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In this episode of Practice the Word, we continue through James 1 and begin James 2, exploring one of the central themes of the entire book: Don’t just hear the Word. Do what it says.
James compares God’s Word to a mirror. It reveals what’s really there—not who we pretend to be, but who we actually are. The question is what happens after we see the reflection. Do we walk away and forget, or allow what God reveals to change the way we live?
We explore what genuine faith looks like in everyday life: controlling our words, caring for vulnerable people, resisting the patterns of the world, and treating others according to their God-given value rather than their status, wealth, influence, or appearance.
The conversation also turns to social media, where controlling the tongue has become controlling the thumbs. What do our comments, arguments, and reactions reveal about what’s happening in our hearts?
Then we move into James 2 and confront favoritism. Why does James treat partiality so seriously? Because when we assign greater value to someone because of what they have—or what they might be able to do for us—we begin measuring people by the world’s standards instead of God’s.
The challenge isn’t simply to know more Scripture. It’s to obey what Scripture reveals.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Welcome to Practice the Word
00:21 You Have a Calling in God’s Kingdom
01:11 Books, Testimony & Prison Ministry
02:44 Opening Prayer
04:25 James 1:22 — Be Doers of the Word
05:07 God’s Word Is a Mirror
06:24 Hearing the Word but Walking Away Unchanged
07:04 Forgetfulness or Self-Deception?
08:30 Hearing Requires a Response
09:09 The Mirror Shows Who We Really Are
10:23 Proverbs and the Danger of Self-Deception
11:55 Build Your House on the Rock
13:18 Hearing Jesus vs. Obeying Jesus
14:44 James 1:26–27 — What Does Genuine Faith Look Like?
15:44 Controlling Your Tongue—and Your Thumbs
17:57 What Your Words Reveal About Your Heart
19:31 Three Practical Tests of Genuine Faith
21:31 Does Your Speech Reflect Christ?
22:23 What Does It Mean to Rein In Your Tongue?
24:18 Public Faith vs. Private Character
25:03 Life and Death Are in the Power of the Tongue
26:19 Caring for the Vulnerable
28:57 Compassion, Discernment & Avoiding Scams
31:04 A Story of Serving Children in Foster Care
32:04 The Prophets on Justice and Compassion
33:28 Loving God Means Loving People
35:12 Give Without Seeking Applause
36:16 Seeing People the Way God Sees Them
36:48 Lessons From Prison Ministry
37:50 Engage the World Without Becoming Like It
39:53 Why Social Media Arguments Don’t Work
40:36 The Ripple Effect of Sin
42:13 The First Adam and the Second Adam
42:46 The Lasting Power of Our Words
43:48 Church Hurt, Self-Examination & Refilling Your Cup
44:41 James 2 — Favoritism Forbidden
45:05 The Rich Man and the Poor Man
46:14 Has the Church Become Too Focused on Money?
47:20 The Glory of Christ vs. Human Wealth
48:03 Favoritism Inside the Family
50:23 The Homeless Man Who Was Actually the Pastor
51:24 Favoritism in the Early Church
52:23 Judging Someone Before Hearing Their Story
52:46 The Glory of Christ vs. the Glitter of People
53:41 When Church Becomes Self-Improvement
58:01 The Selfish Root of Favoritism
58:38 This Week’s Challenge
59:11 Who Have You Overlooked?
1:00:04 Bless Someone Who Cannot Repay You
1:00:27 Put Your Faith Into Action
00:21 You Have a Calling in God’s Kingdom
01:11 Books, Testimony & Prison Ministry
02:44 Opening Prayer
04:25 James 1:22 — Be Doers of the Word
05:07 God’s Word Is a Mirror
06:24 Hearing the Word but Walking Away Unchanged
07:04 Forgetfulness or Self-Deception?
08:30 Hearing Requires a Response
09:09 The Mirror Shows Who We Really Are
10:23 Proverbs and the Danger of Self-Deception
11:55 Build Your House on the Rock
13:18 Hearing Jesus vs. Obeying Jesus
14:44 James 1:26–27 — What Does Genuine Faith Look Like?
15:44 Controlling Your Tongue—and Your Thumbs
17:57 What Your Words Reveal About Your Heart
19:31 Three Practical Tests of Genuine Faith
21:31 Does Your Speech Reflect Christ?
22:23 What Does It Mean to Rein In Your Tongue?
24:18 Public Faith vs. Private Character
25:03 Life and Death Are in the Power of the Tongue
26:19 Caring for the Vulnerable
28:57 Compassion, Discernment & Avoiding Scams
31:04 A Story of Serving Children in Foster Care
32:04 The Prophets on Justice and Compassion
33:28 Loving God Means Loving People
35:12 Give Without Seeking Applause
36:16 Seeing People the Way God Sees Them
36:48 Lessons From Prison Ministry
37:50 Engage the World Without Becoming Like It
39:53 Why Social Media Arguments Don’t Work
40:36 The Ripple Effect of Sin
42:13 The First Adam and the Second Adam
42:46 The Lasting Power of Our Words
43:48 Church Hurt, Self-Examination & Refilling Your Cup
44:41 James 2 — Favoritism Forbidden
45:05 The Rich Man and the Poor Man
46:14 Has the Church Become Too Focused on Money?
47:20 The Glory of Christ vs. Human Wealth
48:03 Favoritism Inside the Family
50:23 The Homeless Man Who Was Actually the Pastor
51:24 Favoritism in the Early Church
52:23 Judging Someone Before Hearing Their Story
52:46 The Glory of Christ vs. the Glitter of People
53:41 When Church Becomes Self-Improvement
58:01 The Selfish Root of Favoritism
58:38 This Week’s Challenge
59:11 Who Have You Overlooked?
1:00:04 Bless Someone Who Cannot Repay You
1:00:27 Put Your Faith Into Action
THIS WEEK’S CHALLENGE
Read James 1:22 through James 2:13. Read it more than once. Underline it. Pray through it.
Then ask God to show you one person you’ve overlooked, judged, avoided, or quietly placed beneath yourself.
Do something tangible.
Call them. Encourage them. Serve them. Give to them. Invite them in. Extend mercy.
And don’t only look for someone who can bless you. Look for someone you can bless who may never be able to repay you.
The mirror has done its job when it shows us what needs to change. We become doers when we refuse to walk away unchanged.
Practice the Word helps everyday believers become everyday doers of the Word through Scripture, stories, and honest conversations about following Jesus with courage, sincerity, and obedience in real life.
#PracticeTheWord #BookOfJames #James1 #James2 #DoersOfTheWord #BibleStudy #ChristianPodcast #ChristianLiving #FaithInAction #BibleTeaching #JesusChrist #Favoritism #LoveYourNeighbor #ChristianFaith #BiblicalTruth
Creators and Guests
What is Practice The Word?
Practice the Word is a Christ-centered podcast for people who are ready to stop sitting on the sidelines of faith and start living the Word of God in everyday life.
Hosted by believers who love Jesus, serve people, and understand the real-world trials of business, family, ministry, hardship, and obedience, this show is for anyone who feels called to step out of the boat and walk with Christ more deeply.
Each episode encourages listeners to read Scripture for themselves, trust the Holy Spirit, serve others with sincerity, and become doers of the Word — not hearers only.
Through biblical conversations, personal stories, interviews with Christian leaders, and practical encouragement, Practice the Word exists to point people back to Jesus, remind them that every day is a gift from the Lord, and challenge them to live fully surrendered to Him.
Whether you are new to faith, returning to God, wrestling through a difficult season, or ready to go deeper, this podcast is an invitation to get off the fence, open the Bible, and practice the Word.
