Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Watch our Live Sermons every Sunday morning at 10:30am by searching "Flipside Christian Church" on Youtube or go to "flipside.church" See more of Flipside Christian Church by going to our website at "http://www.flipside.church/media/" or download our app by searching "Flipside Christian Church" in the Google Play and Apple App Store.
Flipside Christian Church
Madera Ranchos, CA
Well, again, good morning.
I appreciate you being here.
We're going to start chapter
five of the book in the book of James.
It'll take us three weeks
to get through this chapter.
this being the first of those three weeks.
The before I jump into that,
I want to address the events of yesterday.
and, give an understanding
of the events of the world
through a biblical worldview.
and not a worldly worldview.
I think it's important for us to be able
to keep a biblical worldview
as we see things happen.
especially,
in the events of yesterday.
And I want us to be mindful
of the voices we listen to
and the things we say and repeat,
the things we end up believing.
I want to encourage us
not to confuse patriotism with godliness.
To be very careful.
And the voices that we listen to,
whether it's
CNN or Alex Jones,
both those and the myriad of others.
We do nothing but lead people astray.
So I want to encourage
us to be very mindful
about the voices
that we choose to listen to
the primary voice
has got to be the voice of God.
And as I watched what happened yesterday
and the intent behind it,
the thing I thought was this
when hatred and fear
are the motivation, destruction
and death are always the outcome.
and of course, we can all agree
in the tragedy of yesterday.
Not in the attempt, necessarily,
but in the innocent ones
who lost their lives.
And the families
are left in the wake of this,
spurred on
by hatred
on both sides.
And as I watched what happened, I
in my mind,
I thought, I know why.
I know why the bullet missed.
Because I want to read Scripture in second
Peter three nine.
You know what that says.
This is why it's so important
for us to be in Scripture
and have a biblical worldview.
When I, when I, when I,
when I, when I saw that the bullet missed,
I thought, second Peter three nine
and here's why it missed,
because Scripture tells us
that the Lord is not wanting anyone
to perish,
but wants all to to come to repentance.
Actually, it starts with these words.
The low is not the Lord,
not slow in keeping his promise,
but is patient with everyone,
not wanting anyone to come to repent.
not want anyone to perish,
wants all to come to repentance.
And when?
When I saw what happened yesterday,
I thought, okay, Donald,
you've got the opportunity again
to come to Christ.
Praise God the bullet missed.
Not for his presidency
and not for the office
before his eternity.
You understand?
We're not.
Not political allies.
Our faith.
And the same goes for Joe.
The reason why both those men are still
breathing has little
to do with the presidency.
And the office has more to do
with God's patience.
That they would come to Christ
and lead their family
and children to Christ.
Now wants to be very careful
about the rhetoric that we listen to
in times like this.
I've said it for a while now
that this election season
is going to get crazy.
It's apparent it is right.
And I don't want to be lectured by either
side of the aisle talking about civility
and kindness to each other.
They've they've ruined that already.
I want us to make sure
that we view the events of this world
through a biblical worldview.
That we, as Scripture instructions,
pray for those in leadership.
That we trust God to set up and depose
at his discretion.
We live quiet lives.
Seeking the best for our nation
so that it might go well with us
is what the Bible says.
I do not want
this church
to sacrifice our biblical worldview
for the events of the political arena.
You've got to be very careful.
My clear.
My clear. Yes.
Father, I thank you
that you are patient with all of us,
not wanting any of us to perish,
but want all to come to repentance.
I thank you for President Biden's life.
I thank you for former
President Trump's life.
I think that you continue
to be patient with them,
not wanting them to
perish,
but want them to come to repentance
and their families as well.
For you continue to put people around him
who will speak truth,
the truth of your word, into their lives.
As you put people around us to speak truth
into our lives.
Father,
you guard us from turning patriotism
into a false sense of godliness.
It's just not biblical.
Father, we pray that we honor
you first and honor each other.
All up and down the political spectrum.
And, father, we collectively
thank you for the lives that were spared.
But lift up to you the families
of those of the lives that were lost.
And when we see the outcome
of of hatred and fear
as this, it.
We just pray for those who are
who have
to live in the aftermath of it. Now.
And God,
I pray that you would raise up your people
around those hurt and families
to lead them to you.
