(307) 733-3706
HomeVisitAboutMinistriesEventsMessagesGive Sign in

Messages

Nov 3rd Service with Guest Speaker Brad Yates

November 3, 2024 · James

Scripture referenced 14 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

  • James 1:19-20 the main text of the sermon, quoted from NASB

    19 So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;

    20 for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.

    World English Bible · Read it in another translation

    Keep this verse

Romans 5

God loved us while we were still enemies

1 Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;

2 through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3 Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance;

4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope:

5 and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

6 For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die.

8 But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.

10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.

11 Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

12 Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned.

13 For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.

14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.

15 But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

16 The gift is not as through one who sinned: for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses to justification.

17 For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.

18 So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life.

19 For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous.

20 The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly;

21 that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Romans 12:1

presenting our lives as a living sacrifice

1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Ephesians 6

putting on the armor of God and standing shield to shield with fellow soldiers

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with a promise:

3 “that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth.”

4 You fathers, don’t provoke your children to wrath, but nurture them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

5 Servants, be obedient to those who according to the flesh are your masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as to Christ;

6 not in the way of service only when eyes are on you, as men pleasers; but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

7 with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men;

8 knowing that whatever good thing each one does, he will receive the same again from the Lord, whether he is bound or free.

9 You masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him.

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

13 Therefore put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having the utility belt of truth buckled around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

15 and having fitted your feet with the preparation of the Good News of peace;

16 above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

18 with all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints:

19 on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Good News,

20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

21 But that you also may know my affairs, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make known to you all things;

22 whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know our state, and that he may comfort your hearts.

23 Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love. Amen.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Ecclesiastes 5

God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few

1 Guard your steps when you go to God’s house; for to draw near to listen is better than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they don’t know that they do evil.

2 Don’t be rash with your mouth, and don’t let your heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

3 For as a dream comes with a multitude of cares, so a fool’s speech with a multitude of words.

4 When you vow a vow to God, don’t defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you vow.

5 It is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.

6 Don’t allow your mouth to lead you into sin. Don’t protest before the messenger that this was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?

7 For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, as well as in many words: but you must fear God.

8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don’t marvel at the matter: for one official is eyed by a higher one; and there are officials over them.

9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all. The king profits from the field.

10 He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase: this also is vanity.

11 When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes?

12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.

13 There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.

14 Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand.

15 As he came out of his mother’s womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.

16 This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind?

17 All his days he also eats in darkness, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath.

18 Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion.

19 Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God.

20 For he shall not often reflect on the days of his life; because God occupies him with the joy of his heart.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

James 3

out of the same mouth come praise and cursing, taming of the tongue

1 Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.

2 For in many things we all stumble. If anyone doesn’t stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.

3 Indeed, we put bits into the horses’ mouths so that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body.

4 Behold, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds, are yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires.

5 So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!

6 And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.

7 For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind;

8 but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God.

10 Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

11 Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water?

12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water.

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic.

16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Exodus 34

God proclaims his name to Moses: compassionate, merciful, slow to anger

1 Yahweh said to Moses, “Chisel two stone tablets like the first. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.

3 No one shall come up with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain. Do not let the flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain.”

4 He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets.

5 Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed Yahweh’s name.

6 Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,

7 keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.”

8 Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.

9 He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go among us; although this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

10 He said, “Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which you are shall see the work of Yahweh; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you.

11 Observe that which I command you today. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

12 Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you:

13 but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherah poles;

14 for you shall worship no other god: for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

15 “Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;

16 and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods.

17 “You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.

18 “You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out of Egypt.

19 “All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.

20 You shall redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb. If you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one shall appear before me empty.

21 “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

22 “You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year’s end.

23 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.

24 For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh, your God, three times in the year.

25 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The sacrifice of the feast of the Passover shall not be left to the morning.

26 “You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of Yahweh your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

27 Yahweh said to Moses, “Write you these words: for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

28 He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.

30 When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.

31 Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.

32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all the commandments that Yahweh had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

33 When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.

34 But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded.

35 The children of Israel saw Moses’ face, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Matthew 21

Jesus cleansing the temple, driving out money changers

1 When they came near to Jerusalem, and came to Bethsphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,

2 saying to them, “Go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them, and bring them to me.

3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,

5 “Tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your King comes to you, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

6 The disciples went, and did just as Jesus commanded them,

7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their clothes on them; and he sat on them.

8 A very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut branches from the trees, and spread them on the road.

9 The multitudes who went in front of him, and those who followed, kept shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

10 When he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”

11 The multitudes said, “This is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

12 Jesus entered into the temple of God, and drove out all of those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers’ tables and the seats of those who sold the doves.

13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers!”

14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.

15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children who were crying in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the son of David!” they were indignant,

16 and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Did you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing babies you have perfected praise?’”

17 He left them, and went out of the city to Bethany, and camped there.

18 Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry.

19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to it, “Let there be no fruit from you forever!” Immediately the fig tree withered away.

20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree immediately wither away?”

21 Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith, and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it would be done.

22 All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

23 When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?”

24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.

25 The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?” They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.”

27 They answered Jesus, and said, “We don’t know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

28 But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’

29 He answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind, and went.

30 He came to the second, and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I’ m going, sir,’ but he didn’t go.

31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into God’s Kingdom before you.

32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn’t even repent afterward, that you might believe him.

33 “Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country.

