. But from what I've learned about the Jesus movement in the 60s and 70s, it was the hippies, you know, those who didn't dress appropriately, who didn't talk right, who didn't act right, maybe didn't even smell right, I don't know, that started filling the pews of the church. And it was those who were dressed appropriately and tithed every Sunday like clockwork that didn't necessarily want to welcome him. You know, and I'm not sure that was the case for every single church out there, but I'm sure that was the case for at least a few.

I would rather see a room full of people with weird colored hair, tattoos, and piercings who know that they need a savior, over a room full of suits and ties, people who are just looking to check a box and look apart. I understand and hear my heart here. I'm not saying that if you wear a suit and tie to church that you're awful person, that you're not—that you're here to check a box. That's not what I'm saying.

I am saying that I would rather see a room— full of people who realize that they need a savior, no matter what they look like. More than a room full of people who are looking just to check a box and look apart. I would rather see us extend mercy to those who don't look like us. I'd rather see us extend mercy to those who need it, which is all of us, by the way. We all need it. I'd rather see us

extend mercy rather than judgment. Because who are we to determine who is and who isn't good enough for heaven? Who are we to determine who should and should not go to heaven? That's not our job. Our job is to point people to Jesus, to tell them that there is a savior out there that loves them and wants nothing more than to save them, to have that saving relationship with

them. James is telling those who've known nothing but partiality, known nothing but favoritism, to stop showing favoritism, to stop showing partiality. He's telling them to do what they don't normally do, to do what is not natural to them. He's telling them to, he's telling us as believers who by acting upon God's word to love others, to love the unlovable, to show mercy rather than judgment. Why? Because mercy triumphs over judgment. Amen?

Amen. This morning is Communion Sunday, so I'll go ahead and ask the worship team to come on up. And hopefully the ushers are gathering the kids back there. And as the worship team comes up and they kind of start getting prepared, I want to encourage you to do two things. Number one, check your heart. Make sure that you're a believer. Okay? As I said earlier,

if you cannot pinpoint it, you have a time in your life, that you have ever given your life to Jesus, and this isn't for you, I just encourage you to let this tray pass on by. And it's okay. There's absolutely zero judgment. Okay? I just would rather you have your heart right with Jesus before you take communion. Okay? But for you, if that is you, you have a decision to make this morning. What are you going

to do with Jesus? What are you going to do with Jesus? Are you going to surrender your life to Him in a moment? Are you going to allow Him to be your Lord and Savior or not? And if you want to make that decision this morning, if that's you, come and find me after church or come find one of the leaders. Again, we'd be happy to pray, talk it over with you and help you understand what that looks like.

Second thing, check your heart and see if there's sin there. If you're dealing with a sin issue, take this time to confess it. Confess it to Jesus. his forgiveness allow his precious blood to be spilled out allow his precious blood to cover that sin in your life he willingly spilled out so as the ushers go ahead open the door let the kiddos come in just want you to take this time and just kind of do a little self-reflection get your heart right get your heart prepared says for I have received from the Lord what I also passed on to you on the night when he was betrayed the Lord Jesus took bread and when he had given thanks broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way he he also took the cup after

supper and said this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup he proclaimed the Lord's death until he comes understand that it wasn't without Jesus his broken body his blood that he spilled out that we that we were able to have new life once and for all he did it once every sin you've ever committed or will commit it's covered covered by his sacrifice on the cross he took your rightful place on the cross so as we as we partake this morning do this remembrance Jesus you may partake if you bow with me Lord Jesus we just thank you thank you Lord Jesus for taking our rightful place on that cross Lord Lord your word says

that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins and Lord we just thank you that you willingly shed yours out on the cross to cover our sin to cover mine Lord and you did it because you loved us you loved us first Lord we just thank you we do this in remembrance of you or help us to not take it for granted but to to remember what you've done for us Lord and as we leave here today Lord is pray the Holy Spirit go with us continue to minister to us we love you we praise you Jesus name Amen you guys have a wonderful week God bless you