A Jew Tour Through James (Part 1)

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Pastor Mike preaches A Jew Tour Through James (Part 1)

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A Jet Tour Through James (Part 2)

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The person that's heard me preach the most over the last 33 years of preaching is probably my wife,
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Kim Abendroth. But second to her is probably Steve and Janet Cooley.
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Probably 30 years they've heard me preach. We're still friends. Pastor Steve, what's the sermon that you've heard me preach more than any other sermon in the last 30 years?
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Any guesses? It is a book that I've preached regularly and often, and he has heard me preach it probably 10 different times, but he's never heard me preach it this way.
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It's a book that helps us, that guides us, that helps us know how to live in light of who
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Jesus is, and it's perfect for a snow Sunday. Please turn your
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Bibles not to Luke, but to the epistle of James.
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Turn your Bible to James. I had a couple heads nod over there, James. We are in the gospel of Jesus according to Luke, but since it's snow
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Sunday, I thought, well, I kind of need a little backup plan just in case. And I think probably next
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Saturday night into Sunday, we're going to need another backup plan. It looks like we get more snow next week.
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Let me give you my rationale behind this message this morning from James. Luke is chocked full of some of the greatest truths in all the
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Bible about Jesus. And you learn about how he was born of a virgin. You learn about his temptations.
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You learn about his power over sin and sickness and death. You just learn about who
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Jesus is. There are these truths, these statements that are true about Jesus. And sometimes in the gospel of Jesus, according to Luke, it tells you what to do.
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It tells you how to act. It tells you how to think. But most of the time, it's just a spotlight on Jesus.
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And obviously, there's nothing wrong with that because you become like the one you worship. But as a supplement to who
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Jesus is, the book of James tells us, how do you live in light of that resurrected
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Jesus? How do you live knowing that Jesus paid for your sins? Do you live differently than the world does?
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Do you live exactly like the world does? And so James is one of these books that it doesn't have anything about Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection.
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It says some things about Jesus, and we'll look at that this morning. But it mainly tells us what
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Jesus wants us to do. What God, the triune God, wants us to do. What does obedience look like?
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How do you please the Lord? Obviously, not to get to heaven, but because you're going to heaven, how do we honor this
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God, and how do we love neighbor, and how do we do that? And so today, we're going to look at the book of James, Jet Tour.
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My guess is it's going to take us two weeks. I have personally, by the way, been parked in James for about two weeks.
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Because there are certain things in my soul that need ministering to, and James is ministering to me.
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And of course, when I think of you, and some of the trials that you're going through as a congregation, what would be good for the congregation?
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The book of James will be very, very helpful, I'm sure to you. Before we get into the passage, in terms of the meat of it, there's a greeting.
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And let's go to look at James, let's look at James chapter one, verse one, for the greeting, because it's very insightful.
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James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greetings.
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Now, many of you have heard that Martin Luther didn't like this epistle. He called it an epistle of what?
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Straw. But did you know in the same preface to this book, he also said this,
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I praise it and hold it a good book, because it sets no doctrine of men, because it sets up doctrine of men and lays great stress upon God's law.
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What does God command us to do? What does He want us to do? How do you live in light of a resurrected
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Savior? That's the book of James. And one of the things about James is it's fast -paced.
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It really draws you in. And it's got an imperative every other verse.
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I think if you count it, there's 108 verses and there are 54 imperatives. Here's what
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Christianity looks like. How do I live in light of a resurrected Savior? That's a lot different than how would
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I live if evolution's true. How would I live if Jesus was a liar? How do I live my life if there's no
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God, no resurrection, no judgment, no eternal life, no forgiveness? And so James is very fast -paced.
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He's very direct. Sometimes if you want to be direct with people, you give short sentences, staccato sentences, and that's what
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James does. Another comment. Out of all the books in the New Testament, which one was written last?
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I think that's an easy one, and the answer is the book of Revelation. Which one was written first?
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Out of all the books that were written, 27 New Testament books, which one is written first? Answer, the book of James.
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That's exactly right. And so here's how you frame James. If you want to know what
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James is so you don't say it's a strawy epistle because there's nothing about Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, virgin birth, ascension, prayer for us.
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There's nothing in the Bible, in the book of James, about that. How do we frame it?
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Here's the answer. I've been waiting all week to say this. The events of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John have occurred.
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There's been a virgin birth. There's been healings. There's been Jesus forgiving sins.
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Jesus has walked on water. He's cast out demons. He's preached good news. He's suffered under a temporal judge,
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Pontius Pilate, at the same time suffering under God the Father as He judges
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Jesus in our place. There's been a resurrection. Jesus has conquered sin and death and hell and He's, in fact, done something that no one can do.