34 When the season for the fruit came near, he sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his fruit.

35 The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they treated them the same way.

37 But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

38 But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and seize his inheritance.’

39 So they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

40 When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”

41 They told him, “He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the fruit in its season.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes?’

43 “Therefore I tell you, God’s Kingdom will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation producing its fruit.

44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust.”

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke about them.

46 When they sought to seize him, they feared the multitudes, because they considered him to be a prophet.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

1 Peter 2

how Jesus did not insult in return while suffering on the cross

1 Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,

2 as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow,

3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious:

4 coming to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious.

5 You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

6 Because it is contained in Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen, and precious: He who believes in him will not be disappointed.”

7 For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone,”

8 and, “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:

10 who in time past were no people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

11 Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

12 having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.

13 Therefore subject yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether to the king, as supreme;

14 or to governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers and for praise to those who do well.

15 For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:

16 as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.

17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

18 Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the wicked.

19 For it is commendable if someone endures pain, suffering unjustly, because of conscience toward God.

20 For what glory is it if, when you sin, you patiently endure beating? But if, when you do well, you patiently endure suffering, this is commendable with God.

21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps,

22 who did not sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.”

23 Who, when he was cursed, didn’t curse back. When he suffered, didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously.

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.

25 For you were going astray like sheep; but now have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

John 3

Jesus calling Nicodemus to be reborn

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

2 The same came to him by night, and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.”

3 Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.”

4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7 Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’

8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?”

10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things?

11 Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness.

12 If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

13 No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

17 For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.

18 He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

19 This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.

20 For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed.

21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God.”

22 After these things, Jesus came with his disciples into the land of Judea. He stayed there with them, and baptized.

23 John also was baptizing in Enon near Salim, because there was much water there. They came, and were baptized.

24 For John was not yet thrown into prison.

25 There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John’s disciples with some Jews about purification.

26 They came to John, and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, the same baptizes, and everyone is coming to him.”

27 John answered, “A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven.

28 You yourselves testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before him.’

29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.

30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.

32 What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness.

33 He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true.

34 For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure.

35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.

36 One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won’t see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

2 Timothy 2

the call on your life means your life is no longer your own

1 You therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2 The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

3 You therefore must endure hardship, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

4 No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.

5 Also, if anyone competes in athletics, he isn’t crowned unless he has competed by the rules.

6 The farmer who labors must be the first to get a share of the crops.

7 Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.

8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the offspring of David, according to my Good News,

9 in which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. But God’s word isn’t chained.

10 Therefore I endure all things for the chosen ones’ sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

11 This saying is trustworthy: “For if we died with him, we will also live with him.

12 If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us.

13 If we are faithless, he remains faithful. For he can’t deny himself.”

14 Remind them of these things, charging them in the sight of the Lord, that they don’t argue about words, to no profit, to the subverting of those who hear.

15 Give diligence to present yourself approved by God, a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed, properly handling the Word of Truth.

16 But shun empty chatter, for it will go further in ungodliness,

17 and those words will consume like gangrene, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

18 men who have erred concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past, and overthrowing the faith of some.

19 However God’s firm foundation stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.”

20 Now in a large house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of clay. Some are for honor, and some for dishonor.

21 If anyone therefore purges himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, and suitable for the master’s use, prepared for every good work.

22 Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

23 But refuse foolish and ignorant questionings, knowing that they generate strife.

24 The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle towards all, able to teach, patient,

25 in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth,

26 and they may recover themselves out of the devil’s snare, having been taken captive by him to his will.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Romans 12

the call on your life means your life is no longer your own

1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.

2 Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

3 For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.

4 For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function,

5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

6 Having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, if prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith;

7 or service, let us give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching;

8 or he who exhorts, to his exhorting: he who gives, let him do it with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.

10 In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor preferring one another;

11 not lagging in diligence; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

12 rejoicing in hope; enduring in troubles; continuing steadfastly in prayer;

13 contributing to the needs of the saints; given to hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless, and don’t curse.

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.

16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Don’t set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don’t be wise in your own conceits.

17 Repay no one evil for evil. Respect what is honorable in the sight of all men.

18 If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men.

19 Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”

20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

21 Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Romans 14

when you know what to do and don't do it, it is sin

1 Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.

2 One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.

3 Don’t let him who eats despise him who doesn’t eat. Don’t let him who doesn’t eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.

4 Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.

5 One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.

6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks.

7 For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.

8 For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

9 For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

11 For it is written, “‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘to me every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess to God.’”

12 So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.

13 Therefore let’s not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother’s way, or an occasion for falling.

14 I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

15 Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.

16 Then don’t let your good be slandered,

17 for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

18 For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.

19 So then, let us follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up.

20 Don’t overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating.

21 It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.

22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who doesn’t judge himself in that which he approves.

23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn’t of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.

24 Now to him who is able to establish you according to my Good News and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret through long ages,

25 but now is revealed, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known for obedience of faith to all the nations;

26 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

1 Corinthians 15

your labor for the Lord is never in vain

1 Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand,

2 by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.

7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,

8 and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.

9 For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

11 Whether then it is I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.

12 Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.

14 If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.

15 Yes, we are also found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he didn’t raise up, if it is so that the dead are not raised.

16 For if the dead aren’t raised, neither has Christ been raised.

17 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.

18 Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19 If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.

20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep.

21 For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man.

22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s, at his coming.

24 Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power.

25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

27 For, “He put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when he says, “All things are put in subjection”, it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him.