00:00:02:00 - 00:00:20:19
Unknown
Welcome to Practice the Word, a podcast helping everyday believers become everyday doers of the word. Through scripture stories and honest conversations, we'll talk about what it means to follow Jesus with courage, sincerity, and obedience in real life. Let's get started.
00:00:20:21 - 00:00:21:13
Unknown
Welcome to
00:00:21:13 - 00:00:44:04
Unknown
of Practice the Word in James chapter one, verse 22. Being doers of the word, not just hearers of the word. So today we're coming to you to encourage you and challenge you to do things for the Lord. Not just sit on the sidelines, not just sit on a pew, but really dig deep in your heart and say, Lord, what is it you want me to do for you?
00:00:44:05 - 00:00:46:16
Unknown
What is my calling in the kingdom?
00:00:46:22 - 00:01:11:06
Unknown
Because God has a call on you. If you're believing, you're declaring that Jesus is Lord, you have a calling. I'm going to say it again. You have a calling, and when you have a calling, his calling is irrevocable and you have to do something for the kingdom. You know, when I pray a lot, I always say, if if I'm just the hinges on the door and the kingdom Lord, I'll be the hinges on the door, because we just want God to use us.
00:01:11:06 - 00:01:35:11
Unknown
And so today, we want to encourage you, and we want to just put fire in you to do the things of the Lord. Before I pray, I want to show you one thing, couple things. This is a book that is a mighty book. It's called walking in the power of the Almighty Creator, and it's by Luis Gonzalez. If you have not read this book, oh my gosh, he was abused by his dad, abused by his mother.
00:01:35:11 - 00:01:59:21
Unknown
And it is just a freeing book. You have to read this book. It is so amazing and it will bless you. If you have dealt with any kind of abuse, you need to read this book. Other thing is my book, it's my book is Christ Died for Your Enemy. This came to me when I was in prison. I have not been to prison, but I've done prison ministry and I pray I never have to serve time.
00:01:59:21 - 00:02:24:16
Unknown
So I was in prison ministry, and when I was serving in the ministry there at the maximum women's prison, I left that prison days later and the Lord spoke to my heart. You know, those women in that prison have enemies. When they go into the courtroom, they have a bulletproof vest on, so nobody shoots them dead because the world hates them.
00:02:24:16 - 00:02:44:19
Unknown
The world doesn't even know their story, but they hate them just because, you know, they're they're in this situation of something they did or something they did with somebody else. They were just caught in the act of it. Maybe they didn't do it alone. And so God put this on my heart to read this, to write this book I wrote, I wrote it, and it's on Amazon.
00:02:44:19 - 00:03:04:16
Unknown
I think you could get it for less than $10. So anyway, let's pray and then we'll get straight into the word in the book of James. Heavenly father, we thank you for everyone that is watching. And God, I pray that you would penetrate the hearts of everyone that is watching this today through Your Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
00:03:04:16 - 00:03:27:15
Unknown
I ask you today to betray yourself to everyone watching under the sound of my voice, I pray today is their day of revelation and today is the day of salvation. If they don't know you, God, Lord, I'm asking you today, do a work in this Bible study. Do a revelation. Do something that will challenge your people and encourage your people all at the same time.
00:03:27:15 - 00:03:52:00
Unknown
God, open up the hearts and their minds and overflow them with your spirit. Almighty God, we need you in this. We can't do it by ourselves. Your word says, you will never abandon us. You'll never leave us. So, Lord, today we believe you're closer than our own breath. You're here with us today. And Lord, as we take hold of James chapter one, who is a brother of Jesus, a half brother of Jesus.
00:03:52:01 - 00:04:20:23
Unknown
He was not a disciple, and he had a revelation that maybe he needs to believe that Jesus is God because he is. And so we just want to dive into this. But Lord, in all this, we want your name to be glorified, your name to be glorified in this. So help us, Holy Spirit, say the right things. Don't let us miss a beat in what you want the people to here in their hearts today, in the mighty name of Jesus, we pray you are awesome and worthy and holy.
00:04:21:00 - 00:04:25:20
Unknown
Almighty God, in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen.
00:04:25:22 - 00:04:46:22
Unknown
we're going to pick back up right where we left off. We're in the book of James. And kind of the theme of this book is really verse 22. Don't just hear the word, do the word. And so we, we, we talked about that a lot last time. And now we're going to pick back up from that point forward and look at the rest of chapter one.
00:04:47:00 - 00:05:07:10
Unknown
So I think we'll begin and we'll kind of go verse by verse, which is always a good way to study the Bible. And and so we're going to go verses 22 through 25. And we're going to talk about that. So I'm going to read that now I'm in the NIV. If you would like to follow along. It says do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves.
00:05:07:11 - 00:05:32:16
Unknown
Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word, but does not do what it says, is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, he goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it, not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it, they will be blessed in what they do.
00:05:32:22 - 00:05:39:02
Unknown
It's a powerful passage. Very practical passage for Christians. So let's talk about what that means.
00:05:39:03 - 00:05:56:02
Unknown
so if you're new to Bible studies and what I encourage a lot of people to do is I take my Bible and I highlight and I love to highlight. So this is a passage that I would highlight in yellow because it's it's a passage of action.
00:05:56:04 - 00:06:24:07
Unknown
Yes. So I, I was reading through that Bible last night, preparation of today. And I had wrote down a note. And basically it's the mirror of the marginalized and mercy that is the three things I had wrote on my side notes. And, you know, some what James is saying here is God's Word is a mirror. And and it shows us what is really there.
00:06:24:09 - 00:06:48:11
Unknown
There is no blur. There it is. It is us. Most people will walk away from that mirror and James mentions that. But, you know, when we hear the word, we agree with the word. We even teach the word, yet we walk away unchanged. We were talking about that last week where we go to church, we hear worship, we serve, we hear the sermon.
00:06:48:11 - 00:07:04:00
Unknown
But then during the week we just walk away from it. Yeah, there's no practical application in our life. I bet many people could could attest to the fact that they've set in a sermon and heard a preacher preach, and as soon as they walk out the door. Hey, what did he preach about? That's true. And they can't remember, right?
00:07:04:01 - 00:07:33:09
Unknown
Right. And James is not he's not talking about being forgetful. He's actually talking about self-deception. Yes. So that's a great point. It's a huge thing here that believers knowing what to do and just choosing not to. That's right. That. Yeah. But in a way when they do walk out and they forget have they have are they not being deceived because they walk out, they forget it wasn't important enough to them to write it down, to take notes.
00:07:33:09 - 00:07:54:02
Unknown
Because, you know, the Scripture, it says, write the vision and make it plain in Habakkuk and it says, write the vision, make it plain. That doesn't just mean write your dreams. It means anything that applies to your life, right? That is transforming. Write it down. And so yeah, that goes right along with deceiving yourself when you walk out of church and you can't.
00:07:54:04 - 00:08:10:13
Unknown
We get in the car and what was it? And somebody calls what was it about I can't remember. Gosh. Hold on. What did he. What did he talk about today? That's what we did. That's good. Many times and many times. But the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy just as quick as anything. And so we have to be,
00:08:10:16 - 00:08:29:21
Unknown
wise as serpents and harmless as doves. So that is being just faithful in knowing the word. Even when you leave on Sunday morning after the sermon to take notes so you can apply it. If you forget it that quick. How will you be able to remember on Monday or Tuesday?
00:08:29:21 - 00:08:30:12
Unknown
That's right,
00:08:30:17 - 00:08:49:07
Unknown
James does not condemn the hearing part. And that's what we have to be careful of. Right. Because faith comes what by hearing through hearing right. So that's what he's saying. The problem is is hearing without responding. Yeah. It's it's like you cut it off like you you you got the hearing part, you got the faith and then then you just cut it off.
