If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” James 1:26-27
Good Morning my beloved,
Welcome to worship this Lord’s day! We’re so glad to have our brothers and sisters from around the world here with us today. Please know, that we continue to lift all of you up in our prayers. We would ask that you would do the same for us. We would also appreciate if you would share our website with all of your family and friends. We again would like to encourage you to visit our Prayer Wall, not only to pray for our brothers and sisters in their time of need, but to also add any prayers or concerns that you may have.
There are many people in the Church today approach spiritual truth with a hearer’s mentality, receiving God’s Word only passively. I submit to you that only hearing is unregenerate. It is no better than unbelief or outright rejection of God’s Word. The person who hears the Word, and does not have the proper heart response, that which has been sown cannot bear fruit.
All true believers are doers of the Word. When we divorce ourselves from meaningful obedience, our hearing is worthless.I believe that we need to drop the mask that we so often don and realize that we all struggle with the issue of sin. People often assume that pastors don’t understand the concept of struggling with such issues, when in fact, we do understand and struggle with the same issues as everyone else. We must come to the Word of God being honest with ourselves, our situation and willingness to be taught and corrected. It’s all too easy to make a profession of faith; it’s quite another thing to put that faith into practice.
Believers often fail, sometimes miserably, yet, even when we fail, true believers will not altogether cease having the disposition and motivation of one who is an effectual doer.
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father,
Father, we thank You for this Word, for this wonderful reminder that holy obedience to You begins with love. It is nurtured by prayer, and purified by our detachment from the world’s unholiness.Lord, help us to take an accurate inventory of ourselves. Lord, we pray for those who find the absence of loving compassion in their heart toward those in need. We pray that You would bring the gospel of Christ to bear on those hearts and bring them to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the Savior, that there would be a new heart of true regeneration. May we all leave today with the freshness of a new soul and may we offer You our deepest gratitude. Make us to be a people whose attitude and heart toward those in need reveals us to be hearers of the world who also do. May we offer up our thanks and praise to You Lord, the redeemer of our hearts, because those are not the desires of our old heart.
In Christ’s name we pray
Amen
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