Christians must live out their faith. They should be doers, not just hearers, of God’s Word.
Hearing, Doing, & Living the Word Pastor Tom Cogle
JAMES 1:19-27 Sunday, August 10, 2025
James 1:19-20 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.
Proverbs 17:27 A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered.
Proverbs 21:23 Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.
1. Quick to listen + slow to speak = slow to get angry.
James 3:16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
James 1:19-20 MSG:Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger.
v Two ears and one mouth were INTENTIONAL.
James 1:21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.
2. Our spirits were born again, our soul (mind, will, & emotions) was not.
v Heart / “Kardía”: In the Greek, its meaning goes beyond the physical organ and encompasses the following aspects:
1) Emotional Center: It refers to the seat of feelings, emotions, desires, and passions.
2) Intellectual Center: It represents the center of thought, including understanding, reasoning, and intellect.
3) Moral Center: It’s the place where moral and spiritual decisions are made, the core of one’s character, conscience, and will.
4) Spiritual Center: It signifies the innermost part of a person, where faith and relationship with God reside. It is the place where God’s word is planted, as seen in James 1:21.
James 1:21 MSG:So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.
James 1:22-25But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
3. The problem in the church today is not revelation but APPLICATION.
4. We have a knowledge SURPLUS and an obedience deficiency.
v Spiritual Obesity: When our biblical knowledge exceeds our OBEDIENCE.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths.
5. We go deeper by the Word we DO, not by the WORD we KNOW!
James 1:22-25But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.
6. The mirror of God’s Word reveals our genuine God-given IDENTITY.
Psalm 139:23-24Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
v It’s what we do with what we SEE and HEAR that will make a difference in our life!
7. Information + Application = TRANSFORMATION.
Matthew 7:24-27“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.
26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
James 1:26-27 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. 27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
8. The proof of God’s Word in us will be witnessed by those AROUND us.
a. James reflects some of the words from his brother Jesus:
Matthew 5:14-16“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.
v DISCIPLE OF JESUS: To live, love, serve and give like Jesus.
*all verses are NLT (New Living Translation) unless otherwise noted*