winning true happiness…

what pleases us as pastors and teachers even more than a comment or compliment is when somebody says they will put it into practice and use it.  they say they will do the sermon this week.  “let’s not deceive ourselves,” james says.

james 1.25 (ph), the man who puts the law into practice wins true happiness.  JESUS, in matthew 7, tells the story of the wise and the foolish builder.  he says the foolish builder builds on sand.  he is like the guy who hears the word of GOD but doesn’t do what it says.  the wise man is the one who hears it and then goes out and makes an honest attempt to put it into his life.  practice it.

JESUS said in john 13.17 (niv), now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.  i think the simplest definition of maturity is to be a doer of the word.  that’s what it means to be mature.  you do what the bible says.  we must not only read the word, we must heed the word.  every single one of us knows more spiritual truth than we’re putting into practice right now.  you don’t need to know more, you already know enough.  it’s not the matter that we need to know more.  we just need to put into practice what we already know.  i just need to practice what i already know to do, not learn anything new.  be a doer of the word.

just a thought from the front porch…

my prayer about my maturity…

listen, it is important for you to understand, for you to see that you cannot get mature on your own just with you own will power.  no you must have HIS power and HE is here wanting to come into your life and start the process of developing you from the inside out.  you see HE is the only one that can change the inside.

           

right there in the quietness of your heart would you say, dear JESUS i want to be the kind of person YOU want me to be.  i want to be positive under pressure.  GOD, will YOU change my attitude.  will YOU change me from an attitude of gripping to the attitude of gratefulness.

           

please forgive me for being insensitive to others, to my wife, to my husband, to my kids, to those at work.  help me to see them as YOU see them.

           

then my mouth, oh GOD my mouth.  please GOD forgive me for being a gossip, i’ve spread rumors, i’ve talk about others in a mean way behind their backs, i’ve shared things that weren’t positive.  please help me to not be so compulsive with my mouth.  LORD, i know YOU said if i can’t control my mouth, my religion is worthless.

           

also GOD, i know i’ve got a temper and i ask YOU to help me with it.  you know i’ve got pride in my life, help me with it.  LORD, you know how easy it is for me to judge other people.  help me to realize that all that’s going to do is cause conflict and stir up strife.

           

then GOD help me grow in patience.   help me develop my prayer life, to talk to YOU more, to show my dependence on YOU by talking to YOU about every area of my life.  make me a patient and prayer person.

           

HEAVENLY FATHER, thank YOU for YOUr word.  thank YOU that it deals not with theory but with areas that i need to work on – my attitudes, my actions, my thoughts, my relationships.  help me to grow up to be more like YOU.  in JESUS name i pray.  amen.

just a thought from the front porch…

patient and prayerful…

a mature person is patient and prayerful.

james 5.7,11 (niv), be patient then, brothers, until the LORD’s coming…as you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered.  verse 16 (niv), the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.  GOD says the mark of a mature person is, he is patient and prayerful. 

those are the two key words in chapter five of the book of james.  patient is used four times and prayer is used seven times.  the mark of a mature person is they are patient and they are prayerful.  those two go together.

james 5.7 (niv), be patient then, brothers, until the LORD’s coming.  see how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, how patient he is for the fall and spring rain.  you too be patient.  stand firm because the LORD’s coming is near.  don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged.

he’s saying, be patient and he uses the illustration of a farmer and if anybody has to be patient, it is a farmer.  he does a lot of waiting.  he plants a seed, waits, prays, hopes, expects…he waits.  there are no overnight crops.

and just like a farmer, we too sometimes have to wait.  we have to wait on GOD to answer our prayer.  we have to wait on GOD for a miracle.  we have to wait on GOD to work in our lives.  we have to wait.  patience is a mark of maturity.  the only way you learn patience is by waiting.

have your kids ever learned the difference between, “no” and “not yet.”  when they are young is seems that they both mean the same thing. 

many times GOD says to you, “not yet.”  HE doesn’t mean “no.”  HE doesn’t mean HE is not going to answer your prayer, HE is just saying, you’ve got to wait.  I want you to develop, to grow.

james 5.16 (niv), therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other that you may be healed.  the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.  elijah was a man just like us.  he prayed earnestly that it wouldn’t rain and it didn’t rain on the land for three and a half years.  again he prayed and the heavens gave rain and the earth produced its crop.

if anybody was patient it was elijah.  elijah was patient and he was prayful.  that’s a mark of maturity.

