Lasting Impression - Pastor Joseph Pringle

Show Notes

Hearing God's Word is just the starting line. Pastor Joseph Pringle unpacks James 1 to show that real faith leaves visible evidence, in how we speak, how we treat people, and what shapes our values. The measure of our encounter with Scripture isn't what we remember, it's what remains. Scriptures: James 1:22, James 1:23-25, James 1:26-27, Romans 10:17, Romans 12:2

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We are a local Church in Orange County California who are passionate to witness lives being renewed in Christ, strengthened through discipleship, and to thrive in the fullness of living for Christ.
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Isn't that good news that it's not on your own strength? Because I don't know about you, but I got a slippery mind some days, and I forget how to act. I forget what the truth is. But thank God for God, and thank God for His word, and thank God for the Holy Spirit that he sent. And he said, I'll tell you what, when you forget, I will bring it to your mind. I will bring that back up to you. And I don't know if you've ever had that experience. Has anyone had that experience? There you go. See Kevin. Kevin's a saint over here. Anyone else had that experience where you're in the midst of it all and you just forgotten it? You kind of gone blank, and all of a sudden, bam. Something gets quickened to your soul? That's. That's the Holy Spirit. That's the Holy Spirit who is speaking to you. And so as we. As we venture on here today in the Book of James, and I've gotten so much out of this. And as I've said in previous weeks, this was when I came back to Christ ten and a half years ago. This was the book that I first studied. And God revealed so much truth, which was not like a tickling to my back, but more or a massage, because sometimes I think we want Jesus to massage us. Like, you know, hey, hey, here I am, and this is all good. And I tell you what, you're never gonna suffer again. And this is. And playing the chime music in the background, and there's a scented candle that's going. But I tell you, the Book of James is kind of like you've walked into the chiropractor's office and he's starting to adjust your life and adjust the structure upon which you stand on. And this week he goes on and kind of sums up what he has been piecing together in chapter one. And if this is your first week coming through, I. I just encourage you to go back and listen to the last five or six weeks where we've just gone pretty much line by line through the Book of James, through chapter one. And. And he goes on, and he says in James 1:22 to 26, he says this, but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. It's a big slap right there to me. I don't know to you, but sometimes I hear the word and I do nothing with it. And the place that that leads us to is a place of deception, deceiving yourself. For if anyone is a Hearer of the Word and not a doer. He is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in the mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty and perseveres, which means remains, continues in sticks with, is faithful to be no hearer who forgets, but a doer who what? Who acts. A doer who does what Acts. He will be blessed in his doing. You know, there's a whole book in the Bible called Acts. It's pretty important that we take the gospel. And after we receive the Gospel, we do what we act. There's an action behind it and he will be blessed in his doing. He who acts. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father. Is this to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. The measure of your encounter with God's Word is not what you remember and the knowledge that you have stored up within your mind and the facts, the biblical and historical context that you can remind yourself with. It is the lasting impression that the Word has left upon your life. And it's not one that is just internally considered and known. It's an impression that is known to those who are all around you as well. I don't know a piece of the Gospel that is solely reserved except for just a couple of things. I would say 98% of the gospel is in reservation for the kingdom advancing around us. There are some beautiful things that I am able to receive, but I would say the majority of it is a lot larger than just my life. It's also the gift that has been given to. To me is not to serve me. It's first to serve the kingdom and the people around me. And so we. We have this reception which is what we talked about last night, the receiving of God's Word. And there is an emphasis that you and I have a responsibility to prepare the soil of our hearts. That it's not. It's not the quality of the seed that is really ever focused on, it's the quality of the soil that it lands on. We have a responsibility to be a prayerful people. We have a responsibility to be someone who reads the Word and begins to apply it to our lives, that begins to prepare ourselves to, you know what? I am not always right, but the word of God is always right. So if I'm struggling here, I need to conform my life to the word, not conform the word to the way I want it to appear in my life. So every seed that is is thrown. It has one purpose. It has one purpose, and that is growth. That there would be the receiving of the word, not so that we could go, oh, I love seeds. I know it's California. I know we like to dry them out and eat them, but seeds are meant to be planted. Seeds are not meant for the pocket. They're meant to be put into the soil so that they would grow. No farmer celebrates because the seed is in the ground. The farmer celebrates when he begins to see growth. Right? You know, when it's a celebration, you know, we got