Through them you bring comfort
and the peace that passes understanding
as they align their lives
with you and your kingdom.
Father,
I pray you help your people not get stupid
in this election cycle.
Did you give us a mind of
clarity and a faith?
And of a worldview
that reflects your kingdom first.
Oh, God.
Now, as always, may
your kingdom come and your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
It's a different kingdom.
And it's so vastly different
than anything we've seen.
May it come, Lord.
In your name I pray. Amen.
In James chapter four,
he ended that, that portion of scripture
with the warning against independence
from God
in in the theme of making plans
and setting your agendas
without submitting them to God's
sovereignty, without first saying,
Lord, your will first.
Here's what I like,
but your will I submit.
I submit my plans to you.
And he says it's arrogant of us
to make our plans without first
submitting our plans to God.
And it was it, it was.
It's really geared, to all of you
over planners and hyper control freaks.
Right?
Did any of you
remember that message from Scripture
during this week?
Any of you?
Not many of you.
Some of you. Did any of you.
Are you married to someone who wished
they would have remembered that
this week?
and so James develops
the idea of the need for complete
dependance upon God as he begins
chapter five.
Chapter five continues that theme of
complete dependance and submission to God,
and he addresses it in the issue
that is most likely
to entice the individual
to live independent from God.
And the one thing universally
that entices us to live independent
from God are riches,
wealth.
When one has plenty of money
and all of us might be saying,
well, I don't fall into this one,
so I'm good here, right?
I'm plenty of money.
It's just not having money.
It's the desire,
the overwhelming desire to get more,
make more, hoard more.
It presents a unique difficulty
and barrier
to a life of discipleship
and following Jesus.
This is what he
says in James chapter
five, verses one, two and three.
Now listen, you rich people weep and wail
because of the misery
that's coming on you.
Your wealth has rotted
and moths have eaten your clothes.
Your gold and silver are corroded.
Their corrosion will testify against you.
And eat your flesh like fire.
You have hoarded wealth in the last days.
Pretty strong warning here. Yeah.
Very Old Testament sounding.
Let me be very clear.
James is going to talk about the wealthy
and those who hoard the
even the little they have.
But the Bible does not condemn Rich.
The Bible does not condemn riches.
The Bible does not condemn wealth.
Riches and wealth and abundance can be.
But it's not necessarily
an indication and evidence of God's favor.
It can be evidence of God's favor,
but it's not necessarily so.
The Bible says that God makes the
the rain to fall on the just
and the unjust alike.
He pours out his he. He allows both
on the on the just and the unjust.
And certainly
just because someone has great wealth
does not mean they have the favor of God.
Right? Right.
Some of them even on islands.
And they certainly don't.
God's favor.
And so we have to be very careful
to assume that because there is
financial monetary abundance.
It's the proof of the favor of God.
That's not it.
The Bible doesn't necessarily condemn
the rich nor wealth,
but it makes a very clear
dividing line on the
on what God God does
approve of and disapprove of.
And what the Bible condemns is not wealth.
What the Bible condemns
is the hoarding of money.
It's being selfish with finances.
It's seeking a life of ease rather
than a life of investment in the kingdom.
That's what the Bible condemns.
Jesus had poor followers
and Jesus had wealthy followers.
You think about Zacchaeus.
Joseph of Arimathea.
Barnabas. Very wealthy. Lydia.
Very wealthy individuals
who followed Jesus.
But they were also very generous
with their wealth.
And so we have to recognize
that the Bible doesn't condemn riches,
but it condemns how we.
How we use and invest our riches.
When it's selfish hoarding
that's condemned,
when it's an investment in the Kingdom
on behalf of those who who don't have.
That's why it's given.
And we have to acknowledge
that riches present
a significant
and unique obstacle to the kingdom.
We have to acknowledge this.
It may be a blessing from God.
Oftentimes, it is.
But when that blessing is in place,
that blessing
actually presents a very unique difficulty
to kingdom living.
The Bible is pretty clear about this.
Matthew 19
Jesus said to his disciples, truly
I tell you, it's hard for someone
who is rich to
enter the kingdom of heaven.
For why?
Because they think that their security
is based on their wealth
and not in God's sovereignty.
And they put the kingdom
of this world
ahead of the kingdom of heaven.