28 When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.

29 Or else what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead aren’t raised at all, why then are they baptized for the dead?

30 Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour?

31 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

32 If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

33 Don’t be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.”

34 Wake up righteously, and don’t sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” and, “With what kind of body do they come?”

36 You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies.

37 That which you sow, you don’t sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind.

38 But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.

39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.

40 There are also celestial bodies, and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial differs from that of the terrestrial.

41 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable.

43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.

45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

46 However that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual.

47 The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.

48 As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

49 As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let’s also bear the image of the heavenly.

50 Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s Kingdom; neither does the perishable inherit imperishable.

51 Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,

52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

53 For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54 But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

55 “Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers,…

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

Brad opened in James 1:19-20, a text so familiar that many Christians treat it like a piece of common wisdom rather than a direct command. His driving concern was that being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry is not a self-improvement tip. It is a call to become more like Christ, and it only happens through genuine heart change, not willpower.

What was said

Brad started by naming a trap he fell into himself. Because James 1:19-20 is so well-known, it is easy to read it as if a modest improvement on your pre-Christian self counts as obedience. He pushed back on that. The text does not say "be somewhat quicker to listen than you used to be." It describes a whole orientation of life, and the question worth sitting with is whether the people closest to you, a spouse, children, coworkers, would actually use those words to describe you.

The reason willpower alone cannot get you there is that it treats the symptom rather than the source. Brad used a plumbing image: no Brita filter turns salt water into fresh water. If sewage is coming through the pipes, you need a new source, not better filters. Spiritual disciplines, quiet time, community, scripture, are not about proving piety. They are ways of staying connected to the right source so that what flows out of you more naturally is what God is calling you toward.

He made this personal. Brad has a quick tongue, something that actually got him ahead in many settings. Culture celebrates sharp wit, the clever comeback, the political "dunk." But at home, as a husband and father, that same quality was doing damage. He was white-knuckling his way around James 1:19, telling himself to stay quiet, while never actually giving that part of his life over to God. Underneath the pattern was a fear of being passive, and that fear was running him rather than the Spirit.

The breakthrough came in recognizing that he did not need to act as the Holy Spirit for his family. He still had to lead, discipline, and engage, but the difference between doing that out of wounded pride and doing it out of grace and wisdom is enormous, even if it looks similar from the outside. God used a stretch of stressful months to surface the sin, and he used Brad's wife, his mentor, and his community group to speak hard truth into it with enough relational equity that it could actually land.

On the specific commands, Brad walked through each one. Being quick to listen means actively seeking to understand, not just waiting for your turn. He described the active listening phrase "what I hear you saying is" as a simple, concrete tool that lowers the temperature in any conversation and makes people feel understood, which he called one of the most direct ways to love your neighbor. Being slow to speak has backing throughout wisdom literature, and he noted that as he has built both of those habits, he finds himself thinking better of the people around him and having deeper relationships.

Slow to become angry does not mean do not be angry. Brad pointed to how God describes himself to Moses as "slow to anger," and to Jesus clearing the temple. The difference is that Jesus was angry for the glory of his Father, not for himself. Human anger aimed at protecting our own pride or preferences does not produce the righteousness God desires. Brad suggested treating your own anger like a loaded gun with the safety off, and for those who really struggle with it, asking honestly whether Jesus would have been angry about the same thing.

He closed by tying the commands back to their only sustainable foundation. We are not better people who then become Christians. We are saved while still enemies, and the right response to that is gratitude and a reoriented purpose. Biblical freedom, he said, is not doing whatever you want. It is having your desires finally aligned with the kingdom of God so that what you want and what glorifies God are the same thing. Everything else, the listening, the silence, the slow anger, flows from remembering what Christ did and what you have been saved into.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

  1. Brad talked about treating a clear biblical command like a 'hot sports opinion' or a piece of optional wisdom. Where have you noticed yourself doing that with 'quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry'?
  2. Brad described the difference between white-knuckling your way toward obedience and letting God reset the foundation of your heart, using the image of needing a new water source rather than a Brita filter. Which of those two approaches do you tend to reach for first, and what does that look like in practice?