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He's raised Himself from the dead. He ascended into heaven and the men looked and here
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Jesus goes up into heaven and Jesus is now praying for His people. That's all happened.
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It just hasn't been written yet. It's happened, let's just say, from 30 to 33
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AD. You can argue about the timing, but Jesus has been on earth doing His public ministry 30 to 33
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AD, life, death, burial, resurrection. That's happened. It just hasn't been written.
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And so people that have been alive 15 years later receive the book of James. They know
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Jesus is alive. They know He's raised Himself from the dead. And so they ask the question, well, how do we live?
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Do we go back to some kind of civil law back in, for the Israelites? How do we live and please
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God knowing that Jesus has been raised from the dead? And so the Spirit of God gives the book of James to people that already know about who
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Jesus is. And so we can never take this book full of all these imperatives, chock full every other verse is an imperative and say, well, they're strictly
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Proverbs. They're strictly just law for us to do. No, no. We know who Jesus is.
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We've been saved. We trusted Him by faith alone. Now how do I live? Am I any different than I was before?
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Am I any different than the world? James is a book that tells us how to live to please the
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Lord Jesus for what He has done. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to look at James chapters one through five.
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I wanted to do it all today, but that's okay. We don't have to. Although, you know what I thought about? You braved this awful
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New England snowstorm of four inches of snow to get here like a hearty New Englander.
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And so you should just say, you know what, let's just go for an hour. Let's just go for two hours. What do we care? So if I preach too long and you want to just get up and excuse yourself, we'll take your names down and watch you.
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How do you live a life that's pleasing to the
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Lord? A good father and mother would tell their children, here's what you need to do.
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I've met people in my life that their father and mother have never guided them or led them. I mean, they barely provided for them any food or shelter.
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But of course, the heavenly Father knows, here's how you live your life. For maximum joy and maximum, more importantly, honor to the
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Lord. And by the way, look at James, even back to chapter one, verse one again. What does he call himself? James, the leader of the
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Jerusalem church. Listen to me. James, a pillar of the church. Better take care of what
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I say. James, an apostle. I'm sent out by the Lord Jesus and I have authority.
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James, the half brother of Jesus. I know what I'm talking about. I've been in the same womb that Jesus has been.
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But James doesn't do that at all either. At all, does he? He says, I'm a servant of God and of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Reminds me of his half brother who made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.
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Philippians chapter two. I'm just a servant and I'm a servant of the Lord. I'm a servant of the
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Lord Jesus. He's the sovereign. He's the king. I'm here to serve him gladly.
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And he writes to 12 tribes scattered among the nations.
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Mostly Jews, but there are Gentiles as well because the word greetings isn't like shalom. It isn't like the peace greeting.
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So we've got Jews and Gentiles. Those trusting in the Lord Jesus, male or female, slave or free,
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Jew or Gentile. How do we live knowing Jesus is alive?
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How do I live compared to what I lived like before I was a Christian? How did you live your life B .C.
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before Christ saved you? I would imagine you live for yourself. I would imagine that I live for myself.
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I would imagine I wasn't thinking about sin and death and everything else. Now that I'm a new creature in Christ Jesus and you are too, is there any different?
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How do we live our lives? And James gives us the answer. So if I had to summarize five chapters, 108 verses,
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I have 14 ways to live your life in light of the resurrected Savior. Now normally when you do preaching classes, you're never supposed to go beyond three points in a poem.
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You know that. Maybe five max. But to summarize all this and take a big picture, they're kind of groupings and they're 14 groupings.
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Sometimes you'll see it in your paragraphs in the Bible, 14 groupings, 14 ways to live your life knowing that Jesus loved you and gave himself for you.
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Knowing that one day you'll see him again. He's going to come back or you're going to die and see him face to face.
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14 ways to honor Christ Jesus as a Christian. Number one, how do you live in light of a
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Savior that loves you and has bought you? Number one, count it all joy when you're in a trial. Count it all joy when you're in a trial.
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Now if there's no resurrection, if there's no Jesus, how do you deal with trials? You buckle up, you buckle down, you resist, you get mad, you struggle, you become inebriated, you do pleasure things so your mind's not on it.
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When a trial comes and they come regularly and they come often, compared to what we used to do, compared to what we would do if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, what do we now do as Christians?
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And so what does he say? You know the passage very well. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness or endurance.
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And let steadfastness or endurance have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, that is mature, lacking in nothing.
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Jesus said we would have tribulation and now when we have tribulation, what do we do?
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What do you do? In light of health issues and things like that in our family,
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I just can't stop thinking about this passage because it helps me know what pleases
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God. It helps me run from I can't believe you did that to me, I can't believe you did that to my family member,
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I can't believe you're so harsh and unloving, I'm trying to serve you with my life and I can't believe what you're doing.
