We were well taught on Sunday: CJ helped us understand from James 1:22 why application is so important.

It’s important because we are simple people and growth is gradual. We forget 95% of what we hear in 3 days. So the path for change is to connect a little bit of scripture to a little bit of life (see the Powlison quotation below).  More on this soon, but in the meantime, here are the quotes:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to lose it.” Al Mohler

“No matter how extensive one’s scriptural knowledge, how amazing one’s memory, it is self deception if that is all there is. True knowledge is the prelude to action, and it is obedience to the word that counts in the end.” Peter Davids

“Just as we don’t change all at once, so we don’t swallow all of truth in one gulp. We are simple people. You can’t remember ten things at once. Invariably, if you could remember just ONE true thing in the moment of trial, you’d be different. When you actually remember, you actually change. In fact remembering is the first change…” David Powlison

“This article will consider one small part of the answer. It is an important part, however. Learning this has made a huge impact on how I live and counsel. In a nutshell, connect one bit of Scripture to one bit of life…Apply one relevant thing from our Redeemer to one significant scene in this person’s story. Bring one bit of the Bible to one bit of life. You can’t say it all at once…You can’t deal with it all at once. Scripture never does. Ministry, like life, goes one step at a time…But a timely text brings truth down to consumable size. Think of it this way. When you get to know a person well, you come to know both the panorama and the details. But change walks out in the details….Our lives work as stories, running in a series of scenes. Like a novel or movie, big themes work out in small scenes. This is how God made it to be. This is how He works. This is something that would be counselors often don’t get. It is something that preachers who do not counsel – and counsel well – often don’t understand. When you counsel (or preach) in great and good generalities, people will nod, but they rarely change.” David Powlison

“Appreciate the patience of God. Think how he has borne with you, and still bears with you, when so much in your life is unworthy of him and you have so richly deserved his rejection. Learn to marvel at his patience, and seek grace to imitate it in your dealings with others; and try not to try his patience any more.” J.I. Packer

“I have been thirty years in forming my own views; and, in the course of this time, some of my hills have sunk, and some of my valleys have risen; but, how unreasonable within me to expect all this should take place in another person; and that, in the course of a year or two.” John Newton

“If the expositor finds himself out of sight of Calvary, that shows that he has lost his way.” J.I. Packer

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