and 3 more questions in the guide

Open the study guide

Read the full transcript 6,755 words
0:01 Speaker 2Thanks, Judy. As a treat, Brad and I are going to dance a jig.
0:07 Speaker 1No. I'm kidding.
0:08 Speaker 2But Brad is gonna preach, and I didn't see him earlier. And I thought, oh, no. The pastor's done. I guess it's gonna be one thing this morning. But then he showed up.
0:17 I'm sorry. I doubted you, Brad.
0:19 Speaker 1We've done this every time.
0:21 Speaker 2Can I pray for you? Please. Pray for us. So we pray. I pray for Brad, and I pray for us that we would be recipients open and hearing, listening to what you have to share with us through the word and through Brad's personality.
0:36 And, Lord, there are some helpful and important nuggets and truth right here. Lord, would you give us ears to hear and a heart that is receptive and open and hands and feet to carry it out.
0:49 Speaker 1In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Grown ups should never wear sweatpants outside the house. Ever. Term limits should exist for all elected offices.
1:05 Country music lost its soul twenty years ago. What you don't eat is more important than what you do eat. Instant replay is ruining televised sports. Any steak cooked beyond medium is a waste of a cow and should be illegal. Sweet Cheeks is the best burger in town.
1:25 Taylor Swift, the NBA, Tropical Vacations, and the Godfather are all way overrated. And we need toll booths that charge every car $10 the first time each year it drives into Jackson. And we should never do daylight savings again. Now, have prayed through these convictions, and it is my firm opinion as your head elder that if you do not believe in these, you may not be a Christian. I'm obviously joking.
1:57 Everything I just said could clearly be labeled as what we call a hot sports opinion. And to agree with them or not, it's up to each person. Some of the things that I said are actually helpful in wisdom. Some of them are purposely arbitrary and basically useless. But our warning today is that we as Christians can sometimes take biblical commands straight from scripture, and we can treat them as hot sports opinions.
2:23 Or as if they're wisdom from our mothers saying, don't forget to eat your vegetables. Today, we're going look at James one nineteen through 20. It's one of the first texts that I memorized when I became a Christian. It's so commonplace and so simple that we often tend to drive right past it. And I did for a while.
2:42 Because I heard it like it was a proverb or like it was wisdom. Eat your vegetables. But church, this is not eat your vegetables. This is love your neighbor. This is love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
2:57 Let's look at it now. James one nineteen through 20. I'll read the NASB because we're an NASB church generally, but I'll tend to talk about it in the NIV because that's what's stuck up here. You know this my beloved brothers and sisters. Now everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.
3:13 For a man's anger does not bring about the righteousness of God. What I did wrong with this text for a long time was I assumed that this text was saying that if I was a 10% improvement versus my pre Christian self, that I was fulfilling this command. As if the text were saying, be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. But that's not what it says. What it's saying is we should be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry.
3:49 Is that how people think of you? No. Me too, Salas. Rhetorical questions are next year. That was awesome, buddy.
4:05 No. But if somebody were asked about you, is that a characteristic that they would think of you? Is that what your spouse would say? Or your children? Or your siblings?
4:20 Or your coworkers? If they were asked about you, would they say, oh yeah, they're quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. Because that's what we're being called to. We're called to be like Christ. And I wanna warn us, because this is one of those texts that we can be tempted to white knuckle our way into it.
4:39 That we can just go be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. And if you do that, you'll actually get a little bit better at it. But if instead, if you allow God to change your heart, if you give this up to him, if you allow him to reset the foundations of your soul, allow him to put living water through you, that is what will come out of you more naturally. If I have a bad if I have bad water flowing into the pipes in my house, no amount of Brita filters is going to turn salt water into fresh water. I need to connect to a new source.
5:18 If I have sewage coming up through the pipes, so that when I turn on the sink, what comes out of the tap is sewage, I need to disconnect from those pipes and connect to the right ones. I need the living water to flow through my house. And I lived in that first paradigm for a while. I have a tendency to want to put Brita filters on salt water in order to produce fresh water. And some of that is because it's so much easier for me personally to feel useful for God than it is to feel beloved by him.
5:48 And maybe you can identify with that. But if I reset my heart each day and throughout the day, if I remind myself of the truth that God died for me not when I was useful for him, but when I was still an enemy as Paul says in Romans five. Then I remember that God's love for me is regardless of circumstances, regardless of my performance. So I tend to work towards things, checklists and categories and things like that, instead of resetting the foundations. That's my natural want.
6:22 But instead, I remind myself of the truth. Because discipline for the sake of discipline is actually not helpful. It builds up my pride, it builds up my religiosity. I'll think of myself as moral and others as less so. But the irony is, there are disciplines that can lead me closer to my relationship with the Lord.
6:45 And I just have to make sure, I have to check my heart to make sure I'm doing it for the right reasons. For example, my quiet time is not to prove my piety to myself, to God, or to anyone else. My quiet time, like any other spiritual discipline, is so that I might be drawn nearer to the Lord. And I'd made a lot of progress on this since I became a Christian. Versus my before Christ self, I was quicker to listen, slower to speak, slower to become angry.
7:18 And I thought I was good. But God in his kindness was not done working on me. And my honest prayer for you guys, like it or not, has been that he's not done working on you guys either. C. S.
7:33 Lewis has this great quote that is, a, I have to quote C. S. Lewis, and b, it's too helpful not to get into here. Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house.
7:44 At first, perhaps you can understand what he's doing. He's getting the drains right, stopping the leaks in the roof and so on. You knew that those jobs needed doing it, so you're not surprised. But presently, he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is he up to?
7:59 The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one that you thought of. He's throwing out a new wing here. He's putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage. But God is building a palace, and he intends to come and live in it himself.
