In James the first chapter and
the twenty second verse we're beginning new series
this morning. Are you ready? Here's our text, I believe this
will be our main text for some time. James 1:22. It says, "But be ye doers of the
Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." Everybody read that out loud
with me please. Together: But be ye doers of the
Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. Is there a danger, a problem, of
hearing and not doing? Do you suppose a lot of people
have heard a lot of things but are not doing half of what they
heard and what they know? What's the result of that? Did you see that? What's the result? "Be doers of the Word not
hearers only, deceiving your own selves." Now, this is not devil deceived. This is not some other man or
woman deceived you. Who deceived you? You deceived yourself. By what? By not doing what you heard. What you heard, what you saw,
what you knew. So the title of this series is
Walking In The Light. And I believe it's the will of
God and I believe everyone of us can by the grace of God be doers
of the Word. What if we had a whole church
full of people here at Faith Life Church that were not just
hearers and talkers and yakkers, but they were -- how many would
like to have the reputation where they say, "Boy, I tell you
what. That Faith Life Church is the
"doingest" bunch of folks. They are not all talk and hot
air, they do. They, they put the pedal to the
metal. They put boots on the ground. They do it. They get 'er done." How many think that's a good
thing? That's a good thing? Well, go ahead and say it by
faith and say it out loud, "I am by the grace of God a doer of
the Word, not a hearer only." Let's keep reading. He describes how this happens
that a person hears and doesn't do and deceived themselves. He said in verse twenty-three,
"For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like
unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass," but we
probably say in the mirror. "For he beholds himself, and
goes his way, and straightway," right away he, "forgets what
manner of man he was," or what he saw. What's the problem? He or she forgets what they saw. Now, here's the issue. You're looking and you see with
detail, like looking in the mirror at your own face, you
know exactly what you're seeing, but you can go way and within
minutes forget what you saw. In order to be a doer of the
Word you have to remember what you heard. Say it out loud, "To be a doer
of the Word you remember what you heard." You have to remember it. What does that mean? You have to remember it past the
Sunday morning message. You have to remember it past
Sunday afternoon. You have to remember it Sunday
morning. Right? And three weeks from then you
have to have it in mind, remember it. Because if you forget it, you're
not going to do it. You're not going to do what you
forget. I was talking earlier this
morning about being in the Spirit. You know, you can fall into a
trance, or you can be caught up in the Spirit and be totally
unaware of natural things, but that's the exception rather than
the rule. You can be more in the Spirit
than you realize that you are. I know there's been numerous
times that the Lord would speak something to my heart and man,
it's so real to me, it's so clear to me and the thought
crossed my mind, maybe you should write that down. And I think man, I'm not going
to forget this. What are you laughing about? This is so clear and so plain to
me. No way am going to forget this. And in just a couple of hours
I'm thinking, what was that? I mean, it's like I'm not even
in the same county with it anymore. See, what had happened was at
that time I was more in the Spirit, I was more aware of God. More aware of His Spirit. Now I've gotten more back into
the flesh and it's gone from me. I'm totally unaware. Can you see that happens all the
time, so we must make an effort to remember what we saw. Remember what we heard. So we write it down. Now I have these little voice
recorders. I have one in my truck. I have one in my briefcase. I got one by my bed. Because I've missed stuff and
I'm stopping that. Actually, the Lord one time --
He has given me, I don't know if you understand this or not - -
you may think it's bragging but it's not because it's not me. He has given me some of the best
revelation, some of the richest things. I didn't come up with it, He
gave it to me. And how many think that you
should value it when He gives you something? Whether He gives it to you
through me or He just give it to you directly, should you value
it? Should you think it's precious? In fact, years ago the Lord
corrected me because one of those things that happened - -
He had given me some things and I had lost them and let them get
away from me. And gave me something else that
was just a pearl, just rich. And He said to me, "You don't