the day's work done. But you really celebrate when you start seeing those green little shoots start coming out. You ever seen a field where it's like, it's all just dirt and it's these mounds and it's these channels, and then all of a sudden, you see the little green shoots come up and you're like, oh, it's pretty awesome. Like, that's. That's amazing. You ever planted something at home and you're like, oh, my gosh. You know, I know you guys just built planters, right? And so you plant the seeds, and you're kind of like, oh, my gosh, things are starting to pop up. It's. It's actually working. So James asks us the obvious question, which is this. How do you know that the word has actually taken root within your life? How do you know when it's actually beginning to grow within your world? And it's not because you heard it. It's not because you enjoyed it. It's not because you admired ain't because you highlighted and memorized it. It's not because you put it as a screensaver on your phone. It is because it has left evidence within your world. There is evidence in your life that the word has taken root. All of a sudden, your attitude is a little bit different. What used to frustrate you within two minutes now frustrates you within ten minutes. Praise the progress. I'm telling you people. And what frustrated you in 10 minutes now takes an hour, and then it takes a day, and then it takes a week. And there is this growth that is happening within your world. And there is evidence to those who are around you as well. James gives us a loud warning of what happens when we decide to not be a doer of the word, to not Be a disciple of the Word. To not be someone who goes, you know what? This is so good, this is so living, this is so active that I'm going to put it to work in my life. When we deny that, when we forget about it and we put it to the side, that it is our job to forgive people, not to justify bitterness against them, that when we actually take the word of God, you forgive me as I forgive those who have trespassed around me, that all of a sudden, if we don't put these things, these truths into play, as hard as they may be, then we are deceiving ourselves. I think it's funny that we live in a world where we're all about not being deceived. We have a suspicion about things around us that are deceiving, whether it's the government, whether it's news, whether it's this establishment, whether it's this, whether it's that. And I think the big onus is that we do not want to be the deceivers on ourselves. And for all that James is picking apart here, he's saying the one thing that's really practical, that if you hear the word of God and you do not put it into action, then it's not the false teacher that you need to be scared of. It's yourself that you need to be scared of. It's not the government or the establishment or the boss or this or that. The one who is deceiving ourselves is us. On our own, there may be no deception more dangerous because no one knows how to justify our disobedience better than ourselves. And we have to take an onus upon this because we have the incredible ability to negotiate with conviction, to rename compromise, to postpone obedience, to convince ourselves that agreement is the same as surrender. But James says that it isn't. It isn't that. Because the measure of your encounter with God's word is not what you remember, but it's what remains. It's what leaves a lasting impression. Are you still with me or you're like man, I didn't come with boxing headgear punching me around here this morning. Today's sermon is called Lasting Impression Man. I want the word of God to have a lasting impression on my life. I want the word of God to have a lasting impression on your life. Jesus even said it when he was asked, oh, should we pay taxes to Caesar? And he turns it into one of the great life lessons. He says, look at whose impression is on the coin. Whose impression is it Caesar's? He Says, then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and give to God what is God's man. I want the impression of Christ upon your hearts. I want the impression of Christ upon my heart that it is His. It is all his. There is nothing left, any room in my heart for anything else, but just Christ in here. So we want the Word to leave a lasting impression upon us. Can you say that with me? Lasting impression. I want the Word to. Okay, I mean, what are we. Say this. I want the Word to leave a lasting impression. I want the Word to leave a lasting impression. See what you made me do? You made me do my concert stance. Okay, point number one. Point number one is this says the word demands our response. James 1:22, that opening scripture says, but be doers of the Word, not hearers, only deceiving yourself. The Word requires more than an audience. Requires more than an audience. James is not diminishing hearing. Pete was just talking about Romans 10. In Romans 10:17, it says, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Okay, so hearing is important. Hearing is. He's not trying to diminish that. He's not taking away from that. But somewhere along the way, and this is what James really wants to drive home. Somewhere along the way, we made hearing a finish line, and not just the starting line. And James is denying us this comfortable luxury that hearing is the finish line for us. But understanding that the hearing of the Word is the beginning line, for some reason, salvation seems like it's the end line. Oh, you know, I'm now saved. I'm telling you, salvation is the greatest starting line that we have in this world. It's like it's this new start in life. It's a rebirthing within this world that there is a new purpose that we get to serve. There is a new family that we're being born into. And