8:21 So let's make this real and concrete and really uncomfortable for me. And I'll give you an example from my life that echoes what Lewis is talking about here. Because I have a quick tongue, always have. Got me in a lot of trouble in school, sometimes at work. Because I have a tendency to speak quickly, without thinking and without a filter.
8:44 And what's really interesting is it actually got me ahead a lot a lot in life. And yet, when we look in our culture and compare it to what's in what's in scripture, they're at odds. James one and James three here, as well as all throughout the text, make clear out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?
9:13 James talks a lot about the taming of the tongue. And yet, I was finding myself getting ahead because of my quick wit or my sharp tongue. Think about what our culture celebrates as cool. Basically, every successful TV show or movie is based around some character that's got a quick wit or sharp tongue. Or think about the politicians that we tend to like.
9:37 The clips that we send around, it's when the politician that we like dunks on the other one, has a quick slam as a comeback for somebody. It's not the thoughtful kindness that we tend to celebrate. Church, I think it seems way more important to us to be thought of as clever, or smart, or funny than it does to be thoughtful, or caring, or patient. So I got in a lot of trouble because of this tongue and the brain attached to it. But what was really interesting was I also got ahead a lot.
10:13 What I learned through that process is everybody kind of loves a smart out. Except where you know where they don't? Is at home, as a husband and as a father. This sharp tongue and this dry wit, it's not a lot of fun to be married to or to be parented by. And I knew that, So, I white knuckled my way around.
10:35 I'd say, shut up Brad. James one nineteen, quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. I actually thought that on a really regular basis. And what I realized was that I had not given this part of my life over to God. And what a weird thing to hold back.
10:48 Because when I think about giving things over to God, I tend to think of it, oh, you know, how am am I being godly in the way that I'm stewarding my finances, or my calendar, or my talents? I wasn't thinking about giving over my sharp tongue and my quick wit over to the Father for Him to solve it. And really what was going on there was I wasn't trusting in God's sovereignty. I had this subtle and unexamined fear that was driving my behavior, that things would not go as I wanted. And to be honest with you, I am terrified of being a passive husband and father.
11:26 Terrified. Like, I would rather basically anything else be said about me. And that's a fear. And that was motivating me and driving me. So I could be light hearted and easy going one minute, and then something would set me off, and I would snap, and man, I could hurt people.
11:43 And it wasn't godly. And yet, I could I could go, okay, that wasn't it. That wasn't that wasn't of God. That was of Brad. And so I'd confess, I'd repent, I'd try to make amends, but it still hurt people.
12:00 And in a particularly stressful few months, was happening more and more. Because when we get stressed or busy, our sinful tendencies tend to
12:07 Speaker 2come
12:07 Speaker 1forward. We might not be what we think of as our best selves, and I think you guys know what I'm talking about when I say But for illustration purposes, let's imagine what you're like on vacation. Real vacation, like without kids. Because if you take your kids traveling, it's not a vacation, that's a trip. I haven't done this in a few years, but one can dream.
12:35 But let's imagine I'm on a vacation, and I'm in La Jolla with Natalie, it's nice Saturday morning. I've had a long interrupt uninterrupted quiet time. I've spent time talking to my bride. I've got a great day ahead of me. We call and we do a check-in call with whoever's watching my children tied to a stake in the front yard.
12:57 And the adult's talking, and Jack interrupts him, and then starts talking over his sister to justify something he had done wrong that morning. Now, if I'm on vacation and I haven't been dealing with that, I am patient, I'm kind my dear eldest son, let us talk about the way, you know, you speak in the King James. Let us talk about the ways that we can glorify God with our tongues. Might pray through it, might even talk about this text, is something of a family verse. Now compare that with a normal weekday.
13:30 Let's say it's been a particularly stressful few weeks. Maybe I've had ministry or an elder meeting or kids sports the night before. I wake up way earlier than I want to to check-in on markets. I I I rush through a perfunctory quiet time. I haven't reset my heart.
13:47 And then I'm and then I'm working. And I'm working from home, and I'm placing trades, analyzing markets, whatever. And I hear it from the other room. I hear Jack interrupting Natalie and talking over Abby to justify something. In my flesh, I gotta I gotta shut this down right now.
14:06 Pop up from my desk, pop the door open, boom, the dad voice, hey, cut it out. I've quelled the insurgent uprising, and peace and harmony have been restored to the village. Except, I didn't value the relationship with anybody in the house. Natalie feels cut off at the knees, Jack feels crushed by his father, and Abby Abby probably enjoyed it. But she gets funny too.
14:39 But you get the point. I didn't value the relationship with anybody in the house. And here was a big breakthrough for me. I don't have to be the Holy Spirit for my wife and for my children. I can let God be God.
14:57 Now, that doesn't mean I get to check out. I still have to be a leader. I'm going to be held to account by God for how I lead that family. But I can let God be God and I can trust in his sovereignty. So I'm not gonna check out.
15:11 I still have to discipline. I still have to rebuke. I still have to lead well. But the difference is I can do it with the long term view and I can do it out of grace and wisdom and love. Instead of reacting to affronts to my ego, my pride, or how I think things should go.
15:27 And I tell you that's a subtle difference, but man, it's big. And really, it's about trusting in God for that outcome. And that's what I wasn't doing. I wasn't trusting in Him. I had my own little vision for how God was going to be building the cottage that was our family instead of allowing Him to build a palace.
15:50 Fathers and husbands in particular, does that strike a chord with you? Because the more I've talked about it at our Thursday lunch study, for all for any men, or I've talked about it with the other elders, or I've talked about it with my community group, more men have gone, Yeah, me too. Now, did God cause me to sin? No. Absolutely not.
16:12 But can God use my sin, bring it to the surface, make it visible, so that in working through it, I might be sharpened, might become more like Christ, and then I can share it with you guys and encourage you guys in it. Glorify God and encourage you. Absolutely. And that's in God's grace what he was doing. And I am so thankful that I had a wife that loved me, loved Jesus, and knew scripture.
