Brave Church

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're glad you've joined us for today's program. Brave is
the Bible teaching ministry of Jeff Swarzentrap, Senior Pastor of
Brave Church in Denver, Colorado. Brave exists to challenge spirit
filled warriors for courageous kingdom advancement. Today, I'm Brave. Pastor
Jeff concludes his message growing in the Word from the

(00:22):
series Walk Your Talk and shows you what James One
reveals about how to build your spiritual muscles through trials.
Pastor Jeff will get started in just a moment, but
first we want to tell you that you can find
many more resources to help you grow in your walk
at Pastorjeff dot com. And that's also where you can
sign up for weekly email devotions from Pastor Jeff. Is

(00:43):
it Pastorjeff dot com today to sign up for encouragement
right in your inbox. Now, here's today's program.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Isn't it Cool? With James is Sam? Be quick to listen,
so to speak, so to become angry, for that the
anger of man does not produce the righteous re vironments
of God. And then he says, get rid of all
the filth, get rid of all the evil, so that
you can in the humility receive the word implanted, which
is able to save your soul. Yes, the word of
God can save your soul for all eternity. But savior

(01:13):
actually can mean delivered too. The word can mean it
can deliver you out of It can deliver you out
of your trial. It can deliver you out of temptation.
It can do work for you here on this side
of heaven. In addition, it can save your soul for
all eternity. But there's benefit to the word here, there's
benefit to the word. Now, let me give you a

(01:35):
third way that you can grow in Christ. Not only
concentration on the word or preparation for the word, but
how about application with the word, application with the word,
not just application of the word with the word. Now,
why do I say with Because when I say word,
I'm saying Jesus Christ. I'm using the word word and

(01:55):
Jesus Christ interchangeably. Because John one one tells me in
the beginning was the word, and the word was with God,
and the word was God. He was with God in
the beginning. In verse fourteen says, and the word became
flesh and made his dwelling among us. Who is the
word the word is Jesus. When I read scripture from
Genesis one to one through Revelation twenty two to twenty one,
that is a revelation of Jesus Christ. That written word

(02:20):
is Jesus. His personhood when he came is the manifestation
of the written word. The word and Jesus are synonymous,
one and the same. So I need to apply the word.
I need to make application with the word. I need
to make application with Jesus. Notice what James says. He says,
this is so important, and this is so important for

(02:42):
those of us that live in a culture that says, well,
I pray to prayer and I did this and I
got religion, and people point at you and say, so
what like you think just because you pray to prayer
you're going to heaven. Yeah, because my pastor told me so.
Then he says this verse twenty two. But prove yourselves
doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves,

(03:10):
pestor or my Christian. It's not my job to confirm
or affirm that you're a Christian. It's your job to
prove that you are by what you do. If you
say you are, then live it. I mean at your
theology is your life on display. Like what you practice
is what you believe. If you swear, you have a

(03:31):
theology that believes that's okay. If you get drunk, you
have a theology it says that's okay. I mean, whatever
you're practicing is demonstrating what you say you believe. Just
because you say you believe it doesn't mean you're living it. Well,
I believe I'm to love my wife. I just don't
do a very good job at it. Well, yeah, all
of us can improve it that. I get that, But
is there a desire to improve it?

Speaker 1 (03:52):
That?

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Is there evidence in your life you're wanting to grow
in that? Is there confession of sin when you don't
do that? Is there a desire to hear the of
God and have surround yourself by others so you can
become more of that? Or she's like, well, I'm just
not good at that. Prove yourselves, he says, doers of
the word and not merely hears and delude yourself. Don't
deceive yourself. Don't deceive yourself. For if anyone is a

(04:16):
hearer of the word and not a doer, he is
like a man who looks at his natural face in
a mirror. For once he has looked at himself and
gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person
he was. Right, It's like, what good does it do
in a mirror if you look in the mirror but
it doesn't and it reflects back to you what you
look like, but you don't take any account of it.

(04:36):
It's interesting to this word in the Greek is the
word for man. It's specifically male when a male looks
at a mirror, which is interesting because I think men
and women look at mirrors differently, you know. I mean
there's a difference between a glance and a gaze, right,
I mean men we kind of walk by like that
looks pretty good, and we move, whereas you know, you

(04:57):
just take a wedding on a wedding day, the amount
time it takes groomsmen to get married getting ready for
the wedding versus the amount of time it takes the bride'smace.
It's just different in my experience, right, says what good
is it if you look but then you don't respond
to what you see and you forget what you see? Like,
what good is it to look in the mirror and

(05:17):
notice a broccoli in your teeth. You're not gonna take
the brocoli out when you go say ahy to everybody
and smile at them. Right. He's like, that's what it
means if you if you say, you know what, I'm
not really a doer of the word. I'm just a
hearer of the word. Hearing the word is really really good.
It's really really important. And the longer I've been a pastor,
the more I believe in the entirety of the word.

