The Giving Father | Sermon 03/06/2022

Apologia Utah

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James chapter 1 the title of this sermon is the giving father the giving father

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James chapter 1 I'm excited for this one.

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It's going to be a good reminder It's going to be verses 16 through 18 beloved.

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These are the words of the living and one true God Do not be deceived my beloved brethren

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Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above Coming down from the father of lights

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With whom there is no variation or shifting shadow in the exercise of his will

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He brought us forth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits among his creatures

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Thus sending the ring of God's holy and inspired word. Let's pray Lord Thank you for today forgive me

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God for Becoming a spectacle in any way here in the blessed worship service all for you

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Lord, thank you for sustaining us always and picking us up dear

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Lord God, thank you for bringing clarity to mind. I pray that you would do that now for your people as well

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Lord Please teach your people today in the proclamation of the word illuminate the scriptures

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Lord Help them to receive it father to stay focused on the teaching Lord and let the enemy snatch away no one in their focus today

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Lord, please show us how you are the great gift giver how you are unchanging and God how you have

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Once again, you've shown us you've put us in a high status of firstfruits glorious position in Christ So Lord, please be with me today

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Get me out of the way Lord Please be with me. Help me to speak

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Lord by your spirit. Give me strength and boldness in Christ and Please help me to speak in a way that is clear and helpful and let it always be true in Jesus name.

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Amen. So When you look at history the history of this world from the beginning of creation unto now

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So many things have changed right That seems to be the mark of a creature change

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We've made war with some while we've made peace with others over the centuries there has been expansion of kingdoms and new colonies across oceans the removal of long -standing dynasties and the rise of tyrannical and terrifying leaders

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So much change over the last two millennia and Many many thousands of years even before that today our culture moves with such rapidity technology has increased from horse and buggy to Electronic vehicles like Tesla unless you're

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Amish. They still use Those that's alright The inception of the internet has made news travel faster than ever before Every day on social media someone is posting some new thing.

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You've got to see this This is a new thing. Check this out Well, it comes in one day and it's gone the next that's how quickly it comes

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Not to mention one simply cannot keep up with all the so -called Genders and forms of sexual immorality today

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Moral degradation moves swiftly in the apostate continents of North America Europe and Australia Even just consider all the changes that have occurred in your own personal lives

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Think about the times where you've moved somewhere new a lot of us have moved from here to there.

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I know I've moved California, Texas, Arizona, Utah Some of you have moved even three times as much as that We've been everywhere the fading friendships that dissolve and new

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French friendships we acquire as well as more children new jobs old trials new trials

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As God has sanctified many of us we have developed new interests and pursuits We find fulfillment in sharing the gospel now versus the long nights of partying and drinking we might consider now building an inheritance for our children and their children as the

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Proverbs say rather than blowing it on every flashy whim we encounter

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Our personalities have changed our desires have changed our our moral and ethical commitments have changed in Christ Our allegiance to whom we serve has changed

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We no longer want to serve the master of self, but the master of the cosmos

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King Jesus. Amen Despite all these changes for the last 6 ,000 years our

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God has not changed His nature has never evolved or been altered

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His moral standards that flow from his being have never received in an amendment an edit an alteration a modification or correction or addition for that matter

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Our God is a solid rock that is unmoved and unchanged by the sands of time

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He's the one who created time. He's unmoved by it It says

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Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever What an anchor we have

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When the world moves like a twisting tornado and everything is thrust into the ferocious tunnel

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Our Lord and his everlasting word are what keeps us and the world from being cast into oblivion into nothingness

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My hope for us with this text today in James is that we would be simply reassured and encouraged

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Every day we need to be reminded of who our father is What he has done and what he promises to do still

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So let's do that now starting in verse 16 Do not be deceived my beloved brethren

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First I want to mention how James the Jerusalem pastor appeals to these scattered

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Christians as beloved brothers Agapitoy Adelphoi brothers of my love.