00:08:49:08 - 00:09:09:12
Unknown
Right. So what does this guy do in this illustration, in this Bible verse? He walks up to the mirror. He sees himself. And what does he do? He walks away. It's kind of comical if you think about it. Forgets what he looks like. Yeah. That's right. And so what happens here? The mirror worked perfectly, and the person simply ignored what they saw.
00:09:09:14 - 00:09:32:12
Unknown
So the mirror is actually showing the fallacy in the person. And a lot of times, you know, we don't want to see that. And, you know, God's word does not show us who we pretend to be. It shows us who we really are. And that hurts. And that's why we walk away from a mirror. Yeah. Whether it's shame, arrogance, whether we think we know better than God's right.
00:09:32:13 - 00:09:55:14
Unknown
So it's pride really at the root of it? Absolutely. Pride. The original sin that got Satan in trouble. Yes. Yeah. And you know, the beautiful thing about about studying the word and the way we're doing it. Just like a Bible study. I even hate calling it a Bible study. I'm more prefer to a walk with the Lord's word because that's what we're doing, right?
00:09:55:15 - 00:10:23:02
Unknown
And because if you're just studying, we've got to be applicable to it, right? We have to apply it to our lives. And Doctor Jordan Peterson had a great graft, and I'm sure Joe can find it and post it. But it was showing the similarities in Scripture where every scripture overlaps one another. Yeah, that's an amazing chart. So we so actually I did a little bit of research and I was looking at these couple of verses that you just read.
00:10:23:02 - 00:10:49:02
Unknown
And the similarity to Proverbs is I mean probably let me let me tell you what I'm saying. So Proverbs repeatedly warns that human beings can be deceived by their own judgment. Not probably five hand probably about five times I found it, but I found other sub ones that you probably could link it. Well, there's a scripture that says don't even trust yourself.
00:10:49:04 - 00:11:09:14
Unknown
Sure, people don't like that because most people will walk around said, well, I'm a good person. The scriptures say, don't even trust yourself. That's right. And look how this thing sets up. And I and I love to go to Proverbs 1412 on this when it says, there is a way that seems right to a man. Yes, but it end is the way to death, right?
00:11:09:16 - 00:11:30:07
Unknown
So in Proverbs it warns us of a path that seems right. Right. But James warns us about a faith that seems right. Right. So there is a deception that is happening there. And I think the mirror plays that role. And, you know, a person may say, I heard a sermon. I'm gonna pick back up on that point again.
00:11:30:08 - 00:11:50:16
Unknown
I heard a sermon. I understood the passage. I agreed with the preacher. I know what the Bible said. So James is in here speaking to them. You know all this. You know the law. You've just seen the Christ. But did you do anything with your hands and what you heard
00:11:50:17 - 00:11:55:11
Unknown
so we made a connection in the last, I believe it was the one.
00:11:55:11 - 00:12:28:01
Unknown
I think you made one of the connections to the sermon on the Mount. And I think you can't go past this, this 22nd verse without going back, because obviously, and I thank you a little bit of research to show this. James was there, Matthew was there. Now this is you would assume James would be there, right? So you look at Matthew 724 through 27, both men hear the words of Jesus and, and and what is what this is is the parable one obeys and builds on a rock.
00:12:28:05 - 00:12:54:19
Unknown
The other hears, but does not obey and builds on sand. Right. Now, I made a comment last week about knowledge is power. But also I caveat that with saying somebody's going to say, well, that's not always the case. And that's not that is not total biblical. And this is a perfect example of that. And it says the difference here is not knowledge because because in the parable we're talking about two builders.
00:12:54:20 - 00:13:18:18
Unknown
Now, they're builders. They're builders of things. Now this builder has heard the truth. And he built his his house on sin. Correct? Right. So in the other builder, build it on what? The rock. Which was obedience. Because he's listening, was the teachings of Jesus. That's right. So the foolish builder did not reject the sermon. He heard the sermon.
00:13:18:18 - 00:13:44:15
Unknown
He heard the worship. He heard what the pastor said, right? He just didn't go out there and make it applicable to his life. That's right. And and and the wise builder heard the same sermon and he made it applicable because what did he do? He built built his life around it. And that's such a such a hard thing to do in our world today because we've got so many people, the culture telling us, well, this is how things should be.
00:13:44:16 - 00:14:02:20
Unknown
And a lot of times it's contrary to how the Bible says things should be. It could be in a marriage, it could be in any type of relationship. And if you build your house around what the world says, it's going to be just like that parable. Your house is going to be built on sand. And when the storms of life come, your house is going to fall.
00:14:03:02 - 00:14:23:19
Unknown
Your world is going to crumble because you've not built it on something solid. But the teachings of Jesus, the words of life. If you build your house on that, when the storms of life come, your house is not going to fall. It's going to stand. That's right. And you think about society today. You know, you hear the truth without without obeying the truth leads to an unstable life.
00:14:23:20 - 00:14:44:06
Unknown
Yes. And that that James is practically giving them a roadmap. Yes. That we we saw a little bit earlier in Matthew on the sermon on the Mount. But now James is really you kind of picked up on what James had picked up on us. Yeah. He just he just using it in a different analogy here with the mirror.
00:14:44:07 - 00:15:13:08
Unknown
Right, right. Yes. You want to continue? Yeah. Yeah. And so now he gives, like, practical examples of what we're supposed to do because somebody would ask that. Well, how exactly do I do the word. What does that actually mean. Right. And this is what he says in verse 26 and 27. He says those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues, deceive themselves and their religion is worthless.
00:15:13:09 - 00:15:44:04
Unknown
Well, 27 religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this to look after orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep one self from being polluted by the world? I mean, those are just powerful, practical verses that we need to talk through now. And I know you guys have probably a lot to say because you, you, you put part of that verse 27 into practice every day with some things that you guys do.
00:15:44:06 - 00:16:08:10
Unknown
You know this, those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues, deceives and selves and their religion is worthless. You know, this reminds me, there's so much of social media. You will. And they know their comments are being seen. And if he wrote that, he might say those who don't put a tight rein on their thumbs.
00:16:08:11 - 00:16:43:23
Unknown
Right. Right. Exactly. That's right. But you can go on social media and you see post and people are they'll comment and you're thinking with I say elder in our church. They said that, oh my gosh. He's an elder in the church. And he's cussing on there. And again, it may not be your post, but if you're commenting on it and you're again anything sidetrack from the Word of God is evil and you're leading.
00:16:44:04 - 00:17:08:04
Unknown
You're causing people to to question your faith. Worthless religion. Yeah. Because you you're a Christian, which means you represent Jesus, right? This is how you speak. Right. Is this who you truly are? Because this post got you so emotional, right that you thought you would comment and curse in the in the comment section, and then everybody in the church sees it.
00:17:08:05 - 00:17:35:07
Unknown
We've seen it, you've seen it, and you see people commenting. I'm not just talking about local churches. I'm talking about that are on platforms with millions of followers, and they're on their trying to argue about the post. Right. And you, you're sitting here going, wait a minute. I just went to revive, what, a church last night. And you were to lead worship and you were fire on the on the pulpit.
00:17:35:07 - 00:17:57:04
Unknown
But now you're on this post, you're commenting and you're cursing and going off on something that, you know, is really it's I don't even know if the post is true. And again, it's gossip because they're telling the post is about somebody else, right. So then you have this person gets so emotional because the post is talking about somebody that they obviously really like.
