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Well good morning.

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Flip side.

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Good to see you guys in church.

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I'm glad you made the decision
to come this morning.

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Last Sunday, last day, really, of June.

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Glad that you're here.

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Hey, if we have not met before.
My name is Jeff.

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I'm on staff here at flipside.

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One of the pastors
serving alongside Pastor Carl,

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who is away at a church in Colorado
this weekend.

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If you've heard us
talk about the Excel Leadership Network.

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you maybe have heard that mentioned
in one of your Bible studies,

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or maybe you hear
from a platform on Sunday.

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we are heavily invested in Excel

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because Excel is heavily invested in
identifying high level leaders,

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sending them out to plant churches,
equipping them to do ministry

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all over the world.

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Really, that map in the back of the church
gets overlooked a lot.

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That has these little pins.

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There you are.
That map has these little pins in it.

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Those are all church plants
that we've either,

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done the planning ourselves
or we've helped facilitate that.

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There's even because that's
just a map of the United States.

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There's even some that aren't in the US
that we've helped plant.

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and we've identified leaders to send out
to help, do ministry at those churches.

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So Pastor Carl
is with one of those churches

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that is also a part of Excel Leadership
Network in Colorado,

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helping them facilitate
some of their ministry that they're doing.

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There.

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But in the meantime, that means that,
we get to hang out.

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I'm really stoked about the time
we get to spend here this morning.

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It's been a long time.
I'm trying to talk to my wife.

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Last night,
I was trying to remember the last time,

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I got to share the word with you
on a Sunday, and we couldn't remember, so

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I'm excited.

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I'm hoping you'll be encouraged by what
we're going to talk about here today.

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we've been in this series over the last.

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Oh, gosh. It's been a lot of weeks.

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Seven, eight, nine weeks.

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where we're going through
the book of James and the series is called

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Faith works.

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We're talking about
the fact that faith does work.

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It's not just an idea or something
that's just sort of out there that maybe

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you try to understand every now and then
and who knows how far you'll get.

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Faith actually does work.

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It makes a difference.

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James talks in his book
all about how that happens,

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but how our faith works,
that sort of the gear works behind it.

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That was the
that was the premise behind that.

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That graphic there is it's constituted
of certain things

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that makes it all work together.

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And that how the faith we claim

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to have
will actually be shown by our works.

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James says it's a big deal.

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It was interesting when,
if you've ever looked into the Bible

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theologians, if you've ever looked
into the canonization of Scripture,

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why the 66 books that are in the Bible
are there

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that James almost didn't make the cut
because it was so,

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what the church leaders felt was far away

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from, salvation by faith alone.

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Because James talks, James talks
so much about works and how, the things

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we do, the action we take is going
to be it's going to prove our faith.

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It's a book.

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We talked about this.

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It's a book full of teaching
that's really easy to understand.

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But it's really difficult to live out.

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It's really difficult to understand,
but it's really or it's really,

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easy to understand,
but it's really difficult to live out.

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I always tell people, most of them,

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high school students, it's.

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You probably heard
Carl talk over the last semester.

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what started out as sort of a stopgap
ended up being the entire semester.

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Pastor Carl and I co-leading our junior
high and high school program.

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We have both done youth ministry before,
but, we had to kind of kick the tires.

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We were a little rusty.

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And to see and to do, you know,
kind of co-lead that was so awesome.

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And it's so

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interesting to see,

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when students start to
when things start to click,

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when, when faith based things or the Bible
things of the Bible start to click,

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they get that little glimmer in their eye
and they start asking questions.

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And one of the first questions
they ask is the or.

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They make a statement saying,
I hate to read,

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but I'm no,
I'm supposed to read the Bible.

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So where do I start?

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And a lot of times, especially with kids,
I'll say start in the book of James.

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It's short, but it's really,
really easy to understand.

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And it's kind of a bait and switch
because they soon figure out, yeah,

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it's really easy to understand,
but it's really difficult to live out.

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It's really big

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on what I call Bible fundamentals,
really big on fundamental things.

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You talk to Carl,
he'll talk about sports, fundamentals

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of sports, fundamentals of football.

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it's easy to discount fundamentals

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or say I've got it or I've got it
good enough.

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Let's get on to something more fun
or something more complex or something

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more, lively.

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I don't want to.

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I don't want to camp out
in the fundamentals.

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I've got enough of it.

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I always know
when I come across a musician

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who who's who's short
circuited their fundamentals.

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Maybe they haven't practiced
with a metronome,

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or they'll practice their scales
at some point, you get to a song or.

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And Carl talks about this on the football
field,

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like with field awareness, at some point
you get to a spot where you realize

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we need to go back
and we need to work on the fundamentals,

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because either it's been a long time
or we just skipped over that part when we

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went over to, to begin with.

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So that's the temptation with James

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is to read some of these things and think,
I've got it, or I've got a good enough.

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I've got a lot of it.

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Maybe I don't have that,
but I've got I've got enough of it.

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As we read through James,

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he gives really good concrete
examples of stuff that we can relate to.

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That's a lot of times
why I tell people to start with you.

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It's very relatable.

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You'll be able to relate to it.

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Stuff that happens at work,

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stuff that happens in our relationships
at home, stuff that happens

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in our relationships,
with with different groups of people.

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There have been times
where I've read through passages of James

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and people's faces pop into my mind.

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Conversations
I've had where people have said things,

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or maybe they haven't said things
that I hope they would say.

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And I think back,
you know, as I'm reading,

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these passages out of the book of James,
I'm those those conversations

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and those scenarios just come right to the
forefront of my memory or my or my mind.

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It's almost as though James or God
says, really,

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through the pen of James,
I'm going to make it so relatable.

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When you walk away from this,
it's really up to you.

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It's really up to you

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as to what you're going to do with it
and what you're going to do about it.

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There's a verse of Scripture that talks
about how some of the things of God

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are so obvious that it leaves men
without excuse.

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Some of the things when you see,
when you experience them

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or you see them, it's

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so applicable and relatable to your life
that it leaves you without excuse.

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Really, the ball's in your court
as to whether or not

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you're going to do something
with it or about it.

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A lot
of times the Bible's been around, people,

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you know, think the Bible
has been around for so long.

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they can say things like,
I didn't grow up in church,

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nobody uses words like that anymore.

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It's not even my parents can say
they understand what that means.

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James is not like that.

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There's no real loopholes we can get.

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No, you know, cop outs
we can take in the book of James.

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He doesn't give us that luxury
or convenience.