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This is not phileo Phileo is feelings of warmth and affection towards someone else

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You could consider David and Jonathan having that kind of brotherly love and camaraderie

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These believers for James are brothers of agape love

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It is a powerful Sacrificial kind of love It goes just beyond mere feelings and it is an act of the will

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It is the love that sent Jesus Christ to the cross James saw

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Agape love in the flesh if you remember from our first sermon He did not believe that his brother

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Older brother Jesus was the Savior until after the resurrection He saw it in the flesh

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He knows what that means now after Christ saved him This demonstrates brothers and sisters that in church

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It is more than just merely friendly companions In here in this room as a church body, we're more than just friendly companions or acquaintances.

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We're more than that They're to love each other like Christ loves

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And I really relate to this. I Remember before I left Arizona for Utah Pastor Zach Morgan was encouraging me

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He said God is going to do something supernatural In you

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Wade as an under shepherd He's gonna give you a love for the sheep a Love for God's people that you care for and he's gonna do it to a higher degree

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Than then what you would be just as simply as a deacon or a layperson He said I'm telling you

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Wade God is gonna cause you to love your people and he was right He was right there's something about a

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Pastor's love for God's people in his congregation. That is just incredible.

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I feel it every day Every moment I wake up and I pray for all of you. I feel that love so James we see we see

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James's heart. I Get it myself as a pastor But he gives a warning here

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James knows as these Christians are scattered How they may be tempted to sin as we saw previously in verses 13 through 15

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Not to mention when you are disconnected from the church or your pastor The snares and temptations of the devil seem to abound

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You ever been away from church for a long time and it seems like the longer you're away the easier it is to stay away

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Yeah, those Temptations abound in that moment. So these are scattered

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Christians this warning acts as a transition from the previous verses. Don't be misled

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Do not go astray Remain on the path that you were set on They are not to think that God tempts people to sin if they thought that James demonstrates

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He demonstrated previously how that is not possible God does not tempt people to sin for he himself cannot be tempted.

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We went over that last week Don't be deceived God gives good things to his children

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The adversity he allows in their lives is not to push them away, but draw them closer to him

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Don't start saying things like but if God is this then why did he allow this?

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Don't say that don't be tempted to ask that trust your father. Don't be deceived

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He says we know our God better than that Moving on to verse 17

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James moves forward from that warning and just in case They may still be tempted to think wrongly about God He says in verse 17 every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above Coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow

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Now that they've been warned of temptation and that it doesn't come from God They are to remember that every good and perfect gift is from God Temptation is not from God, but good gifts are from God pasa a goth a dosis kaipon telly on Doraema Every good giving and every perfect gift.

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That's what that's translated to every good giving giving and perfect gift

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He uses every twice to emphasize That our

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God holds nothing back from us Every is used twice because God holds nothing back from us

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All that is good for us. He gives us And he didn't just describe the

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Doraema the gift as good and perfect the word is giving as well as I said Not only does

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God give the good and perfect gifts the way he gives them how he gives them is good, too

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Okay, it's not just the gifts. It's even the way he gives them and how he gives them that are good as well

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That's significant That means if God wants you to have patience, which is of course a good thing

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The way he gives it how he develops the gift of patience in you is good and perfect as well

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The giving is good You say you believe that and you say that Lord give me patience and then your kids walk in the door there it is

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There's there's the good and righteous test How often do we just want the gift and not the way our father gives it

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We just want the gift not the way our father gives it James uses a goth a The same good that Jesus used to describe

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God God is supremely and perfectly good and therefore what he gives to his children is out of that benevolent nature

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Don't be tempted to think God gives you bad things God gives good gifts and they come from a place of abundance

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God will never run out of good gifts to give the Saints. He will never run out

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It says these gifts are from above But they are also coming down from the

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Father above in this word Caterpillar coming down is in the present active tense

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What do I mean by that the present active tense of coming down? means an ongoing action even now and continual and continual and continual

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The gifts will not cease the gifts will continue to come down. So we can't say

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God. Have you forgotten me? Will you not give me what I need? No, he has not forgotten you on the contrary

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God has not ceased To think of you. He has not stopped loving you or giving to you good and perfect gifts

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Excuse me. Sometimes we can close our eyes to the gifts, right?