this happens by hearing. How would those be saved if they weren't preached to? And how could people hear the gospel if there were no preachers? It's by hearing that this faith begins to grow within us. And hearing by the Word of God. But the way that it is activated and the way that the kingdom is advanced is by people who actually do His Word and act out his will here on Earth. We have to refuse that. The finish line for us is just hearing the Word. What am I saying? That we turn up on a Sunday, we hear the Word and we forget it as soon as we leave. Do I think you know you're going to remember absolutely everything every Sunday because you're in church every Sunday of the year. 52 Sundays out of the year, you guys are in church. That's me just saying, be in church. You know, the average attendance in America is one in six weeks. That should. That should really scare you. Should really scare you. One in six weeks. That's. That's. I don't. I can't calculate in top of my head, but that is a very limited amount of hours. I would even say 52. You turn up 52 Sundays and do nothing throughout the week. That's 52 hours out of a whole year of hours that you are hearing so many other things. Be in church, man. Like, make a commitment. This is. This is where we get fed, and this is where you pour out to God and you get filled up for the week that you can go out and be a witness like we were singing. So we want to be charged up as we come into the house of God and we want to go out, but we also. We want to be hearing this word and putting it to actual work throughout the week. Sometimes I think that we had confused spiritual maturity with the amount of information that we actually know. You know, like, oh, I got to get in the lecture halls, or I have to do seminary to be, you know, a real Christian. I mean, Peter, it says, got up, and he wasn't that smart a guy. Peter. I mean, you can read about Peter. He's kind of brash. He makes a lot of dumb decisions. He denies Christ three times and then is restored, and then just not. But very many days later, he is filled with the Spirit and he is preaching and proclaiming boldly. And 3,000 come to Christ in that first sermon. Like, that's insane. Why? Because he was filled with the Spirit who quickened the word and gave conviction and weight to his words. And so it's not about all the information that we gather. It's actually about knowing and then doing. Stepping out in faith. How many sermons have I heard? How many conferences have I attended? How many podcasts have I listened to all of this information? This grand information age. What are you doing with what? You know, is it just so I feel comfortable and I've got these cool quips and thoughts that I can have conversations within small bubbles and never actually live it out. Never actually, because when you speak it, you become accountable to it, right? So sometimes we become scared about, oh, my gosh, I gotta now start living at a new standard. How am I meant to hold this standard? Once again, I say and defer to thank God for the Spirit who strengthens you to live a life that goes beyond your own strength and pushes into the strength of the spirit. Amen. So we got to ask ourselves, what has changed? Because knowledge can increase while obedience remains untouched in our life. It's like if you go to the doctor and you've got something going on, and you're like, oh, I got this and this and this and this. I was about to make a dad joke, but I'm not going to do it. Don't worry. It was last week. We're leaving dad jokes there. So it was Father's Day. You guys alive today? Yeah, come on. So go to the doctor. And I go, oh, man, I got this and this going on. He writes a prescription, okay, So I take that prescription and I put it in a frame and I put it on my office. What I do is I take a little snapshot of it and I make it my wallpaper on my phone, and I memorize the prescription and I think about that, and that's all good and well, but I never actually go and take it down, get the prescription and take it. I hear that the doctor says, man, if you could just run around, maybe if you work out a little bit, if you get active for 20 minutes a day, but I never actually put that into play, Then what am I doing? I'm hearing and I'm receiving an answer, something that would help me, but I'm not putting it into play. I'm just admiring it from a distance. I'm just admiring it. I want to encourage each and every one of you. Do not admire the prescription and stick it on your wall like it's some little filler of space in the bathroom. No, put it into action within your life. You know, forgiveness while refusing to forgive others. You know, generosity. You know about generosity, but you remain selfish. You know truth, but you're still resisting it in your world. And James says, this is where self deception begins. This is where it begins. And I know it feels like everything's flipped on its head. That's the way of the kingdom. Jesus doesn't make sense to our human brains, which is why he gave us this word and this roadmap to live out so that we can understand. Oh, you know what? I'm human. I'm not as smart as I think I am. I do not have all the answers. But I do know a place that does have the answers. So if I just put this to work, then I might understand that if I lay down my life, man, I gain a new life, a better life. Better. Is it to Give than it is to receive. But man, I was taught to hoard in this world. I work for this. This is mine. This is all mine. I'm going to hang on to this as much as I can. And God said, live with an open hand. I'm telling you, be a doer of the Word, not just a hearer. And it's not just you reject the Word outright, but you admire it without responding to it. And I want to make a call, man, respond to the Word. God is calling you to a space of like. And listen, the perfection that we seek is found in Christ, okay? And I know we fall short. Thank God for His grace, but he's not looking for people who would stand on the side apathetically and be like, well, people, perfection can't be achieved. Then I'm just going to sit on the side, you know, I'm just going to give up at this point. No, it's about people who would put their hands to the plow and begin working to move forward his kingdom. Every time God speaks, he is inviting a response from you and I. The Word never comes to inform, just to inform us, but to transform our lives, to begin a conforming of our spirit to his Word and not to the world. Amen. Point number two is this. Look until the Word finds you. Look until the Word finds you. James 1:23:25 says this. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word, but not a doer, he's like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away, and at once forgets what he looks like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, notice that looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty and perseveres. Be no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts. He will be blessed in all his doing. It's a powerful image right there. Man looking into a mirror intensely. And here's. Here's the point. The mirrors back then were not like the mirrors we have today, okay? They were brass, they were polished, it was metal. There was a bit of disfiguring. It was dim. So the intentional looking was to find what was going on with the face, okay? Because what he is kind of displaying here is some of us have breakfast in our teeth. Some of us have something hanging out of our nose. Some of us might have gotten a fright. And all of a sudden the lipstick went up. You know, this not for me, but lipstick goes up the side of the face. The mascara is kind of running. There's Lipstick on the teeth. I don't. I don't. There could be a countless amount of things. And what James is saying is that you look intently and. And you notice it, and then you walk away and you forget about the mess your life is. You forget about the mess on your face. You forget about the breakfast in your teeth or the. Or the weird stuff that's going on with your face that you can fix. I know there's stuff I can't fix on my face, but it's Orange County. We can chop, nip, tuck. It's. I'm kidding. Kidding. So. But we look and we see what's going on. And this is what James is saying. When we look at the Word and the Word is presented to us and it says. And there's a conviction that begins to rise. Oh, man, I got to step up in this area of my life. Oh, man, there's a conviction about pride and selfish ambition that has been welling up within me. Oh, man, this is. There's a conviction about the grip that money has on me when I think I've got a grip on it. There's a conviction of serving in the house of God and then you walk away and you do nothing about it. The conviction about, I need to live a more pure life. And the good news is this. And I go back to this. This is not about completing it in your own strength. You have the Holy Spirit that is next to you, empowering your life to live a life of the Word. So we need to not only just hear, but actually do something with what. The Spirit is quickening to your soul. The Word reveals pride. Don't defend it. If the Word exposes bitterness, do not protect it. If the Word uncovers selfish ambition, don't baptize it as wisdom or justify it on the side. The Word convicts us about forgiveness. Don't postpone it like go and forgive the person. The mirror is not the problem. It's the response that we have. And so the question is, are you looking at the Word or are you looking into the Word, which is what Paul tells us. He says, looking into the law, but the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty. There is a difference when you look at scripture and when you look into Scripture, there is a point where you stop learning. And I'm all for it. Go get the commentaries, go get the cross reference, get the Thompson chain reference, get a prescription subscription to Logos and go and study the Bible. I love doing that. But, man, there is a point where you stop looking at the scripture. And you start looking into the scripture and you stop reading it and it starts reading your life, it starts changing your heart. Oh man. My motives are starting to change. Or I feel weird about making those decisions now or I feel like this needs to change and I need a little bit of a software update in my attitude because my attitude is kind of a little bit of an old operating system. And we got to stop asking what does this passage mean? And instead asking what is this passage revealing about me? What is it informing me? Because it's been directed today's message. There could just be one thing that sticks out, man. Write it down and ask God, what does this mean for me? What are you revealing in my life? What is my next step after this? God? That there would be a step that comes from the Word and a doing. Because the Bible doesn't merely reveal God, it also reveals your standing before him. How am I standing before this mirror that is reflecting back to me what needs to change within my life? It shows where you really are and it's not to shame you. It's not a gospel of condemnation. It's not to condemn you, it's not to guilt trip you. But it is showing you where we need to transform. There's a saying within church which is come as you are. And I agree with that statement with the caveat of the follower, which is, but God will never leave you the same. God will never leave you the same. No matter what walk you are coming from, God will never leave you the same. James goes