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I don't even want to say those words. What does he say instead? Count it all joy.
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I mean the first thing that does for me is it gets me away from why me? Versus it's happened to me in the sovereign plan of God, how do
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I respond? What's the right way to respond to trials? And here he says with your mind considering in a godly way to do it, not just stow it, not just lay back and let
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God, not enjoying the trials, but consider using your mind I'm going to count this all joy.
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It doesn't mean when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. It doesn't mean put on a happy face.
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It doesn't mean feel it all joy. It means this, that you know
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God is sovereign and he's proved his faithfulness because the tomb is empty.
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You've read Luke chapter 24 that Jesus has raised himself from the dead and he's coming back.
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And you know that Jesus had an apostle and he had an apostle Paul write these things. God works everything for good according to his purpose, everything, all things for those that love
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God, right? Now everything changes. I'm counting it all joy.
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Paul in jail said rejoice always and again I say rejoice. One man said to realize the worth of the anchor, we need to feel the storm and we realize
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God's doing something. When you meet these trials, all kinds of different trials, you think you've been in through every trial, well here comes another one that's odd.
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For you know, see here's more, mental, counting it's mental, considering it's mental, knowing it's mental, the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
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And let steadfastness have its full effect. I've regularly said to myself and my family members and many of you, when
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I meet a really neat Christian, Kim and I regularly go to Mount Hermon for our conference that we receive the word and we meet these people that are the most wonderful people, people that I've said to one particular man,
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I wish you were my dad. And I probably could have said, I wish I were you in one regard, but they're just godly and patient and wise.
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And you just think there's something about you and you know what's true for every one of those people? They've had a hard time, they've had struggles, they've had a wayward child, they've had something go wrong in their life and they've been molded by God and shaped by God.
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And they've had the attitude like Job, though you slay me, I'll still trust in you.
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And so you know when God begins a good work in you, he'll be faithful to complete it.
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You know he gives you the spirit of God and that spirit is conforming you to the image of Christ. And how does the image of Christ become, you become conformed to that?
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And the answer is many, many things. Through the word of God, that's true, but God has a way to use suffering and trials to help us.
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I mean, just try living a trial -free life. And you know what happens is we finally figure out the one trial and then we're like, okay, here we go, something else is going to happen.
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But here he says, I want you to count it all joy. And you say, oh, I just don't know how to make it through a trial.
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I need help. I can't seem to navigate trials. I've done a lot of wrong things in trials. So what does he go on to say?
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He anticipates it, doesn't he? Verse five, if any of you lacks wisdom, the context is in a trial.
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With a command, let him ask of God. Ask God. If you're in a trial right now, ask God for help.
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And by the way, when he's good and ready, he'll help you. No, that's not our
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God. All you have to do is go back to Luke and see how generous the father was with the son. See how generous the son was with the spirit.
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And you're never going to say God just gives partially and piecemeal. You'll say God gives everything.
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He gave his son. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach.
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And it will be given to him. Let him ask in faith. No doubting.
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The one who doubts is like the wave of a sea, driven, tossed by the wind. No, we want to go to the
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Lord and say, thank you, Father. I want to obey you. I'm in a trial, and I need help.
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And so I'm going to ask you, and I know you're going to provide. And you're not going to snub your nose at me. You're not going to humiliate me or insult me.
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If you ask me too many times for wisdom, you got yourself into this problem on your own. This is self -induced. No, the
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Lord doesn't say, by the way, look at all your past sins and failures, and I'll rub your nose in it.
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He doesn't do that. Verse 12, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under this trial.
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You're getting wisdom. You're counting it joy. And when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which
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God has promised to those who love him. Not only does God help us temporally, we get wisdom, but there's an end to it all.
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There's a payday one day. It's the crown of life. Lloyd -Jones says, the Christian is a man who can be certain about the ultimate, even when he is most uncertain about the immediate.
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Isn't that good? Now, here's what I didn't do when
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I used to preach this. James, the half -brother of Jesus, for a long time was not a believer, became a believer in the
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Lord Jesus, believed in his brother as the God -man, as the Savior. And when you read
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James, you can hear a lot of Jesus's words repeated by James, because he would sit and listen to his brother teach.
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But you know what I think James is also doing? He's asking, who's the one that counted it all joy when he encountered various trials?
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Is there somebody who perfectly did that? Who truly did that? And you look at them and you say, they're the ones that I watch as they go through a trial.
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Not my friends at Dallas Seminary in Mount Hermon, but who never failed? Who is the example?
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Who is the representative? Who's the one we look to? James isn't talking about anybody else except the
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Lord Jesus. Listen to this, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the what?