think enough of that to even write it down?" I thought, "Oh, Lord. Yes. Sorry. Yes, Sir." I got to scrambling for a pen. So should we make an effort,
must we make an effort to remember? Somebody say, "Remember." Remember. If you're going to be a doer of
the Word, tell me again, you have to what? You have to remember what you've
heard. You're not going to do what you
forgot. You have to keep it before you. And that can be a bit
challenging because you're in here and the music is great, and
the Spirit of God is strong, and you're surrounded by faith and
Believers, but then you get outside and get in the world,
and you get on-the-job, you get this and that, and you're
surrounded by something else. And you can let it get away from
you. But how many know that if you
will, you can lay fast hold of it? And if you keep it in front of
your face. You can remind yourself twenty
times a day about it, right? Keep it in front of you and that
is essential to being a doer of the Word. Keep reading. He went on to say in verse
twenty-five, "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of
liberty," well, that's a wonderful description of the
Word of God, of the revelation of the Gospel. What is it? It's perfect. And it's the law. It works every time. How many know a law works every
time for everybody? The law of gravity works for
everybody regardless of gender, color, age, education. You jump off the house, whoosh,
you go down. It works for everybody. Right? Well, the Word of God, the law,
the law, everybody say, "Law." The law of what? What a glorious law. Law of getting free. Law of getting free, works for
everybody regardless. The perfect law of liberty. If you look into it -- and
here's the key and you do what? You have to continue -- you
remember it, you keep it, you stay with it Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, you stay with it, you continue, "Being
not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man,"
this man, this man, "shall be blessed in His deed." In what he does. I volunteer to be this man. How about you? Do you volunteer and say I
volunteer to be this man? Who is this man? This man is one who doesn't
forget it. This man remembers it, and
continues in it, and stays in it, and he is blessed. Blessed. That means he is empowered. Anointed and empowered to
overcome and to win and receive, prosper. Be blessed and be a blessing. This man. This man. Are you this man? Yeah. Yeah. The doer of the Word of God. Turn with me to Ezekiel the
thirty third chapter. Ezekiel 33:30. Listen to this. He said, "Also, thou son of man,
the children of your people still are talking against you by
the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to
another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray
you, and hear what is the Word that comes forth from the Lord." That sounds good, doesn't it? Brother, come let's hear what
the Word of the Lord is. Let's come. Verse thirty-one, "And they come
unto you as the people cometh, and they sit before you as My
people, and they hear your Words," read the rest of it with
me. Together: "But they will not do
them." They what? They want to hear it, they want
to hear the message and they come, and they get dressed, and
they sit and they listen, and they go oh glory, we want to
hear. But they will not do them. "For with their mouth they show
much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness. And, lo, you are," the man of
God, the minister, you are, "unto them as a very lovely song
of one that has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an
instrument: for they hear your Words," but what? "But they do them not." They won't do it. They like to hear it, they want
to hear it, but they won't do it. Is that a problem? You reckon it's a problem in the
church today? We live in the entertainment
age, don't we? Information, entertainment age. Oh man, you have all these
hundreds of channels on TV. You have all these untold number
of sites on the web. You have all of these actors and
movies and concerts. And people are just -- you know
there's just an overload almost of something to watch and to
hear. But, people feel like they've
done something if they watched it and heard it. But that's not doing anything. So they feel like they hear it,
and they watch it, or they may clap, or they laugh at the joke,
or they cry at the drama, and they feel like I've done
something. No, that's not doing anything. Do you understand? You didn't do a thing. You sat there and watched
something and listened to something. And the problem is people,
Christians, have brought that thing into the church. They thought I got up, I got
ready, I combed my hair or didn't, I showed up and I raised
my hand and clapped. I said hallelujah and I heard
it. And now I'll go home. I did something. Did you? What did you do? See, we got millions of folk
that feel like they've done something because they heard or
they saw. No, it's after you hear, now