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So we've been talking about some things,

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well, we have an anchor verse, really.

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There's this anchor verse that we have
for the whole series, and it comes in

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the first chapter of James.

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He says, do not merely listen to the word,

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the Word of God,
and so deceive yourselves.

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But we're going to read these four words
in italics out loud on the count of three.

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Ready, go!

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One, two, three.

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Do what it says.

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Do what it says, James says.

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Don't merely listen to it.

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Because what happens
when you just merely listen to it?

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You lie to yourself.

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Would you guys agree?

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We can sell ourselves on
some pretty crazy stuff.

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I have sold myself on some things
where I'm like, what was I thinking?

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He says.

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When you merely listen to the word,
you lie to yourself.

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You deceive yourself instead.

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Or in addition to do what it says.

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We've talked about what to do

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when we face trials and troubles.

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We've talked about what to do
when we actually get

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to a point where we can acknowledge
that we lack wisdom.

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For some of us, just getting to
that point is a challenge.

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But what James says, great,
you're there now.

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What do you do?

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What do you do?

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Do you just sit and stew and go,
yeah, I blew it.

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I need wisdom

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on onward, onto the next thing.

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Now, James says there's something
you're supposed to do about that.

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He talks about
what do we do when we're tempted

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to think more of ourselves
than we ought to, or than we should?

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What do we do with things like

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favoritism that all of us fall into the

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into the trap of having sometimes.

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And Carl talked about those two laws,
the royal law and the freedom, the law.

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If you were here that he dove
deep, that we on those two laws.

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James talks about
how do we approach things like

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what I'm doing right
now, teaching the word, what to expect

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when when you do that,
and how we need to think twice

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about that.

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We talked about
what do we are, how do we approach or

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what do we do with this
idea of taming the tongue?

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A lot of so
interesting hearing a lot of your stories.

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When that Sunday was over
and you tried to put that into practice

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during your week,
oh my gosh, I can't take my tongue.

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It's got a mind of its own.

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I say stuff that I don't want to say,
and I don't say stuff that I should say.

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Trying to put that into practice.

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Really easy to understand, but
really difficult to put it into practice.

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And then as recently as last week,
we talked about how do we decipher

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between the two kinds of wisdom,
the earthly or worldly wisdom,

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and then the wisdom
that comes from heaven?

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So today,
if you brought your Bibles with you,

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if you're old school like me
and you have a Bible or,

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maybe you have it on your phone
if you don't have our app.

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Our app has been completely revamped.

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All the slides I'm going
to talk about here today are on that app.

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They have places where you can actually
write notes to yourself.

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You can shuffle it around and order it
the way you want to.

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And then at the end of it all,
you can download it and take it with you.

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so whether
you're old school like me and have a Bible

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or you have it on your phone,
we're going to be in James chapter four,

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fourth chapter of the book of James.

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I'm going to read verses one through ten,
and then we're going to go back

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and we're going to pick it apart
because it.

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Carl I'm not going to say he teases me,

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but he talks about how I
because you just loved it.

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You just love to camp out the details.

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Like, I don't love it.
I just hate the alternative.

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But I look for patterns
and I look for frameworks.

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And the most interesting pattern
or framework in these first ten verses

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in the fourth chapter of James

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came to my mind, and I want to share that

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with you this morning,
but I want to read it all first.

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So, Tom, I'm going to ask a follow
along with me right there

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at the first verse he says, what causes
fights and quarrels among you?

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It's a question. And then he moves on.

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If you're a parent,
you've asked your kids stuff like this.

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Like, you know what?

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This is just for you,
that I already know the answer to this.

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he says, what causes fights and quarrels
among you?

235
00:11:13,566 --> 00:11:16,200
Don't they come from your desires
that battle within you?

236
00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:17,766
You desire, but you do not have.

237
00:11:17,766 --> 00:11:21,133
So you kill, you covet,
but you cannot get what you want.

238
00:11:21,133 --> 00:11:23,233
So you quarrel and you fight.

239
00:11:23,233 --> 00:11:25,266
You do not have because you do not ask.

240
00:11:25,266 --> 00:11:28,200
And when you ask, you do not receive,
because you ask with wrong motives

241
00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:31,200
that you may spend
what you get on your pleasures.

242
00:11:31,466 --> 00:11:33,366
You adulterous people.

243
00:11:33,366 --> 00:11:36,933
Don't you know that friendship
with the world means empty against God?

244
00:11:37,466 --> 00:11:39,933
Therefore, anyone who chooses to be
a friend of the world

245
00:11:39,933 --> 00:11:41,866
becomes an enemy of God.

246
00:11:41,866 --> 00:11:44,400
Or do you think Scripture

247
00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:47,733
says without reason,
that he jealously longs for the spirit?

248
00:11:47,733 --> 00:11:51,033
He has cause to dwell in us,
but he gives us more grace.

249
00:11:51,033 --> 00:11:55,400
That is why Scripture says God opposes
the proud but shows favor to the humble.

250
00:11:55,566 --> 00:11:57,133
Submit yourselves, then to God.

251
00:11:57,133 --> 00:11:59,633
Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you.

252
00:11:59,633 --> 00:12:02,000
Come near to God
and he will come near to you.

253
00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:05,566
Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify
your hearts, you double minded.

254
00:12:05,866 --> 00:12:07,600
Grieve, mourn and wail.

255
00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:10,600
Change your laughter to mourning
and your joy to gloom.

256
00:12:10,866 --> 00:12:13,900
Humble yourselves
before the Lord and he will lift you up.

257
00:12:15,700 --> 00:12:18,700
So this passage comes in two halves.

258
00:12:19,866 --> 00:12:22,166
And those two halves
like kind of like a book.

259
00:12:22,166 --> 00:12:23,766
You got the left side
and you got the right side,

260
00:12:23,766 --> 00:12:27,066
and in the middle the spine
or or the hinge

261
00:12:27,300 --> 00:12:30,300
between these two halves is is one word.

262
00:12:30,300 --> 00:12:35,033
It's a very interesting, very interesting
way these verses are structured.

263
00:12:35,966 --> 00:12:40,066
But I want to talk about this, this left
side, verses one through six,

264
00:12:40,733 --> 00:12:44,200
verses one through six, or what
I call a scathing rebuke.

265
00:12:44,766 --> 00:12:47,766
That's just a fancy way
of saying a bad scolding.

266
00:12:49,133 --> 00:12:50,300
If you were following along.