16:40 And that we were surrounded in the company of other Christians, similarly talented, that loved me and wanted to enter into this in a caring and gentle way. Because you know what isn't fun? Having your mentor, having your wife, having your closest friends gather around, tell you what's wrong with you. Basically felt like surgery without anesthesia. Just laying open my flesh, so that we could all take a good look at the cancerous growth of my impatience and my anger, and my anger inside of me.
17:16 But they were delicate and they were loving, and because we meet together so often, pray together so often, we had the relational equity that they could tell me hard truths in a loving way and I knew that they were for me. And that's why I'm so passionate about community groups. Romans twelve one calls us to calls us to make our lives a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. But you know the problem with a living sacrifice is when you put it on a table, it tends to wiggle off the altar. And that was me.
17:46 But I had my friends in community that would call me back into this, and it only works in community. For example, Ray is the most gifted pastoral leader I have ever seen. The way that he loves people is astonishing to me. Oh. I know, Carter.
18:08 And but if I have to depend on Ray to do this work with me, let's say Ray and I don't meet together all the time. Let's say we only know each other. And I walk into his office and I'm all of a sudden aware that I need help on this problem. Ray doesn't have the time, he doesn't have the context, and he doesn't have the relational equity with me to do the hard work that I need to be done in order to become more like Christ in this aspect. And that's why we need community around us.
18:39 To borrow from Ephesians six, you can choose to put on the armor of God. You need to do so before the battle begins. Right? Because if the arrows start flying while you're still naked, you're dead. So you can put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation.
18:59 And I would add, you need fellow soldiers shield to shield with you. Because if you put all that on and you step out in a battle by yourself, you're dead. You don't last the first salvo. And remember the shields that Paul's talking about there aren't the round shields that we see in gladiator or brave heart or the running that are for sword fights one on one. We're talking the big Roman shields.
19:19 That's what Paul's evoking the image of. The ones where I can cover half of myself and half of the man next to me, and the man next to me covers half of me. And so, he's covering my unguarded flank. And so, together, we've set up this impenetrable wall, and we can gain territory together as one. And God used other other believers to cover my unguarded flank, and I am so grateful for it.
19:44 But we have to come at these things out of the right way, out of the right motivation, that's deeper than willpower. Because willpower runs out. We have to come at it out of love and gratitude. Said another way, we're not better people and then become Christians. We are Christians.
20:01 We are saved by Christ when we are still his enemy. And then in response to the love and the grace and the mercy that he's shown us, we go, alright, I'm gonna do what he says. Here's a radical idea straight from scripture. What if we all actually just committed to doing what the Bible said? What if our scripture was really clear with these commands?
20:23 We just said, okay God, quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. I'm a work on it. We can say to God, okay God, you say it. And because you're God and I'm not, and because of what you've done for me, I'm going to trust you in this. But God, I can't do this alone.
20:43 I can't do it in my own strength. I have to trust in you. Will you will you strengthen my heart? Will you give me a new heart? Will you give me a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit?
20:52 Will you surround me with other Christians that want the same thing? Guys, pray that prayer. If that if that rings true to you, stop listening to me. You're fine. Pray that prayer.
21:05 But be willing to do whatever God calls you into next. Because for example, when you pray for patience, God doesn't just level up your patience score like this is a video game. No, he gives you situations where you can grow in patience or where he can show you your sin. Okay. So that's my twenty minute intro.
21:29 We'll be fine. Simple text. We're gonna look at it three ways, what, how and why. And there's three commands here for the what. Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry.
21:45 Quick to listen. Are you actually seeking to understand those around you? Or are you just waiting for your turn to talk? There's a big difference between the two. Listening is others focused.
22:01 You might say loving your neighbor, like Jesus called us to. Because is there any easier way? Is there any lower hanging fruit to feeling loved than by being understood? It's so simple, and it's so against our nature. Here's a good litmus test that I would Natalie and I were taught in premarried counseling years ago, that we actually implement in our lives, and that we teach anytime we do marriage counseling.
22:31 It's called the active listening technique. Some of you guys are familiar with this, But I'm telling you, it changes lives. And here's the whole thing. You can read an entire book about it, or you can just start doing this one phrase. What I hear you saying is That's it.
22:49 That's the difference between listening and waiting for your turn to speak, is you say back to the person what they were trying to communicate. Try it the first time as a dry run. You can warn them so that it doesn't feel as awkward. When you're figuring out where to go eat after this, you say, what I hear you saying is, you want to go to the verge because you like Amy. Whatever it is.
23:15 But then when you're in conflict, do the same thing. What I hear you saying is, when I say x, you feel y, and I was unaware of that. And then let them correct you if need be. What I hear you say they no. No.
23:32 No. That's not what I was trying to say. But you will be astonished at how much it brings down the temperature in the room for you to understand them and for them to feel understood. It makes a massive difference. What I hear you saying is.
23:49 And then don't just do it with your spouse or with your friends, do it at the office. Do it with those you disagree with. You want to bring down the temperature in an animated conversation about something that's going on in the world? What I hear you saying is, you're not telling them they're right, you're making them feel understood. And that's loving your neighbor.
24:14 That's having humility. And as Ray says, having humility looks great on everyone. Somebody recently told me that beards are just makeup for men. Having worn a beard for twenty years, I can tell you it's pretty much true. Without a beard, I basically look like a turtle without its shell.