what are you going to do? And so it's become popular,
people think all there is to Christianity and all there is to
going to church and ministry is talking. We just talk and oh brother,
we've got some talkers in our midst. Ministers can be some of the
worst. I mean, I've had ministers,
bless their hearts, if you let them they'll keep you on the
phone for an hour or two or three yakkety, yakkety, yak. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk,
talk, talk. And think about it, there's all
these folks that with all this stuff they have this strong
convictions about, and all these things that they were going to
do and thought about doing, and now they've already left the
earth. Never did any of it. I want you think about this. If you're needing to do it, is
that the same as you not doing it? You're not doing anything. "Yeah, but I have to do it." Same as not doing it. "I'm going to do it." You're not doing anything. Right? What does it mean I have to do
it? Nothing. I have to do it. Means nothing. It's not true. You can go all your life and not
do it. The Bible tells us several times
in the New Testament that we're going to be, all of us, are
going to be judged according to our works. Have you read that in the Bible? Time after time you'll be judged
according to your work. Not your intentions. Not your convictions. Not your persuasion. But what you actually did. Now people will say, "Well, the
Lord knows my heart." Exactly. He does. But it may mean something
different than what you think. "Well, the Lord knows my --"
Yeah, He knows what you do and don't do shows your heart. It shows what's in your heart. If you intended, intended,
intended and never got around to it, it showed there was
something in your heart not right. That there was stuff to you that
was more important than doing what He told you to do. People have some confusion about
this. We're not going to be judged by
our intentions or by our plans or convictions. He said you're going to be
judged by your works. By what you actually did. The Lord holds us accountable,
we're going to get into this a lot more, not for what we don't
see and what we don't know, He's kind and fair like that. He does hold us accountable for
what we know. For the light that we have. Can you say, "Amen?" Does this matter? Is this important? It is. Because if you don't walk in the
light that you have, you're not going to be blessed and you're
not going to get more light. And there's a real problem in
that if you don't walk in the light that you have, you deceive
yourself, you delude yourself. Now, what does that mean? Well, you think you're doing it
because you know it. But then you're not getting
results. You think because you grew up in
church and you've heard that same truth nine hundred times,
you've deceived yourself into thinking you're doing it because
you know it. Knowing it isn't doing it. Right? I've had people look at me and
go, "Brother Keith, I know all those Scriptures." So? What does that mean? It doesn't mean a thing. It's not what you know, it's
what you do. Right? "Oh, I know this would be good. I believe in this. I'm strong on this." Well, yeah, but the only people
that are going to get any manifestation of God are the
doers. The only ones that are going to
get answers, that are going to get their bills paid, that are
going to get their bodies healed, that are going to come
out and be delivered, the only ones -- help me out, who is it? Who is it? It's only the doers. Only the doers. Go to Matthew seven, please. Matthew seven. I know some of this may seem and
sound sobering, but it's really Good News. I said, it's really Good News
because it can answer the question, why isn't it working. Why isn't it working? We have folks have been around
the Word for five years, ten years, twenty years, thirty
years, longer, and still have some of the same problems they
had thirty years ago. People become frustrated. "I don't understand. Why have I still got this?" It's kind of like Phyllis used
to work for some doctors and one of them was strong into
supplemental nutrition, vitamins, that kind of thing. And he kind of had a joke
because he'd give us vitamins and stuff, I wouldn't always
take them. He'd say, "Well, put them under
your pillow. See if that helps." And you can feel that way when
you talk to people. Put your Bible under your
pillow, sleep on it. See if that will help. How many know that's not going
to help? What's going to help? What's going to help? You can talk about it until the
cows come home and it's not going to fix it. You can go to everybody and
their brother's seminar, right? And revival meeting. You can run, you can shout, you
can holler, you can talk in tongues, but it's not going to
change until you do it. Until you do it. Until you do it. And the thing is, people have
been around it so much and they're so familiar with it
until they think I got it. Because they know it. But they're not doing it. They're not doing it. And they'll get offended if you