267
00:12:50,300 --> 00:12:52,200
When I was reading those,
especially from the beginning,

268
00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:55,533
you might have been like feeling
like a teenager who's being sat down

269
00:12:55,533 --> 00:12:58,533
and given a talking to.

270
00:12:58,566 --> 00:13:01,633
Where you just comes right out of the gun,
but right out of the chute says this.

271
00:13:01,733 --> 00:13:02,366
What what

272
00:13:03,433 --> 00:13:05,900
what causes fights and quarrels among you?

273
00:13:05,900 --> 00:13:08,900
Don't they come from your desires
that battle within you?

274
00:13:09,900 --> 00:13:12,500
You feel like you're being sat down
and given a talk, like you've done

275
00:13:12,500 --> 00:13:15,500
something wrong,
like you're being scolded.

276
00:13:17,700 --> 00:13:18,166
Here's the deal.

277
00:13:18,166 --> 00:13:20,633
If we're being honest and we're in church,
let's be honest.

278
00:13:20,633 --> 00:13:22,500
Yeah.

279
00:13:22,500 --> 00:13:25,200
Most people then
would you agree that you're most people

280
00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:30,100
and that I'm most people, most people,
when they're asked that question

281
00:13:30,100 --> 00:13:30,500
right there.

282
00:13:30,500 --> 00:13:33,000
And this is why James moves on so fast.

283
00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:34,233
Because he's like a prayer.

284
00:13:34,233 --> 00:13:36,066
I want to hear the challenge here.

285
00:13:36,066 --> 00:13:38,533
It what causes
fights and quarrels among you?

286
00:13:38,533 --> 00:13:41,533
Most people would say

287
00:13:42,300 --> 00:13:44,566
them, him or her.

288
00:13:44,566 --> 00:13:46,500
They back those people back there.

289
00:13:46,500 --> 00:13:49,200
They're the reason we're fighting.

290
00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:50,866
You're not going to believe
what they said.

291
00:13:50,866 --> 00:13:52,100
You're not going to believe what they did.

292
00:13:52,100 --> 00:13:55,333
You're not going to believe that
they didn't say what they didn't do them.

293
00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:57,433
They're the problem.

294
00:13:57,433 --> 00:13:58,833
If they would just recognize

295
00:13:58,833 --> 00:14:02,466
how right I am and how wrong they are,
we would not have a problem

296
00:14:03,033 --> 00:14:07,233
if they if the whole world
would just straighten up and fly right.

297
00:14:07,633 --> 00:14:08,266
We wouldn't.

298
00:14:08,266 --> 00:14:09,333
We wouldn't have a problem.

299
00:14:09,333 --> 00:14:12,333
Most people,
if we're being honest, would say that.

300
00:14:12,433 --> 00:14:13,366
So interesting.

301
00:14:13,366 --> 00:14:15,600
We have our, high school
group on Wednesday night

302
00:14:17,500 --> 00:14:18,766
and, you know, there's there's

303
00:14:18,766 --> 00:14:22,066
the first ten minutes where everybody's
just kind of meandering around

304
00:14:22,066 --> 00:14:25,533
and filtering in and, and some,
some high school students,

305
00:14:26,366 --> 00:14:29,466
will filter in and I can tell
when they're having a bad day.

306
00:14:29,566 --> 00:14:31,133
They're just wearing it.

307
00:14:31,133 --> 00:14:34,766
They either don't care or
they don't have the tools to mask it yet.

308
00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:36,300
And they're just wearing it.

309
00:14:36,300 --> 00:14:38,400
And I'm like,
I don't know that I even want to ask them,

310
00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:41,466
because there's going to be a fire hose
that comes back at me.

311
00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:43,766
But every now and then I go, what's wrong?

312
00:14:43,766 --> 00:14:46,800
And I just brace myself, you're
not going to believe what my teacher said.

313
00:14:46,933 --> 00:14:47,700
I can't believe this.

314
00:14:47,700 --> 00:14:51,300
Some of the principal again, my mom, my
dad, they won't let me have my phone back.

315
00:14:51,300 --> 00:14:51,600
I've.

316
00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:55,733
They've had my phone for five months
and it's all out there

317
00:14:56,366 --> 00:14:58,966
that the the world is the problem.

318
00:14:58,966 --> 00:15:00,600
I'm not the problem. They're the problem.

319
00:15:01,700 --> 00:15:02,400
Would you guys agree?

320
00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:05,400
We can act like teenagers sometimes.

321
00:15:07,500 --> 00:15:10,500
But James says, hold on a second

322
00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:13,800
before you start shooting from the hip,
blaming everybody else.

323
00:15:14,100 --> 00:15:18,266
I would like you to, for just one moment
entertain the idea that these

324
00:15:18,966 --> 00:15:21,966
these quarrels
and these fights come from right here.

325
00:15:22,033 --> 00:15:24,300
They come from within you.

326
00:15:24,300 --> 00:15:26,100
James says. Let's just start there.

327
00:15:26,100 --> 00:15:30,600
Let's just maybe entertain
that idea that these fights and quarrels,

328
00:15:30,900 --> 00:15:33,866
they come from things
that for whatever reason, you've decided

329
00:15:33,866 --> 00:15:36,866
you can't live without,
or maybe that you're entitled to.

330
00:15:37,700 --> 00:15:38,333
James says.

331
00:15:38,333 --> 00:15:41,333
That stuff, it battles within you.

332
00:15:42,700 --> 00:15:44,566
He says, forget about everybody else.

333
00:15:44,566 --> 00:15:46,500
You can't even get this stuff
squared away in yourself.

334
00:15:46,500 --> 00:15:47,666
And you think bringing somebody else

335
00:15:47,666 --> 00:15:49,800
into the equation is going to help
sort it out.

336
00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:53,566
These desires, they battle within you,
they change minute to minute.

337
00:15:53,566 --> 00:15:55,333
You wake up one morning
and all of a sudden, oh, like,

338
00:15:55,333 --> 00:15:57,000
I can't live without that.

339
00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:58,300
When? Yesterday.

340
00:15:58,300 --> 00:15:59,600
What was that? I couldn't live without

341
00:16:01,300 --> 00:16:01,666
James.

342
00:16:01,666 --> 00:16:04,200
As they battle within you.

343
00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:06,600
And then he really starts
to pick this apart.

344
00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:08,966
Verse two,
he says you desire, but you do not have.

345
00:16:08,966 --> 00:16:13,300
So you kill rights, you covet,
but you cannot get what you want.

346
00:16:13,566 --> 00:16:16,533
So you quarrel and you fight.

