Friday, May 25, 2007

You've Got Mail *


James 1:19-27 ...Everyone should be QUICK TO LISTEN, SLOW TO SPEAK, AND SLOW TO BECOME ANGRY, for MAN'S ANGER DOES NOT BRING ABOUT THE RIGHTEOUS LIFE that GOD DESIRES. Therefore, GET RID of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly ACCEPT THE WORD PLANTED IN YOU, WHICH CAN SAVE YOU. Do NOT merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. DO WHAT IT SAYS. Anyone who listens to the word BUT does NOT do what it says is LIKE a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
BUT THE MAN WHO LOOKS INTENTLY into the PERFECT LAW (THE BIBLE) that gives freedom, and CONTINUES to DO this, NOT FORGETTING WHAT HE HAS HEARD, BUT DOING IT —HE WILL be BLESSED in what he does.

If anyone considers himself religious and yet DOES NOT KEEP A TIGHT REIN ON HIS TONGUE, HE DECEIVES HIMSELF and HIS religion is WORTHLESS.
***RELIGION that GOD our Father ACCEPTS AS PURE AND FAULTLESS is this: to LOOK after ORPHANS and WIDOWS in their DISTRESS and to KEEP ONESELF from BEING polluted by the WORLD.

1. Receive God's Word ("...accept the word Planted in you." Receive the right word with a great attitude.
A) Be Careful: Be quick to listen, slow to speak.)
B) Be Calm: Be slow to become angry.
C) Be Clean: Get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent. (Filth is like the wax in your ear. You need to get rid of it to listen.)
D) Be Compliant: ...Humbly accept the Word planted in you. Be teachable.

2. Reflect on God's Word . (God's Word is like a mirror. A mirror is used as a self-evaluation tool. You look into the mirror and correct things: such as: if your hair is sticking up, you fix it. What good is looking in a mirror, if we don't do what we need to do to change? Reflect on God's Word-the Bible- read it, and change.)
A) Read God's Word: (A Glance doesn't give you what you need. Look for the details in the mirror of the Bible))
B) Review God's Word (Meditation as used in the Bible is to think seriously of something over and over)
C) Remember God's Word (Memorize Scripture)

3. Respond to God's Word: ("Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. DO WHAT IT SAYS." What good is looking in the mirror, if you don't do anything about it-if you don't let what you see-change YOU.

BONUS:
THE TEST OF MATURITY IS CHARACTER.
DO THE SCRIPTURE
DO WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. LET IT BE YOUR LIFE. LET THE BIBLE BE YOUR LIFE.
LIVE THE WORD OF GOD, LET IT CHANGE YOU.
TAKE THE WORD OF GOD AND DO IT
THE greatest literature (THE BIBLE) has SUPERNATURAL POWERS.
The BIBLE is the acting and living - WORD of God
SEE YOUR LIFE through GOD'S WORD.
What is it that God wants me to HEAR?