ask them are you doing it. "Oh, I believe in this." Are you doing it? "Uh, uh well..." Where are you? Matthew seven? Matthew 7:20. Jesus said, "Wherefore by their
fruits," by what they produce, "you shall know them. Not every one that says to Me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that
doeth," somebody say, "Doeth." Not just the person that says
the Lord, Lord, but he that doeth, "The will of My Father
which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day,
Lord, Lord," Lord, Lord, "have we not prophesied in Your name?" Lord, Lord, "And in Your name
have cast out devils?" Lord, Lord, "And in Your name
done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them,
I never knew you: depart from Me, you that work iniquity." So they weren't just all doing
good works, they were working iniquity, but they did some
stuff, even some things that were some good things, but the
Lord didn't just tell you to do some good things, He said do the
will of My Father. Do what He told you to do. Right? It's not just doing good stuff,
doing needful stuff, doing humanitarian and good and great
stuff, no, doing what He told you to do. "The will of My Father which is
in heaven." Keep reading. "Therefore whosoever hears these
sayings of Mine, and," what? And what? Here's them and something else. "Does them, I will liken him
unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain
descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat
upon that house; and it fell not," somebody say, "It didn't
fall." "For it was founded upon a rock. And every one that hears these
sayings of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a
foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the
rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and
beat upon that house," and what happened to it? "It fell: and great was the fall
of it." It was a total collapse. It was a total loss. Look in Luke. Luke's account in the sixth
chapter. Luke 6:46. He said, "And why call ye Me,
Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" See, if you're not doing what He
tells you to do, He's not your Lord. Maybe He's your Savior, but He's
not your Lord unless you're doing what He said. If you're ignoring what He said,
doing what you want to do, you are your Lord. You are running your life. You are Lord of your life. So He said why do you keep
calling Me Lord, Lord -- you keep calling Me Lord, Lord,
Lord, and you won't do what I tell you to do. How many have a desire, you have
a heart you want Him to be Lord in your life? Do have a desire, you want to
what He tells you to do? Not just hear it, not just talk
about it, do it. Say it again faith even if your
track record hasn't been that good, call those things that be
not as though they were. Say it by faith. Say it out loud. "By His grace I am and will be
not just a hearer only but a doer of the Word. He is my Lord." If He's your Lord then you're
going to do what He said. If you don't do what He says
then He's really your Lord. Keep reading. He said in verse 47, "Whosoever
comes to Me, and hears My sayings, and does them, I will
show you to whom he is like: he is like a man which built an
house, and digged deep," somebody say, "Digged deep." "And laid the foundation on a
rock," see, I've heard people say that rock is Jesus. Yes and no. Just because you believe in
Jesus doesn't mean your house is on the rock. Did you hear me? No, what put the man's house on
the rock? He was a doer. Jesus is the Word, He's the Word
manifest, the Word made flesh. But it was doing the Word that
put him on the rock. Can you see this? But can you see the process
here? In fact, John 8:31-32 talks
about this. John 8:31 says, "If you continue
in My Word," somebody say, "Continue." See, that denotes remembering
it, keeping it in front of you, and doing it, practicing it on a
regular daily basis. He that continues in My Word,
"You're My disciples indeed," and what's the next verse say? That famous thirty- second
verse? "And you shall know the truth,"
who's going to know the truth? Not just the person who heard
it, the person that continues in it. You'll know the truth, "And the
truth shall make you free." And can you see that the person
that is hearing the Word and remembering it and doing it,
they are putting down pillars. They're putting down
foundational stanchions that reach down and get to bedrock. Come on, can you see this? Now what did the next part say
in Luke? He, "Digged deep, and laid the
foundation on a rock," how do you do that? How do you dig deep? Not just once in a while but
every day, remembering what He said, putting it into practice,
remembering it, putting it into practice. Remembering it, putting it into
practice. Can you see that's digging deep? That's boring holes. It's pouring peers and pillars
that reach down into the bedrock. He said he laid the foundation