(05:38):
If you would have pressed me some fourteen years ago
before I became the pastor of this church, Jeff, do
you believe in the authority and an errancy of the scriptures?
I would have said, one hundred percent yes. If you
would have pushed me on it, I would have said,
if the Bible says it, I believe it, even if
I don't understand it. But having to stand here week
after week, month after month, year after year and preach
the whole counsel of God, I believe it in a
way way more than I did before. Like I believe

(06:01):
every part of it. And it irritates me at my
core when somebody doesn't like it. Bothers me when I
read Genesis one one and I read about two genders
and one race in six days. I believe that God
is the creator of all that and did it just
like he said, And it's not up for debate. Amen.
So when I hear people say millions and millions of

(06:24):
years ago in a land far far away, that's a
fairy tale. To me. It's not biblical truth. And if
we have to apologize for the first chapter, we may
as well apologize for every other chapter after that. That's me, okay.
So I believe all of it, even the stuff I
don't understand. I'm like, God, that's right. Even if I
don't understand it, You're right, I'm wrong. I believe that.
But I'll say this, listen. To know a lot and

(06:45):
not apply it is worse than knowing a little and
applying all of what you do know. I've been on
the mission field with people pastors. They've had zero Bible training,
they know nothing, and they've gotten saved and they don't
know anything. But they're running around telling everybody about Jesus
and what little they do know they're putting into practice,
which is how you grow spiritually. To know a lot

(07:09):
and not use it is worse than anything, right. I mean,
take what you do know and put it into practice,
and that will grow your spiritual muscles. Because here's what
happens in church. The Bible tells us knowledge puffs up,
but love builds up. I mean, you come to brave Church,
a church that preaches the whole counsel of God, and
you can say, I don't really know anything. I don't

(07:29):
really know how many books there are in the Bible.
I don't understand what a Corinthian is or a Philippian
or I don't know any of these things. And I
would say to you, welcome, no problem. But if you
know how to forgive somebody, put that into practice, you're
welcome here. It's not what you do know, because what
happens in some churches that are Bible churches is there's
a lot of knowledge that's going around with a limited

(07:50):
amount of application, and pride just seeps through it. And
everybody thinks they're more spiritual if they have more knowledge. No,
you're more spiritual with how obedient you are to the
Lord with what you know. Amen, when you meet Jesus
on Judgment Day, he's not giving you a final, a
written exam of how much of the Bible. You know,

(08:14):
He's gonna qualify your life by how well you listened
and were obedient to what He showed you individually. There's
no award for Bible scholar in heaven. There's just not.
The only award, I mean, the only true award in
heaven is that we get to worship the One, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and who he is. We're putting him

(08:34):
on display. Amen. And the interesting thing about the Word
is it's more than just a mirror. It's more like
an X ray machine. Hebrews four to twelve says the
Word of God is living and active. It's sharper than
a two edges sword. It penetrates to divide both soul
and spirit, joins and merrill, and it judges the attitudes
and the intentions of the heart. I mean, this is

(08:56):
the only book in the world that when you read
this book, this book will read you. That's how you
know it's living in active because if you're really open
to what God has to say, this book will encourage you,
and this book will offend you, and it will never stop.
It does both all the time, because it's an X
ray machine that goes down to your soul, because when

(09:19):
a person is saved, the spirit of God is implanted
deep inside of that person. The resurrected Christ lives inside
of you. You are in the realm of Christ. And
now this word that's coming to you is aligning with
this word that is inside of you, and that word
inside of you wants all of this, because this word
inside of you wants to become the fullness of what

(09:39):
you were intended to do, and it starts chiseling off
all the things that aren't supposed to be there.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
You're a listing to Brave and today Pastor Jeff is
sharing his message growing in the Word from the series
Walk Your Talk, showing you what James One reveals about
how to build your spiritual muscles through trials. We'll get
back to Pastor Jeff in just a moment, but first,
generous friends like you make programs like this one possible.