Again, I tell you, it's easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle
than for someone of the rich
to get into the end of the kingdom of God.
So you gotta be very careful
in our pursuit of financial security,
stability and wealth.
First Timothy six
for the love of money
is a root of all kinds of evil.
Some people, eager for money have wandered
from the faith
and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Notice
he's not talking about people with money.
He's talking about people who love money.
And isn't it true that you can be poor
and be in love with money?
Right? Right.
And you can be
rich and be in love with money.
He says it's that heart's love.
And when that heart's love is is
is financial gain, is is hoarding it
to your comfort
at the expense of the kingdom
and those without.
Then it becomes a real issue
and very difficult
to live as a disciple of Christ.
I want us to notice.
So in in this passage, you're James.
James is addressing people with money.
James is addressing
wicked people with money.
He's addressing the wicked rich,
not just the rich.
Does that make sense?
See, here's what money is.
I've said this before.
Money is. Money is is amoral.
It has no morals.
Money is not ethical.
All money does
is illuminate the heart of the possessor.
It's all it does.
It just. It just exemplifies it.
It expands it.
It shows it.
In other words, if I am stingy and poor
when I'm rich, I'm just more stingy.
Does it make sense?
It doesn't change anything.
It just exempt. It just elevates it.
If I'm generous with the little I have,
if God gives me more, I'm just going to be
really generous.
Does it make sense?
And so James
isn't talking about people with money.
He's talking about
when money makes you wicked.
You start hoarding it
and the abuse of other people
because you have it.
He's talking about when
you put your earthly kingdom ahead
of the heavenly kingdom financially.
Become prideful and arrogant,
seeking luxury and ease.
And he says to you,
following this camp,
he says, weep and will.
Very Old Testament
prophet stuff weeping, wail
because he says,
in the kingdom that's coming.
What he says is all that wealth
that you've worked for,
that you stored out for yourselves,
that you saved and hoarded for yourself.
All of that will be revealed as corrupted,
eaten by moths, and corroded.
And what he's doing is he's using he's
using the riches of his day
to say it's all passing away.
Now, the riches of today
might look different than what they looked
at James's day,
but his point is this all those things
that we
that we try to hoard for ourselves,
to create a life of security
and ease for ourselves
at the at the expense of the kingdom
and others,
without all that stuff
is going to be destroyed one day.
You can't take it with you,
is what he says.
Now the three areas of wealth
in James's day
was food, clothes and gold and silver.
Gold and silver, we understand.
But food and clothes.
Yet those were signs of extreme wealth
in James's day.
And what James is saying is, wherever
you're wherever that treasure is,
it's all going to pass away
in the next kingdom.
So he says,
all those food that you've stored up.
I mean, back in the day,
these were the original preppers, right?
Like they were ready for anything.
And he says all that hoarding
that you're doing
is all going to be corrupted and rotted.
It's going to do you no good.
Even though you've
hoarded it,
thinking that that was your security,
he says.
And secondly, those close
rich people had a lot close back there.
I don't know if you're old enough
to remember Imelda Marcos
with her 7000 pairs of shoes,
or however many they had.
I don't know who who has a lot of clothes.
These who were.
I don't know who that would be.
Maybe it's you. I don't know, hoard.
Have you ever seen, by the way,
just look through your closet and think.
What don't I wear anymore?
I get rid of it and you're like,
oh, I can't get rid of it.
You know,
like, we've got way too much stuff.
And he says all those clothes
that you have, those that you've hoarded,
moths are going to eat them.
What good is that? Do you.
And then
he says this, which is just amazes me.
He says that gold and silver
is going to be corroded.
Gold doesn't corrode.
Does gold corrode?
What he get
what he's saying is that we saved.
He saved even those things that you are
convinced are never going to be
destroyed, can never be devalued.
Even that is going to be corroded
in the coming kingdom.
And the more you seek in this life
to build that and to hoard that
at the expense of the investment
of the Kingdom and the help of the poor,
the more you are going to be revealed
as a wicked heart
in the last days and the coming kingdom.
Essentially,
every sign of wealth
will pass away and will be worth nothing
in the coming kingdom.
And he says there is such severe judgment
for these people
who hoard wealth, who live their lives
to build wealth in this world.
He says one.
There's such severe judgment on those
who take advantage of others
in order to build their personal wealth,
and two, who ignore the poor
to protect and hoard their own wealth.