on a rock, "And when the flood arose, the stream beat
vehemently upon that house," oh, I like this next part. And what? And what? Not only did it not fall, not
only was it not destroyed, it, "Could not shake it," it
couldn't shake it why? "For it was founded upon a
rock." Yes, on Jesus. Yes, on the Word of God, but on
being a doer of that Word of God. Wasn't even shaken. Glory. Glory. Glory. And this is a storm here
brother. Isn't this a storm? The flood arose, the stream beat
how? Not pitter patter, vehemently. Vehemently. That's violently. This was a violent storm. This was a tornado. This was a hurricane, and this
is a flood. And you're inside. And it didn't even shake your
house. Didn't even shake it. Couldn't shake it. Now friend, I'm interested in
this. Are you interested in this? Yes. Next verse. "But he that hears," and what? "And doeth not," they heard the
same thing, he didn't do it. "Is like a man that without a
foundation," somebody say, "Without a foundation." Without a foundation he, "Built
an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat
vehemently," same thing, and what happened? "And immediately," didn't take
long, immediately, "it fell; and the ruin of that house was
great." It was a total collapse. It was a total loss. Sounds irrecoverable. Now I what you get this clear
friends. Both of these people heard the
same things. Both of these people endured
the same storm. Didn't they? One was totally wiped out, the
other one wasn't even shaken. Tell me the difference between
the two. Come on, help me. Tell me the difference between
-- only difference was that one did what they heard and the
other one didn't do what they heard. Glory. Now look at that last verse we
read again. "But he that hears, and does
not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house on
the earth..." Why would you build your house
with no foundation? Do we have any builders in here? Would you just go and start
building a floor on the ground? Maybe there's a big pile of sand
there -- you don't do any dirt work, not pour any slab, just
start putting your house there. How many know what you can
expect? Can you expect that thing to
move? You just go out there and start
building your house, is it going to move? Especially if a storm comes and
a bunch of water comes, and the flood starts washing that sand
and that dirt out from under there, what's going to happen? It's going to come apart. It's going to fall. Why wouldn't anybody having the
sense to know you have to have a foundation to build your house
on? You don't just build a house on
a pile of sand. Why would you do that? You do that because you are
deceived. You are pretending you have a
foundation. You're imagining you have one
and yet you never put one there. And then you're kidding yourself
that you're going to be alright when the storms of life come. Can you see this? What did our text say? Be a doer of the Word, not a
hearer only, deceiving your own self. Can you see this person had to
be deceived to build a house with no foundation at all. Something has to be wrong in
your thinking because anybody knows you have to have something
to set it on. But they're deceived into
thinking we're going to be alright. Why? Because we go to a good church. We're going to be alright. We're going to be alright
because we got friends that know the Bible. Somebody say, "No foundation." We're going to be alright
because I've been to a lot of meetings. I mean, I go to a lot of
meetings. I go to a lot of seminars, I go
to a lot of revival meetings. I go to a lot of prayer
meetings. I'm going to be okay. I'm going to be okay because I
have three closets full of CDs and cassette tapes and DVDs. I'm going to be okay because I
take lots of notes. I'm going to be okay. No. You're sitting on sand. I said, you're sitting on sand
because you imagined because you know all this, and because
you've been around all this, that you have a foundation. But knowing it and hearing it
does not puts you a foundation. Tell me what puts you a
foundation. Doing. Say it again, doing. Doing. Doing. Doing. That's the only thing that puts
you on the rock. Oh, but friend, if when you hear
the Word you don't just listen to it like somebody is
entertaining you. You don't just say that's a good
message, let's listen to another one. That's a good service let's go
hear another one. No, when you're hearing it
you're thinking how does this affect me? How am I supposed to be a doer
of this? That means I'm going to have to
stop this and I might start doing this. That means I have to change
this and not do that that way anymore, I have to do it this
way. And it may become crystal clear
to you why you're sitting there in the service, or while you're
reading your chapter, while you're praying - - but how many
know you have to get a hold of that and make yourself remember
that because when you get out of here it's too easy to slip back