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What? Joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
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You want to know how to overcome trials is by counting them joy, and you realize that's in fact what my
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Savior did. That's what the Lord did. And there were temporary blessings, of course, and ultimate blessings, even for the
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Lord as God raised him from the dead. So most of you are in a trial or will be.
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Those that are in a trial right now, may I encourage you, even with a tear in your eye or not knowing the end, to say,
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Lord, I don't know if I've been doing this the right way. Would you please forgive me?
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I need to count it all joy. I need to count it all joy.
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And Lord, would you give me wisdom? Do any of you need to say that today?
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I'm sure you do. I do. The second way to honor the Lord, knowing that Jesus is alive, is to blame the right person during temptations.
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Count it all joy, and now to blame the right person, found in verses 13 through 18.
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What about temptation? I thought about this passage, and I thought, who's the one famous person that talked about temptation the wrong way?
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And that man's name that popped in my mind was Oscar Wilde. Here's what Oscar Wilde said about temptation.
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The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. Oscar Wilde said,
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I can resist everything but temptation. I know, that's an amen. I'm glad. Yes.
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I always remember with little ones, somebody told a story.
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They said, you know, I was at church every Sunday, and I sat there, and sometimes I took notes, sometimes I didn't, sometimes I was too young, this, that, and the other.
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And I went to Bible college, and they had an entrance exam. And I didn't study it, and I passed it.
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Because just sitting underneath the Word of God, changing people, learning theology and everything else. So there'll be a quiz for your son after the church service.
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How can Jesus be truly God and truly man? Is there a better way to go through a temptation?
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And before Christ, when we're in a temptation and fail and it costs us, we blame people.
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We blame the environment. We blame people. We blame, well, think about Adam, he blames
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God, and Eve blamed Satan, and it's just the blame game. Who should we blame when we're in a temptation now and fail?
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Verse 13, let no one say when he's tempted, I'm being tempted by God, like with evil intent.
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He's got my worst out for me. He's evil. He's wrong.
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I'm being tempted by God. And then James says, for God can't be tempted with evil, and He tempts no one.
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He might put you in a trial, but He doesn't tempt with evil intentions. I mean, that's so uncharacteristic of God.
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If God gave His best to His Son, why would He then do something like that? That's not in God's character. God's holy.
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God's pure. He Himself tempts no one. Verse 14, you want to know where the real blame is?
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While God may be testing you to strengthen you for your good so you're lacking nothing, He's not trying to sinfully, obviously
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He couldn't do that, He's holy, but He's not trying to with evil intent have you fail.
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Where is the blame supposed to fall when we're tempted and we fail? Verse 14 gives the answer.
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But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by Satan, by other people, by God.
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No, it's right there in the text. By his own lust or desire.
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And you know what happens? When desire has been conceived, it gives birth to sin.
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Sin when it's fully grown brings forth death. And while you might want to blame God or other people when you fail in a temptation, don't be deceived, my beloved brothers.
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To prove that God would never do something with evil intentions? What's the greatest thing that God has ever done for us?
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Verses 17 and 18. Not just who God is, 17, but what God has done for us.
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Every good gift, and He repeats it for comprehensiveness, and every perfect gift is from above, from heaven, from God.
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And it just showers down, coming down from the Father of darkness, no light.
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That's holy talk, holiness of God talk. That's Isaiah, holy, holy, holy. God only does holy things for us because He's holy.
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With whom there's no variation, no shadow due to change. That's who
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He is. And you want to know why God is good and we can never blame Him in temptation? It's for His person and now
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His work. Verse 18, what particular work? Well, verse 18's work is of His own will.
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That shows you that He's for us. Nobody made Him do it. He wasn't coerced. Of His own will,
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He brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be kind of a first fruits of His creation.
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God and His goodness gives good gifts, holy gifts.
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And so when we're in a trial, we say, I think I should count this all joy because God's working in me.
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And when I'm in a temptation, I should never say, you know what, I can't believe the Lord put me here. I can't believe that when I fell,
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God did that because God's sovereign over everything. And so therefore, I must have had to sin because God's sovereign over that.
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We don't say that. Now, again, I step back and I think, did
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Jesus undergo temptation? How does the perfect man undergo temptation?
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And the answer we've already seen in Luke and it's found in Mark and it's found in Matthew. When the tempter came in the wilderness to tempt
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Jesus, what did Jesus say? God, you're sovereign over Satan. And as Luther might say in the future, the hardest working servant of God is
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Satan because he works night and day. And so God, you sent Satan and you're not doing this the right way.
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And you're tempting me and I can barely stand it. Did Jesus do that? Of course we know the answer is no. When Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane, I almost said when
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He's in the garden of Eden. Was Jesus in the garden of Eden? The pre -incarnate Jesus, was He in the garden of Eden?