347
00:16:16,533 --> 00:16:20,100
He says these unfulfilled desires,
they lead us to kill.

348
00:16:20,100 --> 00:16:22,400
No pretty severe word.

349
00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:26,233
And I think we can all think of times
where maybe we've heard of this,

350
00:16:26,233 --> 00:16:27,000
this happening.

351
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,800
Somebody wants something so bad
they commit murder.

352
00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:33,900
But more often than not, this killing
is what I call relational death.

353
00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:37,200
Relational death,
the death of a relationship,

354
00:16:37,566 --> 00:16:40,200
the death of a dream,
or the death of an opportunity,

355
00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:43,366
the death of a potential to mature
or develop character.

356
00:16:43,533 --> 00:16:44,100
James says.

357
00:16:44,100 --> 00:16:47,200
These desires that battle within you,
they kill the short circuit.

358
00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:47,833
These things,

359
00:16:48,966 --> 00:16:51,466
the short circuit,
the work God is trying to do in your life.

360
00:16:51,466 --> 00:16:54,466
And and there's a death that suffered.

361
00:16:55,833 --> 00:16:56,700
Second half of verse

362
00:16:56,700 --> 00:16:59,700
two, you do not have
because you do not ask.

363
00:16:59,733 --> 00:17:02,800
And when you ask, you do not receive,
because you ask with wrong motives

364
00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:06,233
that you may spin on
what you, that you may spend, what you get

365
00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:09,600
on your pleasures.

366
00:17:11,466 --> 00:17:14,700
It's tempting to think,
oh, all I need to do is ask.

367
00:17:14,700 --> 00:17:17,700
I mean, by the way, Scripture does say ask
and you will receive.

368
00:17:18,900 --> 00:17:21,900
Knock and the door will be open for you.

369
00:17:21,900 --> 00:17:24,033
It's not what James is talking about here.

370
00:17:24,033 --> 00:17:24,833
It's very tempting.

371
00:17:24,833 --> 00:17:27,500
Think, oh, all I need to do
is ask. I'm going to do that.

372
00:17:27,500 --> 00:17:29,133
Kind of like a genie.

373
00:17:29,133 --> 00:17:30,400
I mean, he's going to grant me
three wishes.

374
00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:32,200
I want a hot girl,
a hot car, and three more wishes.

375
00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:34,500
James says.

376
00:17:34,500 --> 00:17:36,000
That's not what I'm talking about.

377
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,733
And it's almost like he says,
and I knew you were going to go there.

378
00:17:38,733 --> 00:17:40,033
So let's talk about what that means.

379
00:17:40,033 --> 00:17:44,600
When you do ask, you don't receive
because you have the wrong motives.

380
00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:46,200
Your heart's not in the right,

381
00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:49,133
your heart's not in the right place,
and it's all about you.

382
00:17:49,133 --> 00:17:52,166
Therefore, you still don't receive
because you've got this battle

383
00:17:52,166 --> 00:17:55,166
going on inside of you.

384
00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:58,933
My first semester,

385
00:17:58,933 --> 00:18:02,800
sorry, my first, youth
ministry semester was just junior high.

386
00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:04,966
That's all I did.
I hung out with junior highers.

387
00:18:04,966 --> 00:18:07,966
It was the craziest,
smelliest time of my life.

388
00:18:08,966 --> 00:18:13,066
And I dug up this idea at this point,
and I want to share it with you.

389
00:18:13,066 --> 00:18:14,066
It had been a long time ago.

390
00:18:14,066 --> 00:18:15,200
When I was preparing for today.

391
00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,600
I thought, I haven't seen that
a long time, so I dug this up.

392
00:18:18,733 --> 00:18:22,566
We went through a series like this back
then, and I and I asked them this

393
00:18:22,566 --> 00:18:24,200
when you're really praying

394
00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:27,533
about something, you really,
really want to ask two questions.

395
00:18:28,166 --> 00:18:31,000
Who is this going to help
and who is this going to hurt?

396
00:18:32,133 --> 00:18:32,700
Who is this going to

397
00:18:32,700 --> 00:18:35,700
help, and who is this going to hurt?

398
00:18:35,700 --> 00:18:37,733
This can be a game changer right here

399
00:18:37,733 --> 00:18:40,733
with those desires that battle within you.

400
00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:43,800
Who is this going to help
and who is this going to hurt?

401
00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:46,200
One of the things
we talk about in leadership

402
00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:49,200
all the time is there's no way to please
everybody all the time.

403
00:18:49,766 --> 00:18:50,900
That is true.

404
00:18:50,900 --> 00:18:55,700
But just asking this question right here
helps you sort through saying,

405
00:18:55,700 --> 00:18:57,700
you know what? That's all me.

406
00:18:57,700 --> 00:18:59,100
That's just me.

407
00:18:59,100 --> 00:19:01,933
And that's serving me and my desires

408
00:19:01,933 --> 00:19:05,200
and my idea of what I think
or how I think things should be.

409
00:19:06,033 --> 00:19:08,300
This decision I'm praying about,
who's it going to help

410
00:19:08,300 --> 00:19:11,300
and who's it going to hurt.

411
00:19:11,833 --> 00:19:13,000
He goes on in verse four

412
00:19:14,066 --> 00:19:16,900
back, you adulterous people, don't
you know what friendship

413
00:19:16,900 --> 00:19:19,933
with the world, that friendship
with the world means enmity against God.

414
00:19:19,933 --> 00:19:23,400
And it's like father's last name,
where the letters are reversed.

415
00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:24,833
What does it mean?

416
00:19:24,833 --> 00:19:27,900
Therefore, anyone who chooses to be
a friend of the world becomes

417
00:19:27,900 --> 00:19:29,533
an enemy of God.

418
00:19:29,533 --> 00:19:31,366
That's what he's talking about.

419
00:19:31,366 --> 00:19:34,200
He says, when we do these things talked

420
00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:37,200
about in the first three verses,

421
00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:41,033
when we're ruled by our desires,
when we have this battle

422
00:19:41,033 --> 00:19:44,800
that goes on within us, he's
saying we become unfaithful people,

423
00:19:45,033 --> 00:19:50,300
or what the old Testament calls
covenant breakers or idolaters.

424
00:19:50,666 --> 00:19:54,333
The desires come from a place
that longs to be like the world.

425
00:19:55,300 --> 00:19:57,766
And when we when we have those desires,

426
00:19:57,766 --> 00:20:02,366
we put these desires in the place
that was only meant to be filled by God.