into your regular routine of doing things and pretend that
you have a foundation because you heard something. Because the storms are coming. Some people have tried to leave
the idea if a person is a faith person and has enough faith
you're not going to have any storms. No. Did you notice the exact same
storm hit both people? Didn't it? The doer and the non-doer went
through the same thing except very different results. I mean the Bible said the rain
fell, and the flood arose, and the wind blew, and it beat
vehemently on that. The storms of life are going to
come, I don't care who you are, I don't care what you think you
know, what you think you've been around, what kind of call or
grace or anointing -- the storms of life come. But no storm last forever. Right? And the main thing is, glory to
God, when the storm hits you're going to be so glad that for the
last six months, and three years, and five years, and ten
years, you weren't just a hallelujah hollerer, empty
talker, meeting goer, but every time you heard it and you saw
you made your changes, and you kept it in front of you, and you
put it into practice, and you didn't just hear about walking
in love, you actually walked in love. You didn't just hear about
praying, you actually prayed. You didn't just hear about
tithing and giving, you actually did it. You didn't just hear about
faith, you actually walked in faith. And then no matter how
vehemently it comes against you, you're going to be inside, and
your windows are not even going to rattle. It could not shake it. And when the dust clears, and
when the flood subsides, and when the clouds roll away, and
the birds sing, you're going to step out and your house will be
standing firm. Only if you're doer. Now, the Lord is very gracious. He doesn't hold us accountable
for what we don't know. He makes allowances for our
ignorance. Thanks be unto God. But He does hold us accountable
for what we know. And though you may be able to
fool some people about what you know, you can't fool Him. He's the One that showed it to
you. How many know that He knows what
you know? Is it true? Say it out loud, "He knows." Go with me to Luke 10:20. This is the story where the Lord
talked about the individual giving to his servants the
talents, and he gave them different amounts. And here's the one that he gave
one to that he digged a hole and buried it. "And another came, saying, Lord,
behold, here is your pound, which I have kept laid up in a
napkin: For I feared you, because you are an austere man:
you take up that you layed not down, and you reap that you did
not sow." Verse 22, I want you to get
this. "And he said to him," what? "Out of your own mouth will I
judge you, you wicked servant." Now the next two words are the
ones you need to burn into your spirit. What? What's the next two words? Take away the King James, what
does it say? "You knew," you knew, "that I
was an austere man," who said he was austere? He said it. So that means he knew it. You said, "You take up that
which you laid not down, and you reaped that you did not sow,"
what is it saying? He knew, he expected
multiplication out of him. He knew, he expected him to take
what he had given him and multiply it. He said you knew it. So I'm going to judge you
according to what came out of your mouth. Because of what he knew, he was
judged by what he didn't do. The Bible said in James, "To him
that knows to do good and does it not, to him it is sin." So what is sin? Sin is violation of light. Without taking the time to go
there, over Romans it says a couple of different times,
"Where there is no law sin is not imputed." What does that mean? Because the law brought light
and you wouldn't necessarily know it was wrong, especially
not being born again, wrong to do this or that, unless the law
said don't do it. But once you saw that and heard
that, now you know. And if you know and you do it
anyway, you violate it, that's where the sin comes in. You know they wanted to argue
with Jesus when He headed that man that was blind and He said,
"I'm come into this world that those that do not might see and
those that see might be made blind." And they said sassy, "What are
You saying? We're blind too?" This is the religious leaders. He said, "No, that's the
problem. If you were blind," I'm quoting
Him now, "You would have no sin. But now you say we see, so your
sin remains." When you see something, the Lord
expects you and I to do something. Because the Lord is holding us
accountable for what He knows we see and what He knows we know. And we're in a society and a
generation that has always been like this to a degree, but
people just want to talk about it, don't they? And a lot of folks have even
done away with the word sin, and so we don't have sin
anymore, people just have problems that they're working
on. And we need to talk some more. We need to talk. We need to talk. We must stop this. Parents, stop this. Leaders, stop this. Pastors, stop this. If you're with somebody and the