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Or we or we forget how many gifts we've been given over our lives How often does a child on Christmas morning open gift after gift

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With their eyes lit up for each one and they're they're opening each gift in in full excitement

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But if he doesn't get the gift he really wanted The gift he wanted now

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The child throws a tantrum. He kicks over the pile of good gifts. He's already been given in sin he trashes

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Gratitude and Thanksgiving and he exchanges it for Selfishness and covetousness.

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He forgets all the gifts that he was just given in that and we do the same thing with God We can forget all the good gifts that our

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God has given in our ingratitude and our discontentment God knows what gifts you need better than you.

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You know that God knows what good gifts you need better than you do In the

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Sermon on the Mount Jesus admonishes the people saying who among you? Would give a stone instead of a loaf of bread to your son who asks?

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Who would give a snake for a fish? He says he throws that out rhetorically if you then being evil

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Know how to give good gifts to your children How much more will your father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask them?

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How will God withhold any good thing from you? If we being by nature evil and enslaved to sin know how to give good things to our children

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Things that they need how could an all -good God and father not give us extraordinarily good gifts

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God gave us creation to enjoy and tend to He gave us the breath of life, and he did not leave us alone

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He allowed us to be fruitful and multiply. He gives us children in his sovereign will

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He gives provisions to live like shelter and food And it's if you think about it.

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It's it's simply unbelievable the whole earth is covered in like delicious fruit trees and vegetables coming out of the ground and and Herbs and barks that are good for healing and medicines and things like that the whole creation is a gift to us

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To allow us to use for our needs for our good Even the creation is a good gift

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He gives animals for meat animals for milk animals for eggs even some for companionship

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The whole earth is an incredible sustaining gift to us Says Christ upholds it all by the word of his power our

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Heavenly Father Gives us wisdom. He gives us knowledge He gives us skills and the ability to work with our hands or work with our minds to develop things of value things that we can trade with things that we can work with his his righteous law

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Although a curse for the perishing man. It is a great gift to humanity

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God's commandments God's law is a good thing for this world we see the very holiness of God in it and above all

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He gave us Christ Amen, he gave us Christ is one and only Son He gave us salvation

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An eternity dwelling with our God and not in the depths of hell he gave us the

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Holy Spirit as affirmation that all the promises of resurrection and sanctification and glorification and all those things

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He will give us and he is giving us Those things without a single doubt will be carried out

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You know, we're taught from the moment we're children independence is what we need to achieve in this life

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Reliance on absolutely nothing and no one if you're successful you don't need anyone in this world, right?

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That's what they tell us Though we don't teach enough That we ought to have total dependence on God God is truly the only independent being in all the universe

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But we can be sure if we are dependent on God that he will give every good and perfect gift

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And those gifts come down from the father of lights It's interesting that James says father of lights

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Regarding this author R. Kent Hughes states This means that God fathered the lights of the universe giving birth to each of its ten octillion stars in their individual brightnesses ordering them in their distinctive constellations and framing the physical laws that keep them on their courses as Well as ordered and sustain the

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Suns and planets and moons of all the solar systems all of which exist in such

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Perfection that he pronounced them good Good Psalm 136 is a congregational response sort of psalm a

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Line is proclaimed of something great about God or something That God has accomplished and everyone is then supposed to shout for his loving kindness is everlasting

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It's a it's a wonderful psalm psalm 136 that line is mentioned 26 times throughout the whole thing

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But there is a glorious pattern to this psalm God is first thanked for creating all the luminaries all the lights

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Verse 7 through 8 say to him who made the great lights For his loving kindness is everlasting

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To him who made the Sun to rule by day for his loving kindness is everlasting

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To him who made the moon and stars to rule by night for his loving kindness is everlasting

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Then the psalm moves to thanking God for the redemption of his people But one thing to remember is so many cultures and pagan societies have ascribed

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Deity to the Sun or the moon you might know that already We know the

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Egyptians worshipped the Sun and called that false deity rah rah

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Rah rah, did I just sound like a cheerleader or the

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Greeks worshipped Helios? another false solar God But our

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God is the father of lights He created them all They are only my new reflections of the

