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In a few months’ from now, the year 2025 will be over. Like a joke we’re already in the month of August. Just a brief fact check: Since the beginning of this year a lot of us have attended several weekly church services, heard many sermons preached to us, and jotted down notes as the word was being preached. Some of us go beyond our local church to listen to some of our favorite preachers online. Cumulatively, a lot of us have heard well over 200 sermons since the beginning of this year, excluding gospel songs and other spiritual edifying activities. The question is: How have these messages changed your life? Should it not raise a question that having heard lots of messages my life isn’t going forward? Your local Pastor preaches wonderful sermons every Sunday, and everyone in the congregation says, “Preach it Pastor”, and yet no visible change is seen in your lives. Won’t you pause and ask why?

Today, good sermons are not lacking in our churches. What truly is lacking is action on what is being preached. James 1:21-25 declares, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” From this scripture, we can see that hearing the “word” but doing nothing with the “word” you have received, profit nothing. In other words, it’s a waste of time, energy, and resources commuting to church all the time when you’re not being transformed by doing what the word of God says.

You see, when you receive the word of God, what it does is to build faith in you. “For faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). But faith on its own is not enough (James 2:17). Why? For faith without works is death (James 2:26). It’s not enough to say you have faith in God and there’s nothing to show for your faith which you problaim. Your faith in God must push you to take certain actions that would change your life. For instance, the woman with the issue of blood heard about Jesus. Yes, she heard about the miracles and wonders being performed by Jesus, and this built her faith that her time of deliverance has come if she can meet Jesus. Immediately, she got to work. The Bible tells us in Matthew 9:20-22, “And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. For she said to herself: If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well. But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her, He said: Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well. And the woman was made well from that hour.”

If I may ask: What are you doing with the faith you have been accumulating all through this year from the sermons and preaching you have received in your church and on YouTube? Listen, the devil is not afraid of you carrying the Bible or going to church. He becomes jittery and afraid of you when you begin to hear and apply the word of God. Yes, you become a threat to Satan the moment you start to do what the word of God says you should do. Jesus says, “Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall” (Matthew 7:24-29).

Based on this scripture, we can see that both the “hearers and doers” and “hearers only” of the word are building. Yes, one is building on a sure foundation (Isaiah 28:16); the other is building a faulty foundation (Psalm 11:3). In this instance, one built on the rock, and the other built on the sand. Unfortunately, the one who built on the rock stands while the other who built on the sand falls. What made the difference? The answer is simple: “He who hears these sayings of Mine, and does them.” Jesus said to the Jews who believed in Him, “If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed; And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32). You cannot be free if you’re not applying the knowledge you know. It’s not enough to know that Paracetamol will cure your headache. You have to take a few tablets and drink it. Otherwise, you will continue to suffer headaches. Really, this is the sad story of many believers in Christ who receive the word of God but it does not profit them (Matthew 13:1-23). I pray going forward, you will become a doer of the word, not hearers only in Jesus Name. Hallelujah! Have a Blessed and Fantastic Week. With love, Elvis!