Severe judgment.
So we've got to be very careful
about our desire
for more.
I just note the horror that's coming.
The judgment
over greed.
Verse three.
There, corrosion will testify against you
and eat your flesh
like fire.
You have hoarded wealth in the last days.
That sounds like why?
Like that's the fire was reserved
for, like, the really evil people.
And at this point, you're reading the
book of James, like, okay,
I want to get back to the other Jesus,
like, who loves me
and has a wonderful plan for my life.
I want to go back to the Jesus
that that I've come
that might have life
and a life in all its fullness.
I want to get back to that. Jesus.
We got to deal with this.
This, this this is important
for people want to be disciples of Jesus.
For those who are bound by greed
and bound by gains,
realize what's coming.
Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest
preachers to ever grace this planet.
He said this.
I've kind of translated
some of his old words into words.
We understand a little bit better.
But he said this better to weep here,
where tears are wiped
by the grace of God,
than to have eyes wiped out in hell.
And what James is saying is,
all these riches that you store up
for yourselves tend to neglect
to the kingdom of the neglect of of
of other people will testify against you
because you've stored up treasure on earth
rather than in heaven.
He's talking about a biblical worldview,
and it's so easy to slip
into a worldly worldview.
On the day of Judgment.
What we have hoarded
will reveal that we've lived lives
of arrogant independence from God,
and he warns us.
James addresses are storing up
wealth on earth
rather than storing up treasure in heaven.
And it's a very Old Testament theme
these last days.
And in the Old Testament,
the idea of the last days,
it created two things.
And in people one.
It was a threat to the rich.
The last days.
But two,
it was joy and consolation for the poor.
The poor thought, I can't
wait for the day of God
like finally joy and consolation
and place in my misery on this planet.
The rich had a very different view
of the last day,
because they knew they'd be called
to account for their hoarding
and their neglect of people and kingdom.
And he goes on verses 4 or 5 and six.
Can I keep going? Yes, sure.
All right.
You're ready.
Look,
the wages
you failed to pay the workers who mowed
your fields are crying out against you.
The cries of the harvesters
have reached
the ears of the Lord Almighty.
This should make sense to us
in the Central Valley. But.
You have lived on earth in luxury
and self-indulgence.
You have fattened yourselves
in the day of slaughter.
You have condemned and murdered
the innocent one
who was not opposing you.
In our vernacular,
he said, it is very, very, very important
to pay your bills on time.
Don't keep money
owed to others in your account
so you can build your personal wealth.
Pay them what they're due.
Don't look for loopholes
to get out of your bills.
If you've received service from someone,
pay them fairly.
Understand?
Pay what you owe.
Pay for the work that's been done.
Don't look for ways to get out of it.
Don't look for loopholes
for the government to pay your debts.
Pay your bills.
Don't withhold timely payment
so you can keep the money in your account
to build your wealth a little bit longer.
When it's due.
Pay your bill.
God takes money
and the use of money very seriously.
You understand?
Okay, based on that response,
I think I need to start over
because I don't think you got
what I'm saying.
So, James, four ends.
Do you understand what he's saying here?
Yes, yes.
Listen, this is why it is so difficult.
And the road is so narrow
for those
who want to be apprentices of Jesus.
Because we are not let off the hook
easily.
You understand?
I'm so thankful for God's
mercy and grace, for the times
I've got it wrong
that he is patient with me,
not wanting me to perish,
but want me to come to repentance.
I'm so grateful for his mercy and grace,
but this is the expectation.
And then
in between 6 and 7, James refocuses
like he kind of makes a shift here,
and he shifts from warning
to encouragement,
which is what every great leader does.
A great leader can lower
the boom and can give a correction
and the discipline, and then followed
that up with some encouragement.
Every great leader can do this,
and James does.
And so he he says, okay, so here
that was the warning.
And now I want to give you some hope.
Okay.
And so in verses seven, eight and nine
he moves the focus from this earth
to, to, to that kingdom,
to that world, to that eternity.
And this is what he says now be patient
then, brothers and sisters,
until the Lord's coming.
So he assumes Jesus is coming back.
See how the
farmer waits for the land
to yield its valuable crop,
patiently
waiting for the autumn and spring rains.