Lord shows you and shows them what to do, and then they come
back next week, they come back next month and they're still in
the mess and you say, "Did you do it?" And they start crying and go,
"No," there's nothing to talk about. I said, there's nothing to talk
about. Why didn't you do what you know
to do? Hush. The Lord holds us accountable to
do what we know to do. People want to be pitiful. They want to wallow around in
their feelings. They want to blame everybody
else, but I'm telling you, when we stand before the Lord and we
give an account of what we did in this body, He's not going to
hear about this one, and that one, and that one wouldn't help
you, and I didn't feel good that day, He knows what you know. He knows what you and I can do. And He expects, somebody say,
"Expects." Does He expect you to do what
you know? Yes. Here's the problem. People have heard things. There's all kind of Christians
-- we're not pointing any fingers, we need to judge
ourselves. But there are all kinds of
Christians the Lord showed them plainly what to do about that
thirty years ago; they didn't do it. And so they've rambled around
this, they talked about this, and they've messed around with
this, now they're frustrated, and they're bitter, they're
unhappy because they don't have this and they don't have that. And they want somebody to pray. You don't need anybody to pray. You don't need anybody to
counsel. You need to do what He told you
to do. Right? But a lot of folks are unwilling
to do that and they're not going to do it. And they try to act like they
don't know, and they try to act like they're confused. And the problem is you can come
to the point where you deceive yourself where you're like, "I
don't know why I'm like this. Oh God, You have to help me. I don't know... I don't know..." You did know. You were clear as could be years
ago. Do you know what the key is? Repent and do. Kind of like Brother Jesse's
counseling points. Admit it, quit it, forget it. Is he talking about making a
change? Being a doer? Somebody say, "Be a doer. Be a doer. I'm a doer." There are you now? He said, "Out of your own mouth
will I judge you," why? Because you knew. You're the one that said, "Oh,
the Lord is hard like that. He expect something." Well then, you're going to be
judged by what came out of your mouth because you said you knew
you he expected, so he knows you knew it. If you really didn't know it, it
would be different, but you did. Friends, I know this can be
sobering, but I'm telling you life is too short to waste large
chunks of it going around acting like you're confused. Right? Going around with the same
problems, not getting your answers, not getting your help. Life is short. Jesus is coming again soon. Even if He tarries His coming a
little bit, you and I will be out of here right away. We need to get what we're
supposed to get, and be what we're supposed to be. And do what we're supposed to do
without delay. Redeeming the time because the
time is short. And the thing is, if we don't do
what we know and walk in the light that we have, it stops us. It stops us right in our tracks
and we don't get any more light. And we don't advance, we don't
grow. And if we don't practice what we
know and what we understand, month after month doing that we
get to the point where we're deceived, we're thinking, "Why
isn't this working?" It's not working because you're
not doing it. "Yeah, but I've been knowing it
for now on twenty years." But that's not doing it. "Yeah, but I got three notebooks
of notes on it." That doesn't mean you're doing
it. "Yeah but I taught on it. I taught a five-point message on
it." That doesn't mean you're doing
it. And what you taught could've
been great. You know preachers, like me, we
are especially anointed to teach it and preach it. We are not especially anointed
to live it. We have to live it just like
you. Right? And that's where some people
have gotten into trouble because they think I'm called, I'm
anointing, it will just kind of happen for me automatically. Not unless you do it. Not unless you do it. Not unless you practice it. A young man I was praying
about some years ago, prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed for
him. And things just continued to be
bad, bad, bad, bad. And I said to the Lord, "Lord,"
you know I was asking Him kind with angst in my voice, "Lord,
what do I need to pray? What do I need to say?" And He spoke to me sternly. He said, "I told him two things
to do. I told him to go to church and
be faithful. I told him to get a job and keep
it. And until he does those two
things, nothing is going to change." Well, here I am trying to pray
around it some other way. How many know you can't change
the Lord? You can't change the Word of the
Lord. When He tells you something, and
here's the thing -- you have folks all over the place, He's