427
00:20:02,366 --> 00:20:05,000
And therefore he uses the word adulterous.

428
00:20:07,766 --> 00:20:09,933
The love of the world,

429
00:20:09,933 --> 00:20:12,566
friendship with the world

430
00:20:12,566 --> 00:20:13,066
was interesting.

431
00:20:13,066 --> 00:20:15,433
We talked about this in youth ministry
one time, and somebody,

432
00:20:15,433 --> 00:20:17,800
one of the kids said, hold on a minute,
I know enough Bible

433
00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:21,000
to know the most famous verse
in all of Scripture, John 316.

434
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:23,400
It says, For God so loved the world.

435
00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:24,466
God so loved the world.

436
00:20:24,466 --> 00:20:25,800
But this is telling me

437
00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:29,066
the almost what I think
the exact opposite, the student said.

438
00:20:29,166 --> 00:20:30,766
I said, that is a great point.

439
00:20:30,766 --> 00:20:33,533
Let's talk about that.

440
00:20:33,533 --> 00:20:36,366
There are two different ways
or two different angles

441
00:20:36,366 --> 00:20:40,100
to approach
this idea that we need to talk about.

442
00:20:40,100 --> 00:20:43,100
When God says he loves the world,

443
00:20:43,700 --> 00:20:46,700
he's talking about his people,
his creation,

444
00:20:47,100 --> 00:20:50,100
that have always really been
rightfully his.

445
00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:53,166
And he wants to redeem that creation.

446
00:20:53,166 --> 00:20:55,733
He wants to redeem those people.

447
00:20:55,733 --> 00:20:58,233
That's what it means when it says God.

448
00:20:58,233 --> 00:21:01,233
So for God, so loved the world,

449
00:21:01,233 --> 00:21:05,166
but we as his people, as that creation,

450
00:21:05,366 --> 00:21:07,300
we are not going to love the world
like that.

451
00:21:07,300 --> 00:21:11,200
If left to our own desires,
we will not love the world like that.

452
00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,900
We will love the world
for what we can get out of it,

453
00:21:13,900 --> 00:21:17,000
if left to our own desires,
will love the world for what we can.

454
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:19,333
Just just milk it dry

455
00:21:20,533 --> 00:21:22,000
that sinful part of the

456
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:25,000
earth, or what's called the flesh

457
00:21:25,066 --> 00:21:27,033
that keeps us running in circles,

458
00:21:27,033 --> 00:21:30,133
chasing things after, chasing
after things that will never fulfill us.

459
00:21:30,433 --> 00:21:33,200
That's why he uses that strong language

460
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:36,200
of adulterous people.

461
00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:38,433
And then finishing out

462
00:21:38,433 --> 00:21:41,433
this first section, verse six,

463
00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,400
verse six says, he gives us more grace.

464
00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:50,866
God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.

465
00:21:50,866 --> 00:21:53,866
So things are starting
to look up a little bit.

466
00:21:54,233 --> 00:21:57,233
I love this scripture,
never gives us a scolding

467
00:21:57,233 --> 00:22:01,000
and then says, now go to your room
and good luck figuring that out.

468
00:22:01,333 --> 00:22:04,500
Scripture always gives us hope.

469
00:22:04,500 --> 00:22:05,800
It never hangs us out to dry.

470
00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:08,800
It always gives us hope.

471
00:22:09,866 --> 00:22:10,966
And verse six starts

472
00:22:10,966 --> 00:22:13,966
to hint at the solution.

473
00:22:14,666 --> 00:22:17,600
Talking about how even after all the stuff
that we've just

474
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:21,300
the first five verses, even after all that
breaking down the problem like we have.

475
00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:25,066
Second, James says,
I'm going to need to just really break

476
00:22:25,066 --> 00:22:28,066
this problem down so you know exactly
what I'm talking about here.

477
00:22:28,466 --> 00:22:29,533
After all of that,

478
00:22:30,933 --> 00:22:32,333
we have God's grace.

479
00:22:32,333 --> 00:22:33,633
You hear us talk about it all the time.

480
00:22:33,633 --> 00:22:36,633
His undeserved favor and blessing.

481
00:22:37,300 --> 00:22:40,300
James says it's still present
and it's still available.

482
00:22:41,333 --> 00:22:45,133
But the real description of the solution
is one word.

483
00:22:45,133 --> 00:22:46,066
It's that hinge.

484
00:22:46,066 --> 00:22:50,633
We talk about that these two halves
swing on the antidote to falling victim

485
00:22:50,633 --> 00:22:53,633
to all the stuff we've talked about verses
one through five

486
00:22:54,633 --> 00:22:57,166
comes
in the very first word of verse seven.

487
00:22:57,166 --> 00:23:00,800
You may have
I flick to it, prematurely up there.

488
00:23:01,533 --> 00:23:03,800
I got to warn you,
it's a word that everybody,

489
00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:05,633
if you're a human, you hate this word.

490
00:23:05,633 --> 00:23:07,433
Do not try to tell me you like this word.

491
00:23:07,433 --> 00:23:08,866
You do not like this word.

492
00:23:08,866 --> 00:23:11,866
None of us do.

493
00:23:12,300 --> 00:23:15,300
Some of us hate, hate, hate this word.

494
00:23:15,633 --> 00:23:17,066
It's got negative connotation.

495
00:23:17,066 --> 00:23:19,400
So much
so that some of us don't like to say it.

496
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:21,433
But we've just gotten the scolding.
So we've.

497
00:23:21,433 --> 00:23:23,266
We've got a thick skin by now. Right?

498
00:23:23,266 --> 00:23:25,900
Somebody say it first word in verse seven.

499
00:23:25,900 --> 00:23:26,666
Submit.

500
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:30,166
throw up in my mouth.

501
00:23:30,166 --> 00:23:32,400
We hate this word, you guys.

502
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:34,233
It's a horrible word.

503
00:23:34,233 --> 00:23:36,300
We human beings hate it.

504
00:23:36,300 --> 00:23:40,500
We Americans
really hate this word from America.

505
00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:45,233
And this country was founded on people
who would not submit.

506
00:23:45,233 --> 00:23:48,233
We wouldn't even have our country
if people submitted.

507
00:23:49,533 --> 00:23:50,333
Many of us

508
00:23:50,333 --> 00:23:53,600
would rather break
before bend by submitting.

509
00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:56,433
Just don't do it.
A lot of us would say, no way.

510
00:23:56,433 --> 00:23:57,333
I'm not submitting.