on and he says, and blessed is the one who remains, which means the one who stays, who continues in and who perseveres. Sometimes you are going to have to grip on with both hands and they're going to be shaking. I don't know where the teaching has come that the life of being a Christian is one of all ease. I don't know where that came from and I don't know why in specifically a place like Orange county, we seek more comfort than we do uncomfortability in the Word. We want to seek all of the encouraging pieces of the Word without ever approaching the pieces of the Word that challenge and rebuke us. Which says in the Bible the Word of God is good for teaching, for encouraging and for rebuking and for correction. We kind of put that one to the side. But it's 50% of the use. If it's all rebuking and correction, man, you need the encouragement of the Word in your life. Amen. But man, if it's all Encouragement, then we're only getting a quarter of what the word is good and useful for. For it's a whole and complete circumstance. So the one who stays under the searching gaze of God's word into your life, man. David writes things like, investigate my heart and make me clean. Can you imagine God running an investigation on your heart? Like, truly, he's a detective. He's driving around in a Lincoln Continental and he's got all these documents and he's like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna. I'm going to go around and start taking photos and a private Investigate Joseph's heart. I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is. This is scary business. But here is David saying, man, investigate what is within me and make me clean, man. I open up my life to you. The measure of your encounter with God's word is not what you remember, it is what remains. It's what leaves a lasting impression in your life. And point number three here today, the word always leaves evidence. It always leaves evidence in your life when it has been received in good soil, when it has been allowed to grow because you are watering it and you are tending to it. You are a doer of God's word. And not just for a moment, but consistently. Here's what I'll say discipleship is. It's consistently moving in the same direction, one step at a time. That is the life of discipleship and faithfulness. Consistently moving in the direction, same direction. Just one step at a time. I know we want to leap and bound, but one step at a time. I know we want scenery changing real quick, but one step at a time, and it's in the consistency of doing it, you will begin to see growth. Don't get so bored with being persistent in this life that you begin to deny and start diverting off, diverging off what God really wants to complete in your world. The Word will always leave evidence in your life. James 1:25, 27. It says this. If anyone thinks he is religious, but does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James ends this whole section. Be a doer and not a hearer with the evidence that is going to be so clearly seen within our world that it's undeniable we planted the word of God. It's making change within our world. There is actually things that are happening in my world, you know, let me just say a really practical one. This is what the scriptures say. Jesus got up early and went off and he prayed. I have heard many people say I'm not a morning person, okay? I used to not be a morning person. I made myself a morning person because of that scripture. Jesus got up early in the morning and went off somewhere by himself and he prayed if Jesus needed to do like God made flesh came down on the earth and he said, oh man, I gotta get up early, go off somewhere by myself to pray. How much more Joe Pringle, ex drug addict, ex alcoholic, ex chaser of all success and fake things within this world, ex manipulator, ex faker, ex unforgiver me. How much more then do I need to actually take that and say I need to get up early and I need to go and pray somewhere? But I can't. I can't. I tell you, if you get up at 4:30 in the morning consistently you will go to bed earlier very quickly. It's a change of your life. Will you let the word of God transform your life? So James says, there is evidence that comes out of this. I hear my wife whispering down the front. James ends with this evidence. If the word has truly entered your heart, it begins to leave fingerprints, little touch points all across your life. First one he says, here gives three examples. He says your speech will change. If anyone thinks he's religious but does not bridle his or her tongue, why start there? Because Jesus said, out of the abundance of your heart. There, the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart. So when you lose control of your tongue, I want you to take note of this. There is an abundance of something in your heart that is not good. If envy can find your heart, gossip will find your tongue. If disappointment and discouragement you let that enter into your heart, frustration will burst out of your mouth. Impatience will burst out of your mouth, out of your heart. The abundance of your heart. Not the little, the abundance that my mouth will speak. Take note of what comes out of here. The tongue reveals the condition of our heart. A transformed heart eventually produces transformed speech. So we could wash our heart in this thing called the Word of God and let it actually begin to change how we speak. Does it come naturally? This is a good question. Not always. And there will be times where you feel, oh my gosh, I messed up again. Let the conviction work closer and closer, closer to the moment that it begins to precede the moment. Then all of a sudden, I know it's tough oh, when you got that really good thing to say back to that person, you