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Lord's brilliance and radiance and glory only the tiniest derivative, right

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The Jews would actually celebrate God in this way by traditionally reciting a benediction before the

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Shema Before saying the Shema which is hero Israel the

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Lord our God the Lord is one They would say this Every morning the

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Jews would say this to God Blessed be thou O Lord King of the world who form us the light and create us the darkness

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Who make us peace and create us everything who in mercy give us light to the earth and to those who dwell upon it

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And in thy goodness day by day and every day renew us the work of creation

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Blessed be the Lord our God for the glory of his handiwork and for the light giving lights

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Which he has made for his praise say la blessed be the Lord our God who hath formed the lights

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So these lights even shout his glory these lights shout his praise

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Amen a great reminder We need this that we need the

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Sun of course That God created to even survive here you ever thought about that if the

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Sun just kind of all of a sudden in the sky dissolved and and faded away if it didn't

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Obliterate us in in its dying out Immediately what what would happen if we were on the earth and the

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Sun just just lost all power. What would happen here? so of course Photosynthesis would stop almost immediately

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Most plant life would die pretty quickly Some plant life will would survive a little bit longer and then eventually die

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In just one week the average temperature of the surface of the earth This is the average temperature of the whole earth would drop to zero degrees or minus 17 degrees

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Celsius and In just one year of no Sun it would drop to minus 100 degrees

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Fahrenheit going downwards to possibly even Minus 300 essentially nothing would survive.

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No one would live upon the earth if we had no Sun in the sky Thank our

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Father for the lights. He has made brethren But even worse Then all that would be if the

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Sun did not come down from the Father of lights Do I mean the Sun in the sky? No, I'm talking about the

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Son of God if the Son of God didn't come down from the Father of lights

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We would be in trouble Because Jesus calls himself the light of the world If that light

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Jesus Christ did not condescend we would absolutely be in total darkness forever

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We need the light of the world Jesus Christ But that's the good news

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The Lord does not change his decree he does not alter any of his plans

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He remains the same James moves from the gifts to the gift giver

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Verse 17 can continues and it finishes up with and it says with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow

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In the Father there is no Parallelogic no change no variation in The Greek there.

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It's literally saying there is no shadow of turning in the Father. There is no shadow of turning

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No shifting shadow think of that great him great is thy faithfulness The lyrics say great is thy faithfulness.

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Oh God my father There is no shadow of turning with thee

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Thou changes not thy compassions and they fail not

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For that for how thou has been thou forever will be

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God is unchanging is what is what that stanza is saying And it goes directly with our verse here

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This is what's called God's immutability remember that word immutable immutability in Malachi Chapter 3 verse 6 it says for I the

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Lord do not change The Lord does not change You see shadows are always changing even now.

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My shadow behind me is always moving. It's it's never steady if you were to go outside on a sunny day and Look at the shadows of the trees or look at the shadows of buildings over time.

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You would see them moving and changing They are never the same shadows are inconsistent, but God is not

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He is stable and consistent in his nature and word What he reveals to us he will do

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He will do Who he is is Who he will always be

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Praise God for that who he is is who he always will be He says

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I am that I am Yahweh But we in the world are constantly changing as I said constantly first Chronicles 2915 says

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For we are sojourners before you God and tenants as all our fathers were our days on the earth are like a shadow

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Our days on the earth is like a shadow. It's changing Man is like a passing shadow says

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Psalm 144 But God is not like us God is not like us

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Job chapter 8 verse 9 says God is from everlasting into Everlasting it says he is no shadow

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He is no shadow. That's what it says Job 8 9 He doesn't change in his eternality

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He doesn't pass away one day God and his word don't change so that we can be changed

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You get that Let me say that again God and his word doesn't change so that we can be changed.

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We need to be changed So many things change but there's one change all of us need and That's that God would change our hearts

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That he would change our hearts of stone and he would give us hearts of flesh That he would change us so we are no longer dead, but he would make us alive we need change

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We need to be transformed God not changing is what makes us change for the better God does not change therefore

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Christ has come God does not change therefore Christ will return

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God does not change Therefore He will raise his elect on the last day and give us a dwelling eternal with him forever

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Thank God in his immutability Because a shadow is a dark imitation.