511
00:23:57,333 --> 00:23:59,366
Or maybe you catch us on a good day
and we go.

512
00:23:59,366 --> 00:24:02,366
I'll submit
they're there, but never there.

513
00:24:02,366 --> 00:24:04,966
Saw what happened
when my mom submitted a saw.

514
00:24:04,966 --> 00:24:06,666
What happened
when my sister submitted to her

515
00:24:06,666 --> 00:24:09,766
coach saw what happened
when my brother submitted to his teacher.

516
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:12,466
No way. nope. Not going to do it.

517
00:24:17,566 --> 00:24:20,566
I'm going to use
the platform as a confessional right now,

518
00:24:20,633 --> 00:24:25,500
one of my guilty pleasures
is, mixed martial arts fight, UFC.

519
00:24:25,500 --> 00:24:26,833
UFC fight.

520
00:24:26,833 --> 00:24:28,833
My. I'll be watching them on my phone,
and my wife will come.

521
00:24:28,833 --> 00:24:31,133
By God, are you watching a garbage again?

522
00:24:31,133 --> 00:24:34,133
I'm like, oh my gosh, this guy's
getting the crap beat out of him.

523
00:24:34,233 --> 00:24:37,233
How much blood can come from
one guy's nose?

524
00:24:38,666 --> 00:24:40,100
And the thing, the one of the things

525
00:24:40,100 --> 00:24:43,100
I love about mixed martial arts fight

526
00:24:43,500 --> 00:24:46,200
is that one of the things
that differentiates it

527
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,200
from a boxing match is you can win
one of those fights by submission.

528
00:24:49,900 --> 00:24:53,400
You can cause a guy
chokehold, armbar, whatever, tap out.

529
00:24:53,733 --> 00:24:56,733
I'm going to cause you so much pain.

530
00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:58,800
You're not going to get knocked out.
You don't have a say over it.

531
00:24:58,800 --> 00:24:59,366
Then you don't.

532
00:24:59,366 --> 00:25:02,033
Conscious or a technicality? No.

533
00:25:02,033 --> 00:25:06,166
The judges decided that I'm
going to cause you to lose the tap out.

534
00:25:06,166 --> 00:25:09,200
You're going to admit right
here, now that you've lost

535
00:25:10,300 --> 00:25:12,900
and you tap out

536
00:25:12,900 --> 00:25:14,033
one more way.

537
00:25:14,033 --> 00:25:17,766
Our culture attaches negative attributes
to this idea of submission.

538
00:25:17,766 --> 00:25:20,900
When you submit, it means you lost

539
00:25:21,766 --> 00:25:24,766
contest over.

540
00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:26,466
He goes home with the belt.

541
00:25:26,466 --> 00:25:31,300
I go home with a bruised ego, a bruised
jaw, and maybe a consolation prize.

542
00:25:35,066 --> 00:25:38,966
But it says submit yourselves then to God.

543
00:25:40,133 --> 00:25:43,133
Submit yourselves to God.

544
00:25:43,766 --> 00:25:46,566
One more biblical thing
that's countercultural.

545
00:25:46,566 --> 00:25:48,166
You know,

546
00:25:48,166 --> 00:25:49,266
this is so interesting.

547
00:25:49,266 --> 00:25:51,933
It says, submit what

548
00:25:51,933 --> 00:25:53,433
yourselves.

549
00:25:53,433 --> 00:25:55,700
There are some
if you're a theologian or you like to

550
00:25:55,700 --> 00:25:58,500
you like to do Bible study
type of stuff, that kind of weeds.

551
00:25:58,500 --> 00:26:01,500
There's a theme
that weaves through the Bible, and

552
00:26:01,500 --> 00:26:05,133
there are some things
that God calls us to do to ourselves

553
00:26:06,266 --> 00:26:07,966
when we talk about finances.

554
00:26:07,966 --> 00:26:11,266
One of the things when it talks
about debt is God says, free yourself.

555
00:26:12,566 --> 00:26:14,033
It's not like God leaves.

556
00:26:14,033 --> 00:26:16,500
He abandons us and says, this is all you.

557
00:26:16,500 --> 00:26:18,266
He says, you're going to need to do

558
00:26:18,266 --> 00:26:21,266
what James talks about,
though, and get some skin in the game.

559
00:26:21,300 --> 00:26:23,666
So it's free yourself like a bird

560
00:26:23,666 --> 00:26:26,666
from the hand of the Fowler,
or a gazelle from the hand of the hunter.

561
00:26:26,700 --> 00:26:29,700
Humble yourself
so that God can lift you up.

562
00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,800
And right here it says, submit yourselves

563
00:26:33,533 --> 00:26:36,533
to God.

564
00:26:36,766 --> 00:26:39,266
One more biblical thing
that's countercultural,

565
00:26:39,266 --> 00:26:41,966
because what happens here
is when we submit to God,

566
00:26:41,966 --> 00:26:45,166
that's
where the winning starts, James says.

567
00:26:45,166 --> 00:26:48,166
That's where the winning begins.

568
00:26:48,300 --> 00:26:51,233
That's how we start to have victory
over these things, like fights

569
00:26:51,233 --> 00:26:54,900
and quarrels
and these desires that battle within us.

570
00:26:55,133 --> 00:26:57,633
James says,
you want victory over that. Submit.

571
00:26:57,633 --> 00:26:58,466
Submit to God.

572
00:27:00,866 --> 00:27:02,300
Amen.

573
00:27:02,300 --> 00:27:04,733
That one word when use right here.

574
00:27:04,733 --> 00:27:07,733
It means if you if you ever do word
studies, it means subordinate.

575
00:27:08,266 --> 00:27:10,933
Become a subordinate.

576
00:27:10,933 --> 00:27:13,800
Another word that doesn't
really have positive connotations either,

577
00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:19,300
but it has this idea of I don't get to do
whatever it is I want to do.

578
00:27:19,300 --> 00:27:21,233
I don't get to strike out on my own.

579
00:27:21,233 --> 00:27:24,800
I don't get to call the shots
and make my own rules.

580
00:27:25,333 --> 00:27:27,900
I'm subordinate to someone bigger than me.

581
00:27:27,900 --> 00:27:30,900
I'm subordinate
to something bigger than me.

582
00:27:32,366 --> 00:27:35,066
And it has this idea of a continual day

583
00:27:35,066 --> 00:27:38,066
after day process.

584
00:27:38,100 --> 00:27:41,566
I didn't just submit that plan
when I was in college to God,

585
00:27:41,566 --> 00:27:44,566
and now I'm free to do whatever
I want to do.