00:17:57:04 - 00:18:22:22
Unknown
And so again they're going off and you it just exposes their heart. That's the key. What you just said it that your tongue is exposing something very much deeper inside of you. And it's the heart. Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak. That's right. And that's a good point. When you see somebody doing that, it's a red flag, only to pray for that person.
00:18:22:23 - 00:19:08:16
Unknown
They're struggling. Something's wrong in their heart. And clearly here it says their religion is worthless. That's strong. I mean, it's worthless. And they're in church every Sunday. They may. They may be in the ministry, preaching or teaching or worship. And if they can't keep a tight rein on their tongues, they're deceiving themselves and their religion is worthless. And those are the people leading our churches leading, but they have no conviction to go in the comment section and just go off on the person who posted that with racist comments, with cursing, with just horrible things to say about the person who posted or even talking about the post.
00:19:08:17 - 00:19:31:21
Unknown
Yeah. And and and somebody in the comment may question that person is said, well it's my right. I mean, I have a passion about this. God would want me to speak up. There is a way you can come, way that you don't have to. You don't have to grieve the Holy Spirit. That's right. And I think here too is is James is taking.
00:19:31:21 - 00:19:54:00
Unknown
So we're going to move on from the mirror. Right. Because I'm stuck on the mirror. It's such a good analogy. Probably a good one. And but he's giving you now he gives you several practical tests. But there's three big ones he's giving you here. And to be a follower of Christ. And I hate the word religion. I don't Christianity, but followers of Christ were of Christ, right?
00:19:54:01 - 00:20:13:16
Unknown
So the first one is what you're talking about is how we control the words. First thing, how do we control them? Right. How do we treat vulnerable people? That's the next thing the vulnerable part of our society. Does it necessarily does it mean it couldn't be a rich man or rich woman? They could be vulnerable in a in a situation that has occurred.
00:20:13:17 - 00:20:34:09
Unknown
That's right. Be a lot of different things and how we resist the corruption of the world. What is social media spewing out? Do we not find it ironic that we live in a world that the world is so connected on what you see at Thumb Wars, right? You go through these thumb wars to play that. All this and I declare thumb war.
00:20:34:10 - 00:20:55:12
Unknown
Do you remember? You remember that? Yes. That's right. You know, that was. We're still playing it as a doll before my time. Okay, so he's younger than me. Yeah, we actually had to go outside and play. We pray. Yes. So, so you go through these things and you see the anger building up on this post, or people that want to argue call them keyboard warriors, right.
00:20:55:15 - 00:21:18:16
Unknown
Because they wouldn't dare to it to somebody face. They wouldn't. They would guard themselves before they would ever do that. But you know, James is not giving. He's not giving you like a turn by turn roadmap here on how to be a follower of Christ. He's showing us genuine faith, right? So because we're getting ready to get into the heart part of it, right.
00:21:18:18 - 00:21:31:11
Unknown
Because in verse 22, he is is deceiving yourself, right? And now in verse 26, you're deceiving your heart, right? So, so the heart's interception.
00:21:31:11 - 00:21:58:19
Unknown
and just rereading it here. But, you know, James says that anyone who appears religious that that is a believer, that is a Christ follower that appears but does not control his tongue, deceives his heart that that that to me I took a I, I mean, that stabbed me, right?
00:21:58:21 - 00:22:22:22
Unknown
As a man, you know, you want to be a protector. You want to be right, you want to be able to do things. But it's saying right here, if it comes out of your mouth and it is not a depiction of Christ. Right? What is that? Right? It's a deception of the heart. So. Yeah. Yeah. And somebody might take this to the other extreme and say, well, I'll just not say anything.
00:22:23:00 - 00:22:41:02
Unknown
And that's not right there. Right? That's true. And then that's not what James is saying. He's saying to keep a tight rein on your tongue. Right. Just think about before you speak. That's right. How is this going to be perceived by the person I'm talking to or typing to? Does this point them to Christ? Right? Does this hinder them from ever coming to Christ?
00:22:41:02 - 00:22:56:02
Unknown
God forbid. But but we have to think about those things and the tongue. I think he's going to talk about this as a chapter three. He continues talking about the tongue. Yeah. So get too much on that. But it's it's hard to control. It's, it's it's just hard to bring under subjection.
00:22:56:04 - 00:22:59:09
Unknown
something and I know this is a little bit too in the future.
00:22:59:09 - 00:23:28:04
Unknown
But if you if you after James is Peter is the book of Peter first Peter it says in there the first. The first chapter talks about being a slave to Christ. And this goes right along with being a slave to Christ, because everybody today wants a platform. They want to be heard. But and we can cut this out if we need to.
00:23:28:05 - 00:23:48:14
Unknown
But a slave is not heard. I mean, a slave is quiet. They wait. They wait till their master says speak and then they speak. And we won't get into that because I know I can be. I don't think that's bad, because that's literally what a ring is. Absolutely right. Absolutely, literally somebody else has control of your tongue, right?
00:23:48:19 - 00:24:03:23
Unknown
You might say your your tongue is a I know it's a taboo word nowadays, but it's a, it's a slave or it's a servant to something else. That's not to itself. Right. That's right. I mean, I don't think that's very far fetched. I mean, I get that in today's society we don't like to use that word sometimes, but,
00:24:04:01 - 00:24:18:02
Unknown
I think the overall theme that James is saying is self. You know, one is, is destruction to a person, but it's deception. And how often we see it in society to other believers.
00:24:18:02 - 00:24:41:20
Unknown
And it's like you said, you know, a lot of times people will use the pulpit as a platform. And, you know, a person may look one way publicly, but entirely different in private. Yes. And to me, that's one of the cursors of this verse or what James is trying to get across to. And I think, I think it's important.
00:24:41:20 - 00:25:03:02
Unknown
Again, I'm going to go and we're going to put in reverse. We're going to Proverbs for a minute and we're going to I want to read just a couple of quick ones in like Proverbs 1019, many words increase the opportunity for sin. Okay. Wow. What about Proverbs 1218? Reckless words wound like a sword. How about Proverbs 15 one?
00:25:03:03 - 00:25:27:21
Unknown
A gentle answer turns away wrath. James is preaching the gospel as Proverbs. So that's donuts. And I say gently, no, honey, that's not good for your health. There's that. A gentle. That's gentle. Right. Well, you know, it goes back to Proverbs 1821. You know, life and death are in the power to tell. So we would just go back to some wisdom.
00:25:27:22 - 00:25:52:03
Unknown
You know, the tongue is one of the first places where the invisible faith becomes visible. I'll say it all day long. Yeah. It will eventually show itself. That's right. It will show itself. Now I'm going to make a a little a little appendix right there with a a. We are not perfect people. This is going to show up in all of our lives.
00:25:52:04 - 00:26:19:15
Unknown
It is going to show up. The thing is, is that we're actively in prayer. We're actively studying we're actively around Christ like people that are pushing us in the direction we need to go. And, you know, this is all preparing, like you said. I mean, chapter one, this right here, what we just went over is going to be a bombshell in chapter three because he's prepping, he's got a good sermon going here.
00:26:19:15 - 00:26:42:23
Unknown
And he's really he's he's putting everybody to the test because we're going to start talking about marginalized parts of society here. Yes. That we often forget. But but as believers, we'll just we'll do, you know, we could just throw $20 in the bucket and let our church handle it, right? Help people. Right. When, when when James is saying, you know, maybe we need to be a little bit more and we need to be a doer.