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True or false? Who says true? Jesus was in the garden of Eden. Who says false? He wasn't born yet.
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The answer is true. Who was walking in the cool of the day? That's another sermon.
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That's another snow sermon. You can just see James, the half brother of Jesus.
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I know the way to do the right thing when it comes to temptation because I know about my brother.
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I know about the Lord Jesus. I know about the God man who when he comes, becomes tempted in the garden of Gethsemane, His response is, not how could you
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God? Not you're going to make me somehow be tempted to sin. It's Father, you will be done.
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And of course the Lord Jesus even taught us to pray that way. You will be done. Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
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The third way to honor the Lord Jesus with your life, now that you know Him and He knows you is to receive the word and obey it.
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Before we were Christians, what do we do in trials? A variety of things. How do we deal with temptations?
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A variety of things. Now what about the word, receiving it and doing it? That's the next section here of James and James knows for these 12 dispersed tribes, you can just imagine you've got a clump of grapes and you take your hand and you smash those grapes and they just kind of scatter.
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The juice just scatters. And so the heavy persecution coming from some Roman leaders, they persecute the church, they scatter.
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What do I do when I'm scattered and running for my life and they're taking away my property? How do
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I, how do I see things? Well, I probably should be counting it joy. I think
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I should make sure I think about temptations rightly and never blame God, God forbid.
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And I think I should make sure I'm doing the word. I think I should receive the word and do it. And that's what he says in verses 19 and following.
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Know this. It's still, it's still mental. My beloved brothers, you can hear the heart of James. Some people think
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James had a bunch of sermons and they put some of these together to come up with this book or it was a complete sermon from start to finish.
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He wants the best. He, he's, he's not scolding them. He's not saying, if you don't do this, you're not saved.
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Some people say, oh, this is a book of test of saving faith. No, no. This is a book of how can we get you to obey and honor the
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Lord Jesus in light of the resurrection? Know this, my beloved brothers, he's just got done talking about the word that you're saved and quickened through the word, born again through the word.
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He's going to talk about the word in verse 21 and he's still talking about it now. And let me just interpretively read it for you.
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Let every person be quick to hear the word, slow to speak the word, slow to anger when it comes to the word and its conviction.
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For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, put away all filthiness, defies and does everything else.
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That reminds me of first Peter chapter two, where he says, put away malice and deceit and hypocrisy and all evil, and then come to the word.
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And so when we come to the word, we confess our sins and we come to the word and we think, I need to receive
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God's word. But not just receive it. The writer goes on in verse 22.
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What does a person do in light of a resurrected Savior? But be doers of the word and not hearers only.
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That means auditors. You don't do anything. You just listen. Deceiving yourselves. And then he gives some examples and stuff that's very, almost sounds like Jesus talking because the way
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Jesus would describe things is so perfect like this and you could just relate to it. For if anyone's a hearer of the word and not a doer, what's he look like?
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Well, he looks like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
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See men look at themselves in the mirror too. And you look and you've got to see things.
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And of course, you've got to look really hard because they didn't have the mirrors we have today. They had mirrors that weren't quite as good.
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And this particular person, he looks at himself in the mirror and then goes away and forgets what he was like.
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So super simple. You've probably taught it. You look at the mirror if you're a man and you realize
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I need to comb my hair. Those were the days. And then you just walk off.
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You never comb your hair. You never do anything. Big smudges or something like that. And I've said this before too. I'm blind enough now and old enough now where I'll shave and then
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I have to like get up really close to the mirror to see what I've missed because far away from the mirror, it seems like I got everything.
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So when it comes to God's word, it's not like we look at it and see it. And isn't it wonderful?
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No, no. What's the text go on to say? But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, no longer under condemnation by the law.
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It's to guide us and help us and it's good for our neighbor. The law of liberty and perseveres.
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Be no here who forgets, but a doer who acts. He will be blessed in his doing. Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my what commandments.
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It's good for you. It's for you, for your good. One man said, it's one thing to fight.
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It's another thing to be a soldier. It's not just I do
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God's word, but it's a characteristic is I want to be a doer. So the focus isn't on the action, the focus is on the attitude of the person.
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And of course, we as Christians sin and we don't always do God's word, but we want to do it, don't we?
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We desire to do it. And then when we don't think rightly, we repent and we ask God to forgive us. I'm not doing your word and I want to do that.
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And there's a great application of this doing God's word found in verses 26 and 27. And it's about helping orphans and widows and not getting stained by the world.
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Congregation. If you were James and you were thinking about someone in your life who is typified by not doing
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God's word only, but who is a doer of God's word, who would you say that person would be? He could just watch
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Jesus. You want to watch Jesus and describe things about Jesus? Listen to some of these. Jesus said, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and accomplish his work.