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I've showed you this before look behind me. That's not me. That's a dark imitation of me Moving and changing that shadow always

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Changes it's not the real me. That's not who I am God is not a shadow.

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He's not a dark imitation. He is the substance He is the light the

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Sun rises and sets and disappears, but the father of lights is constant

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With God there is no winter or summer solstice You won't get

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God further away from you one one time of the year and for closer to you another

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There is no solstice with God He is constant he's always near The book of Revelation says

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God will be our light in the new creation unyielding continuous fixed in place

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God will always continue to shine and that will not change Now on to our final verse verse 18 in The exercise of his will he brought us forth by the word of truth

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So that we would be a kind of firstfruits among his creatures It said in the exercise of his will some translations of verse 18 says

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He chose to bring us forth. He chose to bring us forth Add that one to the list of thousands of moments in the

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Bible where it says it's God's choosing talk about God not changing if the

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Lord had to look through the corridors of time To see who would choose him.

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He would then be learning if God had to see who would choose him in the future.

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He would then be learning God would then no longer be omniscient or all -knowing if he had to do that.

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He would no longer be unchanging Because learning means you're changing and God doesn't change

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He chose Who would choose him they say You have to distort the scriptures to say someone would choose him if he says he chose to bring us forth

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He chose us out of his own will he exercised his own will John chapter 1 verse 12 through 13 says but as many as received him

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To them he gave the right to become children of God Even to those who believe in his name who were born

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None of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God Not by the will of man, did you see that that's the antithesis it says he exercised his will when he brought us forth and And and that's what it's saying here.

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It's agreeing with that not by the will of man not by the will of the flesh by God's will and look

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It says as many as received him or those who believed in his name. I Absolutely see those parts accompany regeneration

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So many of us recall in in our salvation where we're like There was that moment where I believed on Jesus.

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Absolutely. I'm not disregarding that at all But you were only able to do that because God chose you in the exercise of his will he regenerated you

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And then you were able to believe on him Our verse confirms that But in case someone thinks that it was the individual

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It says not by the will of flesh nor of the will of man But God's will and his giving of child status to a spiritually dead orphan

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It's his choice this transitions Honestly fairly well into the next part.

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It says he brought us forth. He brought us forth We saw that temptation

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Lust is in us sin and death bring What they bring but now we see the opposite we see the opposite death

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I'm sorry sin and lust brought death But now we see what

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God brings. This is the same type honestly of that birthing language from last

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The last couple verses the temptation verses James didn't use

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Lord or God I think for a reason he used father Fatherhood is a substantial aspect of God's nature.

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I Don't think this is primarily talking about how God created us. We were brought forth by the father through the son

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By his decreed will he spoke us into being not only physically But spiritually through the word of truth it says

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Jesus told Nicodemus in the night that one must be born again to enter the kingdom of God Peter opens his first epistle with the same glorious truth

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Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his great mercy

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Has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead born again

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This is a supernatural birth It can occur at any age

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We are brought forth again that word brought forth is the same Birthing language that it was talking about in verses 13 through 15 he our father brought us and gave us spiritual rebirth

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We are brought forth by our divine parent the father of lights And he did this it says by the word of truth by the word of truth

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Now James doesn't infer this But I like to think that there's some sort of connection

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Because in the Greek it says he was brought forth by the logos of Aletheia The word of truth remember from John 1

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Jesus is called the logos Jesus is the word incarnate Jesus is truth incarnate

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Essentially you could say that it says in God's choosing. He made us born again by Jesus Christ.

