Integrating God's Word: A Commitment to Transformation

"So verse 22 says, but don't just listen to the word. But make sure you. Do what it says. Otherwise, you're only fooling yourselves. Verse 23 says, for if you listen to the word and you don't obey. Watch this. You listen, but you don't obey. It's like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself walk away and forget what you look like. That is very interesting. I'm going to come back to that. Everybody say glancing." [00:02:39] (29 seconds)


"attention to the word now the bible says when you look carefully in the word that's the opposite of glancing at it or glancing at yourself in the mirror and what i thought was so deep is is that is that god says not listening carefully not looking carefully is like glancing at yourself in the mirror and forgetting what you look like so if you get if you get forget what you look like you're not going to do anything about it you don't see the flaws and the things that need to be fixed and this is what's so deep about it what god is saying is when you look into my word it's interesting what you should see is yourself" [00:03:31] (45 seconds)


"Part one, we talked about how the devil is in opposition. He is opposing our allegiance to the word. And he opposes it by trying to snatch the word from us, or he'll try to attack the word that we're believing God for, or he'll try to distract us from the word. When the devil tries to snatch a word, the Bible says he does it at once because it's easy access to that seed. Even though God's trying to sow the seed of the word into our hearts, if it just hits our ears, it just goes in one ear and out the other." [00:05:15] (28 seconds)


"I don't just see that in Mark chapter four in that parable. I also see it in Hebrew chapter four. It's a very interesting passage in Hebrew chapter four, beginning at verse one, where it says, we still have the promise that God gave those people. Now, the people that's being referred to here in Hebrew chapter four, verse one, the Hebrew believers are referring back to a promise that God made the Israelites when they were in the wilderness. And the promise he gave them was, you will enter into my place of rest. And a place of rest is not just a geographical place. It is a spiritual condition." [00:05:59] (33 seconds)


"And then sometimes he will distract us. I'm going back into what I should have said earlier, something from part one. Sometimes he'll distract us with the words. He'll distract us by getting us busy that we don't have time for the word. And one of the ways he distracts people is through service. There are people who are so busy serving God, like Martha, they never sit like Mary. And if all you do is serve, you might be faithful to the work, but you're not faithful to the word. And you're faithful in service, but you're fruitless in the spirit." [00:16:20] (31 seconds)


"Conversely, verse 25, Jesus says this now, for those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they had will be taken away from them. that means when you don't reverence the word of God enough to listen to it carefully, you'll lose the spiritual understanding that you do have. Like it cannot stay in a place that does not appreciate it. That's how God's word is." [00:21:01] (27 seconds)


"And that's what I'm saying is our reverence for the word determines our progression spiritually and our regression. It is that pivotal. So pay attention to the word. Last thing I'm going to say, then we're going to close. The reason why it's so important to pay attention to the word is because the word has answers. It has answers and insights of how you handle situations and circumstances. God can literally tell you, this is how I want you to move in this. And here's the deal." [00:22:38] (30 seconds)