(10:07):
And when you give a gift in support of Pastor
Jeff ministries today, you're helping spread biblical truth to a
world in need. Simply visit us at Pastorjeff dot com
to give once again. That website is Pastorjeff dot com.
Now let's get back to today's message to listen to
the conclusion of this teaching from God's word.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
You are in the realm of Christ, and now this
word that's coming to you is aligning with this word
that is inside of you, and that word inside of
you wants all of this, because this word inside of
you wants to become the fullness of what you were
intended to do, and it starts chiseling off all the
things that aren't supposed to be there. I read a

(10:47):
quote this week from Michaelangelo, the Great sculptor, who said
this when he looked at a marble block, he said,
the sculpture is already complete within the marble block. Before
I start my work. It's already there. I just have
to chisel away the superfluous material. When you're in Christ,
he sees you as perfect. When you're in Christ, he

(11:09):
sees you as forgiven. When you're in Christ, he sees
you as holy. And then he uses the word on
this side of heaven so he can chisel away all
those things in your life that aren't aligned, which is
why sometimes it's so encouraging, Oh I'm glad that got
chiseled off, And other times it's so painful, like why
are you taking that. That's part of me and it's

(11:29):
an ongoing process because God is in the sculpting business
of seeing you the way you were designed to be
and presenting you and getting ready to present you faultless
before the Father. And that's an ongoing process. That's whether
there has to be application with the word. When I
say with means you can't do this yourself. I mean,
you read the Book of James. He would have been

(11:50):
a great campaigner for Nike. I mean's just do it,
just do it, apply it, go go. But we know
that we can't just take what God says and go
do it ourselves. We need the help of the Holy Spirit.
We need the help of Jesus to do that. So
when Jesus talks to you and he shows you what
you need to do, then you're saying, Lord, with your help,
help me do this. Lord, with your help, help me

(12:12):
do that. And that's why when you're listening to a message,
sometimes we just want to hear scripture. We want to
hear clarity. But what we don't want to hear is
what God saying specifically to me. I don't want to
hear about forgiveness today. That's not why I came in.
I just want to hear, James. I didn't want to
hear about stewarting differently. I didn't want to hear about
changing my career. I didn't want to hear about changing

(12:33):
who I am and my marriage. I didn't want to
hear about the way I parent. I didn't want to
hear about forgiveness. I didn't want to hear any of
that stuff. I just want to feel good. And yet
the Word of God comes and the Holy Spirit meets
you right where you're at, because he knows the next
step of what he's trying to chisel away, and what
he's trying to stand away, and what he's trying to
make new, so that you become the fullness of everything
God wants you to be. And you have to apply

(12:55):
the word. I mean, think back to the Old Testament, right,
think back to the Old Testament with you old in Israel,
we're leaving Egypt, and they had to on the last
night slaughter a lamb and then do what apply the blood?
They had to take the blood and put it on
the doorposts. Now they could have said, listen, we're willing
to do the supper. We're willing to kill the innocent lamb.

(13:18):
We'll do everything, But you know how gross it is
to put blood on a door post. I mean, that's
gonna stick, It's gonna look awful, it looks weird, it's
kind of massacres. I don't know that I'm going to
do that. What would have happened if they hadn't have
done that? What happened to every home in Egypt that
didn't do that? The eldest died. You have to apply
the word when you come to church, you should be

(13:40):
asking this question, Lord, what do you want me to
apply today? What are you saying to me right now?
And here's the way the Lord works. He works specifically
and not generally. He will talk to you about you.
He will tell you what you need to do, and
when he does, it will bother you because he's not
talking to anybody else about That specific application to what

(14:01):
God wants for your life may look like nobody else's.
I mean, we can read romans about you know what
we look at with our eyes and why that's important,
But the specific application to you may look different than
the specific application to me. I remember when the Lord
told me to get rid of cable television. I'm like
you got the wrong guy. To this day, I don't

(14:21):
have cable TV. And it's not because I got direct
TV either, just I don't have channels. But it's not
like I'm gonna rant. And I don't think that's what
every Christian should do. I don't. I know that's what
God wants from me. Right, So what's he saying to you?
Because when he says something specific to you, usually it
goes something like this, how come I'm the only one

(14:42):
that has to go through this right now? Why are
you doing this to me? So and so doesn't have
to do that. So and so doesn't need to be
obedient to that. You didn't call so and so to
act like, yeah, I'm not talking about so and so.
I'm talking to you. Are you gonna listen to me?
I mean, that's the way the Lord works. He always
works that way, even as I'm in the word. You
remember we did that twenty one days of purn fasting

(15:03):
back in the spring or back in January. I mean,
I'm going through twenty one days of purn fastiing, I'm fasty,
I'm seeking the Lord. I'm like, speak to me, Lord,
I want to hear what you have to say, and
It was one specific day where I've really sensed the
presence of the Lord and I was thanking him for
his power and what I wanted to see him do
it Brave. I wanted to see more deliverance ministry. At Brave.
I not only wanted to see the word go forth,

(15:24):
but I wanted to see a spirit moving power here
where I saw more healings and I saw more deliverance.
And we're talking about deliverance, and the Lord asked me
a question in my spirit. He's like, do you believe
I can heal people from cocaine addiction? I'm like one
hundred percent yes, so you do it. He said, do
you think I can heal people from a meth addiction?
And I was like yes, I said, I have a
good friend who's a pastor. You used to be a methadict.