586
00:27:44,666 --> 00:27:48,333
Or now that I'm married,
I don't have to do that submitting

587
00:27:48,333 --> 00:27:49,866
that I did back then.

588
00:27:49,866 --> 00:27:55,200
I'm continually working on this process
of being subordinate to something

589
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:59,300
that's bigger than me, and doing this,
I start to win.

590
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:00,333
It's crazy.

591
00:28:01,333 --> 00:28:04,333
It's counterintuitive, countercultural.

592
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:07,400
He goes on to say, resist the devil
and he will flee from you.

593
00:28:07,566 --> 00:28:09,533
Come near to God
and he will come near to you.

594
00:28:09,533 --> 00:28:12,200
Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify
your hearts.

595
00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:14,566
You double minded. Humble yourselves.

596
00:28:14,566 --> 00:28:15,000
There it is.

597
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:18,133
Humble yourselves before the Lord,
and he will lift you up.

598
00:28:22,933 --> 00:28:23,433
Grieve.

599
00:28:23,433 --> 00:28:25,633
Morning wail.
I skip. Verse nine. Grieve. Morning wail.

600
00:28:25,633 --> 00:28:28,633
Change your laughter to mourning
and your joy to gloom.

601
00:28:30,300 --> 00:28:33,300
The problem with all of this,
or the problem

602
00:28:33,300 --> 00:28:36,300
many times
with all of what we just read, is this.

603
00:28:38,766 --> 00:28:41,400
We do the things it talks
about after the submit part.

604
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:43,233
Without the submit part.

605
00:28:43,233 --> 00:28:45,866
I talk to people all the time
who will say things like,

606
00:28:45,866 --> 00:28:48,300
I'm just trying to resist the devil. He's
coming at me.

607
00:28:48,300 --> 00:28:52,333
I read about his schemes and his plots
and his ideas to destroy my life,

608
00:28:52,333 --> 00:28:53,600
and I'm just trying to resist

609
00:28:54,566 --> 00:28:56,700
trying to dig my heels in,

610
00:28:56,700 --> 00:28:59,700
pull myself
up, up by the bootstraps and resist.

611
00:29:00,266 --> 00:29:01,966
Or they'll say,
I'm trying to walk with God.

612
00:29:01,966 --> 00:29:04,966
I'm trying to stay close to God.

613
00:29:05,466 --> 00:29:08,200
But when I talk to to young people, I'm
trying to stay pure.

614
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:11,533
I'm trying to just not screw up,
trying to have a pure heart.

615
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,566
James would say to all that stuff,
fantastic, great.

616
00:29:15,666 --> 00:29:18,666
But have you submitted?

617
00:29:18,666 --> 00:29:21,666
It all hinges on this one word submission.

618
00:29:24,966 --> 00:29:25,566
Talk to people

619
00:29:25,566 --> 00:29:28,566
all the time
who have every reason in the world

620
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:31,633
as to why they should not submit, submit
in their finances,

621
00:29:31,666 --> 00:29:34,666
submit in their employment,
submit in their relations.

622
00:29:34,700 --> 00:29:38,566
And here's the thing many of those reasons
are really, really valid.

623
00:29:39,533 --> 00:29:42,166
Your boss may very well be a jerk.

624
00:29:43,633 --> 00:29:45,733
Your spouse may very well be

625
00:29:45,733 --> 00:29:48,733
being irrational and unreasonable.

626
00:29:50,966 --> 00:29:52,133
Talk to teenagers all the time.

627
00:29:52,133 --> 00:29:55,566
Your parents may very well
be being overbearing and overprotective.

628
00:29:58,166 --> 00:30:00,600
Those reasons that you have for
not submitting

629
00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:03,600
may be valid reasons.

630
00:30:06,866 --> 00:30:10,200
When I talk to kids, they'll say,
you know, my parents are such jerks.

631
00:30:10,433 --> 00:30:12,733
They won't let me do this.
They won't let me do that.

632
00:30:12,733 --> 00:30:16,566
The most interesting conversations
I've had, especially with older teenagers

633
00:30:16,566 --> 00:30:18,266
that are just trying so hard

634
00:30:18,266 --> 00:30:20,766
that they still live at home,
but they're trying to not live at home.

635
00:30:20,766 --> 00:30:23,866
And the most interesting times
in those conversations

636
00:30:23,866 --> 00:30:26,400
are when I look at them
and I go, you're right,

637
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:29,033
I no, I'm not used to being told that.

638
00:30:29,033 --> 00:30:30,500
What do you mean? I said, you're right.

639
00:30:31,500 --> 00:30:32,700
Your dad was wrong.

640
00:30:32,700 --> 00:30:33,333
Shouldn't said that.

641
00:30:33,333 --> 00:30:36,333
I shouldn't have done that.

642
00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:37,733
And they just kind of look at me.

643
00:30:37,733 --> 00:30:40,733
Puzzled, I said,
but but consider this for a second.

644
00:30:41,066 --> 00:30:43,733
What if you're submitting?

645
00:30:43,733 --> 00:30:47,400
What if your choice
to come under the authority of

646
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:51,866
when they know you don't want to,
when they know you don't want to?

647
00:30:53,966 --> 00:30:54,866
Was the thing

648
00:30:54,866 --> 00:30:57,866
that made this whole relationship
turn around.

649
00:30:58,900 --> 00:31:03,433
What if your refusal to submit is actually
achieving the exact opposite of what

650
00:31:03,433 --> 00:31:09,166
you really, really want just by that one
choice to 2 or 2 not submit?

651
00:31:09,166 --> 00:31:12,166
You could cause this whole thing
to turn around.

652
00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:18,300
The key thing to keep in mind
here is we're not.

653
00:31:18,300 --> 00:31:21,100
We're submitting to God

654
00:31:21,100 --> 00:31:25,200
now, but the way that fleshes out
we hate it

655
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:28,200
because a lot of times it seems like
we're submitting to a person.

656
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:31,866
People are flawed and they're sinners,
and they have these

657
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,500
these faults that we know
a past that we know about things that we

658
00:31:36,033 --> 00:31:37,266
and we have all these reasons

659
00:31:38,666 --> 00:31:41,666
that we shouldn't submit.

660
00:31:42,666 --> 00:31:45,666
But when we submit to God.

661
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:49,433
Those people just become the tool

662
00:31:49,433 --> 00:31:52,433
by which he starts working.

663
00:31:52,466 --> 00:31:54,333
We see it all around here all the time.