24:32 I'm cold and vulnerable. I don't like it. But you know what looks better on me than a beard is humility. And you can groan inwardly as much as you want. It's okay.
24:44 I know it's cheesy. But it's true. It's so
24:49 Speaker 2true.
24:52 Speaker 1Similar to quick to listen, we can have humility and we can be slow to speak. My friend Caleb was helping me prep this message and he reminded me of Ecclesiastes five, which I don't have on the screen. But it's God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. Guys, that's pretty straightforward. God's in heaven, you're on earth, so let your words be few.
25:12 Here's some other text from wisdom literature that say basically the same thing. It's all what I'm showing you is it's all over the place. Stop talking. It's simple, but it's hard, and I'm working on it. But I'm noticing that as I build these two disciplines in the Holy Spirit, that I'm actually starting to think better of the people around me.
25:37 I'm starting to understand them more, even the ones that I disagree with sometimes. So I have deeper relationships with people, and I'm finding it easier to love them. That just kinda sounds like a better life. Like who doesn't want that? And this is one of those things where we should do it because God commands us to, but the side benefits are just a better life.
26:03 And then, we do slow to become angry. And this is the hardest one, because this is the one where you're most pushing against that visceral reaction, that affront to your pride or to your sin. This is the one where if you're not resetting the foundation of your life, you're not going to do it. You have to change the water source that's flowing into your house, as I talked about earlier. So, we're going to talk about this more in the how, but the what here necessitates a a critical point, which you see that it says slow to become angry.
26:35 It does not say, do not be angry. And this was a really big breakthrough for me in taking this text more seriously in that heartbeat. Because human anger, why? Because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. But it's human anger that does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
26:54 This was a big breakthrough for me. This is how God describes himself. This is part of the name of God as he is explaining himself to Moses. Moses has asked God to show himself to him, and God says, no, even seeing my glory will kill you. But he hides Moses in the cleft of the rock, he passes in front of him in the form of a cloud and he and and the Lord tells Moses his very name.
27:20 The Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in faithfulness and truth, who keeps faithfulness for thousands, forgives wrongdoing, violation of his law and sin, and yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Slow to anger. Same phrase. So when God is calling us to be slow to anger, he is calling us to be like him. That's how we were made to be.
27:53 When James is telling us what to do, how to be more like Christ, he says slow to anger. This is not just about becoming a better version of ourselves. This is not a multivitamin, or a discipline, or a gym membership. This is about heart change. This is about becoming more like Christ.
28:06 And Jesus did get angry. Matthew two and Matthew 21. Matthew records two different cleansings of the temple. Chasing out of the money changers and the tax collectors. Yeah.
28:21 But here's the thing, Jesus was zealous not for himself, but for the glory of his father and his house. So if you think back to my discussion from anger earlier, my tendency was to be angry for myself and my desires or or even that which I thought was right. But if I'm trusting in my own wisdom and discernment, I'm still trusting in myself. So basically, the only thing that I can be angry for safely is a direct affront to God or his justice. Even then, I need to be really careful when doing so that it doesn't turn into self righteousness.
29:04 Because that leads me right back out of it. Because Jesus was the most righteous man of all time. He actually had grounds for being angry when he was mistreated. I do not. And yet this is how Jesus is described by the by the disciple and apostle Peter of what Jesus was like on the cross.
29:25 While being abusively insulted, he did not insult in return. While suffering, he did not threaten, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Can the same be said of you? Or of me? I'm not righteous.
29:44 I'm not perfect. And I wasn't on a cross. And yet when I'm insulted, that's not my that's not my knee jerk reaction. I got work to do. Because anger is a powerful fuel.
29:58 God gave us anger for a reason. We can use anger to achieve the purposes of God's kingdom. But just like a gun or a fire can be both life giving or incredibly destructive, we can think similarly about our anger. I think everybody in here doesn't take a lot of imagination to think about what happens when you misuse a power tool, or a gun, or fire. We can think about our anger similarly.
30:26 We should treat our anger, I want you to think of it, like a loaded gun with the safety off. You treat it with that same level of precision, and care and alertness. Now, for a few of us in the room that particularly struggle with anger, give me a minute because I want to speak just to you. If this is your key issue, if this is your key struggle, your safest bet is to treat all anger as if it's sinful. Do not fall into the temptation to self justify, because we all kind of want to protect a couple of things about us.
31:04 So if you struggle with anger and you find yourself getting angry, go, hey, was that for God or was that for me? What what was the root of that there? Or here's one that caught me off sides a bunch when I was going through this period. Would Jesus have gotten angry about that? Would Jesus have gotten angry about what I just got angry about?
31:33 That one got me. Now, I'm aware of what the date is. The elections this week. I taught back in June, out of first Peter two again, about a right view of submission to government and how we should view politics in view of the kingdom of God. But I want to add a quick comment here as it relates to today's message.
31:55 Because if you are self righteous in your political view, if you are quick to speak, if you are slow to listen, if you are quick to become angry around politics, Christian, I'm telling you, you're doing it wrong. You're gonna see this week many self proclaimed Christians ranting and raving in anger, either into an echo chamber or just into the void. And I'm telling you church, don't you do it. That's violating a clear command of scripture. Instead, engage everyone with the love and grace and mercy that God has shown you.
32:36 Show them the truth of the gospel. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry in all things. And frankly, I would recommend at this point not even engaging in politics. It's like forty eight hours. You ain't convincing anybody.
32:52 Instead, preach the gospel with your lives. I was convicted by the idea recently. If our religious freedoms were taken away tomorrow, would it really change many of our lives that much? If the doors of this church were locked forever, would that make a big difference in most of our lives? I don't know that it would.