You to be patient and stand firm
because the Lord's coming is near.
Don't grumble against one another,
brothers and sisters,
or you will be judged.
The judge is standing at the door.
He's close.
He shifts from the immediate world
to the coming kingdom,
and he challenges us.
He challenges those who have been focused
only on this world
and only on our personal kingdom.
In this world, to change our focus.
To the coming of Christ again.
That gives hope.
And I know,
I know what what some would say.
Like you get a call about
Jesus coming back to him in 2000 years.
How long are you going away right?
Like 2000 years. But.
But that's you.
That's a worldly worldview.
It's not a biblical worldview
because a biblical worldview says
the Bible says that a thousand years
was like a day to God.
So it's been like two days
and God's coming even two days.
It's not two days
isn't a long time to wait.
There's a just keep it patient.
You've waited two days.
Big deal.
And he uses a farmer
as the example of patience.
This ought to make us again.
We're the Central Valley, California.
It ought to make sense to us, since to us
there's farmers all around.
But think about what James is suggesting.
He says, be patient.
Now, wait.
When you go through trials, tribulations,
difficulties, hardships,
when stuff isn't happening, just wait.
Like the farmer, here's
what the farmer does.
The farmer doesn't give up.
Just because he's planted a crop and
doesn't see the harvest in the next day.
Like what kind of farmer would they be
if they expected the harvest?
The very next day?
Not a very good farmer, right?
They'd be out of business.
And I mean, how many of you would like me
when when we were little.
How many of you actually planted seeds
in a little pot or in a garden outside?
Any of you plant little seeds?
Yeah. It was it was amazing.
Like you knew something
magical was happening somewhere.
You planted the seed in the pot,
and you covered it
with the, you know,
the little the little potting soil.
And he didn't press it down too hard, but
firm enough so it felt secure and snug.
And then you watered it a little bit, too,
but didn't want to overwater
because it might drown to sea.
But you really didn't understand
how a sea would drown
because not like an animal or something.
But you just just can't drown the sea.
And so.
And you did all that, and then you walked
away, and two hours later, you did what?
You went back to look right, like,
oh, did not turn right
because you knew it was coming,
but it didn't happen right away.
You go back the next day, nothing.
The next day, nothing.
And you just had to wait.
See, what he's saying?
Here is when we were going through it
and some of us are going through it,
you have to wait and be patient
like a farmer
and keep working.
In your affliction, in your difficulty,
in your disappointment,
in your loneliness, in your trouble, in
your singleness, in your hopes and dreams
that aren't
coming to fruition, in your fears.
You just have to wait.
And you have to do the long, hard
work of waiting patiently,
even when the harvest
seems a long way away.
Just like the farmer,
it's Isaiah 4031.
Those who hope in the Lord
renew their strength.
They'll strong wings like eagles.
They'll run or not.
Grow weary their walk and not faint.
Notice the longevity of this.
There are times when we are sworn
through life. Man,
just on the thermals of the sky.
And just loving it and going fast
until we can't fly anymore.
But we run
and we run and we run fast or run hard
and cover a lot of ground
until we can't run anymore.
And we're forced to plod
along, step after step, right,
then left and right and left.
And it's a long, hard road.
The Bible says
when you adjust your perspective
and are patient waiting on Lord,
you can walk and never faint.
The idea is to wait on
God and do not lose
heart to be strong in patience.
The correlation of a farmer
to the life of faith.
The farmer waits with the reasonable
hope and expectation
of a great harvest right?
Just like the person of faith,
the farmer, which a long time
and continues working
while he's waiting right?
Just like the person of faith.
The farmer is dependent upon things
that are outside of his control
and power, right?
Just like the person of faith,
the farmer has to wait in the midst
of changing circumstances and conditions,
just like the person of faith.
The farmer has to stay encouraged
and continue waiting
because he knows what he's waiting for
is worth it.
Just like the person of faith.
The farmer has to wait
because the farmer has no other option
but to wait.
Just like the person of faith.
What's your option?
To rush God's hand?
Good luck
here.
The farmer waits
because it doesn't do him
any good to give up.
Just like the person of faith.
The disciples said, Lord, to
whom will we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
It doesn't do me any good to give up. Now.
The farmer, which, because he knows
how seasons and harvests work,
and the person of faith
has got to know how the seasons
and harvest of God work.