(15:45):
I'm like, I know you can. And I'm getting all
fired up. As the Lord's asking me questions and I'm
a good student, I'm answering him. He said this, then,
why won't you let me heal you of your food addiction?
And I was like, say what food? I don't even
know what he's talking about. And as the Lord started
walking me through a process. He said, you know what,

(16:06):
you comfort yourself with food because nobody's gonna call you
on it. And even if you told people you eat
too much, or you like a bowl of ice cream
or extra pizza or whatever, if you said, man, I
feel kind of shamed by this, here's what they'd say
to you. Oh, I understand that. Why don't come over
to our house for dinner. We'll talk about it, right,
because it's one of those little ones. And I started, okay, Lord,
you got me, but I don't even know what to do,

(16:27):
and I don't even know how to eat. I never
even thought about it before. And the Lord started walking
me through a process of what do you have for me? Now?
I'm not gonna teach you on health and food, and
that's between me and the Lord. What is it between
you and the Lord? How do you honor the Lord
with your body? I mean, it's not It was specific
to me, it's not for everybody else. And that's how
he preaches, and that's how he speaks. Sometimes there's things

(16:47):
generally for us as a church or as a body,
or as a family or things like that, But oftentimes
I find that the Lord is speaking directly to the heart,
and it's only Christians that get the benefit of him
hearing this. I mean First Corinthians two and verse fourteen.
It says this about the natural man, meaning somebody that's
not saved. But a natural man does not accept the

(17:09):
things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness
to him and he cannot understand them because they are
spiritually appraised. When you start talking to non believers like
I'm talking to you, like, that's an idiot right there
talking Why would anybody do that? Why would you change
your behavior based upon someone you can't see because they
can't discern it. But when you know that the Lord
is real and he's speaking through his word, he's going
to talk to you about you in ways he's not

(17:30):
going to talk to anybody else. And we say, oh,
I want that until he's making you make a change
you don't want to make. But that's how you grow
your spiritual muscle. That's how you develop into what God
wants you to be. And you see, for many of us,
we have to realize this is how God wants us
to grow. I remember, in college, you can take classes
in college, you can take classes for grades, or you

(17:51):
can do what's called an audit. You remember that credit
no credit classes. And then if you're auditing a class,
here's what it means. You can come if you want,
but you don't have to if you don't want. And
you can read the textbook if you want, but you
don't have to read the textbook if you don't want.
And hey, you can take the test if you want,
but you don't have to take the test if you
don't want. And at the end of semester, it's all
the same because you aren't getting any credit for being here,

(18:13):
and nobody cared it whether you came or not. Some
of us audit God like that. Some of us audit
Church like that. I'll come if I want, I don't
come if I don't. I mean, I really don't care
what the results are. I'm just an auditor. No, you're not.
You're a son or a daughter of the Most High God.
And there's something about being in the presence of God
with his people, hearing his word that changes who you are.

(18:36):
This year, on vacation, we were going three Sundays. Normally
we go to a church and we visit and do that.
This year we decided to watch online, which was great.
Love the preachers because I picked them, loved the worship
because I know all the songs. I mean, we had
a great time watching. It was good. But when I
got back from vacation, I sat in up front row
with my wife and the music started. I started to
cry because I'm like, I'm back with my people. There's

(18:58):
something about being in the presence of God with his
people that changes you. It's not you're making me come
to church. You don't have to come to church. I'm
telling you you're missing out if church isn't the biggest priority
in your life. But you don't have to doesn't half
to God. God says I'm worthy of everything you have.
What are you holding back from me? Right? That's what

(19:21):
it means to apply the word when you're hearing it today.
It's not that you remember all four of these points.
It's that you take what God showed you and you
apply it to your life. You apply it and the
word feeds the spirit man inside of you, and the
spirit man inside of you loves it, and it offends
the old man, that one that wants to hang on
to the past. Well, this is who I am, and
this is who I've always been. The Word of God

(19:42):
offends that one. But that's why we need to be
in the world. That's why we need to apply the word.
That's how we grow in the world. And here's why.
Because you're either green and growing or you're ripe and rotting.
You cannot spiritually plateau. Just by cruising, you will go down.
He said, Well, I've been studying Bible for years. Great,
it got you to hear, and if you stop, you