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I've come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. I do exactly as the father has commanded me.
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If you keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.
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Behold, I've come to do your will, O God. Did you know those are all quotes from Jesus and he actually did it?
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You want to see a doer of God's word? You look to the Lord Jesus. While there's nothing about the death, burial, and life of Jesus here in this passage, in this book, everything shouts out, of course, we live in light of Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection, soon return.
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He's given us a spirit so we can do it. Number four, the fourth way to honor the
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Lord Jesus with your life, now that you're saved, now that you're able, now that Jesus is alive, is to love without partiality, is to love without partiality.
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Obviously, this is a social tension in our lives now with racism, systematic racism, unconscious bias, and all that tripe.
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When you hear about sins are the stains that will never be removed, you say to yourself, they're not thinking like Christians.
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Because when people do have partiality, they do discriminate. There is racism.
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There's a stain that can be forgiven and we know that because of who Jesus is. There's no room in the church for partiality, prejudice, or preferential treatment.
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So James knows, especially when you've got Jews and Gentiles together in this dispersed tribe before you were saved, how did you think about these issues?
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Now how do you think about these issues, especially when I'm in the church with, I'm a Gentile, with a bunch of Jews and Jews with Gentiles.
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My brothers, verse one of chapter two, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our
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Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. And again, kindly, brothers, because you're in Christ Jesus, don't show partiality.
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When you believe in Jesus, the Lord God Almighty, and what does it say there at the end of the verse, verse one, the
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Lord of glory. By the way, when you're in the presence of the Lord of glory, who else do you see?
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I would say to you that you can't even see yourself because of the glory and the effulgent glory, the
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Shekinah glory. When Jesus the glory is there, you're saying, well, you know what,
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I see other people and I'm not, you know, bragging too much, but I'm better than they are.
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No, no, it's just glory. How can I be partial in the presence of the
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God man and his glory? How can
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I exalt myself? Here's the exalted one, the Lord of glory. It's been said that when you are partial, you discriminate, you think you're better, or I'm partial or discriminate, or I think
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I'm better. It's not a societal problem. It's a Christological problem.
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It's a problem about who Jesus is, not how does society get along. No, no, when you see
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Jesus, by the way, when you're in heaven, do I want to see my mom when I get to heaven? The answer is yes, and I don't know exactly what's going to happen.
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I don't think she's going to say, this is just my conjecture here, just to take a breath from the passage, the sermon rather,
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I don't think mom's going to say, what took you? I died 20 years ago, come on.
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It's almost like heaven's just going to be populated and then there's no time in heaven. And so I don't think
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I'm going to get to heaven and say, mom, how is it? How are you? Just to update you on a couple of children have got married, a couple of children have obeyed and have grandchildren, you'd be your great -grandchildren.
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It's not going to be that because it's going to be glory. You look at Revelation chapter 5 and 7 and 19 and 21 and 22.
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There's a hub, there's a center, there's this black hole of Shekinah glory that everything is just bowed in on.
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So if that's true in heaven and you think to yourself, why would I somehow think
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I'm better because of my position in life, my skin color, my zip code that I live in, that I'm not
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Jewish, I'm not Gentile, no. I was preaching through James in North Hollywood and a homeless man came to our door for the
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Bible study. His name was Denny. And Denny was not only homeless, but he was a car mechanic.
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So he slept in his car behind the car shop and they allowed that. We had a small little house in North Hollywood and lots of folding chairs, metal ones, lots of kitchen chairs, wooden ones.
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And Kim, when I met her and I inherited this in the marriage, this sectional white
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Berber couch that was really nice, it was comfy, nice. Did you know
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Denny walked over there and sat on that couch? What is going on?
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I didn't say it, we've got metal fold up chairs that we're borrowing from Grace Church, but I thought it.
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Verse two gives us this example. If a man wearing a gold ring, by the way, that's a bunch of gold rings.
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Fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. Denny comes walking in.
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If you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing, sit here in a good place. Denny, you sit over here, stand over here, sit down on my feet.
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Verse eight, have you not then made distinctions among yourself, Mike Ebendroff, and you become a judge with evil thoughts?
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And then you can hear him soften it. Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom?
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Isn't everyone the same at the foot of the cross? Verse eight, the real issue is love.
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If we're partial, we're not loving. If you really fulfill, verse eight, the royal law according to scripture, you shall love your neighbors yourself, even if they're different, socioeconomic, color,
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Jew -Gentile, slave -free. You're doing well. But if you show partiality, you're committing sin.
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And convicted by the law, that is the law that says love your neighbors yourself. For whoever keeps the whole of law,
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I love in all these other areas, but I'm partial, has become guilty of all.