The lesson is when you have to wait.
Wait?
Well.
James says, don't grumble.
Don't.
When you're waiting.
Don't grumble.
Do you know what he means
when he says, don't grumble?
Yeah, he means don't grumble.
You don't gotta get into the deep
Greek here
when you're waiting.
For the harvest.
And it ain't showing up.
Don't grumble. You.
And isn't this our default,
Yeah.
Let me just give.
Especially you married people or parents
sitting next to kids.
A piece of.
I sure don't start doing this to them.
Don't start like.
Are you listening?
This is our default.
When things don't go
our way, we're in a waiting pattern.
We grumble naturally.
We grumble against the circumstances.
We grumble about other people,
and sometimes we grumble
about God.
Don't grumble.
And don't be around people who do grumble.
Don't return their phone calls.
Don't return their text.
Unfollow them on social media.
Get away from them because when you are
around grumbling, you will become a.
It. Life has become so much better.
When I.
I drafted my life.
Some of you needed the drama,
your life with people and social media.
A whole nother message.
While you're in the holding pattern,
whatever holding pattern or sowing season
you may be in currently.
Imagine when God
finally brings in the harvest.
Just imagine.
I know it's tough right now.
I know you're in a waiting pattern
right now.
I know you're in a holding pattern.
I know you've planted your wait
and wait and wait.
Just imagine when God brings the harvest.
You're when he comes in.
And some of you may not ever read
that harvest until eternity.
But imagine for a moment.
Imagine what God delivers.
Imagine when God shows up.
Imagine when God brings the harvest.
Imagine for a moment
when that day happens,
how embarrassed and ashamed
you will be for having ever
doubted him.
Just wait patiently.
I know I am well past my time,
but I said it in the first service
of Satan.
The second service is David White's fault.
Because he took over ten minutes
to do communion.
I had him on my stopwatch, on my phone.
And so it's his fault
that you're going to get out late.
You understand?
Great job with communion, by the way.
Dave loved it, but he's never met
a mic or a platform
he didn't take to, and so on.
And so so I'm gonna I'm
not I'm not grumbling, John.
I'm speaking the truth in love. And so.
And I'm just warning you not to grumble
against me because he went long.
That's all I'm saying.
Brothers and sisters, as an
example of patience
in the face of suffering.
Take the prophets
who spoke in the name of the Lord.
As you know, we can't just bless those
who have persevered.
You've heard of Joe's perseverance
and have seen
what the Lord finally brought about.
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
James
reminds us of our spiritual heritage.
Says, this is the cloth
from which your faith has been cut.
And God so honored the Old Testament
prophets of old and even.
They suffered and had to wait.
And if they did, why not us as well?
Yeah.
And he's he says
you've seen
what the Lord finally brought about.
Not immediately,
because he's full of compassion and mercy,
and he uses job as the example of any
Bible since, you know, job,
man of incredible wealth
and ease and comfort, lots of huge family
and all this family members.
But his wife died
and all of his riches, everything was
stripped away and taken away.
Even his own health.
And he was just left there to suffer.
And God's compassion and mercy
were not immediately
apparent in the beginning of job's story.
And in fact,
the only thing that seemed to be apparent
at the beginning of job's story
was the cruelty of God.
And it's the same in yours.
In my life, we've all been through
those seasons where we start
the journey
and we think, why God, why don't you?
Where were you?
Why did you allow. Why didn't you change?
Why didn't you intervene?
What's going on? Right.
You don't see his mercy and compassion
at the end of the story.
The only thing you perceive
at the beginning of the story of
is what looks very
cruel to you in your eyes.
Right?
And yet, James says, be patient,
because our God is a God of compassion
and mercy.
And when we understand
that God is a God of compassion and mercy,
he has a good purpose in mind.
It changes our perspective
while we painfully
wait.
Right.
Even with Joe
went through hell.
Because of the forces of hell
at the allowance of God.
Yet he was a better man after than before.
Yeah.
He was good at the beginning,
but he was better after
a better character, more humble,
more generous, more gracious,
more grateful, more blessed.
And when we know what
the beginning of the trial,
the tribulation,
the winning, that God has a good purpose
in mind, at the end,
we can endure it patiently.
How did James start his letter? Remember?
Recall it.