told them things like that. Other people might not know it,
they might not have told anybody, because they don't want
anybody to know, because they don't want to do it. And it could be some of the
simplest sounding things. And that may not sound
super-spiritual to you, but how many know getting a job and
keeping it, going to church, being faithful, just showing up,
being faithful. If you're not going to do some
of these things, then there's nothing else to work with. And if you're rebellious and
unwilling to do that, you got the door open to the enemy and
you're going to stay in this quagmire of confusion and
depression and you're not coming out. But you could come out. Others have come out. And you can come out. Your family members, your loved
ones can come out. And here's how. Here's how. This is also something you can
pray over in this exact situation. Second Timothy are you there? Second Timothy 2:23 it says,
"But foolish and unlearned," one translation says unintelligent,
"questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes." People talk about so much stuff
and just talk, talk, talk, talk, why? Because they want to play games
about that what they see and know and don't see and know. You know, even Nicodemus when he
showed up at Jesus' by night at the house. He knocked on the door and Jesus
came and he said, "We know that Your ministry has to be
something from God because nobody can do all the things
that you do if God wasn't with Him." And Jesus looked at him and
said, "You need to be born again." And the more I'm learning about
ministry the Lord is helping me to cut through the junk. Because people will talk your
ear off and they will go around the world, and make ninety
excuses, and all this kind of stuff. And you need to say, "Shhh. You need to repent and get right
with God. You need to forgive. You need to do what He told you
to do twenty-eight years ago." Right? But masses of people would
rather talk and cry and whine and counsel for another three
hours every week for the rest of their life and you're foolish if
you let them do it. He said avoid that stuff. "And the servant of the Lord
must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach,
patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves,"
who is opposing them? We saw that earlier. Who was deceiving them? They deceive themselves. Who's opposing them? See, people try to blame it on
the devil but you can't even blame it on the devil. "Instructing those that oppose
themselves; if God peradventure will give them," what? Give them, "Repentance to the
acknowledging of the truth..." Here's where breakthrough comes. Oh come on, saints. Here's where breakthrough comes. Repentance is not a negative
thing. Repentance is a glorious thing. Repentance is a gift. I said, it's a gift. When a person will look up from
their deception and from their junk and go, "This is the truth. This is the truth. I've been a fool. I've been this. The Lord told me this and I
didn't listen to it. The Lord told me to do it and I
didn't do it." Acknowledging, admitting the
truth. Read the next verse, it's
shouting ground. Read the next verse. What? "And that they may recover
themselves," they don't even need anybody to deliver them, or
lay hands on them, or cast out anything, they recover
themselves. They get themselves, "Out of the
snare," and trap, "of the devil, who had taken them captive..." Oh! Glory to God. Why? Because they quit playing games
about what they saw and didn't see, what they knew and didn't
know, and were confused. They quit deceiving themselves. They said this is the truth. This is the truth. The Lord told me to do that but
no, I had to do something else. But I'm willing. I'm willing now. And here I am to do it. And I'm telling you as sure as
you do that, grace will come, He'll forgive, He will cleanse. He will give you power to
recover yourself. Snatch yourself right out of
that bondage and that deception and that death. Somebody say glory to God. Glory to God. And it's because you made a
decision to get right and to acknowledge the truth and to do
what you know. Stand on your feet everybody. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Say it out loud by
faith: "I'm a doer." Say it again, "I'm a doer
of the Word of God." Hallelujah. Close your eyes. Close your eyes and just
focus on Him right now. Pray this out loud sincerely;
don't play games. Sincerely with the Lord. Say it out loud: "Father God,
that which I have not seen, I ask You to show me. That which You have already
shown me, if I ignored it, if I pushed it aside, I ask you to
forgive me. That's no way to treat precious
light and revelation of Your mercies. I ask You to show me again,
make it clear and plain to me again, and I purpose this
time by Your grace to not be a hearer only, deceiving my own
self but to be a doer. I purpose to do what You say. I know it will work. I know You're faithful. In Jesus' name."