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I mean, if you can say to yourself, verse 11, I don't commit adultery and I don't want to commit murder and neither should you.
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What happens when God's law is one because God is one and I do something like partiality that I think is lesser than murder or adultery?
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I've committed sin against God and therefore his law. Now here's my question.
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Did Jesus show partiality? When I look at the perfect man, this is how a perfect man or woman should live in light of the cross.
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I'm going to think rightly about trials. I'm going to think rightly about temptations. I'm going to think rightly about the word. And I'm going to think rightly about dealing with other people who aren't like me.
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That's God's charge to me. It'll be good for them. It'll be good for me. It'll honor him. Who's the one that when you watch him on earth showed no partiality to anyone at any time?
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And you know the answer. It's the Lord Jesus. And if they're lepers and ostracized, he doesn't show partiality to them.
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If they're tax collectors and he goes to their house, he shows no partiality to them. If they're
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Gentiles like the centurion and the centurion has a servant that needs to be healed, no partiality.
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Going to a Pharisee's house who is going to try to entrap him, no partiality. See? That's why when we think of the mediator
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Jesus in 1 Timothy chapter 2, there's one mediator between God and man.
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It's the Jew Christ Jesus. Why does it say Jew? Is he a
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Jew? Well, I think so. I know so. Because he's the man
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Christ Jesus. Because he's the mediator for everyone. No wonder he had poor fishermen as part of his group.
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No wonder he went to Decapolis where all the Gentiles were. It's Jesus who's the one who's not partial. It's Jesus the one who loves us and lays down his life for us and honors that.
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Finally, number five for today. How do you honor the
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Lord knowing that Jesus is alive and he's given you the spirit and you're justified, being sanctified, going to be glorified, forgiven, reconciled to God, redeemed by the blood of the
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Lamb, and so much more? Number five, have your faith have fruit.
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Your faith should have fruit. Let's put it that way. Your faith should work. You're saved by faith alone, but that faith won't be alone.
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That's verses 14 through 26. Remember when you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you bring nothing.
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You don't change anything. You're trusting in the object of your faith.
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And of course, when you, I shouldn't say you don't change anything, you change the way you think about Jesus. You change the way you think about sin.
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I'm talking about my heart doesn't change. I'm changing the way I think about sin and Jesus. That's called repentance.
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And then I'm trusting in Jesus. When it comes to faith, I don't have to have fruits of faith in my life.
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In order to be saved, I'll have fruits of faith in my life after I'm saved. And so what do you do if you have no fruit in your life?
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Sometimes there's a little bit of action fruit. Sometimes you're a little bit of attitude fruit. But what if there's no fruit? You're saved by faith alone, but that faith won't be alone because God's given you his spirit.
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He's made you alive in Christ, your new creation. He asked the question, verse 14, what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
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Can that faith save him? Now, I won't elaborate on it much, but the tie -in is to partiality.
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How can you say you're a Christian and be partial? He's moved on to kind of a new topic, but it's related to the other topic.
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I'm a Christian, but I'm still partial. I still discriminate. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but has no works?
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And literally in the Greek, that faith can't save him. Faith has evidence.
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Faith has fruit. Faith says, when
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I do these things, my assurances are strengthened. When I have fruit in my life,
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I help other people. When I have fruit in my life, to quote theologian
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Corey, I adorn the gospel. When I have faith in my life that has evidences,
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I show my thanksgiving. But what if there's no works, no evidence, no fruit?
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And he kind of ties it again to this partiality thing in verse 15, if a brother or sister is poorly clothed, lacking in daily food.
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They come into church. You give Mr. Goldfinger the best spot. And then now the poor people, you say, sit over there.
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I mean, sit down there. And they're hungry. They're in church service, and they're hungry.
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And you say to them, go in peace, be warmed, and be filled. Without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
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That's not showing a lively faith. Saving faith is knowledge of sin and trust, and that saving faith has fruit in the category of holy living.
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So also faith by itself, if it doesn't have works, it's dead. Now, in this next section, you're going to see a lot of words in the
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ESV, show, shown, see. Show, shown, and see.
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Almost sounds like a tongue twister, doesn't it? How do you know I'm a
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Christian? Well, maybe I should start over. Do you think I'm a Christian? If you don't think
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I'm a Christian, you ought not to be here listening to me today. If you think I'm a Christian, how do you know
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I'm a Christian? Say, well, he's got lots of room to grow. That's true. But seems like to me that Mike Ebendroth seemed like a
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Christian. How do you know that? Because, of course, you can all see into my heart, and you can see into the eternal counsel of heaven, and you know that in God's eyes,
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I'm justified, because you can read the mind of God. And of course, we go, no, of course not. How do you know
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I'm a Christian? Because you see some fruit. You see some evidence.