Consider pure joy, my brothers
and sisters, when you endure troubles,
tribulations, and trials, because you know
God's doing something good.
And when
I know that up front, I can wait
patiently.
May not be fun.
Most time it's not.
But we can be patient because we know
that God has good purpose in mind.
And this, my friends, this my church, this
my brothers and sisters,
is where faith must be put into action.
Because we can say that we have faith
that God is doing something good
and will bring about a harvest.
We can say that all I want, but
until we put it into practice by waiting
patiently without grumbling,
we have dead faith.
You understand?
And this is why James tells us faith
without works is dead.
Doesn't matter
if you say we believe, we have faith
that God will bring about something good
unless we're able to wait
patiently without grumbling,
we prove ourselves to have that faith.
We can't just say we believe God
is working together for a good purpose.
Unless we wait
patiently during the process.
The faith we profess is dead.
Faith.
Listen,
this is part of what it means
to be an apprentice of Jesus.
And it flies in the face
and it runs counter and contrary.
It is the flip side
of everything we've been raised
to believe and do.
And it requires
this incredible, persistent, patient faith
in a good, good God who is a good, good
father who is full of compassion
and mercy and grace
for those who will simply submit
and place their lives at his disposal.
James, a pretty good book, isn't it?
The Bible's a pretty good book, isn't it?
Yeah.
If any of us dare say we believe it,
we're compelled to practice it.
Why don't you pray with me, father?
Thank you.
You are a good, good father.
We are full of compassion and mercy.
You are trustworthy.
You're liable.
You are profoundly powerful and sovereign.
You have put some of us in holding
patterns.
You've asked
some of us to wait a long, long time.
And some are getting very weary
and very tired
and waiting and waiting and waiting.
Father, help us to wait longer
patiently, because we know
that you're doing something good
and the harvest is on the way.
We know that.
And even if you choose to withhold
the harvest till eternity,
we will rejoice still.
And having received it, there,
as all the prophets of old did,
of many of the saints in Hebrews 11 have
they were better than this world?
You gave them their reward in eternity.
Thank you that that's our promise.
Friends, some of you
have been waiting and our waiting.
I want to challenge you to place yourself
as an apprentice of Jesus right now, in.
And just tell Father.
Father, I'm tired of waiting.
But I will continue to wait.
Give me strength so I can soar,
run and walk and not faint. I'm.
My hope is in you.
And I will wait patiently
without grumbling.
I will not only speak my faith,
I will live my faith.
Give me to ask him.
Say, father, give me a vision
of the harvest that's coming.
Give me a vision of when you deliver.
Of when you step in, of
when you intervene.
Of when you move your hand.
Give me a vision of it.
Because right
now, God, all I see is the weight.
And I need to be pulled
to a higher vision.
Give me a vision of what your harvest will
look at, like
because of your mercy and compassion.
Give me that vision
so I can wait with patience
without grumbling.
God, I speak over this church
that you would give us a vision
of the harvest that's coming
for those of us who are waiting,
give us a vision of the harvest
that we had.
Wait patiently with great expectation.
God, I pray over this church
that we not grow weary.
There are so many who are ready
just to cash in the chips.
I pray they wouldn't do that.
You give them a vision
of when you step in and intervene.
That we would wait without grumbling.
Father, I thank you.
Thank you
that what you do
and allow is motivated by your mercy.
Compassion.
Help us to trust you here.
And live lives are so contrary.
And counter
and flip side to the culture around us
that your name would be great.
In the name of Jesus we pray these things.
Amen.
I love you,
and I love the chance
we have to go through the Bible together.
The last section of James five is going
to take us two weeks to get through,
and so read through it and see what
the Holy Spirit prompts in you.
And then let's we'll talk about it
together next couple Sundays.
I'm preparing right now for the next year
are going to go through.
And I'm super excited about it because
you're going to see in this next series
the cycle that every one of us goes
through, every one of us.
We're going to go
through the book of judges.
There's a lot of stories
in the Book of Judges.
It's like a rated R book,
but I promise to preach
it is PG 13.
Most of the time.
Right.
But let me leave you with this.
The Lord God loves you
and sent His son for you.
He is so in love with you and all he asks
is that you love him back
and you respond to him in the freedom
of the expression of that love.
He is a good God
and you can trust him.
Hallelu.