00:26:43:01 - 00:27:08:10
Unknown
That's right. That's right. He's right. And he's describing a person that has needy people in their life, and they just choose to ignore it. Right. Those orphans and widows are just a category of people. Like you said. It could be anybody. It's going through something, right? And if you have a person in your life that is in need, you as a believer, especially if they are also believers as well, you have an obligation to to do something, show that you care.
00:27:08:11 - 00:27:28:10
Unknown
Right. You know he's going to get it. I don't want to get too far ahead, but he's going to get into all this in chapter two about what the root of. It's the it's the perfect law. Yes. Loving your neighbor as yourself. Yes. And like you said, it's not perfection that we're looking for. It's a tight rein. He didn't say a person needs complete control over their tongues.
00:27:28:10 - 00:27:47:01
Unknown
That would be awesome. That would be great. But it's a tight rein. That's right. It's like you're trying. Yeah. You know, you just. You just haven't cast off all, you know, constraints, and you're just doing whatever you want. Right. You're not living for yourself anymore. You're living for Jesus. You're trying your best to do what he says. You're a tight rein.
00:27:47:03 - 00:28:17:13
Unknown
And I think he he identifies care with a group of people as an expression. And and I don't like to use this word, but I'm using it more of just so we can see the full circle of it is of pure Christianity, a pure follower. Cause these people can improve, cannot improve your status, nor can they improve your favor.
00:28:17:15 - 00:28:37:02
Unknown
They. They can't give it back to you. That's right. Right. That's right. So it gives a perfect. I will I will call it a test to litmus test. That's a litmus test of now we don't go doing it saying the Lord knows our heart. So, you know, we have to be careful in how we we apply these things.
00:28:37:03 - 00:28:56:23
Unknown
Because again, it goes back to studying, fasting, reading the word and pushing forward right with the purpose of Christ. And what are we doing? Salvation. Yes. Is what James is going to get to right? Yes. Because it's really our walk. That is the testimony. It's part of the testimony. That's right. That gets people there. So
00:28:57:01 - 00:29:05:10
Unknown
we had a situation where a family, someone died suddenly and we didn't know these people.
00:29:05:10 - 00:29:27:00
Unknown
They were from another state. And we're just saying you have to be led of the Lord because you can be scammed too, especially with social media and everything. But so this lady reached out to us and a group of families. We were going to pay for the funeral. And in the obituary it was her and her husband's picture in the obituary, which was weird.
00:29:27:00 - 00:29:44:20
Unknown
I didn't think nothing about it, but we kept digging. Remember that lady? We kept digging and we brought all these families together to give her a nice funeral. She was going to pack up the kids and go see, you know, go for them to go see their father. And it just got a little sketchy going along. And I thought, well, I'm going to call the funeral home.
00:29:44:21 - 00:30:26:02
Unknown
I'll just see. I called the funeral home. There's no one there. There's no no one there by that name. That is that is waiting to do a funeral. And he said, ma'am, I think you're being scammed. And so we're not saying to just go spend your money, but be just, you know, just be asked the Holy Spirit to show you, you know, if there's a widow in your subdivision and we're going to get on to, you know, this, but, you know, or orphans or, you know, whatever you can do again, being doers, but you don't go to the the extreme either of just doing it randomly where somebody can scare me out of money.
00:30:26:02 - 00:30:44:00
Unknown
So we're not saying that. We're just saying that God will put people in front of you to help, and you'll know whether you know they won't be if confusion is not from God. Right? So you won't be confused. You know, because we were I had to do a lot of digging to find out if this woman was just trying to come to find out there was no death.
00:30:44:01 - 00:31:04:22
Unknown
She just. She just wanted money. It's horrible. And so. But again, that's her heart. That's right, that's right, that's right. And I think you he probably was just as proud of you for the intention as he would have been if it had been legit. Well, my discernment was lacking. My dessert. Well, you know, we're not perfect, right? But it broke my heart.
00:31:04:23 - 00:31:25:12
Unknown
Her story just broke my heart, you know? But but we eventually found out. And then there was another time that this is before Bryan and I got married. But I was just a teenager, and there was a lady who. Who managed a foster care home. And these kids would come to this home before they would go to their foster families.
00:31:25:12 - 00:31:44:23
Unknown
And it was about 12 in there. So I got to be friends with all those girls, and we took every one of them to church. They all got saved. And it was, you know, it was again, that was a door opening for me because the my relative was overseeing the foster home and, and, you know, it was it was okay for me to be there.
00:31:44:23 - 00:32:00:14
Unknown
And so but you got to be careful with social media the way it is now because everybody's asking for help. Yes. And you got to make sure that you're not, you know, being pulled in the wrong direction. You know, just it's a time waster. And so, yeah, just be wise about it.
00:32:00:14 - 00:32:04:09
Unknown
we're trying to push people forward here going first by verse.
00:32:04:09 - 00:32:26:03
Unknown
But I think James he he's going back to what he knows about the prophets. Right. We miss this a lot in James because we're in the Gospels. Right. We had the Gospels and going on to James. And you know, he's echoing this major, major, major prophetic theme and what it is, it's repeatedly. And I had to write this down because I had to get my thoughts right on it.
00:32:26:03 - 00:32:51:18
Unknown
You know, the prophets repeatedly condemned worship that was disconnected from justice and compassion that God wanted. Right? They did it a lot. And let me give you some. Let me give you some examples first. Let me get you there in the court of law. Right. Let me get you there. Right. So in Isaiah 111 through 17, he rebukes religious activity while calling God's people to defend the fatherless and plead for the widows.
00:32:51:19 - 00:33:28:08
Unknown
Wow. Isaiah 58. He teaches a genuine devotion, includes loosening oppression, feeding the hungry, and caring for the vulnerable. Amos condemns worship that continues while justice is ignored. Wow. So we're seeing a theme that James obviously has been told that Jews would know. And, you know, something to add. And I had this written down in in my Bible and one of my yellow on, on, on this actual verse.
00:33:28:08 - 00:33:52:01
Unknown
And I had it, you know, James does not separate love for God from responsibility towards people God loves. And we miss that because what it is, is a lot of times the world takes that mirror and they think it's about themselves, and it's really about making you better so we can move the purpose of God's love into other people's lives.
00:33:52:02 - 00:34:12:15
Unknown
Right? Right. So they see it. Yeah. And there is a verse that says, you know, in all of that, God gets the glory, even if they do it for profit. God gets the glory for all that. Now he doesn't dismiss it, and he doesn't just sweep it off the plane so well, I got the glory. He handles it, you know, but even in that he gets the glory, you know.
00:34:12:18 - 00:34:32:00
Unknown
You know, it says when people do it for profit. Profit when they do it for money, God gets the glory. And you know, that's a hard thing to accept because you want to be like Jonah going to Nineveh saying, yeah, you kill them, kill them all, you know? And God didn't do it. They repented. They listened to Jonah.
00:34:32:01 - 00:34:52:04
Unknown
That's right. And Jonah was mad because he said, I knew your love was unfailing. I knew you would be good to these people. I knew you would redeem them. And he God did, he said, but they repented. What you want me to do? This is not Sodom and Gomorrah. This. This is Nineveh. They did. The king even said, everybody put on, you know, burlap.
00:34:52:05 - 00:34:57:15
Unknown
We're going to lament for whatever how many days? Because the king was listening to Jonah.
00:34:57:17 - 00:35:12:14
Unknown
you know, somebody told me, wise person, probably one of the wisest people on this earth told me that, Brian, when you go in there and teach something or you're going to say something about the Word of God, if you just read what's in red, you're not going to mess it up.
00:35:12:16 - 00:35:33:14
Unknown
She sent to my left. So I am also somewhat Jesus said, you know, people would recognize his followers by the fruit. Yes. And there's no other way to go past that. You know, Matthew six one through four, he told us the cycle's right there. Go read it. He told him right there that you give without seeking applause or repayment.
