A Notable Impression
James 1:19-25 – Victory Fellowship
August 1, 2021 - Rev. Roderick Grabski
1) INTRODUCTION:
a) Did you ever look at your watch and someone ask you immediately afterward “what time is it?”
i) Could you tell them w/o looking at your watch again?
ii) Your watch didn’t leave a notable impression.
b) The reboot of a classic book, How To Win Friends & Influence People in the Digital Age, includes six specific ways Dale Carnegie and associates say you can make a notable impression in the business world.
1. Take interest in others' interests.
2. Make an effort to smile.
3. Learn to memorize people's names.
4. Listen longer
To really listen to someone else, you need to be able to hear what others are saying, what they don't say and what they really mean. This means you have to stop interrupting, listen for feelings, repeat what you heard back to the person, acknowledge what the person said and look for nonverbal clues.
5. Discuss what matters to them.
6. Leave others better than you find them.
c) Long before Dale Carnegie, JAMES (the brother of JESUS), offers some practical ways to make a notable impression through our faith.
2) RELATING THE TEXT:
a) James is a pragmatic. He cuts to the chase and in this passage he offers a progressive way for a Christian to employ our faith:
i) Be Quick to Listen
ii) Be Slow to Speak
iii) Be Slow to get Angry
(1) An angry Christian does not honor God.
iv) Purge our lives of “filth and evil.”
v) Humbly accept God’s Word planted in our hearts – because it will save us.
vi) Don’t just listen to the Word – do what it says
(1) Otherwise it has no notable impression.
b) James reports that God’s blessing accompanies our obedience.
3) APPLICATION:
a) If we are to make a notable impression as we express our faith to others – the way we grow in faith must make a notable impression on us.
b) Stare at the four dots down Jesus’ nose till I say stop. Now close your eyes and let the inside of your eyelids be a blank screen and stare for a couple seconds. First, a circle will appear. Wait for it. That is a Notable Impression.
PRAYER
SONG: Less Like Me (Zach Williams)
James 1:19-25 (NLT) 19 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. 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. 22 But 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.