33:24 So here's a heart check. Have you been praying for both? We'll just focus on the presidential candidates because that's the one that gets the most press. Have you been praying for both of the pull of the presidential candidates to have a saving faith in Jesus Christ as a work of the Holy Spirit? Have you prayed for Kamala Harris and for Donald Trump to come to know Jesus?
33:47 If that's not your impulse, or if you're mad at me for saying so, I'm saying check your heart church. Because I'm talking about clear commands in scripture to pray for our leaders whether or not we agree with them. You wanna see change in this country? Let God change the hearts of our leaders. Make them radical followers of Jesus Christ.
34:12 So you can join me. I pray at 11:06. I was standing back there with Baldock when the alarm went off. At 11:06 every day, I have an alarm on my phone that goes off that says Donald Trump and Kamala Harris salvation. And when we know the results of the election, I'm gonna change the names a little bit.
34:27 But I'm gonna pray for their salvation. I'd ask you to join me as well. Because like our text says, human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires, but God's wrath does. God's wrath is real and it is holy, and it is coming to every single person apart from Christ. Guys, everybody that you see day to day, political candidate, person standing next to you in line, or the person that you see getting coffee, they are eternal and they are made in God's image.
35:00 This nation, this state, these beautiful mountains that drew so many of us here, they're not eternal and they're not made in God's image. People are. God's wrath is coming. So how do we do this? How do we do this impossible task?
35:21 Because this is impossible. You can go to anger management, that's just tips and techniques. We're talking about resetting the heart. Because here's the very core of so much of scripture. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve, and he calls us to do so accordingly.
35:42 Only when we know what he did for us can we truly follow him in it. So, no surprise to you guys, I categorize everything. Right? How do we get to remind ourselves that we are reborn as Christ called Nicodemus to be in John three? I look at it as gratitude and purpose.
36:04 For gratitude, you have to know what you were saved from and what it cost your savior. You remind yourself of that every day and throughout the day. That's that's heart rebirth. That's that's regeneration. And then gratitude and then so that's gratitude.
36:19 And then purpose. You have to know what you've been saved into. Second Timothy two, first Peter two, Romans 12, Romans 14, rightly applied so much of scripture makes it clear that the call on your life means that your life is no longer your own. And that is a blessing and that is great news because modern life is exhausting and seemingly pointless. But Paul makes clear in first Corinthians 15 that if you labor for the Lord, your labor is never in vain.
36:52 This is the difference between being exhausted as a Christian and having joy, And we are commanded to have joy. Once you open your eyes to it, it's all you can see because the Bible is a book of joy. What we're called to is not burdensome. We're called to joy. Church, you've been saved so that you've been set free.
37:14 But we need a biblical definition of freedom to think about this rightly. Because a biblical definition of freedom is not that you just do whatever you want. That's anarchy. A biblical definition of freedom is that your desires are finally aligned with the kingdom of God. So you get to do what you want to do, and what you want to do is what glorifies God.
37:34 That's freedom in light of the in light of the gospel. So in conclusion church, we must be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. Why? Because a man's anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Romans 14 says, that when we know what to do and don't do it, it's sin for us.
37:56 So if you're feeling convicted in this moment, that there's some step of repentance or faithfulness that you need to walk into, don't ignore that conviction. If you ignore that conviction until after lunch, it will be gone. I think we've all experienced that at some point in our lives. So don't ignore the opportunity. Step into it in faith today.
38:18 Talk to someone. Confess your sin to someone. Have a reconciling conversation. Apologize to someone. And then take the next step
38:26 Speaker 2in faithfulness.
38:26 Speaker 1Because it's the enemy that says to you, don't confess. Don't tell anybody about this thing. Don't ask for repentance or reconciliation. They won't understand. They'll think less of you.
38:35 They'll think of you as weak. But church, if we do it right, we won't be more materially blessed. We won't be thought of as cool or sharp witted or quick or any of those things, but we will have deeper and more loving relationships, and we will be more Christ like in our day to day lives. When Jesus went to the Garden Of Gethsemane, he begged God if there was any other way than going to the cross. And the father said to Jesus, not if you're gonna save them.
39:06 For all of human history, God had said to his people, if you will obey me, I will bless you. But to Jesus in the garden, he said, if you obey me and go to this tree, I will crush you. And Jesus said, okay, father, not my will, but yours be done. And God crushed him in that obedience. Cursed is he who hangs on a tree.
39:28 But church, the best news ever is that Jesus now sits at the right hand of the throne of God in victory and death has been defeated. And so if I will but take up my cross and follow him, I will become more like him every day. And then one day, I'll be made like him in the twinkling of an eye. And there will be no more death, no more despair, no more disease, no more pride. Because when I finally get to worship my creator face to face, I'm gonna be pretty slow to speak.
39:58 I'm gonna be pretty quick to listen. And I won't have any anger because I won't have any pride, but I will glorify God on that day. And until then, we're called to live with the purpose. To live in view of the kingdom of God in every aspect that we do. So church until then, we can be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry.
40:19 Don't ignore the conviction if you feel there's a next step in faith. Let's pray together. Let's worship together. And then let's go out those doors and have a great week of glorifying our God. Thank you.
40:40 Speaker 2Would you stand? We'll join. I'd love to sing together and we'll make this our prayer and our song. Cleanse me
40:47 Speaker 1from Psalm one thirty.

Share this message

Every word on these came out of the message. Download one and post it anywhere.

Scripture

Written up from the message given at First B Jackson. If something here reads oddly, the recording is the record.

Come find us

90 West Kelly Ave, Jackson, WY 83001 · Sundays at 9:00 and 11:00 am

Sign in to save messages and keep notes

Written up by Recap Sunday