00:35:33:14 - 00:35:57:14
Unknown
That's what you're. That is what I'm asking of you. So James applies to this kingdom thing of a kingdom ethic. I would call it. Like if we're in the business world and we have certain ethics that we have with our license, right. So to vulnerable people and, you know, true followers, true to size, do not ask, what can this person do for me?
00:35:57:16 - 00:36:16:12
Unknown
Right. So we're late with Army says right out of the Marines. I can't remember when I'm says that. Right. It asks if Kennedy. Yeah, that's John Kennedy. That's right. How can I represent Jesus to this person? Is what we should be asking. That's right. And it's one of those things. Be slow to speak. Yeah. And think. Think for a minute.
00:36:16:13 - 00:36:38:19
Unknown
Grace moves toward people who have nothing to offer us in return. So that's a good point, because didn't Jesus say, whatever you have done unto the least of these you've done to me? So, so we have to start seeing people like God sees people. That's right. That's right. That's really the root of why somebody wouldn't want to help other people is you don't really see people the way God sees.
00:36:38:20 - 00:36:48:17
Unknown
You don't know their situation. That's right. You got to see people with compassion and and love. And it's hard to do sometimes because we all tend to be a little bit selfish.
00:36:48:19 - 00:37:05:21
Unknown
I was doing prison ministry, you know, when you walk in there and you've got one judgment about these women, and then you start hearing their stories and you hear the injustices of their situation, and you come out of there mad.
00:37:05:22 - 00:37:30:13
Unknown
You're like, that's not right. That's not right. And and it will break your heart. And that's isn't that the way we're supposed to be? You're talking about bringing compassion. The Lord bringing. Just go in and do prison ministry and hear their stories and hear the injustice. That's. Yes, some of them have done wrong. Don't get me wrong, but there's a lot of injustice in there.
00:37:30:15 - 00:37:50:15
Unknown
Yeah, there's a lot of injustice. And it'll blow your mind just to sit down and listen to their stories. And if you were in their shoes, wouldn't you want somebody to come and encourage you? And you. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Because James is calling people not to have draw themselves from the world. Right? We are to insert ourselves into the world.
00:37:50:16 - 00:38:12:03
Unknown
Right? And I think you're seeing a lot of this groaning in the world because that believers are not doing it. We assume just live our little lives and our suburbs, right, and move on to the next soccer game, the next basketball game and think there's nothing there. And he he said we should remain unstained by it. Right. Which means we don't get a sword by the world.
00:38:12:04 - 00:38:32:08
Unknown
Right? So we've got to lead our lives. Christians are called to engage a hurting world. Yes. Where the world would say, promote yourself. Favor the influential. I mean, right. I mean, we can all relate to it, right? Protect your image. Do what makes you happy. That's right. Use people. If you. If it gets you ahead, whatever it takes.
00:38:32:09 - 00:38:58:00
Unknown
Whether it's willing or unwilling. Right. That's right. Speak without restraint. That's another good. The world says to speak. I'm going to speak my truth. Right, right, right. It's so contrary to the Scripture. Yeah. In the world will say value people according to their usefulness. But what is James saying? James is saying all the opposite. All the opposite, which was there at his time and is very applicable to our time.
00:38:58:01 - 00:39:29:08
Unknown
You know, he says, humble yourself. Care for the vulnerable? Yes. He says, guard your hearts. Control your tongue and treat people according to God's character. So he's giving us a blueprint on how we are to conduct ourselves. Right. And when you read it that way, when you've realized what James is doing and you and you read the Gospels, I'm like, like Jesus has really rubbed off on this.
00:39:29:13 - 00:39:53:00
Unknown
Can you imagine sitting there and, you know, we are called to enter the world's pain without absorbing the world's patterns? Yes. Right. So. So you let Iran happen. You let the issues that the Middle East is going through. The issues at home. We don't absorb this pain like the world does. We observe it like Christ told us to absorb it.
00:39:53:01 - 00:40:15:04
Unknown
And we don't fight against flesh and blood, but against leaders of darkness and principalities. And I think that's what people try to do on social media. They're fighting flesh and blood when they should get in their prayer closet and pray for that person and think about this. Have you ever gotten into an argument on social media, and then the person you were arguing with come back and be like, oh, you know what?
00:40:15:05 - 00:40:36:18
Unknown
You changed my mind. Never. Thank you. Never, never, never. And so really, it's so pointless to argue with somebody online that you don't even know. Right. Right. And that's that's a great point. As believers, we miss this point. We heard a a great analogy one time. You know, your life is like a pond or a lake. Sin is like a pebble.
00:40:36:18 - 00:40:57:22
Unknown
And you throw that pebble into that, ponder that lake and that ripple effects fish, lily, other people, basically, it's affecting other people. And one of the greatest stories and a lot of things people miss, you know, the first person to die in the Bible. Right? We know the story. We know the story. Adam and Eve get kicked out of the garden.
00:40:57:22 - 00:41:25:00
Unknown
They have children. I had to make the fruit. And Abel died. Right. Abel would not have died if Adam would not event that fruit. Death was a consequence of Adam sin. We missed that point. What we say, what we do, what James is saying. He says that in here. That's right. Says that, you know, before Calvary ever existed.
00:41:25:01 - 00:41:48:06
Unknown
Genesis. Genesis introduced this whole pattern and that there's a consequence for sin. And it's not just you, it's all the ones. I think Jesus is and gives a great parable about this. We'll get into later. But, you know, seeing rarely stops with the one who commits it. Right. That's something we've always told our daughter, something we've told our Bible groups.
00:41:48:07 - 00:42:13:07
Unknown
It rarely stops with the person that commits it. That's right. There's there's a whole collateral damages. And, you know, it's consequences almost always spills onto someone else's lap. Yes. And they have to deal with the consequence of your sin. And now what are we seeing? Thousands of years later, another innocent brother would die because another Adam eight. Right.
00:42:13:11 - 00:42:46:11
Unknown
Right. So that's that's. You got two Adam's. Yeah. And it's funny how the first Adam ate the fruit. And sin became profound in the world. And the second Adam, Jesus would fast for the sin of the world. Right. Yeah. There's so many correlations and things. So me and, you know, one more thing I would piggyback on what you said is a a hurtful word can have such an impact on a person.
00:42:46:12 - 00:43:03:22
Unknown
Really a hurtful word for a child can affect that child all the way through adulthood, all the shape who they are and hinder their growth in life. So you really do. I mean, James, is this is such practical advice. Put a put a tight rein on your tongue. Right. Think about what you say. These are people, souls at stake.
00:43:03:23 - 00:43:28:20
Unknown
Yes. You need to be pointing people to Jesus through your words. And children, remember at a young age, and they carry it all the way through their life, you know, and to another, another great example, James. And he's just he's really I mean, if if this was in a church, people would really be I'm not sure if they would stone them or they would be cheering him on because it does.
00:43:28:22 - 00:43:48:20
Unknown
It's. Yeah. I mean, James would tell you he's preaching to himself. You get well, you get the idea he's talking to somebody in the. That's right. It's something was going on something you know and and but a good example maybe a little bit to himself perhaps for the times he didn't believe. We've heard it a million times. You know, you can't pour from an empty cup.
00:43:48:22 - 00:44:09:00
Unknown
You can't pour from. How many times have we heard somebody I got church hurt. This person offended me. Yes. My cup is empty. You can refill that cup, but do it in silence. You go into prayer, you read the word, refill your cup with the word. You do not fill it up with anger. You do not walk away saying that I.