664
00:31:54,333 --> 00:31:59,533
You'll never submit to a God you can't see
until you first submit to a person.

665
00:31:59,533 --> 00:32:00,800
You can see,

666
00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:03,666
say this all the time with kids
who are really struggling with parents.

667
00:32:03,666 --> 00:32:06,666
You'll never submit. I just,

668
00:32:06,666 --> 00:32:08,033
I just want to be with God.

669
00:32:08,033 --> 00:32:11,033
I said, okay,
but you'll never submit to that God

670
00:32:11,100 --> 00:32:12,700
because you're refusing
to submit to this parent.

671
00:32:12,700 --> 00:32:15,966
Now, I'm not saying
stay in a truly abusive situation.

672
00:32:16,133 --> 00:32:17,300
That's not what I'm talking about here.

673
00:32:17,300 --> 00:32:21,000
But after prayerful consideration, if the
if the answer keeps coming back to you,

674
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:22,000
I'm not submitting.

675
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,233
That's omitting.
I'm not submitting the answer.

676
00:32:24,233 --> 00:32:24,966
It's pretty obvious.

677
00:32:26,266 --> 00:32:28,800
So the application this week, again,
like we talked about,

678
00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:30,633
a lot of this stuff
is real easy to understand.

679
00:32:30,633 --> 00:32:33,633
But when the rubber meets the road,
it's difficult,

680
00:32:34,166 --> 00:32:36,300
difficult to put into practice

681
00:32:36,300 --> 00:32:39,766
comes in a two part question,
actually, two questions that form a whole.

682
00:32:40,466 --> 00:32:43,466
Where in my life do I need to submit?

683
00:32:44,666 --> 00:32:47,666
And really answer honestly.

684
00:32:49,366 --> 00:32:50,300
For me, back in the winter

685
00:32:50,300 --> 00:32:53,933
of 2004, the place I really needed to
submit was in my finances.

686
00:32:53,933 --> 00:32:54,566
And I knew it.

687
00:32:54,566 --> 00:32:57,566
And I'd known it for months
and I was like, oh no.

688
00:32:57,933 --> 00:33:00,933
That thought would come into my head
about getting my finances squared away.

689
00:33:00,933 --> 00:33:03,933
Start tithing. Nope. Can't do it

690
00:33:04,100 --> 00:33:06,900
because I was married
and it wasn't just me.

691
00:33:06,900 --> 00:33:08,500
I was gonna have to make a phone call.

692
00:33:08,500 --> 00:33:10,433
Jen, I think we need to start tithing.

693
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:14,700
What is it for you?

694
00:33:14,700 --> 00:33:16,933
Maybe it's your marriage.

695
00:33:16,933 --> 00:33:19,700
Maybe it's your relationship
with your coworkers.

696
00:33:19,700 --> 00:33:22,700
Maybe it's your relationship
with your coach, your team, your teachers.

697
00:33:22,700 --> 00:33:23,700
Where in your life?

698
00:33:23,700 --> 00:33:26,700
Where in my life do I need to submit?

699
00:33:27,966 --> 00:33:30,466
But I can't let us off that easy

700
00:33:30,466 --> 00:33:33,466
because it's one thing
to identify the problem we talk about.

701
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:36,000
we've got these younger
youth leaders coming up,

702
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:39,000
and we've kind of had to pass the torch
to them in this regard.

703
00:33:39,100 --> 00:33:42,700
You're not allowed in youth ministry
to gripe unless you have a solution,

704
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:44,600
because you're a problem identifier.

705
00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:45,633
You're not a problem solver.

706
00:33:45,633 --> 00:33:48,233
We want problem solvers.

707
00:33:48,233 --> 00:33:50,533
We've identified the problem
when you ask where

708
00:33:50,533 --> 00:33:52,900
and you answer, where in my life
do I need to submit?

709
00:33:52,900 --> 00:33:54,133
You've identified the problem.

710
00:33:54,133 --> 00:33:58,400
But the second part is this what is
the action that accompanies my submission?

711
00:33:58,666 --> 00:33:59,866
This is where it gets tough,

712
00:33:59,866 --> 00:34:01,633
because then you've
got to make phone calls,

713
00:34:01,633 --> 00:34:03,800
and then you've got to sit down
with pieces of paper,

714
00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:05,766
and then you've got to make really
tough decisions

715
00:34:05,766 --> 00:34:08,466
and talk to people
who are involved in those areas.

716
00:34:11,900 --> 00:34:14,566
One more
way the book of James is so relatable.

717
00:34:14,566 --> 00:34:18,900
It's so good and easy to understand,
but it's really difficult

718
00:34:18,900 --> 00:34:19,666
to put into practice.

719
00:34:19,666 --> 00:34:20,733
So that's my prayer for us.

720
00:34:20,733 --> 00:34:25,166
This week, is that we can take one more
step as we go through the book of James,

721
00:34:25,366 --> 00:34:29,500
and getting closer and closer
to putting our faith into works.

722
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:32,966
I'd like to close right now
by praying for us,

723
00:34:32,966 --> 00:34:34,700
and then we're going to continue on
with the rest of our service.

724
00:34:34,700 --> 00:34:36,166
I'm really glad you came this morning.

725
00:34:36,166 --> 00:34:37,933
I hope you were encouraged. Let's pray.

726
00:34:37,933 --> 00:34:39,700
God, thank you so much for today.

727
00:34:39,700 --> 00:34:44,166
Thank you for your word that it does
what you say it will do,

728
00:34:44,166 --> 00:34:48,033
and that is not return to
you void that it goes out and it,

729
00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:51,800
cuts to the heart of the issues
that we're dealing with.

730
00:34:52,166 --> 00:34:55,866
sometimes that cutting metaphor
is not so much of a metaphor,

731
00:34:55,866 --> 00:34:57,333
because that's what it feels like
sometimes.

732
00:34:57,333 --> 00:34:59,733
So if this, this,
if this cut us this morning, God,

733
00:34:59,733 --> 00:35:03,900
I pray that you will help us to heal
in the way you want us to heal.

734
00:35:04,333 --> 00:35:06,933
Give us strength,
give us guidance, give us wisdom,

735
00:35:08,266 --> 00:35:08,700
help us to

736
00:35:08,700 --> 00:35:12,133
continue to walk out this life with you.

737
00:35:12,533 --> 00:35:15,666
We love you
and we ask all these things in your name.

738
00:35:15,666 --> 00:35:18,933
Jesus. Everybody said Amen.