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That's what you could Say what that says with that? That's definitely an accurate statement

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But we can also look elsewhere in the scripture where this phrase word of truth is in 2nd

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Corinthians 6 7 Paul says they are servants of God by the word of truth in Ephesians 113 it says the

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Ephesians were sealed to Christ and the Holy Spirit after having believed the word of truth

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In 2nd Timothy 2 15 Paul exhorts Timothy to accurately handle the word of truth and In Colossians 1 5

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Paul says they heard of the hope in the word of truth And he says the gospel right after that the gospel

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The gospel is actually also mentioned right after that Ephesians 1 verse as well that I quoted so the context of all these

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Verses point to the good news the gospel of Jesus Christ We weren't brought forth by basic morality or outward demonstrations or Chris of Christian virtue and This is where we can disagree with Martin Luther and you won't hear me say that a lot

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That Martin Luther said this is an epistle of straw. This is a letter of straw

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There's there's no substance to it was his contention. He didn't quite get it

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This isn't an epistle on how to look like a better moral person in society

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This letter from James of the Jerusalem preacher all hinges upon the word of truth affecting people

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Oh, excuse me it hinges upon the sovereign

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Power of God's choice through the gracious work of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you can't get around that We have it's saying we have been born again because of the gospel

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People have said there's no gospel in the book of James there it is in the exercise of his will in God's choosing

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He brought us forth He made us born again by the gospel by the word of truth that we would be a kind of first Fruits among his creatures.

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There's the gospel That's the gospel The brethren

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James is writing to the Saints throughout the centuries even us in this very building who have believed on Christ believed because we had heard and By God's Spirit responded to the gospel by the exercise of his will and that changes who we are

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That changes our position And so it says so that we would be a kind of first fruits among his creatures

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We are set apart from God's other creatures in this world

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We are the first fruits of his creatures We are selected among the others and although there was nothing in us to make us worthy of selection

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But now after having been chosen we are special We weren't special and so God chose us.

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He chose us and that makes us special that makes us first fruits We are unworthy We don't deserve this

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We're sinful people that have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and with the context of the gospel

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I don't think this is merely Mankind is special among all other creatures.

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I don't think that's merely what it's talking about This is speaking to the glorious reality that our status with God has changed

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We were once not a people now. We are the people of God You and I were once sons of the devil children of wrath it says

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Among the sons and daughters of disobedience the Word of God says but now we are children of God You are now children of God Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 3 says

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Israel was the first of God's harvest Now the church being the fullest and truest

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Manifestation of Israel is the first fruits of God's harvest The church is the first fruits.

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The church is God's harvest You see first fruits of the harvest were brought to God's sanctuary and they are presented to him in the

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Old Testament times The choicest and most prime selections of the harvest belong to God Everything else was called common or profane

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Don't we realize though? We were once Common we were once profane

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We were once vessels of dishonorable Use we appeared to be so we appeared to be good for nothing

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But God in Christ has made us highly desirable in prime firstfruits

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That points to the fact that you you belong to God as well I belong to God Christ presents us to the

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Father before the sanctuary as the firstfruits Christ brings us before the sanctuary the heavenly tabernacle and he presents you his church his bride as the firstfruits and he says

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For you father and That's us not because You are any good fruit.

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I don't I want you to feel good at the fact that Christ has saved you but We were rotten bananas beforehand, okay

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That's what the scriptures show Living sacrifices.

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That's what we are Because the firstfruits were like a sacrifice as well First fruits could also also be eschatological

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That among all creatures are humans God's people spiritual

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Israel the the church Christ followers will be raised first and Set apart as God's possession as the rest are judged as profane and common or simply

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We are shown to be his chosen in the judgment. That's it could be eschatological in fact

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Revelation chapter 14 verse 4 says this These are the ones who have not been defiled with women

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For they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes

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These have been purchased from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb Firstfruits Now this is this is a challenging passage

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Revelation is a challenging book But I want to argue as he's talking about the hundred and forty four thousand here the twelve tribes of twelve thousand twelve times twelve thousand hundred and forty four thousand means a perfect number

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Completion I would argue that we are of in Revelation that hundred and forty four thousand a scene of perfection and completeness

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We belong to that countless Multitude who were purchased by him.

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We are of the countless multitude This isn't an eschatological remnant

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Or as Jehovah's Witness say the only ones who get to dwell actually with God in heaven

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The rest are damned to the earth or something like that That's not what we're talking about.