00:44:09:02 - 00:44:30:21
Unknown
There's always something we can improve. We're dealing with a situation right now that we always ask the Lord, is there something, Lord, what in us have we done? And this one thing is happens to be self-righteousness. Yes, we don't want to come off as being self-righteous in this situation because we know the other party will take offense to it.
00:44:30:21 - 00:44:41:13
Unknown
So we've worked hard on it, we've studied it, we've dealt into the scripture on it. So I think that's kind of what we look at when we're looking in a mirror. That's right.
00:44:41:14 - 00:45:05:02
Unknown
this this chapter two is going to be good. It's gonna be good. It's gonna be good. Well, just you want to start with just verse one. Yes. That's right. Go ahead. It says, my brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Wow. Can I get a man? Can I get a man?
00:45:05:04 - 00:45:32:22
Unknown
Must not show favoritism. Keep reading. Verses two through four would be the next section here. Suppose he gives an example of what favoritism looks like. And I love this. He says, suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and flying clothes, and a poor man in the old clothes comes in. Also, if you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, hey, here's a good seat for you.
00:45:32:22 - 00:45:57:15
Unknown
But you say to the poor man, hey, you go stand in the back or you sit on the floor by my feet. Have you not discriminated against yourself and become judges with evil thoughts? Wow. And that happens so often. Yes it does. Churches now will give front row seats to people who give the most. Red flag. Red flag, red flag.
00:45:57:16 - 00:46:14:18
Unknown
That should be a private thing. Nobody knows it but them and God. And maybe, you know the church finance department, but I mean, do you not agree with that? I mean, that's what happens all the time. Yeah. The church. I don't know if we want to get into this, but a lot of churches have become all about money.
00:46:14:19 - 00:46:38:12
Unknown
Yes. You know, and so you almost are forced to discriminate, in a sense, and show favoritism to people because they're the ones that can keep the machine running, the the machine you've created in this, in this large, right church. But James is speaking against that. Yeah. Here, he's giving concrete examples. Yes. Again, he's giving concrete examples because he knew it would be.
00:46:38:13 - 00:46:58:12
Unknown
It was then and he knew it would be today. That's right. You know, Jesus spoke in the parables, a lot of parables in the sermon on the Mount. Now, James, he just said, I'm going to throw up some real world examples to it. And, you know, the behavior that James is, is speaking here is, again, incompatible to faith.
00:46:58:17 - 00:47:19:20
Unknown
And I think that's his point. He he says it very clearly, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. Like there is no elf that is greater than him. That's right. So what are we doing here? Right. That would be one of my. What are we doing here moments. I do that often at work, and I'm like, what are we doing here?
00:47:20:01 - 00:47:39:14
Unknown
Right. Right. I mean, this is not making sense, right? This is. We gotta stop what we're doing. And you know, James, places crisis, glory beside human wealth. Right. He's weighing it for you. Right. Like a feather and a stone or something. I'm like, you know, and the feathers are going to be a lot heavier just because it's righteous.
00:47:39:14 - 00:48:03:06
Unknown
Right. And people were impressed by the rich man's clothing. Jewelry. That's the premise of the story. And James redirects their attention to the only glory that truly matters. A lot of people will go to the poor man, but he doesn't. He refers them back to Jesus, right to the glory. And you know, the title of this, of this chapter is Favoritism forbidden?
00:48:03:08 - 00:48:27:09
Unknown
It doesn't just talk about members of the church or it. That title to me tells me any kind of favoritism. So you parents, if you're favoring one of your children over the other, you're in sin because he is strictly saying no favoritism whatsoever. You know, I think about Joseph in the pit. He was favored. His dad favored him.
00:48:27:10 - 00:48:49:02
Unknown
They favored him and his brothers through him in the pit because he was favored so much. We won't get into that today. But I'm just saying. Could it be. Joe, you correct me if I'm wrong, but, I mean, one of the reasons he was in the pit. I know his God has a plan. Plan for him. But his brothers hated him because his dad favored him so much.
00:48:49:03 - 00:49:11:06
Unknown
I mean, it was they hated him. And yes, they did bow down to him. And yes, he was king. But this favoritism, it doesn't just speak about the church. It's speaking because your first church is the home, your home, your family, your household. So if you're showing favoritism in your family, you need to get before the Lord and you need to you need to confess it and you need to get it right.
00:49:11:06 - 00:49:33:01
Unknown
Because whether you have one boy or four boys or five, it doesn't matter. They need to all be treated the same. They know. They know when the child's being favored. I know it's difficult, but by the Holy Spirit you can do it. But how many kids would stand? Don't. Kids? Children would stand up today and say, yeah, they favored so and say they favor them.
00:49:33:02 - 00:49:54:02
Unknown
Well, I have a sister. She she's daddy's little girl. You know, she she got away with everything. I got all the spankings and the whippings at home. Oh, that's why I'm like I am today. You didn't damage, did you? You did. Look in the mirror, did you? I have a lady who's 85 years old, 85, and she tells me how they favored her sister.
00:49:54:07 - 00:50:23:07
Unknown
She said she, and to this day, that Sister Hodes is the executor of all. Everything. So they did favor her. And so, you know, again, God is he's calling us out and saying, don't show favoritism. And so I pray this speaks to listeners today to say, if you have children, if you have two children, maybe one slow, maybe once more intelligent, don't favor that intelligent child.
00:50:23:09 - 00:50:42:04
Unknown
You treat them the same and God will honor you for it. It's a serious thing. I heard a story one time. I'll probably won't get it right. But there was a church and they were going to get a new pastor. And so they had cleaned the church up and it was spotless. And they were wanted everything to be perfect for the new pastor.
00:50:42:05 - 00:51:08:18
Unknown
Well, the day the pastor was coming, this homeless guy comes in and and they were embarrassed because they didn't want the homeless guy to give the church a bad look. And he was just dirty and he smelled bad. And so they weren't going to let him in the church at first. And I'm not sure if they if they kept him out or they put him on the back row to just kind of get them out of the way, out of sight because they didn't want to give a bad look to the church.
00:51:08:18 - 00:51:24:10
Unknown
And so they're waiting for church to start. And the new pastor is not there yet. He's late. And all of a sudden that homeless man gets up from the back row and he walks up to the podium and he takes off his outfit and he says, hey, I'm your new pastor. I just kind of wanted to see where we were at with this thing.
00:51:24:10 - 00:51:45:00
Unknown
What I need to be preaching about, you know, and that's kind of what James is describing here. You know, what I learned is back in the day, they would meet in people's houses because James is writing to like, the early, early church where there are all Jewish people. Right. And they would meet people's houses and it would be a large room, sort of like the upper room where the Holy Spirit fell in acts two, same type of thing.
00:51:45:00 - 00:52:03:02
Unknown
And a lot of times these these rooms were owned by wealthy people. Yes. And so it's very likely that's exactly what was happening in the story, that they were in a room and it was owned by a wealthy man. And and he was giving favoritism to other wealthy people as they would come into. Yeah. And it's just not right.
00:52:03:04 - 00:52:23:00
Unknown
And what I wanted to ask was, why is it not right? Well, when you get to the root of what? Why? Because he says you've become judges with evil thoughts. What is so evil about it? If you get down to the root of showing favoritism, why is it wrong? I think, can I real quick, I want to back up to a little bit of what Vinita was talking about.
00:52:23:01 - 00:52:46:15
Unknown
You know, favoritism is deciding someone's value before hearing their story. So that was the first thing, like the pastor, the example of the pastor, right? They were already making judgment on him by his appearance. Right. And then they realize he's the pastor. And then what happens there? And, you know, when we are captivated by the glory of Christ, we stop being controlled by the glitter of people.