just a thought from the front porch…

build other people up…

ephesians 4.29 (tev), do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you.  watch what you say.

when you talk you don’t just say things to build yourself up.  you say things to build other people up.  if it doesn’t build somebody up, don’t say it.  even if it’s the truth, if it doesn’t build up, just don’t say it.  that’s a mark of maturity.

a mature person manages his mouth.  it doesn’t matter how long you have been a CHRISTian, if you can’t manage your mouth, you’ve missed the point.

james 1.26 (niv), if anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

if i’ve memorized a hundred thousand verses and been through every bible study in the book and go to church and never miss a service but if i’m a gossip, my religion is worthless.  if i spread rumors, it’s worthless.  if i’m always saying things that are not always accurate or exaggerate or speak impulsively, it’s worthless.  the test of maturity is to manage your mouth so that no corrupt communiation, no negative talk comes out of your mouth.

speak the truth in love means the right attitude, the right timing, the right place, the right location, the right motive.  the bible is very practical.  it doesn’t matter how much you know about the bible, if your attitude isn’t like CHRIST’s you’re missing the point.

just a thought from the front porch…

master your mouth…

a mature person can master his mouth.  do you master your mouth?

james 3.2 (niv), we all stumble in many ways. (this is an understatement.  nobody’s perfect)  if anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check."

the first thing a doctor will say when you go for a check up is ”stick out your tongue.”  he uses your tongue to check your health.  GOD does that spiritually too.

in world war 11 there was a saying, “loose lips, sinks ships.”  loose lips destroy lives.  they hurt! 

definition of gossip: hearing something you like about somebody you don’t.  it is a mouth to mouth recitation.

self control comes from tongue control.  we get ourselves into so much trouble at what we say and what we think and what we speak and james 3 gives us several illustrations.  he says our tongue is like a rudder, a bit in a horse’s mouth, a spark, a snake, a spring. 

he says, you put a little bit in a horses mouth and that little bit can control the direction of the horse.  a little rudder on a boat can control the direction of the boat.  your tongue, which, by size is very insignificant, controls your life. 

what you say directs your life, what you say can destroy your life.  it can delight people’s lives; it can discourage people’s lives.  your tongue is powerful for good or for evil.

have you ever heard someone say, “i just say what’s on my mind.”  they’re proud of it.  being frank, up front, they say what’s on their mind…  maybe there’s not a whole lot on their mind.  maybe what’s on their mind shouldn’t be said.  the bible says that’s not frankness, that’s immaturity.  a lot of people just need a dose of tactfulness.

just a thought from the front porch…

sensitive to other people…

we are looking in the book of james in the new testament in the bible at what is a mature person. it says that a mature person is sensitive to people.  are you sensitive to people?

james 2.8 (niv), if you really keep the royal law found in scripture, “love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.

a mature person is sensitive to people.  he doesn’t just see his own needs but he sees other people’s needs.  he understands their hurts.  he’s not just interested in himself.

kids when they’re immature, only see themselves, “i want this, i want that, i don’t care about anybody else.”  GOD says that love, being interested in others is a mark of maturity.

now james gets very specific. james 2.1-6, don’t show favoritism, don’t be a snob, don’t look down on people, don’t judge by appearance, don’t insult people, don’t exploit people.  so this test of maturity is love: how do you treat people.

the apostle paul in the new testament said, “i may win all kinds of people to the LORD, i may build great church buildings, i may be on television [well maybe he didn’t say that but you get the idea], i may give my money to the poor, but if i have not love, i’m as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal; it just doesn’t amount to much.

matthew 25, JESUS says, “at the judgment they will stand before the LORD and HE’ll say, ‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and in prison and you visited me.’  we’ll say, ‘when LORD, when did we do that?  when were you sick and we visited you?  when were you in prison and when were you thirsty and we gave you drink?’ 

verse 45 (msg), HE will answer them, “I’m telling the solemn truth: whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.”

now it is interesting to note that in the matthew 25 judgment the one thing we’ll be judged for is how we treated other people.  not how many bible verses we knew, how many times we were in church, not what great a reputation we had as CHRISTian leaders, but how we treated other people.

just a thought from the front porch…

a manual on maturity..

now james, a little book in the back of the bible is a manual on maturity.  to find out how to measure spiritual maturity we need to see what the bible says.  now the word “mature” in greek is the word “teleaos” – it’s translated mature, complete, perfect and james uses this word five times in five chapters.  james is a manual on how to be mature.  james gives us some marks of maturity.

one of them is a mature person is positive under pressure.  are you positive under pressure?

james 1.2-4 (msg), consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. you know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. so don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

how do you handle trials?  how do you handle problems?  the first test of maturity is how you react to problems.

do they blow you away?  do you get nervous, uptight, negative?  do you gripe and grumble?  how do you handle problems?

man alive pastor, that is none of your business?  and you are right, it is none of my business but it is CHRIST’s business if you call yourself a follower of CHRIST.

you see CHRISTianity is life.  it’s not religion, it’s a life.  it is not what you do in church on sunday it’s what you do on monday. 