know, when you're driving away and you still have the conversation in your mind, I wish I said this to that person, to that rude person in the McDonald's drive through. This is what I should have said. This, I'll say this next time, you know, instead, instead of dwelling on these things, instead of all of this, you're just handing it over and you say, oh man, I'm going to love my enemies. Just like Christ said. Religion, sorry, not perfect speech, but it's governed speech within our mouths. Amen. And James moves to the outward side. This is the second example that he gives. He says religion that is pure visits widows and orphans. Real faith refuses to be self absorbed. That's what real faith refuses that my life and my faith is all about me. It refuses that and says, I will be others focused. It notices people who cannot repay you. Stop keeping a wallet of favors. If you help someone move, don't expect them to help you move back. Just do it because you love the person. Just do it. And you know, people are generous. They'll be like, oh, when are you moving? I'll help you unless you're me. This is what Sean would say anyway, but I was busy story for another day. But you understand, like, stop keeping a wallet of favors on the people around you. Stop keeping a bill that people are having to play. It notices people who cannot repay you. It carries the burdens of, of others and loves the forgotten. When the Word starts being active, because the gospel always moves us toward people and not away from them, always moves us towards them. Anyone who preaches an isolated doctrine, an isolated salvation, an isolated following of Christ, it's not a doctrine of the Bible. It's always about being connected to the body. Why so the body has he hands to reach outward. Then James turns inward again. He finishes with this. To keep oneself unstained from the world. And we can all stand up here today. To keep oneself unstained from the world. He's saying, not isolated from culture. We're not isolated from the world. We're not fearful of culture, but no longer are we shaped by it. The world should not determine your loves or your priorities, your identity or your values. The Word should. The Word should establish your priorities in this life. Your words should establish. The Word should establish your values in this life, life. James is showing us that when the Word takes root, the evidence is seen, seen in your speech. It's seen in the way that you treat people. It's seen in this inward establishing of what your life prioritizes, it'll change your whole world. And for some of us, I think that we might have been hearing the Word of God for such a long time that we're forgiven, getting to be doers of it, that we've gathered so much information. Maybe you are so into studying the Word that you forget that you need to be a patient person relying upon the Spirit. Maybe you study the Word and you've heard so many messages and you come to church because it's the right thing to do, but you're not letting the Word take root in your life and actually begin to disciple you into being a Jesus follower. I want to make that call for a recommitment here today, saying that we are not only just hearers of the Word, but we are going to be doers of the Word. That we won't just be a people who are listening, we have our ears turned. But man, we put our hands to the plate out that we would not just be a people who are pulling from the Word for some inspiration to get us kind of motivated, but instead we are moving with a momentum that the Word is giving us. Because I tell you this, and I can assure you of this, that when you put the Word into play in your life, miracles do begin to happen. The miracle of transforming your life. Romans 12:12 says, One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible, it says, you will be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It doesn't say renewal, it says renewing of your mind. Man, I have to wash this brain every day. It needs renewing consistently. How do I renew it? I speak the word of God until it lands within my heart. Heart. And when it's in my heart, I demand my flesh to act upon it. I say, bury the old man and may the new man live that God has birthed in me. And for some of us, we could have just been. We're realizing that as we hear this message, there has been a mode of hearing and not of doing in our life. Our hands, our spiritual hands have no calluses because we've been looking at the architecture's plans and we've been dreaming about the house or the future or whatever. But there's no calluses on our hand because we've refused to pick up a brick. We've refused to put our hands to work. And I want to make the call, come back to the place of doing and acting out the Word of God. I know it's hard. I know it's tough, but thank God that the Spirit lives within you to help activate. Thank you, Jesus. I thank you, Father, that there is a renewed love of your word. Not just in knowing it, but God. Oh. In seeing it come to pass in our world. Thank you, Lord. You would strengthen our legs, strengthen our arms, to not just know what your word says, but to literally act it out. I pray for wisdom. I pray for discernment upon each person. I pray that you would open up the doors of their mind and quicken the Word to their. To their heart in the midst of all circumstances. And I speak against every spirit that would come to condemn, that would come to implant shame in these moments that you are gone. In the mighty name of Jesus, that there is no spirit but the Holy Spirit. So, God, we lift up to you and we repent here today that where we have once heard and done nothing, today we hear and we take the step. Today we hear and we commit our lives to being doers of your word.