00:52:46:16 - 00:53:15:21
Unknown
That's the other thing James is trying to say here. So when we see the glitter, the lights, the all the things that come in, the premise of the Western Church is it. Are we captivated by the glory of Christ? Are we captivated in controlled by people and by the by the, by the glitter of people? To me and this and I know it may be a little bit of stretch and I'll probably get blasted on it, but James could.
00:53:15:23 - 00:53:41:02
Unknown
It's like your example. James most likely was in a home of somebody affluent. And could you not see James sitting in and just some situation. I'm not going to say just in saying this is the problem and you know, how can we claim faith in Christ. And while assigning human value according to the world's perspective. How. That's right.
00:53:41:02 - 00:54:02:01
Unknown
But we do that anyway. And that's what you were explaining. And I think a perfect example. I'm not going to name the place. I'm not going to name the town. We were invited to go to a conference. We sat up front for dynamic speakers. If I named them, you would know them. Huge following shoes. Churches.
00:54:02:03 - 00:54:23:00
Unknown
The last we go four days with no altar call, no nothing. It's all about self-improvement. How to improve your business, how to improve your life, your marriage. There wasn't a thing. And this fear, all of them come with entourages. And this is not I. Don't get me wrong. I'm just trying to prove a point. What James is saying here.
00:54:23:00 - 00:54:49:01
Unknown
But the last night, this one guy comes. His church is probably 15,000 people or more. Huge church. We're not going to say his name. He comes with one person. One person. The rest of these people had five, ten, 15, 20 people with them have bodyguards and things. Oh, it was great. One person, wow, preached a message of hope and love.
00:54:49:03 - 00:55:13:19
Unknown
Had an altar call. Hundreds of people, hundreds of Christ, hundreds of people inside the building excepted Christ. And then they did an outside. They said there was 100 outside. Wow. But this is what got you more than anything in the salvations were great. There was a single mom with two children.
00:55:13:21 - 00:55:32:15
Unknown
She had to take off work because this this event was in California. Expensive, live, single mom with two kids. She took off work. She got in. She stood in line for six hours. Finally, she's like on the last row of the building.
00:55:32:17 - 00:55:35:21
Unknown
And.
00:55:35:23 - 00:55:59:04
Unknown
It was a story of she wanted her children to hear the message because she she really looked up to the pastor. But what it up ended up happening was as her older child got saved that night, the pastor that was running the conference, he apologized. He apologized to everyone right after the Holocaust. You know, we missed it. Yeah, they were embarrassed.
00:55:59:05 - 00:56:21:01
Unknown
All the speakers were embarrassed because nobody had done a salvation call. And this last pastor who is not he is not he's highly attacked, but he was the one that come to the pulpit and get his salvation call in the whole place. You could have heard a pin drop because these pastors are sitting on the pulpit going, and they're crying.
00:56:21:02 - 00:56:43:13
Unknown
They start crying. They're just crying because he's come up here, we've been here all night, and he's the last one to come up. And he was the one to give salvation call. And people hands went up and the pastor was like, I didn't know there was this many unsaved people in my church. That's that's sad. And, you know, God pastor wouldn't know that there was no.
00:56:43:13 - 00:57:09:23
Unknown
But but that's I think we've missed the mark somewhere. And there may be some visitors, you know, but there was definitely family members of the church that came forward. Definitely. So yeah. Yeah. And one more point I want to make here, the, the the thing and I think what you Brian, you made a great point. And you know, James, as we learned earlier, was basically one of the founders of the Jerusalem church.
00:57:10:01 - 00:57:41:22
Unknown
And it's like he he had that inner strength. But you know, God does not receive people according to their faith. He receives sinners according to grace. That's right. That's where we miss it. Man in the world will prioritize money and status. That's right ahead of grace. That's right where God wants us to see it. The widows, the orphans, the people that need are in need and go towards it just as he would come towards us.
00:57:42:02 - 00:58:01:17
Unknown
That's right. The reason it's wrong is because when we show partiality, we're not seeing people the way God sees people. It's wrong to because we are assuming that a rich person is more blessed. Perhaps that's true. And he's going to say here in a minute that that might not be the case. It could be the case that a poor person is the more blessed one, because they don't have the cares of the world.
00:58:01:18 - 00:58:20:02
Unknown
That's right. And then it also is wrong because it shows a selfish streak in you, because you're doing that because you think you can get something back out of that person. That's right. And so partiality in a Christian is not a character trait that you should have. And if you if you find yourself gravitating toward that, it's something you should pray about.
00:58:20:03 - 00:58:38:20
Unknown
Yeah, it's it's we in this and we go to the fourth episode, but I won't James is going to refer back to the Old Testament. He's going to go back to Leviticus and something that sounds eerily similar to what Jesus said. So, so you, you send out a challenge to the people and then I'll pray. How about that?
00:58:38:20 - 00:58:58:19
Unknown
you look back at James 122 through chapter two, verse 13. First challenge is you're going to read it, you're going to underline it. I don't I would read it three times, you pray about it. And you know, we're not ending with something to remember. You know we're we are ending with something to evade.
00:58:58:20 - 00:59:11:05
Unknown
We made up our mind early on that we wanted practical application. This is not some Ted talk. This is something we want to put in life to make our lives stronger.
00:59:11:09 - 00:59:36:20
Unknown
before this day ends, ask God to show you one person you have overlooked and judged, avoided, or quietly placed beneath yourself. And then do something tangible. Call them. Encourage them. Serve them. Give to them. Invite them in. Extend mercy. Do not merely agree that favoritism is wrong or that compassion is good.
00:59:37:00 - 01:00:04:02
Unknown
Put the word into motion as what we've talked and remember. The mirror has done its job when it shows us what must change, we become doers when we refuse to walk away unchanged. In other words, we seen our problem. We're going to do something about it. We're going to put practicality. So for our challenge this week, do not just look for someone who can bless you.
01:00:04:02 - 01:00:27:13
Unknown
Look for someone you can bless who may never be able to repay. That's the key. Yes. What about you? Real quick? What is your challenge to the viewers today? I mean, I would echo exactly what Brian said. Like, put your faith into action. Yes. And there's many practical ways you can do it. You could. You could find a person that's hurting in your life and just write them a letter of encouragement.
01:00:27:14 - 01:00:49:01
Unknown
Right. You could go visit a local rest home, but find something. Don't just sit there and let your faith die, right? Which is what James is talking about. Put your faith into action. Exactly what Brian said. Yeah. So in this today, and we pray that you will get into the word James chapter one in James chapter two and read it for yourself.
01:00:49:02 - 01:01:15:23
Unknown
It will build your faith in so much of a way. I know you know somebody that's hurting, that is discouraged, that is oppressed or depressed that you can speak into today. We love you. Let me pray for you real quick. Heavenly father, we thank you today for your word, your revelation. Now, Holy Spirit, I ask you right now that you would feel the person listen, listening with your gifts, with your power, with your strength, with your wisdom.
01:01:15:23 - 01:01:39:19
Unknown
God, get Ahold of us, O God, and pour your fire into us so that we can just be not just hears of the word, but doers. God, that we would go boldly in your name, serving your people, oh God, and serving even the unbelievers so that they can see us and and they'll know us by our love. Like Jesus says, they will know my disciples by how they love.
01:01:39:20 - 01:01:49:02
Unknown
Lord, let us be that people in the mighty, matchless, holy reverence name of Jesus we pray. Amen. We love you. We love you. We love
01:01:49:04 - 01:02:25:09