JESUS said, I’ve come that you might have life.  life means problems and a part of life is solving problems and facing them with the right attitude. 

what is your natural attitude; your natural bent when things don’t go right and you’re irritated?  are you negative or positive?  are you basically a supportive person or are you a skeptical person?  is your life filled with gratitude or grumbling?  are you affirmative or are you angry most of the time?

james 1.12 (niv) says, blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that GOD has promised to those who love HIM.   

you can be great in knowledge of the bible and be cantankerous as all get out!  are you positive under pressure?

just a thought from the front porch…

maturity isn’t…

i am 64 years old.  i would hope that i am mature but sometime i react in ways that aren’t mature.  for example when i’m at a stoplight and someone behind me honks.  i don’t handle that well. 

so what does it mean to be mature?  well a good place to start is what it isn’t and it isn’t age.  it has nothing to do with how long you have lived or how long you've been a CHRISTian. 

i’ve been a CHRISTian for 59 years.  there are still some areas in my CHRISTian life that i need to grow up in.  maturity has nothing to do with your age.  some kids have more of a handle on life than some adults.  some new CHRISTians know more about what it means to be a CHRISTian than some who have been CHRISTians it seems all of their life.  maturity is not age.

maturity is not appearance.  some people look so mature.  some people look so much more SPIRITual than the rest of us.  they look kind of dignified; they look like they’re holy.  but the fact is you can look real SPIRITual and not be SPIRITual at all.  it has nothing to do with appearance.

maturity has nothing to do with achievement, what you accomplish.  i sit and drink coffee with people who the world says are successful but i see them react to situations that annoy them and they look just like little kids.  they react in such an immature way.  you don’t have to be mature to make millions.

maturity has nothing to do with academics, how many degrees you have, how much education you have.  some people spend all of their time striving to educate their brain but they find that when they get that last degree, they still don’t know what life’s all about.  they still react to life, to others in an immature way.

no GOD says maturity is attitude.  attitude is what makes the difference.  it’s your character.  d.l. moody said,  “character is what you are in the dark.”  recognition is what people say about you, character is what GOD says about you.  GOD says it’s your attitude that determines whether you’re mature or not.  GOD wants you to grow up and have CHRIST-like attitudes.

just a thought from the front porch…

why does GOD delay answering my prayer?...

life is filled with a lot of unanswered questions.  i’m sure that you have asked some of these questions…

·        if nothing sticks to teflon, how do they make teflon stick to the pan?

·        why do they put flotation devices under airplane seats instead of parachutes?

·        why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?

·        when we’re in a car and looking for an address we can’t find, why do we turn down the volume on the radio?

·        if denny’s is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, why do they have locks on the doors?

·        why are there interstate highways in hawaii?

·        why do they put braille dots on atm machines?

           

but the most perplexing question of all i want to ask GOD is, why does HE wait to answer my prayer?  if HE hears it immediately and has the power to do it, why the delay? 

the classic story of waiting is of the children of israel who were brought out of egypt and then wandered around for forty years before they went into the promised land.  it’s only about two weeks walk between egypt and israel.  it took them 40 years.  what in the world were they doing?

exodus 13.17 (niv), when pharaoh let the people go, GOD did not lead them (directly), though that way was shorter.  for GOD said, “if they face war, they might change their minds and return to egypt”. 

GOD had them wander around for 40 years.  why delays? 

for one, GOD uses delays to prepare us.  GOD uses delays in your life to prepare us for difficulties that are ahead.

also, GOD uses delays to test us.  deuteronomy 8.2 (tlb), GOD led you through the wilderness for forty years... testing you to find out how you would respond and if you would obey HIM. 

how do you respond to delays?  GOD says it’s a test of faith.  your test of maturity is how well you handle the waiting rooms of life when things don’t come immediately.  how do you respond?

just a thought from the front porch…