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This is not the literal number of saints in heaven this again points to perfection and completion

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We have been bought with a price From among men and women we have been given to God as firstfruits

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To him and to the Lamb. That's what it says May the

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Lord be pleased with us May he enjoy the fruits of his labor?

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Because it's his work not ours And so we are the firstfruits among his creatures

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And as I wrap up this sermon, there are a few things from the text that I want to remind us of first James wouldn't exhort these scattered

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Christians to not be deceived if it wasn't possible sometimes, okay? sometimes

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Christians can be so kind or just so trusting or or whatever it may be that we can let others with false views

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Influence us or our children But we need to be on guard. We need to be on guard

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It doesn't mean we shouldn't be charitable people, but we must be diligent to watch out for and reject

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Those with doctrines or ideas that seek to deceive us from God's Word I'm reminded in 2020 so many

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Christians really started holding to the Marxist agenda That was a big problem in 2020, especially with kovat

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I saw Christians everywhere fearing death as if they were not gonna see the Savior like they were not gonna have eternal life

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That was a big issue that I saw in 2020 we can be deceived

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But we also shouldn't be a people that deceive others We have to be

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Bereans It says of them that they were more noble -minded than those in Thessalonica for they received the word with great eagerness

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Examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so And as believers we are to be noble minded like the

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Bereans we are to grab the yardstick of Scripture and measure all things up against scripture

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Like our first century brothers and sisters we are to search the word to see if what someone is saying is true

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I'm quite certain that the reason James warned about one who says he is being tempted

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That he is tempted by God Is that that was some error that was possibly perpetuated before?

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That was an issue that maybe James heard someone said I'm being tempted by God to sin

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And so James is making a correction Because as pastors we hear that we get we get congregants and members coming up to us and say

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I heard from a co -worker Who says they're a believer that God is this or Jesus is that or the

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Bible says this? and we have we we lovingly make correction and We we reassure them.

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Don't worry God's truth remains Don't don't worry Do not be deceived

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Another reminder to consider is that some of us have not had good fathers

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Or possibly altogether absent fathers growing up and there is a real possibility that fact

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That fact of an absent father or an abusive father can frame the way that you look at God Okay, that's a very real possibility

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Maybe your earthly father did not give you good things It's a possible what he gave you was abuse neglect scars or fear or Whatever else you may have endured

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But infinitely more sure than the Sun to rise the next day is your

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Patras your Abba father The Lord your God who will give you good things who loves you

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What we see in our passage days beyond all the earthly and spiritual gifts

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He can give you the good thing given in the perfect gift our new birth and firstfruits status and all of that is welling up and Overflowing out out of his great love for you

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This is also honestly an admonishment for for us fathers to do better We men are called to give our sons and daughters the best representation of a loving father here on earth

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Just like how in Ephesians 5 it says a husband is to love his wife like Christ loves the church

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I would say a good application here is that a father ought to represent and demonstrate the love of the

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Father in heaven to his children Do we do that and we have to do that and demonstrate it by?

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How how we talk what we do how we act and the final reminder is to remember

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That although sin gives birth to death God makes us born again by the word of truth

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That is the gospel And we need to quit living the Christian life like we're rotten fruit my friends if the

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God of the universe sent his one and only son to die for you conquer the grave for you and sent

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The Holy Spirit for you, then you are firstfruits Unworthy yes grateful for all eternity absolutely

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We are to walk in that reality and let's walk in that reality this week. Amen All right, let's pray

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Lord. Please bless the message that went out today. Thank you Lord for the reminder

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Lord that you are the perfect gift giver and that they're constantly coming down.

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They're constantly Coming to us Lord, you're good and perfect gifts and They're coming to us

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Lord because You are unchanging Lord you are there's no variation in you.

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There is no shifting shadow Lord. You are constant remain Constant to this day and into all eternity

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Lord we thank you that you exercised your will and making us born again Or that you gave us firstfruits status that we

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Have now an inheritance in Christ that is beyond anything we could ever imagine

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So Lord, thank you For the message and please remind us of these truths daily as we walk in Christ in Jesus name.

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Amen All right, so we're gonna enter into our time of the Lord's Supper This is a glorious moment for us every week