(20:03):
will go down. There's no spiritual plateaus. You don't get
to a place where you get to be like, Okay,
I've done this for seventy years now, I'm just going
to cruise into Geis. No, you're not. You're probably gonna
go down a spiral. You don't want to go. You
need to continue on with him. Amen, you need to
apply the word. You need to continue to grow with him,
which at least a point number four. Not only do

(20:25):
you apply the word, but then finally we need to
do this. Growing in Christ requires a continuation in the
world in the word, a continuation in the word as
saturation of it. I mean, if we believe what the
scriptures say that they're useful for teaching, rebuking, and correcting
and training in the righteousness. If we believe what the
Word says that no prophecy had his origin in the
will of man, but it was men moved by the

(20:47):
Holy Spirit, spoke from God. If we believe that this
entire book is of the Lord, then we need to
continue in it. You need to marinate in it. Some
of you that are grill experts know that you need
to marinate a piece of meat for a long piece
of a long period of time. You know they have
these things at the grocery store. Now, it's like five
minute marinade. I'm telling you, it doesn't work. It burned

(21:08):
off as soon as you put that sucker on the grill.
If you got a marinade, you gotta let that soak in.
You gotta let it be there. You got to let
it own and be inside the meat for you to
be able to have the flavor that you want it
to have. The same is true of the world. You
got to continue in it. There's too many Christians that
have said, well, I've already read the Bible, I want
it to church for twenty years. I don't need that anymore.

(21:28):
Yes you do. I need it every day. You need
it every We have to continue in this process, the
continuing process of hungering for the Word, the continuing process
of preparing for the Word, the continuing process of applying
the Word. And it never ever ends. Why because God
has us just the way he wants, and God wants
to use us. I mean, the Bible makes clear that

(21:50):
we are already dead in our transgressions and sins, and
that is the spirit of God who lives in us.
It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives
in me. And God wants to work in and through
me to accomplish his purpose. Soy verse twenty five says
it like this, when you talk about continuing in the Word.
But the one who looks intently, that means focused at
the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it,

(22:14):
not having become a forgetful hearer, but an effectual doer.
This man will be blessed in what he does. You
want to have a blessing of the Lord, stay in
the Word. You want to have a blessing in the Lord.
When you're in trials, stay in the Word. You wanta
have a blessing the Lord. When you're under temptation, stay
in the Word, and then do what he says, put
into practice what he shows you. He said, well, the
law sounds like confining. No, the law is what brings

(22:36):
liberty like. None of God's commands are burdensome. All of
the commands that God gives us in his words are
to set us free from the power of sin and death.
All of his commands are good. They're guardrails that keep
us from going off course, keep us in line so
that we can enjoy the fullness of who He is.

(22:57):
That's why we continue in his word, and we never
stop until we hear the words well done, good and
faithful servant. Let me present you faultless before my father.
We don't stop. We keep going. We continue why because
God's doing a work in us. And the longer we
allow God to do the work, the more fruitfulness you're
gonna see. I was thinking about ventuloquis the other day.

(23:20):
You ever seen ventuliquis. They hold these little puppets on
their lap, and after a while, if they're really good,
I don't know how they do it, by the way,
but if they're really good, it's almost as if they're
not there anymore, and it's the puppet who's doing all
the talking. Like they actually have a personality. I mean
this very lifeless puppet, this one that's dead, I mean
there's no life in it. Because of the Master's hands

(23:41):
and the Master's voice, it starts moving in such a
way that you're like, Wow, that thing's really speaking. I
think has a mind of its own. It's really the
mind of its owner. Right when you walk in the Word,
it's as if God puts his hand on you in
such a way that he does something in and through
you that only he can do. That. He's the one

(24:02):
that's moving in and through you. He's the one talking
through you. He's the one doing it. Other people may
see the spirit of God and be like, what's that, Well,
that's not him, you know what, that's not her. That's
the spirit of God coming through How does that come
through the continuation of the Word.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
Thanks for listening to Brave. That was Pastor Jeff with
his message Growing in the Word from the series Walk
Your Talk, showing you what James One reveals about how
to build your spiritual muscles through trials. Before you go,
remember that your support keeps this program going and helps
bring bold biblical teaching to listeners like you. To give

(24:41):
a gift in support of Pastor Jeff Ministries. Today, go
to Pastorjeff dot com and while you're there, remember to
sign up for email updates from Brave so you never
miss new resources designed to equip you for courageous living.
That's Pastorjeff dot com. Thank you for joining us today