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Like, well, and I've seen growth over the years, and I've seen these things. So the only way you know about another person's salvation is by seeing.
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So he's going to say, let me give you some examples. Dear congregation, so if you see things, you'll know.
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I see nothing. I don't know how you can be a Christian and have nothing. I mean, even the thief on the cross, while he didn't have any fruit like,
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I don't know, serving in the chair ministry, he's already saying, we deserve it. And to say, we don't know God's mind, but we can see what he's done in people's lives.
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Someone will say, verse 18, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works.
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I mean, it's one thing to just say, you believe in God. The demons do that. You believe God's one, monotheistic. Demons believe the
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London Baptist Confession of 1689. Ha ha, you do well. Even the demons believe. As a matter of fact, they shudder.
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Verse 20, here it is again. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
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Let me show you Abraham, and let me show you Rahab. In the life of Abraham, a moon worshiper, how is he different now?
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In the life of Rahab, a prostitute, how is she different now? You'll see fruit. You'll see evidence.
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You won't see perfection. But he gives you two illustrations of how faith works. Was not
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Abraham our father, verse 21, it should be said, vindicated, shown?
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When Paul says justification, he's talking about declared righteous. Here, vindicated by works, when he offered up his son
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Isaac on the altar, you see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works.
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And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.
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How do you know Abraham was a believer in Yahweh? Well, we know because God says, in chapter 15 of Genesis, Abraham believed
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God, and it was credited to him righteousness. But we also see seven chapters later, verse chapter 22, where he offers up Isaac.
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When did God save Abraham? When he believed, or when he offered up Isaac? When did
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God have us see that Abraham's faith was valid?
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Well, of course, scripture just says it, but we see in the life of Abraham. He goes on.
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Now we need to land the plane. Verse 24, how do you know if anybody is a Christian or not? Well, you'll see the fruit.
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You see, verse 24, that a person is justified by works, that is vindicated by works, shown forth as works, not by faith alone.
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You're saved by faith alone, but fruit isn't faith alone. In the same way, was not
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Rahab also the prostitute who was justified or vindicated by her works when she received the messengers, sent them out by another way?
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Yeah, for as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
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So now let's think about Jesus. First of all, did
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Jesus have faith? This is a trick question. Did Jesus have faith? OK, here's not a trick question.
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Did Jesus trust his father? Of course. His faith wasn't a saving faith like he had sins to bear.
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Faith alone somehow recognized he was a sinner needing a savior, but he had a general faith that trusted
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God. And when you see his trust in the father, you could watch the evidence.
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You could watch his life and see the vindication that, in fact, he did trust his father. In the
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Garden of Gethsemane, at the cross, father, into your hands,
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I commit my spirit. Did Jesus, when the lepers come to him saying, have mercy on a son of David, the blind people have mercy on a son of David, did he say, be warmed and be filled.
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See you later. How about the feeding of the 5 ,000? That's talking about food. These people are out there.
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They're listening to Jesus. There's nowhere to get food. You can't get food. And Jesus said, you know what?
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Go in peace, be warmed, and be filled. You're like, that's ridiculous. Of course it's ridiculous, because Jesus is the true
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God, the true man, the perfect man. And even a general trust in the father leads to fruit.
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Congregation, my assignment for you this week is to read the book of James.
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Five chapters, 108 verses, 54 imperatives. But I do not want you to read it forgetting about Jesus.
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I don't want you to forget about it saying, he's the one that counted it all joy. I don't want you to think, you know what?
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I don't want to be tempted the wrong way and blame, but I don't want you to forget who Jesus is.
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This book is a right straw at the epistle if you don't think about Jesus. But if you do, it so helps us.
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And if you're like me, maybe you get past nothing except count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.
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If it stopped right there, it would be good for me and good for you.
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But it doesn't stop there, so it gets even better. Bow with me, please. Father, thank you for these dear people.
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Maybe there are some here that don't know you in a saving way and have heard all this about Jesus.
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And they wonder. I pray, Father, that you might give them mercy like you gave mercy to us and grant forgiveness of sins.
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For us as a church, we live in a difficult world. And Father, we'd like to honor you.
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We don't want to live like we used to before we were Christians. So would you help us?
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Would you give us wisdom to live a life that's commensurate with our calling? And Father, I pray today, too, that those that might be weak or struggling, they don't have to perfectly obey in order to be your child and to stay your child.
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Father, may your Holy Spirit minister to them, even the desire to obey, the quick repentance when it comes to disobedience.
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Those are signs of the Spirit of God working in their life. And so strengthen them, embolden them, help them to count it all joy.
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Help them to not blame anyone when it comes to temptations, but to own it. Help them to receive
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God's Word and obey it. Loving people and then enjoying great assurance when they see the work of the