ACTING ON GOD’S WORD

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."  (James 1:22 ESV)

It’s easy to nod along in agreement when we hear a powerful sermon or read a moving devotional. But James reminds us: agreement is not obedience. God's Word is meant to be lived.

C.S. Lewis said, “Obedience is the key that opens every door.” There are many everyday doorways to obedience. The Grocery-Line Test: You’re behind someone struggling to count coins. You’re in a hurry. The Word says, “Be patient.” Do we live it -- or just know it? The Inbox Moment: You get an email from someone hurting. You think, “I’ll pray for them.” James nudges: Don’t just say it -- do it. Pause. Pray. Reach out. The Family-Room Challenge: Tension simmers. You recall “be quick to listen, slow to speak.” Do you speak gently -- or do you just remember the verse?

Faith isn’t a theory, it’s traction. The difference between hearer and doer is the footprint left behind. One fades like breath on glass. The other leaves indelible marks of grace and love.

To paraphrase a familiar quote, “The world does not need more outstanding sermons. It needs more obedient servants.” This quote underscores James 1:22’s challenge: not just to hear truth, but to embody it. It’s a call to let our lives preach louder than our lips. What’s one truth you’ve recently heard that you haven’t yet acted on? It could be forgiveness, generosity, humility, or compassion. Choose one. Live it today. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry™, compiled from a variety of sources 

#6166

THE CHARACTER OF ORDINARY PEOPLE

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  (Galatians 2:20 NIV)

There are numerous Christians today who owe their faith, at least in part, to the writings of the Oxford professor C. S. Lewis. But throughout his teens and twenties, Lewis himself was a committed atheist. What led him to change his ways?

No single person persuaded Lewis to trust in Jesus Christ. Rather, it was the combined influence of many people through books, music, and personal encounters that made the difference. In “Surprised by Joy,” Lewis described the effect of simply encountering sane, responsible adults who believed in a [spiritual] world behind, or around, the material world.” He enjoyed G. K. Chesterton’s intelligence and sense of humor -- despite Chesterton’s Christian faith. He was both alarmed and fascinated when he met men who were much like himself but were actually “attempting strict veracity, chastity, or devotion to duty.” [At the time] Lewis himself was neither honest nor sexually pure, but he found himself respecting men who were committed to these traits without being passionless prudes. In Lewis’s case, the character of ordinary people proved more effective than hearing countless sermons. 

-- From “Beginning Life Together: God’s Purposes for Your Life” by Brett and Dee Eastman, Todd and Denise Wendorff, and Karen Lee-Thorp

#5586

TRANSFORMED BY THE SPIRIT

“This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.”  (1 Corinthians 2:13 NIV)

Presbyterian minister Fred Rogers, creator and host of television's "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood," once gave an address describing the time he was a student at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and attended a different church each Sunday in order to hear a variety of preachers.

One Sunday he was treated to "the most poorly crafted sermon I had ever heard." But when he turned to the friend who had accompanied him, he found her in tears.

"It was exactly what I needed to hear," she told Rogers.

"That's when I realized," he told the audience, "that the space between someone doing the best he or she can and someone in need is holy ground. The Holy Spirit had transformed that feeble sermon for her -- and as it turned out, for me too."

-- Victor Parachin in “Christian Reader”, Sept/Oct 1999


#4722

LEST THE FIRE GO OUT

“Some people have given up the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord's coming is getting closer.”  (Hebrews 10:25 CEV)

A member of a certain church, who had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor’s visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited.

The pastor made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it on one side of the hearth alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent.

The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember’s flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead. Not a word had been spoken. The pastor glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave. He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire.

Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it. As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said with a tear running down his cheek, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday.” 

-- Reprinted from the Parish Nursing News


#4407

NOURISHMENT FOR STRENGTH

A church goer wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me I can't remember a single one of them. So I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: "I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 22,000 meals. But for the life of me, I cannot recall what the menu was for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: they all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me those meals, I would be dead today."

No comments were made on the sermon contents anymore.

-- Unknown


#3553

THE HOMELESS MAN

It was a cold winter's day that Sunday. The parking lot to the church was filling up quickly. I noticed as I got out of my car that fellow church members were whispering among themselves as they walked to the church. As I got closer I saw a man leaning up against the wall outside the church. He was almost laying down as if he was asleep.  He had on a long trench coat that was almost in shreds and a hat topped his head, pulled down so you could not see his face.  He wore shoes that looked 30 years old, too small for his feet with holes all over them, his toes stuck out. I assumed this man was homeless, and asleep, so I walked on by through the doors of the church.  We all fellowshipped for a few minutes, and someone brought up the man laying outside. People snickered and gossiped but no one bothered to ask him to come in, including me. A few moments later church began.

We all waited for the preacher to take his place and to give us the Word, when the doors to the church opened. In came the homeless man walking down the aisle with his head down. People gasped and whispered and made faces.  He made his way down the aisle and up onto the pulpit where he took off his hat and coat. My heart sank.

There stood our pastor... he was the "homeless man." No one said a word. The preacher took his Bible and laid it on the stand. "Folks, I don't think I have to tell you what I am preaching about today." Then he started singing the words to this song. "If I can help somebody as I pass along.  If I can cheer somebody with a word or song…"

-- Unknown


#3384